"This is ghost speak."
"This is regular speak."
This is thoughts.
Chapter 1
Being a teenager is exhausting, but being a ghostly hero is even more so. Thus it was unsurprising to find an unconscious Danny Phantom slumped, legs outstretched, in the branches of a tree, in the dying light of the evening. What was surprising though was the sheer number of animals cuddled against him.
A cat was lying on its lap, its tail swishing gently and purring contently as it snoozed with him. A raven was perched on the tip of his boot, its head tucked under its wing as it rested. A trio of little songbirds nested cosily in his fluffy hair. A pigeon had tucked itself in the nook of his arm. An owl was perched on his right shoulder, careful not to sink its claws too deep into his suit as it leaned against his head, gazing watchfully over the distance.
Danny, however, was too far gone in dreams of flying through fields of stars to notice any of this at the moment. Unbeknownst to him, the animals could easily pick up on the widespread aura of safety and calm around him and flocked to him for comfort. They had taken advantage of the rare moment of stillness to get close to the ghost boy.
The combined warmth from his animal companions shielded him from the settling evening chill. For now he could rest, trusting that both his ghost sense and his new friends would warn him of any potential threats.
Sam and Tucker had not heard from their selflessly heroic friend in hours. Several missed calls later, they supposed his phone had probably died again since he rarely has the chance to sit around and wait for it to charge. However, the nagging feeling that something had gone horribly wrong clung to the back of their minds, so the set out to search for him.
They combed through various streets and alleyways on their scooters, but still there was no sign of him. Tucker's makeshift tracker was just barely able to point them in the direction of Danny's ecto-signature, but it wasn't good enough to pin point his location. ("Yet", Tucker added.) Though relieved that he was not lying, bleeding out somewhere obscure like their nightmares, they were still worried for their friend.
Finally they reached the outskirts of the town, near and headed towards the forest. Tucker held up his PDA and tried to use his ghost tracker modification to pin point the ghost boy's location. A quiet, sparse beeping indicated that the ghost boy was nearby. Sam started to call his name into the darkened woods, squinting at the crowns of the trees to see if she could spot his glowing aura at up in the branches.
The duo followed the tracker into the trees, traipsing through the bramble with Tucker frequently tripping over thick roots and walking face first into branches as he kept his eyes glued to his PDA's monitor. Sam followed closely behind with significantly more grace.
Out of the blue, the shoddy makeshift attachment on the PDA started screeching, a secondary ecto-signature appearing on the screen and approaching them at a rapid pace. Sam instinctively activated her Fenton wrist ray while Tucker's fingers gripped tightly around his trusty Fenton lipstick laser.
Thundering footsteps, crunching of twigs and rustling of leaves signalled the oncoming ghost, the sounds getting louder at an exponential rate. Whatever it was, it sounded huge.
Two neon blue eyes soon could be spotted between the bushes, vaporous aura seeping out and trailing behind it. A large cat like creature cleared the bushes in a magnificent yet terrifying leap, letting out an ear-splitting cry as is hurtled towards the duo.
Danny was snoring gently despite the cacophony in the distance. Living in a household with two brilliant but boisterous scientists can dull one's attentiveness to loud noises in general. The aura of the beast had set off Danny's ghost sense, but his core vaguely registered it as a familiar entity and simply ignored it.
His animal companions, on the other hand, were far more concerned when they heard the noises. The curious crow on his foot shook its feathers as it awoke and took off the find the source of the commotion. The cat raised its head and flicked its ear in the direction of the sound. The song birds chittered nervously.
But what woke Danny up was the owl repeatedly slapping his face with its wing; it somehow knew to wake him up. Danny spluttered and jolted upright, pushing the frantically flapping wing away from his face. He looked at the owl, which simply hooted at him and took off in the direction of the noise. Danny turned intangible and followed, wincing apologetically at the small cries of shock and displeasure at his sudden departure.
The ghost boy arrived to find his friends being chased by a large cat ghost while trying to shoot at it with their ectoplasmic weaponry. There were crows swooping in and attacking both parties amidst the confusion. His aura flared at the sight of his friends in danger, a bright flash of light washing over everyone. The ghost cat turned to look at him, tilting its head slightly and nose twitching as it examined the newcomer. The crows had perched in the trees, watching the scene unfold intensely. Sam and Tucker turned to face the ghost; weapons trained on it and ready to shoot.
"Familiar… scent…" The ghost suddenly growled out.
"You can talk?" Danny said, astonished. "Never mind that, who are you and why were you attacking my friends?" Danny asked sternly, his hands glowing in warning.
"Friends?" The ghost questions, plopping down on the forest floor, the aggression in its expression dissipating and being replaced by contemplation as it regarded Danny. "But they hold hurting tools. They attack. They dangerous."
"No, they thought you want to hurt them. That's why they are holding the uh… hurting tools." Danny answered, extinguishing the ectoblasts charging in his fists. His mind was nagging him that he knew the ghost somehow, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"They in my land. This land home before. This land home now." It frowned. "I no like outsiders. Outsiders dangerous." It turned to snarl at Sam and Tucker, who raised their weapons again nervously. The crows cawed at the ghost, picking up on the tension.
"No they aren't dangerous." Danny swooped to place himself between the "They won't attack as long as you don't. Right, guys?" Danny prompted, turning to smile at his friends. Tucker raised an eyebrow amusedly while Sam just rolled her eyes at him.
"Dude we can't understand ghost speak, remember?"
"Oh, right. My bad. I was just trying to explain that we are the good guys here." Danny said sheepishly. "Anyways, we're not here to hurt you."
The ghost wrinkled its nose and ambled towards Danny who warily floated back a few inches but ultimately held his ground. It put sniffed at Danny's hair and chest right over his core, its eyes widening in recognition.
"Safe glow?" It said excitedly, running in a circle around Danny and rubbing its head against his chest with a loud purr.
"Er… what?"
"I remembering you, Safe glow. You make feel safe and relaxed. Do Safe glow not remember me?" It looked up at Danny with large glowing eyes.
Danny furrowed his eyebrows carefully studied the patterns on the cat creature's coat. "Patches?" He said experimentally after a long moment.
"That me!" The cat meowed cheerfully nuzzling, Danny's side.
Danny laughed, reaching behind the ghost cat's head to scratch behind its ears. Patches purred contently. "Patches I'm so glad to see you again." He breathed, wrapping his arms tightly around a now larger and thus much more huggable Patches. Patches lightly placed a paw on Danny's back.
"So Danny, care to share how you seem know this cat?" Sam asked.
"Oh! Guys this is Patches." He said, pulling away from the sort-of-hug. "She used to hang out with me out here but I haven't seen her in a few weeks since… well..." He trailed off, gently scratching at the top of Patches' head. Sam and Tucker shot him and Patches sympathetic looks. "Patches, these are my best friends Sam and Tucker."
Patches sniffed at Sam and Tucker's hair before declaring that she still liked Danny much more, to which Danny chuckled.
"You never told us you had a secret pet cat!" Tucker exclaimed excitedly.
"I am not pet. Safe glow is companion and has given me name, but he not own me." Patches proclaimed, sticking his nose up in the air.
"She says she isn't a pet. More like a friend instead." Danny smiled, his aura brightening slightly. Patches' bluish aura brightened in response.
"And are the crows over there your friends too? They all seemed to calm down when you came over." Sam observed, gazing at the treeline.
"Yeah, kind of actually. The animals out here are much more affectionate than the ones in the city for some reason. The crows and a whole bunch of other animals like to hang out with me when I come out here to stargaze sometimes." Danny stuck out his arm towards a tree and a crow flew from the branches to perch on him. Danny ran a gloved finger down the back of its head.
"Woah dude you're like a Disney Princess or something." Tucker chuckled, not-so-discreetly raising his PDA to film.
"I am not a Disney Princess!" Danny cried indignantly, his cheeks sporting a slight glowing green blush. Just then, the trio of song birds from before came to reclaim their spot in Danny's hair chirping as though they were chiding him for ditching them so suddenly.
"Uh huh." Sam smirked.
"Oh man this is going to be really great blackmail material." Tucker snickered.
Danny simply pouted at the camera.
"So when were you planning to tell us about your forest friends?"
"Yeah, Danny. Why haven't you told us about your new buddies?" His friends teased.
"I uh… I forgot? I probably thought I told you guys already… oops…" Danny smiled sheepishly, his free hand rubbing the back of his head.
"Of course you would… clueless as usual."
"Why do you guys keep saying that?!" Danny threw his arms up in frustration, momentarily forgetting the crow. It squawked angrily flailing and pecking at him. "Hey cut it out!"
His friends, Patches included, burst out laughing (or rather, the cat equivalent of laughing in Patches' case).
"Aw come on Patches not you too. I thought you were on my side." Danny pouted, prompting another fit of giggles from Sam and Tucker. "Traitors." He muttered under his breath.
"Man, I really need to get to work on that Ghost Gabber instalment on my PDA so we don't miss out on anymore heart-to-hearts Danny has with random forest ghosts. Also maybe some sort of battery life extension for Danny's phone since it's usually deader than he is." Danny just shrugged and turned to Patches.
"Patches I know this place is pretty much your haunt right now. But can I ask you not to chase after humans unless they actually attack you? This place does have some foot traffic and I don't want you hurting any innocent hikers by accident."
"Fine. They no harm, then I no hurt them." Patches conceded easily.
"Thank you for understanding." Danny smiled brightly, patting Patches' head. "I think we should head back into town, guys. It's getting late. Thanks for coming to check on me by the way. I appreciate it."
"No problem, Danny. We just wanted to make sure you weren't tangled in a silly net for 5 hours again or something." Tucker jibed.
"Hey! I thought we agreed never to mention that!" Danny shot back.
"What agreement? I didn't agree to anything. Did you agree to anything Tucker?" Sam said in a sing-song voice.
"Why I don't recall, did-"
"You know what, I'm not listening to this again." Danny quickly cut him off. "Let's get going already. Like right now. Bye Patches! I'll visit again soon!" Danny blurted out rapidly, waving farewell to Patches as he flew in the direction of town.
"Back anytime Safe glow! And watch for the-" (oof) "-tree…"
The trio laughed at the ghost boy's blunder. "Bye Patches, we better go make sure Danny doesn't crash into any more trees or signboards or whatever. Clockwork knows he can't afford to lose any more brain cells." ("Hey I heard that!") "Anyways it was nice meeting you!"
"Bye!" Patches meowed cheerfully at the retreating forms of the two and a half humans as they made their way back into Amity Park.
"Uh Danny you do know that you have like, birds in your hair, right?"
"Oh I know."
"… well?"
"… They'll leave when they want to leave."
"…"
"You can't get them off, can you?"
"…"
"*sigh* Let's just go."
Words: 2154
Part: 1.1
A/N: Hello! Cyroclastic here! Here's another contribution to phic phight! #TeamHuman I do try to plan for one chapter fics so I can throw more punches but I keep ending up with plans for multi chapter fics that never get completed oops. (Like this one, which my planning doc has like another 2-3 little chapters of content I wanna add lol)
Prompt: Animals have always had keener senses than humans, especially when it comes to the supernatural. Although, some species seem to like Danny more than others.
From: Burning-clutch / Kimcat / Kimcat