They closed the portal. Amity Park stopped getting ghost attacks. Vlad and Danny's parents did not take it well, but they handled that too.
Until they realised it was keeping Danny from fulfilling his Obsession to Protect.
It affected his concentration first, his health second.
But he still refused to re-open the portal. Inflicting harm on the people he's sworn to guard for his own needs is anathema to the fulfillment of his Obsession.
Jazz suggests he divert his attention to another core part of himself.
His love for the cosmos.
Danny starts going on space expeditions in Phantom form.
He goes to Mars and brings back samples. Pokes around Saturn's rings. Takes a nap on Pluto.
It helps tremendously.
Until he starts leaving the solar system altogether. He meets new alien forms, makes groundbreaking discoveries he cannot share in a scientific journal.
It's wonderful. That's the problem.
Space as an Obsession is all-consuming.
When Danny thinks of getting back home to check on his friends and turn back into a human, decades have passed.
Danny does not grow while he is in ghost form. He still looks like a teenager. His friends are middle-aged.
His parents are dead.
And his human form is different. As his ghost form has accommodated his Obsession by developing space-related powers, his human body has adopted the traits of the alien forms he has encountered. They are subtle, but in a dimension where he is the only hero of Earth, they unmistakably mark him as other.
He makes a portal to the Ghost Zone and begs Clockwork to send him back so he can return to his friends and family.
Clockwork congratulates him on taking the first steps to becoming the Ancient of Space.
"I cannot give you back the decades you lost, because even sent back to the past you will be stuck in the same dilemma. You cannot stay grounded on Earth without acting as a guardian spirit, and space makes you forget your anchors to mortal life. What you need is to fulfill both."
"How?"
"In a dimension close to this one is a world of heroes you would thrive in. In that world, an organisation called the Justice League was founded to protect their Earth and galaxy from all who would seek to threaten them. Lend them a hand, and you will fulfill both of your Obsessions as well as grow in your role of Ancient. For every year you do so, I will give you three days, six hours and five minutes to spend with your loved ones in the past."
"What do you get in return?"
Clockwork tilted his head.
"I do not think you realise how dangerous the malleability of a halfa's Obsession is. If you start forcusing on the time you have lost too much, you risk developing powers that will let you unravel the timeline, to devastating consequences. I will do all I can to steer you in a better decision, both for your sake and this world's."
