Greetings readers! What's this? A fanfic that ISN'T a collab with Kasena? Who'd have thunk? Regardless, this is an idea I randomly came up with that I just COULDN'T get out of my head. One minute, I'm just writing the idea down, and the next, it's an actual fanfic (well, a oneshot at any rate). I'd actually named this 'My Hand Slipped' for a while, because this thing was SO not intentional. However, if enough people like this one shot, I could actually turn into a multi-chapter thing because I totally love this idea!
Disclaimer: I don't, and probably never will, own Danny Phantom or anything it is affiliated with. 'tis a sad fact, but a true one.
Now, onto the fic! Enjoy and please review! ^^
Sam sighed contently as she sat in her greenhouse. Ever since her 'confrontation' with Undergrowth, not only had she grown more attached to her plants, she had also somehow gained some kind of ghost power, something that she, as a human, wasn't really supposed to have. She had discovered the power when she was walking to the Skulk & Lurk one day to discover, to her disbelief, that plants were actually growing at her feet. At first it had been weird and still really was, but at least she had better control of it now. The girl smiled warmly as a vine grew near her and wrapped itself around her arm affectionately. As much as she didn't like how Undergrowth had mind controlled her, she had to admit that as far as powers went, this one was kind of nice. After all, she knew from Danny that there were worse powers to have, and she had always loved plants. Not that Danny or Tucker could ever find out though, of course. If she told them, they might make her fight ghosts with her precious plants or worse, think she was still being controlled by Undergrowth. She shook her head sadly and petted the plant on her arm. No, they couldn't know. What she didn't realise though, was that this secret was going to be a lot harder to hide than she thought it would. The girl winced as Tucker and Danny stormed into her greenhouse, completely unaware of the peaceful silence that they were now shattering.
"Hey, Sam!" Tucker greeted, fiddling with his PDA. "How a-" he cut himself with a groan when he saw that the girl was surrounded by nature. "Ugh, you still with those stupid plants?" Sam glared at him, neglecting to notice her eyes glowing bright green.
"My plants aren't stupid!" Tucker yelped as a variety of spikes sprung up below him and he managed to jump away just in time. Danny frowned as he watched what was going on. Those thorny vines really did come out of nowhere, almost as if… no. He shook his head. No, there was no way Sam had actually made that happen. That was ridiculous! His female friend was perfectly human and didn't look like she was being controlled, so that just wasn't possible.
Sam gasped. Had she done that? She supposed she must've. Wow, apparently, she had to really watch her temper. "Haha…" she laughed nervously. "Wonder how that happened?"
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I...wonder."
Sam gulped. Uh oh, Danny sounded suspicious. "So, was...there something you guys wanted?"
Tucker stayed silent and watched to see what the, now very suspicious, ghost boy was going to say. "Can I ask you something, Sam?" She nodded nervously. Oh man, she could lie to anybody BUT Danny.
"Why are you in here so much lately?"
The girl shrugged awkwardly. "So, I like plants. Since when is that a crime?" she replied in irritation.
"Sam...you're stroking the plants." Tucker added with confusion. Sam rolled her eyes and was about to retaliate, when she looked down and realised that she was in fact stroking several of the plants that were growing near her.
"It...helps them grow…" he muttered serenely, a small smile on her face as she watched the lilies and vines she was petting affectionately. The interesting part was, she hadn't even realised she had been doing it, almost as if it were a subconscious thing.
The boys frowned. "Right, we're getting you out of here."
Sam rolled her eyes and stood up from her seated position on the floor. "Fine, fine, I'll leave. Seriously guys, I like plants. It's really not that big of a deal." The venus flytrap snapped its' 'mouth' in protest, but it calmed when Sam put her hand on one of its' leaves.
"I'll be back later," she reassured the plants quietly, before joining Tucker and Danny outside. Once they were finally outside, the girl let out an annoyed sigh. "Alright, so what're we gonna do?"
Danny and Tucker exchanged looks. Well, she seemed to still be the regular Sam, anyway.
XXX
When Sam arrived home later that day, she was exhausted and the first thing she did was go straight to her room. It was because of this, that she didn't hear Danny downstairs, trying to convince Mrs. Manson to not let Sam into that greenhouse for a while. Of course, the woman ignored his pleadings and told him to go home. If anything, Sam's newfound love for nature was the best thing to ever happen to the girl. Sammy still refused to wear pink, but whenever she left the greenhouse after being there for a few hours, she always seemed much more happy and relaxed, nothing like the loud, temperamental girl she used to be around them. When Pamela had told the Fenton boy this though, he only seemed to look even more worried. He needed a plan, and fast.
It was a few days later when the boy had finally formulated a plan, to figure out if that was still the Sam he had been friends with for years.
"Manson, I'm taking you to the Ghost Zone, whether you want to come or not." Sam groaned and opened her eyes as she lay in bed, her dark purple skull duvet enveloping her.
"What are you doing, Danny?" she groaned angrily as she glared at the floating boy in front of her bed. "It's four in the morning!"
The glowing teen shrugged. "Well, it took me that long to find th-uh, the thing in the Zone that I wanted to show ya."
Sam rolled her eyes and sat up, arms crossed. "Forget it, Danny. Unless this is an emergency, I'm not going anywhere."
Phantom frowned. In order for his plan to work, he needed Sam to go with him. However, he didn't count on the fact that Sam was usually a very stubborn person. With an irritated huff, the boy scanned the goth's room for any hint of something that he could use to convince the girl to go with him. Finally, his toxic eyes caught sight of a plant pot on the girl's desk. Surprisingly, there really wasn't much nature in Sam's room at all. He'd expected there to be vine leaves growing everywhere or something, but apparently not.
"But you need to come, Sam! I...um...found these really cool plants in the Ghost Zone and I don't know what they are!"
With a sigh, the goth grabbed Danny's hand and joined him as he flew to his parent's ghost portal. Did she believe that her friend had discovered a new plant in the Ghost Zone? Definitely not. But at the same time, she wanted to see what Danny was actually up to. He'd been extremely suspicious of her for a while now and he probably wanted to see if she was overshadowed or brainwashed or something.
"I can't believe she bought that…" she heard Danny mutter to himself as they flew through the Fenton portal.
"I didn't," Sam replied with a chuckle, watching in awe at the atmospheric swirls of green and purple that made up the Ghost Zone .
"But hey, if you wanna prove that I'm not brainwashed, who am I to stop you?" Danny winced. That last line sounded laced with betrayal. With a frown, he realised that he couldn't really blame her. Still, he could worry about that when he got his definite proof that this was still Sam.
"Where are you taking me, anyway?" the girl grumbled, looking around the Zone in the hopes that she'd find at least something that pointed to where she was going.
"Undergrowth."
Sam almost let go of her best friend. "WHAT?! " she choked out in disbelief. "Are you CRAZY?!"
Danny shook his head and continued to fly towards Undergrowth's lair. "No, I'm not. This is for your own good, Sam," he told her, much to her protests.
"Danny, seriously, this is a- woah!" The girl stopped her angry protests and let out an awed gasp as they finally neared Undergrowth's lair. His lair, as expected, was a fortress of nature. Vines decorated the outside walls and large flowers decorated the door. Sam had never seen anything so amazing in her life. Danny frowned worriedly at his friend's reaction and flew closer, until they were literally at the castle's door. Letting go of Sam's hand, Danny charged up an ectoblast to fire at the vined door, when she grabbed his arm nervously to stop him.
"What are you doing?" she snapped him accusingly. "You can't just-just, smash the vines apart! What did they ever do to you?"
The ghost boy put his hands on his hips in irritation. "Oh yeah? Then how else do you suppose we get in, oh wise one?" he asked sarcastically. This plant thing was getting annoying.
She quirked an eyebrow curiously. "Let me...try something." If her powers did what she thought they did, then this might work, right? She shut her eyes in concentration and placed a hand on top of the entrance's vines. To Danny's surprise, the grip the vines had on the door had loosened slightly at her touch.
"Great!" He exclaimed, now I can easily bla-"
"Shhh…" she said softly. Danny frowned, but watched to see what she would do, regardless. She had managed to weaken the vines before, so he assumed she was making progress.
"Just relax. I'm not gonna hurt you," she told the plant softly, stroking the vines. Danny would have been weirded out by the fact that his friend was actually communicating with nature, had it not have worked. Sure enough, as soon as Sam had 'reassured' the plant that she was no threat, it coiled itself away to reveal a gap where they assumed the door would be.
"Woah!" Danny exclaimed as they walked through the gap. "How'd you do that?"
Sam gave him a small smile. "Not entirely sure. Don't entirely care. It got us in, didn't it?" The girl decided she didn't want to explain to Danny about the whole 'plant powers' thing. He was already suspicious enough as it was.
Before Danny could respond, they heard a booming voice addressing them from somewhere.
"WHO DARES ENTER MY ABODE?" Sam yelped and Danny gulped at the sound of Undergrowth's voice. He'd forgotten that they weren't exactly on the best of terms at the moment.
"Show yourself, you overgrown lettuce leaf!"
Probably not the best choice of words. As soon as Danny had said that, a variety of vines, leaves and spikes grew towards them. Sam squeaked in shock and brought her hands out in front of her, as she saw these plants shoot towards them in a flurry of green that promised pain. The girl squeezed her eyes shut waiting for impact, but it never came. She didn't think they were dead either, because she could still hear Danny's panicked breathing, followed by a 'Woah, Sam!'
Hesitantly opening her eyes, the teenager gasped, the reason for the lack of impact being made alarmingly clear. Somehow, her hands had conjured up some kind of plant shield. A variety of leaves, stems and flowers had miraculously sprung up in front of her, shielding her and Danny from the attack. This was incredible! Upon hearing a gasp from the front of them, Sam willed the shield to part in half, so that she could see the attacker.
"Daughter? Is that you?"
Danny saw his friend's body visibly tense up as the plant ghost's large body finally came into view.
"I'm not your daughter, Undergrowth," she replied icily. "Not anymore."
Danny nodded in affirmative. "Yeah, we're here for one reason only, dude."
The giant plant raised an eyebrow vine. "What would that be, then? To have the satisfaction of beating me again? Or to destroy all my children while I am still sufficiently weakened?" He definitely wasn't happy.
"Hey, I can destroy all your plants again if I want, dude," Danny threatened, charging up his fists with ectoblasts. "I've done it before, I can do it again!"
Sam gasped and grabbed the nearest plant's stem protectively. "Oh no you don't!"
Danny sighed in defeat and put down the blast. There really was no use arguing Sam when she was like this. "Look, we're here because I wanna know what you did to her."
The ghost blinked in shock. "Did to her? I have done nothing to the girl since the takeover."
Phantom rolled his eyes. "Oh really? Watch this." He turned to Sam, of whom was busy petting a nearby vine affectionately and lit it up with ectoplasm right in front of her. The girl watched in horror as the plant withered brown, died and disintegrated.
Undergrowth was furious. "How DARE you harm one of my children!"
Danny narrowed his eyes at him. "Just watch her, you dumb weed. I'm trying to prove a point, here."
Sure enough, Sam's eyes had started welling up with tears. "How could you DO THAT?" she demanded. "What did that POOR PLANT ever do to YOU?"
Instantly feeling guilty, the boy placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's...alright, Sam. There are loads more plants…"
She shook her head furiously and sniffed. "AND? What does…that…matter?" She shook his hand off of her shoulder and Danny frowned, getting worried as she started to sob.
"I'm sorry Sam, I just-" Danny stopped talking when he heard a thoughtful 'Hmmm…' coming from nearby, no doubt from Undergrowth. Sam didn't notice though, being too caught up in her own sadness at how that vine had been brutally destroyed in front of her very eyes.
The ghost boy turned and glared at the ghost, watching him to see what he would do, in case the ghost would try to play this to his advantage. He'd known Vlad long enough to notice the signs of when a bad idea was forming in the mind of a bad guy.
Meanwhile, Undergrowth watched, intrigued at the attachment this girl seemed to have over his precious plants. She was definitely no longer mind controlled, but could it be that some of his influence, such as his plant manipulation and love of nature had remained? He watched as several of his plants wrapped themselves around the girl, almost as if they were hugging her, trying to make her feel better.
"I see what you mean," the plant king remarked. "However…" Danny groaned, as Undergrowth ripped his gaze away for the distressed Sam. There always was a however.
"What is it? C'mon plant dude, spit it out already."
Undergrowth narrowed his crimson eyes at him. "However," he growled in that odd voice of his, "I am unable to remove the powers, nor her attachment to the children."
"What?" Danny groaned with disbelief. "Great, we came here for nothing."
He saw Undergrowth glance at Sam, smiling slightly with his bushy lips. "But would you even want to cure her? Observe how happy she is."
Danny took a skeptical look at the girl next to him, and realised that, for some reason, the overgrown bush was right. He had expected the girl to still be crying her beautiful amethyst eyes out, but instead, she had a bright smile on her face, a variety of shrubbery coiled affectionately around her body. Her once tearful eyes were now shining serenely as she looked at the plants around her. Weirdly, it looked almost, to Danny, as if she were actually enjoying herself.
"Samantha," the powerful ghost addressed her, ignoring Danny's disbelief. Surprised, the girl looked up at Undergrowth, though it was no longer in fear, as the plants were relaxing her and she just couldn't be hostile when she was with her precious plants. "You could stay here, daughter, with the children," he offered. "Only I understand how important the plants are. You are always welcome here, with us." As if to prove their father's point, the plants around Sam started rubbing gently against her, almost like cats.
The girl chuckled a little at the plant's behaviour and took a look at Danny for the first time in a while. He had his arms crossed almost worriedly and he was staring at her with his big, toxic eyes, shining with something akin to concern. Sam blushed at him and shook her head at the offer. As inviting as the idea of staying with her plants forever was, she just couldn't. Not even if said plants happened to be in a beautiful fortress of nature.
"Nice try, but I can't," she told him, sounding a lot more like the old Sam, much to Danny's relief. "But thanks anyway. As much as I like this place, my home is AmityPark." She gently disentangled herself from the plants and smiled at the ghost boy. Danny was only going through all this trouble because he was worried about her, but she wanted to put his mind at ease."Hey, now that you've got your proof that I'm not in league with Undergrowth, can we go home? I'm exhausted."
With a small smile, Danny nodded and grabbed her hand. Despite apparently having a few nature related ghost powers and a weird super-enhanced love for plants, Sam was still Sam and that fact made Danny breathe a deep sigh of relief.
Undergrowth smirked as he watched them fly off into the distance. Samantha would be back, he was sure of it. After all, what plant lover could resist being away from a place so majestic for so long? Not that he minded- he could use the company and his daughter was some of the best company he could have.