Rara Animis 5
First encounters
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A/N: I worked a 55 hour week but I did it! a little more action and a still adorable nerdy Danny coming at you!
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"Please, Pandora? I know your busy, but the ecto-clouds are almost completely gone tonight!"
"No. I am not going to let you go on your own-"
"But I can do it on my own; I know the way there. They only ever pass by a few times a year, and it is perfect tonight! Please, Panda~"
The woman groaned pinching the bridge of her nose, she still hated that nick-name. But when she had begun to reminisce about how he was getting older and missed the cute way he'd call her 'Lady Panda', the child had taken to teasing her with it.
"Fine. But you better make sure to have a bushel of fruit brought back," Pandora ordered finally, after a moment of deliberation.
"Pl- Wait really?!" Phantom chirped excitedly.
"Consider it part of your early Death-day present" Pandora waved. "You are almost ten, and I think you will be alright to head out into the fields, just do not leave the Asphodel quadrant."
Danny clearly heard the warning in her tone and knew for a fact if he were to disobey, he'd be cleaning up after the Alicorns for a month. "I promise that I will not leave."
"See to it that you keep that promise." Pandora glared, but after a moment her eyes softened. "You know I still worry."
"You do not have to," he offered with a lopsided grin. "I am almost able to beat Lokhagos now, and she is rather strong."
"Regardless, both you and she have much yet to learn." Pandora sighed before ruffling Phantom's white hair. "Go on. Have fun Danny." She sighed, defeated. "But be safe!" She calls as an afterthought, just as he started to fly away.
Danny gave a quick call of "I will!" before he flew out to grab the bushel backpack to put the fruit he would pick from the Gold Fields in. The golden hill lay just to the North and at a slightly higher altitude than Pandora's lair. It wasn't a terribly long flight. Twenty minutes if you were speeding there, forty if you were going leisurely.
He hummed a small tune to himself as he flew, hardly able to contain his excitement. This was the first time ever that he was allowed out of the lair on his own! Usually, he had a guard of some sort, and was buried beneath and behind the shields of the soldiers, or on longer trips, he was resigned to the covered chariot.
Phantom had been told it was because he was a halfa, although he never fully understood what that meant for him. Whenever he'd asked in the past, his guardians had seemed to be purposefully vague. He merely took it, that because he was raised by Pandora and taught by Frostbite, he subsequently had a chance to govern both lairs if anything something befell them. They were training him to be a leader too after all...
After all, the closest he had received to an actual answer to what being a halfa meant, or at least the most cohesive thing he had been told, was that he was a ghost that had a foot in both worlds. He sent a quick glance back to the lair he'd called home for almost as long as he could remember and gave it a happy smile. Well, that was Pandora's world, much as the Far Frozen is Frostbite's.
He touched down into the golden lawn and looked about casually. He'd go about filling the bushel first and then pick a good spot to watch the migrating blob ghosts go by. They always felt like meteorites, or shooting stars, or at least, how he'd imagined they would be, showering across the horizon. He'd only read about them in books after all, but even still... There was something about it... The way they trickled across the sky, all different shapes and sizes all sort of heading in one direction in a loose cloud rather than an organized flock.
He located an apple tree full of ripe golden apples and set himself to work.
He had asked once if he could go to the human's realm and see the stars for real. Both Pandora and Frostbite had said that he could, once his core was matured. He hummed at the thought.
Ever since he found that ethereal drawing in his pocket and Pandora had borrowed him some books for him on rockets, and space from The Ghost Writer, he'd found his head buzzing with thoughts of stars. The wonders of space, and alternate worlds, it was all fascinating to him.
The Ghost Zone was like space in a way too, he supposed. So many realms with so much to know and how very few ghosts knew the full map. Even then, new things were forming, changing, and ending at any given moment. There was always something new to be discovered, somewhere new to explore.
Finished with his basket, Phantom took it and headed for the top of the highest hill, laying back into the gold grasses. He stared up at the endless sky of the zone watching as the odd purple door, and occasional ethereal cloud drifted lazily by. It would prove to be a good evening for this, with how few objects were in the sky.
Shouldn't be too long now before he could see the first trickle of them enter this quadrant. He grinned excitedly at the thought. Pandora always thought it odd that he was interested in such innocuous things such as this, how he expressed his obsession like this, while Frostbite encouraged it.
An odd noise snapped the child out of his reverie as he turns his head and squints in the direction. He sees it just in the nick of time and takes flight instantly. The rocket follows and once he was far enough away from the golden fields he fired a plasma ray at the thing. It exploded like a firework, raining shrapnel everywhere below him.
Phantom let out a low growl of frustration as he looked about for the perpetrator. At first, he had thought it was maybe Pandora testing him, making sure he was alert and watching his surroundings since this was his first time out... but even though she was a brutal teacher, she would never use live ammunition against him like that. Not to mention the technology didn't match Frostbites 'brand' so to speak, which had weaving blue lines.
No. It was almost entirely silver and glowing green. This was a real threat. "Show yourself, coward!" he called into the silence.
A whistling noise was his reply, and he turned a moment too late to see the net fired at him. He let out a yelp as the thing starts to drag him down. He flailed about hoping to untangle his limbs, and trying in vain to access his powers, as the unforgiving net continued to pull him. He looked to see a shadow in the distance. When it edged closer he could make out the glint of metal on the ghost, as the lighting changed and flashed around them.
The migrating flock of blobs had arrived.
Phantom growled as the metal ghost floated casually forward, while he was still struggling to find a way out of the net's grip. It seemed to have some sort of power dampener on it. The opposing ghost gave a little 'humph' as Phantom fell onto a random chunk of rock with a grunt.
"So, you are the creature Plasmius and that arrogant king have been obsessing over," the metallic ghost boomed out, amused. The light coming off the blobs were reflecting off this ghost, giving him an odd reflective rainbow, and the fiery mane he had as hair cast deep shadows over his eyes.
"Who are you?" Phantom spat with malice. He had to do something to portray more confidence than he was feeling at the moment.
The metal ghost seemed delighted to be asked. "I am Skulker, The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter," he boasted, proudly. "And you, ghost child, have been on my radar for some time now. It is only fitting that I be the one to catch you. It's nice to finally be able to have a proper description of you."
"Well, you see me now!" Phantom spat out. "It will do you well to leave while you have the chance. Unless you wish to face the wrath Pandora herself may bring."
"Ah, but you are alone here, child. You seem to be without your guardian, and by the time they notice you're gone, it'll be far too late." Skulker grinned maliciously as he moved to scoop up the net. "The price on your head is high. A pity really, I'd have much rather kept you in my zoo."
"I am not an exhibit!" Phantom roared out, reaching deep to try and pull the ice from his core.
Skulkers's eyes widened as the child began freezing the net into a brittle mess, shattering it easily and throwing icy shards everywhere. Skulker went in for a punch, landing the blow on Phantom's jaw and knocking him back into the air.
The enraged child recovered quickly and launched forward, knocking into the metal ghost, shoulder checking him back... and right into the oncoming blob ghost migration.
Realizing that the majority of the blobs were now coming, and he was missing the view, Phantom felt his anger surge. However, his mind almost blanked out completely when he saw Skulker fire a plasma blast through the blobs.
The barely sentient creatures let out squeaks of anguish and fear as a good number were obliterated into goop. "You- you ended them..." Phantom gasped out in a mix of horror and anger. "You ended them!" he roared as his core flared.
The blobs sped out of his way giving him a wide birth as he flared his aura in anger. He was told ghosts can have multiple obsessions, minor and major, all can be expressed in varying ways. Often a ghost with only one main obsession will go mad, having nothing else to focus on. A ghost is at their most powerful as well when defending something to do with their obsession, as though the personal attack is what gets the ghostly equivalent of adrenaline going...
And right now, Danny Phantom's two big ones were being threatened at the same time.
Frostbite had constantly told him from day one of their training together, that to be a warrior means to defend those weaker than yourself. That is how one can hold their head proudly, because often times a shield can be more effective than a sword. The yeti always gave him the biggest smiles when he told stories of how he'd used his ice abilities to make trinkets for the younger ghost kids to play with.
Pandora had told him similarly that to fight for others who can not is what makes a warrior strong. Both his guardians wanted him to be strong. They wanted him to protect others and make them proud.
The blobs squawk out again as Skulker flies forward, not caring how many he hurt as he tried to get across them and over to Danny. The blobs that looked like meteorites, the weaker ghosts that were currently crying out in pain.
Phantom launched forward and matched the hunter's blow with his own almost instantly freezing his knife as it lands into his arm. It stung. It bled. But now wasn't the time to worry about that.
Phantom needed to get rid of Skulker quickly or he could hurt more of these innocent ghosts. He could destroy the stars, end their glow, end the life.
It was with these thoughts spinning around in his head that Phantom felt something within change and spark. With the frozen knife still embedded in his flesh, he reached out to Skulker's shoulders holding tight and released the pent up energy.
Bright green flashes of electricity and plasma crackled about the metal ghost's body as he called out in pain and shock. Phantom yelped too, seeing the sparks fly about, though, it was a sort of in a mix of excitement as well as dread. He almost couldn't describe the sensation.
Something on the back of the robotic ghost exploded. Skulker yelled out as he threw Danny away. Both stared each other down, though Skulker seemed to be worse off, despite the knife wound in the child's arm.
"I underestimated you, child," Skulker said simply, his tone mildly impressed. His form seemed to continue to spark, and twitch every so often, even though Danny's influence was now long gone.
"Leave this quadrant. You are not welcomed here." Phantom spat angrily.
Skulker sneered and looked as though he was going to rebuke the child when suddenly, his face changed into one more of fear.
Phantom held firm glowering at the metallic ghost, only barely registering that his opponent was not looking at him, but at something just over his shoulder. Phantom sneered curling a lip sensing a familiar energy behind him, but not daring to turn and look. "Leave," Phantom spat again
"You would do well to listen to the boy." Jupiter's familiar presence was comforting, soothing, familial. It was something that both calmed and caused Phantom's core to flare again even more protectively.
"This isn't the last you'll see of me!" Skulker hissed out before taking off into the green abyss.
Phantom watched his retreating form and let out a tired sigh. "Good riddance."
"You are injured." Jupiter turned to the child with worry written on his face, as he examined him with a critical eye.
"Y-Yea... A little," he admitted rather sheepishly.
Jupiter sighed with a slow shake of his head before in a soothing voice said, "Come on child, let us get you home."
"But the apples... And the blobbies..." Phantom pouted.
The soldier gave the younger ghost a reprimanding look. "I will carry the fruit, but we need to get that," he gestures to Phantom's arm, "and your lip looked over."
"My lip?" Phantom blinked his hands coming up instantly to inspect his face and let out a hiss of pain. "Oh... Split lip?" he asks with a nervous smile.
"And a missing tooth from the looks of it." Jupiter raised a brow and asked, "How do you not notice its absence?"
Phantom looked to the ground a moment awkwardly before his hand came to the back of his neck. His focus shifted to the blob ghosts when he noticed their increased numbers. The creatures seemed to have taken to speeding by as quickly as they could from the fear of the two much more powerful ghosts (comparatively to the blobs) and it was causing their glows to blend together in the flock.
Danny gave a hum of appreciation as he watched them push each other forward. It was like an aurora now, and less like a meteor shower. The sight of the simple pleasure allowed his core to hum happily in his chest as he stared longingly at the display of green, blue, pink, and occasionally other more exotic and rare colours of blob ghost that sped by.
"-to fly or are you in need of assistance?" Jupiter had been talking, and Danny's focus faded back onto the voice offering the older ghost a small smile.
"Sorry, what? I, um, missed that?"
"I asked if you were coming," Jupiter sighed out in exasperation.
Phantom nodded and followed behind the solder. The blobs were trickling off now anyway. He gave a small pout that he'd missed the display, before turning back to follow Jupiter back to the lair.
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"This is by no means 'being safe' young ghost," Pandora was pissed. Her flames danced and sparked around her. The thing Phantom found odd though, was she wasn't upset at him, well, not really. She turned her attention to Jupiter and spat out a flurry of orders to the, rather bemused, ghost.
"And if he even sets so much as a finger in our quadrant I do not care what you have to do to him to get him to leave, understood?" she finished placing one of her lower arms on her hip while her upper set lay crossed over her chest.
"I'll set a perimeter," Jupiter nodded. Despite the serious tone, and the flaring up Pandora was doing, Jupiter seemed to have a smirk that simply refused to leave his lips.
"Get going then. I know what you are thinking, and if you still want the ability to think it, I suggest you follow orders."
"Right away M'Lady," Jupiter saluted, smirk still in place. He chuckled as he flew off.
Pandora shot a small blast of fire into the skies after him, which he loosely dodged, recognizing the chastising blow for what it was. His teasing of his superior would come back to bite him later, he knew it. He'd be getting a lick of the roughest side of her tongue, but for now, it was simply funny to see Pandora all worked up like this. She really was overprotective of the boy...
Phantom watched the solder fly and winced at the blast that tore up after him. When Pandora finally turned back to him, her eyes softened. "You did well," she said simply and brushed a bit of his hair from his eyes.
Phantom's core purred happily in his chest at the praise. Pandora wasn't usually one for kind words, harsh rebuking was plentiful, however. She gave him a small smile and subtle nod before turning back to the wet cloth she had been using to clean his wounds.
That too made him beam happily, despite the ache in his arm, those affirmations together made him happy. "I did something new as well," Phantom offered.
"Something new? Do tell," Pandora instructed, dabbing away the bits of dried ectoplasm.
"I felt my core pulse out like you had said... with obsessions? And I, um... Zapped him," Phantom said awkwardly, hissing as his cut stung from the ointment that was applied.
"Electricity?" she asked as she tightly wrapped his arm.
"Not really. I mean, it was not as you had described it, but it was more like the plasma was sparking? I think that is how to say it..." Phantom made a scrunched up face as he thought on the matter.
"Well, we will have to see if we can reproduce this on command in training." Pandora stood up rubbing his head gently before dumping the water into the sink of the bathing area they were in. "Open up. Let me see that tooth."
Phantom opened his mouth wide and Pandora gently pushed his lip back to examine it. "Ik ich garg?" Phantom tried to ask.
Pandora sighed and sent him a look for silence. A moment later she released his lip and slid her hand to his cheek. "You will be fine. It looks like one of your fangs may be coming in early now. That is all," she soothed. "I suppose it is lucky you only lost a stubborn milk tooth. The permanent teeth are rather annoying when they grow back."
Phantom nodded idly and licked at the new gap he had. "Think I'll have it by tomorrow?" he asks flashing a lopsided grin.
"The end of the week by the latest," she agreed. "The arm will take two days. It is rather deep, and your lip should be healed by tomorrow afternoon." Pandora lifted the child up into her arms giving him a tight comforting squeeze.
"Thanks for fixing me, Panda"
Pandora sighed and released the boy her soft expression held for a moment before morphing into her usual stony facade. "Now then. Tell me about this Skulker you encountered, what did he say? Tell me as much as you can remember."
And so Phantom recounted everything the other ghost had said and done. Pandora listened quietly only offering nods of acknowledgement as he told the short tale. When he finished Pandora offered him a small stiff nod before closing her eyes in thought.
"This is troubling, but not unforeseen. You were bound to have been seen sooner or later."
"What do you mean?" Danny asked tilting his head slightly.
"Hopefully nothing you need to worry about at this moment," she offered soothingly. "Though I need to get word to Frostbite on this matter. You get to bed. The more you rest the faster you will heal."
Phantom grumbled but didn't argue, he was tired after all.
Pandora watched him go and let out another long and deep sigh. It seemed she'd been doing a lot of that tonight. She stood and moved through the building, to let the guards know that she would be gone for a few hours to the Far Frozen.
"Troubling times are indeed ahead..." She mutters under her breath as she begins her flight.
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"You showed your hand too soon, Skulker..."
"He was alone, and at my mercy! I-"
"No. This is a setback but not unsalvageable... We simply need to step back. At least you got a clear description of the boy..."
"Does that mean I can still get paid?" Skulker asked hopefully.
"You'll get something for your services." Came the stoic response.
"Most gracious of you Plasmius. Do you still want me to keep an eye out for the boy?" Skulker asked.
"From a distance, yes. You are not to engage the boy again, however. Understood?" Plasmius ordered simply. "From what that beastly prince has told me, Pandora is rather protective of the boy. It will be some time until he is allowed to be on his own again... Once he is, we'll watch for patterns and make our move swiftly and flawlessly, lest the others catch on."
"So I'm back to stalking the boy?" Skulker sighed out. When Plasmius's response was an affirmative nod, the robotic ghost had to bite back a groan. Stalking prey was only fun if the hunter was allowed to pounce...
"Keep me notified of any changes, Skulker. You are dismissed." Plasmius waved off the metallic ghost and turned to head back up to the main floor of his mansion, leaving the hunting ghost alone in his lab with the open portal swirling.
Skulker huffed and rubbed the side of his face tiredly. "This better not take another six years..." he muttered to himself before taking his leave.
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A/N Please R&R ^^ I hope you enjoyed it
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