Chapter 23: the gang gets a brief visit from somebody from the future. He gives them much needed information about a certain ghost that is planning to destroy Christmas.

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Chapter 23: The Time Traveller

Christmas vacation seemed to go all too fast. Already Danny had slept away his first two days of Christmas vacation. He needed it, though. But now, he was just being lazy when he decided to sleep in till one in the afternoon. He slowly ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Jazz sat at the couch reading a book while Danielle was using an aerobics-type video game. Down in the basement, Jack and Maddie were whipping up something ghost related and the sound of clanking metal was impossible to deny.

This was the holidays at the Fentons'.

"I'm going out to Valerie's house." Danny finally decided. It didn't take him long to put on his coat and scarf and gloves. Once he was off his parents' block, he changed into ghost form and flew the rest of the way. And then he turned human again just before he rang Valerie's doorbell.

"Hi Danny." Valerie greeted peculiarly.

"Since I'm not going to see you again before Christmas, I thought I'd rather just give you your present now." He was nervous as he handed her the box.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise when she saw the box. "Come in, come in." she pleaded and he did so and then shut the door.

"Do you like it?" he asked as she opened the box.

She gasped. "It's just what I wanted! Thank you Danny." Valerie gave him a hug.

"I hope we can be friends again."

"We never stopped being friends, Danny." Valerie said sadly. "It's just that…Cecelia's death tore us apart. She was the best friend I ever met. If you had gotten to know her, maybe you'd understand how I feel right now…" Valerie then realized how those words did not come out like she meant them to. "N-not that you don't! Because I know you were friends with her too. Everybody liked her. Everybody misses her."

"I know."

"But I really miss you Danny." Valerie sighed. "I'm sorry things happened the way that they did." She said regretfully.

"Maybe…we can fix things?" Danny was brave to ask.

Valerie kissed him on the cheek. "Call me later—after the New Year. Things always look better in the next year, right? Fresh start? New beginnings?"

"Second chances." Danny said as he phased through the front door.

He looked back before walking away as if he was waiting for her to chase after him or something. But that was pointless, because she did not. The cold ghost boy flew away into the bleak midwinter.

It was another day—three days before Christmas to be exact. Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Garth were all walking together to the Nasty Burger.

"How's your Christmas, Sam?" Tucker teased.

Sam frowned. "My parents are knitting cheerful sweaters for the whole family. Mine's pink." She said through her teeth.

The boys couldn't hide their laughs.

"My dad didn't knock over the tree yet this year." Danny said. "And for us, that's a record."

"My parents are planning a big roast feast." Tucker smiled. "An all-meat buffet!"

"I'm not really doing anything except for work…" Garth looked down. "I think I'm going to sleep Christmas away."

"Garth!" Everybody scolded him.

"Garth, you need to come to the party!" Danny insisted.

"Nah. I've been thinking about it and I'm going to have to pass. Maybe next year."

"Suit yourself." Danny said.

They all walked into Nasty Burger and there the workers were all wearing reindeer headbands or Santa hats. "Merry Christmas!" They greeted as the doorbell rang. Their cheer was so obviously fake and forced and…false.

Danny and his friends sat at their usual booth.

"Why didn't Valerie want to come with is?" Tucker asked.

"I talked to her, and she'd really rather just be left alone." Danny said sadly.

"Can I take your order?" A waitress appeared.

"I'll have a cheeseburger." Tucker said.

"Ditto." Said Garth.

"Same for me." said Danny.

"I'll have a vegetable salad." Sam said.

And then the waitress placed the order up front.

"So are you and Val getting back together or not?" Tucker questioned to Danny. Sam shifted uncomfortably which Danny did not notice. Tucker and Garth did. Garth studied his three friends during this long pause in which Danny didn't quite know how to reply.

"Um…" Was all that came out of Danny's mouth.

"I knew it! This whole time I knew exactly what was going to happen between Danny and Valerie but nobody believed me." Sam said with a spiteful tone.

"Oh I believed you," Tucker assured her, "But I just didn't want to—for Danny's sake."

"Guys, come on. I really care about Valerie. Could you all just try to help me out a little here? I really do want her bacl. It's just that there are other emotions interfering with our relationship." Danny declared.

"Well if there's one thing I know about relationships, it's that they won't happen if neither person makes a move." Tucker said proudly.

Danny opened his mouth to say something but then he noticed that the food had arrived. The boys all wolfed down their cheeseburgers whereas Sam ate her salad slowly and politely.

While they waited for her, they began to crack all these strange jokes that come out when it's only guys talking to each other. Sam felt extremely awkward. Although, she would have felt even more awkward if she was sitting next to Danny. Instead, she was next to Tucker. And he wasn't half the man Danny was.

As the four of them exited Nasty Burger, they passed an alley. Eventually, a thin boy with light brown hair and grey eyes stood in front of them. "Good heavens, it's Danny Phantom!" The brunette boy put his hand on his chest, startled.

Danny stared at him nervously. "Wha? Excuse me, but—"

"I know exactly who you are, halfa." The boy looked at Danny seriously. "I'm Allexis."

"Great." Sam said sarcastically. "Can you let us past now please?"

Allexis moved in front of her to stop her from moving forward. "Where's Sakki?" He asked the four of them in a somber tone.

Danny, Sam, Tucker and Garth looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Sakki Hazel. Where is she?" Allexis demanded.

"I knew a Cecelia Hazel." Tucker piped up.

Allexis sighed in disappointment. "Her full name is Sakki Cecelia Hazel. Where is she? Do you even know?"

"She's in Greenier Cemetery." Tucker said slowly. "Six feet under."

Allexis's heart stopped for a beat as he stared at Tucker. "Are you kidding?"

"I'm afraid not." Garth said.

Allexis began to panic, which everybody could see. He squeezed his hair tightly. "No! She can't be! This will ruin the entire future! Oh dear! When did this happen? How did it happen? You must know!"

"Take it easy, man. It was just a month ago. She died saving Danny and all the other ghosts. She destroyed her father's invention, which would have killed all the ghosts." Tucker said regretfully.

"It should have been me." Danny said painfully.

"Whoa, whoa, don't go down that road, Danny." Sam warned.

"Calm down." Garth said.

"Don't worry, Allexis, things will fix themselves. They always do." Allexis had a habit of talking to himself when nervous.

"How do you know about her anyways?" Sam asked Allexis.

"How do I know about her? How do I know about her!" Allexis rattled. "I'm a descendent of her family!"

"Her family?" the four teens asked in unison.

"Yes, yes. It's all too complicated for you to understand right now, but you'll understand in about thirty years—wait no, you can't because she's dead. Ugh. That has to change! Without her, there will be no one to conquer the Tossi and my family will not exist! And without her, how are you guys going to stop Cirth?"

"Who?" Tucker asked.

"Vlad Plasmius finally perfected Danny Phantom's clone!" Allexis blurted out. But he regretted it immediately after he said it because he realized they had no clue what he was talking about. "See, this is what I hate about time travel: I always get the timing part of it wrong!"

"So what is Cirth doing?" Sam asked.

"He's carrying out Vlad's plan to destroy Christmas." Allexis said.

"What?" Tucker exclaimed. "He can't do that! How in the world does he think he can pull it off?"

"Somehow he goes back in time to the First Christmas and stops the tradition of giving presents and being merry."

"How?" Danny asked impatiently.

"I don't know!" Allexis threw his arms in the air. "But you are supposed to stop him." Allexis pointed at Danny. "Since Cecelia's not with you, you'll have to do it alone."

"Why is Cecelia so important to you?" Sam asked.

"She's important to the time stream I come from. She's supposed to be Danny's sidekick and best friend."

"Hey!" Tucker said.

"But I suppose after Clockwork made it so that nobody would remember Fenton here had a secret, the future was drastically altered from what it should have been." Allexis paced back and forth.

"What should have been?" Danny dared to ask.

"A revolution against all of your enemies. She taught you to stand up for yourself when needed and not to just go with the flow. Without her, you'll probably end up marrying Miss Bat Wings over here."

"Hey!" Sam said.

"What?" Danny gasped. "That'll never happen."

"Ugh! I've told you too much already! But I've told you enough so that you can stop Cirth!"

"No you haven't." Garth interrupted.

"He'll be at the Christmas party in the Ghost Zone. Danny, you have to challenge him. Alone." Allexis said.

"But what if I fail?" He asked.

Allexis looked at Danny and said nothing. He pressed a button on his watch and faded into thin air and was gone like that. The four teens gasped.

Danny was now very scared.

"Calm down Danny." Tucker said.

"Hey aren't all of your relatives coming to your house tonight?" Sam asked Danny.

Danny groaned when he realized it was true.

"That should put him in the holiday spirit." Garth said with a load of sarcasm. Sam and Tucker laughed.

"This is no time to joke, guys! My evil clone is out to destroy Christmas! I don't know exactly what Vlad is planning, but it can't be good." Danny said. They all began their walk home. Since they lived near each other, their walk would be the same for about half a mile.

"Wasn't it strange how Allexis knew about Clockwork and what Clockwork did?" Tucker reminded Danny.

"Or that he knew Cecelia's full name?" Sam said.

"Then he must be a legit time-traveler." Garth decided. "Oh, here's my street." He waved goodbye to his friends as he turned down his street.

"There's only one way to find out more about Cirth," Tucker said, "But you'll really need to keep a close eye out during that Christmas party." Tucker turned down his street which left just Danny and Sam.

"So…" Sam laughed awkwardly.

"So, about what Allexis said, that was totally ridiculous about us getting married. We're cool, right? Because I can tell you know that that's never going to happen."

"No, of course not!" Sam lied. She had always pictured herself with him and that was that. "But there is no more Cecelia." She reminded him with this slight hint that she still had feelings for him. But he didn't catch it. He was always so clueless.

"Thanks for reminding me." Danny said sadly.

Sam turned down her street and then a few minutes later Danny was in front of his own house.

Jack Fenton opened the door to let Danny inside. "Merry Christmas, son!" he said to Danny.

Danny looked around the living room and there were many relatives gathered there Danny recognized his aunt Alicia, who was talking to Jazz. Danny noticed his grandparents, who gave him kisses as he walked past them. Danny walked upstairs to Danielle's bedroom and was relieved to find that she was in there.

"Danielle, we need to talk. Vlad made a clone of me and together they're going to destroy Christmas."

Danielle stared at Danny sleepily. "What?"

"It's true. And I'll need your help." Danny admitted.

"Well, tell me what you need me to do." said Danielle.