Author's Notes: Again I wrote a lot of chapters today. So Enjoy! Thanks for reading and please review!
BTW: Some moments from book two happen here so it will sound familiar.
(Back with Jazz and Valerie)
(10 years ago…)
This had to be the craziest ride of her life!
Jazz screamed as the Booomerang zoomed them throughout the Ghost Zone, hurtling them 10 years into the past.
Time ripped through them, aging them backwards at a rapid pace until Jazz was Once again 16 and Valerie 14.
Valerie looked down at her younger body and said. "I think we're close."
"More so than you realize!" Jazz screamed as she saw the upcoming danger.
"What do you mean?" Valerie asked only to look up and see her point.
They were coming up to the Fenton Ghost Portal, only it was closed.
"Open!" Jazz yelled. "Please open!"
Valerie closed her eyes waiting for the unbearable pain of running into the sold metal door.
It never came.
The door opens as they approach.
"No wonder the ghosts kept getting out." Jazz realized out loud.
"You mom really should double check all of your dad's inventions." Valerie said.
Jazz sighed. "I know." She said as the Booomerang zoomed them out of the basement and through the door.
It was a closed door, but Valerie blasted it open with her blaster.
"Val!" Jazz cried.
"Sorry." Valerie said as they continued to race ahead. "But this girl is not turning into a pancake."
Jazz looked around trying to get a good fell for where they were, it was nighttime. "This must be the night of the CAT." She realized. "Val Let go of the Booomerang." She said.
"What?" Valerie was stunned. "We need it to find Danny."
"No, we don't." Jazz said. "I know where Danny is and I'm already there!" She exclaimed. "If we zoom in out of control they'll see two of me. -"
"And it could ruin the timeline!" Valerie realized going for her belt and released the grappling hook.
Jazz did the same. "No one can see us." She warned as she deactivated the Ecto-Skeleton. "It will ruin everything."
"Way ahead of you." Valerie pulled out a Red belt and gave it to Jazz. "Here."
"How does this help?" Jazz asked.
"Just put it on." Valerie ordered.
Jazz obey and a blue suit much like Valerie's formed around her. "Val?" she asked.
"I made it for Abby when she get's older." Valerie explained. "It's about time it got a test run."
"What about you?" Jazz asked.
"Ten years ago, today I was still in my old suit, I hadn't gotten this upgrade yet." Valerie reasoned. "Trust me anyone who sees us will think we're some weirdos in suits."
"Oh, that makes me feel so much better." Jazz joked as she took the lead. "Come on let's go."
"GO where?" Valerie asked racing after her.
"The Nasty Burger!" Jazz declared. "Hurry we don't have much time, If I'm right Clockwork will be there!"
"But not for long!" Valerie realized as she deployed her hover board and grabbed Jazz.
"Hey?" Jazz cried.
"We have to move faster." She said as they zoomed across town. "If Clockwork freezes everything before we get there we're stuck here!"
Jazz nodded her understandment as the Nasty Burger came into view. She could already hear the battle of Danny fighting his evil future self. "We have to stay out of sight" She said.
Valerie nodded and slowed down, guiding the hover board behind a nearby building. She jumped off as the stopped and Jazz did the same only to turn and gasp.
"What is it?" Valerie asked, turning towards where Jazz was looking only to find her answer.
Dan Phantom was hiding behind some rubble just to their right, and even though the girls were seeing him they knew that couldn't be right. Dan was fighting Danny right now they could hear it.
Jazz looks in the direction Dan is in, and she see its true. Danny is fighting Dan just blocks away. That's when they notice the time medallion.
"He's here to ruin the past." Valerie readies her blaster aiming it at him, but Jazz stops her.
"Wait he's just watching." She said, and it was true. The second Dan was watching as the younger Danny fished his evil self to off.
"Time's up!" Danny declared.
The evil Dan is sucked into the Fenton Thermos saying. "And you're too late to save them!"
Danny caps the thermos then looks over his shoulder. "Oh no."
The girls can see it too.
The heat indicator is now all the way over in the red. The glass over it cracks then shatters. The cracking, leaking tanks hiss with steam.
Jazz feels the urge to stop it, to save them as the past threatens to destroy her resolve. However, she reminds herself that just barely Clockwork would fix all of this before it even happened.
Valerie, however, did not know this and went to make a move to stop this horrible thing from happening, but jazz grabbed her by her arm and shook her head.
"It's going to be OK" she said. " You'll see." She assured her.
Valerie wants to believe her, after all the second Dan didn't stop Danny from winning, and he's not trying to stop him now. Still she doubts. "How do you know." She asked Jazz.
Jazz can't explain it, but something has changed about him, she can see it just bubbling under the surface. A monster who once fought for her demise, now watched it happen with fear in his eyes. "See the way he is." She finally answered. "He wants to stop this as much as we do."
Valerie looks closer and notices Dan is clutching the edges of the rubble before him, so hard it threatens to break. 'He does want to stop this.' She realizes and gives Jazz a firm nod.
Jazz lets go of her arm, knowing Valerie will stay put and she does.
Meanwhile Danny runs toward the Nasty Burger, trying to go ghost, but the ring of light fizzles out, he can't change! "I can't go ghost!" He screams then trips on a rock and falls flat on his front "No!"
He and his loved one's stare at each other for an instant, and then the Nasty Burger blows up. The shockwave sends Danny flying with the dust and rubble.
Jazz gasp at the image, sure Danny told about it, and she vaguely remembered it happening herself, even though Clockwork rewinded time. Still seeing it now made what almost happen feel so much more real.
Suddenly everything freezes.
Everything but Dan…and them.
Jazz watched as a clock hand traces out a blueish white circle, which resolves into a child Clockwork. Her eyes fall on Dan and once more she notices the time medallion on him.
"How come we're not frozen?" Valerie asked the same question Jazz was thinking.
"I don't know." Jazz said as they continued to watch.
Clockwork smiles as he flies up to place a medallion around Past Danny's neck, it is in this moment that Dan decides to reveal himself.
"Wait!" he declares as he steps out in the open.
Clockwork turns and smiles knowingly. "Awe Daniel." he checks his watch. "You're early, perfect."
Jazz and Valerie are stunned. Clockwork was expecting him! And even more confusing; he's not worried.
"What's going on here?!" Valerie demanded.
"Yeah, yeah and me being early is going to make a huge different." Dan scoffed regrabing the girls attention.
"More than you know." Clockwork assured him. "Now are you ready to finish what we started."
Dan nodded. "Yes."
"Very well." Clockwork states and waves his staff allowing an alternate time rift to appear. "This alternate time rift will send you to the future that you seek, but once you are there I cannot bring you back, you will be stuck in that time stream forever."
This news obviously throws Dan at a curve, "But I have to go back." He declared. "I have to protect my younger-self, I have to protect you."
"Protect them?" Jazz asked.
"Oh, so now he wants to protect them!" Valerie was spectacle. "Why what changed."
"He did." Jazz realized. "Think about it. Clockwork knows he was going to be here because he sent him here to speak to his past self."
"So, Clockwork helped him change." Valerie said. "What difference does it make."
"A big one." Jazz said, quoting Clockwork. "Apparently."
Clockwork shook his head. "Your younger self is ready now; he has a full grip on his new abilities. As for me I will still be alive when you get there."
"Yeah for three days!" Dan snapped. "How am I supposed to protect you, and save the future all in three days?"
"Simple, you don't." Clockwork answered.
"But the Ghost Zone needs you." Dan snapped. "I need you!" He shouts.
Jazz can't help but feel sorry for him, the once monstrous villain was now a scared man, desperate to save those around him.
Clockwork shakes his head. "Daniel a lot will happen in these three days, and I will need you to focus on what is important."
"You are important!" Dan argued.
"Securing the future is more important." Clockwork corrected him.
Dan balls up his fist in pure rage. "Why do you have to be so difficult? Why can't you just let me-"
"Daniel you will already be their when I die." Clockwork told him. "You will watch as the Ghost King Ends me, and in order to stay in his favor you must let him."
"No…" Dan said. "I can't…I won't."
Clockwork laughed. "Grown attached, have we?"
"How can you joke at a time like this?" Dan snapped. "You're going to die, no worse you're already dead, no instead you're going to be erased from the afterlife. There is nothing after that!"
Jazz had to agree with Dan, Clockwork is too calm for a ghost who is about to stop existing. "He knew all of this would happen." She realized.
"Well the Box Ghost said, 'He knows all.' " Valerie reminded her.
"He could have warned us." Jazz said.
"Maybe he did." Valerie said.
"What?" Jazz asked.
"Remember Danny was acting strange when he left to fight the Ghost King." Valerie reminded her. "Maybe Clockwork warned him about all of this."
"Of course." Jazz realized. "It explains everything."
"I know." Clockwork said simply. "I have made peace with this fate since the moment I saw your face. Since the day we first met I knew my own demise."
"I can't just watch you die." Dan rasped.
"Listen Daniel no matter how much you want to you cannot save us both. It's either me or them." Clockwork told him.
"Fine I will leave you to your fate." Dan said bitterly and went to leave.
Clockwork's next words stopped him, however. "Be careful Daniel, I won't be there to save you." He warned.
Dan gives him a reassuring nod, "I'll miss you." he admitted.
Clockwork smiled. "Please this old-time wizard? You won't give me a second thought." he joked, obviously trying to lighten the mood.
"I mean it." Dan said. "I am who I am today, because you decided to care."
Clockwork nodded. "We'll you have your friend Valerie to thank for that."
Valerie froze. She was the reason why he gave Dan a second chance. "But how?" She whispered.
"Now go, we only have one shot at getting this right." Clockwork urged.
Dan nodded. "I won't let you down." He promised before diving into the Alternate rift.
Clockwork smiled. "I know you won't." he said as he turned back to the younger Danny before him. "But then again I know everything..." he mused and added. "He's gone now. You can come out."
"So, you did know we were here!" Jazz declared as she stomped out of their hiding spot. "What's going on Clockwork!" She demanded.
"And what does it have to do with me?" Valerie added.
Clockwork nodded and answered. "In the alternate future I had no desire to get involved." He admitted. "Not in beginning." He added. "The observers begged me to Kill young Daniel before he could take the CAT. I did not, instead I told the observers I was done meddling in the past. They used me to change the future to their liking too many times and I was done with it."
"You let it happen?" Jazz asked.
Clockwork sighed, looking guilty. "Out of my own selfishness yes." He admitted. "Daniels future played out, he became Dan Phantom destroyer of the Earth and Ghost Zone." He told them.
"But I changed your mind." Valerie cut in.
Clockwork nodded. "In that timeline after Danny lost everything you two had grown close." He explained. "Very close, but in the end, you were not enough to keep him from drowning. He ran away to Vlad, and well you know how that turned out."
"He turned on us." Jazz answered.
Clockwork nodded. "For a while you were able to keep him at bay." Clockwork told Valerie. "You kept him out with the ghost shields, but he broke through, and you couldn't stop him. Finally, you decided that if you couldn't change things I could." Clockwork continued. "With the help of Skulktech 9.9 you found me and begged me to change things for the better and I did."
"But why?" Valerie couldn't help but asked. "Why did you listen to me when you said no to everyone else who asked you?"
"Because you asked me to save him." Clockwork said. "Not kill him, not eliminate him. You did not beg me to save your own skin either, no you asked me to save a monster who has caused you nothing but pain. To change the future to where you and Danny never became more then classmates in the same school. You sacrificed your friendship to save not just him but all of us." Clockwork said. "It was then that I realized that there was still hope, chivalry was not dead. If you were willing to lose it all. Then so was I."
"I don't understand." Valerie admitted. "What could I have said to change your mind."
Clockwork smiled and waved his staff causing an alternate rift to appear. In it a much older and battered Valerie stands before Clockwork, a pleading look in her eyes.
"I wouldn't care." The Valerie in the rift said. "At least I tried. Even if my efforts only stalled the inevitable, at least we would have a little more time together, at least Danny would still be himself a little longer! And we'd all be alive, and together, and happy. After all isn't that how life is anyways?" She asked.
The Clockwork in the rift seemed to perk up at her words.
"We all die eventually." The alternate Valerie said. "But we still put an effort into our lives all the same. Even if living is a means to an end, we still fight! We fight it by staying as fit, and healthy for as long as possible. We avoid it with distractions, like friends and family. We allow ourselves to get close to someone even though we know we may lose them one day. We chose to live for the moment. We chose to take the bull by the horns and change life for the better. Even if we know deep down are chances of doing so are slim to none. We do it anyways for not just our own sakes, but everyone else around us as well. Isn't that what living is all about?"
The alternate Clockwork smiled. "Yes that is exactly what life is, a means to an end that we constantly fight to change no matter what the cost may be."
"Does that mean you'll do it?" Alternate Valerie asked.
Alternate Clockwork nodded. "Yes, I will change fates design." He said turning all the Time riffs on, and causing the dust, and cobwebs to dissipate with a wave of his staff.
"Thank you." Alternate Valerie said.
"No, thank you." Alternate Clockwork cut in.
Clockwork smiled as the alternate rift faded. "You reminded me why I enjoyed my job. I got to change time for the better, but instead I allowed those above me to use me for their own desires." He shook his head. "Never again."
"So that Dan who just left." Jazz asked. "Is he…"
"Good?" Clockwork asked.
The girls nodded.
Clockwork smiled. "He still has much to learn, but yes he is as you call it, good."
"Where did you send him?" Valerie asked.
"Your timeline Nine years ago." Clockwork answered.
"Why?" Jazz asked.
"To defeat Fright Knight of course." Clockwork answered. "How else is he supposed to get close to the King."
"Close to the-" Jazz gasped. "Oh my gosh Dani was right the white Knight is Danny!"
"But why?" Valerie cried. "Why let this happen?" She cried. "My dad nearly died!" She screamed.
Clockwork sighed and took her chin in his hand forcing her to look at him. "Some things cannot be changed." He told her. "Your father will live just as he did last time." He assured her. "Without the Ghost King's sarcophagus there is only one way, Daniel can beat him. By fussing with him like he did with Vlad, and Fright Knight, and his Alternate self."
"Wait…" Jaz snapped. "Back up did you just say Dan and Danny-"
Clockwork nodded. "He's alive." He assured them. "And he needs to wait for the right moment to make his move."
"So, what do we do in the mean time?" Valerie asked.
"Save as many people as you can." Clockwork warned. "His majesty will be back." He formed another rift then. "Here you'll be back at the hospital once you pass through." He told them.
"Thank you." Jazz said, but Valerie cut her off.
"What about you?" she said.
"I must finish up here." Clockwork said gesturing to the still frozen past Danny.
"Oh…right." Valerie said and sighed. "Look I don't like this." She admitted. "But if this is the only way."
"It is." Clockwork assured her. "Fate's designed was to destroy both worlds." He explained. "This happened because I meddled too much with the time stream."
"The chaos theory." Valerie realized.
Clockwork nodded. "I stopped a disaster, and in order to correct my changes Fate send a bigger disaster our way. But I did my homework." He assured them. "I explored over 10,000 alternate timelines, and this one is the only one that ends for the better. However, several scarifies must be made to get it there."
Valerie nodded. "We understand." She said as she pushed Jazz forward.
"Wait!" Jazz declared. "Will we see Danny again?" She asked. "You know as we remember him. Not as a blood thirsty Knight."
There was a long pause, one that made her fear the answer.
"Yes." Clockwork finally answered. "You will get to see him." He said and pushed them both into the rift only when it closed did he finished.
"For one last time…"
-To Be Continued