Chapter Eighteen: Concerning Ghosts
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Hey everyone, second chapter I am posting today and in some ways this one that a very important chapter as this was an idea that inspired the former title of this story: The Phantom Book, before it evolved to what it is now. Enjoy.
On with the Show:
Once the New Year had rung in, Danny had figured out how to use the Stop Clock that Clockwork had given him for Christmas. In addition to his school work and his training with the Rogues, he turned more of his focus toward writing his book, now that he had seemingly all the time in the world. Clockwork proved to be the best source of information, both he personally and his library, in which Danny spent many hours reading the histories and lore of the Zone, or perhaps he spent no time there. With the use of the Stop Clock, Danny would visit the Time Master while no time passed at home. Clockwork himself was glad for the visits, as it gave him a break from both his duties and from Dan, who would get locked in a separate part of the Clock Tower away from them and the Observing. The two would have tea in the library as the fire roared and Clockwork would answer any questions Danny had. Occasionally, Clockwork, in his older form, would fall asleep in his favorite chair in front of the fire, only to be awoken when Danny asked a question. To be honest, that is how Clockwork would prefer things.
"Clockwork?" Danny asked, softly. He did not want to startle the Master of Time, Clockwork awoke from the light daze he was in.
"Yes, Daniel?" Clockwork asked, shaking the sleep from his eyes.
"Was the whole affair with Dan and multiple timelines the first time you took an interest in my life?" Danny asked, he had been wondering that for a while.
Clockwork smiled softly, "You were always destined for greatness, Daniel. I watched your birth, I watched you grow up. I patiently waited until the day came for us to meet. If things were different, I would have sought you out and introduced myself under peaceful circumstances, but fate had other plans." Clockwork stroked his chin in thought.
"You once said that you were there at the Beginning of Time, what about after the End Of Time?" Danny asked, concerned about his friend's fate, and for that matter the fact of the Zone.
"I don't know what will happen after Time's End, I do know that I will probably be the last ghost in existence. I like to think that when the stars go cold, the universe gone still, and the Ghost Zone is empty, then I will take the journey to the Elsewhereness, and depart this realm forever." Clockwork mused, for all he knew he may cease to be at the end of time.
"The Elsewhereness?" Danny asked, confused about the name of the place.
"Think Elysium, or Paradiso," Clockwork answered, "a paradise realm, Sojourn supposedly found it once and wrote the path to it in his journal. He disappeared one day, the journal vanishing along with him. Though pages have been recovered but it is not complete, I also know how to get there. Should probably try to organize an effort to tack down the pages that are out there. I will go when my task is done. If you are wondering, there is another realm that is a nightmarish realm where those who wind there are trapped forever called the Unworld."
"Oh," Danny likened what he was told to the common human ideas of Heaven and Hell. While on the topic of afterlives and such that humans have tales for, "If there are ghosts that are the inspiration for myths in the human world, and Pandora and those of her realm, and perhaps Undergrowth are the inspirations for some Greek myths, are there other "gods or creatures'' of various mythologies out there?"
"You tell me, you met Hotep-Ra, what do you think?" Clockwork asked in turn, as he leaned back in chair, hands folded across his grandfather clock chest,
"Yes?" Danny answered, questioningly.
"Correct, they are out there. Only, they are usually nothing like the stories about them. For example, the human myth of the Greek god Chronos, god of time," Clockwork gestured to himself, "though I am not like Cronus who is often said to be Father Time. Though I think the story of Cronus eating his three sons is a symbol for the passage of time devouring the ages, I am not too read up on that. Also, I did not clip any Cupid wings, no idea where that came from." Clockwork shrugged as he said the last sentence, indicating that even as all-knowing as he was, he was not too sure about how humans create these stories.
"What about when I die? What will happen to me?" Being halfa, Danny wondered what happened to his kind.
Clockwork sighed, "I don't know, Halfas don't happen often, usually temporarily granted powers in some way. You, Danielle, and until recently, Vlad were the only true Half-ghosts in existence, not counting the failed clones. There is still much to learn about you three. Soon to be five, hopefully." Clockwork said the last part under his breath, but Danny caught it.
"What was that about two more half-ghosts?" Danny did a double take.
A sly smile crossed the Lord of Time's face, "Spoilers." Danny took that to mean his future children. "Don't put that in your book."
Danny laughed, "wouldn't dream of it."
"To get us off this topic, I was thinking about this: You should create a realm for yourself, here in the Zone. Never know when you may need a quiet hideaway to escape to." Clockwork wanted to get off the previous topic, as quickly as possible, considering what he knew of possible outcomes of future events.
"Yeah, I should do that at some point, thanks for reminding me." Clockwork nodded in response.
Once he had all the information he wanted about the Ghost Zone and its inhabitants, Danny sat at his computer, pouring over his notes and organizing them into the order he wanted to talk about them. Then he began to write.
Introduction:
My name is Danny Fenton, also known as Danny Phantom. World renowned half ghost hero and protector of Amity Park. I was just fourteen when my parents created a very strange machine, a Ghost Portal, a bridge between the human world and the Ghost Zone. When it didn't work right the first time, I took a look inside of it, out of curiosity. I accidentally hit the on switch and got caught in the activation of the portal. My life changed forever that day. From then on, I was no mere human, I was half ghost. Quite a shock for me and my friends. My parents found out later, way later. I then made the choice to use my powers for good as I realized that someone had to protect my town and by extension the world from ghosts.
This text is designed to be both my biography, or rather putting to word my experiences. It is also my intent to set right the half-truths out there or blatant misinformation about Ghosts.
Prologue: Concerning Ghosts
This tale is primarily concerned with Ghosts, and from its pages a reader will discover much of their nature and some of their history.
Now the question is what is a Ghost? Are they the spirits of the dead that have unfinished business? Are they monsters from another world? Are they personifications of some phenomenon in our world given form? All of these interpretations are true and false at the same time. The reason for this is that Ghosts can form from any of these ways. Now, the most common way for ghosts to form are indeed the souls of those that have passed on. Many ghosts I have encountered fit in this category, but from what I have found is not everyone becomes a ghost. Now, there are many theories out there about the process of how a soul becomes a ghost. Most in this category have some fixation or regrets that wouldn't let them move on, or some merely refused to move on and now are ghosts. As for others, I have met ghosts that were there before sentient life was a thing. It has become apparent to me that there is no true hard rule about how ghosts form.
What is fact however, is that many myths and legends in our world were just interactions with denizens of the Ghost Zone, which we will discuss later, that people of the ancient times had no way to describe them other than as supernatural creatures or even as gods. Humans would create stories about these ghosts to give themselves an answer to questions that there was no answer to at the time.
Being a ghost comes with a few standard abilities: Flight, Invisibility, Intangibility, Enhanced strength, speed, and durability.
Ectoplasm: It is the building block of all things ghost related. It is the life blood, the fuel, the ammunition, the very matter that make up ghost bodies and the Ghost Zone. It is that essential to the very being of Ghosts. Also, has the ability to bring food to life if used to cook with. Don't do that.
The Ghost Zone: Home of all Ghosts. Also known as the Infinite Realms. It is a parallel dimension made entirely of ectoplasm. It and Earth are two sides of the same coin as they need each other to exist. If something happens to one, it affects the other as well. As I write this, I am reminded of the time when the USA's federal ghost operatives, the Guys In White bought my family home for access to the Fenton Portal so that they could try to destroy the Ghost Zone, not realizing that would cause the Earth to be destroyed as well. I stopped that attempt, of course, but I digress.
The Ghost Zone has the other name of the Infinite Realms because every ghost can make a realm for themselves to live in. These too are made of ectoplasm. Most realms are located behind doors that float throughout the Zone. Some ghosts, for one reason or another, prefer to have their realm out in the open. Walker, for example, has his realm of a Prison out in the open to show that someone is trying to maintain some rule of law.
Speaking of laws, there is currently no standing government. The Zone is in a state of anarchy where every ghost has their own realm and tries to mind their own business, well most of them. The closest thing to a standing government is the Observant High Council who watch the time stream and pronounce judgment on ghosts that do significant damage to Earth, such as Vortex, Master of Weather.
In ancient times, though, there was a tyrant King on the throne of the Zone. A cabal of powerful ancient ghosts banded together in a last ditch effort to defeat the King. They managed to beat and sealed him away in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, hoping that he would stay asleep. Until yours truly had to deal with him, after he was freed thanks to Vlad Plasmius.
Portals: There is only one real way in and out of the Zone, and that is through a Ghost Portal. There are two kinds of portals, natural and artificial. Artificial Portals are more stable and safer than a natural portal as a gateway to the other side. See, while a natural portal can lead to both sides of the dimensions, natural portals come with some downsides. First, is timing, as naturals form and stay open for a few moments and then close, disappearing forever. The second also happens to do with time. Natural portals affect space and time. for entering a natural portal to the Ghost Zone, one may not come back to their own time when they try to use the same portal to get out before it closes. Artificial hold a portal open and safely return people to their right time. However, the calculations to create one, must be exactly correct or all will end in failure.
The files he kept on the ghosts he encountered proved instrumental in writing his book. After each visit with each of his rogues, he did update his personal and family's copies of the files to include the back stories that they had told him. He divided the book into sections, starting with Half Ghosts, The Rogue's Gallery, Friendlies, Ancients/Primordials, Others of Note Artifacts. Dan was under his own heading at the very end of the book, titled The Ultimate Enemy.
As he went through made sure to address myths and legends in the human world that were really ghosts, Like the Yeti on Mount Everest was a member of Frostbite's people. He started with himself and then Vlad, then Danielle, just as he had his parents read through them. He only omitted things from his entry that the public didn't need to know, which was very few things. He went on about Vlad's numerous crimes. Day by day, Danny would go to school, come home, adjust the Stop Clock to slow time a bit so that he could train with the Rouges, then come home, stop time, then write his book until he felt tired, then he went to bed and repeated.
When he was finishing up Dan's section, which was a major warning to people about doing the right thing in many ways, he did turn his thoughts toward the future.
Even now, though he may be in the Lord of Time's watch, he still is a present danger. He once swore that we would duel again and that he would kill me. While I want to say that he wouldn't be able to pull it off, I am not sure. What I do know is that my bones are telling me that we will indeed meet again in combat. A final battle, one that only one of us is walking away from.
Grim to be sure, but Danny wanted his readers to know that there may come a day that he is not around anymore, because of this ghost. He did change the tone to more happy one in his epilogue, saying that while he may not survin=ve his battle with Dan, he did give the hope that there will always be a half ghost protector of Amity Park and that of his vision of a society where humans and Ghosts live and work together in harmony. As he tapped out the final words of his book, he sat back in his chair, amazed at himself for what he had accomplished. Now it was time to edit it for publication.
Danny would visit Walker's prison to make use of the Ghost Writer's knowledge of how to write a book, he would also go to Lancer to get help as well. Walker had set up the situation as a possible way for the Ghost Writer to work off a few years off his sentence by helping Danny write his book. Of course during these visits, Danny got to know the Writer as an amateur writer that had written a few novels in life that died suddenly, mostly likely from stress causing health issues. He had always wanted to write a Christmas poem in life, but that did not happen. Danny destroying his afterlife's goal was a bigger deal than he realized.
"Look, I'm sorry about your poem." Danny sat down across from the Writer. "I didn't mean to blast it, I was trying to blast an elf doll that I had thrown too far."
"Tell me something, boy. Why did you hate the holiday enough that once you found out what my writing was, you were overjoyed and burned the last page in your hand?" The writer asked, in spite.
Danny said, folded his hands together on the table. His eyes filled with a darkness, "Fourteen years, fourteen blasted years of Christmas being ruined for me by my parents arguing whether or not Santa exists, which apparently is their way to celebrate, but it had an effect on me and Jazz. On my first christmas, I got pissed on by a dog. A few years later, while dinner was cooking, probably due to the microwave having ecto as a fuel source, the turkey came alive and wielded a knife and fork, threatening me and Jazz, who picked up a broom and defended us. Ever since, I had carried an ever growing bitterness and a hatred toward the holiday. So, that year the incident went down between us. I was at the mall doing some shopping, while Mom and Dad were doing their usual thing, making fools of themselves there. Having had enough, I came to the Zone to let off some steam by destroying objects related to the holiday." He explained his rage against the holiday of cheer.
"I see," Ghost Writer didn't know what to say to that.
"Shall we move past this and get to the task at hand?" Danny asked, not wanting to spend anymore time on this topic.
"Yes, for now," The Ghost Writer agreed. The Ghost Writer would look over Danny's manuscripts for every chapter, marking where Danny needed to improve his writing and give suggestions on how to make it better. Once the Writer gave his approval that the manuscript was ready, Danny got in touch with a local publisher and distributor to get the thing ready for publication.
Before he did send it off to the printer, he asked his parents to write the foreword to his book, which they humbly accepted. They mostly talked about the shock they felt at learning that Danny was half ghost and that Vlad was an evil psycho. They also briefly talked about their experience in the field, sort of being pioneers, being the first to actually build a fully functioning Portal.
By the end of March, Danny had his book published. As he held the physical author's copy he had received, in some ways it did not seem real. He looked down at the cover of it. Danny Phantom's Guide to Ghosts. The cover was black with cover art of him fighting a nondescript green ghost, just as he had requested.
"Congratulations, brother. You're an author," Jazz said out of pride for him.
"Yes, you set the record straight for everyone with this book. One day, this book with the foundation of a new field of academia on the study of ghosts." Jack said, trying to sound a bit prophetic in his voice. Everyone in the room had a good laugh at his attempt to sound that way.
Later that day, he sat in his room, and crossed off the last thing on his to-do list. He was momentarily content with himself for his achievement, but then he did add one last item to the list. A simple three letter word: Dan.
When he had made the press announcement that his book would be going on sale, the first printing sold out in an hour, and that was just his home town's copies, they had to do a second printing immediately just to meet demand.
A couple of days after the book went out for sale, Danny went to School as he normally did, and to his amusement, his head image came true, as just about everyone had and was reading a copy of his book. "I never thought I would see the day, Mr Fenton." Lancer said as he came up behind them.
"Oh, what's that, Mr. Lancer?" Danny asked, a smirk on his face, knowing what Lancer was going to say.
"This," Lancer gestured to the student body with their books, "all the students taking an interest in reading. Sure, it is the book you wrote, but it is still an impressive thing."
A slight laugh in his throat, "Yes, I know."
At lunch that day, Dash awkwardly approached the group of four ghost hunters. Dany's brow rose a bit in question and mirth, seeing a copy of his book in Dash's hand. He almost said something slightly insulting, but thought better of it.
"Hey Fenton, I understand now what you meant at the Halloween costume ball." Dash said as he came up to them.
"Yeah, it's some heavy stuff to take in," Danny smirked at his friends.
"Like seriously, Miss Spectra being a ghost makes so much sense as to why no one felt good after seeing her," Dash said. Danny just nodded in agreement. "I wanted to ask, if you would sign my book?" Dash asked, sheepishly.
Danny smirked, rolled his eyes, slightly shook his head in disbelief and willingly signed the inside of the book. "Don't tell anyone, I am not in the mood right now for everyone to want a signature on their copy." Dash nodded his head fast in excitement at this.
Everything was going well for Danny, even the royalties from the book were nearly enough that he wouldn't need to work a normal job in his life. Though things seemed like they were all great, things were about to change.
There you have it everyone, chapter 18 of this tale. The book is now written. Also, when I was doing a little research for this chapter, I came across some more "extensions'' to the lore like Danny having a missing older brother and some other things, and from what I gathered from the video that Butch made on this topic, he may have just been reading someone's crazy fan idea or something. I mean even the shows wiki's pages on this content I found are not properly written, so what does that say, considering like Sojourn's page is proper and such. I just said nope and ignored those ideas. Though I liked Sojourn as an idea so I will consider him canon. Then again, fanfiction is a playground and we dictate its rules.
Anyway, next time, some serious stuff is going down. You don't want to miss it. Stay tuned. See you there.