~~~Break Line~~~~

After the trio ate lunch at the nearest Nasty Burger joint in the NYC, Danny opened up a portal that directly leads to the door of Clockwork's tower.

Just as they were about to knock, Clockwork opened the door as if he was expecting the trio. (Which he totally knows.)

"Randy Cunningham the Norrisville Ninja, Jake Long the American Dragon and, of course, Danny Phantom the Ghost King. I presume that you are all here to meet me." Clockwork asked, which got a nod from them.

"So, You're the famous Clockwork that Danny was talking about," Randy asked with amusement in his voice, which got a nod in return. "So how did you train Danny?"

CW (I'm just gonna call him that) smirked lightly, "I just merely helped him control his power and mostly guided him, like your mentors Randy and Jake."

"So you hit him with a broom when he gets a question wrong and make him climb up a waterfall full of fish?" Randy rhetorically asked, his tone somewhere between sarcasm and genuine curiosity which set off his friends to hysteric giggles. Clockwork in his child form merely smiled at him in amusement and answered; "Perhaps."

"Well now I'm curious!" Randy exclaimed excitedly, there was a gleam of mischievousness in his dark blue eyes that didn't bode well for Danny. Danny was a bit surprised by it, he turned to look at Jake to see if he saw it too but to his dismay he had the exact same glint.

"Yeah I am too," Jake supplied, pointing at the offending teen he smirked while showing more teeth than necessary. "I want revenge Fenton."

"Oh what, c'mon I wasn't that bad to you guys," he placated, raising both hands in the universal sign for surrender but that did not deter his friends who were grinning cheshire grins.

"Hmm..." Randy hummed, rubbing his chin in exaggerated contemplation before turning to Jake who was in a similar pose. "What do you think? 'Cause I think that he wasn't that bad..."

Danny felt wary hope. "... I think he's worse." And that hope was crushed.

"What do I think?" Jake mock asked. "I think he's terrible, he hurt my feelings!" Clutching his chest and miming being hurt. Danny rolled his eyes at the theatrics; honestly, sometimes he wonders why they were even friends. Randy gave an exaggerated gasp and pretended to weep.

"He hurt my feelings too," he mourned then as quick as it came the crocodile tears had stopped and so did the bad acting for both of them. Instead their expressions became matching smug grins and Randy continued where he left off.

"He has to pay."

Dread overcame Danny and he desperately cast his eyes for a saviour. CW met his gaze and decided to speak up.

"If you two are interested in young Daniel's training then it is only fair if all those involved in his training must be here too." CW said calmly, Danny shot him a look of betrayal while grins of the two boys grew even wider.

"Excellent." They practically purred and Danny decided this was the worst idea he has ever came up with. Immediately after that particular thought a huge plume of red smoke appeared in between the grinning boys and the nervous halfa.

"That does sounds like an excellent idea, Clockwork." said the figure from the smoke.

"Welcome Nomicon, I was expecting you as well as Lao Shi." CW replied to Nomicon.

"Speaking of Lao Shi, where is that old dragon?" Nomi asked. Just then, a note appeared which is clearly written in Lao Shi's handwriting simply stating this humble message: 'sry cnt go. stuff happens.'

"..."

In the silence, everyone in attendance simultaneously looked at Jake Long as if waiting for an explanation. The asian-american boy held up his hands as if in surrender and sputtered defensively.

"Hey don't look at me! I don't know why he wrote the message like that."

"We don't blame you, young dragon but..." Nomi spoke up. "But it is admittedly shocking for a man his age."

"Not really," said the three teens in unison. They were met with a look of deep speculation while CW merely looked amused. Nomi decided that he'll let this slide and moved on to another topic.

"I assume we won't be seeing that old dragon today Clockwork?"

"You assume correctly Nomicon." he replied as he shifted from a child to a fit young man to match the age consensus of his company. The transformation reminded Randy of a thought he had earlier.

"Oh hey Nomicon!" he called curiously. "When did you get a human body and why did you only show it now?"

"I am a book embuded with magic, eventually time managed to give me thought, and because of my purpose and interaction with humans for over eight hundred years, I began to fashion a human body that eventually became my spirit form." Nomi informed while walking to stand next to CW who has since returned his attention to the ever-present screens in his tower. "As for why I only showed myself now..."

"Well, I wanted a dramatic entrance." He said a bit sheepishly. Randy laughed and soon enough the others joined too.

"Don't we all?" Randy says when the mirth subsided. "But let's get this training started!"

Danny's smile was immediately wiped off of his face while Jake's grin stretched wider.

"Yeah, let the training begin!" Danny was imperceptibly sweating. "Brace yourself Fenton!"

"Well then, let's not waste anymore time. What do you got in mind, old friend?" The book-turned-spirit asked the Time Master.

"This training session is going to have two parts," Clockwork stated. "The first part is that the three of you will spar against one another to test one another's abilities and skills. But, it's only a friendly spar."

No one seemed to be listening, too busy readying themselves.

Giving an exasperated sigh, Clockwork continued with a rare smirk.

"As for the second part, well, I'll leave it for later."

Danny was so dead.

"Okay guys," he began. "Remember, friendly spar."

"Yeah, yeah Fenton," Jake rebutted, exchanging a quick glance with Randy before smirking. "Let's do this!"

"I shall supervise this match." Nomi volunteered as the boys spread themselves out in the suspiciously-spacious tower, taking up their battle positions, suiting up and shifting to their battle forms. "The rules are simple, last man standing is the winner."

The room was hyped up in tension as the boys gave each other determined looks. Nomi closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again and giving the signal.

"Begin!"

As soon as the word left his mouth, Jake and Randy exploded to action while Danny immediately went intangible for defence.

Already expecting him to do that, Randy allowed himself to go through him but not before setting off an electro ball in Danny's intangible self. Danny cried out in pain, unknowingly dropping his incorporeal form which cost him as Jake threw a solid right hook to his face.

"Not fair guys." he groaned.

"You're the guy with multiple mentors," Randy shot back without spite. "I say you deserve it, SMOKE BOMB!"

There was the sudden appearance of thick fart-smelling smoke and Danny's friends disappeared.

"Ah, great."

The hero of Amity steeled himself as he turned himself intangible and invisible while scanning his surroundings to prepare himself from any incoming attack from his friends. He hovered a few feet above the ground, just in case. He needed a plan to stop the currently allied duo. A bright idea was forming but then his sixth sense shouted at him to dodge, he was too late though. The same tactic with the electro ball hit Danny and he cursed out loud, momentarily dropping his invisibility but recovering fast enough to avoid Jake's flying tackle which sent him tumbling and disappearing into the smoke again.

"The same tactic?" Danny shouted, flying around and trying to find the others in the smoke. "Really?"

"Yeah really!" Randy replied from behind him, Danny immediately shot a plasma blast in his direction. A shadow leaped out of that position and the Ninja was crouching in front of him, blade drawn.

"'Sup?" Randy greeted. Danny shot him with an Ecto Energy Ball and as expected Randy dodged. "Wow, rude."

Danny chuckled unapologetically. "Sorry dude."

"Me too man."

Danny's body tensed as he activated his Cold Energy Shield just in time for Jake's fire breath from behind and half a second after the shield disappeared Danny was met face to face with one of Randy's tiny giant exploding balls. The explosion threw him against the far wall with a groan. He barely recovered before Jake was on him, trying to knock him out with his fist, he turned intangible and Jake's punch left a hole to where his head should've been.

These guys aren't playing around; they were barely giving him any time to breathe.

Well, two could play at that game.

Danny summoned a repulsion shield that sent Jake flying easily enough and then sent a strong Flashing Energy Ball to blind Randy before he could strike. With that limited time frame Danny duplicated himself into four and sent them out to surround the others. They barely recovered before he and all his duplicates used Ghostly Wail. Barely a second later, his duplicates was forcibly removed by Jake's doppelganger and Randy's sandjas before the wail could take full effect on the two teens.

"Damn Daniel," Randy quipped which Jake continued with a grin. "Back at it again with ghost wails."

"Guys, stop."

"Nope, nope Danny-boy." Jake teased, him and his doppelganger circling Randy protectively while the sandjas stood motionless at the back. "Bring it Randy!"

Danny quickly flew into them with fists covered in ecto energy that was met hand-to-hand with both Jakes while the sandjas teleported above and below him, effectively surrounding him in attacks. He was hit in back and abdomen with blunt sand swords, knocking the air out of him while Jake punched him in the face hard enough that he was thrown back.

He moved to the right to dodge the follow up blow and kneed Jake in the gut before hammering his head down with his fists hard enough to dispel the doppelganger. He panted for breath before raising up his right arm to block the punch the real Jake aimed at him with a grunt of effort, the magical beast's strength straining Danny's enhanced one. The dragon's lips curled into a smirk, as he sent up another breath of magical fire that forced Danny to fly up.

With a smirk that was more of a grimace at this point, Danny threw Jake a blast of ice that froze him for a moment before summoning an ice sword to block the incoming attacks of the sandjas. The first strike was parried in mid-air and followed by an ice blast to the face before flying to the side and cutting the other one in half. The half frozen pieces shattering to the ground.

Danny turned to look at the Jake ice statue that was unsurprisingly broken. Instinct yelled at him to raise his sword to block the fire breath that came soon after. Weapon gone, Danny coated his hands in ecto-energy in preparation for a blast at Jake's smug face when his concentration was broken by Randy's loud voice.

"— you look up to a worm!"

Then his vision was obscured by sand.

He was eaten.

By a sand worm.

Okay, that's it.

Focusing on his ghost core, Danny surrounded himself with ice and froze the sand worm inside out before shattering it from the inside. Predictably he was attacked soon after he got out, this time by Randy. His weapon was not something he could phase through so he did the next best thing, teleport behind him.

Danny fired ice at the lower part of Randy's body to hold him in place as he possesses the Ninja to take off his ninja mask along with his ninja weapons and threw it away. The Time Master's apprentice left Randy's body and went to fight the American Dragon.

Danny came flying towards the Jake, which prompted the fight to escalate, flying inside the suspiciously-spacious tower and trading blows. Fire and ectoplasmic energy interspersed between punches, kicks, ineffectual ice blasts and tail smacks to the face.

The halfa needed to go near the Jake's left ear to win this fight, but it seems to be easier said than done. They ended up using physical strength to try and gain the upper hand. Danny feinted a punch to the face before switching down to hit the gut half-way as soon as Jake raised his arms in defence; as the Dragon wheezed to catch his breath he unintentionally left his left wing exposed. Taking advantage, Danny froze it and the Dragon found himself in an untimely descent.

His face morphed into irritation which quickly changed when Danny's face appeared way too close to his. There was a devious look in his eyes while he scratched Jake's left ear to render the Dragon unconscious as he fell into a heap on the floor while he landed gracefully next to him.

Danny stood triumphantly in front of match supervisor, waiting for him to announce the winner but the announcement never came. Nomicon just stood there like an impassive statue.

"Ya know, your plan would've worked if you kept the mask," quipped a voice behind him. "NINJA SWORD STRIKE!"

Danny barely dodged the sword strike that would have definitely caused permanent harm and slipped onto his butt as he stepped on Randy's tripping balls and fell prey to his cyclone attack with the newly-summoned sandjas.

"Gah! How did you get out?!"

"I can use my earth attack, mask or no mask! NINJA CHAIN SICKLE!"

With a grunt Danny felt the chains wrap around his ankle and pulled him towards Randy's waiting fist. Dazed and seeing stars in his peripheral vision Danny barely dodged the rain of weapons Randy threw at him while also making sure not to get hit by the stupidly fast and agile ninja.

Fighting and defending against Randy Cunningham was like fighting with a rubber ball armed with a switchblade, hard to hit and striking in unexpected places. Danny couldn't even turn intangible to avoid the blows because Randy kept using electro balls to shock him back to existence.

"Getting tired ghost boy?" Danny glared at the offending Ninja who didn't even look winded.

In a burst of energy, he cast a repulsion shield to throw everything back and then tried to attack before the Ninja could recover. Randy was alert however but there was little he could do when Danny overshadowed him again but this time knocking him out before getting out again and collapsing in a tired heap.

"And winner of the spar is none other than, Danny Phantom!" Nomi announced, looking to be completely neutral to the whole battle.

"I see that you have improved, Young Phantom." Clockwork complimented, in which Danny nodded his appreciation.

"So, what's the second part?" Danny asked the Ghost of Time.

"I would explain once we wake Jake and Randy."

~A few minutes later~

"I can't believe that we lost," Randy said with a sigh. "We gave it our best to."

"Its okay Randy, just remember, Danny is a cheating piece of human flesh and ectoplasm and we are but mortals compared to his cheating powers." Jake replied back, Randy nodded sagely while Danny had the look of long-suffering from their exaggerations.

"I do not have cheating powers," he stated firmly but his friends merely gave him a look. "Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not that bad!"

"Yeah, you are." There were no traces of humour in that response. Danny was getting fed with these guys treating him like he's as powerful as a god which was weird because he spent most of his life being treated like trash but it felt worse, somehow, to be treated as if you're different from people who was as weird as him.

"Oh yeah?" Danny challenged. "Prove it."

"Great!" Randy chirped. "'Cause we got a list."

"First off," Jake began. "You have invisibility, flight, intangibility, ghost sense, ghost wails, possession-"

"Overshadowing," Randy interrupted. "He calls it overshadowing."

"Overshadowing," Jake continued while Danny watched on with exasperation."Dream Invasion, Ghost Rays and..."

Randy took the cue and continued the monologue while listing all the names he invented for Danny's attacks because he hardly ever names them. "Ecto Energy Strike, Ecto Energy Ball, Ecto Energy Waves, Explosive Ecto Energy Disks, Explosive Ecto Rings, Flashing Energy Ball, Ecto Lazer, Repulsion Shield, Energy Shield, Reflective Shield, Duplication, Ice Powers..."

The list continued on and on, Danny felt a little overwhelmed. He hadn't noticed he had all these powers and how much he had over them. No wonder they relied so heavily on team work when they sparred. He couldn't help but think that he was being treated differently in a group made of weirdos.

"Plus, you've got enhanced strength, durability, stamina, agility," Jake picked up. "And the ever convenient healing factor, speed, teleportation, spectral body manipulation, aural projection, telekinesis—"

"Stop," Danny cut off a bit more harshly than what he intended. "I get it, I'm super powerful."

"Nah," Randy sing-songed while putting an arm over his shoulder and giving him an half-hug for reassurance. "You're still our boring stick in the mud."

"'Team leader'," Jake said with air quotation marks but throwing him a friendly smirk. Danny couldn't help but smile back. These guys were real idiots sometimes but they were his friends despite the constant teasing.

"I assume that you three have recovered from your friendly spar with one another?" Nomi asked.

"Yeah," Danny says. "So, what's the next part?"

"Clockwork shall explain in a moment."

"Well, where is he?" Randy asked before trying to catch Jake into playful headlock.

"Oh, he is setting up the second part of your training." Nomi answered with exasperation as the boys collapsed into play fighting not long after Randy asked his question.

Just a few seconds later, Lao Shi appeared with CW.

"I don't think these boys are finished sparring Clockwork," Lao Shi remarked. "It looks more like pathetic squabbling than a proper spar though."

"Yo G! I thought you couldn't come?" Jake asked, confused before smashing Randy's head to the ground. "Also, we're just playing. We finished the spar hours ago, you can ask Nomi."

"Technically, it just finished ten minutes ago," Nomi explained. "But yes, they are just pathetically squabbling right now."

"As expected of these teenagers," Lao Shi harrumphed mock-seriously. "Well, Clockwork said there is a second part of this training that included us, mentors."

"That is correct." Clockwork snapped his fingers and they were transported into a wide arena filled with obstacles and suspicious trap-like objects.

"The training will be simple," Clockwork began. "The three of you must retrieve this ball from either of us before it reaches the table at the opposite side of the room." He held up the ball they had to take in his hand while the others stood beside him.

"Aww, man." Randy whined. "You have ghost time-y powers, we don't stand a chance even if we tried our best and worked together."

"Then would it make you feel better if I promised not to use my... how do you put it?" CW mocked playfully. "My ghost time-y powers?"

"Well I mean," Randy continued in the same teasing tone, something in which Danny was a bit jealous of. For Randy, getting along with strangers was as easy as breathing while Danny could only mess things up and leave bad a impression. "You still have your ghost powers so that's still a unfair."

"I can't promise to not use those powers," CW reasoned. "Just the time based ones."

"Fair enough," Randy conceded. "This is still free-for-all right?"

"Yes, yes," Lao Shi says a bit impatiently, then his tone changed to one of challenge. "You can throw us all you've got but I doubt you stand a chance young ones."

"Oh? Is that a challenge old man?" Jake answered, a grin in place.

"Not a challenge when it is true," says Nomi neutrally but with a glint in his eye. "You do not stand a chance."

"Well now I'm getting all fired up." Jake took a deep breath and transformed into his dragon form with Danny and Randy doing the same, shifting into their own alter-egos.

"This should prove to be interesting," Nomi remarked, casually rotating his shoulders in a lazy warm-up. "Give it your best shot."

In an unspoken signal, the game started.

The trio burst into coordinated movement, Danny flew towards Clockwork in a frontal attack, ectoblasts charging up in his fists. Randy and Jake flanking him from both sides and repeating the same strategy they employed against Danny.

It wasn't as effective in hindering him but that wasn't the trio's goal.

The combination of electroballs, ectoblasts and fire-laced fists provided a distraction that allowed Randy's premade sandjas to steal the ball from CW's ghostly palm. The three teenagers took CW's surprised look as the que to back out quickly.

The trio wasn't expecting it to work so when the sandja exploded in sand, it was hardly a surprise. What was surprising was Randy's next move.

He jumped up, higher than was expected, and brought his blade down to meet a slightly startled Chinese Dragon. The old dragon avoided the strike in time but he still got a wound for his troubles, minor considering what would have been a fatal. Randy was hardly stopped by the fast reflexes, as he already expected it, and used his weight and momentum to land solidly on the arm his mentor raised in defence.

"Ha!" Randy crowed, before tossing his blade to the sky and backflipping off. "Danny, uptop!"

The halfa caught the sword smoothly in his hands and charged towards Clockwork, ghostly energy coating the sword and threw his whole weight into the strike. Clockwork smiled as he blocked it with his staff.

"This is your plan?" Clockwork asked rhetorically. "Have the others fight their own mentors?" He raised an eyebrow when Danny smiled with a tinge of disbelief.

"No way," he replied with a smile that showed a bit more teeth than strictly necessary. "That would imply we talked about this instead of charging ahead like reckless teenagers."

An unseen move from the Ninja's direction knocked the ball out of CW's hands into the waiting claws of the American Dragon. He zipped by faster than Danny expected and was soon chased down by his grandfather. Hurling insults and fireballs at each other while flying to and fro the arena.

Clockwork was unexpectedly held back by Danny's barrage of attacks that demanded his full attention.

Jake held the damn ball and tried to remember how to win, didn't the rules say just keep the ball away from them?

Shouldn't this be over then?

"Hey G!" He called, dodging the somewhat expected fireballs. For an old guy, he moves faster than what's expected. "How long does this thing have to be away from you before we win?"

"Don't get cocky, young dragon!"

"It was an honest question!"

"Ten seconds should be enough," Nomi whispered in his ear. Jake startled so bad that he threw the ball straight into Lao Shi's arms and instinctively blew fire at the Nomicon. Nomi disappeared before the blast hit and Jake clutched his chest, feeling his heartbeat faster than Randy on a sugar rush.

"WHAT THE HELL!"Jake roared. "YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!"

"You must always be aware of your surroundings young dragon." Lao Shi preached condescendingly above him, flying towards the designated table, then suddenly, a ghost wail broke through what would have been the perfect opportunity to win the game. Jake gave chase, muttering curses along the way when a flash of metal caught his eye. He flared his wings, abruptly stopping his flight just in time to miss getting hit by a Randy-shaped-bullet.

The ninja landed square on Lao Shi's back, the unexpected weight dragging him down. Jake didn't waste a moment and stole the ball out of Lao Shi's claws and flew out of his range with Randy landing in his back a few seconds later.

"Keep him back ninja!"

"You got it bro!"

There was a chase dragon and rider against their masters, despite the intense chase they were all smiling in enjoyment. Randy acted quickly with lightning fast movements and surprisingly little noise, despite being high up in the air on the back of a chinese dragon he was proving to be an effective obstacle against the geezers with or without Nomi on Lao Shi's back.

Meanwhile, a certain halfa was observing the chase. Is it just me or this is too easy?

None of them noticed that Clockwork has already reached the table.

Randy and Jake was beginning to think they might just win this when Nomi seemingly split into two and surrounded them in mid air.

"What the - ?" Danny wasted no time in swooping in and turned them all intangible in the nick of time. Sparing them from the pain they would have otherwise felt with Nomi's ninjutsu: Norisu Senbonzakura Strike.

There was a flurry of petals that obliterated their immediate surroundings.

"WOAH NOMI!" Randy yelled in awe-struck delight. "YOU HAVE GOT TO TEACH ME THAT!"

"Perhaps." The three shocked teenagers was shocked literally by the backlash of the attack. The intangibility dropped and they were helplessly struck down by Lao Shi while Nomi backhanded the ball to Clockwork's general direction and therefore winning the game.

AN NOTEs:

There it is! The mark of the end of this story. I shall leave it to you lovely readers to imagine the aftermath of this ending.

Special thanks to my beta, and of course you, readers.