Time in the Heart
By: Wilona Riva
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.
Sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here - Jack Nicholson 'As Good As It Gets'
Dangerous Planet
"I've known you were coming since before time began," the Time Master called out to them. "Quit lurking in my doorway."
"Sorry, Time Master, we didn't want to bother you," Apricot called back.
"Just use your viewing screen to get to the human world and find Danny," Youngblood added under his breath.
"Not on my watch," Clockwork said, emerging from the shadows. If it's one thing the Ghost Zone had in abundance, it was plenty of shadows to hide in.
The Time Master looked over this group of unlikely friends. "I believe Wulf told you to 'watch and wait', Princess Ember," he said sternly.
"Yeah, but we have no time for that. Danny needs us," she argued. Apricot, the parrot, and Youngblood nodded in agreement.
"Young Daniel is where he needs to be at this moment. See for yourselves," he opened a viewing portal for them, while shifting from old man to young child.
"Plum!" Danny's pet screamed in horror as the guns trained on them prepared to open fire.
"Jazz," a human female yelled, "shut off the security system!"
"Kay, Mom!" a girl yelled back. She looked to be about a year or two older than Danny.
Moments dragged by, then the gun retracted into the wall.
Danny and Plum were visibly shaken.
Maddie went to reassure him that everything was alright, but he shrank away from her.
"Get away from me, ghost hunter! You tricked me!" he yelled at her, feeling the power once more begin to surge.
Maddie saw his eyes begin to glow, when they both heard a voice behind them.
"Mommy, who's that?" the girl appeared. She was willowy, with carrot-red hair, blue-grey eyes, and wore a yellow sundress with bell-sleeves. She was barefoot.
"This is your new brother," Maddie said carefully, trying to keep Danny's glowing eyes from her view.
"Jazz, I'd like you to meet Danny."
Danny fought the power surge and felt himself return to normal, but his heart still raced from the previous excitement.
He peered around Maddie's waist at the girl.
"Aww, he's a bit shy," Jazz said. "He's so cute!"
Danny glared at her. "I'm not a baby, human."
Ember smacked one fist into the open palm of her other hand. "Hands off, girl, he's mine!"
Apricot had to laugh. "Someone's being over-possessive," she said in a singsong tone.
Youngblood quietly continued watching the scene unfold.
Maddie went down to the basement lab, while the kids got acquainted with one another.
Seeing the scorch marks on the wall and Jack, desperately, trying to hide the Fenton Bazooka behind his back, she arched an eyebrow.
"What happened in here?" she asked.
"Nothing," her husband lied, flicking the remains of the ghost gingerbread man behind his back.
"Oh really?" Maddie asked, raising one eyebrow. "Then, why are you trying to hide the Fenton Bazooka behind your back?"
"Ghost Gingerbread Man?" he said, more asking than saying.
"Never mind," she told him. "I tracked that anomaly we noted a few weeks ago and found a young boy in an alley behind Papa Penne's Italian Diner in the inner city."
"So?" her husband asked. "What's so special about this boy?"
"He was raised by ghosts in the dimension called the Ghost Zone. We've been trying to build a portal to there since college," she reminded him.
"I hope, V-man's ecto-acne cleared up," Jack said, flashbacking to when their proto-portal blew up in his best friend's face during a test-run.
"I'm sure he's fine, Jack. Danny can tell us a lot about ghost society, their powers, and such," Maddie said, her voice rising in excitement.
"You know what this means, Mads?" Jack cried out.
"That we can finally catch a ghost and experiment on him?" she asked.
"No," Jack said, face faulting.
"Then what?" she asked him.
"Then we can prove to the world we're not crackpots!" Jack crowed.
Maddie groaned and wondered for the nth time why she'd married him.
"Just come upstairs and meet Danny, please," she entreated.
"Sure, let me put this baby charging," her husband said.
"They're going to raise him to be a ghost hunter!" Youngblood yelled. "We have to get him out of there."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Clockwork said, changing to a young adult male. "The Fentons play a crucial future role in young Daniel's life."
"How so?" Apricot asked.
"One of their inventions will activate and young Daniel will forever be changed," Clockwork hinted.
"Can we go to the human world now?" Ember asked, hopefully.
"No," was the singular reply.
"Maybe Jorge knows a way," Apricot suggested.
"Then what are we waiting around here for," Youngblood said. "Let's go!"
"Bye, Clockwork!" they called back, when they were past the doorway to the Time Master's lair.
The young man became a child once more and smirked to himself. The story was getting even more interesting with each chapter. He loved his job.