Author's Notes: Okay guys please do not skip this chapter! I know it sounds a lot like the episode recap, and that's because it's supposed to. Now is the time to see the changes Clockwork makes to the original time stream and understand what consequences these changes have.

With that said please enjoy, and tell me what you think.

Yours Truly, RoxieDivine

(Back With Clockwork…)

Time,

She was a funny thing, so precise, and well calculated that even the smallest alteration could have an extremely differently outcome then what fate had originally designed.

With this knowledge in mind Clockwork wasted no time making as much changes as possible. He watched the span of ten years flash before him. Everything that had happened within his tower flashed by in backwards motion, and it was imperative that he chose the right moment to begin manipulating the time stream.

Finally, the perfect moment presented itself and Clockwork pressed the button a top his staff and stated. "Time In!"

"Now do you understand?"

Clockwork couldn't help but roll his eyes as the 2 Observants, Melk, and Klem stepped out of the shadows.

Clockwork shifts his form to that of a child and flies up in front of the time rift they had been observing, "Yes. Danny Phantom grows up to be the evilest ghost on the planet." He shifts back to adult form and turns, scowling. "What do you want me to do about it?"

Man, he hated repeating himself, but this was necessary. While change was the main goal too much change would spell disaster. So for the sake of all existence Clockwork tried to stick to the script, well for the most part.

"You are the Master of Time" Melk said. "Isn't it obvious?"

"To save the future, Danny Phantom must perish." Klem Added. "You must destroy him."

Clockwork pauses, but only because the script says to do so. "You want me to destroy his present self?" He asked.

"Yes, of course." Melk said. "We need to insure as little damage to both worlds as possible for neither world can live without the other!"

Clockwork floats over to another time rift, to observe the present events again he sees Danny Fenton and his friends, Sam, and Tucker within the rift sitting in their school auditorium.

(Back with Danny…)

[AMITY PARK: Present day.]

{CASPER HIGH}

"Your future is not carved in stone, people, but it may be carved with a No. 2 pencil." announces

Mr. Lancer as he holds up a pencil to get his point across.

"Oh, please." Sam and Tucker mumble as one.

Danny glares at them and scowls "Quiet! This is important!"

Sam, Tucker both give him a look as if to say, 'You're not seriously taking this seriously, are you?'

But Danny ignores them, keeping his full attention on Mr. Lancer who continues his speech.

"As most of you have probably forgotten, you will be taking the Career Aptitude Test on Saturday. Do well, like Ms. Fenton." He gestures towards Jazz, who was sitting behind him on his right. "Who got the highest score in the history of the C.A.T." Both Mr. Lancer and Danny, who muttered dully.

He always felt second best when it came to him and his sister, and her constantly getting recognized for all her grand achievements was not helping the matter

Mr. Lancer went on, "And a successful future will be assured!" He pauses clearing his voice before choosing a darker tone as he looks over to Irving, who is sleeping with his mouth open and drooling. "However if you fail like Irving "Third Degree" Burns here, who got the lowest score in the history of the C.A.T., and you will be doomed to a career at the Nasty Burger." An image of the burger joint displays on the projector.

During his speech, Irving woke up and stands angrily towards Mr. Lancer and exclaims "Hey! Working at Nasty Burger takes brains, you know! If those 42 Nasty Secret herbs and spices in our Nasty Sauce are overheated, it could cause an explosion that could take out a whole city block!"

Of course everyone just thinks he's trying to make it sound like it his job was very important, but everyone was not impressed.

"Oh, who am I kidding? My life is over." Irving said, gloomy and slumps off the stage.

Mr. Lancer rolls his eyes and pulls out the answer booklet. "These aren't just the answers to the test. They're the answers to your FUTURE, so study." As he is saying this, he pulls out a briefcase and places the answer booklet inside, locks the case and handcuffs it to his wrist. "Remember, it's your future. Do you want fries with t?" And with that he storms off the stage.

Danny watches as Mr. Lancer marches offstage, briefcase in hand. 'If I could just take a peak then I'd pass for sure.' He thought.

Tucker looks to Danny, growing concern at his friend's blank expression. "Dude, you ok? Danny?"

(Back with Clockwork…)

"What are you waiting for?" Melk hissed. "It's the perfect chance to take him out!"

"Yes, he is surrounded by others, he cannot fight back and risk revealing his true identity." Klem agreed.

"That's the problem with you Observants." Clockwork argued, as he switches back to his child form. "All you do is observe."

"You know our oath." The first Observant cut in. "To watch –"

"-And never act." Clockwork snapped back rolling his eyes for good measure. He doesn't mean to be rude, but he is beginning to remember why he hated the Observants so much. This causes his demeanor to shift slightly, but his focus does not move with it. No, he would change thigs for the better, and this time they could not influence him to do otherwise. "Which is why you bring me in to do your dirty work." He growled, changing his wording just slightly as he raised his staff and it flashes, the rift now shows Danny studying at his kitchen table. "He turns evil because he's under pressure for some test. Fine. Then perhaps it's time for a test of my own." He says focusing on the boy.

(Back with Danny…)

Danny is surrounded by books and working through a C.A.T. sample test. He taps the paper with his pencil for a moment, then drops his head into his hands despairingly.

Jazz comes up behind him, peering over his shoulder with both hands on the back of his chair. None of the bubbles have been filled in. She frowns quizzically. 'Come on Danny you can do it!'

Smiling a little, Danny lowers his hand to mark his first answer as A.

Jazz gave a warning sound to signify that he was wrong.

Danny looks back at her and she covers her mouth. Frowning and sweating a little, Danny starts to mark B instead.

Jazz raises a finger again, wincing "No-"

Danny lifts his pencil, and goes for C this time.

"Danny I-"

Danny flings his hands in the air, making Jazz flinch back. "OK! I get it! You're brilliant, I'm stupid, and I'll never be able to get as high a score as you." He sighs looking down at his empty sample answer sheet. "So far I'm not even qualified to scrape the grease off the Nasty Grill." He huffs, flicking his pencil away

Jazz looks down on him knowingly. "All I want is for you to succeed, Danny. And doing well on this test can help. There are three things I've learned in life…"

Danny props his head on one hand and glares flatly as she takes on a lecturing tone.

Danny and Jazz suddenly continue the lecture in unison as Danny mocks her proving that he's heard this lecture before. "Study hard, do your best, and -

"DUCK!" Jazz exclaimed as some Metal boomerang comes bursting into the kitchen.

Danny stares at her, thrown for a loop, then the Boomerang clocks him in the back of the head and lands on the table with a clang. "Ow!" he cries clutching his head, then picking up the boomerang. "A boomerang?" He asked quizzically.

His parents, Jack and Maddie come running in.

Still rubbing his head, Danny flings the boomerang off through the living room doorway.

"I call it the Boooooomerang!" Jack gesturing spookily. "It locks in on a ghost's unique ecto-signature and seeks it out wherever it goes!"

Suddenly the Booomerang spinning through the living room, changes its path, and starts hurtling back into the kitchen, and it whacks Danny in the head again. Maddie picks it up, frowning down at the device. "Although why it's keyed into Danny is way beyond me."

Jack looks down, noticing the CAT practice test. "What's that, Dan? One of those stupid C.A.T. tests? I failed that and I didn't turn out to be a cat." He said looking pleased with himself.

Danny moans in despair as his parents trot out of the room. Clenching his fits and growling, Danny glares at the sample sheet. "Oh, I give up—"

Clockwork suddenly steps in and freezes time. "Time out!" he declares.

Danny freezes in the act of sweeping the test and a book off the table, Jazz freezes as she begins to sneeze, and a blue-white light flares in midair, turning into a clock hand that sweeps a blue disc of light into being. It disappears and adult Clockwork appears in its place along with the Box Lunch, who appears to be asleep or unconscious.

Clockwork looks around, and smiles. Yes, this was the perfect moment to meddle with the original time steam. However his test would not be the same as the one before. Would it have the same end result?

Yes, Danny would still end up with the answer sheet, but then again Clockworks goal was not to make the decision for the boy. If he did not perform this test, and Danny ended up getting the answer sheet another way; then Clockwork would not have the means to teach this boy the lesson that was meant to be learned from all this meddling. So with that in mind he decided to change his pawn for this test. Replacing the Box Lunch with his daughter from the future!

"Ah, good his Parents are gone. And he's alone with his sister." He flies in a ring around the frozen Danny and Jazz and returns to the Box Lunch. He places a Time Medallion around her neck, and she wakes up and looks around, confusingly.

"Huh? What? Where am I?" She asks him.

"Amity Park, before you were born." Clockwork answered, then turn and point at Danny. "That boy there is part ghost. My employers believe him to be a threat to the world. Could you be a dear and dance a little dance for us?"

She stares at Danny for a moment before a wicked grin slips onto her face.

'I take that as a yes.' Clockwork thought before punching the button on top of his staff, declaring. "TIME IN!" He then vanishes in a swirling ball of light as Danny's book and sample test land on the floor and Jazz sneezes.

Danny gasped as his ghost sense goes off. "A ghost? Here?" He jumps out of the chair and yells at Jazz. "Now get out of my room!

Jazz looks confused "We're in the kitchen!" However her expression changes to shock as she sees the Box Lunch floating behind her brother. 'I have to go so he can turn ghost.' She realized. "But if that's your attitude, I don't wanna see you - or anything you might do in here in the next several minutes!" She declares, stomping off.

"What's up with her?" Danny asked, and gasped as his ghost sense went off once more. He whorls around and is met with quite a surprise.

A ghost girl with pigtails, wearing a pink beret, overalls, and a weird Gearshift shape medallion with the initials CW; floats before him. An evil scowl is planted across her face.

"More importantly, what's with you?" he asked.

"I am Box Lunch, daughter of the Box ghost and the Lunch Lady!" She exclaims.

"Um, EW!" Danny said fighting the urge to gag.

"And now you will face the test of my box-and-lunch-based DOOM!" she shouts as she spreads her hands out and suddenly cabinets and the fridge spring open. Various foods and boxes spring to her and form some kind of armor.

Danny gawks at her in disbelief

Box Lunch smirks at Danny "And now-and you probably know this is coming-BEWARE!"

'Well if I didn't believe she was the Box Ghost's daughter...I do now.' Danny thought, as he crouches then springs up and tackles her right out of her armor, going intangible to throw both of them out of the house.

Danny then goes solid again, and punches Box Lunch a few blocks away before taking off after her toward her heading toward the Nasty Burger. Once there he zoom past Mr. Lancer, who is still cuffed to the briefcase, and sitting down at one of the outdoor tables with a burger, fries, and cup of coffee. He looks up as Sam and Tucker approach his table. "Shouldn't you slackers be studying for the C.A.T.s? It's the day after tomorrow students."

"I've already studied." Tucker assured him. "Besides statistic show that cramming two days before; overloads the brain."

"I'm sure we'll do fine." Sam assured her teacher.

Mr. Lancer picked up the briefcase and pointed at it. "The test answers in this briefcase may indicate otherwise." He warned her. "Enjoy your Nasty Burgers while you're still on this side of the counter. Hahahaha!"

Tucker and Sam look unimpressed at his joke; however their expressions change as the box for Mr. Lancer's burger begins to glow, then smears him in the face with the burger that lies inside as it goes flying off.

"Fast Food Nation!" Mr. Lancer declares in shock.

All over the restaurant, people gasp as their food boxes fly off their trays and goes zooming out the door. Above the Nasty Burger, we see it swirl around the Box Lunch as he faces off against Danny.

"Prepare to be defeated!" The Box Lunch says all spooky like, and then sweetly she adds. "And perhaps a nice side salad with that?

Danny drops his face in utter annoyance. This kid was way too much like her parents, so much so that it was like someone took the Lunch Lady, and the Box Ghost and stuffed them into a blender before turning it on. "Pass." He answered.

"Then feast on my empty calories of doooooom!" Box Lunch screams before flinging the mass of boxes at him, but Danny just goes intangible and it all flies through him.

"Oh, come on! If you actually are the child of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady - ew – " He added, but then shook it off. "Then you know how this ends!" Danny declares

The Box Lunch suddenly strikes bringing both fists down on his head, knocking him out of the air. Falling intangibly through the roof of the Nasty Burger, he lands spread-eagled on a table. The people still inside scream and run out.

Tucker and Sam watch helplessly as scared towns people run past them. Inside, Danny gets up and faces off against The Box Lunch who has followed him in. Behind the counter two employees get up to leave.

"Let's get out of here!" They scream making a run for it!

Irving tries to stop them, putting his hands on his hip he stands in front of them knowingly. "No! You can't leave! As a duly deputized Nastronaut, you took an oath to protect the Nasty Sauce from overheating at all costs!" He pauses as he points to two tall vats. A small dial on the side with a color warning scale has its needle in the green.

"At minimum wage? I don't think so!" The two teen employs run past him, and out the door.

Irving screens after them. "You can kiss Employee of the Month goodbye!"

Flying up over the two vats, Danny gets an Idea. "That's right! He said at the assembly if this stuff gets too hot, kaboom!" He looks over at the condiment station, where there is a box of multicolored Nasty Sauce packets. He picks up one, and flings it at the oncoming Box Lunch.

"Prepare for –" The Box Lunch freezes, mid-sentence as the Nasty Packet lands on his hat.

"Hey Box Lunch." Danny says in a sing-song manner raising one finger, he sends a focused beam at the Nasty Packet. "BEWARE!"

The Nasty Sauce packet swells then explodes, kicking Danny through the wall and blowing the top off the Nasty Burger. Outside, a crowd of people look on, Mr. Lancer in front. He raises his briefcase to shield his face from the flying debris, and a sauce-splattered Danny falls through it, intangible, to land next to Sam and Tucker.

Irving stumbles through the front door as Mr. Lancer lowers his briefcase. "She's gonna blow!" He exclaimed.

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance! Run!" Mr. Lancer screamed like a little girl.

Screaming, everyone but the trio runs.

"Danny, who was that ghost you were fighting?" Tucker asked Danny, who was getting back on his feet.

That was Box Lunch, the daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady.

"Yikes." Tucker and same said as one.

"Actually, it's more of an EW." Danny corrected them, as he approached the crime, hoping to get what was left of Box Lunch and place her in his thermos, but all that is left of her is her weird Gearshift shape medallion. 'Weird…' he thought. 'What is this? And where did she go?' "I don't know what's going on." He admitted out loud as he picked up the strange piece of jewelry "But this medallion might give us a clue –" he freezes as he suddenly notices there is something stuck to his back. He peels it away and gasped as he realizes it's the C.A.T. answer packet. "Oh my gosh. The answers to the C.A.T.s!"

(Back to Clockwork…)

"Now watch this." The father of Time said, gesturing to the Time rift that was showing them all the events as they unfolded before them. "He'll make the right choice. And you'll see, you've got absolutely nothing to—"

Danny holds up the packet triumphantly. "Hello, great future!" he shouts.

Tucker narrowed his eyes at him. "You're not actually thinking of peeking at the answers, are you?"

Danny scoffs, as if surprised by his friend's reaction. "Of course I am, aren't you?

Melk gasped at his words. "He's stolen the test answers."

"He's clearly going to cheat!" Klem added.

"He has your time medallion!" Melk insisted.

"He has your time medallion." Klem agreed.

"You said that twice." Clockwork pointed out, changing back into his child form; deciding that it was best to get back on script. A little change here and there was okay, but imperative that he tried not to alter time too much, for if he did the very fabrics of time and space cloud rip. Opening a vortex that would suck the universe into itself until it imploded on them all.

"Destroy him now, Clockwork." Melk says, more demanding this time.

Switching back to adult form, Clockwork sticks his hand in the opening of another rift. "I know what I am doing." Clockwork insisted. The Rift opens, showing cut scenes of the future, beginning with the smoking wreck of the Nasty Burger. The Rift zooms in closer, showing an exposed heating element by the Nasty Sauce tanks. The heat meter moves up to yellow.

Clockwork punches a button on his staff, making the viewer go to static. It shows a still shot of Danny fighting an updated version Of Skulker who has teamed up with Technus, then it shows him fighting his evil older self. Finally it shows his family and friends and Mr. Lancer bound and gagged with ecto-energy in the Nasty Burger, which then explodes, and Danny shielding himself against the blast then screaming "Nooo!"

Clockwork floats up in front of the time rift knowingly "His future is sealed."

Melk and Klem both look at him in disbelief, but also wonder and for good reason.

There was something different about the ghost's demeanor, and his actions did not match pervious encounters that they had. Usually Clockwork would at least argue with them, about bending their own rules. Or beg them to let him change the course of time for the better this one time. However, Clockwork did the task given to him without a single complaint.

'He's up to something.' Melk said to Klem telepathically.

'Yes…' Klem agreed. 'And whatever it is I'm not sure I like it.'

Clockwork smiled darkly at their confused faces, not in the least bit worried, after all they wouldn't figure out the end goal of his meddling until it was too late!

Yes, everything was going according to plan….

-To Be Continued