Avoiding Past And Future

8

After the accident, Danny found out he had not died quite yet. Turned out he had only partially died. Somehow, his broken DNA from the voltage had been replaced with ectoplasm. This granted him both life and some nifty extras.

Including having superhero ghost powers.

It had been a few months since then and he had both learned to control it, and had been actively using them. His dream of becoming a superhero had finally come true. At least for the most part. He had the powers and ability to help others now, but most of the towns till thought of him as a villain. It really didn't help he was fighting other ghosts. And some of those new 'friends' of his liked to get him blamed for their actions. Or he did actually do them, but that was under mind control so that shouldn't really count.

Danny had become quite good at the fighting but his grades has suffered horrendously. He barely slept from how active all the ghosts were and had a hard time keeping up with the new amount of energy his body required and expended. It had taken them an embarrassing amount of time to figure out that there is a delicate balance he has to keep. He had to eat enough to fuel his powers, but he also had to use his powers to keep them from acting up in his human form and basically burning through his own tissue. Yeah, once they noticed him dropping weight rapidly, they immediately adapted a habit of at least once a day fast food. With it being the most greasy and popular place in the town, the Nasty Burger was an easy place for them to make sure Danny ate enough without raising suspicions.

He had gotten in trouble on numerous occasions because of the toll of the ghost fighting and secret identity. But if he had to be honest, he would do it all over again. The few ghostly friends he had made along the way really helped make all of this worth it for him. No matter the villains and their crazy plots, knowing he now had more friends than before the accident really made it worth it. Although he saw some less than others, they were all very dear to him.

Was this how his brother felt when he first became Robin?

He had scheduled training with Clockwork at least once a week. The old fart really helped him understand and control his powers. He had pretty much perfect control over his flying, invisibility and intangibility. He had absolutely no control issues over the ectobeams and blasts, but still had a bit of a struggle with the further manipulation of his ecto-energy. Shields were a breeze to make but keeping them up, especially when under attack was still a bit of a weak spot. It required a lot of energy to constantly be poured into it, otherwise it will collapse. He had been experimenting with creating simple shapes.

Whenever the he was free, Wulf would stop by and hang with them. Tucker had given both Danny and Sam a crash course on Esperanto so they would be able to communicate with their furry friend without a translator. No matter their communication struggles, there was always lots of fun when their furry friend was around. Danny had asked if it was possible for him to learn how to create portals. Maybe if he could control that, he would be able to hang out with his brother again. But that would also require him to actually tell said brother of his new powers and superhero identity.

He felt like absolute trash for not letting him know.

They finally had something in common that would get them to talk again. He would finally be able to understand what his brother has been going through for years now. Though it does suck that he would be Danny's veteran, even though they are the exact same age. He would gladly learn the ropes from him, even if that would be the only time they get to spend together. At this point, anything would be better than nothing.

But atlas, Wulf had to explain that it was very unlikely that he would ever be able to learn. Not only is it a dangerous power to control, as ghost portals can go anywhere, any time. But also because the learning itself can be dangerous. He would essentially have to learn how to rip a hole into the dimensional fabric of space and time. Except for those who were created with the power, and thus already possessed the knowledge, there wasn't a single case of a ghost learning the ability later on. Although this bothered him, he still did his best to enjoy his time with his friend and learn what he could from the wolf ghost.

Sam and Tucker had been doing their best to take over some of Danny's responsibilities so he could get some sleep during all of this. But they also had to force him to study like his life and after life depended on it.

Because it actually did.

You see, they were in their last year of middle school, and with the year almost being over, they had some important exams coming up. Depending on how they did on these tests would determine their academic level in high school. Danny had set his heart on the AP science classes, but there was no way he would be allowed to sign into those without the grades to back him up. There was a way to retake the tests at the beginning of the schoolyear, but those were only for extremely special cases. "I couldn't study because I was fighting ghosts." Was not one of them. The solution seemed easy, except it really wasn't.

When was it ever for a direct contradiction to the law of life.

But, as per usual with his life, Danny was not allowed to have it easy. He truly did try to study when he could, but there is only so much you can do when you are stuck battling a time traveling, evil older version of yourself. He tried to get Clockwork to help him out, to at least help him have a fighting chance. But there wasn't much even he could do. Dan had become an entity on himself. Not bound to any specific point in time, much like himself.

Danny begged the old time ghost to find a way. Maybe throw Dan into another timeline, one he couldn't escape from. Clockwork refused the desperate pleas as he couldn't bring himself to curse one timeline to save another. That was neither how he worked, nor how he was allowed to work from the Watchers.

Clockwork was bound by the rules, as all has tobe as it should be.