Do you have ANY IDEA how long this took me to do? A watching of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a slight rewatching of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, pushing from FernClaw, MutantLover09, Invader Johnny, and CatalystOfTheSoul, and... motivation. A lot of it. God, I am SO SORRY it took me this long to do this chapter. :looks miserable:

Oh, wow. Thanks for reviewing princess moon shadow, Jag Lady, Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare, GeekGirl2, Hordak's Pupil, lily moonlight, MutantLover09, Invader Johnny, FernClaw, Amber Pegasus, Grumbles, Nylah, Plushiemon, lady1011, TweenisodeOrange, CatalystOfTheSoul, Miriam1, mangafreakazoid, Vi, Nicky-Pickle-25

9. Hi There!

"Hey, hold on! Wait up for a second!"

Clockwork turned to the teenager behind him and nodded as patiently as he could. Even the Master of Time had his limits. Danny was panting now as he jogged up to the ghost and leaned over for several moments. Despite the ghost's best efforts to try and get as close to the portal as possible, he also felt the teen should have had some sort of exercise. Didn't matter what type- it just had to be a little. Clockwork smiled. "Are you ready to go?"

Danny looked at the portal that towered over them both. He swallowed, suddenly feeling small and insignificant much like the times when a teacher glowered at him for not doing his homework. He pointed to it and looked at Clockwork, a look of fear dawning on his features. "I gotta… I gotta go in that thing?"

"This is a portal to another timeline, Danny," Clockwork told him calmly, gesturing to the gaping green hole with his staff. "It's the only way you can truly find yourself in the way of being the key to the city. Believe me when I say that you will be in good hands when you meet the person who is trying to find you. Actually, you will find him, in a sense, but that little detail doesn't make much of a difference right now."

The teen blinked. "Doesn't make much of a difference?! What about the other times that I could get into trouble and stuff?"

Clockwork's eyes twinkled. "You don't plan on getting into trouble, do you?"

Danny laughed bitterly. "Trouble usually finds me."

The time ghost didn't reply to this true statement and merely gestured the teenager inside the portal. "It's time to go, child. I wish upon you a safe journey to the year of 1940 and trust that you will not attempt to mess with the time stream in any manner possible. If you do, the course of history will be changed forever, and you will not be able to go back in time and alter it- unlike other occasions." His voice became low with a warning tone. "Danny, be careful. Trust merely your gut, and nothing else."

"My gut?"

Before he could finish, Clockwork had given him a gentle nudge into the portal. Danny took one step forward and felt his stomach drop, along with his physical body into an endless abyss. His screams echoed in the hole of time as he watched the dates tick back. 1990… 1970… 1950… 1940…

His eyes widened, screams intensifying as another large hole opened up in the portal.

He felt his physical self dragged in by some sort of current and flailed for two seconds before falling towards the earth.

"What the hell is that?"

Blaze's incredulous voice got Indiana to turn to him in the car and cast the companion an annoyed look. "Look, Blaze, I know you've been trying to get my attention for the past fifteen minutes and everything, but telling me to take my eyes off the road is not a good way to do it."

"No, I'm serious!" The GIW agent pointed out the window at the figure falling from the sky. "Someone's going to crash into the earth!"

Sure enough, a body was hurtling towards the ground with what appeared to be headfirst. The archaeologist had no idea whether or not this was the kid that Clockwork was babbling about, but something about that falling object made his stomach churn. He stopped the car and got out, Blaze watching him with an incredulous look. Before he could say anything else, Indy put up a hand to stop him and muttered, "Is it true?"

A soft THUD answered his question seconds later. The dust settled where the body had landed, and Indiana ran over to see what had slammed into the earth.

A teenage boy, looking to be around fifteen years old, was sprawled in the street in front of him. His raven-black hair was messy, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt with a red oval emblem on his chest. Indiana frowned at this and kneeled down, leaning over and checking for a pulse. Immediately, the teen's eyes shot open. The older man could see a mixture of fear and worry in the sky-blue eyes as he scrambled up as best as he could. "What the- who are you?!"

Indiana placed his hands in front of him slowly. "Easy, kid. I'm here to help you."

The teen winced slightly, grabbing his arm in pain and backing away a little more. "Look, just… I just want to know where he is."

The man clearly saw trust was going to be a big issue. "Where who is?"

"Some guy is supposed to help me in searching for something. I dunno his name or what, but I know that he's looking for me." He was looking around frantically now, trying to inch away from the archaeologist in front of him. "Where am I? Did I make it?"

Indiana recalled the mysterious time ghost's words: "And when the time comes within a number of hours, a teenage boy will fall from the skies above and land in front of you ten feet away."

He was off by a couple of hours.

A thought struck Indy as he watched the teen struggled to move away. "You got a name, kid?"

This threw the teenager for a loop- or so it seemed. He quit struggling for a few seconds and merely looked at the man strangely before replying, "Well, yeah. Name's Danny Fenton. Why?"

Bingo.

Indiana held out his hand. "Come on. I'm pretty sure I can help you find who you're looking for. We can take a plane back to New York, and maybe you'll be able to find this guy. Anything you need to know about him- height, appearance, occupation?"

Danny looked at the end warily before reaching out and accepting the gesture. "Unfortunately, no. I don't. Wish I did, but the person who sent me here gave me no description. He just said I'd know him if I saw him- sort of a 'trust your gut' idea." He shrugged, wincing slightly. "I know it sounds dumb and all, but that's all he said."

The man led Danny to the car and motioned to Blaze to get out. "What's your gut telling you now, kid?"

"That you're the guy I'm supposed to trust," he replied. Indy could see the honesty in his eyes, a lot more than he had seen in a long time. "I want to believe that you're the guy I'm looking for."

Indiana raised an eyebrow. "Look, it's better to go with evidence than your gut these days. I know from experience." He winced slightly and looked as his companion on the other side. "Blaze, open the door so Danny can get in."

The raven-haired male grinned in response, giving a mock salute to Indiana and proceeding to open the door for the teenager. The archaeologist crossed his arms and watched Blaze shut the door and lean on top of the vehicle for a moment before finally bursting out, "Look, Indiana. We just picked up this kid off the pavement in front of us, and you want to bring him to New York?! What if he's a Nazi?"

Indiana looked at Blaze with a stern eye. "Listen, Blaze, I know he's good. He's got that vibe. And besides, you've gotta learn to trust me more. I'm pretty sure one more passenger in a car is not going to kill anyone."

Blaze's forest green eyes narrowed. "Fine."

"Now come on. We've got to start looking for the key to the city. At least, before the Nazis do…"

"What are we going to tell your parents?" Sam asked Jazz, her arms crossed and looking out the window.

Jazz shrugged. "Something to get the Guys In White off their back for housing Phantom, I guess. I guess we could try and lie about him being housed there. Question is, how would be able to lie about that sort of thing?" She furrowed her brow and bit her cheek. "Anyone have any ideas?"

Tucker shrugged. "I have one, but the Guys In White need to be gone in order for it to work."

The girls looked at him in surprise. The technology geek gave them an exasperated look. "Hey, you asked! I just gave my opinion on what we can do."

"You didn't even say the plan, Tucker," Sam told him, annoyance evident in her tone. "We need details of what's going to happen here."

The boy finally sat down on the bed and took out his PDA, typing in some things. "Think of it like this. Danny might be here right now and stuff, and the Guys In White are still at Danny's place. They're trying to pinpoint Phantom's exact location, but they can't find his signature anymore. They might not think of looking at a friend's house, right?"

Jazz blinked. "Whose house would they look at first, though?"

Sam looked resigned. "We can't act like he's here. My parents would freak if they showed up at the door and…"

"Hey, look!" Tucker interrupted. "They're leaving!"

Sure enough, the operatives were clamoring into their vehicles and arguing amongst themselves about where Phantom could have gone. Doors slammed and engines were fired up, and within moments, the vehicles had moved out of the Fentons' front "yard." Jazz motioned to Sam and Tucker that it was okay to leave Sam's house and go to their place.

The three teenagers were out the door moments later and walking over to Jazz's house. She opened the door and looked inside, seeing Maddie and Jack sitting on the couch, Vlad sitting in the chair. All three adults looked up and saw the three teenagers standing in the doorway. Maddie frowned. "Have any of you guys seen Danny?"

Tucker cleared his throat. "He's at my place."

"Are your parents all right with that?" the mother asked, worry creeping into her voice.

He smiled. "They're in Arizona right now on vacation. They won't mind if he spends a couple of days with me… as long as you don't."

Jack shrugged. "I'm fine with it. Just as long as the Guys in White don't show up again." He looked angry. "Accusing us of having the ghost boy under our own roof? That's crazy! Why would we want to protect the very ghost we're trying to hunt?"

Jazz swallowed. "In any case," she jumped in, veering the subject away from Jack's ranting, "we- Sam, Tucker, and I- were thinking it'd be a good idea if Danny stayed at his place for a little while. If the Guys In White are really accusing Danny of being the ghost kid, then we might want to steer them off their trail for a while. Maybe by housing Danny somewhere else, they won't come back here all the time accusing you."

Silence followed this idea. Vlad looked at Jack and Maddie and nodded, much to the teens' surprise. "I find that to be a really good idea. It will get them off the trail of Daniel, and he can spend more time with his friends. Perhaps he can get up that math grade of his."

Father and mother gave each other very surprised looks. Maddie glanced back at Vlad. "How did you know he's failing Math?"

"I have my ways," he replied casually, sneaking a warning glance at the team.

Jack shrugged. "Well, they have my approval. And besides, he could use the extra help."

Maddie nodded in agreement. "As long as you guys do the work and don't run into trouble with any ghosts, it's fine with me. If you do see Phantom, though, be sure to tell us."

Sam nodded. "We can do that. Thanks, Mrs. Fenton."

Jazz walked up to her parents and sat on the couch next to them. "You guys have fun, okay?"

Tucker grinned. "We will. Promise."

As the duo shut the door, Sam looked at Tucker with concern. "Now we have to find out more about this City of Phantoms legend and how it pertains to Danny."

"I've got the internet covered," Tucker announced, pulling out his PDA. "Leave it to me!"

Sam sighed and shook her head. "This is serious, Tucker."

He shrugged. "I'm looking up stuff right now! C'mon, Sam, cut me a little slack!"

The beeping on Tucker's device, though, seemed to prove otherwise. The Goth gave him a warning look before setting off with him to the library to look for more information about this city their friend was apparently the key to.

Jeez, about time this stupid thing was up. I'm HOPING you guys liked this a little bit and stuff. Don't worry. Danny's thought about Indiana will be coming in the next chapter, and we see his reasons for trusting him and stuff. I promise. Seems like a little too early to trust? There's a good reason to believe that. It'll be explained. I promise.