Hey. The third chapter is up. Surprising, I know but I had already laid the foundation for this and many other chapters and fanfics. I just never got around to finishing them. Now that I have time, expect quicker updates but that too will soon change and I will be forced into the bi-monthly update schedule. After this comes the real showstopper, the first chapter containing the actual story and not a prologue. So enough of this and onwards we go.

Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever, owned Danny Phantom.

Recap:

Going back to the 'ghostly' figure, I tried to question Clockwork about the figure but the response I keep getting from him is "all in due time, my young apprentice". What could the figure mean? How does the figure have any connection to me? And when will I be ready to know the truth about all this? All these questions are always eating away at me but none as great as the question, just how much will all this affect my life this time?

You must be wondering what I meant by that. Well, it's quite simple. Whenever something like this occurs (and by 'something like this' I mean something unexplained), my life takes a sharp turn down misfortune lane. There was that time when I started to feel really cold for no reason what-so-ever (which was my ice power acting up), the entire planet got enslaved by Undergrowth, and there was this one time when I was attacked by Box Lunch, the child of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady (you do not want to know, trust me) and I ended up becoming Dan (of course that was from another time line) but do you see what I mean? Every time something unexplained happens, my life takes a turn for the worst.

Oh, and I completely forgot to tell you the lamest side-effect that meditating has brought upon me. I now have something like a…bond between the Box Ghost and Klemper, the two biggest losers of the ghost zone. Why, oh why did I have to form a bond with those two? Why couldn't I form a bond with Ember or Desiree, the two hottest ghosts in the ghost zone? But nooo! I have to form a bond with a ghost who wears an over-all, cries "Beware!" and throws boxes around, and with a ghost that wears PJ's and asks everyone he meets (both human and ghost), in a nasally voice, "Will you be my friend?" I mean, stalker much (though there is the fact that he has cryokinesis, which I might add is an awesome power)? However, the box ghost does improve with time. I met his future self when I was sent (sort of) into the future and let me tell you, he gets bad and I don't mean bad as in not good; I mean bad as in evil. He learns to make ectoplasmic boxes, which really hurt and his also voice gets really deep, giving him a menacing aura whenever he talks.

No, we will be leaving the losers of the ghost zone and move onto some of the rockers, the biggest being Ember McLain. She is a ghost punk rocker, who currently has a huge fan base here in the human world as very few people know she is a ghost. My first encounter with her incidentally caused quite a stir as everyone thought us fighting using our ghost powers were just advertising for her concert and it didn't help that when I fought her at her concert, everyone was convinced that it really was special effects for her concert. Because of that, not only did it increase her fandom but I sort of became a fan myself. Hey, just because she may try to take over the world and beats me up whenever we meet, doesn't mean that I should hate her music. If she were to stop trying to take over the world forcibly using her powers and just focus on her music career, then she would have the entire world eating out of the palm of her hand. Her music is that good. But that doesn't mean that I'm gonna tell her that.

One reason why I'm not going to tell her is that I'm still kinda miffed that she forced me to fall in love with Sam but first let me explain to you how her powers work. She uses her guitar to fight most of the times. The guitar has a little knob on it that control whatever effect she wants to produce. By turning her knob and strumming her guitar, she can hypnotize people, end out purple ectoplasmic fists, among other things. Then there is her hair. You see, instead of a head of hair, she has a head of fire (kinda suits her personality. She is fiercely independent and has a very 'fiery' temper). She ties her hair in a ponytail at the top of her head. The unique thing about her hair is that it shows just how much power she has. The more power she has, the bigger her hair (flame?) becomes and, like all performers, she gets her power from people chanting her name. The more people that chant her name, the bigger the flame become. Then there is her appearance. Ember wears a black, single shoulder tank top with black jeans and a belt hung loosely around her waist. Completing the look is a single glove that goes almost up to her right shoulders, and skull designed platform shoes.

Anyway, back to her forcing me to fall in love with Sam. It was then when I realized that I had feeling for her but when she kissed Dash, I buried it deep down and forgot about it. The feelings tried to surface later on but, I never acted upon them. When I started meditating though, I began to review my life and the people in it. That's when I realized why I had those feelings. I hardly ever have anyone stick up for me and when a girl does it, I kinda take it to heart (which would explain why I fell for Valerie like that). So I confronted Sam about them and we had a good, long and very embarrassing talk with her about them and we realized that it was just a puppy love. She also had few people to accept her for herself and I was probably the first male to accept her.

While we're on the topic of finding the truth about someone, let me discuss what I accidently found out about Ember. But before that, let me discuss about my (Jazz's) new project. She had managed to convince me to profile my ghostly opponents, as I seem to have told you before. It seems that I am developing a habit of repeating what I say. Anyway according to her, by doing this we would be able to better understand them and maybe help them 'move on' to the plane where spirits are supposed to go. I don't even think such a place exists, but Jazz wouldn't forget about the idea and she wouldn't let me forget about it until I agreed. So I have most of my opponents' profiles done, except for a select few. Ember's is one of them. We had already created her profile but after that one incident, I had to review the data I had on her and then I realized that it was sort of biased. All of them were from conversations (trading banters) we had from previous fights, but what about her life when she's in the ghost zone? What does she do? Who does she hang out with? We had no information on her about all that so our old profile of her was deemed incomplete and I got rid of it.

Now you must be wondering what incident I'm talking about. You see one day, while returning home from one of Clockwork's training sessions, I heard sobbing coming from behind some ruins in the ghost zone (note that pieces of land float in the ghost zone). So I naturally had to investigate. What I saw completely shocked me; there, clutching her guitar to her chest, was a tear-stricken Ember McLain. In all the time I knew her, I never saw her cry. She normally makes other people burst out in tears but there in front of me she sat crying. She hadn't spotted me so I quietly made my way back (if I went there and tried to comfort her, she would either fight me (most probably) or if she would accept my help, she would end up asking what I was doing there in the first place since it was a pretty secluded spot. Either situation was one I did not want to find myself in so I left (even though I wanted to help her). That certainly was an eye opener.

Because of that one incident, it had led me to review my other profiles and another one which I found that seemed biased was one on a certain wishing ghost. The profile that we made on Desiree was also made from data that we collected from our previous fights and it lacked information on what she did when she was in the ghost zone. It was then when I started to use my meditation sessions to try and remember as much detail as I could that was connected to Desiree. The first thing that I remembered was my first encounter with her. It happened at the carnival that had rolled into town. This also happened right near the beginning of my ghost fighting career, so I didn't have much control over my powers yet. Anyway, there was this little girl who wanted some cotton candy but her mother didn't want to buy one, so the little girl made a wish (sort of) for some cotton candy. Normally this wouldn't matter much but as fate would have it, she knocked down a bottle that contained Desiree. Once Desiree was freed, she had granted the little girl's wish by, literally, flooding the entire carnival with cotton candy. She had also asked me what my deepest desires were but due to my uncontrolled powers, I accidently shot her with one of my ectorays. Coincidently, that was the first time I actually fired one so it came to a surprise to me as well.

When I reflected on that moment, I came to a realization. When Desiree granted that little girl's wish, she had this angry look on her face, like she was distributing retribution to the people who had caused her pain. An evil look I would have understood, even one of joy, but not anger. Why was she angry? Then there was that incident that I uncovered while on my memory trip but before I tell about that, let me tell you a fact about Desiree. She doesn't like, no, she doesn't want any man to touch her. At all. I remember the last time I accidently touched her; she had knocked me from one end of the town to the other, and don't get me started on the stories I hear in the ghost zone about male ghosts who end up touching her. There was this one story about this one ghost who grabbed her wrist and refused to let go. As the story goes, that ghost was never heard from again. Believe me; you do not want a furious Desiree on your tail because you will end up regretting it. She is one ghost whose bad side you do not want to end up upon. A furious Desiree is equal to ten stampeding rhinos with ghost powers, or better yet, ten stampeding ghost rhinos.

Do you want to know what the worst thing is though? The worst thing is that Desiree is probably the most beautiful, awe inspiring ghost you will ever see. She has this long black hair that would reach all the way to her toes, if she had toes. You see, Desiree always has a ghost tail instead of legs. I don't think I have ever seen her with actual legs before. She has a green complexion and was taller than me, before I had my growth spurt. She wears a traditional blue harem outfit, complementary with silver bangles and silver arm bracelets, and she also wears a silver head band. Desiree also has this certain air to herself, telling anyone who sees her that this was a person who was proud of who she was and no one could change that.

I really am going off track with most of these rants, aren't I? Anyway, going back to that incident. You see, after she had flooded the carnival with cotton candy, I flew up to where she was and she introduced herself and asked me if I had a wish, and how do I respond to that? I insult her. Now here comes the unbelievable part; she reached out and tried to touch me. Now that may not seem significant but remember, we're talking about a ghost who despises any male contact and here she is initiating contact with me, a male. Does this mean that I had permission to touch her back then? Or is it because of me that she made up that rule? You know, because I shot her right after that? Then there's the fact that she wasn't originally evil.

You see, to find out more about Desiree back then, as that was the first time we saw her, we went to talk to the gypsy who was the previous owner of the bottle in which Desiree was trapped (and right there another question arises. How was an ordinary bottle able to contain a ghost?). She told us this story about Desiree's past; her life when she was alive and why she started to grant double-edged wishes. I mean, if you were viewed as a threat by women and chased after by men just because of your looks when you were alive, and then when you are dead, people would use your powers to further their own happiness, when you yourself were unhappy, wouldn't you consider turning evil yourself? And I'm pretty sure that not many ghosts hang out with her even now. Kitty surely wouldn't because Johnny would definitely hit on her and I don't think that Ember would like to hang out with her. After hearing all this, I don't think Desiree is evil at all. In fact, if there were someone on her side of the court, she wouldn't be like she is now.

Seeing as we're on the topic of female ghosts, I have to mention this one ghost. Biologically, she would be 12 or somewhere close to that age, but chronologically she would be around 7 to 8 months old. Confused? Well, what would you say if I told you that she was related to me and would be considered, to an extent, my clone? You must know by now whom I'm talking about. I've already introduced her before. If you don't know whom I'm talking about, then you are a really bad listener. For those who still don't know whom I'm talking about, then you should really stop listening.

It's my 'cousin' Danni. You know…the clone. I introduced her when I was talking about the humans in my life but I didn't give her the importance that she deserves. You see, a lot has happened after we met last; I matured some and understood that the feelings I had felt towards her were not that of a cousin, but of something more…intimate. Not as intimate as lovers. Noooo way! First off, she's my clone. It would be like falling in love with me and I do not love myself like that. Second off…the feelings I had were something close to the way I feel about Jazz but more…intense. She feels more like family; nothing like a clone or even a cousin. She feels more like my…daughter. Crazy right? But there' no denying what I feel for her surpasses the way I feel towards Jazz, even towards my parents. I haven't told anyone about this; about the way I really feel about her. Not even to Valerie.

Oh yeah. We are closer now because of Danni and the fact that she knows that Vlad is a half-ghost. Surprise, surprise. No I really mean it. I was so shocked when she mentioned that that I actually fell out of the air and if weren't for my intangibility powers, I would hit the ground and been squashed and I would actually be haunting Amity Park. As it turns out, Valerie found out about Vlad being a half-ghost the time she helped me rescue Danni from him and from the time I asked for her number, we grew closer (Danny Phantom and her that is, and when I mean closer, I mean more friendlier and if you are wondering about 'asking for her number' then don't. It is a long story and I don't feel like telling it now).

You know, this is not how I usually act. In my 'normal' life, I'm supposed to be this klutzy, oblivious guy who has no idea that his best female friend is in love with him (of course I have sorted that little problem out). If anyone who knew me were to listen to me now, they would be completely shocked. I don't do deep, mature observations and I certainly don't meditate…but sometimes we have to change, for the greater good. I found out that if I weren't Clockwork' apprentice, and continued to live my life as I used to, then something bad were to happen. I couldn't find out exactly what would happen but I could feel that it would be very bad. I asked Clockwork about that future but he wouldn't look me in the eyes. I then knew that whatever that future held, I was the worst possible outcome for me yet. I already encountered Dan, an alternate future of myself and he was one future that I didn't want to happen. I just can't imagine what could be worse than him.

You know, I thought my life was complicated before but it doesn't compare to my life right now. I have two, maybe three, enemies that may not be 'evil', one clone that I may consider to be more of a daughter, a friend who may have stopped hating me and may have started to like my ghost half, and a figure that won't stop haunting my dreams. If those weren't enough, then there's this prophecy about a ghost prince coming to age to take over his father's throne, the throne of all ghosts and as the prophecy goes, the prince would be the most powerful ghost in existence. It says something about him being the gateway to a new era for all ghosts. Now, not only do I have to live my life, which itself is troubling enough, but now I have to look out for the 'most powerful ghost in existence' and see that he isn't evil as his old man. Could my life get any more messed up?

Darknez: The final chapter for the prologues is done. From now on the actual story can take place.

Danny: Finally. They have been waiting for so long for this. You know, you need to learn to update more often.

Darknez: Hey! You are not supposed to be here. How on earth…?

Danny: Oh please. I am half-ghost. I can come and go as I please.

Darknez: Whatever. Just don't interfere with me and we'll be fine.

Danny: Yeah, whatever. Anyway, so dear readers, I will keep coming up and I'll bring some of my friends along and try to keep this lazy oaf from procrastinating too much. And we also apologize if we made you all wait a little longer than required for the updates.

Darknez: Hey! I am not an oaf!

Danny: So until we meet again. Oh and remember to review. Your reviews are what give the authors the drive to write more. And in turn, I'll make sure that this story gets continuous, regular updates. So long.