Chapter Twenty: A Rage Unleashed
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Here we are, a chapter I have been sitting on for a while as this was one of the first ideas I had for this story that I wanted to explore. Last time Dan got free and is building his cabal of evil to attack his counterpart. How will Danny come out of this? Read on to find out.
On with the Show:
When Dan did not return that day, the Nature Trio believed he had failed in his task and was now trapped in a realm of fear and was about to write him off as some cocky pretender that got in over his head when they heard the neighing of a horse. They turned to look in the direction of the sound and to their surprise, riding/flying fast toward them was Dan Phantom, the Fright Knight upon his horse, Knightmare, and to their horror, Pariah Dark.
"What did you do?" Nocturn voiced the question that the three of them had.
"Gathered allies, like I said." Dan didn't care whether or not the nature trio was uncomfortable with the two other ghosts that he had recruited. "Now, follow me, we have a hero to snuff out." With his cabal of evil in tow, Dan led the way to the Fenton Portal.
As they flew behind their 'leader,' the Nature trio looked between each other, a bit nervous. Their fear was realized when Pariah Dark took a look at them closely. "You look familiar to me, where do I know you from?" Dark's good eye narrowed in thought.
"They and the Master of Time and others banded together to overthrow you at the height of your power." The Knight told the King, hoping it would throw suspicion off of himself.
Before Dark could say or do something, Dan cut in. "The Enemy of My Enemy is my ally. For now, work together and then you can try to kill each other later once our common foe is dead."
"Fine," was all Dark said.
"Besides, Dark, you have more than just them to worry about. A traitorous herald for one," Dan had an evil smirk on his face. Fright Knight's eyes widened in fear. "Yes, he wasn't fighting the alliance of ghosts that fought the army while my counterpart/myself in my timeline took you on in single combat, he sided with them because Plasmius offered him a deal of some kind."
His lie exposed, Fright Knight began thinking that this was a bad idea. He needed a way out of this, if only to save his skin from Dark, who was going to flay him after this was over.
They had reached the Fenton Portal, Dan turned to his cabal, "Now, I will go get our foe, and drag him back in here, where we can have some fun. Nocturn, Undergrowth, I want him awake so he will feel everything he will suffer." Nocturn crossed his arms, but slightly nodded his head in acknowledgement. Undergrowth did the same. "Good, I will return soon."
Dan, invisible and intangible, slipped through the Fenton Portal, and up through the house. Up to Danny's room, where he grabbed his counterpart's leg, and pulled him down through the house toward the portal. Danny managed to transform into his ghost self before being pulled into the green swirling portal.
Once though, whatever ghost had him in its grasp, threw him forward. Catching himself, once freed, he turned to see the ghost that brought him to the Ghost Zone. To his horror, it was Dan. Clockwork was right, he did find a way to escape and break the chains on him. "Today is the day that you die, Danny. Time's Up, and we will ensure it." Dan gestured to the other ghosts with him, and to Danny's further horror, he realized who stood with his counterpart. While afraid, Danny steeled his nerves and readied for the fight. If today was the day that he died, then he will make sure it will be worthy of remembrance. Firing the first ecto-basts, Danny began the fight.
Danny used his training under his foes and allies to good use against this cabal of evil. Starting off, the cabal took turns attacking him, so that he only had one to deal with at one time. Vortex threw a big ball of ice at Danny, who dodged it, and the ball hit Undergrowth, who was severely weakened by it. "Watch where you are throwing those," Undergrowth barked. Vortex unleashed a powerful lightning bolt. Danny used the knowledge that Technus had given him on how to redirect lightning. He used his left arm to give the lightning a point to hit, went up his arm, he had to force it down through his stomach area, to avoid his heart, up and out the other arm, and fired it out of his right arm right back at Vortex, who was weakened a good bit as it was his own power turned against him.
He launched ecto-charged balls of ice at the Lord of Plants and the Lord of Dreams who took the hit, and it weakened them a bit, Undergrowth more than Nocturn. Nocturn raised a hand, it glowed a moment and Danny felt himself in an invisible grip, Nocturn raised his hand upwards and and down again, throwing the hero this way and that."Sleepwalkers, form!" Nocturn commanded and several Sleepwalkers formed. Nocturn had them in position as he threw Danny to them. They grabbed hold of the half-ghost and held him tight for the cabal to attack. Undergrowth launched several spiked vines at him. Danny charged up his Ice powers and unleashed a blast that froze the Sleepwalkers instantly, allowing him to easily shatter them. As the vines drew near, Danny dogged them, grabbed them and channeled Ice into them, which fed back to the Father of Plants, weakening him. Vortex released a Sonic Shriek, which was similar to both Phantom's Ghost Wails. Danny took a breath of air and matched the Weather Lord with Ghost Wail. The two sonic blasts met each other and released a blast of energy that sent everyone flying in different directions. Fortunately for Danny, Nocturn had to sit out from attacking him for a bit. He was weaker from not having enough Dream energy. That meant he was of no further use to the cabal, Nocturn had an idea.
As Danny was struggling with his compatriots, Nocturn took the battlefield to the mental plane. "I know your dreams, I know your nightmares, Ghost Child."
"You know nothing," Danny spat out at the Lord of Dreams, as he dodged an attack from Dark, who went past him and caught Dan, who was momentarily taken off guard by the King's power. Danny had figured that since did not have the suit, it would be better to avoid all attacks Pariah sent his way. Though, he did figure that if he could take Dan on and that he had grown stronger over time, as well as that Pariah did not have the Crown or the Ring, then maybe, just maybe he could take him. He was also thankful that the King was not up on him like the others were right now. Pariah himself was perfectly okay with missing the hero and hitting the dark spirit as said ghost had punched him in the face immediately after waking him up.
Dan lunged for his counterpart, tackling him, and began to fight him in fist to fist combat. As the two of them did so, Nocturn continued his mental attacks. "Oh, I know nothing? I know that you desire a family with your goth girlfriend, I know that you fear the death of your younger sister, or perhaps the death of your daughter?" Nocturn said the last word with a smirk on his face.
"Shut up!" Danny snapped at the ghost, as he traded blows with his evil self. As they traded blows, Danny managed to get a kick off to Dan's chest that sent him back a few meters.
Despite the bleak look of this battle, what Danny didn't know however, was that he had a hidden ally among the cabal. Fright Knight charged his Flaming crystal meteor move and threw it, making it look like he was aiming for Danny, who dodged it, barely. The meteor sailed and hit its real target: Pariah Dark, who returned fire with a red ecto-beam from his eye, hitting the Knight, as a warning. Dan made another lunge, but got knocked away by a green ecto-blast from Soul Shredder that the Knight passed off as lousy aiming on his part. Fright Knight did what he could to help the hero without exposing his allegiance, but as the battle went on, it was getting harder and harder to do so. 'He better beat the others soon, or otherwise, I am going to have to put my neck on the line,' the Knight thought to himself.
Dan realized that this one by one thing was not working, as Danny had grown stronger since they had fought. "Combine attacks, we will not get anywhere like this."
Danny was in trouble now as he had to deal with multiple of them coming at him, and started taking hits as he would raise one shield one way, but another ghost would hit him in the back. While he had trained how to deal with multiple opponents attacking at the same time, it didn't help much as several of them duplicated multiple times on him. Sure, he duplicated a couple times as well, but he still wasn't as proficient at it as the others. When he was distracted with one of the cabal, Dan grabbed him, used his stinger on Danny, and then threw him down on a rock platform that was in the area. Danny had to conjure a full shield to protect himself, as all of them were on him now. All of them here finging ecto-blasts, Nocturn had saved enough energy for this, as he was firing blue ecto-rays from his hands, or some form of attack at his shield. It was starting to crack. He turned his shield into his repulsion field ability, which did hit their targets, but did little to really aid him. He was weakening as he took hit after hit during the battle. All of them returned fire, continuously, and Danny had to rely on his full shield just to save himself, again. However, it did become clear to him that it would not save him this time. Under the constant barrage, his shield couldn't hold and it broke. Danny took the full might of their attacks, which sent him rolling on the rock platform he stood on. He was really starting to hurt now. He could feel that something was broken. He tried to get up, but fell back down, thanks to an ecto-blast from Dan in the back, as the dark spirit landed down on the platform next to his counterpart.
As Danny stabled himself on his hands and knees, he struggled to get up. He saw Dan's white boot in his peripheral vision. "Now, I am going to tell you what shall happen after I kill you Danny. First, we will conquer your world, carved up into kingdoms for each of us. I will turn Amity Park into a wasteland. Your parents will die, your friend Tucker will perish, your girlfriend Sam, when I am done with her," the dark ghost chuckled in evil delight at his thoughts, "well, let's just say there will be no love for you." Danny felt his anger rising, he once promised himself not to give into it. He never wanted to become like Dan, but it gave him strength, and that was what he needed right now. "Your sisters," Dan continued, "will become my servants, especially your filthy little clone 'sister,' she will make for a fine servant." There was a sick pleasure to his words, and he laughed an evil laugh as his victory was hand. Those words finally pushed Danny over the edge. His parental side that he had managed to bury, thanks to Spectra's help, rose up in full force and was amplified by a thousand.
In that moment, Danny finally gave into his hatred. Dan threatening his loved ones is one thing but what he was planning to do to Sam, Jazz, and especially Danielle like that, all bets were off. Danny raised his head to look at the cabal of Ghosts. A bolt of fear, which chilled them to the core, went into the hearts of the Nature trio. Even the Fright Knight, Pariah Dark, and Dan were momentarily caught off guard. Danny's eyes did not shine emerald green, they were blazing crimson red. "Uh oh," was all Nocturn got to say in time.
Getting to his feet, Danny called upon his rage. He unleashed a Ghost Wail so powerful that it shook the entire Ghost Zone to its foundations. The sound of it reverberated throughout the Zone, it was heard by every ghost. In that moment, his hate was so great that the shockwaves of his Wail were as red as his eyes.
The ghosts were flung back from him, weakened greatly by the intensity of the blast. Even Pariah Dark couldn't believe the power behind this attack, considering the child in his view needed a battlesuit to face him before. When he stopped the cry, he went after the target of his rage. Not even giving Dan a chance to recover, while he was still in a haze, Danny delivered a savage beatdown, pulling no punches. Left hook, Right hook, Gut punch, uppercut, rage powering every strike, the red mist had descended on the young hero. He intended to make sure that Dan could never hurt anyone ever again.
Far away, Clockwork was watching events unfold, a scowl crossing his face. Though he could not see Dan, nor most of them, he knew he was there, as there was no way Danny would attack the open air so savagely.
"Should we do something?" Vortex asked the other two nature trio members, not knowing what to do.
"I got an idea," Nocturn said, shakily. He needed to recharge soon if he wanted to be of use to anyone soon.
"Yeah, what?" Undergrowth asked.
"Run!" Nocturn took off in terror, the other two looked at each other and then took off, fleeing in terror, following after Nocturn.
Flying next to each other, Vortex asked the Lord of Dreams "Where are we going?"
"To see the one ghost that Phantom will listen to now." The other two looked at each other, concerned.
"Clockwork," Undergrowth stated the obvious. There was a worry in his voice. It was warranted considering the last time they all saw the Master of Time, they had turned on him. Nocturn led the way toward the Clock Tower.
Arriving at the Tower, the trio carefully walked through the halls toward the observation room, worried that the tower had been booby-trapped against them. Fortunately for them, Clockwork wasn't that vindictive against them. They found him, exactly where they thought they would. They had just crossed the door threshold and none of them managed to speak before Clockwork spoke in a justified, harsh tone.
"So, the betrayers have come back to me. I was wondering when you would show up here. Are you here to apologize to me?" Clockwork didn't even turn to look at them as he kept his eyes on the battle Danny was having with Dan.
"We need your help," Nocturn's voice wavered, unsure about asking their old friend for aid.
"That Phantom kid has lost it," Vortex wheezed out.
"He will kill his counterpart." Undergrowth told the Time Master.
"So? Why should I bother helping you stop him? Considering the last time we saw each other?" Clockwork was going to stop Danny from killing Dan anyway, but he wanted something out of the Nature trio.
"What do you want?" Vortex asked.
"Kneel before me, pledge me your service, and I will aid you." Clockwork's intentions were now revealed. He wanted them to be his minions.
Swallowing his pride for once, Nocturn kneeled. Vortex and Undergrowth looked at the Lord of Dreams in shock and horror. "Swallow your pride and kneel. It's better than the alternative." Both took a moment to consider everything and followed suit. "We, the Nature trio, shall serve at the will of Lord Clockwork, until he releases us or we are destroyed. Just stop Phantom."
"I accept your fealty and you may rise. Now, let us go." Clockwork bid them rise and they all, now reunited, left with a swish of Clockwork's scepter.
Back at the Battle
As the Nature trio took off, the Fright Knight turned to the King. "We should go as well, your majesty. We should not be here when the Time Master appears." He had guessed as to where the others were going.
"I want to see how this plays out," Pariah said to his soon to be former servant.
"Need I remind you that Clockwork and the other 3 that were here were among those that overthrew you the first time. Since then, his power has increased dramatically. He could take us all down by himself if he so wanted to, we need to leave now." Fright Knight urgently wanted to leave. He did not want to face the Time Keeper's wrath.
"I am not inclined to listen to you, betrayer." Pariah Dark was not even looking at his servant anymore. The Knight, knowing that the Lord of Time would be furious with him, made his choice. He had been covertly trying to aid Danny a bit during the battle, but now he made it known. He slowly drew Soul Shredder from his hip, and charged it with energy. He lunged for the King, who dodged out of the way, as he had heard the Knight draw his sword.
"I will no longer serve a tyrant king. I pledge my service, now and forever, until he releases me, to Lord Clockwork, and to the one that he shall appoint to lead us." The Knight swore his oath, and it was binding this time.
"So, treason it is then," Dark said. The Knight and the King did battle, one that had been a long time coming. The Knight came swinging and kept swinging with Soul Shredder, despite Dark avoiding his attacks. The Knight knew the only way he was beating Pariah was to send him away with the blade's power.
The Knight finally managed to get a hit on Dark, with Soul Shredder, and the tyrant king disappeared, sent to a realm to experience his worst fears. The King dealt with for now, Fright Knight sheathed his blade. Then turned to look at the other battle taking place.
Danny raised Dan up in his grip, squeezing his windpipe. "I will never let you harm anyone ever again," he shouted at his dark self.
Dan cocked an evil smirk. "Go ahead, do it, kill me, cross the blood red line, and prove yourself to be like me." Danny's grip tightened, strangling the dark spirit.
"Time Out!" A familiar voice commanded, and time froze. Dan was stuck, by the neck, in Danny's time frozen grip. A Time Portal opened up next to them, and Clockwork and the others stepped through.
Laughing lightly, "I knew you wouldn't let him kill me, for one reason or another," Dan said, in a cocky way.
"I did not come to save your life, I came to save his soul." Clockwork spat the words, with ire in his voice. Turning his head away from the dark spirit for a moment to look at Danny. It weighed Clockwork's heart to see that Danny's eyes were crimson red. "You really did it this time, didn't you?" Not waiting for an answer, he turned to look at the other ghost that was present, frozen in time. He threw a time medallion around the Knight's neck, unfreezing him.
"Huh? What?" The Knight was confused for a moment, then saw Clockwork looking at him with a stern, accusatory look, bordering on wrath. "I am in so much trouble, aren't I?"
"Did I not tell you to stay away?" Clockwork questioned him.
"You did, and then he," The Knight pointed at Dan, "showed up and made me join him and he freed Pariah Dark."
"Where is the King?" Clockwork asked, looking around, now very concerned.
"I managed to hit him with Soul Shredder. He is currently facing his worst fears, but I don't know how long that will keep him. I managed to keep the knowledge of the Crown and the Ring from him, though." The Knight explained and then he knelt before the Time Master as if to beg forgiveness.
"At least you are good for something." Clockwork sighed, "Go, I will summon you when I need to deal with Dark. " He dismissed the Knight.
"Yes, my lord," the Fright Knight took off, but before getting far, he heard the Time Lord call out after him.
"I did hear your oath of loyalty to me, know that I will make use of it," Clockwork called out.
Clockwork turned to the others, pointing to Vortex and Undergrowth. "You two, sieze him," they did so, each grabbing one of Dan's arms. Clockwork gingerly removed Danny's fingers from Dan's neck and returned Danny's arms to his side carefully. Not even looking at Dan, "Gag him," Clockwork commanded, Undergrowth wrapped vines around Dan's mouth, silencing any protest. "Shock him," Vortex held up a hand and charged a bit of lightning in it, and then held it to the dark spirit. Dan cried out in pain, but his screams were strangled by the vine gag. Clockwork watched in neither amusement nor pity.
Nocturn turned to the Time Master, "You are cold sometimes." Clockwork fixed his former best friend with a look that said all it needed to, "time is not kind to anyone, I know."
"My Time Sleep was interrupted because of you three," Clockwork said.
"Oh," Nocturn grimaced, no wonder Clockwork was crankier than normal.
Finally calling Vortex off the torture, "Enough." Clockwork walked up to them, frisked Dan to retrieve the Skeleton Key from him, and with a back hand slap, he temporarily knocked the dark specter out. He turned back to his ward, "Time In," he commanded as he hit the button on his staff, making sure he was the one that Danny saw when he came back to himself.
"Huh? What happened?" Danny took a moment to refocus and saw Clockwork, "Clockwork?"
"Calm down, Daniel," Clockwork said with a firmness to his voice that left no room to argue. Danny closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. When he reopened his eyes, they were green again, fierce green, but green nonetheless. Clockwork breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, I can guess what made you so angry," his gaze shifted to Dan for a moment. "Nocturn, take Danny home, get him to bed." Clockwork commanded the Dream Lord. Nocturn bowed his head in acknowledgement.
"Wait, he just was…" Danny tried to argue, but couldn't finish his sentence, as he was so drained from fighting the group of powerful ghosts.
"Don't worry, Nocturn will not harm you, if he knows what's good for him." The time master lowered his voice to a slight growl at the end, in a threatening way. Nocturn got the message, clearly.
"What about Dan?" Danny asked, concerned.
"I will deal with him, back at my tower. Get some rest, I will come see you in a little bit, after I get some business sorted." Turning to the other Nature Threats, "get out of here, I will summon you to the tower later." Clockwork grabbed Dan by the ear, and dragged him through a time portal back to his tower.
With the others gone, Nocturn picked up Danny in his arms and carried the young hero home. As they flew across the zone, Nocturn looked down toward the young hero, wondering what Clockwork saw in the boy. He did see it somewhat, but he still had his doubts. He did not voice them, as he was now bound to the service of the Time Master.
At last, Danny broke the silence, "Lord Nocturn?" The use of the title sent an odd sensation up Nocturn's back, it was one he did not hear often without a hint of fear in it.
"Yes?" Nocturn had a feeling he knew where this was going, what Danny was about to ask.
"Why?" The simplest question and the most difficult of all questions to answer.
"In some ways, my hand was forced. Sure, I did have a desire to get even with you for my defeat, but not as much as the others." It wasn't the whole truth, but it was enough for now. Danny slipped into a state of sleep as he was too weak to stay awake after his battle. So weak, that he even transformed back to his human self in the arms of the Lord of Sleep and Dreams. As they approached the Fenton Portal, Nocturn turned both of them invisible and intangible as they slipped through the portal and up through the house up to Danny's room.
Elsewhere in the house, Danielle's ghost sense went off, alerting the family that something was wrong, considering that they were not expecting a ghostly visit until later. What also made them more concerned was that Danny had not come running down from his room, and as far as they knew he was home. Now very concerned, Danielle went ghost, and everyone else grabbed the nearest ecto-weapon and went up to Danny's room. They heard a deep voice on the other side that they did not recognize, saying "Here you go, home at last." They burst into the room weapons ready, to their horror that Nocturn was standing over a sleeping Danny.
"Back away from my son, ghost!" Maddie cried out, reading her weapon.
Nocturn put his hands up in an attempt to pacify the Fentons. "I know this looks bad, but I am just carrying out my orders from Lord Clockwork. I was told to get him home and get him to bed. Take care of him, he just survived an ambush that nearly killed him. I will say no more of that, and I will take my leave." Nocturn left the same way that he entered the house. When he was gone, Maddie sat down on the edge of the bed to check on her son. Jazz went and called Sam and Tucker to come over and to tell them that Danny was hurt.
Back at the Clock Tower
"Are you going to kill me?" Dan asked, when they got there.
"I should, after that performance. You are too dangerous to be left alive, let alone be let out on your own but fortunately for you, I have a different plan for you. Right now, however, I have to deal with something else." Clockwork began a chant of imprisonment.
"I swear that I will break free, and when I do, I will finish what I began: The death of Danny Phantom." Dan vowed as he was sealed away. Clockwork trapped Dan in a pocket dimension that he will only be able to get out of on Judgment Day.
"That will hold him for the time being, now to take care of Daniel." Clockwork left the tower and crossed the Ghost Zone to Skulker's Island, looking for the Hunter. He found him training in his obstacle course. Skulker saw him before he got close.
"What now?" Skulker was not happy to be the Time Lord's errand boy, after the Plasimus incident.
"I need a favor," Clockwork began.
"Of course you do, and the Rogues are your agents," Skulker grumbled. While it had been in some ways nice to settle matters with the Whelp and to help train him and his little sister, the Time Master was pushing it in the Hunter's eyes. Not that he would admit it to the Time Master's face.
"I will reward you all, in time, handsomely. Power, wealth, whatever you want," Clockwork offered. "I promise this is the last favor I will ask for. Tell me, have you all buried your hatchets with Daniel?"
"Yes, we have. I mean we helped train him and his clone, at your suggestion, but we did it willingly, after a bit." Skulker answered, still not pleased about the fact the Time Master was asking for another favor. "What is it that you want?"
"First, call the rest of the council and tell them to meet us at the Fenton Portal," Clockwork ordered.
Skulker opened his wrist communicator, "Rogue Leader, calling all Rogues. Lord Clockwork commands us to meet him at the Fenton Ghost Portal. Be there." He shut his communicator and turned to the Master of Time. "Alright, let's go." Both of them took off for the Portal. As they flew, Skulker's mind was racing with ideas as to why the Time Master wanted this. He would find out soon enough.
Some of them were already waiting for them, when they showed up. Johnny, Kitty, Ember, and Spectra of all ghosts were the ones waiting. Skulker's brow raised at Spectra's arrival before him. "I was already on my way over as I had a therapy appointment with Danny to keep when you called." That explains that.
"You are lucky you didn't catch me in the middle of a concert as I have been doing legit concerts," Ember said. Skulker didn't bother asking the other two how they were there so fast.
One by one the rest showed up, with Walker being the last one, as usual. "What is this about? I have paperwork to do," his usual southern drawl on point.
"Come," Clockwork commanded and floated through the portal, followed by the others.
"Huh, his parents are not in the lab, strange," Johnny remarked. All of them followed Clockwork's lead and turned intangible and flew up through the house up to Danny's room and turned back tangible to the shock of everyone in the room, aside from Danny who was still asleep.
"What are you all doing here?" Jack asked warily, considering that Danny was hurt and that a very dangerous ghost was just in their house. Clockwork grabbed the chair from Danny's desk and pulled it next to Danny's bed, and sat in it, shifting to his older form as he did so.
"I called them here, for this very reason," he gestured toward Danny, "to discuss the situation with everyone." Clockwork shifted his gaze over everyone. It did warm his ghostly heart that many of them were immediately concerned when seeing Danny, even Spectra.
"Yeah, you better explain what happened. Considering that Nocturn was in our house, supposedly on your orders to get him home and get him to bed." Maddie's voice held an accusation in it.
"He was on my orders to do that, as he and the other two Nature trio members now work for me." Clockwork cleared up the confusion.
"Will you be keeping them on a leash?" Sam asked, which was odd of her to ask such a thing, but her best friend and boyfriend was hurt. As well as she had helped him fight and defeat those three. Well, two of them and was a puppet for the third. She knows what they can do.
"Tightly," was Clockwork's response.
"What happened?" Danielle asked. Before Clockwork could answer, Danny started to stir.
Danny awoke in his bed, sapped of strength, sore, and very much in pain. He recalled the events before he fell asleep, he then noticed that he was not alone in his room. His family and friends were there, Sam and Danielle were right next to his bed, but they were not the only ones. As if a nightmare came alive, every one of his normal rogues gallery was in the room. He tried to sit up, but felt a hand gently keep him down, looking at who it was, it was Clockwork, sitting in a chair next to his bed smiling sadly at him.
"What happened to you, kid?" Johnny asked.
"Yeah, you look like you got hit by a train," Kitty said, concerned.
"It was an ambush, designed to kill me. Dan was leading a cabal of himself, Vortex, Nocturn, Undergrowth, the Fright Knight, and…" a shot of pain ripped through his chest cutting him off. The Fentons and friends looked at the Time Master suspiciously as he just said that the Nature trio was working for him.
"During the battle, the Nature trio fled from it, came to me and begged me to intervene. I made them kneel before me, and pledge me their service. So, I had nothing to do with them attacking him." Clockwork explained, so that no one would be accusing him of being behind the ambush. Changing the subject, "Even worse news however, Pariah Dark is on the loose." Clockwork told them, grimly to everyone's horror, finishing Danny's sentence for him.
"He was there as well," Danny said weakly, trying to keep awake for the moment.
"Fortunately, it's not a problem to be dealt with immediately. I have learned from the Fright Knight, who was secretly aiding Danny during the battle that he used Soul Shredder to trap the King in a pocket dimension living out whatever his worst fear is," Clockwork said. Despite his brain being foggy for multiple reasons, Danny was bewildered that the Spirit of Halloween was trying to aid him during that fight.
"How did you survive that?" Ember asked, concerned.
"I gave into my hatred, and unleashed a very powerful ghost wail," Danny was struggling to stay awake.
"I'll say, you shook the foundations of the Ghost Zone with that blast, every ghost heard that cry of yours," Technus said.
"I don't really know what happened next, I was seeing red. Dan had threatened those I care about most in such ways that I couldn't think straight. I gave into my rage." Danny's mind clouded about the last battle he fought. "What are all of you doing here anyway?" Danny asked weakly.
"I called them here, to discuss the situation. I want them to keep an eye on you while you recover, as I feel you will need some protection while you are out of commission," Clockwork said, his voice leaving no room for the Rogues to argue with him.
"As long as Skulker doesn't try to slit my throat in my sleep," Danny said, as a shot of pain ripped through him.
"There is no honor in slaying a prey that is defenseless…" Skulker started to say, before Danny cut him off.
"Bull…" Danny started, recalling the run in with him at Wisconsin reunion
"A prey that has earned my respect. You have earned that respect, whelp." Skulker finished his point. "Besides, didn't we put this behind us recently?"
"Ultimate trust exercise, that's what that is," Jazz remarked.
Clockwork knew he had to tell the truth to the Fentons, as much as he did not want to do so. "I didn't want you or your family to know this yet Daniel, but Judgment Day is coming. On that day, you and Dan will fight in single combat to decide the fate of both worlds."
"What?!" was the collective response from everyone that did not already know.
"If I could do something, I would. However, it is a fixed point in time, perhaps one of the most critical, as it cannot be rewritten." Clockwork said, solemnly, as he hated not being able to do anything to aid his ward.
"Where is the monster?" Maddie asked, referring to Dan.
"Sealed in a pocket dimension until that fateful day," Clockwork answered as he got up from the chair. "I have to go deal with the King, I will let you all work out your rotation schedule on your own." With a swish of his scepter, he was gone. The Rogues worked out what schedule they would take for watch duty.
As they were to leave, Skulker turned to Johnny, Kitty, and Ember. "Why don't you three stay with him for a little bit?" The three of them nodded in agreement and stayed behind. Spectra told the Fentons that she will reschedule the therapy appointment to when she is on watch duty. Aside from the three told to stay, the rest took their leaves.
Well, that was something. Danny is now hurt and his rogues are going to help him get better. That will be fun for two chapters from now. Also the gang's back together, and Clockwork is going to take full advantage of this, let me tell you.
I hope you enjoyed these four chapters and are looking forward to where we go from here. I am not too sure how much more chapters I am going to write for this story, as while I have had fun with it, I do want to finish soon. I think at least five more should do it or so.
See you guys next time.
The Emperor of the Multiverse is out. Peace.