Chapter XCIII

"Remember, class, your test on Death of a Salesman is tomorrow!" Mr. Lancer announced after he had finished the discussion of the aforementioned play. "It might not be a final, but it will make up forty five percent of your quarter grade," ditching the company line, the paraplegic teacher leaned back in his wheelchair. "I know most of you have been preoccupied, maybe even a little obsessed with DOOMED II. Well so have I, but I manage to make time in my schedule for the important things. You have the whole summer to ruin the hopes and dreams of every little brat online with your leet haxor skills, so finish the year strong with this test. If I have you next year, which I probably will, I promise to go easy on you come late August."

The bell rang and the students filed out of the room, eager to get home. "Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer called out. "A moment?"

Danny looked at Sam and Tucker. "I'll catch up. You guys go ahead."

The teenager walked over to his teacher's desk while his friend's left the room.

"Daniel, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but your grade is rather . . . unsavory."

"Unsavory?"

"Ever since the beginning of the year I've noticed a steady decline in your GPA. It's not just my class, and I'm not the only one who's noticed."

Danny sighed. "I know, and I'm sorry, but my life isn't exactly easy."

"Whose life is?" Lancer countered. "You don't have to apologize to me, Daniel. I know you've heard this time and time again, but the only one you need to apologize to is yourself. Down the road, when you're vying for a spot in the top third of your class' rank, competing for scholarships, applying to colleges and jobs, this year could come back to haunt you."

Danny frowned. "I haven't really thought that far ahead yet, Mr. Lancer."

"You have plenty of time, but all the time in the world won't count for anything if you don't use it wisely."

Danny nodded solemnly.

"I already have this test made up and it's ready to go for tomorrow. Multiple choice questions and an essay-"

"Really?" Danny asked with his eyes full of hope.

"Very specific you-need-to-have-read-the-book-to-know-the-answer multiple choice questions," Lancer added sternly. "And the essay is no present either."

"Oh," Danny looked away with a depressed expression on his face.

"You've managed to stay awake through all my classes that you've stayed the entire time for," commended, trying to brighten the boy's mood. "Being that it is the night before, you should supplement that with FlashNotes or even the Tikipedia article. If you manage to get a grade within the eighty percent range, you will get by this class with a C+."

Danny's eyes shone brightly again. "Really?"

"Really. Now hurry home and study, for Pete's sake!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Lancer!" Danny exclaimed as he bolted from the room. "I won't let you down!"

The teacher watched Danny as he disappeared down the hall. "Don't let yourself down, Daniel."

Technus had spent all of the Saturday night, the entire 24 hours of the next day and all of the present Monday in DOOMED II: Back for Gore. With each kill, the ghost master of technology fell deeper in love with the game. Every brat and "pro gamer" he utterly annihilated filled him with indescribable glee that could only be expressed through more killing.

Communication with Walker had been established, and the future ghost had often checked in to see what progress had been made. There was almost nothing to report, partially because Technus didn't want to stop playing DOOMED and finish his mission.

"My patience is almost completely gone, Nicolai," the sinister voice announced in his head for the umpteenth time that day. "Why haven't you located my father?"

"I have located him, Walker," Technus replied bitterly.

"Then why is he not dead in my hands?"

"Recall the security system Plasmius is upgrading the school with?"

"I do," Walker growled. "I fail to see how-"

"It was constructed using the AI program modeled on myself. Essentially, I built it."

There was a pause from Walker's end, allowing Technus to concentrate as he pinned a player under his first set of legs and mutilated him with his mandibles.

"You are waiting for it to be installed so you can use the AI programming in the security console to override Plasmius' own precautionary security measures."

"Precisely. At which point I will seal the building with Phantom inside."

"How do you plan on delivering him to me?"

Technus paused. He clicked his mandibles, drenched in pixilated blood, together. "Does that prison of yours have internet access?"

Clockwork always knew when the Observants were coming. He always knew, always did know, and always would know. He was also able to predict what the topic of conversation would be when they arrived ninety nine point nine percent of the time. The master of time frowned when he realized that this conversation was going to be in the point one percentile.

"Clockwork," the one known as K'rdon stated, "The council-"

"I know what they want," Clockwork replied in a bored tone as he turned to face the two ghosts. "The upcoming incident at Casper High will pave the way for the future they are so desperately trying to avoid."

"What do you plan to do about the situation?" Reginald asked.

"Nothing, as usual," Clockwork grinned at the surprised look in the Observant's eyes. "If you would allow the time stream to continue uninterrupted, you might find the outcome quite satisfactory."

"We already have Walker to deal with," K'rdon said bitterly. "Another of Phantom's-"

"I don't understand why it is such a frightening concept to your species to . . . go with the flow, as the humans say. I promise you, the outcome of this incident will be more beneficial than harmful to all persons involved."

Reginald floated over to Clockwork's massive bookshelf and looked over all the volumes of literature contained within the stone shelves. "The Ghost Writer is still an option for us, Clockwork."

"I know the Ghost Writer, and it would rather wipe your race from existence than to do me any harm," Clockwork snapped. "Do not pretend to hold power over it. The Ghost Writer is as much a sentient being as you or me. Its free will is its greatest power."

Reginald angrily squinted his eye at Clockwork. "By Wednesday in the Human realm, this will be resolved. Although the council hates to admit it, we cannot predict the outcome with the same amount of accuracy as before."

"I am aware of this."

"Then you must be aware of the cause," K'rdon added hopefully.

"I am not," Clockwork polished the orb at the top of his scepter with the corner of his charcoal grey cloak. "I believe whatever power is hampering your own is capable of altering reality; outside my jurisdiction."

"Then it could be only three things," Reginald stated. "The Ghost Writer-"

"Which is in a state of suspended animation in a dimension beyond this one," Clockwork finished. "It is not the Ghost Writer."

"Pariah Dark or the Reality Gauntlet," Reginald continued.

Clockwork floated in silence. "Either of those two are possibilities, but it is impossible to determine which one."

"You must investigate this for us," Reginald pointed to Clockwork.

"I do not know where Pariah's Keep is. His power shields him from my detection, as does the Reality Gauntlet's power."

"Then what do we do?" K'rdon asked.

"We wait," Clockwork said confidently. "After all, we do have all the time in the world."

To Be Continued

A/N: Too short, I know. I didn't want to have the SUPER AWESOME ACTION PACKED STUDY SESSION in this chapter, so I saved it for the next one. I also wanted to set things up for later. Much later.

It has been a week since this transpired, but if you were reading Ultimate Danny Phantom at around 2:05 am on the morning of Sunday, May 18th, 2008, then I am eternally thankful to you. Why? Because that was the day UDP reached 100,000 hits (it is currently somewhere over 101,000). So huzzah! Kudos! Bravo! Etcetera! To infinity and beyond!

Also, I have written a story based on the song Iron Man by Black Sabbath. It's called Iron Man. (I know, how creative am I, right?). Please go read and review it. It's something I've wanted to do for a while and only now started on. It will probably last for only two more chapters, if that, so then I can devote all my time back to this (and Phantom Rising on bad days).

Reviews! 1000s of them! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, especially Fulcon, Thunderstorm101, Bitchy Princess, Jiece18, darkness over day, Bloxham, darkbunny92, Coppa-Cola, MissMeliss4251, and enderverse.

And, if you haven't, go see Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Diary of the Dead.

Are you gonna wear the red and blue costume again? 'Cause I kinda like this one better.
–little kid from Superman: Doomsday