The bright sunlight stung at glowing green eyes and wind whipped through tousled white hair. He floated there, 60 feet in the air, staring at nothing with wide, horrified eyes. Shouting from below reached his ears, but he didn't hear them. It had all happened so fast. He hadn't had time to think, much less react. And now…
What was he going to do?
A voice broke through his shock and he turned to look at who'd spoken. Shock twisted into confusion and he instinctively hovered back a few feet. The person in front of him was dressed in a blue suit and wore a wooden helm that hid all but his eyes from view. But what confused Danny wasn't the person's clothing, but his arms. What looked like tree limbs and branches extended from the places where the man's arms should have been, clinging and wrapping around the building Danny was floating next to. The figure seemed human enough otherwise. His ghost sense wasn't going off and nothing about this person seemed spirit-like, but what else could it be? The man spoke again, but Danny couldn't understand him. Was that Korean? Japanese? Chinese?
"Uh… I don't… I don't know what you're saying." he tried. He held up his hands, hoping this person wasn't the fighting type. "Look, I don't want any trouble. Ok?"
The man tilted his head slightly. "American?" he asked, pausing for a moment. He gestured to the ground below and Danny could see the scatter hunks of metal and the crowd that was now growing and looking up at them. The tree man said something else, but Danny hadn't a clue what he was saying.
"I-I can pick that up, if you want. Is that what you want?"
The tree guy said more unknown words and Danny's frustration grew.
"Look, clearly I can't understand you and you can't understand me." he said, gesturing between them, as if hand signals would help get the message across any better. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. How about, you just go mind your own business and I'll get out of your hair, ok?" He began to slowly float away and down towards the ground. He needed to retrieve the portal gun pieces if he wanted any chance of getting back home.
The tree man shouted. Danny kept making his way closer to the ground.
"I'm just gonna get my things and-"
A long branch launched from the man's arm and reached out to grab at Danny. Instinct took over and the teen went intangible, the wooden limb passing right through him. He dashed a few feet away and let himself become tangible again.
"Hey! I said I wasn't-" the instant he spoke the tree limbs came at him again. He dodged to the left, going intangible once more and disappearing from view. Clearly this wasn't going to be a situation he could talk his way out of. Then again, he couldn't think of a time when that method had actually worked. With a sigh, he dove for the ground and began picking up the pieces of portal gun that had been strewn across the pavement and sidewalk. A scream sounded from beside him, likely some lady only just noticing the metal chunks floating seemingly by themselves into a hovering pile. Danny didn't bother to look up. He needed to get his stuff and get out of here, asap.
He grabbed a metal tube that had a faint purple glow to it, but the piece was immediately knocked out of his hand by a tree limb. The impact toppled the teen over and he flickered back into sight. Danny looked up. The tree guy was on the ground now, posed for a fight and shouting what Danny assumed to be orders. So much for avoiding a fight.
"Oh come on!" he shouted back, setting the pieces in his arms onto the ground. "I can't understand you! What's more shouting going to do?" He got to his feet and the crowd around them began to back up. Though, they didn't seem to be in any great hurry. There was a nonchalance in the way they moved. As if they were used to a super powered teenager fighting a tree person in broad daylight. He hazarded a glance at the onlookers and for the second time, he was caught by surprise.
Mixed in amongst the average human were figures that stood out like beacons of abnormality. The first one he noticed was a business woman with a snake for a head. Further back in the crowd he saw a man with some kind of pointed growths protruding from his bald head. Others were subtler. A lady with black, metallic hands. A young boy with what Danny could only describe as having bird legs, clinging to a guy whose eyes were a deep, blood red. All around him these odd people were gathered. Watching. And none of the normal people next to them seemed to mind. Everyone was more interested in he and the tree guy. No… no they were all staring at Danny. As if he was the only weird person here.
"What the hell…" Danny took a step back. Within seconds he was consumed by branches, wrapping tightly around him and holding his arms close to his sides. He winced. He'd let himself get distracted. This was no time to think about who or what was watching. Just fight. Get free and fight. Then run the second he had the chance.
Intangibility swept over him and Danny easily phased through the restraints. This time he didn't hesitate. His hands lit up with green energy and he shot a blast at the tree guy's chest. The blue-clad figure stumbled back, taken by surprise. Danny flew upwards and scanned the crowd. He needed something to put the gun pieces in. Something he could carry and keep his hands free. There! A uniformed kid, about his age with a backpack.
Danny dove for him. The student, a dark haired boy with some kind of growth on his arms, realized he was being targeted and turned to run. Danny was faster. He phased through the kid, grabbed the backpack straps and phased the bag off of his shoulders. The kid shouted in surprised.
"Sorry, but I really really need this." Danny said, hastily unzipping the bag and unceremoniously dumping its contents onto the sidewalk in front of the student. "Thanks, bye!"
Without a second to spare, he sped back to the clearing in the street and began to hastily grab at whatever wrecked gun pieces were closest and stuffed them into the bag. A thick wooden limb came for him, but Danny was ready this time. He focussed and summoned an ecto shield to block the attack, allowing him to keep packing the bag. The impact was audible and made Danny pause, but it had done the job. Just a couple more pieces he could see on the ground and then the one he'd seen fall onto that car.
He reached out to grab the still-mostly-assembled back half of the portal gun. Something flickered in the sunlight, reminding Danny of a spider's thread, and then the gun was flung back from his grasp and into the air. He watched as it landed in the hands of a blonde figure, clad head to toe in blue denim.
"Oh great. And who are you supposed to be, The Lord of Levis?" Danny deadpanned.
"English?" the blonde said. "Not my best, but I try. I am Best Jeanist. You have upset peace, attack hero and, attack civilian. Give up now and come quiet."
No, he thought, not the best English, but he got the gist. Danny let his shoulders relax, but kept his guard up. He wasn't about to just ignore the tree guy who was still poised to the right of him. "Ok. My name's Danny Phantom. I didn't mean any harm. I just need to get my stuff," he gestured to the bag and the half of a gun in Jeanist's hand, "and I will leave."
Best Jeanist shook his head. "I cannot do that. You must be detained. Come quiet."
Danny tensed. He doubted these 'heroes' had any way of keeping ghosts restrained, but he wasn't keen on finding out if they had an ace up their sleeves. "Sorry, but I was taught not to go anywhere with strangers. You and Treebeard here certainly fall into that category, so…" he turned invisible and intangible, "later!" Unseen, he sped forward, grabbed the gun and phased it out of Jeanist's grasp. The man whirled around, surprise lighting up his eyes.
Danny flew upwards, this time concentrating on keeping himself unseen and untouchable above all else. He spotted the last piece on the hood of a nearby car and made a beeline for it. The metal vanished under his touch and he quickly stowed it and the main gun part into the bag. Something glittered in the sunlight in front of him. This time he was able to identify it. Thin threads were glinting in the light, moving of their own accord through the air and encircling the space where the last piece had been. His eyes followed the threads back to the denim guy, who appeared to be manipulating the unwravelled strings from the hems of his sleeves. Like everything else they'd thrown at him though, the threads passed harmlessly through Danny. Still, he didn't want to wait around and see if another freak would show up that actually could take him on. He floated upwards, secured the bag onto his back and shot high into the air.
After flying over a few buildings and weaving through some streets, assuming he'd be harder to track if he avoided moving in a straight line, Danny eventually let his invisibility drop. He needed to conserve his energy in case more of those super people came after him. The Jeanist guy had mentioned detaining him. If he was working for the police… heck, he probably was one of the police. At this rate his face was going to be on wanted posters before nightfall. He needed to get out of town and figure out where the hell he was and how to get that damned gun working again.
He managed to reach a quieter part of town and landed on the roof of a building. There was a structure there that likely housed the building's air conditioning unit. Danny ducked behind it and waited. Nothing happened. Nothing continued to happen for a few minutes while he caught his breath. Even if he hadn't had to really fight anyone, going in and out of visibility on repeat and for an extended period of time was still draining. Not to mention the stress of everything that had led up to this crazy encounter. That fight with Technus and the Box Ghost seemed like it happened forever ago. Only now did he notice that his shoulders still hurt when he breathed too deeply. At least in his ghost form he'd heal a heck of a lot faster.
"Kamui Woods said you speak english."
Danny whirled around and stumbled to his feet. A man with long black hair and a ridiculously long scarf was perched on a telephone pole a few yards away. How had he gotten there.
"Let me guess, you're another 'hero person'?" Danny asked, readying himself to take flight again.
"I'm a Pro-Hero, as are the two men who you attacked back there." He tilted his head slightly. "Do you know what the penalty for that can be?"
"Hey, the tree guy attacked me first." Danny defended. "I couldn't figure out what he was saying and I just decided to get my stuff and go. Clearly, he had issue with that and started getting grabby with the branch thingies."
The man listened and waited for a moment before speaking. "You need to come with me. We'll take you down to the station and you can explain yourself to the police. They'll get this sorted out." He was confident as he spoke, as if he'd done this sort of thing many times before. His accent was still present, but at least he was speaking fluently. Still, the last place Danny needed to be was with the authorities.
Danny took a step back. "Sorry, I appreciate you listening to me and all, but I can't do that."
"I wasn't asking."
Danny hesitated. Then he ran. Invisibility flickered up his arm for a split second. Then a number of things hit him like a freight train all at once. His hand instantly popped back into sight, but not his white, gloved hand. His pale, solid, human skin came into view, along with the sleeves of the pajamas he'd been wearing when his ghost sense had gone off. Something heavy hit him in the chest and he couldn't bring his other leg up to keep moving. His body fell lazily and hit the gravel roof, hard, but he didn't feel the impact. His vision was going dark around the edges, like so many other times when he'd been knocked out. But he hadn't been hit in the head. His insides ached and burned. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get himself to breath. He couldn't move at all. Even his eyelids refused to blink as he lay there, suffocating. The darkness relentlessly closed in around him and terror and confusion blocked out the voice that was calling out from the other side of the roof.
The air stung as it filled his lungs, but he sucked it in ravenously. His eyes watered and he blinked furiously as sight returned to him. He sat up, wavering from the dizziness. His heart was racing, beating furiously in his aching chest. His right hand clutched at his shirt and only then did he realize he was shaking. The familiar chill of his dormant ghost powers faded in like a cool breeze in the back of his mind. Blue eyes blinked at the tears and the sound of footsteps reached his ears. He looked up.
The dark haired man was running towards him.
Danny's eyes went wide and he tried to shuffle backwards, but his limbs were only half listening to him. "sTaY-" his voice was ragged. He grabbed a handful of gravel and threw it at the approaching man. "Stay ba-k."
The man stopped, but didn't take his eyes off of Danny. He was only a few feet away. Too close. Danny continued to try and scoot backwards. "Stop moving and I won't have to come any closer."
"What the hell did you do to me?" Danny choked out, stopping his retreat for fear that whatever had just happened would happen again.
"I cancelled out your quirk. At least, that's what it was supposed to do." His voice seemed… confused to some extent, though he didn't show any emotion on his face.
"My quirk?" Danny coughed. "What's that supposed to mean? What the hell are you people? Where the hell am I?"
The stern, uninterested facade faltered and the man's brow furrowed. "You're in Musutafu, Japan. Were you unaware of this?"
Danny just nodded.
The man paused, thinking. "Where did you come from?"
"That's… that's kind of a long story." Danny muttered.
"Of course it would be… Come with me down to the station. The police will want to hear what you have to say." He held out a hand to help him off the floor. Danny didn't move. "I can't leave you here, unattended. I'm taking you in, one way or another."
A chill ran up Danny's spine. "You almost killed me with that… whatever it was." He let his statement hang in the air before speaking again. "I couldn't breathe… I couldn't... Do you normally threaten death on your enemies so nonchalantly?"
"That's not how my quirk is supposed to function." he stated plainly. "I'm not sure why your body reacted as it did, but that was not my intention. That said, you are an unknown. A threat. If you step out of line, I will do what I must to bring you down. Am I understood?"
He nodded.
"Good." The man rummaged into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "I need to make a call. Don't go anywhere." He walked over to the edge of the roof, keeping Danny in his periphery at all times. Once he started speaking in Japanese, Danny let himself relax, if only slightly.
For a few moments he just sat there, letting himself breathe while he thought over everything that had just happened. His hands were still trembling slightly, so he laid back flat on the roof. Probably for the best, he thought. It didn't seem like a good idea to get up and try to move around a lot after… that. What was that, anyways? Heart attack? Stroke? He winced at the thought. He'd been beaten, electrocuted, overshadowed and lord knows what else, but something about his own body just… stopping like that. That terrified him. After all, he could fight off ghosts and break out of cells all day, but he couldn't battle his own body deciding to-
"The police are on the way." The man said, still typing something into his phone. He looked down at Danny for a moment, then went back to texting. "How do you feel?"
"Not great, but I'll live." Danny chuckled. "Sort of."
"I'll inform the authorities that you need to be looked at."
"Uh… that's ok. I'll manage." Danny said, waving a hand as if this wasn't a big deal.
"If your reaction was as bad as it looked and you're not faking, then you need medical attention." He stated, plainly.
"I'm not a big fan of doctors and…" he hesitated. Talking about his powers always felt odd. He spent so much effort trying to keep their existence secret that speaking plainly about them was almost taboo in his mind. However, if the heroes here and those civilians were any indication, super powered people were hardly unheard of here. "I don't know if that's the best idea."
The man pocketed his phone, giving Danny his full attention. "Regardless, you need to be looked at. For your own safety." Something in the way he spoke sounded… off. As if he wanted to add something to the end there, but decided not to. What was he thinking?
"What's your name?" Danny asked.
"My hero name is Eraserhead, but you can call me Aizawa."
Danny choked back a laugh. "Eraserhead? Really? Did you pick that one out yourself?"
"A friend suggested it and I didn't really care one way or another." he shrugged, ether not seeing the humor in it, or perhaps too used to the joke.
"Ok, so Aizawa is what? A backup name to sound less silly?"
"It's my surname. Aizawa Shouta is my full name."
Danny's brow furrowed. "Aren't you concerned about people knowing your real name? Secret identity and all?"
Aizawa crossed his arms. "The use of secret identities fell out of style for most heroes decades ago. Now only villains and people with something to hide try to keep their identities unknown. So, who are you?"
"Danny. Danny Phantom, when I'm all ghosty and Danny Fenton when I'm…" he brushed a hand through his black hair, "well, this."
"And you're American, clearly. How did you end up here?"
"Honestly, I'm still trying to figure that one out myself."
"You don't know?"
"Well, it's complicated." Danny sighed. "I know where I was and technically how I got here, but everything happened so fast. I didn't exactly plan on taking a trip to Japan at 3 am in my pajamas, much less getting flung through a portal and becoming an international public enemy number one… again."
Aizawa's eyes narrowed. "Kamui Woods had said you appeared out of a black and purple portal in the sky."
"Yeah. It closed before I could get back through…" Danny said. For the first time since he fell, he realized the backpack wasn't with him anymore. He turned his head and saw it a few feet away, still zipped and secure.
"Kid, eyes on me." Aizawa said. "This is important. Does the name Kurogiri mean anything to you?"
Danny looked confusedly back at Aizawa. "No?"
"What about Shigaraki?"
"What? No. Look, I don't know anyone from japan. The closest is a guy at my school, who's name is Kwan, but I'm pretty sure he and his folks were born in the states."
Mild irritation settled on Aizawa's face. "That's a Korean name. Not Japanese."
"Well, that settles it then. I don't know a single person from Japan."
Sirens sounded from down below. The cop cars were closing in on their location. Aizawa glanced over the edge of the building. Danny pushed himself up onto his elbows and a wave of dizziness hit him. He groaned.
"You should wait here. They can bring a stretcher up and-"
"I'll manage." Danny stated.
"There's no point in trying to act tough. You're just going to chance hurting yourself further."
"I'm not going to be strapped down to a board. I don't do well being restrained."
"It's for your own good."
"I said no."
Aizawa glared back at the teen. Danny's eyes didn't waver. After a long moment the older man sighed and closed his eyes. "Fine then." he walked over to the roof's access door and opened it, looking inside. "Make it down this flight of stairs and there should be an elevator that'll take us the rest of the way."
"Got it." Danny said, rolling onto his hands and knees and slowly trying to get to his feet. His head was spinning like crazy and he was having a hard time finding his balance. In one quick motion he managed to get one foot under himself, but he had to catch himself with an arm to keep from toppling over. He stayed like that for a breath, then forced himself up so that he could properly stand on two legs. He stay upright for all of three seconds before the vertigo pulled him back towards the ground.
Before his face planted into the loose gravel though, an arm caught him around the middle and stopped his fall. He blinked.
"I don't have time for this, kid." Aizawa said, before scooping the teen up completely. Danny wanted to protest, but his head was pounding and the effort it had taken to get this far had already exhausted him. He could feel himself getting ready to pass out again. He murmured something, but he'd already forgotten what he'd said by the time his eyes shut.