Meanwhile, Danny landed at Fenton works. He rang the doorbell and waited for his parents to answer the door. It was a habit Sam and his parents had drummed into him when Danny moved out of the family home. There had been too many incidents with ecto-blasters and anti-creep sticks when Danny was mistaken for an intruder. His father, Jack Fenton, answered the door. "Danny boy. It's great to see you. Is something wrong?" Jack boomed and then noticed his son's concern. Danny shook his head. He didn't want to worry anyone until he was sure. "Sorry dad, I just need to go into the Ghost Zone for a little while," Danny informed his father. Jack nodded and stepped aside for his son to enter. Danny made his way down to the lab and started to tap a few buttons. "Is something wrong hon?" his mother asked as she entered the lab with Jack. Maddie Fenton watched her son fiddling with the controls. "No, I just need to have a talk with a ghost. I'm going to leave the portal open but I'm activating the ghost shield while I'm in there alright," Danny informed his parents as the green energy field encased the building and the portal opened to reveal a swirling green doorway. His parents watched wordlessly as Danny Phantom flew through the portal and zoomed through the Ghost Zone.
Danny flew as fast as he could through the Ghost Zone and soon spotted a tall clock tower. He glided to the front door and landed. He knocked on the door and it fell down off its hinges. Danny jumped back in surprise. He gulped down his nerves and walked into the clock tower. He was starting to really regret ignoring Clockwork's warnings. Clockwork had called Danny to his lair in the past. Clockwork had been concerned that the Fenton Thermos holding Dan Phantom, his alternate future self. Or rather, now his younger self since Dan Phantom was trapped out of time at roughly twenty-four years old, was going to break. Danny had assured Clockwork that no ghost could escape the Fenton Thermos and until now he had been right. However Danny had a feeling that he couldn't say that any longer.
He walked through the tower calling for Clockwork. He finally found the ghost floating in the main room. He was watching a screen which flickered off when Danny entered the room. Clockwork turned to Danny. The ghost was in bad shape. His pale skin was bruised and he seemed to be stuck in his eldest form. He leaned heavily on his staff and glided over to Danny. "He escaped didn't he?" Danny whispered. Clockwork nodded and pulled a cracked Fenton Thermos from his cloak. The crack spilt the imprint of Dan's face in half. Danny shivered unintentionally at the sight of the face of his evil self.
"I'm sorry Clockwork. I should have listened to you. How long ago did he escape?" Danny murmured to the ghost of time. It was clear that Clockwork was either to weak or too angry to speak to Danny. "In your human time, yesterday morning. That ghost snake that attacked your daughter was looking for revenge. It had escaped as Dan destroyed its home," Clockwork croaked softly. Danny looked at Clockwork. "Why didn't you come to me? Why did you let him attack you?" Danny questioned. Clockwork was the master of time, so why did he allow himself to be beaten up? Clockwork smiled without any humour. "I can see the future, but I am bound not to get involved. Besides, even though I can see the future, there were so many possible futures of when he would break out that it was impossible to tell which would occur," Clockwork replied. Danny nodded in understanding.
"Do you know how long I have before Dan gets to the human world? Or even how many ghosts Dan has attacked?" Danny asked gently. Clockwork smiled sadly. "I'm afraid Dan has already made it to the human world. And as for the number of ghosts that Dan has attacked… there are many. Now he has attacked the far frozen, Ember, the Kingdom of Aargon, Pandora, the ghost writer, Nocturne, Undergrowth, Vortex, the Observants, Vlad, Wulf, Skulker, Sidney Poindexter, Spectra, Johnny 13 and many more. You will have to apologise to many after this is over," Clockwork informed him with steel in his voice. Clockwork blamed Danny for this crisis. Danny nodded solemnly. He apologised once again and then flew as fast as possible back through the Ghost Zone to the Fenton Portal and back to the human world.
As promised, it is starting to get busier and more action packed.
Until the next chapter.