I do not own Danny Phantom or G.I Joe.

As the skeletal parrot sidekick of Youngblood is nameless, I am giving him the obvious and not-so-original name of Bones.

Rockers, Pirate Ghosts and a Time Master

After school, the trio headed for Danny's home, wanting to get a head start on their project before they were distracted by ghost attacks and other problems that tended to plague Amity Park on a daily basis.

"You sure your parents aren't home?" asked Sam.

Danny shook his head. "No. They went to some sort of seminar or something. I wasn't paying much attention but I know they won't be back until suppertime, if not later."

"Then a trip to the Ghost Zone it is."

The three entered Fenton Works. Danny and Sam dropped their backpacks by the door and they filed down into the lab. "Alright, we're going to need some weapons," instructed Danny. "I'll get the Speeder ready."

The raven-haired boy prepped the Spectre Speeder as his friends grabbed a few Fenton ghost weapons, such as the Fenton Thermos and the Fenton Blasters. Tucker tossed the items into the backseat of the vehicle and climbed in. They were all wearing Fenton Phones so that they could communicate with each other.

"What ghosts should we do?" he asked.

Sam adjusted the controls and motioned for Danny to open the portal through the glass. "Well, we could each choose one ghost and write about it."

"Good idea," agreed Danny.

"I'm in," said Tucker.

Sam nodded. "Cool. Then I think I'll choose Ember. I mean, she's one of the ones we know relatively well, so we don't need to ask her any questions."

Danny entered his DNA code and watched the doors to the Ghost Zone slide open. A pair of blue rings surrounded him and he transformed into his ghostly half. "Phantom."

Sam rolled her violet eyes. "For the last time, we are not doing Phantom. Now pick someone-or I guess someghost-else."

Danny scowled as he led his friends through the swirling green vortex. "Fine. I choose Youngblood."

Tucker raised an eyebrow. "Youngblood? Any particular reason?"

"I just figure it might be easier to question Youngblood without getting a plasma blast to the face."

"Good point. I choose..." Tucker tapped his fingers against the metal dashboard as he thought. "...Clockwork."

"Huh. Well, at least he'll already know the questions you're going to ask him," said Sam. Her violet eyes sparkled. "Hey, maybe he'll even tell us if we pass!"

Danny snorted. "Don't hold your breath."

They soon came upon Ember's lair. "Hmm...Lancer said we need some sort of evidence or something that proves the ghost exists. So since we know Ember pretty well, I'll distract her while you guys snag her guitar."

"I think Lancer was thinking more along the lines of a photograph or a news article," said Sam dryly. "I think actual ghost artifacts might be over the top."

"Think of the extra credit," persuaded Tucker.

"Fine," sighed Sam. "Thanks for the suicide mission then, Danny. If Skulker is visiting her, we're so screwed."

Laughing, Danny phased through the purple door that led to Ember's lair and frowned when there was no sign of the rocker ghost. "Huh. Not home," he mused.

"Think again, dipstick."

Danny yelped as he was blasted away by a purple sound wave. Ember grinned as he went sailing through the doorway and back into the green expanse of the Ghost Zone.

Sam scowled as she watched Ember go after Danny, her ever-present instrument clutched securely in her grip. "Great. How are we supposed to steal the guitar away when she's using it as a murder weapon?"

Tucker rummaged through his backpack in search of something to restrain the rock star ghost and pulled out the Fenton Goo. "I think I have an idea."

The Goth glanced at her friend. "Is it a good idea?"

"Well, we'll find out. Open the hatch. I need to get out there."

Danny avoided another blast and tried to hit back with a plasma blast. Ember dodged it and smirked. "You're losing your touch, baby pop."

She was about to deliver a green hypno-blast when something sticky hit her boots. "What the-?"

Danny hauled himself up and brushed the dust off of him and chuckled as Ember struggled to get out of the sticky green goo trapping her legs together. Tucker floated down and yanked her purple guitar from her grip.

"Danny is losing his touch. That's why we're here to back him up." Tucker grinned teasingly as he shot another goo blast to quell Ember's angered shrieks.

"Funny." Danny floated up, grabbed his friend and stuck his tongue out at the furious Ember. He brought Tucker over to the Speeder and the boy piled in.

"One down, two to go," said Sam.

"Don't we have to ask her questions?" wondered Tucker.

Danny snorted. "Yeah right. I'm not asking her anything when she's in this mood. She wants to kill us. And admittedly, she has a good reason."

"Oh, we'll bring it back when we're done with it." Sam guided the Speeder through the Ghost Zone. "Let's move on out."

"Okay, we have Ember's guitar and I figure Skulker won't stop by for at least a week or two, since he's still out hunting you, correct?" Tucker questioned.

Danny tossed a plasma ball up and down as he floated beside the Speeder. "He'll still be in Amity Park until I put him in the Thermos, so I'll do that after we're done here. He won't do anything unless he knows I'll be there, so he can stay out of the Zone for a bit."

Tucker studied the guitar curiously, his fingers running along the edge. "We are so getting extra credit!"

"We better, after what we went through to get it," said Danny feelingly.

"Ghost Brat dead ahead!" Sam called out, eyeing the large ghost ship looming before them. "Good news, he's still playing pirates. Not G.I Joe."

"Hey, that's a good idea for a Christmas present for the little twerp," Danny said thoughtfully as he and his friends floated up to the deck of the ship.

"Ahoy, mates!"

"Hey, Youngblood." Danny watched as the pintsized ghost kid hovered above them, his skeletal sidekick, Bones, by his side. "Can I ask you-?"

Sam and Tucker watched in amusement as Danny went sailing to the other side of the ship, Youngblood gleefully shooting cannonball after cannonball out of his miniature ghostly cannon.

"Danny, come on. He's, like, eight," Tucker teased as Danny got ambushed by Youngblood's crew.

"I'm eight and a half!" Youngblood whined. "Just for that, you get to walk the plank, landblubbers!"

"Landlubber," Bones corrected, idly flying by his young charge.

Youngblood frowned, watching as his pirate crew wrestled Tucker and Sam out of the Spectre Speeder. "Landlubber? That makes no sense!" he said, poking Tucker in the back with his sword, inching him towards the open green space of emptiness that was the Ghost Zone.

"Danny!" Tucker wailed as Youngblood shoved him inches away from the edge of the plank. "I thought you said Youngblood would be easy!"

Danny grunted, blasting skeleton after skeleton out of his way as he attempted to get to his friends. "I forgot Youngblood was a Class-A brat." He yelped as a skeletal head fell into his hands. "Ew!"

"Blimey! I just got me head attached yesterday!" the head complained. Shuddering, Danny handed it back to its body before flying off and catching Tucker just as Youngblood prodded him off the ship.

"Cutting it close there, aren't you?" asked Tucker as his friend set him back on the deck.

"Shut up. I caught you, didn't I?"

Sam glanced at Bones, who was watching the excitement with slight amusement. She pried herself from the grip of her skeletal captor and grabbed the dead bird by a skinny claw and held him upside down, studying him curiously.

"We could bring in Polly here. I think this counts as ectoplasmic evidence."

"A talking skeletal parrot that can shapeshift and talk. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that counts," Tucker commented sarcastically as Danny tackled Youngblood and dragged him to the front of the ship.

"I am not a museum exhibit, so please put me down!" Bones squawked in annoyance.

"Sorry," Sam apologized, releasing the bird.

Danny panted. "Okay, Youngblood. I just want to ask you a few questions for a school report. Then I'll leave. "

Youngblood pouted, not entirely pleased at being beaten by an older kid. "Okay, fine. But hurry up. I got some swashbuckling to do."

Five minutes later, the trio went on their way. Tucker entered the data Youngblood had shared into his P.D.A. "Well, that was a complete waste of time. We already knew all that stuff."

Danny scowled. "At least we got the evidence!"

Sam traced a finger against the glowing green blade. "I think the parrot would have been a knockout."

"Yeah, like three kids are going to acquire a talking ghost parrot like that." Tucker snapped his fingers to emphasize his point.

"Two kids and a halfa," Sam corrected.

"Which only we know!" returned Tucker.

Danny sighed in exasperation. "Would you two knock it off? His pirate sword is good enough. Besides, there was no way I was taking his parrot. Someone needs to watch over that kid."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Can we just get to Clockwork's? He's expecting us! And we still have a report to write and a demented Skulker to catch before he finds Ember. Actually, you ought to free her before he finds her like that."

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't," Danny replied, directing his best friends to Clockwork's lair. "But it doesn't matter anyway. We're still going to get our butts whipped either way."

"Point."

They soon reached Clockwork's massive cathedral and Danny phased himself and his two best friends through the large wooden door. Sam looked at the endless amount of clocks in awe.

"Even though I've been here before, it still takes my breath away...hey, shouldn't we have knocked?"

"Seriously? Clockwork knows everything, remember?" Tucker pointed out, climbing out of the Speeder and helping Sam step out.

"Oh yeah. You think he would've greeted us at the door with cookies or something."

The three missed the amused chuckle coming from the shadows. "I would've had cookies, but ghosts really have no need for food."

Sam yelped, startled, and then blushed as the Ghost of Time appeared before them. "Hey, Clockwork."

Danny smiled at Clockwork. "Hi. I'm gonna assume you know why we're here, so I don't need to explain anything, right?"

"You'd like to know information about myself for your school project, correct?"

Sam ran a finger along the worn spines of the books that rested on a wooden shelf in wonder. "Yeah, that's it," she answered, not tearing her eyes away from the interesting titles. "Hey, Tucker, ask the Master some questions."

Tucker grumbled as Danny floated off to explore the old cathedral. "Okay, fine. Um...so, are the Observants really your bosses?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Couldn't you just send them to another dimension or something?"

"As the Ghost of Time, I have rules to follow, as the Observants have to follow their rules."

Tucker thought about this. "So, basically, the one-eyed freaks give you their dirty work?"

"Correct."

"Man. That sucks." Tucker glanced up to see where his friends had gone and rolled his green eyes upon discovering what they were doing. Sam was on the floor, resting her head in her hands as she skimmed through some book with interest in her violet eyes. Danny had discovered Dark Dan and was gleefully whacking the thermos the evil ghost was trapped in against the wall.

"Daniel..."

Danny blushed and quickly put the thermos back on the table as Dark Dan let out a string of curse words that were muffled by the steel walls encasing him. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

Tucker snickered. "Well, I mean, we already know most of the basics about you. Getting to in depth will arouse suspicion-"

Too late, Clockwork thought.

"- so...can we borrow something to show to the class? We'll return it as soon as we're done. We just need a little bit of evidence to prove that you exist."

Clockwork studied the young children, who had been through things no child should ever have to go through. They faced countless opponents and always arrived on top. Danny took down Pariah Dark and Dark Dan. Sam and Tucker dealt with their own fair share of ghostly enemies without the help of their halfa friend. Their strength and knowledge was what made every ghost admire their spirit, something which not many would admit.

The next few weeks were not going to be easy on the trio.

Sam got up from her place on the floor and waved a leather-bound book in front of Clockwork's face, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Can we borrow this?" she asked. "I think the Time Journal would be great evidence. Not as great as a time staff or a talking ghost parrot, but hey."

Danny snorted. "We've never been overachievers before. Why start now?"

Clockwork smiled softly. "If you promise to return it as soon as you are done with it, then you may."

Sam grinned. "Thanks." She glanced at her friends, who had slipped off and were tossing Dark Dan's thermos back and forth like a football. "Thanks, Clockwork! We really have to get going. The report's due tomorrow!" She paused. "Wait, you already knew that."

The trio waved once more before disappearing out the doors, where the Speeder was waiting on the other side. Clockwork watched as they left and shook his head.

Tough times were ahead for Team Phantom.