𝕰𝖈𝖙𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗𝖍𝖆𝖚𝖓𝖙 2021_Day 17 [Trick]

~Sequel of "Twelve Days of Tiny Christmas" #2~

Category: Post-Apocalypse, Adventure, Mystery, Fluff.

𝕯𝖆𝖞 𝖘𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓: 𝕱𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖉𝕱𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖆𝖌𝖊

...Billy woke with a start, jackknifing up, and scanned his surroundings with anxiety: he and his sister had been fleeing from a ghost and a random portal had opened on their path before they could dodge, making them freefall for a bit. The boy must have lost consciousness, because he didn't remember landing.

The landscape around him looked taken straight from a picture of Skulker's Lair, with tropical trees and ferns, but with the added detail of having glowing edges or stems.¹*
Whose Lair was this?
Billy had never seen anything like this in Amity Metropolis's Archives… Maybe Becky had read about-…

Becky!

The teen stood shakily, silently thanking his heritage for his body durability, and called his sister's name loudly, even if their parents had taught them not to shout in unknown Lairs.
As a matter of fact, few seconds later a hand slammed on his mouth, along with a familiar shushing sound in his ear.

Billy whirled around and found his older sister, none worse for wear (thanks genetics!), glaring disappointingly at him.

‒ Billy, you know…! ‒ She started scolding, but he waved her off.

‒ yeah, yeah, I know. No shouts until we deem the Lair safe. But I'd totally know if someone had tried to sneak on… ‒ The boy was forced to pause his exasperated rant when a shudder travelled up his spine , making the hairs on his nape stay up.

‒ Famous last words… ‒ Becky grimaced, lowering herself into a battle stance. ‒ Where?

‒ …There, it's something small. ‒ He pointed to the undergrowth, which began shaking a moment later. The duo readied to leap (either away or to battle), when from the foliage a fluffy four legged spectral animal came out.
It had triangular ears on the top of its head, cross-eyed slitted pupils inside huge yellow-greenish irises, short snout and a striped green short fur with darker bands. Its tail was long (two-thirds of its body length) and stood up in attention.

At the sight of them it started "meowing" and purring and trotted towards them in what looked like delight. Bewildered, the siblings allowed the ghost to reach them and rub against their leg affectionately with a content rumbling.

‒ Wait, is this how cats looked like before? ‒ Becky slowly crouched, giving the supposed-cat chance to climb on her folded legs and lay down to get more comfortable. Tentatively the girl began caressing the being, finding a collar with a nameplate. ‒ "Tata"?

The feline meowrrumphed in response, rolling around to get the petting even on its other side.

‒ Do you think that it's the owner of this Lair or just their pet? ‒ Billy crouched down as well, to try and scratch the soft fur.

‒ Pet, most likely. No one beside the Box Ghost would show off their name like this if it hadn't been a gift. Right Tata? ‒ The girl said with a playful and doting tone in her voice.

The cat purrrmeowed and gently head-butted Becky's chin, making their heart melt.

‒ …Okay, we have to find a way home. ‒ Billy mutinously said after a while (obviously after getting his dose of fluff). If it (her? Was Tata a female name?) had already an owner, they couldn't take her home, despite their parents' pro-ghosts ideas.

‒ …Fine. ‒ Becky stood and the cat climbed on her shoulders with no intention of getting down. On the contrary, she draped herself around the girl's neck! The duo paused, looking at one another in askance, before reaching a deal. ‒ We keep her until we find her owner? ‒ Her brother nodded eagerly, following her through the jungle.

They carefully pushed through the flora in order not to damage it (they couldn't know if the Lair's owner would be offended by that) until they broke through the thickest of the forest and found themselves on a concrete half-crumbled street that crossed the remains of an ancient city.
You know, the twenty century style that you could see only in pictures and holographic reconstructions.

On the side of the road, there was a panel covered by moss and roots, so the siblings tried to move the most of them to attempt reading what was written below.

‒ "A"… Is that an "M"? ‒ Becky frowned, sweeping the dirt to take a better look. ‒ Ah! "Amity Park"! That wasn't that diff-… ‒ The teenage girl froze, as what she had read caught up with her mind.
In the meantime, Billy was looking around in wide eyed disbelief.

‒ You mean that this is THE Amity Park?! That we're on Earth? ‒ The boy breathed in wonder.

‒ Well, we're certainly in a place that is shaped and designed to look like it. Remember Mr. Pointdexter's Lair? That is an even older Amity. ‒ Becky walked away from the sign and down the street to examine the new landscape.

‒ Yeah, but his Lair is also in black and white. There are differences from… This. ‒ He gestured around at the desolation.

‒ On that topic, don't you think that this is too… intact for being 12'000 years old²* if this is really Earth? I read once that what they called "modern" human-made building would deteriorate within the first 3-4 thousand years… ‒ She stared to a building that looked no older than 50-70 years. The only signs of abandonment were the plants crawling on the walls, crumbled plaster here and there and some broken windows.

‒ Well, yeah, but a tree like that one doesn't grow in merely a hundred years. ‒ Billy pointed to a behemoth that soared well above the tallest buildings and could probably reach the highest peak of the Far Frozen. And that was nothing in comparison to the actual diameter of the plant, because from their position they could guess it had engulfed at least six or seven buildings.

‒ Okay, but in a Lair anything is possible. Aunt Pandora's one is always so complex! ‒ Becky retorted, but sped up, heading towards the sequoia-lookalike. Usually the most impressive place was where the Lair owner resided.

It took them twenty minutes to reach the outskirts of the tree base (and they passed by a blackened crater where an explosion had taken place way before the abandonment of "Amity Park" because nature had watered down the sooth on the ground… The only remaining pieces around had been fragments of walls and a destroyed sign that ended with "Burger") and the sight was even more impressive from below.

They decided to check the entire circumference to find an entrance, but they didn't notice anything until at a certain point Tata jumped down from Becky's shoulder and trotted towards a slightly uprooted root, sneaking under after a mrowww of encouragement. Given that she could really be the Lair's pet (and Billy hadn't felt any presence around), the duo followed her, inside the twist and turns of the wood. The passage was curiously smooth, as if something had kept brushing on its walls continuously, polishing it. The wood had even a silky texture to it.

Luckily the torchlight the siblings had always on them were sufficient to light the way and at last they reached an ajar old security door. There was even a doorbell, but the name had been erased by time and wood.

Hesitantly the teens looked at each other for reassurance, then Becky rang the doorbell.

Behind the door sounded a chime, making the duo cringe at how loud it had been, but after waiting few seconds, no one showed up. Taking this as a permission, Becky opened the door and stepped inside, finding a surprisingly normal and in good condition hallway that led to a twenty-one century living room. It looked even well lived.

Becky and Bill stayed together as they checked each room on the ground floor, then they carefully followed the cat upstairs. There were several bedrooms, the Master Room with a King sized bed with a little dust on the covers, a girl's one in the same condition and then the last room, a boy's, where Tata entered without pausing. There was little to no dust here and it was decorated with glow-in-the-dark star sticker that still glowed despite being in the dark for so long. The rest was similarly space-themed, with rockets and "NASA"(?) posters with stars on it.

The cat hopped on the empty bed and sprawled on the blue covers, blinking slowly at the teens as if to invite them.

‒ Do you think that this place is the Lair Owner's? ‒ Becky whispered.

‒ Maybe. Hey, there's an ancient computer here. Dr. Technus taught me old programming, I'm gonna check it. ‒ Billy opened a laptop, hoping it would power up… Which it did. What was it running on?

Luckily (or it wasn't a chance?) it had no password, so the boy logged in the main account of a user called "Danny". (That name was familiar.) On the screen, there was only one data folder in the center with the siblings' surname as the label. (One is a chance, two is a coincidence.)

Deciding to take a risk (they couldn't go back home until they found a way out of this "Lair" after all), Billy opened the folder.

There was a data-log and several footages inside, so the younger teen began with the oldest video. A boy, not much older than him, geeked out on space projects and made a passing reference to a Ghost Portal. Immediately intrigued, he clicked the next, while the ghost cat hopped down the bed to sneak on Billy's leg to curl up in there and demand attention. Absent-mindedly he petted her as a security video played out, displaying a huge device carved into a wall and three teenagers stand in front of it. One (the same from the previous footage) dressed with a familiar, but somehow different, hazmat suit walked inside the device, which lit up few seconds later. The recording whitened out before refocusing on the same scene, though now the device was filled by a green swirling vortex.

‒ Where is Danny? ‒ Becky whisper-shouted in distress.

The answer came immediately later, as a black-white figure fell out the Portal, still slightly smoking. The other teenagers ran to help the person, turning them around and revealing Phantom. WHAT?!
The clip ended with the duo dragging off frame the fallen friend, immediately staring the following video.

Surprisingly Danny was there and still alive. How was that even possible? Was it an older recording that got mixed up?

…Apparently not, Danny was Phantom and half-dead/half-alive.
He explained everything that was happening in his (after)life: from school, to ghost fights to the relationship with his relatives, claiming that he wasn't the type to vent on a video, but his older sister had ordered him to do so, since he still didn't feel comfortable about opening up with her completely. And his best friends had backed her up, so here he was, spilling the beans.
Danny ended the video feeling a bit better and being (affectionately) "assaulted" by a ghost dog. (Was that the King's Hound?)

Becky inhaled a deep breath, as if she was preparing herself to say something, when the next footage rolled on: it was a collage of many videos, all depicting funny episodes of everyday life or ghost battles. Many faces were known and it was bewildering since they were either family friends or professor at Amity Metropolis school.
(Thanks to Dr. Technus's vintage knowledge the clip on the parrot and the music box didn't go over their head.)

It was the next file that made the sibling sober up.

‒ Hey, guys, this will be the last video-log since, well… Earth is lost. ‒ Phantom looked away, with eyes welling up, but not spilling their tears. ‒ One of my mentors asked me to leave all these data in my Lair, so they'll be protected while we're guiding humanity inside the Ghost Zone. Me and the others will try to find a new place to call home, but Amity Park is … was my Haunt, so I don't know if I'll ever really leave it behind, along with my original Lair. ‒ He sniffed and some tears did manage to fall. He tried to scrub them off. ‒ If I had been better, maybe this wouldn't have happened. …Maybe it's a good thing I have this bubble of time to vent a bit, last time I did this made me feel better enough to face Spectra without listening to her insults! …Yeah, everyone will need me at my best to be officially crowned the new King.

Danny paused, staring at the keyboard of the laptop in contemplation. ‒ I don't know how long it'll take, but I promise we'll come back to Earth. And I never break a promise. I don't care how long it will take or if I'll have to pull the entire planet inside another Realm to save it, but I'll do it. …So if you are watching this, Becky and Billy, I guess that that time has come. Clockwork told me to address this last video to you, even if I still don't know you. Maybe I will. He's usually not wrong with these things and I trust him. ‒ For the first time in this log, the Halfa smiled, albeit weakly. ‒ If I've lost my way home, and so did you, the Fenton Portal to the Ghost Zone should still exist. Luckily my parents managed to invent an Ecto-Filter that doesn't need to be changed anymore, so it should still open up. It's in the basement, locked, and I'll have to conceal it on the Zone side, in order to stop assorted Fruitloops to go back on Earth while the almost-literal Apocalypse is still going down. I hope this will really be enough. ‒ He sighed deeply, seemingly recollecting himself, because he straightened from his slouched position. ‒ I don't know how things will happen, but if you find Amity Park before any of us, please come and find me. If you'll call me Danny Fenton, I promise I will remember this video. You'll be the Obi One Kenobi to my Princess Leia! ‒ He openly chuckled at this, then stared to directly at the camera, at them. ‒ You probably won't know the reference, I doubt humanity will want to remember space science fiction… But, anyway, thank you. You're my only hope.³*

While they did get the reference thanks to Dr. Technus and Mr. Ghostwriter, the siblings gaped at the laptop as the video-playlist ended.

Yes, they were in a Lair, but it was restricted only to Danny's room (or maybe the entire house).
Yes, they were on Earth, plant mutation notwithstanding.
Yes, their King was also the owner of the place (and the cat? Did that mean that they could ask him to keep her? Had she been alone all this time? Trapped in this Realm? They hoped not).

After gathering their thoughts, the siblings moved to the bed to be more comfortable and discussed about the plan of action: basement, check the Portal, briefly split up in order to contact the King and so avoid losing the connection with said passage if it remained concealed to the senses even while passing through, then come back and try to dispel the concealment to let Phantom back home.

Once decided, they descended two staircases and found themselves (along with Tata that had followed them), after turning on the artificial ectoplasm-powered light, in an old style laboratory, the very same of Phantom's incident. And, lo and behold, the Fenton Portal. Their ticket home.

As if just oiled, the shutters opened under their thumbs (failing to notice that it had been a genetic lock) and the Zone opened before them. …Was that Skulker's Lair?

Becky went, while Billy and the ghost cat stayed. She had always been the better flyer between the two of them, even inside Amity Metropolis, once named Pariah's Keep.

The boy got comfortable on a bench with the purring feline on his lap, Phantom/Fenton (HA! That pun was sublime) log on every ghost he had met before the Fall before him to check out in the wait and a hot bean-juice made with dubiously millennia old canned brown beans. Still tasted good, so it wasn't dangerous. Ehh, it wouldn't be any worse than the Lunch Lady Disaster in his school.

On that matter, he had to totally check her out, it was bound to be interesting…

¹* Something like the plants in "Avatar"'s Pandora.

²* Year date chosen to make Vega replace Polaris as the North Star.

³*The Star Wars reference came out so naturally from my fingers while I was free-styling the monologue that it seemed like a thing Danny would say.

A/N. So! Let's start with our kids! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

The name choice had happened starting from a whim: I wanted the older sister to be called Becky, so I searched for references to that name in the past. One of them was Resident Evil, where the two protagonists' names are Rebecca and Billy, so… it fitted?
As for their ghostly quirks if you noticed them (Ghost Sense, or in this case Tiny Sense, for Billy and Flight for Becky) are both due to their heritage (as is their sturdy frame) and the millennia humanity was born and had grown up inside the Zone. Some abilities were long overdue to happen in normal people, even if the newly remodeled Pariah's Keep into Amity Metropolis was made with an inbuilt atmosphere filter in its dome.

As for the "almost-literal Apocalypse"? I have no clue! xD
Earth was just not compatible with human life anymore out of sudden, so they had to flee somewhere… And the Zone was right there, waiting for them! So they transferred in the Metropolis that the Newly named King of the Ghosts made for them.
(Danny as usual was just auto-flagellating for faults that weren't his.)

As for why Amity Park is still practically intact despite the glowing flora, it's because it had always been a strange place even before the Apocalypse (like Day 14 of Ectoberhaunt's Domestic Phantoms headcanons), so times moves faster in certain places and almost stills everywhere else.

The Sequoia that did grow over the Fentonworks had been a bonsai Sam had gifted Danny for one of his birthdays, but in the hurry of the transfer he forgot it in the backyard. All the plants in Amity (above all the sequoia) had been influenced by the leaks/influence of the still working but closed Portal, so they mutated with bioluminescence and extra height/gravity defying abilities.
Whatever threat for humanity had been, it has long passed or been eradicated, so both the teen are safe while walking through Amity Park and for those who wish to return to Earth. Danny just didn't know about it, since he's so busy with King duties.

(The Nasty Burger bit wasn't the cause of the chaos: the sauce boiler simply blew up since left unattended after the transfer.)

Danny's Concealment Ritual was so strong that any portal (artificial or natural) was hidden to "anyone" (even for the Box Ghost, who is a frequent user)… sans the Tinies.
This is why the passage under the tree is so smooth, they keep rubbing on the wood, both to laid claim on the place, if anyone else tried to sneak in, and to leave a mark for the next Tiny that passes by. Moreover, the Redwood as one of its properties other than uber-growth has anti-intangibility. So, yeah it's a mandatory passageway. ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
(Oh, by the way, Tata was indeed female and she was my cat. Both here and in the prequel Drabble I wanted to homage her, so here, have some Feels. (⁎˃ᆺ))

If you have anything to ask on this AU that I forgot to mention, feel free to leave a comment!

Hope you liked this, type ya tomorrow!

Will Day 18 be Flytrap or Spider Lily? Check in "Domestic Phantoms" and you'll find out!