Shots of a Bystander
When Thunder Jr meets Phantom in a storm, they become unlikely friends. Let's see if I get to 100 short stories of random people meeting with Danny, both Human and Ghost.
Copyright: Butch Hartman, Danny Phantom.
1) Thunder
Arthur cursed himself as the rain came down, he should have listened to his father about the weather broadcast, but when was he every right about it? Not until now at least.
He tried running, but in seconds he was drenched, finding no use of hurrying he slowed to a quick walk, putting his hoodie on a little too late. He looked to the sky, hearing the rumble of the heavens above. Amity Park had not had a storm in a few months, nearly half a year. He was too use to the hot summer and cool spring, the turn of the years' seasons will be hard for him.
Lightning clasped so loud and sudden he jumped in alarm. A few seconds later thunder sounded. Four seconds, he thought, four miles away. A skill, more of a checklist that his father taught him when he was young.
He noticed something out of the corner of his eye, something falling from the sky and into the nearby ally. Something black and white-
"Danny Phantom?" He said out loud, a little bewildered. Oh hell, he was struck by lightning!
On nice, cloudless days, you could always spot the spook in the sky just flying around like he owned it, scaring birds and reports of him getting high enough from him to scare airplane pilots. He guessed the reason Phantom wasn't tracked down for it was that most of those airplanes had tourists, and just giving them their first taste of Amity, the most haunted town in America.
Without another thought Arthur stepped into the darkened ally. The drips of the rain had dampened the concrete. It was hard to see anything, but he made out a few boxes, garbage cans and some wood stacked in the corner.
"Yo… Phantom?" He called inside, taking a cautious step and avoided pooling water. "I just saw you free fall into here, don't hide." He remembered his father telling him to stay away from ghosts, but it was Phantom, and he hadn't hurt any human before, so he should be pretty safe. "You could be hurt."
"I'm… not." He heard a reply. He wiped his eyes to get the water away, scanning the ally again, Phantom looked like he was flicking in and out of existence.
For a dead guy, he looked like a drowned rat. His white hair was drenched and sticking to his face. Arthur swallowed a laugh, he looked to pathatic to make fun of at the moment.
"Were you struck?" Arthur asked, he didn't know what you do with a lightning struck victim. They were normally reduced to cinders and ash, but Phantom was a ghost, so how would it affect him? He had seen some of his fights, how much damage other ghosts had done to him, but a few days later he was always as fit as a fiddle, blasting another ghost with a huge trickster like grin on his face.
"N-no." The spook stuttered, he rubbed his neck. He didn't look as confident as he did on TV. "Ah… turbulence! It like, disappeared from around me and… I'll just go-" as he was getting ready to fly again lightning struck again, in an instant he had his hands over his ears and eyes shut. He slammed himself against the wall, in the slight shadow and protection from the rain. Five seconds, five miles. The storms moving away.
"Dude, are you okay?" He asked in alarm while edging closer, Phantom looked like he was going into shock.
"I'm fine!" he opened his eerie green eyes and looked annoyed, but he could tell how panicked the ghost was. Once again lightning clashed and Phantom slid down the wall, making a slight whimper. Four Seconds, Four miles, it was just blowed back. "What the heck's wrong with me?" He heard the ghost whimper to himself.
"You're not okay, and I know you're not going to leave this ally until the storm clears." He said, sliding next to the spook, he backed away slightly. "Hey I ain't gonna hurt ya, it would be stupid of me to go out in this as well, humans are the worst electric conductors." He tried to make a joke like Phantom did and lighten the mood.
"I know…" Phantom said, than bit his lip. Arthur rose an eyebrow, did that mean he was electrocuted? It was interesting to learn so, he could have been the only one alive that knew. Phantom sat back up, keeping an eye on the black sky.
"I'm Arthur, by the way." He said, getting Phantom's attention again, hand out for him to shake. The ghost looked at his hand oddly but took the offer.
"Danny Phantom, but you knew that." He replied, a drip of water fell onto his nose from his hair, he ran his fingers threw it to keep it back. Arthur knew he was annoyed from his lack of last name, everyone was. But Phantom saw Arthur's father on a daily basis, someone that sometimes worked as a reporter, and he didn't think Phantom would appreciate a reporters son talking to him.
"Yeah, I did." Arthur admitted, after a few seconds of thinking he unzipped his jacket and pulled it off. Phantom looked at him in confusion until he passed the jacket over.
"I don't need-" Phantom had his hands up and pushed the jacket back. Arthur wasn't amused and forcefully hung it over his back.
"You're shivering, no need to act all mucho cause it'll lead to your death… again." He nearly slapped himself after he said that. Ghosts in general didn't like dead jokes. But Phantom laughed anyway.
"You need it." The ghost tried to reason, turning to pull it off.
"Not really. Keep it on." Danny stopped trying to take it off, giving in since Arthur wasn't going to stop. Clipping the top leather strap to a button, he moved to make himself comfortable. Arthur stuck the hood up to cover Phantoms damp head. "Don't you get cold, flying in the clouds and really high? I heard it get's quiet chilly."
"Sometimes, but I'm feeling it way more in the last few days." He folded his arms over his chest, but that changed when another lightning strike happened. They were right back to his ears. It was strange, seeing Phantom like this. The cool, confident, guy that owned the skies and turned half the female population (and part of the male one) into necrophilia's, cower in absolute fear from a little light. It must have had something to do with his death, struck by lightning? Now that Arthur stopped and thought about it the first Phantom sighting date back to six months ago, a little after the last electric storm. Coincidence?
He dug into his jeans pockets and pulled out an MP3. Handing it over to Phantom.
"Here, you can drown out the thunder." After about ten seconds Phantom pulled the headphone out again.
"Dude, this is Blues." Phantom commented on his style of music. Arthur rolled his eyes.
"Well excuse me for being old fashion." Arthur said, "What music do you normally listen to?"
"Dumpty Humpty."
"Dude! I just realized." Arthur grinned, surprising the spook. "You could, like, get into concerts with invisibility and stuff! Did you go to the Dumpty Humpty concert that was on a few months ago?"
"Most of it." Phantom shrugged. "That's a night I'm not forgetting for a long time."
"That's what everyone says about it!" Arthur sighed, missing the dryness in the spooks voice. "A live show that wasn't even recorded, what the hell man? And everyone said it was great but no one remembered what their new exclusive song was. What a waste."
"Huh, yeah, I didn't hear it sorry." Danny said, Arthur paused, hearing haste in his voice. He brushed it away, thinking nothing of it.
"Don't worry, I wasn't worrying." It fell silent again, only the rain was making a sound now.
"This is so embarrassing." Phantom muttered, Arthur rose his eyebrow again. "I'm already dead but I'm scared of a little weather."
"Electric storms are scary." Arthur tried to reassure, but Phantom looked so annoyed with himself, Arthur hoped he wasn't always like this, it wasn't healthy.
"For 5 year olds, you know, little kids!" Phantom huffed.
"That, that right there, is called denial." Phantom gave him a little glare. "Never been scared of a storm before?"
"No! Not last year or the year before, and it shouldn't bother me at all!"
So even Phantom didn't know it was a problem.
"Well," Arthur started slowly, "People fear things because they usually think it will kill them." Arthur pointed out. He didn't claim to be a psychologist or a doctor but he picked out things every now and then. "And they have reactions like you do if it has happened and fear it will happen again like, not being near trees because a branch once fell on them, usually they scream but thankfully you're not a screamer."
It seemed like it was dawning to Phantom what was wrong. Arthur was hinting as much as possible that dying, being electrocuted, was what scared him, and a part of him, no matter how small or how little he thought about it was taking steps to prevent a repeat.
"I never thought about it, but I think you're right." He started speaking in a soft voice that Arthur had to strain to hear. "I… Died in an accident. I was trying to fix something for my parents and… it really hurt and then I wake up like this."
Woah, For a second it felt like he was a gold miner and he just struck gold, his father would have a field day with all the information Arthur was getting from the usually exclusive ghost boy. But like he would tell his ghost phobic father about anything in general, thinking about his father he silently promised not to tell anyone about how Phantom died. If he didn't want people to now he'll respect that.
"Phantom?"
It sounded strange, but it looked like Phantom had not slept in weeks, around his eyes it was several shades darker then his pale skin. Did ghosts sleep? He thought to himself, and wondered if he should ask.
"Nah…" Besides, he heard the spook's breathing steady out as he drifted into sleep, it looked like he needed it.
Wait a minute, breath? As in breathing in and out, sucking in oxygen and exhaling nitrogen? What the hell was up with this ghost? Ghost didn't breath, they didn't have to breathe. It was the nature of their existence, walking the earth without a pulse or the need of air.
But… Phantom has always been different from the other ghosts. He was always called names by the other ghosts, strange enough that humans couldn't understand their lingo, but enough to know they were insulting to the young ghost.
Whelp, runt, dipstick, were human enough, but the ones that got heads scratching were up for debate.
Ghost child, obvious, since Danny was young, his top age could have been only 15, or it could have meant he was just young by ghost standards. But the other word, Halfa. He remembered on TV Ghost watch showing a fight with the audio as clear as it's ever been, the strange white ghost calling him a halfa. Danny took one look at the filming camera and proceed to beat the white ghost to a pulp, more so then the usual.
What did halfa mean? Another question he added to his list to ask Phantom when he had the chance.
He let an hour past, the ghost boys head rolled and leaned onto Arthur's shoulder. A headphone was still stuck in his ear. Soon the rain began to slow into a drizzle and the storm was 12 miles away. He shoved Phantom slightly, waking him up a little.
"I dreamed of Ghost riders." He yawned, Arthur smirked in amusement. Phantom was really just a teenager, a teenager that took up ghost fighting as his obsession but never the less he was still a kid, a kid that didn't seem to have a home or anyone that looks after him.
"I love that song." Arthur said, "The storms a while away, so you should go while you have the chance."
"Thanks." "Oh crap it's dark!" He was in the air, "Bye! Thanks!" and he was gone
Arthur watched him disappear as a few stars began to shine from the little gaps in the clouds. He was half way home when he when for his wallet, the pocket his MP3 was usually in.
"Crap," He looked to the sky, but Phantom was long gone. "Phantom has my crap!"
This really sparked (Heh, no pun intended) when I was thinking of a Phobia for myself, after not finding one I tried to figure out my favourite characters secret phobia, something you wouldn't think made sense until you really thought about it. Danny having a lightning phobia made sense to me, because he had died by being electrocuted.
TRIVIA: The original title was going to be drabbles instead of Shots.
Basicly, the short stories are going to be from the Bystanders POV. Arthur IS going to appear again, I'm not sure if he should eventually find out Danny's half human.
Heh. A ghost is wearing your jacket, and listening to your Ipod. I have a wierd sense of humor.