In the distance time of a decade forward, the world lay in rubble and destruction, except for Amity Park, protected under a blue shield where the the lives of all was that of a picture-like future as cars flew overhead, very few remaining the same like Casper High, but much like time, others have grown as Valerie Grey soared across the sky in the domed city as a few kids called out to her. "Hi!" Valerie peered down with a salute before rocketing away to the edge of the shield, arrays generating the shield in its dome-like form as she landed on one and set her jet-board on the railing before checking the circuits peering at it before she turned with activating her watch, connecting to her father on the other side of the city.

"Ghost Shield Tower Nine one hundred percent operational." The static connected to Damian Grey, in a uniform and wearing an eye-patch as he answered back.

"Great, sweetie. Let's check the last tower and get ba-" The watch suddenly went to static and Valerie exclaimed in concern as she tried to raise him again.

"Daddy? Daddy?" The watch connected to a dark background, the only things able to be seen were a pair of red eyes as a gruff, yet firm voice came through.

"Hello, Valerie." Without a face, Valerie still KNEW who it was as she answered in disbelief.

"You, again?! I don't care how powerful you are, ghost, you can't break through the shield!"

"Until today..." It trailed off to a bellowing sound, like a intense howl form the beyond as the sound shook the entire city as windows shattered across the city before Valerie gasped to the tower, HER tower, getting its power drained fast and it erupting into flames as she jumped, her board saving her from becoming paste, but that was not the end of it as the next tower exploded like Nine, following into a domino effect as the shield drained out and died to the dark environment that surrounded Amity Park before alarms rang out to the thundering overhead, underground bunkers erupted from the ground and the people falling into panic as Valerie looked to her watch once more, the demon himself still on as he mused. "You like the new power? I call it my... Ghostly Wail." Valerie almost responded before something came flying at her and she got hit, crash-landing in front of the Nasty Burger 2. She groaned with opening her eyes before she gasped to what just attacked her.

"You?" The figure replied.

"Yes, me." It was the Fright Knight, but without his blade or his mount as he spoke. "And I serve a new master now." Valerie scrambled to her feet as the Fright Knight blasted another crystal blast, but Valerie was prepared as she summoned her board and took flight as the second Nasty Burger was destroyed, Valerie's mission only one now.

"Gotta get to Dad..." The Fright Knight blasted for take Valerie out, but she was too quick as she soared upwards before pointing herself to the Fenton Building and blasted off, the Fright Knight not letting as he generated a enormous blast and fired, Valerie dodging as the large blast destroyed the upper portion of the building and Valerie took that chance to soar downward to the lab as the Fright Knight suddenly was beaten back by a moniker of the Iron Exorcist as Valerie arrived and spoke to her father who was missing an arm. "Dad, the Fright Knight's here. Which means He can't be far behind. What do we do? What do we-" Anymore was lost as the Wail rang out once more and Damian told her what to do now.

"Valerie, run." Both glanced to the portal as the red lights of alarm were cut off to a glowing green fissure coming toward them before it erupted open in green light, the same dark figure with red eyes emerging as the green highlighted across its muscular form in a jumpsuit, hair alight of white flames, a white cape draped across its shoulders before landing, facing the two before him with the same red eyes that haunted the outside, the pale white of the conqueror, and the once-proud DP emblazoned upon his chest that meant hope, now a symbol of doom. He spoke with fangs, pointed ears, and a goatee as the once-hero Danny Phantom was long gone, in place of this relentless being.

"Hello, Valerie." Valerie gaped at him before he finished with a smile. "And goodbye." Raising a hand, he released an ectoblast, FentonWorks exploding before long, but the frame froze before bringing up the image of this 'Dark Danny' in the Ghost Zone as one voice spoke to the chronicler of these events, set like stone within the tower of time itself.

"Now do you understand?" A small ghost soared up to it in a purple hood and a scepter of time in hand as it spoke with a mature, male voice.

"Yes. Danny Phantom grows up to be the most evil ghost on the planet." The small ghost shifted in an instant to a more manly form as he turned, a scar trailing across his face as he questioned. "What do you want me to do about it?" In the shadows of the tower, two others view the same with high-collared capes while gears turned on.

"You are the Master of Time, Clockwork. Isn't it obvious?" The second moved forward into the ghostly light, an eye within a green bolb that was part of a regal appearance, a member of authority there.

"To save the future, Danny Phantom must perish." That was the command given by those who can only see the forward movement of things, while their 'servant' could see the movement from all around it, the fate of Danny Phantom now in question...


In present day, all of Casper High had gathered in the auditorium for the announcement that could change their future as Mr. Lancer spoke. "Your future is not carved in stone, people, but it may be carved with a No. 2 pencil." He answered with holding one up as Sam and Tucker groaned in disbelief to it.

"Oh, please."

"Quiet, this is important!" Both looked to him as he watched with intensity before exchanging looks with each other as Cedric, Talia, and Topaz paid a sizable amount of time, Cedric understanding the coming topic, Talia invested in seeing how well her own learning has gotten her, and Topaz just to see if anything had changed too much from how she took it as Lancer continued on the podium, as the letters and what they meant were displayed on the screen behind him.

"As most of you have probably forgotten, you will be taking the Career Aptitude Test on Saturday." He beamed on as he gestured ot JAzz seated on the stage. "Do well, like Ms. Fenton here who got-"

"-the highest score in the history of the C.A.T.-" Danny dully joined Lancer's praise as the overweight teacher continued.

"-And a successful future will be assured." Lancer finished with 'popular pictures' on the screen before he turned to the other half of the C.A.T., the failing half. "Fail, like Irving 'Third Degree' Burns here, who got the 'lowest' score in the history of the C.A.T., and you will be doomed to a career at the Nasty Burger." That was hardly a fair compare as Irving huffed angrily.

"Hey! Working at Nasty Burger takes brains, you know! If those forty-two Nasty Secret Herbs and Spices in our Nasty Sauce are overheated, it could cause an explosion that could take out a whole city block!" No reaction as Irving gave up so quickly. "Oh, who am I kidding. My life is over." He slumped off the stage as Lancer held up the answer booklet to all of the auditorium.

"These aren't just the answers to the test. They're the answers to your future. So study." He held up a briefcase and put it in, before locking it up and cuffing it to his wrist as he finished. "Remember, it's your future. Do you want fries with it?" Lancer marched off the stage as Tucker turned ot Danny who was looking defeated, like someone kicked his puppy.

"Dude, you OK? Danny?" He just stared ahead in trying to process it while, in the Ghost Zone, the observors of the events viewed the same loss before the first eyeball ghost spoke up to their servant.

"What are you waiting for? It's the perfect chance to take him out!"

"That's the problem with you Observants." Clockwork answered as he shifted into a child once more in lecture. "All you do is observe."

"You know our oath. To watch-"

"-and never act." Clockwork answered with drawing close as he continued, his form shifting to an aged old man with the same tone of voice. "Which is why you bring me in to do your dirty work." He raised his staff to the screen to Danny studying on the kitchen table, a certain air of dismay and... did the time-bound ghost sense... belief in Phantom? This was something odd, the future was already shifting in some way as he spoke to the studying boy, back in his adult form and to his infant form. "He turns evil because he's under pressure for some test? Fine. Then perhaps it's time for a test of my own."


Danny tapped on the paper while books and the like surround him, it a sample test before he dropped the pencil down and hummed in displeasure. "Man, I didn't know that this was going to be so hard, I know that Cedric and the others have helped me out greatly, but this is hurting my brain right now." He picked himself back up and tried again in figuring it out, but honestly that was hard without a sample sheet to work with, did Casper expect that their students to success without a sample to give them a basic understanding? He focused back on as Jazz peered over his seat and watched him try to mark the answers, pausing to her sounds, she knowing the answers, but couldn't reveal them before he dropped the pencil and breathed in the tension. "OK! I get it! You're brilliant, I'm stupid, and I'll never be able to get as high a score as you." He peered right back to the paper with a huff. "So far, I'm not even qualified to scrape the grease off the Nasty Grill." He shook his head as he laid back some, not flicking the pencil away, just moving it out of the way for now as Jazz spoke up in sympathy.

"All I want is for you to succeed, Danny. And doing well on this test can help." He propped his head as Jazz started off once more with her personal study methods. "There are three things I've learned in life-"

"Study hard, do your best, and-" Jazz stopped before she gasped.

"Duck!" Danny stared, but it was only for a second before a metallic boomerang slammed into his head and he yelped as it clanged onto the table.

"Ow! Thanks for the heads-up!" Jazz frowned as Danny picked up the device as he questioned. "A boomerang?" Jack and Maddie arrived as Danny hurled the boomerang away as Jack explained it.

"I call it the Booo~merang! It locks in on a ghost's unique ectosignature and seeks it out wherever it goes!" Danny's eyes widened at the meaning before the Booo~merang smacked him in the back of the head again and Maddie caught it with a frown, Danny groaning with a 'that's on me that time'.

"Although why it's keyed into Danny is way beyond me." Yeah, way beyond them, they don't even have an ectosignature of him and it was keying in on him, not Skulker, or Talia, or even Topaz, just himself for the moment. Jack broke the silence as he glanced to the sample test.

"What's that, Dan? One of those stupid C.A.T. tests? I failed that and I didn't turn out to be a cat." Jack answered with a pleased tone to himself as both walked away before Danny let the presence get to him as he growled and swept at his stuff.

"Oh, I give-"

"Time out!" Time came to a standstill as the objects of paper and book froze, Jazz froze with a sneeze coming on before a blue light flared and turned into a clock hand, sweeping a blue disc out before two figure formed, the figure known as adult Clockwork and a small child ghost in overalls, a beret, and pigtails before the ghost mused, the second either asleep or unconscious in the air. "Ah, good. Parents gone." He switched to his child form as he continued. "He's alone with his sister." He flew around them before approaching the second ghost and setting his staff to float in the air before pulling out a medallion on a ribbon, its shape that of a gear and entwines letters of CW in the middle before he dropped it around the ghost girl's neck and she woke up in confusion.

"Huh? What? Where am I?"

"Amity Park, before you were born." He pointed in his elderly form to Danny as he explained to the listening youth. "That boy there is part ghost. My employers believe him to be a threat to the world." He changed to his adult form in finishing up. "Could you be a dear and dance a little dance for us?" She stared at him before glaring at Danny as Clockwork spoke up with slamming the button on top of his staff. "Time in!" He disappeared in a swirling ball of light and time resumed as Danny finished his rant.

"-up!" Jazz sneezed and his sense went off, confused as there wasn't a ghost beforehand in the kitchen or anywhere near him, he would have knew beforehand as he spoke. "A ghost? Here?" He quickly about as he exclaimed. "Now get out of my room!"

"We're in the kitchen." She gasped to the ghost floating behind Danny before she exclaimed. "But if that's your attitude, I don't wanna see you - or anything you might do in here in the next several minutes!" She walked off as Danny found it a bit too easy as he mused.

"What's with her?" He turned and flinched to the small, ghost girl before him with a yelp. "Gah!" He went ghost and asked the big question. "More importantly, what's with 'you'?" The ghost announced herself like a familiar foe with arms in akimbo.

"I am Box Lunch, daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady!"

"Um, ew." The mental image was real, how even... what even... just WHY? Box Lunch continued her threat.

"And now you will face the test of my box-and-lunch-based doom!" She lashed out her hands and the canned and boxed goods came to her before forming a suit of armor around her as she continued. "And now-" She paused to make a sweet little voice. "-and you probably know this is coming - BEWARE!" Danny launched himself at the offspring of the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady, shattering the armor and soaring them out of there. The location in question having Mr. Lancer and his cuff briefcase enjoying some Nasty Burger before Sam and Tucker approached and he questioned.

"Shouldn't you slackers be studying for the C.A.T.s?"

"I've already studied."

"I'm sure we'll do fine."

"The test answers in this briefcase may indicate otherwise. Enjoy your Nasty Burgers while you're still on this side of the counter." He just started to laugh as the two just gave unimpressed looks to the man before Lancer's burger came alive and smacked him in the face as he exclaimed. "Fast Food Nation!" Across the restaurant, the food soared out as well and gathered around its calling source, Topaz gripped her fist as she ranted.

"Somebody is going to get hurt for taking my chicken sandwich..."

"Which is odd..." Talia answered as she bolted out with Cedric and Topaz as well as they took in the ghost that Danny was fighting. "...I don't recall seeing a ghost like her before and her essence is intermixed, she is a ghost spawn!"

"You mean...?" Cedric questioned as they peered back up to Box Lunch making another threat.

"Prepare to taste defeat! And perhaps a nice side salad with that?" She asked in a sweet voice as Danny dropped his face into his palm and answered.

"Pass, I got no time for a meal on the mind." Box Lunch looked offended before she ranted.

"Then feast on my empty calories of doooooom!" She fling the food at Danny to which he just let phase through him as he answered honestly.

"Oh, come on! If you actually are the child of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady - ew - then you know how this ends-" She possessed more strength in her frame than expected as she closed the gap and slammed both fists on top of him, launching him into the Nasty Burger as the people ran for it with Sam and Tucker looked in, the trio not making a move quite yet and were equally unsettled by the fact that Danny said that the ghost was the offspring of the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady as Box Lunch came down to fight on as the employees of the Nasty Burger made to escape too.

"Let's get out of here!"

"No! You can't leave!" Irving called out as he tried to keep the peace and order in the joint. " As a duly deputized Nastronaut, you took an oath to protect the Nasty Sauce from overheating at all costs!" He pointed to two tall vats with a dial for a color warning scale as the second employee yelped her peace.

"At minimum wage? I don't think so!" Both ran for it out the back as Irving called out to them in a shout.

"You can kiss Employee of the Month goodbye!"

"That's right!" Danny mused with taking a short pause form Box Lunch. "He said at the assembly if this stuff gets too hot, kaboom!" He quickly snatched one up and readied as Box Lunch made to rant again.

"Prepare for-" The packet smacked into her beret as she yelped as Danny spoke up with a smile.

"Box Lunch! BEWARE!" He fired a concreted beam at the packet and it started to expand up, he grimacing with turning intangible and it exploded, taking out a portion of the Nasty Burger and the crowd covering their faces from the flying food and rubble, Danny himself soaring through a briefcase and back out before he landed beside Sam and Tucker, Irving stumbling out before Lancer exclaimed finally.

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance! Run!" With that, everyone ran for it as Tucker asked as the friends got up, the trio once more joining in confusion of what even just happened with Danny.

"Danny, who was that ghost you were fighting?" Sam was helped to her feet as Danny explained.

"That was Box Lunch, the daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady."

"Yikes."

"Actually, it's more of an ew." Danny shook his head as he continued. "I don't know what's going on..." He glanced down to the medallion that was around Box Lunch's neck and made to grab it. "...But this medallion might give us a clue-" He paused again as he felt something on his back and plucked it off to see that it was the answer packet for the C.A.T. "Oh my gosh. The answers to the C.A.T.s!" The trio in the tower observed as Clockwork knew what was going to happen, in trying to assure that Danny would give it up, he would be selfish and keep the packet for himself, but he still spoke.

"Now watch this. He'll make the right choice. And you'll see, you've got absolutely nothing to-" But, instead of praise and joy for getting the answers, Danny peered about as he questioned.

"Shoot! Lancer's gone though, what am I supposed to do with this now, I can't be an idiot and take a look, I was already doing very good nowadays."

"You're not actually thinking of peeking at the answers, are you?"

"A cheater would, just to make sure that he wins out in a test." Danny answered as he reverted to human. "This... this is something more, this is a point of life that is asking me if I take the chance or win it fair and square." He held it before lowering it and plucking the medallion up. "We have other things to take care of right now." They headed out as Clockwork was surprised, that was not how the future was being written, he was taking an alternate path from the chaos to come, but the Observants still believed that Danny had fallen to corruption.

"He's stolen the test answers."

"He's clearly going to cheat!"

"He has your time medallion."

"He has your time medallion."

"You said that twice." He shifted into his child form as the first Observant demanded.

"Destroy him now, Clockwork." He shifted back to adult as he placed his hand on another gear window.

"I know what I'm doing." It showed a robotic ghost with two faces as he continued in his lecture. "He put the answers to the test in his hands, and he made the wrong decision." The future told the same as it showed the vats getting heated up with a active burner and the viewer changed to Clockwork's control as it showed Danny going against the robotic ghost, then his bound future to showing his family, his two friends, and Lancer bound and gagged to the vat before the Nasty Burger exploded and Danny called out in despair as Clockwork finished in his old form. "His future is sealed."


The following day, the trio walked thorugh the halls of Casper with Cedric and Talia close behind, Topaz beside Danny and dividing him and Tucker apart a bit as Sam inquired. "So, are you going to return the test answers or not?"

"I will! I will. I'm just... waiting for the right moment."

"Like, maybe, after the test?" Danny frowned at him as he continued. "Yeah, you're right." They passed the teacher's lounge as Topaz added to it in defense for Danny.

"Baby-pop had a lot going on, if we weren't around to keep him on track, he would be tempted, but as it rolls, he has more pride and dignity than to cheat, this is a big thing for him, so he is better off doing the work for real."

"Thanks, Topaz." He faced forward as he continued as Lancer listened on. "I just wonder how the heck did the packet end up with me, Lancer had it under lock and key." They headed away as Lancer gave a questioning look before closing the door, he set the briefcase down and opened it with the key, popping it opening with a gasp, the packet to the answers was gone.

Close by, Jazz was talking to a few of the girls as she inquired. "So, it's a choice between Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, and I can't make up my mind!" They just walked away as she called out. "So...see you after school? No?"

"Ms. Fenton, may I speak with you after school?" Lancer inquired as he approached Jazz, a sense of alarm on her face at the sound of that as the six headed to Fentonworks and Tucker TRIED to hack the medallion since it seems to have some form of tech to it, but nothing, not even with a direct line of wires to it as he mused the same thing with them.

"I can't seem to hack into it. It's really hi-tech."

"Yeah, like it's from the future or something."

"Well, speaking of the future, I think it's time I started preparing for mine." He picked up his pack and set it on the table as Sam spoke in the negative term.

"You mean cheat."

"No, I didn't say cheat." He cracked opened a book he had and the sample sheet again and tried once more, this time with a clearer head. "The packet may be with us, but I have no reason to use it, I need to do this on my own, not through the real answers of the C.A.T., Dad may have failed it, but that didn't make him him, did it?" Both glanced to each other as Topaz lifted the medallion up and questioned.

"CW... Why does that sound so familiar to me here, and what was with Box Lunch?"

"I agree, Box Lunch is too aged... she is not of this time frame." Talia answered as she continued. "The more human-like ghosts are able to age and grow at the same pace as regular humans, the more... attuned spirits can either age slow or swift, but I can't feel her presence now, as if she just..."

"Disappeared?" Sam asked as Danny worked it, the packet slipping out and he took a few tissues to clean it off in between taking the sample, being both thorough and clear with it now. "But that's impossible, sure ghosts can..."

"I agree with Tal." Topaz answered as she rubbed her jaw as well. "Ghosts are very resistant, even a small blast like that couldn't do them in, but she just disappeared, her presence is just not here anymore." Danny gasped as he accidentally removed the seal and groaned with an upset tone before a blue light emerged behind them, the ghost senses going off as a robotic amalgamation appeared, just like how Box Lunch did and none of them sensed it beforehand. Tucker and Sam sighed in relief, on accident as they knew that Danny didn't want to open the packet, but still it was a surprise to them too before they exclaimed ot the ghost.

"I mean... Oh no, a ghost." Danny went ghost and rushed the ghost before getting backhanded and inquiring as the being loomed over him.

"Who are you supposed to be?" The head engulfed in green flames spoke in a familiar tone.

"I am Skulktech 9.9, the future Ghost World's greatest hunter!" The face on the chest spoke as well which was instant warning bells in all of their heads, the voice being a mad scientist ghost that they all knew.

"With its greatest technovillain as his operating system!"

"Skulker and Technus together?"

"Is that an ew or a yikes?" Several claws arms emerged from Skulktech as Danny answered in surprise.

"Definitely a yikes." He dodged out of the way as he got Tucker and Sam out of there before coming back, the trio going on the offensive as they kept him occupied, btu his focus was Danny as Danny dodged as best as he could before getting grabbed the Skulktech spoke for the end.

"Say goodbye!"

"Ghost Child!" One of the claw started to spin like a scale saw before the gauntlet started to beep to Reveille and Skulker exclaimed in surprise and confusion to the lifted device.

"Someone's hacked into the system? Again?! I thought we fixed that!"

"We did! We must have accidentally synced up with somebody else's PDA!" The combined ghost turned intangible as both rocketed out of there, dropping Danny as the door opened back up as Tucker questioned in muse.

"Wow. I can still hack into his operating system with my handheld computer. I don't know whether that's exciting or depressing."

"Come on, follow me!" Danny exclaimed as the three Demis and Iron Exorcist took flight as Tucker and Sam just mused otherwise.

"...We'll walk." They did so as the four chased after Skulktech into the evening sky, but at Casper High, Lancer explained to Jazz what had happened, she not believing it as he has been doing great in getting his grades up, he didn't even have a reason for stealing the packet as she exclaimed.

"So you're saying Danny stole the C.A.T. test answers? But how?"

"I don't know. Unless your brother suddenly gained the ability to turn invisible and reach through solid objects?" Jazz cringed to the sound of that as she spoke otherwise in Danny's defense.

"But Mr. Lancer, you still have no proof Danny took the test answers."

"Fair enough. He has up until the test to return the answers. But if he cheats, I won't just fail him. I'll destroy his future." Not that Danny could, he was more dealing with the amalgamation that just attacked him and his friends as Skulker exclaimed to his techno system.

"What are you waiting for? Activate the Purpleback Gorilla Override!"

"Don't tell me how to do my job!" Danny blasted them and they plummeted into the Nasty Burger before taking flight again, the vat now getting heated up even more as Technus spoke. "Activating Phantom Palm Pummeler!" The hand opened and fired a blue-white beam as Danny before hitting him again, Cedric catching him as he exclaimed.

"You're shorting out my powers?!" Skulker mused the same.

"Indeed. The Pummeler might not work on you in the future, but we had a feeling it would work on you here."

"The Future?" The four were not liking where this was going as Technus laughed.

"Oh, I love it. You're much less powerful than that other Phantom we have to deal with!" Another blast came as the Iron Exorcist dodged, but accidentally dropped Danny, his ghost form active, but he was trying to figure out what the heck Skulktech was going on about.

"What are you two talking aboooou-" Another blast caught Danny as he yelled in falling before catching himself on a flagpole, amazed that it could work. "Wow. That flagpole thing works? I thought for sure it would-" The pole snapped. "-breeaaaak!" He bounced off and awning and landed in the trash, getting up from it as he mused, his performance was less than stellar. "Guess I don't have a future as an Olympic gymnast." Skulktech had not forgotten him as a hand snatched him and electrocuted him some as Skulker spoke to the hand slamming him into the ground with Technus following.

"You don't have a future, period!"

"Not anymore!"

"I wouldn't bet on that." Sam and Tucker arrived as Tucker ran the override and got Skulktech, shorting them out as both grimaced.

"Aw, poo." They fell before catching hold of a flagpole as Technus made the same mistake.

"Wow, that flagpole thing really-" It snapped and they fell, denting a street light and hanging there, Cedric grimacing to the medallion not hanging from Skulktech's neck before Danny exclaimed to his two arriving friends.

"Way to go, guys!"

"Come on, Tucker, let's see if we can get this off!" Both of them grabbed it and started to trying prying it off with Topaz as Talia and Cedric bound for the medallion as it fell, Cedric snatching it in time, holding it up before a blue aura surrounded Skulktech and trail all the way to the four of them as Talia shouted.

"Watch out!"

"Talia! The arm, grab it!" She did so with him as the whole party were disappeared from Amity Park and were flung into some strange clock tower as the grip released and they got up, Cedric receding his armor and putting the medallion on, for safekeeping as Tucker wondered.

"Where are we?" They peered up into the gear-filled darkness before approaching a window that peered out into the green of the Infinite Realms, the Ghost Zone as Danny spoke.

"I don't know. The Ghost Zone, I think." It was the Realms, but no part of the realms ever charted as Danny finished. "But... no part of the Ghost Zone I've ever seen."

"It happened right after his medallion fell off."

"Then I think I know how to get us back!" He spotted a box that contained six medallions before taking one and slipping it on in triumph. "Haha!" But nothing happened as Tucker sighed with dropping his arms.. "Nothing, huh."

"No, but nice bling." She strolled over to the stand that they just came through as Danny walked over, taking Tucker's medallion in hand as Cedric looked at his own.

"I don't like this."

"You're going to like this even less." The party joined her at the viewer as it was showcasing a future version of Danny, laughing and blasting in a ruined landscape of a future ten years forward, attacking people and buildings alike as Sam spoke. "I think I'm seeing your future. And you're kind of a jerk."

"But what caused this to happen?" Topaz asked as she got this unsettling feeling that they were in some place untraveled by any ghost before. Danny just watched as the future military rolled in to deal with him, before he unleashed a sound-wave from his own voice, blasting cars, tanks, and helicopters away before Sam spoke again.

"OK, you're 'really' a jerk."

"Wow, what is that?" Danny exclaimed with taking the full picture in. "Some kind of ghostly wail? What a cool power!" The five stared at him before he corrected himself. "...If it weren't being used for evil!" Tucker turned with his PDA to see what Skulktech knew.

"Let's see if this future boy knows any more about-" He stopped when Skulktech glowed the same aura and flew into the viewer before Tucker exclaimed. "I didn't do that."

"I did." They all turned to the purple hood, the scepter of time in hand, and the scar trailing across the pale blue skin of the being before them, arriving from the dark above. "I sent him back to his own time." He changed into an elderly form as he explained. "Or, should I say, forward to his own time." He continued in explain with shifting forms with a child as well. "You see, for me, time moves backwards and forwards, and-" He huffed in his elderly form as he finished. "Oh, why am I bothering. You're fourteen."

"Who are you? Where are we?" Danny was just as quickly pulled away by Topaz as she was wearing a terrified look on her face, the party pausing as Talia was actively hiding behind Cedric right now.

"Never ask that question, Baby-pop! NEVER ask that question to him!"

"Topaz!?" The rockstar Demi bit her lip as she pulled Danny away.

"That is no original ghost, that's Clockwork, he's the master over all of time, the myths and rumors about him are numerous and chaotic, some believe him to be a benevolent force while others see him as the hour before their timely doom, he controls time, period."

"Strange how my sight has rendered you unknown to me, young one, but it is true and your introduction of me is quite true and false." He reverted to a child as he explained the reason for the arrival. "I've been charged with the task of eliminating your future, so that never happens." It showcased the dark future once more as Danny exclaimed in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me. Name one evil thing I've done!" A adult Clockwork smiled as he pointed to the viewer again, to show Jazz finding the opened packet and exclaiming in disbelief as Tucker spoke up.

"Bet, you can't find two!" Danny glared at Tucker for that as the sobbing Jazz was changed to the evil Danny down an alley of wreckage before taking flight as Clockwork inquired.

"How about two thousand." He asked with switching to the child form before Danny exclaimed.

"I don't have to sit here and explain myself to you! I'm going ghost!" He went ghost and charged before the adult Clockwork spoke.

"Time out!" Time stopped before it reversed to when Danny was going ghost as he shouted again.

"I'm going ghost! -Whoa. Serious deja vu." He hummed before going ghost and charging once more as Clockwork did it again.

"Time out!" Danny slowed to a frozen stop before Clockwork let him fly by with a look of surprise on his face to what just happened. "Time in!" Danny resumed and slammed into a bell, getting clammed into it time and time again as Clockwork spoke. "I could do this all day, but I have a schedule to keep." He turned elderly with one final press, Danny dropping down as Clockwork, in his adult form, snatched a scythe and charged down as the party called out, the armor enveloping for Cedric to jump in.

"Danny! Look out!" Danny zipped away to the gear he landed on getting shattered before Clockwork froze time once more, Tucker and Cedric the only ones still active among the friends as Tucker inquired in confusion.

"Hey, wait! Why would he freeze time for Danny and not for us?" He suddenly noticed that Talia, Topaz, and Sam were frozen as well, Cedric gripping his hands in pondering as well before Tucker waved a hand over Sam's agape face. "Hey, Sam?" He hummed before Cedric clued in, the medallion under the armor working just the same as he realized it as well.

"That's how Box Lunch and Skulktech were able to be in our time period, the medallions keep them anchored there, we are free from Clockwork's time freeze while wearing them!" Tucker beamed as he took his in hand.

"I knew these medallions were good for something. It's like a Get Out of Time Free card!"

"Grab four more, I'm helping Danny!" Tucker nodded as Clockwork approached the frozen Danny.

"Time's up, Ghost Boy." He raised the scythe, only for it to get blasted out of his hands as he turned to the Iron Exorcist with smoking palms.

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls, for the bell tolls for thee!" He blasted Clockwork away as the medallions slipped onto the party and Danny recovered as he questioned.

"Huh? What happened?" He landed with the party as Sam exclaimed.

"We leveled the playing field. Just get the bad guy!" The Exorcist hovered by them as he spoke.

"But why send Box Lunch and Skulktech right at us in the first place, his power is time, so why send future ghosts to attack us, he could have just frozen Danny in time and stopped his heart or something." Danny realized it as well, he could have, so what was the real point of this, was Clockwork the real bad guy as the ghost of time spoke.

"You six have seen too much. You must be eliminated before you permanently alter the time stream." Five ghostly soldiers appeared, all donning Clockwork's face, but fully armed for the fight as Clockwork continued in switching form his elder form when he spoke of the time stream to his adult form. "Nowhere to run, children." Danny had one other option and his friends and allies had the same idea as he shouted.

"Nowhere, but the future!" He snatched Sam and Tucker while Talia and Topaz were grabbed by Cedric as he jumped through the viewer and into the future as Clockwork mused with turning into a child.

"Then let's see if you have what it takes to face that future."


The portal tossed them into a street that belonged to the ruined Amity as Tucker looked around uneasy of the landscape before he spoke.

"Man. If this is what we have to look forward to, I'm definitely not taking the C.A.T. test."

"How do you think this all happened?" Talia shook as she spoke as well.

"I... can't feel my future self... she's gone here."

"Mine's worse." Topaz answered as she looked around. "I... can't feel my root core for music, more like a glutton who lost everything, even her life..."

"I don't know. But based on what we just saw, I have a really bad feeling I'm the one responsible." Danny answered as he floated before some rubble erupted and an older Valerie sprung out as she exclaimed.

"Got that right, ghost!" She fired and blasted a huge crater in the ground, Danny having gone intangible to avoid the blast before he shouted at her.

"Valerie! Listen to me!"

"You can't fool me this time, Phantom!" She fired once more ad he dodged before she sent her jet board to ram Danny, knocking him off balance for a net to catch him and drop him to the ground before training her gun on him. "I've been waiting a long time for this. Goodbye and good-" A blast came as Sam and Tucker stopped Valerie from attacking Danny anymore.

"Valerie, no!"

"Don't shoot!" But Valerie was speechless to the two faces before her as she exclaimed.

"Sam? Tucker? I-It's not possible! This is a trick! You can't be alive!"

"Wait. Not alive?" Tucker dropped his arms in disbelief at the sound of it. "That's our future? I'm definitely not taking the C.A.T.!"

"The C.A.T... That's the last time I saw you alive." She breathed as she recounted what even happened then. "The explosion at the Nasty Burger... you, Tucker, Danny's family-" She somehow grabbed her bazooka again as she shouted at the entrapped Danny, training the weapon on him. "-And it was all your fault!" A green flash of green whipped past and blasted Valerie away as the six looked to face the face of evil as he mused.

"Actually, that was me. And you, eventually." Danny could feel the hate now, the malice, what had happened to cause him to cease being a hero, Danny Phantom, and become this incarnation of darkness, this Dark Danny or worse... Dan Phantom...