(edges into room, hiding behind new chapter)
Eheh, hi, everyone... Um, yeah. REALLY sorry this was so late! I was busy, and then I was forgetful, and then I got sick, and... Well, now I'm still sick, but the chapter's here for y'all to read. Y'all. Great. Now I have a southern accent.
So, here's the chapter... For whatever it is. Eck, honestly, I don't like it all that much. And it seems all horribly OOC for some reason, and I didn't like it, and I kept going back and doing all this editing. Yet another reason for why the chapter's so late. (sighs)
Thankies to my wonderful reviewers, though! You guys're great, really! Yay reviewers! And as y'all (southern accent again...eep!) probably wanted, here's the chapter. Which, even though I don't really like it, is here for you to enjoy.
Chapter 6:The Fiendish Feline
The fire had died down to red embers, ash drifting hazily around the warm glow. Everyone was curled up in sleep around the fire—everyone, save Danny.
The ghost boy lay on his back with his arms behind his head as a pillow, staring up at the moonless sky. The heavens were cloudless, all traces of the hurricane having retreated far north. And so all that was left were the stars, millions upon millions of stars. They were much more visible here than in Amity Park; not a single light existed for miles to outshine them. The sky was so vast that looking at it long enough gave you the feeling that you would fall into it, the eeriesensation that made it seem as if one was in the sky, looking down on a city full of sparkling lights.
A meteor flashed across the sky, momentarily burning a stark trail against deep black. Danny opened his mouth to make a wish—but caught himself before he spoke. Unpleasant experience had taught him to never make wishes. So, instead, continued staring up at the heavens he'd always been fascinated with, the night silent around him.
Silent?
Danny sat up quickly. The night was completely soundless. It was nice, but... There was something wrong. There should have been more noise, from animals or crickets or something—shouldn't there?
Something snapped behind him, like a twig being stepped on. Danny leapt to his feet, whirling around to where he had heard, or thought he had heard, the sound.
The clearing was well lit with stars, and better lit with the fire. But the jungle around it was a different matter, just at the edge of the faint glow of the fire and too dense to be pierced by the faint light of the stars.
Danny held up his hand to charge an ectoplasmic light. Nothing happened, yet another painful reminder of how little he could do without his ghost powers. There was only one thing to do, then. He seized a sizeable branch from beside the fire and jammed it into the embers. It took a few minutes before the branch ignited, and Danny raised it above his head, trying nervously to look in every direction at once.
Another twig snapped behind him, and Danny half-turned, half-jumped around, raising the torch before him. Nothing.
The hair on his neck prickled; there was something out there. What it was, he couldn't tell, but he didn't need his powers to tell it wasn't good.
He stood there, but for how much longer, he didn't know. A cricket chirped somewhere nearby. As if that were some signal, sound returned to the clearing; crickets, squeaking bats, and the call of some nocturnal animal. Danny breathed in relief; whatever it was, it was gone. He doused the branch in the bucket beside the fire, and lay back down.
Danny slept through the night, the Fenton Machete resting under his hand.
The next day dawned brightly, all terror of the previous night forgotten. The new morning, however, brought a new problem to the table: food, and where to find it.
There had been little food aboard the plane, and most of it had been snack food long since eaten or spoiled by the hurricane. Apart from a few energy bars and a small supply of Fenton Jerky, there was nothing to eat. And whatever food could be found on the island was either questionable or too high up in a tree to reach.
"I guess we'll just have to make do without," Danny sighed, gazing hungrily at a branch of bananas hanging just out of reach at the pinnacle of a tree. If only I could just fly...
Danny heard, quite clearly, a scream from off into the jungle. He whirled around.
"Who screamed?"
Everyone shook their heads and looked around. There was another scream, followed by a roar. A very loud roar.
"Maybe we should just... You know, leave?" Paulina suggested.
The person screamed again.
"Funny... That sounded like Foley, when I'm about to stuff him into his locker..." Dash mused.
"Wait a second..." Danny said, recognizing the scream as well. "That was Tucker!"
He leapt up and grabbed the closest thing at hand: a stick that lay half-out of the fire. He ran off in the direction of the streams, following the stone-marked path that led to the spring.
When he arrived, he found the familiar sight of Tucker, his back flat against one of the large boulders that marked the spring.
A growl caught Danny's attention. Crouched before Tucker was an enormous jaguar!
Dark spots marked the thick fur all along the cat's body. Its tail twitched as it stalked, powerful shoulders moving in time to its steps.Yellowed fangs glinted in its mouth, and the two golden eyes were fixed on Tucker and something behind Tucker that Danny couldn't see from where he was standing.
"Get back, you mangy cat!" a voice called from beyond Tucker. A very familiar and despised voice, one that Danny was happy to hear carrying the sound of fear—something he had never heard in that particularly smooth voice.
Danny leapt towards the jaguar, brandishing his torch at the fiendish feline. The cat hissed and leapt back, the dancing flame reflected in the golden eyes.
"Danny?" Tucker cried in disbelief.
"Daniel?" Vlad asked.
"What, who'd you think it was?" Danny called over his shoulder. "Hang on, this'll just take a second!"
The ghost boy adjusted his grip on the torch and slashed at the jaguar. It hissed and backed away, clearly afraid of the dancing flames crackling upon the stick's end. Danny continued to swing the stick at the cat, backing it away from his friend and enemy.
The jaguar was backed into the second rock beside the spring, with nowhere to go. Driven back against the rock, it bared pointed teeth and growled. With no choice of retreat remaining, it did the one thing it could do: attack!
Danny stumbled backwards as the cat lunged, the feline landing atop of him and knocking the stick out of his grip. It rolled into the spring, where it was doused instantly.
And Danny was left with a large jaguar standing on him, clawing at his chest and trying to get to his throat as the boy tried to hold it back.
Danny had been in a similar situation as this one in the course of ghost fighting. He used the same trick he had then, kicking out with his legs and throwing the cat off of him. It landed on its back, momentarily stunned. Danny clambered to his feet as the jaguar rolled over onto its own. It lunged again, but, ready this time, Danny rolled aside. He ended up standing ankle deep in the spring.
Quickly, he grabbed the stick he had dropped with both hands and faced the cat again. The jaguar, however, was intent on getting Danny, and leapt forward again. Danny thrust the stick out vertically and caught the cat in its ribs, knocking it aside and into the spring. It got up yet again and glared at Danny with its yellow eyes. Danny stared back for a few seconds, before turning and doing the first thing he could think of: running back along the path to the camp.
"Danny? What're you-" someone shouted as he charged through the camp. He ignored whoever it was and ran onwards, the jaguar close behind, and continued into the deep jungle.
He risked a glance back over his shoulder, a glance he paid dearly for as he tripped and fell to the ground, just shy of a blank sandy area. In seconds the jaguar was upon him. But Danny rolled aside and the cat missed him by inches, momentum carrying it into the sandy clearing.
Shaking, the ghost boy got to his feet and picked up the stick, leaving the jaguar to suffer its fate in the quicksand.
"So, Vlad, do you think that being attacked by a jaguar was some sort of sign? You know, like, maybe some higher power trying to tell you something? Maybe something to do with, oh, I dunno...cats? Maybe even telling you to get-"
"Finish that sentence, Daniel, and you will be very sorry," Vlad said coolly.
Danny, far from being intimidated, raised an eyebrow. "Really? What're you gonna do? Defeat me with chess analogies and empty threats? Oooh, I'm so scared!"
The multi-millionaire opened his mouth to retort, then shut it. Danny smirked at his archenemy.
"Just because I can't use my powers doesn't mean I can't hurt you, Daniel. And may I remind you that you don't have your powers, either?"
"No, but he just kicked that jaguar's butt," Tucker said pointedly. "Which you ran away from, screaming."
"You screamed too," Vlad retorted.
Tucker ignored him and turned to his friend. "He really does scream like a girl, though, Danny. You should have heard!"
"I did," the ghost boy answered, smiling wryly. "You were loud enough to wake the dead. So, what happened to you?"
"That's a long story. How'd you survive falling out of the plane like that?"
Danny sighed. "That's a longer one. So, welcome to our camp." He brushed aside the bushes to let Tucker and Vlad into the clearing.
Tucker went through the opening, and Vlad followed. Of course, not before Danny tripped him, causing the millionaire to land face-first into the mud.
"I do, however, always have time for that," he quoted cheerfully to the man. Vlad lifted his head and spat out a mouthful of mud.
"Quicksand, a giant snake, and a collapsing plane?" Tucker whistled softly. "You've had it tough, man."
"It wasn't that bad," Danny said. "Okay, so the quicksand was a little hard to get out of... But it could have been worse!" The boy sighed. "So, what happened to you guys?"
"Well," Tucker began, "after the Fenton Ghost Disabler nearly fell out of the plane, you and your parents went to go save it. Then... Well, the air felt all funny, sort of metallic and prickly-"
"Electrical charge," Vlad said knowledgeably. "From the lightning."
"Let Tucker tell his story, Pla- Vlad," Danny growled.
The group was gathered around the small fire in the camp, listening to the story with as much attention as they had when Danny had told his ghost story of the previous night. They seemed as amazed that Tucker had survived as they had that Danny had survived supposedly being struck by lightning, and awestruck that a looser like clumsy Danny Fenton was on first-name terms with someone as famous—and more importantly, rich—as Vlad Masters.
"Yeah. Jazz yelled for us all to get down, and your mom pulled you to the floor. Well, then I'm not really sure what happened, but we think that the Fenton Ghost Disabler was hit by lighting. At least, that was the best explanation Vlad could come up with. At first we'd thought you'd been hit, but after we found out that Vlad didn't have his- Well, we figured that if you'd been hit, you wouldn't be alive right now. Anyway, after it was hit, this huge gust of wind came up and tossed the plane, and you and the Disabler just fell right out of the door.
"Well, we were really scared then, 'cause you we just thought you'd died and we didn't know what would happen to us. Well, we started tilting downward, and when we ran up to the cockpit, the pilot and copilot had been knocked out somehow. We thought they must've hit their heads when the plane jerked like that or something. So your mom ran up to try to fly it, but she couldn't do anything against the wind. We all grabbed the parachutes and jumped out of the plane.
"We must've been separated in the air, 'cause it was dark and windy and- Well, you remember how it was. I don't really remember anything after that, though."
"He passed out and his parachute got tangled up in a tree," Vlad continued. "It was lucky for him I came by and helped get him down."
Danny smiled. Typical Tucker, getting stuck in a tree.
"We wandered around a little after that. Then this morning we found that spring, and we were thirsty so we thought we'd get a drink. But that jaguar just came up from nowhere. Then you showed up and, well, you know the rest," Tucker finished.
"So, that's what happened? What about my parents, Jazz, Sam, Valerie, and the twopilots?"
Tucker shrugged and shook his head.
"As your friend had said, we couldn't see anything after we abandoned ship, Daniel. But I'm sure they're alive. Dear Maddie wouldn't let a little thing like a hurricane get the best of her..."
Tucker rolled his eyes and leaned closer to Danny. "Now I know why you don't like him."
"Vlad, could I talk to you for a minute...?" Danny asked, steering the millionaire off into the jungle.
"Yes, my dear boy?"
"Cut the fancy talk and listen, Uncle Vlad," Danny hissed. "I'm not sure how you did it, but I know you had something to do with this..."
"Daniel, you really think I have the power to conjure a hurricane? I'm flattered that you think so, but no. Why would I do anything that could potentially harm me as well?"
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Just like how you set the Ghost King free, right?"
"Very clever, Daniel. And I suppose you figured this out all on your own?"
"It was kind of obvious," Danny answered. He waited for a few moments, before adding, as casual as possible "Say, you didn't happen to be anywhere near our camp last night, did you?"
Vlad's eyebrows went up. "No. Why?"
"Uh... No reason."
The ferns beside them rustled, and Dash appeared.
"Hey... Danny? Can you come back to camp?"
Danny glared at Vlad one last time, then turned and nodded. Dash disappeared, and Danny followed.
The ghost boy stopped in his tracks. Wait... Did Dash just call me Danny?
"I think we should just, you know, stay here." Kwan suggested. "After all, it's pretty safe. There's water, at least, and it's mostly dry."
"Yeah, but what about Danny's family?"Ashley asked. "I mean, we can't just leave them out there, can we?"
"But Kwan's right, we're safe here!" Star protested.
"The girl does have a point," Vlad admitted. "Why risk our lives when we're just safe right here?"
"Yeah, 'cause the quicksand was real safe," Dash muttered.
"We won't get attacked by creepy snakes here," Paulina argued.
"Well, I say it's Danny's decision," Veronica said. "He's our leader, after all!"
Vlad raised his eyebrows. "Leader?"
"I still say we should stay here," Star muttered bitterly.
"Hey, don't I get a say in this?" Tucker asked.
Danny turned to his friend. "Okay. So what do you think we should do, Tuck?"
The boy shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, man, I don't know! I just want to go somewhere with electricity." He shuddered. "Technology deprivation... not good."
"Well, I'm sure if the ghost boy were here, he'd know what to do. He'd save us," Paulina said confidently. Danny groaned.
"Paulina, the ghost boy isn't going to come and save us! So... stop suggesting it!" he said angrily.
The girl cringed, unused to being spoken to in such a sharp manner. Danny sighed.
"Listen. You know what we were saying, about the Fenton Ghost Disabler, right? Well... Even if...uh, even if Danny Phantom was on the plane with us, he wouldn't be able to do anything right now, 'cause the Disabler was struck by lightning and it...well, it disabled all the ghosts within range. And you saw the plane, it wasn't really that big."
"So... He might show up later?"
"He might." Danny agreed. "So... I guess, if no one has an objection, we'll keep looking for my family?"
Not one person disagreed.
Eck, so, that's that over with. Some foreshadowing that no one probably caught, a few more pieces of the plot tucked away, a random jaguar that's gonna keep on popping up (you will feel sorry for this jaguar before long), and I torture Vladdy some more. Why, you ask? Well, 'cause torturing Vladdy's fun. He's my favorite character. And it's almost as fun as putting Dark Dan in a bunny costume-oh, I'm not going to start this again, now, am I?
Eheh, well, yeah. I still don't like this chapter much, y'know. Okay, so next chapter's the last one that I actually have somewhat written. Uh, but no preview, 'cause I'm not gonna spoil it for ya. I want you to guess which random characters we're going to find out what happened to next! Aren't I nice like that?
So, uh yeah. See ya, I guess, and... Well, I swear I'm gonna be better about replying to reviews, okay?
-E.P.