Warning: This fic may contain spoilers for both Shaman King and what has aired thus far of Danny Phantom. It also may, depending on what happens in future Danny Phantom episodes, turn into a bit of an A/U. It is based on our current knowledge of the series.
Disclaimer: Spirited Idiots does not own, nor does it claim to own, Danny Phantom or Shaman King. Shaman King is owned by Shieusha, Hiroyuki Takei, and all other copyright holders. Danny Phantom is owned by Nickelodeon, Butch Hartman, and all those other people. Used without permission; no profit is being made.
Spirit of
Change—Chapter 1
By:
Spirited Idiots (Misaoshiru and Dan-nii)
"Alright, Danny, remind me," Tucker said between sips of his soda. "What exactly is it that we're looking for again?" The techno geek was sitting on top of a crate full of who-knows-what as his friends were ransacking Danny's basement trying to find something for Danny's father.
"Hey Tuck, you probably shouldn't be sitting there," replied Danny, smiling at Tucker. "You never know what my parents are keeping in it."
"So maybe I like to live dangerously. You still haven't answered my question."
"Dad wanted us to look for the Fenton Ghost Knob."
"Do we even know what it is?" Sam asked suspiciously. "What it looks like, or what it's used for?"
"No clue. All that Dad said was that it's a knob with the word Fenton on it, but it's important to Dad for some reason. So I guess we just take anything that in any way resembles a knob to my dad and see if it's what he's looking for." Danny sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.
The three of them got back to looking then. Actually, Sam and Danny were still the only ones working to find it, so the two of them more or less had to make Tucker help. Sam was sifting through a box near the portal to the Ghost Zone when something unusual happened: The doorway opened suddenly.
Danny went ghost without saying anything, flying towards Sam. A hand reached out and pulled her in, and the portal closed. All that remained outside the portal was a single earring, a round red one with a gold star on black in the middle. Danny screamed, trying to open the door, but he found that it wouldn't budge. He pounded at the door with his fists and even tried to pry it open, to no avail. Finally, he fell to his knees and sobbed.
Tucker just grinned at him and winked, saying, "You realize that you could just open it up the normal way, don't you?"
Danny looked up at his friend and rubbed his eyes dry with his sleeve, managing a weak smile. "For once, you're on to something, y'know that?"
"Thanks, but did you really need to say 'for once?'"
Danny just smiled in response. That was when they heard someone coming down the stairs. "This…could be a problem."
Jazz had been upstairs, pouring herself a glass of juice, when she heard it, a sort of dull thudding sound coming from the basement. "Dad, do you hear something?"
Jack Fenton, who had been putting the final touches on the Fenton Blender, responded, "No, I didn't. Did it sound like a ghost? Should I get out the Fenton Ghost Ear!"
"No! Never mind, Dad, I think I must've just been hearing things. I'm going to the basement now to prove that I was just hearing things!" Jazz then slipped away as quickly as she could, thinking, 'I should've asked Mom instead…'
Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Jazz immediately asked, "Where's your friend Sam?"
"She, uh, had to go home," Tucker lied.
Jazz didn't exactly buy it, but she decided she'd ask Danny later. Instead, she walked over to where her younger brother still was on his knees, although he'd stopped crying. "Danny, what's wrong? Why were you crying?"
"Who said I cried?" Danny asked defensively.
"Well, your eyes are all red and puffy…Did you ask Sam out and have her turn you down?"
"No! Jazz, you know I don't feel like that about her. Sam's my friend."
Jazz saw the earring on the floor and knew that the boys were trying to hide something from her, but she ignored it and said, "Well, Danny, you know whatever it is you can come to me for help." She ruffled his hair in that sisterly way and left. 'He doesn't need to know that I saw him in his ghost form.'
Danny and Tucker got into the Specter Speeder, only to find that the battery was low on charge. "Great, Dad had to run the stupid thing on an ordinary car battery," Danny grumbled.
"I'm doing what I can to charge it, Danny, but it might take a while."
"We don't have a while! For all we know, by the time we get this piece of junk moving, Sam might already be dead! I'm going in! Catch up with me later!" And before Tucker could say anything, Danny had exited the Specter Speeder, opened up the ghost zone portal, and was gone. 'Sam, I promise I'll throttle whoever took you and get you back home!'
Yoh, Anna, Manta, Tao Ren, and Horo Horo all entered the American countryside, away from large cities and pushy taxi drivers. Yoh wore his trademark grin, never letting anything bother him, not while he was on vacation traveling to Adobe village. Anna glared at Yoh. "We should rent a car!"
Yoh blinked. "But Anna, I'm not old enough to drive"
Horo Horo laughed. "Yeah. After you put Ryu into intensive care, you sure cut down our travel options" Anna sent Horo a glare, a glare simply stating 'I'm not kidding and if you want to be next then keep talking.'
Anna looked at Yoh. "You are too young, but you can use spirit possession to move the vehicle, and this will test your skills legitimately. We will rent a car in the next town; you each can drive, except for Horo. Your spirit can't see over the gas pedal."
When the group got to the next town, they were disgusted to find out that they had to be twenty-five to rent a car. Ren smiled, getting an idea. As they were leaving, he dropped a small wallet and told the group to get in the blue convertible. Using Bason, Ren never had to use a key in the vehicle, more or less using it as an automobile oversoul.
Thirty miles down the road, the radio turned on to a Smooth Jazz channel. Yoh grinned widely, resting in the back seat of the car right next to Horo and Manta. Ren growled at Yoh. "Who said you could use Amidimaru to change the radio!"
Anna reached to the dial and turned it to an AM station. Dr Laura was on; she grinned at Yoh. "Listen to her, Yoh, you may learn something!" Yoh grumbled after his music was turned off but quickly found himself cheering a caller on the radio on. Although Yoh knew nothing of American Politics, he seemed to know enough that he didn't like what he was hearing about slamming the president in office.
Three hours later, Yoh was finally allowed to go back to his music. Manta and Horo had fallen asleep as nightfall crept on around the foreign travelers. Ren didn't seem to be bothered by the hours he had been 'driving' using his mana, his eyes ever fixated on the open road. Yoh was wide-awake and keeping Anna awake as well, complaining on about how much it hurt and screaming that his bladder was going to burst if they didn't pull over.
Finally she relented and made Ren pull the car over. A roadside truck stop was the backdrop for the first real weird coincidence. It was in the badlands of South Dakota where they had stopped for this rest stop and their heads were filled with dreams and ambitions. After Anna came out of the bathroom she saw something startling lying on the floor. A woman's wallet lying open, and all around it was the energy of the ghost world's stench. Wide open, the wallet showed a student ID belonging to Samantha Manson, a young gothic girl who lived in Amity Park. Anna said to Ren, "Turn the car around. We're going back to the east coast"
Ren questioned at first, but then he saw the look on her face. "Fine." He watched as Yoh walked out of the shop with a large coke and a bag of chips. "But this time, nimrod is driving"
Hao had Sam tied down and wrapped in his cape. His bare chest glistened in the early morning sunlight, his hair flowing down to his lower thigh. He smiled at Sam evilly. "A quite suitable mother for my child indeed."
End chapter 1
Authors' notes
Misaoshiru: Okay, for anyone who is wondering how Yoh and friends are able to understand people in the U.S., my theory is that Yoh and Anna, and likely the rest, were taught enough English to at least get by. Consider the fact that they were training for the Shaman tournament, an event that is worldwide and comes only once every five hundred years. Surely they'd know some of the more common languages, like for example English!
The whole Yoh-listening-to-smooth-jazz thing was my idea, since he's so laid back and it seems to fit with his personality. Oh, and please note that Dan-nii knows a lot more about Shaman King than I do; I've just been following the manga in Shonen Jump, and the anime has come out a lot further than that. Having said that, I'll do my best to stay accurate to the show, but all of what I know about Hao is secondhand. Blame Dan-nii if he gets out of character. XD
Dan-nii: What Misaoshiru said… XD