12

The teens huddled together in the Fenton Works den, as the level had reconstructed the building upon the Trial's defeat, each one congratulating Jazz on her win over her Trial. There were many apologies as well, but the carrot-top only smiled and waved them aside.

"It's alright! Really!" she laughed, "I mean, yeah it hurt at first explaining everything and experiencing what happened... but that's part of the healing process!" Eyes rolled in good nature as she went on her psychologist rant. "Facing that which instigates the negative thinking patterns in one's lifetime routine is a critical point in overcoming..." Danny reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder with a tired grin.

"Jazz, I think we get that already." he pointed out, interrupting her to the relief of his friends, "It was kinda obvious when we all faced that Trial and you were the one that knocked it out of the park." Sam and Tucker both nodded eagerly as Valerie gave a vague little shrug.

"It was awesome how you kicked that girl's butt and scored one for self-confidence!" the Goth declared and gave a thumb's-up, "No shame in that, that's for sure!" The group laughed collectively, enjoying their shared triumph and celebrating Jazz's personal victory.

"So any luck finding the teleporter?" Tucker called out to their teacher, who had been pacing around the room and examining everything once more, finally standing before the grandfather clock that started the whole mess. Caleb glanced their way, then walked over to join them, his expression as neutral as always. Danny gave him a puzzled look. Why did he look like that so much? Wasn't there ever a time when he looked genuinely happy?

"I believe that I've found the location of the teleporter and we will be able to move on at any time." the android reported quietly, sitting in the circle the teens had assembled themselves into in front of the fireplace, "However, after a battle like this, it would be best if we all rested well before moving on. After all," his eyes narrowed slightly, his expression turning grim, "the rules have changed and I won't be able to predict what the next level will be like, nor give insight on anything more than the possible monsters or Trials that lurk beyond." The group fell silent as they looked around themselves at the false Fenton Works, reminded once more that things had changed to cancel the knowledge Caleb could have provided to give them an edge in the journey.

"That sounds like a good idea." Danny agreed, lifting an arm to frown at the healing cuts in his suit and on his skin, "I still have a few scratches to deal with and, um..." He glanced towards Valerie, then his friends, all as furtively as possible, "...the... the humans might be hungry, so..." he finished lamely, hoping his own stomach wouldn't growl at the wrong time. Caleb nodded and stood again.

"Then I'll prepare lunch and tend to any overlooked injuries while you eat." he murmured, "Take some time to rest and relax." He looked in Jazz's direction and actually smiled, "You did very well, Jazz. Defeating that Trial also boosted our Soulfire immensely, so the journey to collect the required amount may not take as long as I initially calculated. If you like, please examine the clock again. You may find something of interest." With that, he headed into the kitchen once more.

"Something of interest? In the clock?" Tucker echoed in confusion, twisting around to look at the antique from over the back of the sofa, "Wonder what he means by that?" Valerie sighed, sitting back in her own seat and folding her arms over her chest.

"We won't know until we find out." she replied in a matter-of-fact tone before giving the carrot-top sitting by her a smirk, "So, are you going to find out?" Jazz blinked at her for a moment before sighing and standing up.

"May as well take a look. I mean, Caleb wouldn't suggest looking at it if it was going to trigger another attack or anything, right?" she remarked with a hesitant chuckle, walking up to the clock. She studied it carefully, head tilting to one side as she gazed at its face. After a minute, her eyes widened and her hand flew up to her mouth, a surprised yelp escaping her lips. Danny tensed, giving the clock a wary look and his sister a concerned one.

"Jazz?" he questioned simply, and she shook her head with a smile, letting her hand drop from her mouth.

"The time changed." she replied and laughed softly, tears forming at the corners of her eyes, "How appropriate." The group of teens only stared at her, still baffled, and she smiled at them warmly, broadly. "Four twenty. Danny was born at four twenty in the morning." Sam and Tucker both glanced over at the phantom sitting on the floor near the fireplace, faint smiles on their own faces as they took in the pale blush on his cheeks. Jazz turned back to the clock and blinked, noticing something more to its face. "Huh? What's this?" she murmured, reaching out to open the glass that covered it and poking at the hands of the clock. With a small click, a third hand, slender and appearing to be made of gold, fell into her waiting palm. A soft voice suddenly filled the air, much like when it first appeared to present Jazz with her initial choice about the Trial.

"Trust in the outcast has been destroyed. What has been forged from the outcast is trust in a comrade. Let the bonds of your shame fall away and guide you to the next hunt." it intoned solemnly, then faded away as the teens looked around themselves before grinning in silent agreement. That was true, wasn't it? Jazz felt more like a part of Team Phantom than the meddling but well-intentioned big sister figure she had been beforehand. Danny just about glowed extra brightly with pride, the blush growing deeper on his face as he chuckled softly.

In the meantime, the grandfather clock itself shimmered and vanished slowly, revealing the promised teleporter pad in its place. Jazz blinked down at the pad in surprise, then looked to the item in her hand curiously.

"That is your reward for defeating the Trial." Caleb remarked suddenly, entering the den with a platter of dishes, "Good job uncovering the teleporter, by the way. Well, here we are; curry for everyone, vegetarian style for Sam." He set the platter on the coffee table and gestured for Jazz to join him. Once she was near, he held out a hand to examine the clock hand, lifting it to study after she gave it to him. "It's fool's gold; pyrite." Caleb identified, "Not all that glitters is gold. This is a reminder of the past, of how accepting a gift from a grateful person, no matter their condition and when you had the noblest of intentions for them, should not be something to feel ashamed of." He smiled and gave it back to her. "You should hang on to it, and remember that the woman's gift to you and your brother is part of a timeless chain that enabled you two to help others as well, and those others will turn and help another, continuing on eternally."

Jazz gave the clock hand a new, more appreciative look, smiling as she rubbed her thumb over it before sliding it into her purse. With that, Team Phantom set to eating their lunch in renewed celebration over her victory.


The group found themselves in the next level after doing a restock and injury check in the past Fenton Works. Water supplies were refilled, showers were taken, and Caleb tended to all the injuries, scanning each teen to record their vital signs as he did so. Food supplies were also added to, and with everyone rested -and having taken a few moments to prepare themselves mentally for what they might be facing- they had stepped onto the pad and moved on.

Well, it helped a little.

Danny winced at the sight of rubble and wreckage, his mind flashing back briefly to the ruined future of Amity Park he had seen. This place... it looked a great deal like that reality. A desolate city stretched out before them, the skies dark with rumbling thunderheads and the occasional streak of lightning tore into them, lighting up the dim ruins for brief seconds. Wrecked cars and dead trees littered torn up streets, and the buildings seemed so empty and depressing, battered by age and countless horrors.

"I don't... I don't like this." Danny finally muttered, floating above the rubble as he gave his surroundings a wary glare from the corner of his eyes. He shook his head after a few moments and turned back to the group, "I really don't like..." He stopped abruptly, eyes wide and confused by Caleb's reaction to the new landscape.

The teacher was hugging himself, moving close to the teens in an effort to shield himself from the surroundings, glancing about with a wary and disturbed expression. Team Phantom noticed Danny's silence and the direction of his stare, turning to stare at Caleb as the android quickly tried to recompose himself.

"Okay, now I'm starting to freak." the half-ghost remarked flatly, folding his arms over his chest, "When the billion-year-old angel 'bot gets the heebie-jeebies, it's time to reconsider our choice of school-related field trips."

"I'm not a billion years old." Caleb grumbled, brushing his hair back almost haughtily, "More like a few eons..."

"You don't even go to school, Spook." Valerie added under her breath, glaring up at the halfa. Sam reached into her backpack and pulled out a pair of binoculars, peering through them to check out the city.

"It looks like Amity Park, but most of the definitive landmarks are missing. Probably destroyed." she reported calmly, "Could be any city in the world."

"The Book could have been anywhere and make any city this level." Tucker agreed vaguely, rubbing his chin in consideration, "But Nebilim knows that we're from Amity Park, and it's trying to take over the world from Amity Park. If it wants to break down the only hope the world's got to save it, then it would definitely use Amity Park to mess with our heads." He gestured to Jazz absently. "Like it made the past Fenton Works to mess with Jazz."

Danny floated forward, closer to the teacher, as a concerned expression came over his face. 'Was that... fear? Was he scared? Why? What about seeing a ruined Amity Park would make him scared?' he wondered to himself. "Caleb, you okay? You looked kinda spooked, if you'll pardon the term." he asked out loud. The android shrugged it off carelessly, waving a hand in dismissal.

"It's nothing. Let's get moving. There might be some torches here we can light to boost the Soulfire some more." he replied quickly and began walking forward, picking his way past the rubble. The teens glanced at one another and began following, the phantom hovering by Sam.

"I don't think he's okay." he whispered to the Goth, watching the teacher for signs of movement that could signal he was listening to their conversation, "Something about this level got to him for a minute there. Any clue what it could be?" Sam sighed harshly, shaking her head.

"You'll have to ask Jazz for that kind of a head case. She's the one studying for things like that, remember?" she pointed out and began to dig into her backpack again, swapping the binoculars for the textbook, "But I'll read ahead in the mythology book and see if there are any clues that might be useful." Danny nodded and darted around the group to float alongside Jazz, murmuring his concerns to her about the android. She gave him a worried look.

"I noticed it as well. I've been trying to analyze his mentality by watching his movements and reactions, but just when I think I've got him figured out, he does something or says something or acts totally out of character for the particular personality type I think he is." Jazz sighed in frustration, "There's just no way of accurately identifying his mental patterns and predicting his actions!"

"The power of perfect neutrality." Danny whispered to himself, mouth tightening into a grim expression, "Even his weak points are shielded with that. I don't get it. I don't get any of this!" He ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out what Nebilim wanted with him, why the torches lighting kept putting him on fire that didn't burn, and how Caleb was connected with it all since Nebilim kept declaring him the Fallen Angel. The teacher had said it was because he was 'fallen' from time's effects, but some nagging feeling in his gut hinted that there was something more.


The group traveled a few blocks before Caleb paused, causing everyone else to stop and look to him in confusion. He stood still for a moment, then darted across the street to a large back object that looked as though it had been twisted by the impact of something very large and heavy. Team Phantom raced after him in surprise, blinking when Caleb opened the silver box holding the Soul Stone and shot a bit of its fire into the black object with his ring. A plume of yellow flame burst up from its top like a massive candle.

Danny yelled in alarm, waving his arms and legs around as the pure white flames returned, wrapping around his limbs in brief caresses before fading out again. Tucker had leaped up at him with the blanket in a repeat of before, tackling him to the ground in an attempt to put him out and receiving several annoyed grunts as the phantom struggled to get out, shouting about the fact that the fire was already gone.

"This must be what the new torches are like for this area." Caleb muttered, sparing Danny a glance at the first sound of him shouting about the fire, "We should keep an eye out for these." He knocked on the side of the metal and a panel popped open. Reaching in to grab something from inside, the android studied the object with a practiced eye before turning and tossing it to Tucker, who got to his feet after Danny phased himself free again. "Here. This is an Attack Symbol. It'll increase the strength of your shots." Caleb explained, the boy looking over the little sword-shaped charm before slinging its chain over his head.

"Cool. Is this what they call bling?" the technophile chuckled. Caleb smirked and rolled his eyes before resuming their walk in search of the next teleporter.

They didn't get too far, the thunderheads over the city had decided that it was time to dump their load of rain, and it pounded fiercely upon the teens as they raced to find shelter, running into an empty building to deposit their belongings and start up a campfire. Sam and Valerie set to clearing a space for the fire, Tucker immediately began checking his electronics for damage, Jazz sorted out their rations to see if any had been harmed and decide what would be for dinner.

Danny bent to help his sister when he felt a tap against his arm and looked up to see Caleb motion for him to follow, tapping Valerie as he passed her by and headed back out into the rain.

"What? What's going on?" the huntress asked before he could, raising her arm in a futile attempt to ward off the chill and the rain. Caleb only pointed down the street at a small horde of dark shapes advancing towards them at a quick pace. Danny inhaled sharply, taking to the air as his hands lit up with charging Ghost Rays.

"More monsters!" he exclaimed.

"We've got to defend this place." Caleb agreed, pulling his fork from its strap against his back, "Shouldn't be too many of them, it seems to be a patrol group. This level must be pretty big; several groups of monsters will have been dispatched to patrol portions of it to look for us." He grinned darkly, "We destroy this bunch and this part will be clear for us to use as a base of sorts." Valerie clicked her shoes together, activating the hunter suit that wrapped over her body and equipped her with her favorite guns.

"Then let's mow 'em down!" she declared and shot the phantom a warning glare, "And don't try anything funny, Ghost, or I'll do something painful to you that won't be needing my blaster!"

"Whatever! Here they come!" Danny griped and rushed forward, firing his Ghost Rays. Caleb yelled back into the building.

"Hold this place for us! We're the first wave attack! Anything gets by us, you three take it out before they get to the Soul Stone!" he ordered the other teens, pulling the silver box from his bag and tossing it to Jazz. The carrot-top caught it as Sam threw him a thumb's-up.

"Count on us!" she returned confidently. Caleb nodded and turned back, darting out to join the two ghost hunters already tearing into the horde.

Misshapen wizards chanted in twisted languages as dark spells erupted around the teens and android. Valerie rolled aside from a Gravity Well that bloomed right where she had been, twisting around to fire her rifle on the creature that had tried to crush her in its spell. Though some fell and vanished from the blasts of light that she shot at them, other creatures only shrugged off the attacks and pressed on, not actually casting anything but swinging around broken signposts and pipes.

"What the heck is up with those monsters?" the huntress demanded angrily, leaping back from one and using her rifle as a makeshift shield. Caleb mirrored her stance, eyes narrowing as he let one of the strange monsters whale away at the giant fork.

"Hold on. I'm scanning." he growled just before jerking his head back slightly in shock, "They're fake! These monsters are androids!"

"You mean, they're like you?" Danny exclaimed in surprise, floating overhead as he fired multiple bursts of the Ghost Ray in rapid succession, diving down on occasion to slam his feet into a wizard or two when they refused to stay defeated. Caleb shook his head from side to side in a vague shrug.

"Yes and no. Androids similar to me, but more primitive, lacking in the markers for magitechnology." the angelic android returned and lashed the fork aside, shoving away the mechanical skeleton that staggered about foolishly before finally falling under Valerie's assault of throwing discs. Additional creatures lumbered forward to take their place, joints creaking as green light shone from within their bodies. "These are... ectotechnology based androids..."

"Ah, like Skulker!" Danny remarked, lighting up in understanding. That he knew how to deal with. Shooting down, he grabbed the head of one skeleton and yanked on it, pulling it off and flipping it over to peer inside. "Okay, you little creep...!" he began to growl, then blinked when he found only the usual mish-mash of circuit-boards and conduits, sparking at him like any broken piece of technology. "Hey! There's no ghost in here!"

"And there's too many to handle like this!" Valerie declared, holding up another handful of discs to throw, "I'm running out of ammunition and already two of these things have gotten past us!" Caleb glanced at them, then sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I hate doing this." he muttered, shouldering the fork and kicking over the beheaded android Danny left running about. Another sigh and he looked over at the two teens still battling it out with the rest of the mechanical skeletons and griffins. "Danny, Valerie! Head back to base and help your friends with those two robots that got past us!" he ordered sharply, swinging the fork off his shoulder and spinning it in his hands. Both teens snapped their heads around to stare at him in disbelief.

"What about these ones?" Valerie demanded.

"What about you?" Danny echoed similarly. The teacher only grinned, the spinning picking up speed as it went on.

"Leave it to me! My wings aren't my only trump card!" he laughed, "Now go on! I can't use it if you're still around; you'll mess up the requirements!" Valerie hopped into the air, clicking her heels to activate her hoverboard. The halfa lingered still, firing several more blasts at the creatures below in indecision.

"Come on, Spook! You heard the man! We got a new target!" Valerie shouted at him, zipping back and forth overhead. Danny opened his mouth to protest but she only cut him off. "He knows what he's doing! He's been at this for like a billion years or something!"

"I'm not a billion!" Caleb snapped up at them absently, "Now will you get going already?" When Danny still lingered, the android sighed harshly. "I'll be at the base soon enough, okay? You have something I've been looking for; I'm not about to die here and now!" he added sharply, "Get out of here!" The halfa finally relented, startled by those parting words, then turned quickly to follow the huntress back to the two skeletal robots that were on their way to Sam, Jazz and Tucker.

'Nebilim said that he set things up so Caleb wouldn't have any advantages anymore. Will he really be okay? And what did he mean by that? I have something he was looking for?' he worried to himself, glancing back over his shoulder at the receding figure of the android, still spinning that fork of his over his head. That odd gut feeling from earlier made his stomach twist uncomfortably, but he had to focus on helping his friends first.


By the time Danny and Valerie reached the other teens fending off the stray skeletons that tried getting into the building, the ground had begun to quake almost violently, the darkened sky in the distance lighting up brilliantly with a dome of white and red light that touched halfway up the abandoned apartments. Danny halted dead in the air, staring wide-eyed at the fading light.

"That's where Caleb was." he murmured in shock.

"Danny! Get your butt down here and help!" Sam shouted, kicking at one of the skeletons in a fury. Tucker held a position at the door to the building, pointing his Lens gun at either skeleton that got too near him, firing enough bursts to drive them back to his friends. Jazz had stopped firing her beams of Light once she spotted the creatures were unaffected by the attacks.

"What's with these things?" she exclaimed in frustration, "They're Dark mana based, right? Why aren't the modifications working?"

"They're robots! Just break them!" Valerie replied, dropping her hoverboard, and her weight on it, right on top of one of the skeletal androids, crushing it into the broken asphalt. "Like that!" she finished with a triumphant tone in her voice.

The other teens piled onto the remaining skeleton, pinning it to the ground and alternating in kicking, stomping, yanking and punching it to pieces. Tucker, upon hearing they were robots, wailed at the idea of simply destroying the things before he could have the chance to hack into them and see what made them function.

When all was said and done, the group huddled together inside the building, studying the Soulfire that flickered brightly in its box, swelling with flames and energy. They were already tired, feeling fairly battered, and hungry. There was silence for a few minutes before Sam finally asked the question no one else seemed to want to approach.

"Where's Caleb?"

Danny stiffened and winced, glancing aside quickly as he was reminded of the fact that he'd been ordered to abandon the teacher some time ago. He wasn't really one to just follow along with what he was told; he was leader of Team Phantom for more than just that, right? But the conviction Caleb had when telling him to leave, that confident grin and even the annoyed snap over his age, all of that had made him believe that the android had everything under control. Add on the fact that his friends would soon be fighting something that they weren't fully equipped to deal with and the choice quickly became clear to him; his friends and family over the android.

The idea he chose the many over one made him feel ill, especially since he still had no idea what Caleb meant by his parting words.

"He stayed behind to deal with the horde." Valerie returned bluntly, once she saw that Danny wasn't going to volunteer any information, too busy with staring at a far wall and fiddling with his fingers, "Told us to come back here and give you some added support against those fake monsters. Why worry? He's an android, right? If he breaks, just have Tucker fix him."

"You insensitive, ignorant jerk! You left our only way out of here out there to die? Caleb's not 'just an android'! He's actually a living being and...!" Sam snapped at her, wincing as Danny cringed at her words, shoulders hunching guiltily, "I mean... well...! Not die as in 'The End' kind of dying, y'know?" She waved a hand uselessly as she tried to find a way to amend her words so she could still vent at Valerie without possibly turning Danny Phantom into a puddle of angst-filled goo.

She failed after a minute of voiceless mouthing and dropped her head into her hands, tuning out Jazz's digging into their supply packs for sandwich fixings and the sound of thunder clapping overhead, rain continuing to pound down on their meager base and the wreckage of Amity Park outside. They ate in silence, a plate of sandwiches set before the ghost boy, who barely ate as he turned events over in his own mind, wondering where things had gone wrong, what more he could have done to ensure that the whole group would be safe. Jazz glanced over at him worriedly, reaching out now and then to pat his shoulder in comfort, only to sigh at the mild shaking of his head as he rejected even that in favor of focusing on his internal swirl of guilt beating down on his hope that the teacher was still in one piece. He wanted to put his bets on Caleb still being okay, but the general mood of the situation seemed to be in charge of the jackpot.

"Should we press on? Do we wait for him?" Tucker questioned after another few minutes, watching Sam close the Soul Stone's box and pack it away.

"It's been almost an hour. If he was coming back, he should have been here by now." Valerie murmured and rose to her feet, picking up her bag, "I say we keep going. We still have to rescue the people that were kidnapped and light up that altar to burn this place to bits."

"But... Caleb had the pin that was supposed to be our escape." Jazz pointed out in concern, "Without that, how are we to get out of the Book with everyone before it burns up?" The teens began standing up, collecting their belongings and cleaning up. She looked around at them in dismay. "But... it's still raining! We can't travel in rain! We could get sick!" she tried to stall them, jumping to her feet, "You're carrying metal! What if lightning struck? We should stay here, at least until the rain stops!"

Danny rose from his spot on the floor, floating in silence as he pulled on his own pack along with Caleb's and began drifting towards the door.

"Danny!" Jazz cried his name in disbelief, "You're just gonna go, like that? What about Caleb?" He paused as the rest of the teens began heading out into the rain, arms held up to ward off some of the weather.

"He said he would be back, but he hasn't come yet. Something must have happened." the phantom returned firmly. He shook his head, squared his shoulders, and took a deep breath that sounded only the slightest bit shaky. "We're going to keep moving, but I want to follow his path. There's gotta be a clue or something that can tell us what went down." he added, turning back to give his sister a steady look, "There's still a lot of Soulfire, right? Then we have time to search for him. Come on. He's waiting for us, and probably annoyed that we took too long." Jazz sighed, grabbing her own pack and hurrying after her brother.

"At least you're being optimistic." she muttered under her breath, wincing at the cold as she and Danny headed out into the rain, "Just wish you could be that way when the weather was drier..."


The group pressed on through the rain, hurrying along as fast as they could move in the bad weather and the wrecked streets. The patrol group that had been taken out was indeed for the area they traveled through. Beyond the occasional little runt monster and water-logged bat that was quickly dealt with to feed the Soul Stone, nothing major interfered with their journey. They did, however, stop where the initial battle had been, just to look things over.

There wasn't much left of anything, just odd shadows burned into the surroundings and smoldering rubble in a large crater. Danny flitted around, searching the area for signs of the teacher, promising to let the shock of what he was seeing hit him full on later and leaving that luxury to his friends. They gathered at the edge of the crater, looking in with wide eyes and mouths hanging open.

"What the heck did he do?" Sam blurted out and grabbed for her textbook, hurrying under an overhang to flip through its pages. Jazz poked at the rubble and looked vaguely unsettled.

"Why do I get the feeling that this was like a bomb going off?" she muttered and turned to see her brother fly towards her from the other edge of the crater, "Danny? Find anything?"

"He's alive!" the phantom blurted, thrusting out a fist and opening it to reveal several strands of red hair, "See? I found these a little bit away from here." Valerie scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"That doesn't prove anything. He could have been blown to bits and those are the leftovers you found." she groused. Danny shook his head furiously.

"No way. When we left him, he was standing with his back to us. We went back that way." he reasoned, pointing down the way they had come, "This blast must have come from him, right? Well if it blew him away, then any remains of him should have been thrown back that way." Again he gestured towards the path they just came from, "But I didn't see anything of him there." He turned and pointed ahead, to the other side of the crater. "But there are signs of him all the way over there. That means he moved from here to there." he went on and took on a grim expression. "We're going that way. I want to take a better look at that part of the street and I can't if you're all here and worrying me."

The group glanced at one another, puzzled by the phantom's words. In the end, they gave vague agreement to follow him, shutting up Valerie's vocal protest by jabbing her in the ribs with an elbow. Sam had tucked her book away and rejoined them, a scowl on her face as she trudged alongside Danny and Tucker in their search for a new path through the alleys. The barriers of rubble weren't helping them in keeping track of where the spot was that Danny wanted to check out, so the halfa would fly up at odd times to relocate it from the air.

"So, what did you find out?" Tucker asked of the Goth as Danny took off again to regain their bearings. Sam growled, folding her arms tighter over her body, painted fingernails digging into her skin.

"I tried looking for Caleb's specifications in the chapters, anything about his origins, spells, specialties. All I got were reference codes to other books." she grumbled, "He did a really good job of covering his tracks, even if he let his own picture get printed in the book." She gave him a sidelong glare. "Think you can get access to those other books on your PDA?" she questioned. Tucker reached into his pocket and dug out one of the many devices he carried around, tapping away at the keys.

"Be glad this one is waterproof." he muttered under his breath as he went on tapping.

Silence resumed and the teens marched on, ducking behind rubble once they spotted new monsters walking the streets in their patrols. The safe haven that was created at the price of the teacher was long gone now, and Danny felt a slight twinge of guilt again, feeling as though they had wasted that safe point. But there was nothing more they could do, and he wanted to find Caleb as soon as possible so that they could move on together. He was their way through, their major source of information when anything magical came against them. Without him, things were going to be more of a culture shock to them, with precious moments being squandered to cope with the changes.

They finally managed to reach the street just beyond the crater, tired from the detours they had needed to take to get there. Danny seemed to get his second wind and busily flew around the place, stopping at random points to peer at bits of rubble, indentations in the buildings, smoldering piles of something or another scattered over the ground. After a minute or so, he revisited his own trail again, this time moving slower and 'stepping' in mid-air, placing his feet down as though matching them to steps painted below him.

"What are you doing?" Sam finally groused aloud, fed up with being in the rain with little to no protection from the elements, "Danny!"

"There are a lot of footsteps here. Weird, wouldn't the rain have washed them away?" he returned, turning slowly to follow another series of steps, "He must have moved this way, then this... and then... Hey, his ribbon!" Danny reached down and snatched up the tattered length of green fabric, shooting back to his friends to show it off. "I knew something happened! This is his ribbon; y'know, the one he uses to tie his hair back? He was here, something happened, and now he's not here."

"Your fault." Valerie chimed in before anyone could cut her off. Sam rolled her eyes and glared at the ribbon.

"Brilliant deductive reasoning, Danny. 'He was here, something happened, and now he's not here.'" she grumbled, "So then, Mr. Holmes, where is he now?" Danny looked around himself, then turned to his sister.

"Jazz, doesn't this street head towards the city plaza?" he asked. Jazz blinked, looked around herself more attentively, then nodded slowly. "Then that's probably where Caleb was taken." He gestured back at the rubble. "There are more footprints there that don't match up; Caleb wasn't alone here, so someone or something else grabbed him somehow and took off with him to the plaza."

With a new goal in mind, the group of teens continued their journey, a little more hopeful than before, but still just as tired. Tucker's only complaint, when he bothered to look up from his PDA, was that he was already missing the meals Caleb whipped up whenever they made camp. Once the others began agreeing with him on the need for food and a place to sit that was dry and warm, Danny turned to looking for a place to house themselves in for a short time.

"Okay, I'm in the Archives online section. What's one of the reference codes?" Tucker suddenly asked while the group took cover in an old store to rest, eat and check on the Soulfire. The silver flames had dwindled in size from the travel and without the Sorcerer's Ring the teens couldn't light the torches to add more fire. Danny and Valerie left after a quick snack to try gathering fire by pounding on some of the wandering monsters.

"Huh?" Jazz put in, looking between the two teens left with her as she worked on her own studies, "You're online? Here? In the Book?" Sam opened her textbook, flipping through pages again as Tucker shrugged noncommittally at the carrot-top.

"Reference Caleb the automated doll, code 23, from The Historical Significance of the Wonder Organization." she finally rattled off and went back to another chapter, "There was a period of unrest after Symphonia was formed that threw off a lot of events for Caleb here. For a couple of years, he was left alone and had to piece together a historical account based on stories and rumors told to him by his friends and various people he came across."

"Oh? You mean the Ratatosk Calamity?" Jazz remarked, flipping through the pages, "I read about that. There was a reference code attached to one of the chapters as well. Do you think it'll help?"

"Wait till I get done with this one." Tucker muttered, his PDA beeping at him, "Sam's code brings up a dossier on Caleb, but nothing on his big name spells. Just little ones that look basic; Fireball, and stuff." He looked over at Jazz. "What's your code?" Jazz studied the pages closely before reading aloud.

"Reference Caleb's research, code 5, from The Theory of Mana Transfer and Substitution." she returned and looked up expectantly as Tucker punched in the new code and looked over the incoming results.

"If that doesn't get us anything..." Sam began, trailing off when Danny and Valerie returned from the rainy field, carrying a small basket of items.

"Honey, we're home!" Danny laughed, floating over to Sam and depositing the basket at her feet. Though he sounded upbeat, the Goth knew somehow that he was still hurt by the loss of their mythology teacher. She raised an eyebrow at his comment before picking up the basket and looking through the items.

"Let's see. Some bottles of whatever, looks like potions of some kind; some little bits of metal and ore; herbs... What kind of monster carries around rosemary leaves?" she pointed out incredulously. Danny shrugged, poking at the various little charms that were in the mix.

"How's the Soulfire?" Valerie huffed, wiping a film of sweat from her forehead as she took a spot by the campfire. Sam glanced her way, then opened the box to take a peek.

"Not bad. It's a bit bigger than before you guys left." she remarked and closed the lid, "Still would be easier to do if we had the Ring back." Tucker's PDA beeped again and the techno-geek began reading aloud.

"...similar mana signatures... channel the soul of one being into another... Sorry, Jazz, this doesn't seem to work for us." he reported with a shake of his head, "It's just his theory on reincarnation or something." He pulled his hat off to scratch his head. "Nothing on his spells."

"Try reference Caleb's artifacts, code 16, The Historical Significance of the Wonder Organization." Sam blurted out, looking over her book again. Danny and Valerie looked confused.

"What are you doing?" the phantom asked.

"Figuring out what he did that blew a chunk of Amity Park to kingdom come." Tucker replied shortly, tapping at his PDA again. It beeped fairly quickly and he peered at the screen. "It brings up his fork right off the bat. Wonder Fork... contains ingrained spell utilized only when certain requirements are met... causes destruction on a massive scale in a local area similar to a very small nuclear explosion..." He paused, eyebrows lifted. "Sounds like that's our bomb." he remarked. Danny snapped his fingers.

"That's gotta be it! Just before he ran us off, Caleb said that he had a trump card that he couldn't use with us around because we threw off the requirements!" he exclaimed, "Does it say what it is? Would it have hurt Caleb too?" Tucker read the entry over again, shaking his head.

"It's called Incineration, and no, it's not supposed to do anything to the spell-caster. All attack spells cast by a person don't harm that same person, nor do they harm members of that person's group." he explained, "That's why some of the spells Caleb cast didn't hurt us, even if we didn't have a chance to get out of the way."

"Then why did his spell blast me back when we met at the library?" Danny mused aloud, blinking at Sam's harsh sigh.

"Because at that time, Caleb didn't consider you a 'group member'. He was operating solo." she griped and looked up at her friend with narrowed eyes, "So to him, at that moment, you were just as much an enemy as whatever it was he was aiming at." The half-ghost stared back at her in alarm, finally swallowing hard at the idea.

Caleb had considered him an enemy? Then... why the change to being protective of him? Was it because he was Amity Park's Hero? Or...?

"You have something I've been looking for..."

"So... does this mean his spell didn't blow him to pieces?" Valerie asked, bringing Danny back to reality with a little shudder.

"In a nutshell, yeah." Tucker agreed, slipping the device away, "He's still in one piece, like Danny said. He just didn't come back to base; probably because of whatever Danny figured out happened on the other side of the crater."

The rain showed no sign of letting up as the teens pondered over that mystery. The teacher had been perfectly fine, if that spell of his really did wipe out all the creatures in that horde. Then something else, many something elses, came in and confronted him. Why hadn't he hit them with the same spell, and what happened to Caleb himself if he failed to deal with them?

A strange roaring began to build outside, catching the attentions of the young heroes as the noise began to clear up and sound more like chanting. Sam's eyebrows furrowed together and she reached out to place a hand on Danny's back. In some unspoken way, some silent transfer of mental message, Danny understood what she was saying, and drifted forward, turning invisible as he phased through the front wall of the store to investigate.


A large mass of monsters, wizards, creatures and robots were marching down the streets, thrusting rubble and broken signposts and whatever was at hand into the air, sounding like a parade as they chanted in hollow, deep, dark voices.

"Ma-ster! Ma-ster! Ma-ster!" the horde roared, oblivious to the ghost boy flying over them and following the masses.

There were some people scattered amongst the creatures, wild-eyed and almost mindless with fear and adoration, mirroring the horde by pumping their own fists into the air. They chanted alongside the monsters, staggering along in tattered clothing.

Danny thought he recognized some of the people, various students, some adults in the anti-DP group, even a pair of girls from the Phantom Phangirls Club that took up a portion of the park for their weekly club meetings. Where were they going? What was going on?

He wished he had remembered to put on a pair of Fenton Phones before heading out in the rain.

The chanting horde pushed on through the wreckage and the rubble, chanting still, turning at the end of the street towards a large, open plaza just before the City Hall building where the mayor's office was located. Danny flew along swiftly, entering the plaza and stopping abruptly as he looked at what the thousands of monsters and people were gathering around.

A towering column of twisted metal pierced the sky, standing roughly a hundred and fifty feet in the air. It was adorned with wicked spikes, looking like some metallurgist's nightmare vision of a rose vine spiraling out of the ground. At its peak was Caleb, arms supported by twists of metal binding him to the spire.

Danny uttered a little gasp of shock and rushed up to take a closer look at the teacher, careful to remain unseen to the masses gathering below. Caleb looked relatively unharmed, battered a bit considering the markings on his face and his hair being mussed and loose, but he also seemed to be unconscious. The giant fork remained strapped to his back, which was a bit of a relief on Danny's part, as he didn't want to have to go hunting for that thing later as well. The ghost boy reached out, poking at his shoulder first, then shaking him slightly.

"Caleb! Wake up!" he urged softly. No response. Danny bit his lip, hovering back a bit as he scratched his head in confusion. Caleb was an android, so he had to have some kind of 'on' switch or something, right? Maybe there was something special that he needed to do to get him to wake up? He raked through his memories, thinking hard as to what could be used to wake up the teacher.

Then one scene popped up in his mind, sharp and baffling. Back when he was still uncertain as to Caleb's true identity, Danny remembered that instance of the class calling out to their daydreaming teacher, and Caleb had snapped to attention instantly. What was it they said? Maybe that was some kind of special code; Caleb himself said that he had an automatic response to it that he never got over.

"Up and at 'em, Caleb?" Danny began listing off desperately, "Hello, Caleb? Welcome back, Caleb?"

The android simply hung there, looking so much like a dead man that Danny was beginning to panic, flitting back and forth in ghostly pacing, trying to keep his eyes focused on anything but the captive teacher.

"Nice day, Caleb? Let's go, Caleb? Wakey wakey, Caleb?" the ghost boy kept rattling off, "Geez, what did we say that day?" He paused, the proverbial light going off in his head. "Oh, c'mon, it can't be that simple!" he exclaimed in exasperation and turned to face the android, "Good afternoon, Caleb!"

Immediately, Caleb lifted his head, eyes quickly opening and lighting up, staring straight ahead.

"Welcome. Please state your business." he stated in monotone before blinking in surprise and looking around himself, "What in Martel's name...?" Danny breathed a sigh of relief, nearly dropping out of the air before catching himself and floating in place. Caleb blinked again, then turned his head sharply to peer at his invisible form. "Danny? What are you doing here?" he questioned.

"Trying to rescue you? Duh." the halfa retorted and gestured towards the twisted metal holding the android in place, "What happened here? How did you wind up like this?" Caleb sighed almost dismally and hung his head again.

"Would you believe I met a few familiar faces and lost horrendously against them?" he muttered. He managed a slight shrug and lifted his head with a somewhat annoyed expression. "What I would like to know is why some of my own creations are here in the Book, and why they've turned against me. After clearing out the horde, I began to make my way back to the base. That's when I found myself surrounded by some old Heroes I knew. Once I realized they were against me, I fought back and... well, you can see what happened." Caleb griped and began a more genuine struggle to get free, "I'm not sure when they got me on this stupid thing, but it must have been while I was offline. Can you figure out what's going on, what they're planning to do to me?"

"Alright. Lemme see what's up." Danny sighed and dove down to mingle among the crowds. Avoiding the monsters was no easy feat, and an attempt to overshadow one of the humans failed horribly, though Danny couldn't see right away why that happened. He flitted about, searching for some clue, some hint, that someone knew what the ruckus was all about. Either everyone already knew what was happening and were just waiting for it to happen, or they were just confused on when Christmas started and mistook Caleb for the Christmas angel that went on the top of their twisted 'tree'.

He crossed his fingers for 'Christmas angel' and headed back up to the android to let him know he was just as clueless as the redhead was.

Caleb didn't seem that amused by the situation, and only scowled deeper at Danny's nervous laughter. In the end, the phantom decided to float down and stay close to the base of the spire, hoping to stave off whatever events were about to happen. Going back to the abandoned store to collect his friends for help would leave too large of a window open for something to happen to Caleb and Danny would be unable to do anything to stop or stall it.

After a minute, a figure stepped out from City Hall and fluttered with wispy green wings towards the base of the twisted vine of metal. Danny floated back away from the figure, looking it over in an attempt to recognize it. Uncertain of the newcomer's identity, he flew up to talk to Caleb.

"Eve Voraci, twin sister to Wren. I built her using a similar model to Adam." the android replied flatly, though Danny could just about make out an annoyed tone hidden in his voice, "She was one of the androids that ambushed me."

"Servants to the Master, hear my words!" Eve declared from her place below them, holding her arms out to the masses of monsters, robots and people, "We have captured one of the enemies of the Master and will commence with the execution!"

"Oh, I'm not liking the sound of that." Danny groaned softly.

"You don't like it? I'm the one strapped to this thing!" Caleb hissed, trying to wrench one arm free of the twirl of metal that held it in position. The blonde girl standing at the base turned her face upward, smiling at him with a cruelty that looked disturbing on her pretty features.

"Arrivederci, Caleb. This world belongs to the Master now." she purred and turned to flutter over to a large generator, a lever positioned just before it.

"What's with the ghostly wings?" Danny wondered aloud just before diving down again to stop the activation of the machine. Caleb huffed and shook his head, annoyed at being unable to answer the question due to the boy taking off so suddenly.

Eve hit the lever just as Danny dropped his invisibility to fire a full-powered Ghost Ray. The crowd roared out at the sight of the phantom floating there, the generator kicked on, and Caleb shrieked at the flood of electricity racing up the twisted vine, lighting it up and dancing over him. The blonde snapped off the lever and flew up to join Danny, gripping her new weapon with a grin.

"Another of the former Master's little pets, huh? Was he saving you for another of his little dreams, or maybe you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time?" she crooned, flapping her ghostly wings.

"Are you my Trial?" Danny snapped, rushing forward with a flurry of punches. The girl dodged them, still smiling.

"Oh, no, no, no, dearie. I'm just the one carrying out the execution under the Master's order." she purred, then spun in mid-air, using the centrifugal force to put more power behind the strike of the lever, sending Danny crashing into the street, the masses parting swiftly to avoid being hit by him. He recovered quickly, phasing through the asphalt to dodge a knee dive from the angelic blonde, then reappearing beside the generator.

Ghost Rays weren't doing the trick against the thing and when he tried to freeze it with an Ice Ray, the machine gave off a strange ripple effect that deflected the cold. It seemed oddly protected against his powers, and there wasn't much time to try another tactic, as Eve was after him again, swinging the lever around like a rapier, laughing gaily at him. Danny phased again, only to find himself getting knocked for a loop when Eve swung her arm aside and slammed him squarely in the chest.

Overhead, the electricity continued pouring into the android, Caleb having gone silent in favor of locking up and desperately trying to use the fork on his back to channel the current out and away from him. If he'd been electrocuted in his early years of existence, the Tri-Crystal System would have shattered, leaving him without power and vulnerable to destruction. The shields he had now would hold a little longer, but his equivalent to pain was growing by the second with various connections burning out one after another.

"Oh, what's the matter, sweetie?" Eve purred, lifting Danny's chin with a fingertip as he slumped against a nearby half-statue, battered from the skirmish between him and the strange angel that could deal with his ghost powers. The rain soaked him, weighing him down and threatening to drown him where he sat. "I thought a pet of Caleb's would have a little more, how you say, 'pep'?"

"H-how are you d-doing that? You c-can get through... my ghost powers..." the halfa managed to cough out, pushing against the marble to get to his feet again, "And your wings... they're... not like Caleb's..." Eve chuckled softly, prodding at the teen's chest with her lever, tapping right on the insignia he wore.

"Because I'm not like him. Not anymore." she replied sweetly, leaning close to the boy, "I've been adjusted to use a new power source, a source that will last and last, growing ever more powerful as the years fly by." Danny swallowed hard, then shivered, a wisp of pale blue flowing from his mouth catching him, and Eve, by surprise. She blinked at it. "What is this? Bad breath?" she questioned warily.

"No. Ghost sense." Danny returned, a smile forming on his face, "I get it. You're ecto-based; you're getting power from ectoplasm." The smile turned more cocky, smug, as he clenched his hands into fists. "Which means that the stuff inside you channels ghost powers!" And before Eve could connect the implications together, Danny phased into her body, overshadowing the android.

"Whoa." he muttered, lifting the android's hands to look them over. The roar of dissatisfaction from the hordes snapped him back to attention and he flew up out of their reach, turning to look back at the spire holding Caleb bound, "Right! That thing!" He shot forward, punching into the generator with newfound android strength ripping into the metal with impunity.

The flow of electricity halted and Caleb remained frozen in place. Danny sighed harshly and rose back up to his level. Once more, he spoke the phrase 'Good afternoon, Caleb!' and the android sluggishly returned with his own code phrase, relaxing his limbs as best he could before lifting his head to blink at the overshadowed android.

"Danny?" he slurred brokenly, "What... are you... doing... in that?"

"Struggling." the phantom returned in a strained voice, "She's fighting to get control back. How do I shut her off?"

"Tri-Crystal... System. In the center... of her chest. Destroy it." Caleb muttered curtly. Danny flew back from the android, focusing on the inner workings of the girl he was overshadowing. He couldn't find a way of cutting off power; she was getting it from outside of herself. The Tri-Whatever Caleb spoke of wasn't there, just some little chamber that seemed to be receiving ectoplasm. By the time he lost control of Eve, Danny had decided the easiest way to deal with this problem was to grab onto that chamber and phase it out with him when he was ejected from the android.

Eve gave him a vicious glare a split second before her power completely evaporated and she dropped like a rock, smashing into the street. Danny fired a double blast of the Ice Ray down at her to keep her detained, just in case, before heading back to the teacher.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked Caleb, who gave him a mild glare in return.

"I've got... mild to serious... damages to my... systems..." he grumbled, "Get my arm out." The halfa touched the twisted metal, turning it intangible so the android could fall free of it. Quick flips of metal on metal and Caleb's wings burst into life, vibrant red and somewhat unstable, slowing his descent to the angry masses below. Startled, Danny quickly grabbed onto the back of Caleb's coat, utilizing a great amount of his ghostly strength to keep the android supported and halting his fall. Caleb's hand clapped to the pin on his lapel and he muttered a few words before a soft white glow suffused him and the wings steadied, their power growing stable again. Once they were flapping and holding him aloft, Danny released his jacket and floated by him, a worried look on his face. "I said, an arm!" Caleb growled at him, "I needed repairs from the Pin first, to get my systems fully operational!"

"Geez, sorry for saving your life then!" Danny retorted and gestured towards the mess of monsters now chanting out spells, "So what about them?" Caleb pointed at a group of 'angels' flying out of the roof of City Hall, ghostly wings lighting up the stormy night.

"I'm more worried about what they're gonna do to us." he added and sighed, "I'm for strategic retreat. You?"

"Running is good. Heroes do it too! The book said so!" Danny agreed in a rush, turning invisible and racing off back to the abandoned store. Caleb sighed in dismay, shrugging and shaking his head before murmuring another wish on his pin for invisibility and following the halfa.