smacks forehead Oops, forgot disclaimer: I don't own Danny phantom, but I DO own Drake, Senka, Sarah, and all characters who are associated with them…
Including the bunny demons, as scary as that is…
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Other than that, no author's notes. Enjoy!
A single drop
Things were calm in the apartment. Well, as calm as they could have been the crowd that now inhabited it.
Drake was crouching next to a ratty couch in an almost toad-like style, his thick reptilian tail swaying form side to side ever so slightly. Senka sat on said couch, elbow resting on an armrest, her face molded into an expression of boredom; her tail too, if one looked, was swaying from side to side. Tucker had been summoned not too long after they had arrived there, though he didn't seem all too happy about it. His thumbs "fidgeting" slightly, (it looked more like they were thumbing some sort of combination of buttons on a game controller…) and eyes darting between Drake and Senka, he reminded Danny of a jittery bug who was between two bug zappers. Sam, trying to maintain her gothic emotional distance, leaned on a chair that the ghost child now resided in.
Danny himself, now in his human form, sat lodged in the musty old chair that he felt belonged in a garage sale, his face somewhere between a little pissed and a little scared. He had no idea if Valerie's ghost hunting equipment was online at the moment; and worse yet he had no idea what the heck these people had wanted him for…power, evil redemption? Something worse?
And why the heck had he and Sam agreed to Tucker coming along? It was worse enough that Sam was here in possible danger, Tucker didn't need to be too…he shook his head. Sometimes stupid decisions were made, that was a fact, but it was always ones that ended up getting other people getting hurt.
Funny how all the bad ones were always his own…
"Sorry I kept you waiting…" a smooth female voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Just making some final adjustments to our lore log…"
"No, those were PRE-final adjustments…" Senka muttered darkly. "Otherwise you would have been in there for more than an hour…"
The oriental woman huffed. "What? It's good to stay informed…"
Drake cocked an eyebrow, a heave of a sigh escaping his chest. "It wasn't more information on Inky, was it?"
"Or was it just more fanfiction?" Senka smirked.
The other woman's reaction was to turn beet red.
"Fanfiction?" Danny, Sam, and Tucker blurted at once.
A rush of blood made it to Drake's face, being quite obvious despite the presence of shiny grey scales on his cheeks. "You don't need to know…"
"Imagine people writing stories about you for their amusement…" Senka started anyways.
The dragon sighed. "And then it turns into a really bad smut-novel like plot…" he added dryly.
"Hey! Those were quality pieces of artistic writing!" she countered.
"Whatever, Sarah," Senka continued, waving her hand dismissively. "You're addicted to badly-written smut, enough said…"
"Does this discussion HAVE to be in front of them?" Sarah hissed through clenched teeth, her face heating up all the more.
"At least it wasn't the slash fic…or WAS it?" Both Senka and Drakes snapped their gazes over towards Sarah. She shrugged helplessly.
Drake glanced at the goldfish-like expressions of the trio in front of them. "I suppose we should get back on topic…" he rapped a claw-like fingernail against his chin in thought. "Then again, at least they weren't there for the 'little' burping contest…"
The two women blanched. "Aw, jeez, Drake, do you HAVE to bring that up?"
The dragon shrugged helplessly, still squatting, in a cute fashion. "It was funny…"
"Until Inky burped a fireball and burned a hole in the roof…"
All three winced at Senka's comment.
Tucker jabbed his finger at them heatedly. "Okay, as funny as that sounds, I really need to know a few things! I know that you two are Senka and Drake, since Danny said you were the freaky ones…"
Two said "freaks" sent death glares towards said ghost child, Senka even rising out of her position on another couch to fold her arms in her robe and glare down at them. Said ghost child shrugged helplessly while defending himself with "I had to speak his language."
"Who's Inky?" Tucker continued, ignoring Danny.
"Sarah's boyfriend, an incubus," Senka said before Sarah could put in a comment.
"A flaming incubus," Drake smirked. He paused a moment when he got no reaction out of the three of them, and then added "He controls fire…it was a joke…"
"Your jokes are worse than Danny's…" Sam muttered.
"Hey! I can be funny when I want to be!"
"Being funny isn't the same as being able to crack a joke, dude. Funny is when you phase your pants off in public. Cracking a joke is like saying that the chicks of the world hate Dash Baxtor."
"Tucker…Girls DO hate Dash…"
Silence.
"At least those of us with half of a mind…" Sam grumbled
"Ahem." Tucker cleared his throat. "…anyways…I must ask who this FINE young lady right before me is?"
"My name's Sarah."
"Ah. My name's Tucker. Tucker Foley. TF for—"
GONK!
"Enough with the bad pick-up lines!" Danny and Sam shouted in unison.
"And I thought WE had problems…" Drake muttered.
Senka rolled her eyes, a sparkle of annoyance gracing her icy blue orbs. "We do!"
His face blanked. "Not as bad as theirs…anyways…" he said, gesturing that the slight jumble the three of them had begun. He cleared his throat. "Ok… (moving on from the slapstick violence…) you want to find out more about us, right?"
The three stopped cold, then immediately sat down on the couch without so much as a peep, intent on learning as much as they could about their new peers.
Sarah drew in a deep sigh. "Ok, let's start with what YOU know, and we can fill in the blank parts."
There was an awkward silence for a moment, the three of them shifting around nervously. "Well…" Danny started, his fingers scratching the skin under his hair on the back of his head. "…we know he's a dragon…" he said while pointing at Drake.
Drake resumed his crouch, which appeared quite comfortable for him, and sent a blank look back at the ghost child.
"And we know that the two of them are some sort of superheroes…" Sam added.
"Or villains…" Danny muttered.
Much to his surprise, this earned no visible reaction from any of their three listeners. Were they expecting it? With a slight sigh leaking out through his lips, his gaze hardened. Despite what their intentions might have been, he was still holding onto the suspicions that this could be a trap.
And WHY had they agreed to Tucker coming again? God, he felt stupid…another mistake to go on the list of many…
After a pause, Senka used her hand to motion for them to continue. "And…?"
"That's about it, other than Drake can send tidal waves out of his hands," Danny finished.
The three of them stood in an awkward silence for a moment, each seeming to ponder their own view of what should be said. "Wow…that leaves a lot of stuff uncovered…" Drake scratched the back of his head, strands of this thick hair falling about his fingers in an abstract caress. "Who wants to start?"
Sarah sighed. "Well, if neither of you want to…"
"You're the 'leader.'"
She glowered at the winged girl's comment. "Alright then, I'll start."
She then proceeded with the story, as dubious as it sounded. Apparently, from what they had said, they were from an alternate timeline, one free of the severe ghost influence that this one possessed. Much like Danny's world, a portal had opened up, but instead of to the realm of the dead, it opened up to another dimension, known as the "dragon realm." This portal, she explained, was ripped open by a mass of excess magic from that realm, and as it passed through the dimensional membrane, different elements of it had "unfiltered," like sunlight through a prism.
Drake, or "Miaho," (A/N: "Mee-AH-hoh") rather, had inherited the powers of water, and thus his appearance had altered to allow him to control it. Senka had inherited the powers of darkness, and so her body had changed to look like one of a succubus. The mentioned infamous Inky was an incubus; a pyrotechnic.
"Wait, you're a succubus?" Tucker blurted at that moment. "You mean one of those sex demons that…does it to a guy…then steals their soul?"
Senka's eyebrows lowered. "Yes…"
He eyed her over again. "So…why aren't you wearing something a little more…alluring?" he sensually purred, (which was a very disturbing tone of voice, if Danny said so himself,) wiggling his eyebrows.
Miaho looked at him with a blank expression of surprise, before a smug look came over his features. You're SO dead, he mouthed.
The dangerous black glow came to Senka's eyes, her long blond hair rising up in a brief torrent of wind, and the overall murderous look on her face, which normally would have caused the ghost king to cower in a corner, was much more than enough to make the inquisitive teen shrink away.
After a snort of mirth, the half dragon laid a hand on her shoulder, and after a brief second where she held up her hand with dark flames from it, she calmed, the invisible torrent of energy fading into nothing.
Sarah blinked at the duo standing next to her, and a long whistle of admiration leaked out of her lips. "Too bad you couldn't have done that for Inky…it took forever to rebuild that wall…"
"Huh?" their audience chorused.
"Last time someone brought up that point, she blasted them through a concrete wall…" Drake muttered, a somewhat embarrassed expression gracing his features.
"Ok…" Tucker trembled, "I'm writing a note of that on my PDA…"
"I'm just glad Inky has a hard of a head as he does…" Miaho continued.
"Hey, he's not THAT thick-headed…" Sarah retorted, her arms folded defensively. "He has his moments…as do YOU, Drake!"
"Well excuse me, but I never burned my own pants off in a tantrum…" the dragon snorted.
The three of them began a more heated round of bickering, which included (but was not limited to) mentions of explosive flatulence, missile toes, "enhanced prosthetics to increase performance," water balloon fights, purging of the toilet gone awry, and numerous other instances that the ghost child and his friends couldn't even comprehend.
"Are you always this crazy?" Danny interrupted.
The three froze for a moment, glancing at each other with inquisitive expressions, before shifting their communal gaze back towards the trio seated on the couch.
"No."
"No."
"No."
"We're usually worse," Senka stated flatly. "This is the bare bones expression of what it's like to live in a crowded household of rambunctious hormone-driven teenagers with super powers."
This earned a collective blink.
"Oh-ho Kay, then…" Danny started. "So what do you want ME for?"
Sarah turned towards Miaho and Senka, both of whom motioned for her to continue. She glared at them, obviously pissed at the assumed role of "leader" that they had forced her into, but she acquiesced (albeit grudgingly) and continued.
From their own timeline, which apparently had a small connection to the ghost zone, the Arch-ghost Clockwork informed them of a possible threat via a powerful alliance of those who should stay separate, a.k.a. villains. They had been told that there were some beings from their own timeline that had already invaded the ghost zone through that connection, and had stolen the Fenton thermos that had served as a prison for one of the most feared beings in the entirety of the ghost world.
"Dan…" The word had escaped Danny's mouth before he was able to stop himself. He glanced up at Sarah, though she continued on as if nothing had happened. Senka, however, noticed, though she said nothing, allowing their 'leader' to continue.
"The bunny demons that you fought earlier are part of that alliance, so it seems…" Sarah grumbled.
"Well, considering how easily you dealt with them," Tucker pointed out, "It sounds like all that we'll have to worry about is the ghosts, right?"
Sarah shook her head sadly. "It's not that simple. I'm sure that that ghost who was in the Fenton thermos (whatever the hell that is) is indeed powerful, but that's not all of it. We have some villains from our side that are practically gods, they're so powerful."
"Daron went missing right after a giant rampage of his before we came here…" Senka's voice was hardly a whisper.
"Daron?"
Miaho grunted as his joints cracked when he stood up, massaging the slight cramps in his thighs as he stood. "He's a were-chimera. A freaking powerful one at that, too."
"Chimera in the mythological sense (1), or like the ultimate blending of animals sense?" Sam asked, not quite sure if she wanted the answer to it.
"I suppose both," Sarah said.
"How powerful are we talking, here? I mean, is he just like a dog-bear or something?"
Sarah shook her head once more. "No Tucker. He's far more dangerous than any mortal creature. Imagine the head of a dragon with some sort of breath-derived energy weapon that we haven't even been able to figure out yet, two sets of crab-like arms, and a 100-foot long (as a low estimate) centipede body with sets of insect wings on his back, ending in a nice scorpion tail. THAT is the type of dangerous we're talking about."
"He's a magical creature, too."
"Meaning…?"
Drake heaved another heavy sigh. "Think about it this way: all of us here are mortal creatures: the traditional laws of physics apply to us and everything in our bodies. His own chemistry is based on magic: he's a lot stronger than any creature should be. And due to his magical nature, conventional weapons don't work against him very well."
"He has a human form, too, that seems no different than anyone else," Senka added. "The worst part is, is that he face-shifts in his human form, so we can never keep track of him."
"Every time we come close to nabbing him he just changes his identity, so it's back to square one."
Miaho's comment loomed in the air, promoting an awkward silence in the group. However, it was Danny's next comment that truly struck a nerve.
"There's another one, isn't there?"
The black-haired woman nodded solemnly. "Not quite as scary, but it's still a pretty hard foe."
Sam blinked. "'It'?"
"Battlerex, whatever you want to name it, it's still a dinosaur on steroids…" Senka growled. "Twice the size, durability like you wouldn't believe, breathes fire..." she muttered as she counted abilities on her fingers.
Tucker snickered. "Does it have explosive flatulence, too?"
All other sets of eyes either glared or stared blankly at him.
"What? It's a plausible question…"
Ignoring Tucker's comment, the blue-eyed boy continued. "This just keeps on getting better, doesn't it?" Danny sighed. "Is that it, as far as you know?"
"Those are the only ones that we actually KNOW of…there could be more…" Sarah shrugged helplessly. "We're giving you all the information that we have, honestly."
"Ok, well what do you think we should do, then?"
Light glinted off of Drake's twin fangs. "Train."
A slight stir of frustration and anger welled in Danny's chest at Miaho's laconic comment. "Train? You're hearing about a possible most evil alliance ever and all you can say is that you'll train for it?"
"Not me." He grinned, revealing several pointed teeth, not the least of which were his over-developed fangs. "You."
"WHAT!" Danny exploded. "WHY!"
"It only takes a single drop of water to overflow a dam, Danny." For a moment, all of the lines on Miaho's face deepened, the shine of his eyes fading, hair seeming to lighten in color right before Danny's eyes. He looked…old…experienced…broken…
A sad smile budded on the half-dragon's face. "We can't win this fight alone, Danny. We need you."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
His floating was interrupted. A pity, since he so enjoyed floating…
He mentally slapped himself. How far had he fallen? His intellect had been divided so many times over that there had been nothing left, just a dizzy drooling idiot floating in an artificial tube.
Dan was rudely roused from his sleep as he felt a powerful suction pulling at his feet. The unnatural shell of this imbecilic persona slowly flowing away, his eyes snapped open.
He was awake.
The world before him flooded into sight, a brilliance of color that momentarily blinded him for a moment. Then, as the figures came into sight, a sadistic grin bloomed on his face.
An elegant, fair hand was offered out to him, and his red eyes glanced down at it for a second, the grin of his face deepening.
His time was at hand…
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I love these cliffhangers too much... (grins) I'm sorry, but I just love em, heheh.
(Dodges gigantic wave of thrown rocks) Ack! Don't hurt me! I bruise easily!
1) Hey all, for those of you who might be confused about the chimera stuff; I'll explain it to you:
The mythological chimera is a fire-breathing blending of three animals: usually a lion, snake, and goat, though sometimes there are cases of bird parts instead of goats too. The "blending of animals" chimera can be just about anything: a 3 headed dragon to a monkey-lizard-dodo bird. Daron, of course, is a tad more dangerous than those things, heheh.
As an FYI, I'm going on vacation for the next week and a half soon, so I'm going to try to update again before I leave, however things are really hectic here, and it may be difficult. Sorry for your wait.
Anyways, thanks a lot for your reviews! They keep me going!
Dak