Hello, everyone! I guess you're wondering why it took me so long to update... Well...that's a bit of a story. I've been pretty preoccupied, what with the cancellation (sniff),and, seeing as there's a HUGE cliffy at the end of this chapter, I've decided that the more merciful thing to do would be to leave you waiting at that not-so-evil ending last chapter rather than... Well, you'll see it when you read it ;)
Ah... 'Micro Management'... Proves that Dash really isn't that smart. Great for my plot in this, though. I was beaming the whole way through it... Except for the part with the mouse. Acursed inspiration... When they ended up in the mousehole, there was I... 'Hah, now look, there's gonna be a huge mouse in there...' Of course, that was utterly predictable, if you've seen a single scary movie. But THEN I banged my head down on the coffee table, and said to my sister... "Ah, great, just great... As if I needed any more inspiration to do that dumb fanfiction... Now, watch, Danny's gonna overshadow that rat or something and make it even worse...' And then, of course: 'OH NO YOU DIDN'T! Danny, how could you?' So... What's this mean? It means that I'm going to be battling against the allure of a crossover with Redwall... And STILL drawing pictures of a mouse Danny... (fumes) And to make matters even worse... Underlaying my thoughts throughout the episode was the mental countdown... Only 18 episodes left... And the horrible impressions that this would envoke the Danny/Dash shippers... (eye twitches)
Okay... Yeah, I know, rambling, ranting, meaningless blabber... ALL must stop. The best thing about that, though, was being followed by 'Bitter Reuinions'... THTTF will be going very nicely thanks to that. A Friday of glorious fanfiction inspiration... And some not-so-glorious crossover fic inspiration. Eh, ahem... Stopping now.
Chapter 4: Scales and Sand
The students hiked through the mud, deep into the jungle, with Danny in the lead. The foliage had actually become so thick that a trail was impossible and he'd had to cut through it with the Fenton Machete. Danny couldn't help but thinking with a smile, Good thing I had the Fenton Machete tucked away just in case.
The group trudged onwards, following the trail blazed by Danny and sticking close together. They plodded onwards in silence occasionally punctuated by the snap of a twig or the rustle of leaves.
"EEEEEEE!" someone shrieked from the near the end of the short line.
Danny looked back sharply at the scream, then ran down the line, brushing against twigs and cutting himself on a few thorns as he rushed to the back of the group.
He skidded to the halt, sending a spray of mud flying. Paulina had been halted by a large snake which had apparently dropped down out of the overhanging branches. Vibrant green scales and a back pattern of black dots and lines adorned thick coils. Its mouth was open and it bared fangs in a venomous hiss, forked tongue snaking in and out from between the needle-sharp teeth.
Without thinking, Danny lunged at the snake, hitting it with the flat side of the machete. The blow stunned it momentarily and it fell from the tree.
Recovering quickly, however, the snake's head rose up, powerful coils bunched and fangs glinting with murderous intent. A clear drop glistened from the end of one of them--poison?
Danny wielded the Fenton Machete, instinctively falling into a fighting stance. The snake's head moved side to side, black tongue flitting out. Then, with no warning, it struck.
Danny leapt away only just in time, the snake catching the very hem of his shirt and ripping it, but nothing else. The snake lunged again, Danny rolling out of the way and resurfacing coated in mud. A third time the snake struck, and Danny leaped backwards, the Fenton Machete flashing as it severed the snake's head.
"Okay," Danny said, stuffing the machete into his belt and kicking the snake's body into the undergrowth. He was trembling almost as much as Paulina. Trying to act as if nothing had happened, Danny swallowed hard and returned to the lead. "Let's keep moving."
The next few hours passed as silent as they had before, the group coming out into a relatively dry clearing as the sun was beginning to dip.
Danny sighed and sat down upon a rock. "Let's stop here," he said, and got no argument. Danny, was tired, being unaccustomed to walking for a long amount of time, usually preferring to fly for longer-distance trips. He still wasn't as tired as some people, such as Paulina, who rarely participated in anything more strenuous than shopping, collapse immediately upon the first dry patch of ground they could find. Others--including Dash, much to Danny's distaste--were used to doing much walking and seemed less tired, or at least hid it better.
But Danny had a duty as the leader, and got up after only a brief respite.
"Okay, so we should probably spend the night here. First things first, we need water. If anyone could volunteer to go find some, take bottles or cups or something... But go in groups! We don't know what else could be out there," Danny warned. The people who had volunteered, which included Veronica, much to the surprise of many, nodded and paired up.
"Now, we should start a fire, if anyone wants to- Okay, Kwan, you and Star figure that out. Bang some rocks together or something. And, let me see... we'll need some other people to get firewood," Danny continued. "And I guess I'll help do that. I think that's all, then. Uh, don't go too far. We don't want anyone to get lost!"
Danny left to gather firewood, but was almost instantly hailed by a shout.
"Fenton! Wait up!"
Danny turned to see Dash. "Dash? What?"
"Well," Dash said, catching up to him, "didn't you say we're supposed to go in groups?"
"Uh, yeah," Danny said.
"Well, shouldn't you be with someone?"
Danny sighed. Yes, he probably should. But did it have to be Dash? "Sure, I guess..."
"Great," Dash answered, falling into step beside Danny. But, oddly enough, he seemed like he had something on his mind. Dash and Danny walked for a few minutes in complete silence, stopping here and there to collect a dry branch from the ground.
"Uh, Fenton? Can I ask you something?" Dash asked as Danny bent to pick up a branch.
Danny straightened with the branch in his hand, and blinked, wondering what this was about. "Uh, sure."
"Well, uh, it's just about that thing with the snake and everything... Weren't you scared?"
"Uh, well, not really..." Danny said.
"What!" Dash exclaimed, clearly incredulous. "But, that was a giant poisonous snake! And you just killed it like it was nothing!"
"Just a tree snake..." Danny muttered.
"Just a tree snake?" Dash repeated. "That must have been, like, ten feet long!"
Danny shrugged, and stooped to pick up another piece of wood. "I had the Fenton Machete."
"But you kept dodging it..." Dash argued. "Why don't you ever do that in dodgeball?"
Danny nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Well... That's just a game. I guess when it's a poisonous viper it's different."
"And, another thing..." Dash said.
"What?" Danny grunted.
"Well... It's just that... You've been doing that kind of weird stuff a lot lately, Fenton. Like falling out of a plane and living! Twice! And, well... Did you get like, super powers or something from being hit by lightning?"
Danny dropped the wood he had been carrying, laughing fit to burst from the sheer irony of the statement. It had been the other way around!
"Dash," Danny said, once he'd stopped laughing enough to talk, "it's only in the movies that people get super powers from being hit by lightning. Besides, I'm just plain old ordinary Danny Fenton."
Dash frowned. "But... You've been doing all that-"
Danny shook his head, still laughing as he gathered up the firewood he had dropped. "No. Really, it just comes from having parents who are always hunting ghosts. Once my mom and I were lost in the Rockies, anyway, it's not that different."
"Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense..." Dash said. Danny nodded furiously, and they resumed gathering firewood.
They soon had about as much as they could carry, and were about to head back.
"Hang on... Let me just get that last piece, over there," Danny said, pointing to a stout stick on a sandy patch of ground.
Danny readjusted the bundle he was carrying, then walked over to get it, his shoes sticking slightly in the mud.
"Mud, mud, and more mud... Is there anything else on this island?" he muttered, trying to pull his feet free from the sucking mud. But he couldn't. His shoes sunk deeper into the muck. Frowning angrily, Danny tried wrenching his left foot free, only to find he couldn't, and instead only succeeded in dropping the bundle of wood he had been carrying. Danny's eyes widened as he saw the wood sink into the ground, and transferred his gaze to his own legs.
He was past his ankles in the sandy mud, and still sinking. Danny gulped and looked up at Dash, who was watching with an expression of mingled confusion and horror.
Danny uttered a single word as he looked back down at the misleading patch of ground.
"Quicksand!"
See? Cliffie, what'd I tell you? Mwa-ha-ha-ha!
Yeah, I've reverted to my original not-so-good evil laugh. So sue me. I'm tired. And computer literacysucks.
Okay... No preview. Why? I utterly refuse to give away how this quicksand thing will come out... Let's just say Danny's gotten in a little over his head, hm?
Now on to sadder matters... (shuffles note cards) As we all know, Danny Phantom will be cancelled at 53 episodes. My response to this was thus:
1. Exclaim,'WHAT!'
2. Bang head on keyboard
3. Print out full 'speech' by Butch Hartman after a lengthy web search (for one who spends so much time online, I am sadly inept as far a finding stuff goes...)
4. Draw a ton of sad pictures... Beginning with Danny (as a ghost) sitting on his own tombstone, then on to a statue of Danny, basically like those ones in TUE ('Gone but not forgotten'), then on to Dark Dan destroying Nickelodeon studios in response... after such I had to draw my fourth 'Dark Dan in pink bunny suit' picture, and finally ending with the first picture of Danny I have EVER drawn in which I have gotten both his shoes and his hair right, not to mention everything proportionally correct... So, I guess all that random, heart-felt drawing paid off.
5. Write a letter
Don't take these steps, please, people... Just write the letter! 'Cause if we all write letters... Nick won't be able to ignore ALL of those, will they? 'Xactly my point. Get out those pens and WRITE!
Okay... I know, I'm not that motivational. How's this for additional motivation: keep those pens out after your letters, and review my story. I'll also try to post links to petitions and the like on my profile... Viva la Danny Phantom!
-E.P.