The next day, Danny was in the kitchen which was filled with piles and piles of dishes. As he was currently scrubbing the inside of a large pot, Clockwork tapped on the top of it gaining his attention.

"Hello Clockwork." Danny greeted as he continued to scrub.

"Good morning." Clockwork greeted back. He then asked, "Have you ever considered being a squirrel?"

"No. Not really." Danny answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you see that is a tiny creature with enormous problems." Clockwork began to explain. "How h has survived throughout the ages, is one of nature's big mysteries. His life is hazardous. You might say it's downright dangerous."

He then asked, "So I was wondering if you would like to try it?"

"I better not." Danny answered as he continued his chore.

"Oh I see. It's too dangerous for you is it?" Clockwork asked, trying to reel the boy in.

"No! It's not that Clockwork, it's just for being late yesterday and for apparently telling a lie about the whole fish experience, I got six demerits. All this work to do and it's practically going to take me the entire day just to get it all done. Not to mention the dishes that'll come after dinner is eaten and I'll have to clean the kitchen once again."

Clockwork looked at all the dishes and the huge mess of the kitchen and could see what Danny meant.

He got an idea and said, "Looks like we'll modernise this medieval muddle."

He stood in the middle of the kitchen and waved his staff around as he said, "ONE AND A TWO AND A THREE AND A FOUR!"

Suddenly the dishes one at a time in an assembly line, began to float over to the large bucket filled with soapy water and get brushed and washed by the floating brushes and sponges, becoming extremely clean. They then floated to a floating bucket of water to get rinsed and then dried by a fire bellow before stacking into neat piles.

A broom then began to sweep the floors and a mop began to mop the floors. Danny looked on in amazement, but then said, "But I'm supposed to do it."

Clockwork shrugged and said, "No-one will know the difference son, who cares as long as the work gets done."

"Now come on. Let's go." Clockwork encouraged and headed out the door.

Danny looked at the kitchen once more, before following Clockwork out heading towards the forests.


In the high trees of the forest, Danny and Clockwork were now running and climbing on the branches as squirrels. To make it a meaningful experience for Danny, Clockwork had added a spell to ensure that neither of them could use their ghost powers.

Danny was a red coloured squirrel while Clockwork was a blue coloured squirrel, his scar that he had on his eye could still be seen.

"Danny! Take it easy! No Danny! No!" Clockwork shouted as Danny leapt between two branched, landing on a weak branch.

The branch snapped and Danny yelped as he nearly fell from the tree. Luckily he grabbed onto the branch below and pulled himself back up, panting with relief.

Clockwork stopped at the end of the branch across from him and reminded him, "I told you, always look before you leap!"

"I made it didn't I?" Danny said as he steadied himself.

"Yes you did, but you can't always trust luck you know." Clockwork said as he went to the end of the branch. "Just start with the smaller jumps, measure the distance carefully and then…."

He jumped to the next branch, but nearly slipped and fell but managed to quickly grab the end of the branch tightly. Danny came over and helped him up on the branch.

"Thank you lad. One more lesson from this, you should never take gravity too lightly or it'll catch up with you." He advised.

"What's gravity?" Danny asked, completely confused.

"Gravity is what causes you to fall." Clockwork answered as he pointed to the ground.

"Oh! You mean like a stumble or a trip?" Danny asked as they continued along the branch.

"Yes….oh no! It's a force that pulls you downward." Clockwork began to explain. "The phenomenon that any two material particles or bodies, if free to move, will be accelerated toward each other."

A female squirrel ran across the branches until she and Danny both stopped at each other. The female squirrel smiled and made a noise at Danny. Danny looked at the squirrel giving her a small smile, before leaning towards one side to go past her.

She however went the same way, blocking his path. Danny tried to go the other way, but she stopped him again and simply made happy sort of noises. Clockwork caught up and saw the two of them.

"Um Clockwork, how do we get by?" Danny asked.

"Well….I guess we should just take a side track." Clockwork answered and gestured back the way they came.

However as soon as they began to move, she began to follow them and kept smiling at Danny the entire time. Now Danny frowned as he was starting to get annoyed and said to her, "Go on! You got lots of room."

She continued to smile at him and drew ever closer. Clockwork chuckled and said, "Well I guess she can't be side tracked. That's a girl squirrel."

Danny tried to push her back, but she found it cute and pushed him back a bit as well, believing it was some kind of flirting game he was playing. She kept trying to grab his hands for him to push her again, but Danny continued to take bat her hands away.

"She's acting really funny." Danny said, confused by her behaviour.

"Well…it seems she likes you." Clockwork stated, as a fact.

"But why?" Danny asked.

As Danny tried running from her, she kept chasing after him. Clockwork then answered as he walked to another side of the tree, "Well that's nature again. Which you better leave me out of this."

Danny was about to walk off, but the squirrel grabbed Danny by his tail and pulled him back to her.

"Clockwork! A little help please?!" Danny pleaded.

Clockwork smirked and said, "You're on your own lad. I'm afraid magic can't solve this problem."

Danny turned to the squirrel and tried to explain to her, "Look…I'm flattered but you see I'm not a boy….I mean….I'm not a real squirrel. I'm a human boy!"

The squirrel however didn't seem to listen and just gave him a few kisses on the lips. Danny groaned and pushed her away once more as he walked off.

"Clockwork, what do I do? She won't leave me alone." Danny asked, but was suddenly pushed by her again.

Clockwork chuckled and answered, "Well I'm afraid you're stuck lad. You see when a female squirrel chooses a mate, it's for life."

"But I won't be a squirrel tomorrow." Danny said as the squirrel continued to nuzzle him.

"Well she doesn't know that." Clockwork said as he watched Danny trying to get away from her. "She only knows one thing. That you're a he and she's….well….it's a natural phenomenon."

CLOCKWORK

It's a state of being, a frame of mind

It's a most befuddling thing

And to every being, of every kind

It is discomboomerating

You're wasting time resisting

You'll find the more you do

Danny ran across the branches of the tree as the female squirrel continued to chase after him. But it seemed no matter where he went, she was always there hugging, nuzzling or kissing him.

The more she'll keep insisting

Her 'him' has got to be you

"Leave me alone! I'm serious!" Danny shouted at the girl, but she continued to not listen.

It's a rough game, anyone knows

There a no rules! Anything goes

There's no logical explanation

For this discomboomeration

Below on the ground, the wolf that tried to eat Danny earlier had seen him and the girl squirrel running amongst the trees and was now licking his chops, feeling ravenous hunger for them both.

It's a most bemuddling

Most befuddling thing

Danny did a huge leap across a tree, but missed the branch on the other side completely. The female squirrel gasped, hoping that he would be alright. Danny slid down the tree and landed right on top of Jason, waking him up from his daily nap.

Not recognising Danny, Jason frowned at him and said pushing him back, "Shoo! Get a tree of your own!"

Danny fell backwards and landed on top of a bird that was sitting in her nest. The bird cried out and began chasing Danny, pecking at his head for landing on top of her. He ran to a hole in the tree and the bird pulled on his tail, but he managed to pull it free, causing the bird to rip a couple of pieces of fur.

The bird spat out the fur and went back to her nest. Danny peaked out from the hole to see if it was clear, but then suddenly the female squirrel appeared right next to him giggling. Danny began to run again, once again disturbing the bird and disturbing Jason's sleep as they went up the tree.

"Oh you….you…silly squirrel you!" Jason shouted out in annoyance.

Clockwork couldn't help but laugh as the girl squirrel continued to chase after Danny. But what he didn't know, was that his exact words to Danny was about to come to bite him in the bum, for just as he was tossing an acorn around, another female squirrel had seen Clockwork and found herself attracted to him.

There's no sensible explanation

For this discomboomeration

It's a most hodgepodge-ical

Most illogical

Most confusing

Most bamboozling

Most bemuddling, most befuddling…

He suddenly felt something nuzzle his arm and finally noticed the other female squirrel doing it. His smirk dropped as he finished, "Thing."

She giggled and pinched his cheek. Clockwork pushed her hands away and tried to speak, "No really madam I….I…"

He began to walk off as he said, "You've made a mistake so I'll just…."

He didn't get far, when she suddenly grabbed his tail and began tugging at it. He pulled his tail away from her and shouted, "MADAM STOP THAT!"

She simple laughed and giggled at him. Clockwork then tried to explain to her, "Now look here, I'm not a ghost….I mean….I'm not a squirrel, I'm a ghost…"

She suddenly began to tickle him, causing him to laugh hysterically. He jumped back and tried again, "I'm a ghost. Not a squirrel, a ghost. Understand?"

But she didn't seem to listen and just gave him a kiss on the lips. He was starting to get annoyed by her and pushed her away as he said, "Go away."

But she didn't leave and pushed him, very hard causing him to hit the tree. She giggled and continued to smile flirtatiously at him.

Clockwork shook his head and frowned. He was about to leave, when he suddenly felt his tail being tugged once again and muttered, "Confound it! Confound it all!"

Danny had arrived at the scene and said, "Clockwork, I'm really getting tired of being a squirrel. It's nothing but trouble."

"Oh you got trouble? Just look at behind me!" Clockwork said, gesturing to the female squirrel playing with his tail.

He yanked it out of her hands and began to run, rushing past Danny. The female squirrel began to chase after him and accidentally knocked Danny off the branch. He grabbed onto another branch, but suddenly it began to break from the tree.

"Help! Clockwork!" Danny shouted as he remembered the spell Clockwork placed on them to ensure they couldn't use their ghost powers.

The female squirrel that had been chasing after Danny saw this and gasped in fright, as she also saw the wolf positioning himself to catch Danny right in his mouth when the branch would finally snap off.

She rushed over and grabbed Danny's hand, but unfortunately the branch snapped and Danny's hand slipped from hers and he fell. The branch hit the wolf right on top of his head, it dazed him but it didn't knock him out.

He then smiled as he saw Danny's tail was trapped underneath the broken branch. Danny tried to make a run for it, but the branch slowed him down. The wolf placed his paw on the branch, stopping him from moving and licked his lips in hunger.

The female squirrely ran down the tree and charged right at the wolf, latching onto his leg and began biting him with her strong teeth that all squirrels have. The wolf yelped in pain and immediately began to chase after her, snapping his jaws as he tried to hunt her down.

She led him to a cliff and jumped, the wolf jumped after her but yelped as he realised the mistake he made. She jumped off his back and headed back to the dead tree hanging off the edge of the cliff and held on tight. She looked down and watched as the wolf rolled down the hill hard, causing a log to fall right behind him.

He landed in the river and the log slid right on him. He flipped over in the log and was now floating down the river, stuck in the log and heading down to who knows where. The female squirrel smiled and ran back to Danny just as he managed to get his tail out of the log. She embraced him in a tight hug and was not planning on letting him go.

Clockwork continued to try and get away from the female squirrel that was pursuing him, she grabbed his tail again as they were near the edge of the branch. He yanked his tail off her, but he yanked it so hard, he lost his balance and fell of the branch. He yelled out as he landed right into some bushes.

"I've had enough of this nonsense!" Clockwork said in annoyance as he was stuck in the bush.

The female squirrel giggled and climbed down, ready to run up to Clockwork and hug him tight. Clockwork then shouted in the bushes, "ALAKAZAP!"

Clockwork flew right out of the bushes, showing the squirrel who he really was. A ghost. The sight gave the squirrel a fright and she stopped dead in her tracks and screamed in horror.

Clockwork threw the leaves off him and said, "There! You see, I'm a ghost!"

The squirrel ran off back to the tree, but stopped at a branch to glare at the ghost giving him a growl of disapproval. Clockwork then growled at her again, causing her to run away in fright.

"Clockwork!" He heard Danny call out and turned to see him still being hugged by the female squirrel.

"You alright there lad?" Clockwork asked.

"I'm fine, now please change me back now." Danny requested.

He tapped Danny on the head with his staff and Danny was now changed back to normal, the squirrel still hugging him. She opened her eyes and gasped as she saw he had changed.

"There now you see? I'm not a squirrel. I'm a boy." Danny said.

Her smile dropped and she looked at Danny with sadness. Danny looked at her sympathetically and tried to talk to her, "I did try to tell you. I'm just a halfa. Half human-half ghost."

The squirrel climbed back a little bit up the tree and sniffled, tears began to fall from her eyes. Danny stood up and spoke to her once more, "If only you could understand. I….We can't be together. I'm so sorry."

The squirrel then scampered off to her home in the tree and began to cry. Danny looked down as he heard her crying and then walked over to Clockwork. The squirrel watched as the one she fell in love with, started heading out of the forest.

Clockwork sighed and said, "You know Danny that love business is a powerful thing."

"Even greater than gravity?" Danny asked.

"Well in a way….yes. I'd say it's the greatest force on Earth." Clockwork answered.

The squirrel climbed up to the very top of the tree and watched as Danny left with Clockwork, even though she had discovered the truth, her heart was broken.