DISCLAIMER: Am I a boy? No, so I don't own Danny Phantom. And, if I owned Avatar, Kaatang would have happened sooner.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Chapter 2: Start of a Roadway to Hell
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Danny's vision was cloudy when has opened his eyes. He felt woozy and drained. His muscles ached and, then, he realized, he was upside down. Falling face first onto the metal of the - what did Clockwork say? Ship? - he groaned. Shakily standing up, he bumped his head on a lose piece of metal. 'This ship needs an interior designer.' The Halfa thought.
He rubbed his sore head, stretched his back, and decided to look around. The ship was filled with flags that had fire-like symbols in the center, tons of weapons, and then some things Danny couldn't even begin to describe. He walked into a command room, and saw that the sky was a light blue, which shouldn't have been surprising, but when you're sent to another universe, you have got to expect anything.
Danny stumbled a bit, but recovered quickly. Then he heard voices. "Whoa. What is that?" It sounds like a young boy. Perhaps around eleven. Danny caught a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye. It was a string. It would have been almost invisible, but Danny's enhanced sight had caught it – and right before he tugged it, too.
"A fire navy ship." A second voice sounded. This time, though, it was a female's. "And a very bad memory for my people." Reacting instinctively, Danny, still in ghost form, changed back. Only the he realized he couldn't do it, properly, at least. The rings still passed over him, but his hair had a white streak in it. (Like the one from PP) His clothes, well, they were his normal clothes ... just ... in black and white. His eyes remained the same radioactive green. "Aang, stop!" The girl's voice called again. "We're not aloud to go near it the ship could be booby-trapped." The Halfa heard footsteps. Then they stopped.
'Boovy-trapped?' Danny thought, suddenly glad he didn't trip the wire.
"If you want to be a bender, then you have to let go of your fear." The kids voice responded. The footsteps returned; slowly, but surely. They got louder. And louder. And louder. The ghost hybrid then realized that they were getting very close.
"AHH!" The kid had turned a corner and entered the same room Danny was in. It was the kid from the time glass. The kid jumped back— almost in a flying manner. Now able to get a better look at the boy, he fully realized just how odd his clothing was. a yellow turtleneck with a red-orange, poncho-like cape hung down it, but it only reached half-way down his back. the same yellow also was his long-sleeved undershirt. An orange belt held up yellow pants, which were tucked into black-tipped red boots. A blue arrow rested on his bald head, and came out on the backs of his hands. His gray eyes held child-like wonder.
Nervously, Danny waved and said, "Hi." The kid eyed Danny cautiously, but then he smiled. Danny, not wanting to be rude, smiled back.
"Aang!" A girl entered behind the kid. The girl, probably just younger than Danny, had her bangs hooked and pulled behind her ears. A long braid fell behind her back. Her blue eyes filled with curiosity and concern. She wore a blue, dress-length coat that had a light blue wavy steak going down to her waist, outlined by a darker blue. White fluff was at the end off the line, on her hood, and edges of her sleeves. She, too, screamed when she saw him. 'People must not like black and white,' he noted, sullenly. "Who-who are you?" She asked, pointing at him.
"I could ask you the same question." He countered. But, deciding he should answer, he continued, "I'm Danny." He began to rock back and forth on his heels. What if they didn't trust him? How could he help, then?
The boy stepped forward in a kind gesture. "Hi, Danny. I'm Aang." He stuck out his hand, which Danny accepted. His hand was ... different. Hard to explain. Pure energy and happiness came from it, yet, there was something else. Regret, maybe?
The girl gave him an odd look, then approached him."My name's Katara. Why are you here?"
Danny frowned at the question. How was he going to come up with a reasonable— he had it. "I travel and this ship caught my interest." How he hoped that people traveled! And, that this ship would be something people liked to explore. Thinking about exploring, he thought, 'Bonnie would love this.'
Wanting a better explanation, she demanded, "What are you doing in the South Pole?"
"I told you, I travel." He repeated, calmly.
Aang, curious as to what was going to happen next, took a few steps backward. "Aang, no! There's a–" too late.
His foot tugged on something. An immense 'crash' sounded as a cage fell, enclosing them into the small space. "Katara, what was that you said about booby-traps?"
Danny, groaned and turned in a full circle, hands ruffling his hair. When he noticed the bars, his frown deepened and he let out another, more annoyed, groan. Katara turned to face Aang, then glared at Danny. In a tone that would make Sokka proud, she asked, "What nation are you from? Did you set this up? How do we—" she was cut off by the sudden movement of clanks. A sharp gasp escaped her and the two boy's mouths as they watched a single fire blast into the sky. A flare.
"Uh, honestly, I have no clue what nations you're talking about; and I didn't set this up. I just wondered in…" All true. Katara, realizing she had jumped to conclusion, was about to apologize. But, unfortunately, was cut off when Aang suddenly picked her up.
Aang leapt up high, quickly followed by Danny. Katara let out a short and quiet screech as she exited through the hole the flare had made, still in Aang's arm.
Danny shivered when they got outside. The icy landscape must've been in the negatives. But, Danny was only mildly effect because of his ice core. He glanced dow at the slanted ship and noticed it was elevated by a giant ice burg. Aang leapt off the ships roof and landed on the soft snow with ease. Danny, on the other hand, couldn't do that without exposing his powers. And, out of habit, was something he would avoid at any costs.
While Aang was distracted setting down Katara, Danny flew down. Katara's boots sank into the snow right as Danny landed.
Katara was highly suspicious of Danny. And she noticed he had somehow gotten down without Aangs help. She also noticed that, while her feet sank halfway into the snow, the mystery boy's only left a slight imprint. But she snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Aang take off running towards the village.
Danny followed behind, since he didn't know where he was going. Soon, though, he saw a small village. A white outer wall, probably 40-50 yards in diameter, surrounded small tan colored tents. Then he noticed the scowling faces of adults.
A group of people, some elderly, some young, were glaring at Aang. One boy, most likely a bit older than Katara, had the scariest glare. If Danny was still a normal teen, he would've shuddered. He was dressed in a blue coat, similar to Katara's. Three strands of white fluff fell down the center of his torso. White fluff also laid on his hood, his sleeves, and at his hip, which is where the coat ended. Blue pants, he wore, and a pair of gray boots. (I'm going off of memory here, hang with me.) The boy took a step forward. He had his hair tied in a high pony. It was the Danny noticed he was the only close-to-adult male in the whole village.
"Katara, I knew Aang was trouble! He may be the last Airbender, but he's signaling the fire nation!" The he noticed Danny. "And who's he? Does he work for the fire nation!" The last part was a statement, not a question. Katara stepped forward, in front of Aang in a protective way.
"He didn't mean to, Sokka!" Aang rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"Yeah, sorry. There was a booby-trapped, and I, well, boobied right into it." Sokka's glare increased, but he wasn't the one to speak. Instead, an elderly women, at least a hundred years old, spoke.
"Katara, you know the ship is forbidden." Again, Aang stepped in to take the blame.
"Miss, I talked Katara into it. It was my fault." He placed a hand on his heart as he said it. The women's face lightened, but she didn't smile.
Sokka stepped forward, again. "I hereby banish Aang from our village! I also demand to know who he is!" Danny, not wanting to be spoken for, took this as an opening.
"I'm Danny. And, no. I am not working for the fire nation." 'Whatever that is.' he added mentally. Katara, not noticing Danny had spoken, turned to her Gran-gran.
"Gran, you can't let him do this!" Gran-gran looked away in shame, yet, she agrees with Sokka.
"Your brother is right, Katara. Aang needs to leave."
Aang, who's mind had been pondering 'then last Airbender' comment, came back when he heard his name. Since he hadn't heard almost any of the conversation, asked something.
"What do you mean, 'last Airbender?'"
Sokka glared angrily at him. But, because Gran was the eldest, she spoke. "As I've said, no one has seen an Airbender in a century. We thought they were extinct." Katara thought about Aang's reaction.
"Aang, how long we're you in tag iceberg?" She asked, turning to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. Aang looked up at Katara, a bit shaken.
"I don't know. A few days, maybe?"
Danny remembered something Clockwork had said, and so, answered Aang. "Probably more like a hundred years." He noticed how panicked Aang looked when he said it. Sokka, on the other hand, was threatening to pull his hair out. All he saw was a boy who had called the fire nation to them and, AND, was currently banished.
"Aang, you and your… friend need to leave." He said, bobbing his head at Danny. Katara looked heart broken, but that quickly turned to rage.
"Fine! Then I'm going, too!" Aang is taking me to the North Pole to find a water bending teacher!" She, quite dramatically, grabbed Aangs wrist and hauled him to the mammoth-like animal. Sokka stretched his hand out, appearing to attempt to reach for his younger sister.
"Katara! Would you really chose him over your family?"
Danny, currently, wasn't liking this. He was being completely ignored! Not a single polite "Hi, how are you? I'm blah blah blah." Sometimes he missed Skulker, or the GiW. At least they paid attention to him.
"Katara, I don't want to come between you and your family." Aang said properly. Then he turned to face Danny. "You can come, you know. If you want."
Danny bit the side of his lip. Should he go, or stay here and see if any fire nation soldiers arrive… then he came to a reasonable solution. The Halfa formed an invisible duplicate, that, while invisible, would watch the village. "I'll go with you."
Sokka, relieved yet curious, sighed. "Come, Katara. Soldiers!" A bunch of, no younger than seven years old, kids stood up straight. "The fire nation could be here any minute! Go man your stations!"
One kid raised his hand. "But I gotta—"
Sokka though his head up and punched his fists down. "AND NO PODDY BREAKS!"
Katara looked back at the pair regretfully. Then turned towards her Grandmother. "There goes my one chance of becoming a water bender. Hope you're happy." She stormed into her village.
Aang leapt onto Appa and signaled for Danny to do so. The Halfa walked up Appa's tail like it was a ramp. Sitting down on the saddle, he began to speak. "So, where're we heading?"
Aang shrugged. "I don't know. But I'm going to stick around in case the fire nation does approach." Danny nodded approvingly at his new friends heroic choice. Aang, curious to who Danny was, asked, "What nation are you from?"
Danny creased his eyebrows. "I don't really belong to any nation."
"If you had to pick one, which would be your favorite?"
The Halfa thought hard about this. He only knew of three. And one was evil, the other was not very welcoming to him. "Air." He said honestly.
"Do you know any bending?"
Again, the Halfa wondered how to answer this. Deciding on something he said, "Sort of. I can do some weird things."
Curious, Aang asked, "What kinds of things?"
"This." Danny said, turning invisible. Aang's eyes widened as Danny piped back into place. "And this." He formed an ice diamond, just like Frostbite had showed him.
"You water bend?"
Taken back by this question, Danny shook his head. "No. I can only control ice. That's why I'm not bothered by the cold." Aang sat back. He had never heard of someone who can do those things. Little did either of them know, they were being watched by a teenager.
Zuko watched as a boy in yellow and orange clothing leapt off of the fire nation ship interior. "The last Airbender." He said awed. The ex-fireprince smirked. "Guards! Get my—" he stopped when he saw a boy in black and white clothing hover down to stand next to the Avatar. "Guards, tell Uncle he needs to see this."
Ten minutes later…
Uncle Iroh looked up from his roast duck to see Zuko standing over him. His nephew had told him he had seen a man fly; without bending. Iroh, concerned for his nephews sanity, ignored him.
"But, Uncle! I saw the Avatar leap off of the ship. But after, another boy flew down. I swear, Uncle!"
Iroh set his bowl down and sighed. Knowing it was better to just let Zuko capture the two boys then to put him down. "Very well. After we capture them, I would like more duck. But until then—" he yawned, "I'll be napping."
Zuko scowled at his guardian, then stomped back to the edge of his ship. He watched as the trio talked to the water tribe. Then he formed a plan. It was obvious that they didn't know he is the Avatar, so he would expose and capture him in one swift move.
He noted the Byson when it walked up behind them. He sat for another five minutes, waiting. When they two boys were on the beast, he summoned the captain. "Set a course for the Southern Water Tribe. We invade and capture the two tomorrow." The captain nodded and headed up to the command room.
(A/N)
Wow, that is long. What do you think of my lovely cliffy? I tried to make it good— no, wait— great. YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPPIE!
Oh, and, sorry if some chapters appear funny. I'm still getting used to this. And I'm only going to include important episodes and ones I absolutely love. BEWARE! Hey, that is fun! ;)