Hello, comrades, friends, readers, reviewers, people, ghosts, halfas (I KNOW you're reading this, Danny!), and my dad, who is reading over my shoulder as I type... Heheh, thought I wouldn't catch you, now, did you?
So, reviewers! I thanketh thee! Particularly ye to whom I have not replied... Eheh, I think it was about three or four people. It's really just 'cause I didn't have anything to say to your review, other than 'thank you' several thousand times. Hm, maybe I should beginacknowledging my reviewers here, like some people do...? Mmm, either way, thanks guys!
Ah, anyway... Busy Sunday, busy Monday, but this is Tuesday. Late starts on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. No school until 11:00... somebody pinch me! OW! Hey, that hurts :( But I won't be too happy next year, when I'm a sophmore and being forced to take all these insane tests they give us... (shudders)
Ahh... Anyway, such goes my life. And such continues my story:
Chapter 5: Quicksand
Dash hurried towards Danny.
"No!" Danny hissed. "Don't! You'll just end up stu-"
Too late, though. Dash was now in the quicksand, stuck and sinking.
"Darn it, Dash..." Danny muttered. He was in past his knees by now, and sinking fast. Frantically, Danny tried to go intangible--before he remembered that he couldn't. He tried to move, but he was stuck, the sinking sand pulling Danny down. If they didn't get out soon, they would be pulled beneath the surface, and drown.
"Help!" Danny called frantically. "Someone! HELP!"
Dash joined Danny, shouting as well.
In up to his waist now, Danny was beginning to panic. "HELP!" he cried, louder than ever.
"I think it's coming from over here!" a voice called faintly.
Moments later, Veronica and one of Dash's gang, named Ryan, burst through some bushes with a bucket and two water bottles full of water.
"Ohmygosh!" Veronica yelled. "What happened to you?"
"Quicksand..." Dash said. He was in up to his waist now, Danny up to his stomach. Ryan moved forward.
"No!" Danny called. "That's how Dash got stuck."
"But how-"
"Not now!" Danny snapped. "Just find a way to get us out of this mess!"
"Um... Okay..." Veronica said.
"What's all the yelling for?" a voice asked. Paulina appeared in the clearing, accompanied by Ashley, who was carrying twice the amount of firewood she should have been, Paulina carrying none.
"Us!" Dash said frantically. "Now help!"
"But, we don't know how to-" Ryan began.
"The firewood," Danny said, the quicksand nearing chest level.
Ashley held out her double-sized stack. "You mean this? What for?"
"A long- branch-" Danny gasped. The quicksand was pushing in on him, drawing him even further under and the viscosity making it hard to breathe.
"Oh! Of course!" Veronica said. She quickly looked through the stack until she found the longest branch they had; almost four feet long.
Ryan took the branch and held it out. Dash grabbed the end, and he pulled.
"It's no good," he panted. "It's too heavy!"
Veronica rushed to his aid. Dash was pulled free with a loud sucking sound, and clambered onto solid ground with relief.
"Good. Now-unhff-me," Danny panted. He was almost in up to his neck now.
The branch extended towards him, and Danny reached out. But his hands fell short. He had simply sunk too far down, and the branch was inches shy; so close it was almost painful.
Danny stretched his arms out further, brushing the very tip of the branch. But that was all. He sunk lower, up to his neck.
Dash took the end of the branch from Ryan and leaned stepped forward to the very edge of the quicksand. "Hold me," he told the other four. Ryan and Veronica held onto him, anchoring Dash to the ground as he advanced into the quicksand.
Danny was up past his chin by now, and barely able to see due to the angle his head was forced to be at to allow breath. His arms flailed wildly in the air--and came in contact with something wooden! Danny grabbed hold and took a deep breath, just as his head went under.
With Danny holding onto the stick for dear life, Dash pulled Danny, and Ryan and Veronica pulled Dash. But Dash was beginning to sink into the quicksand, and it was slowly winning; dragging all three into the sinking sand as well.
"We need to help!" Ashley exclaimed, throwing her bundle of wood into the air and hurrying over to grab hold of Veronica's waist.
"But what if I get dragged into there, too?" Paulina asked, eyeing the sinking sand nervously.
"PAULINA!" Ashley shrieked. Danny's hands could barely be seen above the surface, and Dash was already in up to his waist.
"Alright, alright," Paulina said. "No need to yell."
Paulina walked over to take hold of Ryan's waist, and pulled along with Ashley, Veronica, Ryan, and Dash. And slowly, ever so slowly, the tug-o-war was swinging around to their favor.
Finally, Danny was hauled back upon dry ground, gasping for air. Veronica offered him one of their water bottles, which Danny drank from thirstily.
"Whew," he said, wiping the clinging sand from his face so he could see. "That was just a little too close. So, still think I have super powers, Dash?"
Dash shook his head numbly. Danny got shakily to his feet.
"I guess you found water then, huh?" he asked Veronica and Ryan.
"There's a spring over there, on the other side of camp," Ryan replied, gesturing over his shoulder.
"Good. Yuck, I need to wash this stuff off," Danny said. He followed the lead of Ryan and Veronica to the camp, Paulina and Ashley trailing, Ashley once again left to bear the burden of firewood alone.
"Whoa, what happened to you guys?" Kwan asked from the smoldering beginnings of a fire. Danny shook his head wearily, too tired to explain. They passed through the camp and followed a trail someone had thoughtfully remembered to mark.
The spring was small, water gushing from between a few rocks to pool in a depression between a pair of boulders. Danny entered the water and ducked his head under, the gritty quicksand washing off easily.
"How do you stand it?" Dash asked. "It's freezing!"
Danny shrugged in reply and got out of the small spring. The water was indeed freezing, but Danny, being half ghost, was used to the cold. Dash, being purely human, was not.
Dash frowned before entering the water, staying in only a few minutes and leaving shivering. He hurried back along the path, muttering something about not liking the cold.
Danny followed at a more leisurely pace, returning to camp to find Dash sitting so close to the fire it was a wonder he hadn't ignited, and telling the story of their dip in the quicksand. Danny sat down by the fire too, and was immediately bombarded by questions on what it was like to be submerged under quicksand. Danny waved off the questions with a shake of his head and pulled a spare shirt from his backpack.
"What!" Dash exclaimed as he saw Danny pull out the shirt. "You have extra clothes? No fair!"
"Take it easy Dash, I only have one extra shirt," Danny said. He pulled off his wet shirt, wrung it out and left it on a rock by the fire to dry, then pulled on the dry one.
"There," Danny said, wishing he could do something about his soggy pants.
"Wow, Danny," Paulina said, in a rather flattering voice, "when did you get so muscular?"
"Huh?" Danny asked. "Uh, I...don't...know."
"Hey," Kwan said, "since we have a fire and all, why don't we tell some scary stories?"
"Yeah!" Ashley agreed. "It'll be just like camping!"
"I'm not sure what's scarier than being stuck in quicksand..." Dash admitted.
"Hey, why don't you tell some stories, Danny?" Star asked. "I bet you know lots of good ghost stories!"
"Well, I don't really... I mean, they're really not all that..."
Paulina perked up. "You know that ghost boy, Inv- I mean, Danny Phantom, right, Danny?"
"Well, I uh... yeah."
"Then," she continued with an air of authority, "why don't you tell us a story about him?"
It was obvious that Paulina was dying to hear a story about the love of her life. But Danny frowned.
"I don't know..."
"Please?"
"Come on, Danny!" Veronica urged. "We all want to hear one!"
"Okay," Danny sighed, relenting. He searched his mind for a scary occurrence. Maybe the run-in with his evil self? No, that needed too much explanation. Finally deciding on an event, Danny began telling his tale.
"Well, it was last Halloween night..."
"Wait! Doesn't the story have a title?" Star asked.
"Oh! Uh, yeah. It's called, uh, it's called... The, uh, Legend of the Fright Night," Danny said. It wasn't the most creative title, but the group leaned closer, eager to hear the story.
"Anyway," Danny continued. "It was near midnight on last Halloween, when I- uh, Danny Phantom, was flying through the Ghost Zone..."
Hahah… Danny telling ghost stories. Why do I find that amusing? Ugh, I can find just about anything amusing. I can find a giant fire-breathing gorilla-whale amusing. (The giant fire-breathing gorilla-whale may be more commonly known to you as Godzilla. Such goes the Japanese translation…)
…Or maybe, I'm just having fun portraying Dash as such. And the shirt-thing came from all those stories that involve Danny becoming noticeably more muscular. I couldn't resist adding to the piles of other stories, even if 'Micro Management' disagreed. Besides, this was written about a week before the episode actually aired... What kind of person would I be, to take out something that seemed perfectly good at the time, and fix it, just 'cause the show told me so?
Reviews are nice, if you happen to be reading and not reviewing. Although, I think, from now on, I'll only be replying to the reviews that I have something to say to, or if I need to answer a question. Mmph. I'll just end this now and spare you the torment of reading my rambles.
As always,
-E.P.