Danny Phantom - The Next Chapter

Gathering Forces

Danny stared at the Observants, trying and failing at not being intimidated by their stares.

‘Um... yep,’ he replied, his voice cracking, ‘Summoned right from Amity. Does anyone have any bandages?’

None of the Observants responded, their unblinking... (unwinking?) eyes locked onto him.

‘Nope? That’s cool I guess. Sorry, I got some blood on your nice floor.’

He floated up into the air, wincing as his adrenaline ebbed and his injuries began to take their toll.

‘So... why am I here?’ he asked, ‘Did I do something wrong?’

‘Bring forth the witness!’ the Observant in front commanded, making Danny jump.

Beside him, there was another swirling green light then suddenly Clockwork was floating next to him.

‘Clockwork? What are you doing here?’ Danny demanded.

Clockwork glanced at him and Danny froze at the sight of him. He looked like he’d been run over by a train. The right side of his face was sporting four parallel slashes and his purple robe had been torn in several places, revealing wounds that were slowly seeping ectoplasm.

‘What happened to you?’ Danny gasped.

‘I could ask you the same thing, dear boy,’ Clockwork replied before turning back to the Observants.

‘Clockwork!’ the Observant boomed, ‘You had been charged with taking on responsibility for Danny Phantom when you altered the timeline. Do you remember this?’

Clockwork sighed heavily and Danny got the impression that this wasn’t worth his time which, being the guardian of time, was more than a little ironic.

‘Yes, of course I remember,’ Clockwork replied irritably.

‘Then you admit that you have failed in your duty,’ the Observant continued.

‘One could say that,’ Clockwork sighed.

‘Sorry, what’s going on?’ Danny asked, ‘Clockwork isn’t responsible for me. What are you accusing him of?’

The Observant raised a hand and a green cloud formed in its hand, solidifying into the unmistakable shape of a Fenton Thermos. However this was looked even worse than Clockwork; its cap was missing and a massive crack had been torn into its side, blackened and warped.

‘A Thermos?’ Danny asked, ‘What happened to it?’

‘This was the Thermos you used to contain your future self,’ the Observant explained, ‘It held him until two days ago until Clockwork was unable to prevent his escape.’

‘He’s out?’ Danny breathed, sudden terror filling his gut.

‘I will have you know that he did not just escape on his own,’ Clockwork retorted, ‘It was no lapse of judgement or attention from me that caused this.’

‘And yet he escaped nonetheless.’

‘How?’ Danny demanded, ‘What happened?’

Clockwork sighed. ‘I was ambushed. Intruders entered my realm and overwhelmed me. Their weapons incapacitated me. Even with my powers...’

‘You?’ Danny asked, incredulous.
‘Indeed,’ Clockwork muttered, ‘And to make matters worse, they were... not entirely human.’

The crowd of Observants began muttering amongst themselves, their voices filling the hall like a crashing wave.

‘Enough!’ the first ordered and silence fell once more. ‘Explain yourself.'

‘If I had to describe them, I would say they were very similar to young Danny Phantom,’ Clockwork explained, and Danny glanced at him sharply. ‘They appeared to be a combination of humans and ghosts, though not a perfect union as Danny Phantom is. They were able to steal my staff away from me and prevent me from using my chronokinesis. I may be powerful but against those numbers...’