Danny and Jack stood a few feet apart on a sparring mat. Danny's training with his powers was moving along much faster with The Ring of Varda. Not only did it make his powers easier to use, but he found them easier to conjure on his own without the ring. So Jack had shifted his training to something more physical. After about twenty minutes on the weight machine, which made Danny's arms extremely sore, both of them had done karate outfits and Jack went through the basics of self-defense. After several minutes, Danny was looking up at the ceiling with Jack standing over him.

"Being a little rough on a beginner?"

Jack shrugged and helped the teen to his feet. "Practical application is the only way to learn. Toughens you up!"

"If I live through it." An alarm went off and a red light flashed from a small computer in the corner. "What is that?"

"We have an intruder." Jack walked over to the computer and switched it on. The screen showed a pair of individuals standing just outside the warehouse door.

Danny recognized them and groaned. "Those are my parents. How did they find me?"

"No doubt some crazed tracking device with the word Fenton tacked on. No signal can escape these walls, but no doubt they have been searching the area where they lost the signal." Jack switched the screen off. "You need to get out there and stall."

"How am I going to stall?"

"Effectively hopefully. Just give me five minutes."

Danny nodded and ran to the door. Taking a few deep breaths, he opened the door and smiled. "Mom! Dad!"

Before his father could say a word, Maddie grabbed Danny's shoulders. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to come home right after school. The ghosts out there might attack you for revenge against us."

"Mom, this place has the latest anti-ghost tech from Mastercorp."

"What are you doing here?"

Danny motioned to his outfit. "Just some self-defense classes. I'm getting tired of Dash kicking my butt every other day."

His father, Jack, scratched his head. "Why not just ask your mother? She has a black belt in kung-fu."

"Judo and Jujutsu, honey." Maddie managed a small smile. "I understand, but you needed to tell us."

"Sorry, but I didn't want to trouble you. You guys have been so busy with the ghosts."

His mom hugged him. "We will never be too busy for you." She stood up and tried to step past Danny.

"Where are you going?"

"To meet this teacher of yours." Before Danny could argue further, his parents pushed past him and entered the warehouse. Danny rushed to join them and was stunned at the sight before him. A group of twenty teenagers were at the far side of the warehouse, doing exercises. Jack Sparrow was dressed up in a fancier karate outfit and watching as Sam flipped Tucker over her shoulder and onto the mat. Maddie nodded. "Well, he seems to have a large class." She looked at the various training equipment that was all over the warehouse. "Strange equipment thou."

Jack Sparrow turned and smiled. "Ah, you must be The Fentons." He glanced at Tucker. "Good going, young one. Now get up and try again." Jack turned and walked to Danny's parents. There was an echoing thud from the mat as he got to them. "Have him in tip top shape in no time. Name is Flying Sparrow, how can I help you?"

Jack Fenton leaned forward and looked at Jack Sparrow with a critical eye. "I've seen you somewhere before."

"Really?" Sparrow stroked his goatee and moved into a pose Danny had seen from one of The Pirates of the Caribbean posters.

"You were in a movie?" Jack scratched his head and snapped his fingers. "Tron!"

Sparrow suppressed a chuckle. "A walk on role, not really worth mentioning."

Maddie patted her husband's shoulder. "We were just wondering who was keeping our son from home."

Jack Sparrow bowed. "My sincerest apologies my dear madam." He took her gloved hand and gently kissed it. "I had no idea I was causing such a beautiful and radiant young woman to worry." Both Maddie's and Jack Fenton's face grew red. One from the flattery and one from jealously. Sparrow ignored it completely and continued to shower Danny's mom with compliments.

"Well you certainly seem to be a good teacher." Maddie stepped onto the mat and watched the group go through their forms. "What style were you taught?"

"I am a student of all the major styles and forms. Everything from plan old Karate to Ninjitsu. I was also one of Bruce Lee's last students. Now that man had a style."

Maddie rolled her shoulders and took a stance. "Show me! If you're going to teach my son, I want to make sure you know what you're talking about."

Sparrow smiled. "This should be interesting."

Jack lunged and the two exchanged everything from blows to throws for nearly ten minutes. The group of students ignored them, but Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Jack Fenton stood aw struck as the two went at it. Jack Fenton tugged on his collar as he watched his wife do a flip in midair and land on her feet. "Never seen your mother move like this before." The teens slowly moved away from Jack.

Sparrow threw a palm strike, which Maddie caught and she promptly flung him to the mat. As he tried to get up, Maddie pinned him down with her boot. Jack laughed. "You are a very talented person, Miss Fenton. If you weren't taken, I might be tempted."

"And you're a shameless flatter and egomaniac. But I think my son will benefit from your classes. Just have him home by seven thirty."

"As you wish!" Jack tried to get up, but couldn't. "Would you mind removing your foot?"

"Sorry." Maddie removed her foot and walked over to her husband. "Let's go honey! I'll bake you some cookies."

"You got it." Jack Fenton ran for the exit.

Maddie Fenton patted her son on the head. "Behave yourself and we'll see you at home." She walked out of the warehouse and closed the door.

Jack jumped to his feet and clapped his hands. The group of students vanished. He walked over to Danny and gave him a careful stare. "Are you sure you're not adopted?"

"Very funny!" Danny looked to his two friends. "How did you guys get here?"

"Jack stopped time and told me and Sam you needed us." Tucker rubbed his back. "Granted I didn't think it would be so painful."

Sam smacked Tucker on the back which caused the boy to yell. "It was fun."

Jack checked his watch. "It's just past five, but let's call it a day. For being so helpful in giving Danny an alibi, I have a special treat for you." He waved his hands and three movie tickets appeared in his hand. "Go an enjoy yourselves. Now I can train the boy without worrying about his parents."

The trio took the tickets. Sam turned them around. "How did you know what movie we wanted to see?"

"Time travel! Now run along!" The group went to go change and Jack waved goodbye as they left. "Nice bunch."

"You're too light handed on the child!" Clockwork appeared next to Jack in his child form. "He is behind schedule."

Jack glanced at Clockwork as he shifted to his adult form. "There are far more important things than power. One must have their heart in the right place."

"The forces of darkness are beginning to take shape. I hope his heart is up to it." Clockwork vanished.

Sparrow sighed; Clockwork's message had been crystal clear for once. He was running out of time.

Amber McClain maneuvered around the small groups of students the cluttered the hallways of Casper High. Outside a few glances, the Goth girl was largely ignored by everyone else. She ducked down a little used hall and stopped at the door that led to the basement. Quickly checking to see if it was clear, she slipped through the door. The door was supposed to be locked, but it was broken and the school was too cheap to fix it. Amber descended the small flight of stairs and walked through the large basement. She ducked under some water pipes and squeezed passed a water heater. It was a well hidden corner of the basement where she had set up a chair and small table. It was the only place she could truly be alone. She sat down and flopped her backpack on the table. She reached under the table and found the pack of cigarettes she had taped to the bottom of it. She placed one of the cigarettes in her mouth and brought up her lighter to light it. A sudden chill filled the area and the flame on the lighter flickered out.

"Those are bad for you!" A male voice that sounded like it was from the grave filled Amber's ears.

She dropped the lighter and cigarette in her mouth. "Who is there?"

"Run little girl." The voice sounded both distant and close.

Amber left her corner and ran towards the stairs. She stopped in shock as she noticed the stairs had vanished. The door was still where it was supposed to be, but no way to get up to it. "What is going on?" A shadow flew past her and she spun around to follow it. There was nothing there. She started to back up and her back bumped against something, it wasn't a wall. She turned and came face to face a metal skull with a sinister grin its face.

"Miss me?"

Amber screamed and fell out of her bed as the image of the metal skull stuck in her mind. Realizing she was laying on a carpet and not the cold stone floor of the school, she clawed at her bed to pull herself into a sitting position. She took several deep breaths as she waited for her heart rate to go down. There was a slight knock and Zack opened the door.

"You alright?"

Amber wiped some sweat from her forehead. "I'm fine. Just a bad dream."

"You need anything?" Amber shook her head no. Zack nodded, "Try to get some sleep."

"Wait! It's not that early." A quick glance told both of them it was three thirty in the morning. Zack took one look at Amber's face and realized sleep was the last thing she wanted.

"I'll put on some coffee; you want to find a DVD?"

Amber managed a small smile. "Yeah." Zack yawned and turned to leave. "Zack, Thanks!" Her injured bass player simply nodded again and went to the kitchen. Amber pulled herself to her feet and hugged herself. She didn't know why, but that skull face was familiar.

Author Note: Sorry about the long wait. Bad combination of computer crashing and lost hardware disks. Quick lesion from this, always back up your files. I hope to return to constant updating. Thank you for your patience.