Disclaimer: I don't own either "Danny Phantom" or "Pirates of the Caribbean". Most of the characters you see are either property of Nickelodeon or Disney. Some others are my own.

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The Spirit of the Ship

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Chapter 14: He Reveals Himself

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His vision was blurred. His head felt groggy. He had an immediate head rush. Danny regained consciousness, groaning and shaking his head, feeling tired and... wet. He found himself floating on a piece of debris in the middle of the ocean with his legs in the water. He looked around to see Adriana, Jack, and Gustavo all in the same situation he was in. He swam over to them, the splashing sounds catching the attention Adriana, who swam toward him back. When they came together, Adriana huged him greatly, which she found difficult to do on floating debris.

"We were worried about you," Gustavo shouted to them, on what remained of the mast with Jack. "Her, mostly."

"Hmm," Jack said, with humor in his voice, "I wonder why." Gustavo and Jack laughed at the joke, which Adriana found nowhere near funny.

"Grow up!" she said, swimming back with Danny.

"So, how long was I out?" Danny asked.

"Several hours, maybe," Jack recalled. "If you haven't noticed, the Hairy Turtle has been destroyed. We've been drifting ever since. That beast took a lot with it. The ship, the vase, the food, the water, the rum, most of the weapons, however Gustavo and I are the only ones who have what's left, and... sadly... Donatello Rotondo." Jack took his hat to his chest and bowwed head in respect of the fallen shipmate.

"Oh my gosh... Danny said, shocked. He realized just how dangerous the journey really was. "I'm gonna miss the guy."

"I'm going to miss the rum," Jack said back, placing his hat back on his head.

"Um, Jack" Danny said curiously, "isn't there this whole 'Captain always goes down with his ship' thing."

"So, you know the pirate code, too," Jack said, pretty impressed. "Well, the code's more like guidelines than actual rules."

"What I'm surprised actually went down was that serpant," Adriana added. "How does a monster sent by the gods simply die like that, anyway?"

"I think I know how," Danny said, answering. "Before I got knocked, I saw who killed it. It was a ghost Skulker."

"Who's that?" Gustavo asked, seeming curious.

"He's a hunter from the Ghost Zone," Danny said, "and he's after my head. I fought with him a few times in my time. So far, I'm 2-0." He said the last part rather proudly.

"So, if you can beat him," Jack started, "how is it that he can beat a leviathan of a creature and you can't?"

"Ignoring that," Danny said, peeved. "I wanna know why he did that?"

"I guess he'd rather do away with you rather than let some sea monster do it," Gustavo said. "If he's really after you, I'm sure he'd go that far."

"Well, I don't see him biding his time," Danny started wondering. "Unless-"

"I think I see something!" Adriana shouted, catching the attention of everyone around her. A look of joy came to her face when she knew what it was. "Land!" This word took the attention of everyone near where it came from.

Jack looked in her direction and joyously said, "It's not just land, it's an island. If we're lucky, an oasis, which means food and water! Full speed toward that land!" At Jack's command, everyone kicked toward the island.

After ten minutes of kicking, the crew, exhausted, finally made it to the island. All three crawled on to the dry sand, lying down and breathing heavily, yet all laughing in pure happiness. Danny looked to his right and saw a cave he hadn't noticed. Thinking it might be important, he said, "Hey, guys, I never noticed that cave right there before."

"Well," Gustavo said, "we were all busy swimming, so that's not very surprising."

"I know," Danny said, "but I'm thinking that if we explore it..."

"We're all tired, Danny," Jack said, explaining the obvious. "Give us a moment."

"The treasure just might be in there," Danny continued, which got Jack up to his feet.

"Moment's over!" Jack said, his tone instantly changing. While his mind was set on going in that cave, his body wasn't, falling right back down almost as soon as it got up. Jack got a face-full of sand from that. Lifting his head up and spitting out sand, Jack said, "Alright, a few moments longer."

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The moment had come for the crew to explore the near-by cave. Before so, Jack gave another address to his crew.

"Gentlemen, and lady, this is the moment we've been waiting for. We've journeyed for many a day to come to what might be here. Even if we can't find anything, Danny and I have found this island habitable, so no one's dying anytime soon. Treasure awaits! Let's go!" Jack rushed in, with the others to follow. It wasn't long berore they realized how incredibly dark it was. First blinded by excitement, now blinded by a lack of light.

"Why didn't I think about something like this?" Jack questioned himself.

"Because you're mad," Gustavo answered for him. The sound of a smack followed.

"Ow!" Danny said, showing he was the source of the smack. "I think I hit a stalagmite. ...Or stalactite. I can never tell those apart."

"AAAHH!" Gustavo shrieked. "Something's got my hand!" This was followed by Adriana screaming.

"Adriana," Danny said, showing worry, "what is it?"

"I was what got his hand," Adriana said, with terror.

"That's not funny, thief!" Gustavo angrily said. "But Danny sounded pretty worried about you. That was pretty funny."

"Weren't you screaming like a girl a second ago?" Danny slyly retaliated. Giggles from everyone else were heard as Gustavo was looking for an excuse.

"Um... Uh..." Gustavo stammered. "She screamed twice."

"Can't we just use something like the buddy system?" Danny suggested.

"The what?" Jack said.

"Ugh, this is getting us nowhere!" Danny said. Shortly after two bright rings illuminated the cave, a great green light came from Danny's hand, bright enough to see what was infront of him. "Why didn't I think of this earlier?"

"What matters now is that we can see," Jack said. "Now let's keep going."

Some time later, the crew had found what they were looking for. They had found the treasure room, which held mountains of gold, silver, and precious stones, which relected off several spots of sunlights given off from several holes in the ceiling, giving the room a tint of shining yellow. "Es tan hermoso," Adriana commented, marveling at the sheer beauty of the cave.

"So," Jack said, "how are we going to spend it?" It was then when the unexpected happened. A blue vapor emerged from Danny's mouth, which was followed by a lowing green net from under him. Danny's panicky yell turned the backs of his friends. They thought he had just vanished until they heard a dasttardly voice above them.

"Surprise!" it said, revealing itself to come from a large metal man with firey green hair.

"You must be Skulker," Jack said to the ghost hunter. "You've selected the wrong crew to mess with." Jack then turned slightly over his shoulder to whisper to Gustavo, "Gustavo, find the thing."

"You mean the-" Gustavo started.

"Yes, that," Jack quietly answered, which sent Gustavo darting up the mountain of gold. Jack continued his threats to Skulker with, "Now I suggest you bring Danny down right now."

"Hmm," Skulker said, with a mock consideration, "interesting suggestion. Suppose I don't?"

"In just a few moments," Jack began, "you'll find out. My good shipmate Gustavo is about to-" Jack's sentence was interupted by screams of agony as he was hit by a reat electrical shock in the back, falling to the ground, unable to move. Danny and Adriana looked at where it came from and gasped in disbelief.

It was Gustavo. In his clutches lied the staff of the gods, a long, gold shaft with a sun shaped idol at the tip with six different coloed jewels. Along with the staff, he wore an evil grin on his face as he continued Jack's unfinished sentence. "-To become the most powerful being in all exsistance."

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Wowwy-Maui, that's a cliff-hanger. Yes, Gustavo did betray the crew of the Hairy Turtle. Yes, Don is dead. Most likely, you were shocked. I had traces that Gustavo was after power in the chapters, which Gustavo himself will tell next chapter. And if you thought this twist was nuts, wait until you see the next chapter! BTW: I know Skulker made four apearences in the series, but Danny really dealt with him only twice. He was a hired gun in one episode and in jail in another, so there.