An unexpected ally
This has most certainly been a very interesting summer for Danny, and that was before he befriended satyrs. It probably started at the beginning of Summer Vacation. Life had decided to give the halfa a double whammy; first the incident with Freakshow and the Reality Gaunlet, then barely a week later Undergrowth attacked and Danny got new ice powers. But besides these major instances, the rate of ghost attacks had steadily decreased since almost a month before school had let out.
Today had started off quiet enough. The trio of friends had planned on spending the day at the local waterpark after hitting the Nasty Burger. Just as the teens had reached the restaurant, the universe decided to show that their plans were all for naught in the familiar form of a blue wisp and a cooling tingle down Danny's spine. Sam and Tucker nod in understanding as Danny ducked behind a dumpster. Transforming, Danny Phantom flew up, searching for the one who had activated his ghost sense.
"C'mon, let's just get this over with so I can go back to enjoying the rest of my summer…" Danny muttered to himself, wishing that he could use his ghost sense to actually locate the ghost.
He heard the growl. Phantom whipped his head, just in time to see a blue fire ball coming at him. Time seemed to slow down as Danny contorted his body to avoid the blast, the heat briefly felt on his face. Righting himself, the teen gave a glare to the perpetrator: Aragon, the dark dragon ghost.
"Prepare for your untimely demise ghost boy!" Aragon roared out, breathing out another blast of fire.
"Let's see you try Dragonheart!" Danny retorted, moving to engage the larger ghost.
A barrage of blasts were fired at Aragon, knocking him to the earth. Danny landed in a ready position. Aragon then charged at Phantom, with the goal of tearing apart with his jaws. Anticipating the charge, Danny flipped onto the dragon's head, stomping the jaws shut as he ran down the ghost's back. Using the tail like a runway of sorts, Danny sprung into the air. Growling in anger, Aragon flew after and shot fire at the teen, who was steering the fight to the outskirts of town with the idea to minimize collateral damage.
It was a few minutes into the battle when he felt it. A warm tingle shooting up his spine to his arms, red flames briefly dancing up from his elbows to his hands.
"Wha-" Danny's momentary distraction was enough for Aragon to smack him with his tail, sending the teen crashing into the ground. Danny grunted as he pulled himself from the crater.
"Pavement; my old nemesis…"
That was when the bizarre happened. As he was diving down to deliver a strike as Danny was recovering from the impact, Aragon dropped out of the sky, slamming into the street, momentarily stunned. Phantom leapt up to feet as Aragon rose up, snarling at the teen. Suddenly, the dark ghost dragon became rigid, sniffing the air.
"A trueblood?!" Aragon muttered to himself, for the first time looking afraid, head swiveling around as if anticipating something.
"Uh, what are you talking about?"
"Show yourself!" Aragon shouted to the air.
"Dude, if you keep talking to yourself, people are gonna think you're crazy." This only earned a growl in response.
Danny's eyebrows scrunched up. What had Aragon so worried? He didn't have long to ponder as the ghost shook of whatever had spooked him and blasted fire in the ghost boy's direction. Before Danny could react, the blue flames were diverted by a dome of light. Deciding not to question his fortune, Danny rapidly fired off a barrage of ectoblasts at his opponent.
As the ghost dragon fought his opponent, he would abruptly get whacked by an unseen force. At one point, claw marks appeared on Aragon's shoulder, causing the ghost to hiss out angrily.
"This nonsense ends NOW!" Having enough, Aragon attempted to slash whomever dared to attack him. To Danny's astonishment, clanging noises reverberated as the ghost dragon tussled with his unseen foe.
"Looks like someone's having trouble with his imaginary friend. Probably just needs to chill out for a while." Taking advantage of his distraction, the ghostly hero blasted Aragon with his cryokinesis, effectively freezing him in place.
Not waiting for his opponent to recover, Phantom snatched the amulet from the ghost, causing Aragon to revert to his humanoid form. One Fenton Thermos use later, Amity Park had one less dragon to worry about.
Danny let out a sigh of relief, then the odd sensation returned. Feeling the warm tingle, Danny watched in fascination as small flames danced around his hand. The flames provided nothing more than (Danny speculated) a soft glow; no heat came off of the flames. When the flames disappeared, Danny suddenly had the feeling that he wasn't alone.
He turned to an alleyway directly across from him; the space seemingly empty… at least it did at first. Then he saw a ripple of motion. Whatever, or whoever, was there was able to turn itself nearly invisible; keyword nearly. While the ghosts can turn completely invisible, Danny could faintly make out a faint outline of the alleyway's occupant(s).
"Um, I know you're there, and I want to say 'thanks for helping me' and… yeah," Danny felt a little awkward talking to seemingly empty air. "You don't have to hide; I don't want to fight you."
A large pair of golden eyes appeared, their owner then flickered into view as they slowly came up to the young halfa. Danny was stunned to discovered the owner of the golden eyes was a dragon. While its body equated that of a large horse, the dragon's neck and tail greatly added to its size overall. The platinum scale armor glinted in the sunlight, light refracting in various colors; Danny had the feeling that the dragon could glow. The dragon, Danny noted, had fin-like things on its head (probably in place of ears), two horns rest on top with a trail of spines traveling down its body to its tail. The tail had a pair of fin sails to help in flight. The dragon had its wings tucked loosely at its sides.
As soon as he saw his 'surprise helper' return to visibly, Danny came to the conclusion. The very same one that someone makes when, after eating stale bread for so long then having freshly-baked bread. Or having a king-sized bar of chocolate compared to the sad "bite-sized" chocolate. Or a fast-food burger compared to a gourmet burger- Danny shook his head. He really shouldn't be making food comparisons on an empty stomach.
To summarize, this was a real dragon; the real deal. Somehow, he could feel the difference. Not a ghost. And not someone who needed some gaudy piece of jewelry to change into a dragon. Danny stood there in shock and awe.
The dragon seemed amused at Danny's stunned silence. "Hi. Don't worry, I don't want to fight you," The dragon said in a masculine voice. He sounded like someone around Danny's age, but his voice was smoother than any Danny had ever heard. "I'm quite friendly."
Danny chuckled nervously, briefly rubbing his neck. "Umm, hi?" Danny waved. "Thank you for the help. I'm Danny."
"I'm glad that I could help." The dragon smiled. "I'm Raxtus. So you're the famous halfa."
"You heard of me?"
"There's been a lot of gossip in the magical community about you; Many good things. I've been wanting to meet you for some time." Raxtus tilted his head. "Is Danny Phantom your actual name? I heard of some others, like 'Inviso-Bill'."
Danny scowled, "Inviso-Bill; man I hate that one. Danny Phantom is the name of my ghost form. My actual name is Danny Fenton."
"Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom. Ha, I like it! Your two names are so similar and noone's the wiser…" the dragon snickered.
Danny smiled, feeling at ease. Before anything else could be said, the sound of tires from a large vehicle was heard. While Raxtus looked in the direction with curiosity, Danny recognized exactly who was coming their way.
"We better go. The people that are coming don't exactly like me and I don't know how they'll react to you." Danny rose into the air. "Wanna come with me? I know of a great place for hamburgers- that is, if you eat that sort of thing."
A toothy grin was flashed at the floating teen, "Sounds great! And who doesn't like burgers?" Both boy and dragon chuckled. "I'll turn invisible and follow you." Both took off as an armored RV with the FentonWorks logo came screeching by.
…~~~oOo~~~…
Danny found his friends at a booth towards the back of the restaurant. Per usual, Sam and Tucker had started a squabble about different dietary lifestyles.
"Meat is obviously superior Sam. The proteins it provides-"
"Those are innocent animals that you are consuming and you can get your proteins from different sources."
"Guys," Danny stuck his head right between the two, getting their attention, "this meal's to go." He leaned foward and spoke in a lowered tone. "There's someone new I think you'd want to meet."
A short time later, the trio of friends were at the park. The few park goers that had passed them by paid them little mind, as if carrying over a dozen Nasty burger meals were quite normal. Danny led his friends to a more secluded part of the part, where he left Raxtus waiting.
"Dude, whoever this new friend is sure has a appetite," Tucker shifted the bags in his grip. "Do you think he'll like the chili? Most people can't handle it on account of how spicy it is."
"Eh, I got a feeling it might be up to his speed." Danny had been very vague when it came to who they were meeting. This further fueled the curiosity of Sam and Tucker.
"C'mon Danny, spill. You said this wasn't a ghost, yet they got you really excited-"
A warm tingle shot up Danny's spine as Sam and Tucker both let out silent gasps. "Woah, what's up with you arms?" Danny glanced down at his left arm, seeing a small flame dancing about his bare hand before vanishing like what happened earlier. This time, instead of the larger flames that danced around in his ghost form, this was smaller (akin to his ghost sense) and more subtle.
Danny only hummed in response to the question, choosing to delve into the shrubs when he heard rustling of foliage. When the tree that Raxtus had coiled himself around came into view, Danny came to the conclusion that his ghost sense must be able to sense more than just ghosts.
"What's up with the fog?"
"Huh?" Danny was brought out of his musings. "Fog?"
"Duh, the fog surrounding only the tree there," Sam pointed to the dragon. "Hard not to notice something strange like that."
"If you can't see that, then you have bad eyesight. And this is coming from someone with glasses."
Danny looked at Raxtus, who smiled in amusement. "Are you disguising yourself or something?"
"That's an effect of magical creatures. Most humans aren't able to interact with us. Your friends can't tell what I really am without some assistance, though it's very impressive that they're here still. Usually, humans wouldn't be able to get as close as they are now."
"I can see and hear you just fine. Must be because I'm half-ghost…" Danny mused.
The scaly ridges that made up Raxtus' eyebrows did the human equivalent of a questioning look. "Half-ghost? That's not what I'm smelling."
"What?"
"You're just as human as your friends there." Raxtus moved closer to Danny, sniffing the teen's tee shirt. "Oddly, you smell somewhat familiar..."
"Danny, who are you talking to?" Sam and Tucker were looking at Danny with some concern.
Danny facepalmed mentally. "Right, you can't- This may sound strange, but the fog you guys are seeing isn't actually fog. It's a dragon."
"A dragon? Like Dora and Aragon?" Tucker inquired.
"No, they're ghosts who can turn into dragons. Raxtus here is an actual dragon, like the old stories and whatnot."
Sam had an excited look. "Wow, really?!"
"Wow, they accepted that quickly." Raxtus smiled.
"Eh, we've seen weirder." The teens pulled out the food for Raxtus. "We got several different items from the menu. How do feel about spicy foods?"
"Love it!"
Danny chuckled, "Well then you'll love the chili. It's too spicy for most people."
"Sounds like a challenge."
The four of them enjoyed their meal, Sam and Tucker asking about the fight with Aragon and some basic questions about the dragon with Danny serving as the interpreter. They watched in awe at how Raxtus' food seemed to disappear in the fog.
"You call this spicy? I've had worse."
"He likes the chili," Danny informed his friends. "And seems to really like the triple decker." He added, watching Raxtus scarf down the burger with enjoyment.
"Now there's someone who appreciates meat, unlike someone I know- OW!"
"So, what does he look like?" Sam asked, ignoring the glare sent her way from the technogeek.
"Okay, Raxtus is somewhat around the size of the GAV, but the length of his neck and tail make him seem larger." Danny glanced at Raxtus as he described the dragon. "Golden eyes. Pair of horns on his head. He's got those 'fin-things' for ears-"
*snickers*
"I can't think of the name for them right now! Anyway, Raxtus definitely looks like he's built for speed; lean and sleek. And he's decked out with platinum scale armor. He's certainly shiny, his silvery-white scales reflecting all sorts of colors."
"He sounds beautiful," Sam gushed.
"Yeah, I'm the pretty dragon," Raxtus muttered bitterly to himself.
"She didn't mean anything bad about that," Danny added, hoping Sam hadn't offended the dragon.
"Don't worry, I know what she means. I'm just the disgrace when it comes to dragons. We're supposed to be all 'I AM FIRE! I AM DEATH!' And all that. I'm a runt who sparkles and makes plants grow with his breath weapon." Raxtus coiled up, grumbling incoherently.
"Do the other dragons pick on you?" Danny asked with concern.
A huff of frustration was let out. "It doesn't help that my dad is Celebrant, the king of all dragons. The biggest, baddest dragon around." Raxtus shook his head. "Here I go again, dumping my problems on someone I just met."
Danny looked at the dragon empathetically. "I know how you feel. Almost everyone thinks I'm a freak and a loser too. Heck, I'm even the personal punching bag to one of the guys at my school. I know we just met, but I honestly think you're great and super cool looking." He then patted the dragon's shoulder, "and I'm glad to have met you."
Sam smiled in Raxtus' direction. "I can't actually see or hear you Raxtus, but I can tell that you're unique. And being unique is honestly the best thing about you."
"Yeah, you're one of us dude. The squad that everyone thinks are losers, but are, in reality, really awesome." Tucker piped in.
Raxtus smiled, gazing at his new friends. "Thanks guys." Using his tail, he pulled the teens closer.
"Woah, he's solid!" Tucker gasped.
"Of course he is."
"We see him as a cloud. While we know that that's just an illusion, it's still surprising to find a 'cloud' solid." Sam crossed her arms.
Using the end of his tail, Raxtus flicked Tucker's hat off. "Hey!" Tucker complained as he retrieved the fallen hat, only for it to get swatted off again by the snickering dragon.
They spent the next hour lounging and chatting before going their separate ways. Raxtus promised that they'll see each other again soon. The teens headed to Danny's home with the intention of dumping Aragon into the ghost zone and some video games.
"Where are you going to put the amulet?"
"In the emergency kit until I get the chance to return it to Dora." Danny pulled out a case from under his bed. His parents had made various containers that were ghost proof, so as the items would remain safe. While it did its job, it had no effect on Danny whatsoever in either form (which he was grateful for).
"Danny, can you come down please? I got some exciting news!"
"Coming Mom!" Danny locked the case and slid it back under the bed. "Guess we're dumping Aragon later."
Danny, flanked by Sam and Tucker, went downstairs and into the living room. Danny's mom and Jazz were already there.
"What's up?"
"Yeah, what's the exciting news?" Jazz asked, setting down her book.
"Is it GHOSTS?!" Thundered Jack Fenton as he barreled in from the kitchen, face covered in the evidence of a fudge break.
"No honey, not ghosts." Mr. Fenton deflated a bit. Maddie turned to the awaiting teens. "I've been in touch with some cousins of ours. They're coming over to visit!"