"I'm going ghost!"
"I can't believe you didn't want to attend your own ceremony."
"Well, you know me. I kind of like sitting on the sidelines sometimes."
"And your folks are cool with knowing your secret identity?"
"Yeah, the time for secrets is over. The world is safe, time for new beginnings. My dad even says he wants me to team up with him now. Says I can be his sidekick."
"You're a big star now. Probably the biggest in the world." She said.
"Yeah, it's weird, huh?"
"You'll probably get pretty busy."
"What else is new?"
Her smiled faded. "And I probably won't see much of you anymore."
"Oh, I wouldn't count on that." He said, holding up the ring and placed it on her finger. "Sam, I could never have done any of this without you."
Her eyes were now shedding tears.
"And I don't care what's coming next. I just hope whatever it is you're there to share it with me." Danny said, honestly and happily.
"I will be." She blinked her tears away. "I just have to warn you, I'm no pushover, you know. I still have my own way of doing things."
"That's what I'm counting on."
With that they shared that long awaited kiss.
Danny then stood up and changed into his ghost form. "What do you say? Want to go for a ride? See where the future takes us?"
Sam stood up and clasped his hands. "Why not?"
He picked her up and like that they were off, flying over the city and the statue of him in front of City Hall.
"Cool statue. Personally, I would've made it out of recycled materials." Sam commented. "But you know, that's just me."
They sealed their trip by flying off dramatically in the direction of the moon.
"Will you shut up about having to listen to you already?!" Danny snapped, eyes glowing green.
The sudden shout caused Tucker to stumble back into his chair, completely stunned from his own friend shouting at him.
"For once in your life listen to me, Tucker and keep your mouth shut. No one cares about your 'City of the Future'! What they do care about is the fact that you cost them their homes, their jobs and maybe the future of their kids because you couldn't take one second to listen to someone else outside of your whiny voice that all your ideas were bad ones! You wanted to make everything automated and make everyone so dependent on your gadgets that it never occurred to you that they would not only have no clue how to work but also because you were just wanting to make everyone fat and lazy!" Danny continued ranting. "And instead of admitting your fault you just want me to clean up your mess and scare everyone in to accepting you're crazed up ideas? Well guess what?" Danny slammed both hands on the table. "It's not going to happen so here's the smart thing to do: resign. Quit, give the job to the next guy if there are any left at all. You've clearly shown you don't care about this city or helping its people, just making it great for you!"
"He's your friend, you should have helped him."
"How? I'm no politic. I wasn't going to force them to back down because they had legitimate grievances with Tucker. What could I have done?" Danny argued. "And since when do you believe in enforcing law on people? This is the kind of protest you love taking part in."
"Not against my own friend." Sam spread her arms out. "I stand against unfairness, hypocrisy and the government making us obedient slaves."
"And what Tucker was doing wasn't any of those?" Danny asked, unable to believe what he was hearing. "He was being unfair to those people when he didn't listen to them and expected to make his problems go away."
"He's your friend."
"And I'm supposed to bail him out? If it was Vlad or the previous mayor you'd be joining that crowd." Danny pointed out.
"So would you." Sam retorted.
"Vlad, yeah. He would have it coming but not every politician. You were on my case all through high school to be responsible about my powers, even though you did some things that were pretty irresponsible." Danny snapped.
"Name one." Sam challenged.
"You convinced me to go into the portal." Danny held up one finger.
"You wanted to go in!" Sam argued. "If not for me you wouldn't have your ghost powers-"
"I never wanted my powers in the first place!" Danny cut her off and held up her second finger. "And after that, you forced your vegan menu on everyone."
"It was ultra-recycling-"
"It was vegan!" Danny cut her off. "Just because you give it different names to not sound like mainstream. After that, you angered a ghost and made me clean your mess up without even admitting your part in it."
"Ghost attacks happen all the time!" Sam argued.
"Then you let a gorilla out, endangering it and everyone else in the zoo. If someone was in that gorilla's path they could have been hurt and the gorilla could have been killed." Danny continued, bringing up a second finger.
"I was trying to release it back into the wild!" Sam said, continuing to deny her putting people in danger. "And how is leaving it in a cage any better?"
"One: the laws for treating animals in zoos are a lot better now. Two: this isn't the wild. It's a concrete jungle filled with people who have screamed and ran for their lives, scaring the gorilla into frantically finding a way out and you of all people should know how dangerous a frightened animal gets." Danny answered, holding up a third finger. "You brought robot frogs instead of real ones into science class and that caused a mess."
"Better than real frogs!"
Danny held up a fourth finger. "You then threatened to show everyone a picture of Tucker and me hugging each other at school to keep us quiet! What kind of friend does that? We were afraid of everyone getting the wrong idea and making our lives more miserable which is something only a bully like Dash or Paulina would do."
Sam scowled. "I was bluf-"
"No you weren't. You would have and don't lie to me." Danny snapped. "You don't bluff, Sam. When you say you're going to do something then you're going to do. Oh, and let's not forget how you almost told me secret to that Greg-oh I mean Elliot after you knew him for one week."
"You spied on me!" Sam shouted.
"And you were going to tell him my secret without asking me!" Danny argued back. "You don't consider that a violation of trust?"
"He was new and I wanted to give him the benefit of doubt!" Sam said, trying to justify herself.
"It was still not your secret to tell!" Danny shook his head. "You always have to have it your way and when it doesn't you don't stop until you do. You don't even let people make their own choices."
"That's not true!"
"Again, you forced your vegan menu on us without asking, you wanted me to destroy those trucks and recklessly made a wish in hearing distance of a wish granting ghost. Hell, when I wanted to quit you guilt me into taking my powers back!" Danny raised his voice.
"Hey! You were doing good as a hero!" Sam stood her ground. "Like I said, I couldn't just sit back and stay on the sidelines."
"It was still my choice! And you are always on the sidelines!" Danny barked, shocking Sam. "You and Tucker have always been on the sidelines while I did all the fighting, not you. I was the one getting burned, electrocuted, tortures, abused and hunted, not you. Without a Fenton gadget in your hands you are useless on the battlefield….Just like how Tucker was riding my coattails to become mayor…You've been riding on my back this whole time I have been risking my life!"
Sam gasped before glaring at her boyfriend, absolutely infuriated. "Take that back, Fenton! Right now!"
"I'm telling the truth and you know it! I fought Vlad, the Ghost King, my jerky older self and all the other ghosts. You were always there but on the sidelines you claim I was trying to be part of and when I didn't want to be a hero anymore you and Tucker never wanted to hang out with me. All you cared…was the fact that I didn't my powers anymore." Danny shook his head and stepped back. "And now that I'm acting like the hero you want me to be you expected me to intimidate everyone in Amity Park to protect a corrupt mayor. How is that supposed to be different?"
"Because he's your friend!" Sam shouted, filled with absolute anger. "And because without us you'd be a lonely, scrawny freak with a couple of idiot parents, a lame bookworm of a sister and a stupid dream of being an astronaut!"
Danny's eyes flashed green. "Wow. Thanks for that. Thanks for showing me how better off I am. Thanks for showing me what real friends are like."
"And thanks for taking this back." Sam said, taking the ring Danny gave her after the Disasteroid incident and threw it at the ground in front of Danny's feet. "Rings are lame anyways."
"I'll never leave you…little brother."
The vision then showed a young girl with heterochromia eyes, one colored blue and the other green with one half of her hair pure white and the other black, holding up her hands as they glowed.
"I've had these powers as long as I can remember. I guess I was just born with them."
"At long last. I can return to the Ghost Zone and leave this world behind. And with my new armada, not even Daniel will stand a chance."
A tall ghost wearing black armor and emitting purple flames bowed to a large throne. "My king, I have news."
A pair of green eyes opened. "Speak."
"The ghost menace will never go away. We must remain ever vigilant."
"Dani Phantom can be a valuable ally to us. But that might change if her memory returns."
"She does not belong with you! You took her memories!"
"He walked out on us!"
"Only because we expected him to keep on being this amazing hero! You wanted him like that and when he couldn't find them you got all jealous on him to the point he couldn't stand you anymore!"
"I want you to be with me. You say they looked after you but they took your memories. I know what it's like to be betrayed by family."
"He is our king and thus you are our princess."
"They only stayed with me for my powers. When I wanted a normal life they couldn't accept that and guilt me into taking them back. Then people crowded me, liking me only for being a hero with powers to the point I could not stand it anymore. My so-called friends and family refused to understand why I couldn't stand it anymore." The king held out his hand to her. "Come back with me, Dani. I know how you feel and I promise you'll never have to fear from betrayal or lies ever again."
"By decree of the Phantom King, the human and spirit worlds are to remain separate. All ghosts here will turn themselves to us…or face punishment by his His Majesty: The Phantom King, ruler of the Infinite Realms."
"Phantom King huh?" A pale face with glinting red eyes and dark veins traveling down their cheeks smiled. "How interesting."
Clockwork frowned as he looked through the multiple images concerning the future and then looked back at the Fenton Thermos as it shook again but only for two whole seconds before it stopped.
Clockwork had known this day would come.
Watching as the Fenton Thermos shook he realized that time was running out and that ironic for a ghost of Time.
"Clockwork!"
Ah, right on schedule.
"What do you want this time?" Clockwork asked as two Observants appeared behind him. "Oh wait, I already know."
"We've felt the discrepancies in the time stream. It's him, isn't it?" The lead Observant asked. "He is breaking free."
"Not yet." Clockwork replied, facing them in his adult form that changed into a child.
"Key word: yet." The second Observant retorted. "We must move it to a secure location."
"You entrusted me with guarding the evil within." Clockwork morphed into his elderly form. "It has remained safe in my possession since then. Besides what happened to your rules of non-interference to preserve the balance."
"And your power around the Thermos is weakening. Don't think we don't know. As a being that exists outside of time the being trapped in that is now immune to your powers." The lead Observant retorted. "You were supposed to destroy it, not contain it. You have no right to judge us on our ways since you barely follow your own rules."
"The dark future was prevented from happening. I only came up with a solution that was acceptable to both parties." Clockwork retorted, morphing back into his adult form.
"Acceptable? You defied our rules of non-interference! You cheated with the balance we hold to preserve the safety of!" The second Observant exclaimed.
"It's what I do best." Clockwork shrugged without even slightest remorse. "You observe the time lines, both possible and inevitable but you have me do the dirty work to keep your hands clean. Danny Phantom, the once future destroyer of the world is now the world's greatest hero because I offered him the one thing he needed to change: a choice."
"And that choice had consequences. We have seen what is happening. The ghost inside him is stifled by being surrounded by ungrateful humans and his human cannot bond with anyone outside his blood family." The lead Observant stated. "This is dangerous, Clockwork."
"Like all paths taken to protect world and the future." Clockwork stated, transforming into an old man again. "You fear him."
"He defeated Pariah Dark and saved the world. We are not blind to that but we are concerned given his as of late."
Clockwork rolled his eyes as he morphed into a child. "Regarding what happened with Misery Vex?"
"Vex was one of the oldest ghosts in the Ghost Zones and he defeated her. There are some who fear Danny Phantom is becoming too powerful. This is what we wanted to avoid." The lead Observant said.
"What you want is irrelevant." Clockwork calmly replied. "I do what is necessary to defend the time line. Even from you."
"And what do you have to explain about this?" The second Observant pointed to the Thermos. "He is breaking through. How could you not foresee this?"
"I couldn't…because time is no longer as it should be." Clockwork turned away, turning his into his adult form. "Ever since that tear that caused the disappearance of Valerie Gray and Daniel's younger clone counterpart, there have been discrepancies. Now I am unsure of what the future brings…and that brings unfamiliar feelings to me."
"This is worse than we could have imagined!" The lead Observant exclaimed, pointing at the time ghost. "You should have just eliminated Danny Phantom when you had the chance!"
"To do so would cause more uncertainty." Clockwork retorted. "He is as much the solution as he might be the problem."
"Not in our eyes." The lead Observant flew over to the Thermos and picked it up. "It's clear you are no longer trust worthy with this. We will do what we should have done from the beginning and dispose of this. Then we will deal with Danny Phantom the way we wanted as soon as his threat became apparent."
"You do not know what you are doing." Clockwork argued.
"No, you don't." The second Observant retorted before he took off with his counterpart out of Clockwork's lair.
Clockwork closed his eyes and sighed. "So much has become undone."
Danny's friendship and relationship.
His bright future.
The bright future of many.
All of it was beginning to unwind and all because of that one action caused by those fools for reaching across other dimensions.
"This will get a lot worse before there is even a chance for things to get better."
Xxx
"At long last. It has taken a long time but I found it."
Prince Aragon grinned as he beheld the item before him. An item that had once belonged to Pariah Dark but had been taken from him before he had been sealed back into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep.
The Crown of Fire.
After the Ghost King's defeat the Crown had been taken by Vlad Plasmius to use for his own plans but fortunately Vlad had never been able to figure out how to use the Crown's power for himself since it only worked with the Ring of Rage. Useless but too powerful to be disposed Vlad hidden it away in a secret vault he kept below his laboratory in Wisconsin but had never moved the Crown and whatever else he had in the vault to his new lab in Amity Park after becoming mayor. After Vlad was left exiled in space the government confiscated all his equipment but had never found the vault since Vlad made sure that no records of it had been left in case his mansion was ever raided.
Despite this setback, Prince Aragon had found it.
After years of being defeated and humiliated by Danny Phantom and his insolent sister Aragon realized he needed a way to become truly powerful if he wanted to reclaim his kingdom. None of the other ghosts were willing to assist him and since he was now a wanted criminal by Walker he had to remain hidden. It was only when he was hiding did he get the idea that maybe he could find something to best Phantom on Earth, likely in the former domain of his arch nemesis, Plasmius. When he got there, Aragon had found the Dairy King who had told him after some…persuasion that Vlad had built a hidden vault to keep his most prized possession, including ghost items he had found and taken from the Ghost Zone.
That information had been exactly what he had hoped for.
It took months however, looking through the ruined mansion and the long since abandoned lab before he could find the vault and even then the vault had state of the art security that remained active long after its master was deposed. Aragon had found breaking through the security a challenge, especially since he despised modern technology. He had to rely on brute force and that had taken a long time before he finally broke through the security and wore it down enough to open the vault.
Sure enough the Crown of Fire was there along with the Skeleton Key.
"And of course what he had planned to use for gaining its power." Aragon grumbled as he turned around and looked at the…machine set up by his temporary associate. "You sure this will work?"
"Of course it will! It was created by I, Technus!" The technopathic ghost known as Technus answered with a big smile.
Among the other items inside the vault were plans for a machine that theoretically break the magic bindings that prevented the Crown of Fire from being used without the Ring of Rage. Since opening the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep and attempting to take the ring from the Ghost King himself was out of the question Aragon was forced to rely on this alternative matter. The machine was a ring like device that was placed around the Crown of Fire when it was being worn by whoever had it. The device would then work to break the magical locks and allow for the crown's full power to be accessed.
And if it worked Prince Aragon would become the new Ghost King.
King Aragon.
He liked the sound of that.
"Well, hurry it up!" Aragon barked impatiently at Technus who placed the ring device around the Crown.
"Here you go!" Technus placed the crown on Aragon's head. "Are you ready to witness the wonder and skill of I, Technus-"
"Just do it!" Aragon barked.
Grumbling Technus activated the device. The flames around the Crown of Fire lit up and Aragon let out a scream as he could feel the power coursing through him.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Xxx
The two Observants left Clockwork's lair, the lead one carrying the Thermos in his arms.
"I hate dealing with Clockwork. He always has to be so irritating with us." The second Observant grumbled.
"It's a necessary sacrifice. Like him or not, he is as bound to the rules of protecting time as we are." The lead Observant replied.
"He doesn't have to rub our non-existent noses of how we rely on him." The second one grumbled.
"No. No, he doesn't." The lead shook his…eye. "But he cannot overrule us and we will take every precaution-"
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"WHAT THE-"
Both Observants stopped and watched as Prince Aragon in his dragon form appeared, flying around the Ghost Zone and destroying multiple floating islands with his fiery breath.
What was most noticeable was the crown on his head.
"Is that the-"
"CROWN OF FIRE?!" Both Observants exclaimed and sweated at the sight of one of the two objects of power that were symbol of Pariah Dark's reign of terror.
Aragon turned his head to them and his nostrils flared before he released a fiery blast.
"No, no, wait-"
BOOM!
The fiery blast that was Aragon's breath hit both Observants, creating an explosion that sent them flying through the endless void of the Ghost Zone…
And caused the lead Observant to drop the Thermos.
It fell onto what was once Skulker's island, crashing through the trees and creating a rather large crack as it landed on the ground.
Then that crack began to glow that was followed by an explosion of green light.
And a dark, evil laugh as chilling red eyes blinked at the sight of freedom.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Xxx
Clockwork simply stared at the image of the greatest evil in the world being unleashed once again and sighed.
"Like I said, this will get a lot worse before there is even a chance for things to get better."