Rara Animis

Chapter 4

Rippling Waters

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"What on earth was so important that you felt the need to pester me constantly for a solid three month period with these messengers of yours?"

"Oh, don't worry, this is of great importance to both of us."

"It better be. You have any idea what I had to turn down to come here?" the larger of the two figures growled.

"Humph. Do not test my patience mongrel. You should feel lucky one such as I even decided to gift you with this knowledge."

"Oh, of course, your majesty," the taller ghost's sarcastic tone seemed lost on the smaller figure. "I am curious as to why, exactly, you couldn't charge your messenger with telling me this and instead insisted on doing this in person."

"Simpleton!" A flash of power rolled off the smaller figure "A new halfa has emerged," they spat.

That got the taller figures' attention, as red eyes snapped to the other. "You better not be lying," the larger hissed.

"Please, weaving yarn is beneath me." They waved off the notion with a sharp flick from their wrist.

"Of course," the taller purred. "So, tell me about this new halfa, and how have you found out about this?"

A small huff escaped the shorter. "The foul boy has come under the care of Pandora, on the isle of Eusebia."

"Pandora? In the Asphodel quadrant?" the taller asks while the smaller nods an affirmation. "Then the boy will no doubt be under heavy guard..."

"The abomination needs to be removed from our realm! At least you have the decency to remain with the humans," the shorter huffed. "Regardless, I know you will make every effort to take this cur from our lands."

"Of that, you are correct," the taller hummed out. "Get me a description of the boy, and I will take him into my care."

"Good. As of now, I know little, other than the boy is young, and they have named him Phantom. That woman refused to devolve the physical details of the cumber-ground, but given time, it won't be hard to discern him from her usual muck-spouts," the smaller figure growled with a flippant wave of his hand.

"I will keep eyes on them as well... I thank you for this information," the larger purred.

"So long as you remove that cretin, I will happily divulge information on this matter. Traditions are meant to be upheld! And if the ages-old prophecies ring true... I refuse to bend a knee to that... that..." the shorter figure cut themselves off and hissed, in a very snake-like manner, their own red eyes flaring in anger. They were unable to continue the thought, having become too disgusted by it.

"You have my word I will," the taller purred, hoping to placate the other before things escalated.

"Good. I will send you word if I learn of anything new." With one final huff, the smaller figure turned away to leave with a flurry of fabrics.

The taller rolled their eyes at the other, watching with a sneer as they exited with their nose held in the air. "It seems today has proved lucrative after all..." They muttered to themselves, before they too, turned and left.

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Phantom flew lazy circles around Pandora in the courtyard. They had just finished with breakfast and Pandora had informed the young ghost child that they would be meeting someone special today. Which, of course, meant the youngster was excited and could hardly sit still.

"So, we're meeting your friend?"

"Yes, a very good friend of mine."

"Oh? Will he be my friend too?"

"You'll have to ask him," Pandora chuckled, amused. She gently grabbed the boys ghostly tail and brought him to the ground, stilling his circling flight.

He shot her a sheepish smile before reforming his legs and standing beside her. In the few months he had been here, they had swapped out Phantom's more modern garb for that of a simple blue tunic and black breeches, with leather sandals.

Under the guidance of Pandora and her various solders, Phantom had done well to get a grip on the three base-line powers. Flight was almost second nature to the boy now, as well as forming and reforming his shape around objects and using his ghostly tail. Intangibility was a bit harder, and he was just starting to learn invisibility.

"When's 'e comin'?" The child asked shifting his feet now that they were on the ground.

"Soon," Pandora responded simply, raising a brow.

"How soon?"

Pandora simply sighed and turned her attention to the skies instead. It was only another few minutes before she could see a few flashes of white among the otherwise smoky green horizon. "There," she announced, kneeling to the boys level. She stretched out her arm to easier point out the approaching yeti.

Phantom grinned seeing the approaching white-furred glowing forms, but that elation turned back to excitement when the yeti landed. Wide eyes stare up at the blue and white beastly ghosts. "Whoa!" he chirped.

"Greetings, Lady Pandora, and I assume you are the young Danny Phantom I have been hearing about?" Frostbite asked flashing a friendly, albeit wolfish, grin to the boy.

"Hi," the child responded somewhat shyly, tilting his head as he examined the large yeti ghost. "You're missing an arm."

Pandora shot the child a reprimanding look while Frostbite chuckled. "Indeed. Thank you for noticing. I made this one myself in fact," he said kneeling down to Phantom and showing the child a closer view of his arm.

The ghost child made a face but did not question that, instead opted to ask about a more pressing topic. "Lady Panda says you're comin' to look at me?" he asked green eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"You are correct, little one." Frostbite nodded. "Do you remember ever having gone to a doctor?"

"I dunno."

"That is fine, though perhaps it would be prudent to move ourselves into a more private dwelling?" Frostbite asked as he stood, directing his question towards Pandora.

She nodded. "We can use the boy's bedchamber, if that is to your liking?"

"It will be fine," he said simply. He turned his attention back to Danny with a fanged grin. "Would you care to direct me to where you sleep? I have a... toy for you to play with."

Phantom nodded eagerly, jumping into the air and forming his tail almost instantly. He grabbed Frostbites clawed furry hand and tugged with all the might a ghostly four-year-old can posses. "Come on!" he egged as Frostbite took a lazy flight behind the eager child. "We can colour together!"

The Yeti chuckled as his warriors fell in behind him, drifting like lazy helium balloons. The whole time Phantom's tail rippled furiously as he strained with the effort of pulling the much larger ghost. "You do understand, that you will wear yourself out if you keep that up," Frostbite said as they entered the building where his dwelling was.

"No," Phantom shot, flipping onto his back to stare up at the yeti. "You're just slow!"

Frostbite chuckled. "I suppose you are not wrong there, but alas, patience is something the young lack."

Phantom huffed and released his hold on the white-furred ghost, before sending a puppy-dog pout. He kept the look in place until his bedroom door was in sight, at which point he sped up flying to the door and throwing it open eagerly. "Come on Frosty!" he chirped. At the confused look the yeti gave him he tried again. "Fros...Frosbity?"

"Frost. Bite," Pandora tried stressing the words.

Phantom simply choose to ignore her and continued to fly about the room dumping an assortment of coloured wax crayons on the floor. He sent a grin to the occupants in the room handing Pandora and the one yeti who entered the room a blank piece of parchment. The third yeti had closed them in and was standing guard outside.

"Ah... Thank you?" The yeti solder blinked confused, and sent a lost look to his commander.

"Come now, Snowstorm, you can't possibly have been disarmed by a mere child." Frostbite teased.

The newly named Snowstorm rolled his eyes but kept his good-natured smirk. "I always was a better doctor then a solder." He moved to pull something out of a satchel he had carried with him and hands it to the boy.

It was a small orb about the size of a large marble, rainbow colours swirled within. It had a pure white glow that was brighter than his own, making the marble look even more ethereal. Phantom stared at it perplexed, rolling it around in his hand a bit before blinking up in a silent question to Snowstorm.

"You know how to go intangible correct?" the yeti asked and Phantom nodded in reply. "Pretend you are trying to make that go through your hand." Snowstorm instructed.

Once again the child nodded and set to work building his energy. If he can make it fall through his hand it will make them happy and proud of him. He liked it when Pandora doted on him, telling him what a good job he'd done when showing off his powers. These yeti were her friends, then he would have to impress these new friends too.

It took a moment for him to build but once he did he found himself glaring at the marble, which had started to fluoresce a bright uranium blue. Phantom poured more energy into the marble trying to make it fall through his hand. This only seemed to brighten the glow to more of an icy cyan blue.

Phantom pouted and bit his lip as his energy waned. He could feel the hum in his chest dying out and no matter how much more he pushed, he couldn't bring back his power. He sniffed sadly. He couldn't do it, and he didn't want to look up and see the adults disappointed looks, but he had to be brave...

"Sorry..." he said, his head bowed.

"What for? You did well," Pandora soothed. At her words Phantom looked up to the small group, tears pricking his eyes, but face betraying his confusion.

"Indeed. Not only that, it is convenient! You have an ice core," Frostbite beamed.

They were all smiling at him. He'd done good then? "But it didn't fall through..." Phantom sniffed.

"It was never meant to. It was simply to get you to channel your energy through the orb," Snowstorm supplied. "You did well, and we now know that you will have an affinity for ice," he reiterated.

Phantom screwed up his face and his tears receded as he blinked them away. He tilted his head, looking more like a confused dog than a child. "What?" he said after a minute of silence.

"You will eventually be able to make ice," Frostbite supplied creating a small crystal in his claws and handing it to the child. It looked more like glass then ice, only the cold temperature seeping from it gave away it's true nature.

Phantom's face suddenly split into a wide grin as he turned his sparkling green eyes to the object. He'll be able to learn this?! "Woah! When?!"

"When the time comes you will know," Pandora offered, earning another pout from the boy. "Come on, hop up on the bed here, they still have more to look at."

Phantom's expression dropped, but he eventually complied. After some small prodding (and a bribe of colouring and playing with him later) but they still managed to succeed and got the boy to sit still.

They took his temperature, measured him, weighed him, took an ecto sample, which Phantom cried through and clung to Pandora, and tested a few other things with his core. There was a myriad of machines used, all of which seemed to have some sort of beep or ping while they were in use. The shrill noises hurt his ears but there wasn't anything too bad.

Once everything was done, the yeti even gave Phantom a sugary treat for putting up with all the tests they had for him through the day. Once the candy was devoured, Phantom realized how tired he was, and went down for a nap. All the exertion on his core had caught up to him, and so Pandora took her guests into her meeting room to allow privacy so they could discuss a training regimen for the boy.

"I am glad he has a core we can train between the two of us. I was worried he would have plasma or electric with how frightened of lightning he was, during the giant storm last month," Pandora mused once they had a training plan in place.

Frostbite nodded in agreement before adding," He seems very well behaved for a child so young of human spirit."

"I believe it is his obsession. Mild though it may be..." Snowstorm supplied with a hum of thought.

"You have already processed the results?" Pandora asked.

"No. Merely an observation of the boy. How his core purred under my claw when I gave him positive feedback. How he looked utterly deflated when he'd thought we were disappointed." Snowstorm tapped a claw rhythmically along his arm as he crossed them.

"This is both good and bad news..." Frostbite sighed and sent a frown up to the ceiling.

"Indeed... If someone can earn his trust...He could be easily manipulated..." Pandora shifted her weight from left to right, the only indication she showed that displayed her concern.

"Then we will do well to instill into him a steadfast sense of right and wrong." Frostbite said, finality in his voice. "He is still young and impressionable, and while it may sound wrong to do so, we can, at this current time, push him firmly to our side. If there ever comes a day where he is tested, hopefully, his bonds with us will be strong enough to not sway his decisions in another direction."

Pandora heaved a heavy sigh, as she reluctantly nodded in agreement. "Then it is settled."

"Joint custody of the boy it is then?" Frostbite sent a sly teasing smile to the woman, who in turn rolled her eyes.

"I feel I do not see the humour in light of the seriousness of this situation," she huffed out in mild agitation.

Frostbite simply sent her a wolfish smile, knowing full well only people she respected or cared about could joke with her and not get fried to a crisp. He also knew she was stressed thinking about what was no doubt on the horizon. It was with that in mind he chose his next words carefully.

"We will keep our eye on the restless followers of the Dark king. If we are able, we will sabotage and stall as much as we can to delay their plans as abundantly as possible. We can only hope that when the day comes the boy is ready."

Pandora nodded, her shoulders dropping slightly showing she was at least soothed a little by his words. "Such a terrible burden to place upon the back of one so young."

"And when the time comes you will both have prepared him well and you will have little to worry about," Snowstorm added with his own fanged smile.

"I hope so... Until then, we will begin training him to be a warrior. I will bring the boy to your lands on the eve of the spring solstice," Pandora said.

"Until then, Lady Panda," Frostbite grinned as he exits the room.

Pandora groaned in exasperation pinching the bridge of her nose. "I need to teach that boy to pronounce my name..."

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Eusebia- referred to as duty to oneself or to gods within ancient Greek connotations

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A/N: So this is the last of the 'intro' chapters, I know a few have mentioned the pacing feels a bit on the slow side so I'm hoping this is a little better pace-wise... I always have had problems cutting things down lol but I hope you enjoy it, either way, the next chap will be out soon to make it up to you all near the begining of October :)

Til then~

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