I have a serious problem with keeping the plot bunnies away, don't I? Look at this, I just can't keep my ideas tucked away like a good little author, can I? No. Well, either way, this was influenced by an awesome movie I just saw called 'Origin: Spirits of the Past'. It was absolutely beautiful!
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.
Also, AU fic. Never thought I'd do one of these. People will be slightly OOC for the obvious (or not so obvious) reason that this is not Danny's, for lack of a better term, "true" world.
Earthdance
--Your Destiny is created by the choices and chances you take along life's road.--
1: Electrical Fire
The world I live in is different from yours.
Humans live in fear of the elements, hiding in the ruins of their once great cities while the Guardians of the Elements rule over them from the shadows.
Forest, Ice, Rock, Water, Sky, Wind, Fire, Light, Time, and Darkness.
What? You're running already?
Come back. The Forest only consumes those who mean it harm…
--Guardian of the Forest--
"Sam! Catch it! Quick!" Sam Manson dove forward and caught the tumbling container of water before it hit the ground, skidding across the dirt on her stomach as she did so. With a slightly disgruntled sigh, she stood up and handed it back to the man who'd dropped it. He smiled at her and shrugged but she was already gone, running down the path, hopping down crevices, her thin, agile frame disappearing into the shade as she went. She was already late as it was.
The small town of Amity was built from the ruins of some great city whose name was long forgotten. Years ago, human scientists had drabbled in things that were better left alone and Hell spilled out upon the world. The Guardians of the Elements destroyed every human creation that lay in their path, consuming the world and making it overrun by nature. The humans had lived in fear of the Elemental Guardians ever since, cowering in their rebuilt cities, forbidden to enter the territory of a Guardian. Unfortunately for the people of Amity, their small home town was reconstructed beside the Ghost Wood where dwelled the Guardian of the Forest. People were rumored to have vanished if they got to near the Ghost Wood, devoured by the temperamental Guardian.
"Heeeeeeyyyyy!" Shouted a voice, "Saaaaaaaaaaammmm!"
"Tucker!" Sam jumped down a few more cliffs, off the path, and into the shade of an over-hang, "Sorry I'm late. Hey, where's Danny?"
"If you're late," Tucker said, pushing his glasses up his nose, "Then he's super late…!"
"I'll say, isn't he usually?" Sam smiled and sat down on the edge, legs dangling over it so that she was kicking the air, and starred down at the rippling blue water below, "So, are we really going to go down there this time or are you going to chicken out again?"
"That's not fair!" Tucker whined, looking up from the mess of electrical wires poking out of his pack, "Everyone else is terrified of the Forest Guardian, you two are just freaks!"
"We're not freaks!" Sam snapped at him, twisting her skirt in her fingers, "We're just…braver and a lot more curious than other people."
"Curiosity killed the cat." Tucker muttered under his breath, "Hopefully, the Guardian won't mind us sneaking down there." He paused, "Why do you want to go down there so bad anyway?"
"Because," Sam's lilac eye glittered in the shade, "The water down there is supposed to pure, and clean, and some people even say it's magical. It's supposed to come straight from the Ghost Wood and, I mean, look at it! It's so sparkly! How can you not want to try it!?"
"Better catch him, he's gonna fall." Tucker muttered and Sam shot out a hand and snatched the back of someone's shirt just as they slipped over the edge and almost went tumbling dangerously into the water below. She dragged him up onto the ledge and he blushed, muttering a thanks.
"Klutz." Sam replied.
"Shut up, Sam…!" Danny griped, ruffling his own hair so that it fell into his crystal blue eyes, "I tripped…!"
"You always trip." Tucker grinned, stuffing all the wires into the pack, "Just don't trip going down…!"
"We're actually going this time!?" Danny cried as he snapped his goggles over his eyes, "Sweetness! I got a couple containers!" He pulled some large water canteens off his back and handed one each to his friends, "Now we can bring some back!"
"Bad feeling, bad feeling…!" Tucker moaned as Sam unwound some rope from her bag, "Terrible feeling…!"
"Oh, hush!" Sam secured the three ropes to a nearby rock, checked them twice, and then started lowering herself down one of them, "Hey, you guys coming or what?"
It took a tedious amount of time for the trio to scramble down the side of the chasm and they were all getting exhausted by the time they had almost reached the bottom. That's when Danny lost his footing, slipped, slammed into the wall, gasped as the breath was knocked out of him, lost his grip on his rope, and fell with an echoing splash into the gleaming pool below. A few moments later, he resurfaced, gasping and flailing his arms about. Tucker and Sam, safely on a nearby flat rock, burst into fits of laughter.
"Shut up…!" Danny scrambled onto the rock beside them, dripping wet and completely flustered, "Oh yeah, it's really funny, laugh it up…! Let's just get the water and get out of here before we're caught!"
--Guardian of the Forest--
Who are they? Why are they here? What are they doing? What do they want from us?
Water? They want water? Do they not have plenty of it above?
This is my alcove.
They must be punished. They must pay a price.
The whole town must pay. Especially for the little brats who were throwing burning sticks into my wood yesterday.
The girl…I want the girl…she's beautiful…I want to consume her…
I WANT THAT GIRL!
--Guardian of the Forest--
None of them were caught and they made it back to the top with canteens full of clear, sparkling water. They hung out the rest of the day, laughing, joking, racing across the shattered roofs tops, across the rickety bridges, down and around the sides of the cliffs, through the harvesting fields, and through the market with the other kids.
Everyone worked in Amity. There was no way they could survive without everyone pulling some weight or another. Some gathered food and water, hunted, while others built more of the town, expanding it for its growing population, while still others worked in the harvesting fields. And then there were the people like Danny's parents who, intent on making life easier, tinkered with sciences long lost to other ages. More than once Danny had been zapped by some strange electrical charges and now and again he'd accidentally set something aflame as a spark leapt off his body and made contact with a flammable surface. Tucker thought it was hilarious.
"See you guys tomorrow!" Sam called as the trio split at dusk, heading back to their respective homes, "Later!"
"Bye Sam!" The two boys shouted at the same time and then dashed off, racing each other towards their homes. Sam shook her head at their antics and made her way towards her own house.
"I'm home! Mom? Dad?" She let the wooden door clatter shut behind her and stepped into the warm kitchen, kicking off her boots as she went.
"Hello Samantha!" Her mother embraced her, "I've got some stew on the stove and your father should be back from the fields any minute now. Clean up, would you, your covered in dust. Have you been running around with those boys again?"
"Tucker and Danny?" Sam rinsed her hands off in the sink and then splashed some water onto her face, "Yeah, why? What's wrong with them?"
"Oh, people talk, that's all."
"Tch, people talk because Danny's parents are different. There's nothing wrong with Danny himself. He's cool."
Her mother didn't respond but her lips were pressed together and Sam knew it was because she didn't like the Fentons very well. Jack and Maddie Fenton were a little strange, true, but it wasn't like they hurt anyone. Other than their son, seeing as Jazz, their daughter, refused to participate in their strange experiments. Sam rolled her eyes at the thought. Jazz was Jazz, Danny was Danny, Tucker was Tucker, she was Sam, and Amity would only and forever always be Amity.
It was sort of dull. Boring old Amity. Nothing ever happened because people were too scared of the Guardian of the Forest to go into the Ghost Wood. Imagine what interesting things had to be in there! Strange and exotic plants and animals! Sam smiled at the thought of adventuring into the Ghost Wood but she would never actually do it, even she didn't have enough guts to do that. Still, the thought intrigued her. The pool of water that she, Tucker, and Danny had taken water from actually belonged to the Guardian of the Forest. If he found out that they had been in there…well, it wasn't the kind of thoughts one should dwell on right before supper.
--Guardian of the Forest--
"Heeeeelllllooooooo!?" Danny shouted as he slammed the door behind him, tugged off his knee high boots, and scrambled up a ladder onto the second level of his house. It was more like a loft, really, than a second story but it was where Jazz and Danny slept, one on one side of the loft and the other on the opposite side, their 'rooms' separated by a curtain, "Jaaaaaaaazzzzzz!?"
"I'm right here, Danny, you don't have to shout…!" His sister poked her head around the curtain, "And go clean yourself off! You're filthy!"
"Alright, alright, Mom!" Danny snapped back and slid back down the ladder, moving over the sink and rubbing a damp dish towel over his face and arms before tossing it aside and venturing down into the underground part of their house that served as Jack and Maddie's 'lab' or whatever they called it.
"Danny!" His father waved him over and Danny shuffled forward with an inward groan, bracing himself for a small electric shock or something, "Come here and hold these wires and when I tell you to, put them together!"
"Right." Danny did as he was told, rolling his eyes, and holding the two wires.
"Are you ready Maddie!?" Jack turned to his wife who had her fingers wrapped around a handle.
"Ready, Jack, darling!" She grinned, giving him a thumbs up.
"Go!" Jack shouted and Maddie pulled the handle out and Danny stuck the wires together. Nothing happened, "Darn!" Jack stomped his foot, "I was sure that would-!"
"AAAAAHHHHHHG!" An electrical charge of green voltage shot out of the wires Danny was holding and sent the boy flying across the room and into the opposite wall where he lay sprawled on the floor, dazed, his black hair standing on end.
"Danny!" His mother was at his side in no time, "Danny, are you alright!?"
"Ooooohh," Danny smiled giddily, "Stars…! Hee hee…!"
"Oh dear…" Maddie quickly flattened her son's hair, "Jack, be a dear and help me get him up to his room, will you?"
"Sure thing, Maddie!" Jack Fenton scooped the frazzled young boy up in his arms and then paused, looking a little sorrowful, "Is he going to be okay? Did I…do something bad, Maddie?"
"No, Jack! He'll be fine!" Maddie said quickly though there was a strained edge in her voice, "Come on, let's get him so water! I'm sure he needs to rest!"
"Rainbows…!" Danny giggled, looking a little drunken, "And stars…! And rainbows…! Wooooooowwwww…! The room's spinning!" And he passed out.
--Guardian of the Forest--
Light…a very bight light…at the edge of my mind…
What was that? An explosion? I haven't seen one of those for years…
No. It feels like something else. Like lightning. Only harnessed. Harnessed lightning? Human doing. Electricity. Human fools, meddling in the old sciences.
…I still want that girl…she should be mine…that will show that stupid town…
Hmph, I know. Childish, isn't it…
I revel in it…
I'm never changing my form…
Being a child is so much more fun…
What?
They're listening?
How?
Maybe they can help…
Whoever you are, whoever this is receiving my thoughts, tell me her name. Tell me the name of the girl I desire to consume. Whisper it into the air and the invisible wind will carry it to me. Come on, tell me…
………………
So…her name is…Sam…
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Well, that ending was a little morbid. So, want to take a stab at who the voice is that you're supposedly hearing? X) I bet you know. It's really not that hard to guess. I feel a little bad about not giving Tucker his own scene, the guy definitely does not get enough attention. Maybe in the next chapter.
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