I was feeling in the mood for something ridiculous, so enjoy these 2000 words of nonsense and a terrible attempt at writing a book analysis.

"No." Danny said, folding his arms and looking away. "Absolutely not."

"Daniel, please?"

"No. Not happening."

"Daniel, it is your right. It is your duty."

"My duty is to protect Amity Park. Not whatever the hell this is."

"Daniel." The ghost in front of him closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "The ghost zone needs a ruler."

"Get someone else to do it then." The boy said. "Get Nocturne, or Ember. I bet she'd love it. Or Vlad. Actually, don't get Vlad. For fucks sake, even the Box Ghost would be a better option. Why do I have to do it?"

"you know as well as I do why. And no, I am not getting the box ghost to be the king of the ghosts."

"But why does it have to be me?" Danny growled.

"Daniel, you defeated the previous king, so now the title falls on you."

"Clockwork!" he groaned. "You've said that about a million times. I've already told you; I'm not doing it. Now go away and leave me alone." He paused, glancing around the room where the observants sat. "And get those creepy eyeballs out of here, please. They're freaking me out."

Danny was having quite a nice time in his room with his sister. Admittedly, they were studying which wasn't Danny's chosen pastime, but it could have been worse. There were no ghosts to fight at the moment, and the book Lancer had set wasn't in some Shakespearean jargon he couldn't understand.

"So what is Jekyll's thought process in this chapter?" Jazz asked him, holding his notes just out of reach. He could just float up and get them, but he couldn't really be bothered.

Danny groaned and wracked his brains. "Who's Jekyll?" he asked.

Jazz, who used to love Mr lancer's English lessons, gasped and put her hand to her heart. "Danny!"

"What?"

"Am I allowed to disown you?"

"What did I do?"

"How do you not know who Jekyll is? The book is called Jekyll and Hyde!"

"I skimmed it!" he countered in defence. "I wasn't really paying attention. I just know enough about that duality shit to get me through the exam."

Jazz growled. "That 'duality shit' is a key theme of the book and revolutionised the way people think."

"It just seems like a load of rubbish to me. I mean, he made a magic potion that turns him into a weird ass monster. So what? I do that."

"Mr Hyde isn't a ghost, Danny." His sister sighed. "The book isn't really about the potion. It's about the danger of repressed evil and how every person has some evil inside of them. Especially in the strict Victorian society they lived in, where showing any kind of emotion was frowned upon, Stevenson was brave enough to try and think about this, go into the inner workings of the human brain, and if you look in chapter fifteen, you'll see that he was using Freud's theory of…"

"What part of I don't care don't you get?"

"You're the one who asked me to help you study."

"I didn't realise that would mean you going all psychology on me."

"I'm only trying to help." She muttered. "Think of it this way. You're you, and you would never think of doing anything evil ever, right?"

"Yeah of course. I promised I'd never…"

"Yeah, well. Dr Jekyll is you. The good, respectable hero that everyone loves."

"Right?"

"And Dan, he's your evil self. He's all those horrible things that you could do. Have you ever thought about using your ghost powers for anything other than saving people?"

"No! of course not."

"So, you've never given dash a quick ectoblast or made him run into a locker?" she asked. Danny looked down at the floor. "Thought so. Now, have you ever thought about going all out on someone? Doesn't it get annoying when the Box Ghost keeps popping up and ruining your day? Or when ghost X,"

"Skulker."

"Ok, when Skulker turns up and blasts you out of the sky. Haven't you ever thought about going just a little further with them? Hurting them just a bit more. Maybe you keep them in the thermos a day or so longer than you need to, or power up that ectoblast a little too much. That's your aggression, or your evil side coming through. I know you'd never turn properly evil after seeing Dan, but there is always the possibility."

"Jazz," her brother interrupted. "Not that this isn't nice, but I really hate talking about this. You know, traumatic memories, whole family dying?"

"My point is," she continued, ignorant to her brother's discomfort, "That's what Jekyll is going through. Mr Hyde is a way for him to let go of all that aggression and repressed feelings without it impacting on his… let's say his human half. I know you love it when you get into a good fight as Phantom."

"You're saying I'm this Jekyll dude?"

"I'm giving you an analogy and helping you compare the book's events to your real life situation so you can understand it better."

"No wonder you got into Harvard." Danny murmured. "You're stupidly smart."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment."

She was about to say something else, when she noticed the blue steam coming from her brother. "Who is it?" she asked, digging for the thermos in her bag.

Danny didn't appear to be very panicked, so she stuffed the thermos away and raised an eyebrow instead. In fact, he was more frustrated than panicked, she noticed.

"Will you leave me alone, clockwork?" he cried, hands waving in the air. "I'm not doing it, I told you."

"Doing what?" Jazz wondered.

"Daniel, please. The ghost zone needs you."

"The ghost zone can stuff it." He answered. "And so can the observants."

Next to him, Jazz's eyes had widened, and she looked like she was wondering why the hell he wasn't sucking this guy into a thermos.

"They won't be happy." Clockwork warned. "They do not take refusal well."

"Like I said, they can stuff it. They're literally just giant eyeballs. Who cares what they think?"

"Danny!" Jazz whispered. "Be nice to the powerful ghost who could kick your butt."

"Thank you, Jasmine." Clockwork beamed. "It's nice to see that at least one of the Fenton's has good manners, even if the other three are severely lacking."

Jazz smiled back. "If you don't mind sir, Danny and I were just studying. He has a big test tomorrow and…"

"I know." Clockwork said. "I won't stay for long. Well, I could stay forever, but I won't. I just want to get your brother to stop being so stubborn. I know he'll cone round eventually."

"No!" Danny shouted. "Fuck off."

"Danny, language!"

"I'm not being your fucking king!" he said. "Leave me alone!"

Jazz, who had been rather confused until this moment, stopped and, in a tiny voice, asked, "King?"

"Yeah." Danny answered, rolling his eyes. "Good old clockwork here has decided that I'm the new king of the ghost zone. Honestly. You defeat one ancient evil dude and suddenly you have to be a freaking king."

Jazz frowned, her brain working furiously. "Isn't there some rule against minors ruling?" she asked. "Danny's still only sixteen, and you're trying to make him go into an alternate dimension and rule there against his will. That has to be illegal."

"In your world, perhaps." Clockwork admitted. "But in mine, there is no such rule. We need a king, and Danny is the only choice we have."

"What if I… dammit, what's the word. Abdi… abdicote?"

"Abdicate." Jazz corrected, her eyes shining. "Yeah, what if he abdicates? You can't make him do it then."

"Jasmine, I am the master of time." The ghost sighed. "I can make him do almost anything. Besides, the ghost zone is descending into chaos without a monarch. I know you cannot let innocent people get hurt when you could do something about it, Daniel."

"My name is Danny, and I just want to sleep. And maybe pass this test as well, so leave me alone!

Clockwork, with much sighing and grumbling, left him alone.

For a day or so.

It was at lunch the next day when he tried again, catching Danny outside the canteen.

"Go away, clockwork." The boy said, turning his back and beginning to walk away.

"Daniel!"

Danny exhaled, clenched his fists and turned to face the ghost. "You know what?" he said, gritting his teeth. "Fine. I'll do it."

"You will?"

"Yeah. Take me to the ghost zone. Put that stupid ring on me, crown me your stupid king. Fine."

"Really?"

"Yep. Go on, do it."

Clockwork rubbed his hands together in glee. "Come on then. We have work to do."

"Wait, right now?" Danny yelped. "I meant like after school or something. I have that English test now!"

"That is a shame, isn't it. Never mind."

"Clockwork!"

"I hate this."

"You look good, Daniel."

"I look like a cosplayer. Or the Fright Knight. Why the hell have you dressed me up like the Fright Knight?"

"It is the traditional royal armour."

"Is the cape really necessary? It weighs a ton."

"It's traditional."

"Traditional my ass. Whatever happened to comfy?"

"The observants insist. Now, come on. It's time for your crowning."

"This sucks."

He sat on a throne that was at least six times the size of him, and obviously meant for someone like Pariah Dark. In fact, the whole palace was kind of the wrong size for him, and it hadn't been redecorated so there were horrible skulls everywhere and the remnants of Pariah's reign. Danny hated it.

The observants had been talking for at least an hour now, making some speech about honour add valour and kings and tradition. Danny had tuned them out within the first two minutes. Honestly, he just wanted to go home.

"And now," one of them said, making its way over to Danny who sat up. "I crown thee, Danny Phantom, High King of all ghosts, bearer of the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire. Ghostly ruler of the zone and he who walks between the worlds. Rejoice!"

All around him, ghosts cheered and whooped for their new ruler. The observant lowered the crown onto Danny's head.

"Ah!" he yelled. "Hot! My god, that's boiling! Get it off!"

Clockwork, next to him, chuckled. "It's made of fire, Daniel."

"How was I supposed to know that?" he whispered back angrily.

"It's called the crown of fire." He said. Danny growled.

Reaching up, he took the crown, ignoring the burns on his hands, and handed it back to the surprised observant. "Um, hi." He said, addressing the ghosts in the room. "I, uh, this is all great, but I'm actually not gonna be your king."

Clockwork face palmed.

"In fact, there is someone I think would do a much better job than me. So, as my first and last order as king of the zone, could the Box Ghost please come on up here?"

Murmurs broke out among the ghosts and there was some shoving as the aforementioned ghost made his way to the front.

"Boxy," Danny said, "I've always admired you and your… uh… perseverance. That's why I'm crowning you as the new king of ghosts. Um… all hail Boxy!"

There was silence for a few moments, before someone started clapping, and soon the hall was filled with cries of, "All hail!" and "Box ghost for the win!"

Danny turned to an incredulous clockwork and a murderous observant and grinned. "Sorry guys. Guess I just wasn't cut out for the throne."

As he flew happily away, he could make out a scream of Beware!" over the cacophony of voices.

Back in the hall, Clockwork groaned, but smiled. Everything was as it was meant to be.

I struggled writing Clockwork, but I'm going to work on that because I love him and, like every other character in this show, he has so much potential for comic relief.

Anyway, hope you liked it.