So this is a challenge given to me by t-rex989. The premise was to make and AU DP story by turning Danny into one of a few different stereotypical monsters. I chose a werewolf.
This story will be just this one chapter for now, but I may choose to add more later once I finish a few of my current stories. I normally don't take challenges, but this one sparked my interest, and writing something new always gets me in a typing mood.(I have to like it though) Anyway, please enjoy.=^-^=
Disclaimer: Butch Hartman has already said he doesn't mind fanworks like this so enough said.
Ch.X - Full Moon Phantom
Even in the dead of night the full moon cast a brilliant glow to send away the shadows of the forest. They cowered under its radiance and kept close to their masters. The lake further brightened the area by reflecting the lunar light. It was still with no wind, and silent as dead itself. A howl tore through the night and reverberated to obscure its origin. All of a sudden leaves cracked and bushes rustled as if brought to life by the call.
Two silhouettes cross in front of the water to enter the tree line again. One was small and petite while the one to follow was a large bulk of a man. They each held some sort of gun but their own shadows clung too tightly to them to tell. Their glowing goggles were the only other identifying feature.
Moments after them, another creature crossed the lake going in the opposite direction. It was large and fury to anyone who only saw that single glance. If you could see it longer you'd notice the pronounced snout and flailing tail. Maybe even the pointed ears and the shimmer of the lighter fur in contrast to the darker more dominant patches. One thing you would never miss, however, were the bright glowing green of the creature's eyes as they streaked across the way to hide inside the cover of the trees.
The couple came through again but wait at the water's edge. "Jack the scanner!" She commanded in a harsh whisper.
"Got it." He responded as he held up a tablet like device. It lit up more of their features as the duo looked over its surface. They both were adorned some sort of jumpsuit; the woman's was bluish, and the man's was orangish. "It looks to be almost out of range Maddie."
The woman scowled at the device. "Damn it… I can't believe it got away from us." She growled in distaste.
"We've been on it for almost two hours. It had to get ahead of us at some point Mads." Jack tried to console with a disappointed expression of his own.
"But why didn't it go for any of our bait? That's never happened before. Normally they're at least curious, and its movements were even more unexpected. Nothing we've ever seen from one so young." Maddie analyzed as she holstered her weapon in defeat.
Jack nodded as he deactivated the scanner. "Just imagine Mads. This could be a whole new species. Did you look at its fur pattern? There was a line of white all down the back and then on its claws as well. No known species is like that." His excitement was obvious to his wife. He loved thinking about all the discoveries they could make in their research; all the new things they could learn. "Then theirs its strange ability to blend in the shadows despite its size. It cloaks itself so easily, it's like it's invisible." He then rubbed his chin a bit.
"Jack?" Maddie inquired with a raised brow. "What's going on in that head of yours?" He had a tendency to get ahead of himself when he was excited. "We don't even know if it's a known species yet. We don't have enough information."
Jack waved it off with an expression of determination. "It's fine Maddie. I'll just give it a working name for now until we can figure it out later." He took another moment to think before it suddenly came to him. "How about The Full Moon Phantom? Has a nice ring to it don't you think?"
The woman sighed with an amused expression. "I suppose it does sound good for a Werewolf like this one." She agreed as they headed back into the tree line and back to their camp before the moon could set for morning.
The Amity Park suburbs were calm in the early morning hours. The town wasn't particularly large, but you could still call it a city with one glance. The sprawling downtown sat roughly near the center with the suburban brick housing hugging the northern area going almost to the city's edge. To this effect, the busier streets through the neighborhoods had easy access to the highways leading out of town especially to the north. Only and hour's drive north of this small city sat lake Eerie which served as a marginally quaint camping spot and even hosted a few camps. It was fall, however, and the lake's visitors slowly shrank in number as the autumn air discouraged several popular summer activities.
It was on one of the many streets of these suburbs that a rather obnoxious house sat. It's brick shell and standard build matched those of others on the street. The large metal extension that protruded from the roof was the bigger problem. How they got away with it was a mystery but some sort of loop hole in city ordinances seemed plausible.
Just inside the second story window on the right was the room of one restless teenage boy. The room wasn't a terrible mess with most things not sitting upon the floor, but that was before one saw the bed. The young man's sleep looked tortured as he threw off the blanket and tore at the pillow. His shirt was discarded long ago and very well could have been the shredded mess on the other side of his bed. On his brow shined a cold sweat and his arms wrapped around himself as if his insides were on fire. A few more restless rolls added to the growing light from his window seemed to snap him awake. His eyes shot open suddenly with a feint glow receding as they adjusted. He took in a large breath of air like it was life itself and cast his arms to either side of himself. His lungs still burned for some reason he couldn't place, and he gradually calmed his breath to ease the pain. After waiting for an hour or so, his alarm finally went off the signal him to get up. He turned to it in bewilderment. "7:15? What the heck woke me up so early?" He muttered while still keeping his breathing calm.
He sat up with a weak yawn and felt his legs shake restlessly. It was strange to him… like they were ready to run a marathon or something. He scratched his scalp and shrugged it away to a strange morning. He stood from his bed and stretched with a pleasured grin on his face. "Whoa…. This feels great." He revealed aloud before noticing the strange fabric at his feet. Upon further inspection he realized it was his pajama shirt reduced to shreds. It instantly unsettled him and he threw the ruined garment across his room as if it were on fire. He looked down at his bare torso with an uneasy expression before turning to his mess of a bed. His eyes widened further at the large tear in his pillow, and a strange form of dread started to build in his stomach. "Danny! Are you awake!?" His sister's familiar voice snapped him out of his unsettling thoughts.
He took a breath and turned to his door. "Yeah Jazz! I'll be down in a few minutes!" He quickly changed into his usual clothes and hid the sleep wear under his bed to contemplate later. He didn't want to freak his sister out since she tended to go all psychologist whenever she worried about him. He also didn't want his parents to see it. They would go absolutely crazy about weird stuff like that. Once he made it down to breakfast he looked and saw his parents weren't home. "Mom and Dad still out at the lake?"
Jazz nodded as she placed eggs and sausage on the table. "I decided to try cooking breakfast a bit more since they stay up all night." She was scrambling another egg as Danny eyed the plate hungrily. "I know you said my food tastes horrible, but if I'm to get better I have too-" She stopped mid-sentence when she turned back to see her brother. He had already begun scarfing down the food as if it was candy and he was a small child on Halloween. "Danny? Do you actually like it this time?"
The teen paused after swallowing a sausage that he barely chewed. "Um… yeah..." He hadn't even thought about the taste. He was just suddenly hungry beyond all reason. He then looked to the clock and stood abruptly from the table. "I'm just gonna eat and run Jazz. Promised I'd meet Sam and Tuck before class earlier." He then held the plate to shovel the rest in without a hint of manners before dashing out of the kitchen all together.
The older teen raised a confused brow at his strange behavior. He had been acting a bit off lately, but puberty is supposed to do that to a young man. Her brother was 15, and maybe that meant more puberty weirdness? She then finished her egg and plated it nicely. It didn't look bad so maybe she really had gotten better faster than she thought. She instantly dismissed it though when she took a bite. She forced herself to swallow that one bite before scrapping the rest in the trash in distaste. "Scratch that, Danny just inhaled the food without thinking." He had yet to do that with her cooking which struck her as odd, but at least it didn't go to waste.
Danny sprinted out the door with a strange amount of energy he couldn't place. The bus wouldn't be by the stop for another 20 minutes or so, but he didn't want to wait. He just felt like running more and continued on to school like he was. He seemed to arrive in record time since the bus had yet to arrive. In his defense though, he didn't live too far from his school. Sam greeted him first as she waved him over to a shady tree.
Tucker had yet to arrive which wasn't unusual. The techno-geek wasn't much of a morning person to be honest. Neither was Danny, but this morning was different. He didn't know why but he felt different. "Well isn't someone bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning?" She teased as she saw him acting so awake for so early.
"I guess. I even woke up before my alarm. Weird huh?"
Sam raised a surprised brow. "That is weird…. You okay?"
Danny rubbed the back of his neck which signaled he may not be. Both Sam and Tucker knew that tell of his all too well. "Actually… it might be more weird stuff, but we can talk about it when Tucker gets here."
"Speaking of which." Sam pointed towards the approaching bus depicting the third friend's route number. "Looks like he's just about here."
Danny took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, looks like." After a few minutes, Tucker turned out to be one of the last teens off the bus and he seemed worried about something.
"Tucker! Over here!" Sam called with a wave.
The minute he looked up his worry went away and he dashed for them. "Dude! I was worried about you Danny. You didn't take the bus today?"
"Morning to you too." Sam said sarcastically at her friend's dismissal of her greeting.
"Sorry Sam, you know I didn't mean anything by it." He apologized while watching her amused grin.
"Duh, I just wanted to give you a hard time." She then turned back to Danny. "So what's been bothering you Danny?"
The young teen seemed to be staring hungrily at Tucker now for some reason. She snapped her fingers in front of him when she noticed a bit of drool coming from his mouth. "Danny? Snap out of it."
He seemed more awake all of a sudden as he whipped his mouth. "Uh Tuck... is that a roast beef sandwich in your bag?"
Tucker gave a half laugh at the mysterious deduction and nodded. "There you go again dude. I swear, your nose is better than mine at this point."
"What are you talking about Tuck?" Sam asked slightly confused.
"Oh right, did we ever get around to telling you about the buffet episode? I think it was last month." She shook her head and saw the blush on Danny's face. "Yeah well, he came with me and my parents to some buffet place they were invited to. Some kind of work thing with my dad. Anyway, I was telling him all the stuff I was going to get even though we hadn't seen the spread yet and I'd never eaten there. I get about 3 things in before he suddenly corrects me and all of a sudden it's a food guessing game. I barely came out on top too."
Sam gave them both a look of confused amusement. "Okay, that's weird. Almost as weird as Danny's sudden ability to hear me from down the street from inside his house. Remember that?"
Tucker laughed as he thought back. "Oh yeah! That was really weird." They both then looked at Danny who seemed more than uneasy by this point. "What's wrong man?"
"I…. I-I think something's wrong with me. Should all of this be normal?"
Tucker pat him on the shoulder. "It's probably just puberty man. You know how that is supposed to affect your senses and stuff."
Danny shook his head. "I… I don't think it is Tuck… This morning… I can't really explain it, but I was suddenly awake and my lungs felt like they were on fire. When I finally got up I found that I'd shredded my shirt in my sleep and even tore my pillow… I don't understand what's happening to me." He looked down at his hands. "I even ate Jazz's breakfast!"
It was by this point that both of them seemed really shock since they knew the red head was a horrible cook. "You did? Was it any good?"
"I don't even know! I just suddenly felt ridiculously hungry and shoveled it in before I even thought about it." He raised his hands to his head in worried panic. "What if something's seriously wrong with me? My parents might think I'm one of those monsters they're always chasing!"
Sam quickly moved to comfort him with a hand on his back. "Calm down Danny. Just because you feel different doesn't mean you're becoming some monster. Just calm down. As far as I'm concerned you're always going to be Danny." That seemed to calm the panicked teen down quite a bit as he enjoyed her soothing hand on his back. He took a side glance at her and felt a blush on his cheeks just thinking about it. He'd had a serious crush on her since half way through Freshman year. Ever since that one school dance he just didn't seem as interested in the other girls; not that he still didn't look. He was still a very hormonal male teenager after all. He just didn't want to lose the friendship he had with her. Relationships didn't always work out after all.
"Can't you guys just get a room already?" Tucker teased watching them act all lovey dovey just now.
Both of them turned to him with reddened cheeks. "Knock it off Tucker."
"That's not how we are." Danny added in.
Tucker just rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever."
Sam then looked back at Danny and retracted her hand. "Just calm down and we talk about this some more. We can meet back at your house after school and you can show us all that torn stuff." She suggested as she turned to the school doors.
Danny nodded and Tucker moved to follow them. "Yeah, alright."
Danny's hope for a normal rest of the day quickly crashed with English class first period. Sure he slept in class a lot, but how did he suddenly get so tired after being so energetic? Mr. Lancer certainly wasn't happy about it as he slammed a ruler on his desk. The only thing that saved him from detention was the fact that he heard someone whispering the answer to the question Lancer asked him to check if he was really asleep. The teacher was surprised he'd given the correct one and ended the confrontation with a sharp glare and a warning.
His next issue happened in Gym class. Somehow he'd become Mr. fit as the class was forced to do a dozen laps around the track field. He finished just after the class jocks surprisingly enough. Ms. Tetslaff just about dropped her jaw at the marvel before checking if the young man was doing okay at home or feeling well. Even Dash couldn't help being rather amazed since he'd had to work with him last year just to pass the class.
Then came lunch which freaked Sam and Tuck a little bit. The lunch was meat loaf though whether it was meat could be up for debate. Danny pilled it into his mouth ravenously and seemed unsatisfied when he'd finished the rest of his meal. Upon noticing the expressions on his friends' faces his worry returned and he slammed his head into the lunch table in frustration.
He was on the defensive for the rest of the day trying not to do something odd to draw attention. He was lucky Dash hadn't tried to pull him aside for a beating like he normally did, and was able to creep out of the building with Sam and Tucker without incident. The trio decided to walk home together instead of taking the bus because Danny couldn't find himself to stay still on a crowded vehicle. It also happened that Sam absolutely hated the bus.
Now they all sat inside Danny's room where the young man pulled out his ruined clothes and the others saw the mess of his bed in person. Tucker lifted his pillow with surprise. "You didn't mistake your pillow for a marshmallow or something right? I know how that feels dude. I once had this dream where I was-"
"I didn't dream about marshmallows Tuck." Danny corrected as he sat on his bed with the torn outfit in hand.
"You saying you remember what it was?" Sam inquired as she leaned against the wall opposite Danny.
He let out a sigh and nodded. "Sort of… I'm not completely sure, but the more I think about it, the more it seems so… unreal."
Tucker took a spot on the bed after pushing the tattered pillow aside. "So?"
Danny kept his eyes on his shoes. "Come on Danny. We can't help if you don't tell us anything." Sam encouraged.
Danny looked at her with a spark of fear in his eyes. "I don't know…" He then let out another sigh. "It was dark… like the middle of the night dark, but bright at the same time. I remember water… it was bright too like something was shining on it. Then I remember running a lot. I couldn't believe I could run so far and so fast, but I had this feeling like if I stopped…. Something bad would happen. Something… or someone was chasing me I think. Most of it was a blur, and I can't… I don't understand it." He held his head in his hands. "I was restless… I remember feeling that even when I woke up." Both of his friends exchanged worried looks. Neither really understood what the dream could really mean. At the same time though, things had been getting weird around the city over the past year. Danny's parents for one, have had more business despite the greater portion of the people still believing they're crazy. That's what happens when you advertise yourselves as monster hunters though.
"Look Danny, how about we relax at my place today?" Sam offered. "We can watch some movies and stay up all night since its Friday and all. It'll get your mind off this weirdness."
Danny looked up at his sincere friend with a small smile. "Sure, as long as you don't get to pick the movies." He teased. Sam had a special flare for the darkest movies imaginable, and at the same time something that screamed underlying point. It was most likely due to her own belief against deplorable human acts and hypocritical government systems.
"Definitely. That last movie was what now? Either way it freaked me out."
"It was called 'Dystopia' and I was trying to prove a point-"
"Exactly." Tucker interrupted. "I'm thinking a few modernized horror classics are in order." He then turned to Danny. "I just got a few the other day from one of my contacts in the film studies club. He knows a guy." He explained with a mysterious tone.
Danny chuckled and sat up on his bed. "Sounds good to me. I could use some mindless movie mayhem today."
Sam's basement theater was quite the shocker when she first invited them over sometime last year. She'd never really advertised the fact that her family was loaded. Something about wanting people to like who she was and not what she had. It was that, and she probably didn't want people automatically associating her with her parents. The trio sat in the regal movie theater chairs with the cushiest cushions and king sized cup holders. "These are just so awesome! Why can't normal theaters have chairs like this?" Tucker wondered as he messed with his incliner.
"Because they could never keep them up." Danny informed as he sat back in relaxation. He'd been trying to find a good position for the past few minutes, but his restless legs once again kept him moving.
"That and these things would jack up ticket prices. You do not want to know how much they cost." Tucker suddenly sat up straight with a cautious expression. "Relax, You're not going to mess them up easily." Sam comforted as she primed the video Tucker had brought.
"Okay guys, first showing is "The Wolfman of Timberville"!" Tucker proclaimed with a sinister tone. He then attempted to cackle evilly but failed rather epically.
"Nice try Tuck but don't quite your day job." Danny quipped as he reached for the popcorn Sam was handing out.
The movie started out in a black and white screening showing the full moon and a quaint little town. An angry mob seemed to be on the trail of the beast. A loud howl broke through the speakers before the screen went back to focus in on the moon. The black and white then shifted to full color before moving the camera to see a much more modern town. Sam noticed Danny was gripping the arm rest rather tightly and looked over to him. The movie was only about 15 minutes in and yet he seemed so entranced by it. About halfway through the movie showed that there two werewolves even though it started with only one. "Any bets on who the first one was? I mean it's obvious the deputy is the second one but he's not that old." Tucker asked without moving his gaze.
"My money's on the creepy old guy from the motel. What about you Danny?" Sam inquired as she turned to her left. Danny wasn't looking at the movie anymore. Instead he seemed to be about to heave. He was holding his stomach with a pained expression. "Danny?" If he heard her, he didn't show it. He reached his other hand to hold his stomach as his expression became pained.
"Dude? What's wrong?" Tucker joined in the worry for their mutual friend.
Danny suddenly lurched from the chair and fell to the plush carpet under his feet. "It burns!" He rasped out while still hugging his stomach… no his torso. He looked more like he was wrapping his ribs than his stomach.
Sam jumped from her chair to kneel beside her friend in obvious distress. "Danny!? Tucker we need to do something!" She declared to her other friend who stood over them in a panic.
"What? I don't know what's going on!" Sam grabbed Danny's shoulders and pulled him towards the stairs. Tucker quickly moved to help her. "Should we really be moving him?" He asked in worry as he held Danny's squirming legs.
"I don't know, but he's been restless all day. Maybe it's because he wasn't moving? Either way, it would be better to get him up to the ground floor if we have to call someone." She reasoned with relative confidence, but she didn't really know what to do. Nothing like this had ever happened before to any of them, but her grandma always stayed on the first floor to be quicker for the door in emergencies.
As soon as they got him up the first set of stairs something changed. The small window that trickled in moonlight just above ground flew over the boy's features. It wasn't more than a single pain not even a foot high, but it somehow had a calming effect. Danny's squirming calmed ever so much as his grip on his rips loosened. As soon as Sam saw this she halted in confusion. "Whoa! Why'd we stop Sam?" Tucker wondered with a worried tone.
"Look at Danny." She ordered as she watched his features continuously loosen.
"He stopped freaking out? Don't you want to get him upstairs before he starts again?" Sam paused a moment before nodding and pulled again on the boy. As soon as the light beam left his figure he thrashed even more wildly than before. Tucker had no choice but to drop his legs and stumble back down that single step he'd taken. Sam was forced to follow the weight of her friend back down a step as well, and after he rolled to the side just inside the moon beam's light. He was calmed again and seemingly unconscious.
Neither of them knew what was going on, but Sam couldn't help thinking about the way he stilled in the spot. "Maybe we shouldn't move him anymore?" She thought aloud.
Tucker was in no hurry to accidentally drop his friend again and complied. "Sure but do we just leave him here?"
Sam watched him with both worry and intrigue. "For now. I don't know why but something about this spot is…" She noted the moonlight drifting through the window. Maybe that had something to do with it. "Maybe we need to take him outside? He was calm under the window before we moved him."
Tucker raised a brow. "Yeah, but were in a cramped stairwell. Why is he calm now even though I'm pretty sure he's out?"
Sam sat down on the step she stood on and shrugged. "I don't know Tuck!"
Tucker then looked down at his friend and gestured to the chairs partially eclipsing the movie that was still playing. "I think maybe we should call somebody Sam. This could be serious." She nodded reluctantly knowing he was probably right. He went down the half flight of stairs and after the small device.
Sam only continued to watch the boy unconscious before her. What was going on with him? She was so worried she just didn't know what to do. Normally she could handle a stressful situation, but with her friend on the line? She could barely think to move him. As she watched him with a flurry of worried thoughts she almost missed the slow subtle change on his features. As a matter of fact, not until his skin grew dark and he began to grow did she actually register the change. "Tucker!" She called in surprise and slight terror.
The teen was mid-dial when he heard her call. "Is it Danny?!" He saw a small portion of her terror stricken face and dashed around the chairs towards them. He froze at the bottom of the stairs as he recognized his friend's changing form. "What's going on Sam!?" She couldn't even speak at what she was seeing. Fur protruded from every surface of previously exposed skin, and his face seemed to jut out more starting at the nose. Tucker dropped the phone as a loud howl from the movie behind cut into their paralyzing panic. Tucker's head turned back to the movie which showed a werewolf approaching a young man with a hungry gaze and then back to his friend. His features continued to grow and change as the fabric of his clothes started to tear from the strain. "N-no way…." He muttered in horror at the claws that forced their way through Danny's shoes, almost tearing them to pieces all together.
As the seat of his pants finally gave way to the enlarging form a long stream of fur shot out to lay over one of the steps close by. As if to end the entire horrible transformation, a glow settled over him that forced them both to cover their eyes. It was gone not am minute later and left several patches of previous black fur white. A silence remained in the room despite the movie sounds from the background as both Tucker and Sam looked on in shock. Neither seemed ready to make a move. The first to move was Danny, however, and that imposed a flinch from both teens. They heard a groan as his clawed arms twitched to life and reached to his head. "Damn… it…" He grumbled in a somewhat intelligible growl.
He snapped his eyes open, and Sam flinched again upon seeing the green feral glow they exuded. "D-danny?" She finally called out as she lay sprawled on her back over the steps.
The lupine head lifted from the steps as he forced himself up on one clawed hand. He seemed uneasy… groggy. He turned to the source of the voice and his eyes narrowed as if to focus. "S-Sam…?" He didn't sound sure, but neither friend could tell too much. The voice was slightly deeper, and had a rigid texture added to the words.
"Danny?" She called out with more worry than fear this time. She couldn't explain it, but he didn't sound dangerous. She let her self slide down one step to better see him. "Danny? Is that you?"
The beast blinked a few times and then turned his head to the side as if wondering what was going through her mind. "What do you... mean?" He asked as he shook his head mid-sentence. He still seemed woozy and unsure of his surroundings. "Ugh… my head…" He groaned again and reached for it while sitting up on his knees. She finally noticed after his movement that the torn clothes he was wearing were nowhere to be seen. Somewhere between the weird glow and now they had vanished somehow.
"Dude…" Tucker finally spoke up with his eyes wide as dinner plates and his feet firmly planted were he'd stopped before.
Danny turned to the teen's call and almost lost his balance as he turned his body to sit back down. "Whoa!" He caught himself with his right claw and grabbed the railing with his left. He seemed to freeze after that and turned to his outstretched limb. A moment of silence ensued before he suddenly lurched back against the wall as if to run from his own arm. He shakily raised both clawed hands to see for himself. "W-what…" He stopped speaking to look over the rest of himself and easily noted the fur everywhere his eyes landed. He looked down at his paw like feet and the razor claws at the end of each toe. "I'm…. I-I'm…" He didn't finish that sentence. He could barely breath anymore, and each breath quickened one after the other.
"Dude… I think you're a werewolf." Tucker finally stated as a close up of the same beast appeared on the movie behind him with a growl.
Okay that's it. Hope it was enjoyable, and before anyone says anything, I told ya'll from the get go this would remain a single chapter until further notice! I certain this has been done before anyway right?
I'd also like to note I used a lot of Danny normal traits for this werewolf incarnation. His wolf form is fairly reminiscent of his ghost form, but with no ghost powers. I got rid of the clothes at the end cause they would cause problems if I ever took this up again.
Please review if you liked or have any opinion what so ever.=^-^=