Danny Phantom - Gender Bender (Discontinued)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Danny rushed through the ghost zone, panic propelling her through the plasma.

Impossible. Impossible. Impossible!

How could she have gotten out? How could she be so.... powerful! Danny had returned the test answers and accepted her punishment, shouldn't that have technically weakened her? Also, Clockwork saved her family and friends. Dan should be a fraction of her previous might. "Impossible."

Dan's words drifted into her mind. I'm still here, which means I still exist... Danny shook the thought away.

The halfa landed in Clockwork's lair and observed the surroundings. On first glance there appeared to be no sign of a struggle. For a mili-second, hurt pained her gut. "Clockwork would never-" she began to whisper to herself. Then she saw it. A smudge of charcoal on the blue steel wall, and the remnants of the titanium thermos from when Dan obliterated it were sprawled across the floor. Danny stood frozen, gaping at the sight. The lack of damage showed just how easily She got free. But where was the Lord of Time? She ran over to the time portals. "Observants," she commanded, "relay the events here."

An omniscient voice echoed though. "We will do no such service to you, Phantom."

"Why not? You know full well that Clockwork and I have an alliance."

"We help friend and foe alike, for those titles mean nothing to us. But you are the exception."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Danny internally grunted.

"We help friends and foes. Not a friend and foe."

"Damn you and you're riddles! Fine, don't tell me." I'll find out myself. She went to leap into the portal. Zzzap! She was rejected and flung back onto the cold steel ground. "Hey! What gives?"

"You have tampered enough with time, Dan Phantom."

"Dan?"

"Danny, Dan - You're the same to us." And with that, the portals faded to black and Danny was left feeling more alone than when she arrived at the crime scene. Danny stared into space and mindlessly placed her hand on her throat, shivering. 

***

The next few days passed with anxious ease. There was no sign of Dan, though Danny found no comfort in that fact. She tried to study for her exams, but the ever present feeling of being watched kept her hair on end.

"Chill out, Danny," Tucker said, offering her some of her chocolate. Danny politely declined and signed.

"I can't. I came rushing back here after seeing the state of Clockwork's lair half-expecting the town to be in ruins. But... nothing is almost worse."

Sam looked up from his page filled with messy notes. "You said you only saw her reflection. Perhaps getting out of the thermos drained her and now she's stuck between dimensions."

Danny looked at him, her eyebrows tight. "Perhaps," she echoed.

"C'mon, Danny. Do some study to get your mind off it. We have our exams in two days." Danny grimaced but gave in. She wrote out her notes mindlessly, unable to take anything in. After about an hour of actual study, her ghost sense triggered. Danny sprung up and her chair fell backward. It clanged to the ground and everyone in the library stopped. Danny felt herself shaking. Her mind had been in a study trance, but this shiver pulled her back to reality. She looked about nervously, silently cringing.

"I'll be back." She ran to the bathroom down stairs and morphed.

An awkward void was left in the library. Sam and Tucker grimaced at each other. "Study break?" Tucker said.