Argh. I've had the idea for this for a long time, but I had nothing to do tonight and my inner muse was being an old bugbear and wouldn't let me sleep until I wrote and posted this.

I'd like to thank my reviewers so far-

inukagome15, Dannyandsamlover, Invader Johnny, Starstruck lovergurl, Befread, DannyTimmygirl327, CrystalDream, and ShadowFireMario666 (anon)

Thanks for sticking with me so far and I hope not to disappoint. To those of you who read yet do not review, I cannot truly thank you as I do not know who you are. So review and let me know! (Please)

To you (the reviewers), I present the next chapter of Silent Partner!

Chapter 9 - Control

Clockwork knew that the Observant would keep up his tirade for hours unless Clockwork answered at least one of his seemingly endless questions. He decided after a while that he would answer one every once and a while to keep the Observant placated. He didn't really want to do so, as it was against his usual policy, but he knew it was inevitable.

Once this decision was made, he knew that there was a maximum amount of "time" until the Observant really lost it. The Master of Time didn't like dealing with these occurrences, and he always avoided them, unless it was absolutely necessary. He still knew what he would have to do to stop one in it's tracks once it started, but still.

Clockwork sighed, shifting into his youngest position, that of a child. The Observant had almost reached his limit. There were a few moments left before the Observant would absolutely blow up. Picking one of the Observant's questions out of the green-tinged air, as the Observant was so furious that...

Clockwork sighed again. Time to answer the question he knew he had to answer. "Why, you ask?" he said quietly. Clockwork never truly asked anything. He already knew the answers.

Though "angry as hell" as some younger ghosts might put it, the half-question reached the Observant's non-existent ears. "Clockwork?" he asked, not sure if the time ghost, infamous for avoiding unwanted questions, had actually begun to answer one of his many questions. Realizing that he had his mental mouth hanging open, he quickly drew himself up and resumed the pose of an Observant. Calm, cool, collected, and completely in control of the situation.

Clockwork silently suppressed a chuckle at his attempt, them his scarred face resumed all seriousness once more. He unconsciously shifted into the form of a much older ghost, saying, "Please repeat your question." He didn't need this, but he knew that it helped the slightly nervous Observant to feel more in control.

"If the many different timelines are merging, why then is he having these problems? In most of them, he remains good, and entirely sane," said the Observant with a slightly shaking tone, though managing to sound commanding none the less.

"You forget," answered Clockwork, "that in many of them, he doesn't."

--

Danny whistled a happy tune as he flew loops over Amity Park. Wraith- no, Sam- had told him to fly patrol without her this morning, claiming she was feeling a little fatigued.

--

"Come on," he protested, "When a ghost feels sick, it's not really, well, you know, good."

"I'll be fine," she replied. "It's probably just all of the pressure being put on this town by Pariah's forces."

"Pressure?"

"You don't feel it?" she asked, mildly surprised.

He shook his head, a confused expression upon his face.

"You probably do," she said. "A ghost at your power should be able to detect it. You just don't know how to focus your energy on finding it. No one's ever told you what it was."

Danny though for a moment. "You know what, Sam? I think I do. I've been feeling a slight headache ever since I returned. It lessened a little after you got out of my head." At this he looked pointedly at Sam. She returned the glare. He continued. "But it's still there, now that I think about it..." His voice trailed off and he stared into space, lost in thought.

"Danny."

"What?"

"Don't you have something important to do? Hmmm... Let me think... Anything like a... I don't know... A patrol, perhaps?"

"Oh. Yeah. Right," he said, embarrassed.

--

He pulled himself out of his reverie just in time to avoid crashing into a billboard.

What is it with me and billboards? He wondered. He scratched his head and looked around.

"Well," he said to himself, "I guess there's nothing right now. I guess I should head back."

"Oh, really, whelp?" asked a familiar voice from behind him. Danny's eyes widened. He turned around, only to crash headfirst into the metal specter. He hurriedly flew back a little, rubbing the red spot on his forehead.

"Skulker?" he said.

"Morning, ghost child," replied the hunter. "Though I suppose you're not technically a child anymore."

"You're darn right, I'm not," replied Danny, quickly pulling his fist back and, with a powerful blow, knocked Skulker down towards the city.

Skulker recovered, saying, "It seems you've gotten powerful in the past decade. But what 10 years to a ghost like me? It seems I've gotten more upgrades, too!" With that, a spectral cannon sprung out of his machine-clad arm and shot bright green lightning at Danny, who easily dodged. "Really?" he started to say, before another bolt caught him full on in the stomach.

"Oof," Danny gasped, promptly disappearing from view .

"What?" taunted Skulker. "Is a little lightning too much for the infamous halfa? If it is, your pelt will rest at the foot of my bed in no time at all!"

"Have you gotten any less gross since I last saw you?" asked Danny, suddenly reappearing behind Skulker. Placing his silver glove-clad hands around the nape of the hunter's neck, he began to squeeze.

"Please, ghost child," laughed the ghost. "I don't need to breathe. Surely you know that. Besides, this is metal armor."

Infusing his hands with icy-cold ectoplasmic energy, his they glowed a bright turquoise, more green that blue. "Sure you don't, and yes it is, but can it -and you- take this?" Danny cried, triumphant. With this, he squeezed again, harder, grinning even more fiercely as the strong armor gave way beneath his fingertips.

Once he had gotten through, he ripped out the main spine-like controls in the suit's neck, effectively "killing" the suit. He let go, waving cockily as the hunter plummeted to Earth. "Bye bye, Skulker! Have a nice fall!" Grimacing at the obvious pun, he continued to smirk.

Watching the ghost fall, to his surprise, he saw the head pop off and Skulker's real body -small and green- eject from the cockpit of the suit. He forgot that he could easily dispose of Skulker for good then and there, he continued to watch in surprise as the slowly drifting green form pressed a button. A new suit appeared, enclosing it's body. Wings unfolding from his back, he flew back up to meet Danny, catching him with a swift uppercut.

He laughed. "Didn't think you could get rid of me so easily, did ya, whelp?"

The silver-haired ghost shook his head to clear it. "Well," he replied, "It's just as easy now!" He drew breath, then released all of his energy and willpower into his ghostly wail.

Skulker smirked. "You're going to yell at me? That's going to do the..." His voice trailed off as he realized that this mere "yell" was working. Pieces of his armor were peeling away, revealing circuitry underneath, which gave way to nothing.

"What?!" Skulker cried in outrage. He did his best to protect himself with a weak shield, but it only protected his upper half. When the green shockwaves finally stopped, Skulker opened his eyes to find the lower half of his suit entirely gone. Dissipated.

He looked up at the other ghost, who looked completely out of it. For a brief moment, he thought that he could easily take the upper hand in this battle. Then, glancing back down at his legs, being no longer there, he realized that the whelp had won. For now. Keeping his pride, he called out to the boy.

"I'll call this a stalemate for now, whelp. But I'll be back soon, and then we can end this!"

The ghost child suddenly lunged at Skulker with terrifying speed. Grabbing the hunter's shoulders, he looked up, his eyes a bloody red.

"Did you think," he asked in a malicious voice, "that I was done with you?"

His hands glowing red, he removed them from Skulker's shoulders and placed them in front of Skulker's face. He grinned dementedly. Skulker closed his eyes, bracing himself and preparing for the end. But it did not come. He opened his eyes again, peeking out from under an up thrown arm.

The ghost boy had stopped, and strange expression on his face. His expression then twisted and the boy cried out. "Stop.... it..." He forced the words out through gritted teeth. "Get... out... of... my... head!" He shouted, his eyes flickering to green.

Skulker managed to float back a little, confused. What was wrong with the whelp?

His eyes went red once more, and he said in the corrupt voice again, "I had this under control! I was about to get rid of him and then you butted in! Just go away! I'm the master now." He cackled evilly, then stopped again.

"I. Said. Go. AWAY!" screamed the boy, his eyes going green once more before they rolled up in his head, and Phantom began to fall towards the ground.

That was all Danny knew before everything went black.

Whew, that was a longie. Oof.

Thanks for reading!

Talk to you guys later-

-Flaming Water