Me: Hi!
Danny: Really? Hi? That's all you have to say to them?
Me: Yeah… Why?
Danny: *sighs* And they call me clueless…
Me: Well, of course!
Danny: Your readers are WAITING!
Me: So?
Danny: … Oh… My… Gosh…
Me: What?
Danny: You are making your readers wait for you to start the story… And you don't even realize it!?
Me: Huh? Oh! Sorry readers!
Danny: Something you want to say…?
Me: Huh?
Danny: YOU'RE HOPELESS! ON WITH THE STORY!
Me: Oh, well, I was going to—
DISCLAIMER: YOU THINK THAT DANNY PHANTOM WOULD EVER BELONG TO ME? HA! IN YOUR DREAMS! SO, NO. I DO NOT OWN DANNY PHANTOM. I also don't own anything to do with Harry Potter, which is referenced multiple times in the author note at the end.
Me: HEY! I was talking here! You think that you can just—
Narrator: I'm trying to start the story here!
Me: FINE! UGH, no one pays me any respect around here!
After everyone finally awoke from their deep sleep, they felt well rested and ready to get a move on. Cujo, who had been put under Nocturne's power as well, awoke to the commotion of the class as they began to chat enthusiastically and light heartedly. Yipping, Cujo quickly spotted his master— the only one still sleeping. Cujo promptly leaped onto Danny's chest and began a rapid succession of barking.
"Ugh, Cujo, let me sleep," Danny mumbled sleepily. Cujo, however, was not easily persuaded. He continued his barking until Danny finally gave up trying to ignore him and sat up, the small puppy on his chest tumbling into his lap.
Happy that his job was completed, Cujo took off racing between the legs of Danny's peers. Started, Danny jumped up, hoping that his mother and father wouldn't shoot the innocent puppy. Danny was about to pursue Cujo in what would have been a very exciting game of chase when Sam grabbed him by the arm. As he turned to look at her, Sam noticed that Danny's injuries from his run in with Skulker were healed.
"Don't worry Danny," Sam assured, "your mom and dad know that Cujo isn't a threat. They aren't happy to admit it, and have been keeping a sharp eye on him, but they—somewhat—trust Tuck, Jazz, and I when we say that he is a good ghost. Besides, they can't deny it when they witnessed him protecting you from Johnny and Kitty."
"Wait, when were they here? Did anyone get hurt!?" Danny questioned.
Before Danny could go into all out protective mode, Sam replied, "No, Danny, everyone's fine. Cujo made sure of it."
Glancing at the joyful puppy, Danny made a mental note to play an extra long game of fetch with the playful ghost. And by extra long, Danny meant longer than the two hours that Cujo usually forced him to play for. If not for his flight, Danny would have likely been far more bored during those times. Luckily, he was able to drift around, which usually was something for Danny to look forward to.
Realizing that he hadn't been able to fly for quite some time now, Danny became saddened. At least he got the chance to do so in his classmate's dreams. It wasn't the same as real flying, mind you, lacking the wind in your face and the beautiful sights and sounds, but it was better than nothing.
Sam, noticing his saddened mood, stayed silent, figuring that he was disappointed that he was unable to get his class out of the Ghost Zone and away from danger quick enough.
When Sam had just decided to say something to cheer Danny up, Maddie came over.
"Hey, sweetie! So, do you recognize anything around here?"
Sighing, Danny looked around. "No, not here, but we should keep walking, I'm bound to recognize something else soon."
"Alright everyone! Let's keep walking!" Maddie called. The long rest served everyone well, they were ready for some progress!
Indeed, the class did walk for quite a while. However, they had crossed a wide stretch of area that lacked floating islands. The only thing in this realm of the Ghost Zone was the natural path and the many purple doors.
"Hey, Danny, why don't we try some of those doors, they're bound to lead somewhere," Jessica asked harshly. The class may have recognized that Danny was the best candidate as a leader, because he had actually been in the Ghost Zone, but that certainly didn't mean they had to like it. The rest of the group, who had been thinking similar things, listened eagerly.
"Well, yes, of course they lead somewhere," the class perked up at this and began to look around to try to figure out which door would be the most likely to lead somewhere near Amity Park. "However, they also lead to sometime. Very few doors actually lead back to Earth, and fewer still lead back to relatively the same time. Most of these doors lead to ghost's lairs. If they don't lead to a ghost's lair, then they likely lead to another place in the Ghost Zone, or a rare chance that it will lead to earth, simply in another time. If it doesn't lead back in time, there is the very rare chance that the door you go through might lead into the future. Even rarer than that would be a door that leads back to a time relatively close to our own. It would be a lot safer to simply find the Fenton Portal. If we tried all those doors, we would likely be dead before we find one that even leads to Earth let alone near our time period." Danny silently thanked Clockwork, the ghost of time and his guardian, for explaining the details of the 'back in time' problem.
The class looked angrily at the purple doors as if it was their fault for not leading to the place and time that they wanted to get to.
As the class moved on, Team Phantom fell back to talk quietly at a signal from Danny.
"What's wrong, Danny? Do you actually recognize this place? Are there a lot of ghosts around?" Sam questioned.
"No, I'm worried because I don't recognize this place. I think we are actually heading deeper into the Ghost Zone."
"What do you think that we should do?" asked Tucker.
"I think we should turn around if that's the case," Jazz cut in.
"Slow down. If we turn around, it will arise panic at the fact that we've made no progress. I think we should continue a little further and see if the path turns or at least until I am positive that we are going in the wrong direction," Danny responded.
"Makes sense, Danny. If only there was a direct path to the Fenton Portal, then we could get home even faster," Jazz said.
"Yeah, but since when is anything easy?" Danny asked.
The group of teens shook their heads grimly. If only they could do something more productive than walk aimlessly. Hopefully they could make more good progress, at least… Unless they were walking in the wrong direction…
Looking ahead, Danny noticed an island directly ahead of the natural path. He rejoined the group in front of Team Phantom, making his way to the front of his class. Just as he was about to take the lead, Danny spotted the unstable path ahead. Apparently the island wasn't always there, and must have broken the path while floating by. It must have gotten stuck between the two broken ends of the path.
Alexa, who was ahead of Danny, was talking with Jessica and Ashley and didn't realize that the path beneath her was dangerous. She screamed as it cracked and broke. First to react was Danny, who took an unnaturally large jump forward (Thank you, ghost powers, Danny thought) and shot his hand out to catch hold of Alexa's arm. He swung her around quickly and placed her with the rest of the group away from the edge.
However, Danny was now on the unstable part of the path and as it cracked beneath him, Danny leaped backwards to grab hold of the ledge of the floating island. Unfortunately, the surface of the island happened to be about six feet above the heads of the group below him, and three feet away from the edge of the path where he had been standing. This was obviously suspicious to the class who stared at the dangling, scrawny teen. Danny then proceeded to clamber up and look sheepishly down at the class while stating the obvious.
"… Careful, the path's unstable…"
By this point, what had happened fully registered in everyone's minds as their mouths dropped open. Danny decided to simply continue smiling sheepishly at the gaping class while rubbing his neck awkwardly.
"How on earth did you get up there, Fenturd!?" Dash exclaimed in shock. Secretly he admitted that even he, who was practically superman in his own eyes, wouldn't have been able to pull that off.
"Reflexes. When I'm in danger, my reflexes just kick in and I'm able to do things I otherwise wouldn't have been able to do." Not a complete lie, Danny added to himself, I did do it without thinking. However, I would have been able to do that anyway thanks to my ghost powers—the only reason I wouldn't have done it if I had been thinking would be to keep my secret…
Before anyone could bombard Danny with questions, Sam called, "Can you see where the path starts again on the other side of the island? We might be able to cross and continue on the path if it isn't too broken up from when the island ran into it."
Danny turned around and walked away from the ledge he had been sitting on. After he was out of the sight of the class (of course, he refused to use his ghost powers to fly no matter how out of sight he might seem to be), he glanced into the forest of abnormal trees.
"The Ghost Zone's version of trees are to hard to see through. I can't see the other side of the island. Unless I'm mistaken, and I'm pretty sure I'm not, the island seems to be pretty big."
The group below sighed and were surprised to find that they were waiting for Sam, Tucker, Danny, and somewhat Jazz to make a decision about what they should do.
"Hey Danny, does it look like it belongs to a ghost?" Tucker asked as Danny reappeared at the edge of the island.
"No. Actually, it seems like it repels ghosts. I see no signs that any ghosts have been here recently, if ever."
Sam, Tucker, and Jazz knew what Danny was talking about. Usually a ghost floats, so it would be rare to find evidence of their whereabouts by finding footsteps. Instead, Danny had used a variance of his ghost sense. Ever since learning that his ghost sense was a power given to him by his ice core, he had used the same method he had used to learn all of his other powers—experimentation. He eventually got his ghost sense to a state where he could use it to sense traces of ghosts. He could see when a ghost last was in an area and decipher from the traces how powerful a ghost is. The latter is useful not only on simple traces of a ghost but also on the actual ghost in a battle—obviously this power is more accurate when used on the actual ghost. Unlike his normal ghost sense, it is not automatic. If it were, he would be overloaded with ghost traces everywhere he went, for it can tell if a ghost has been in an area within any time period—not just the most recent time a ghost had been in an area. Instead, he had to voluntarily use what he called his ghost tracker—the same way he would use a ghost ray or any other similar power.
Maddie and Jack, however, did not know how Danny could be completely sure that no ghosts called the island their domain. They figured that Danny thought that because he did not see any ghosts. Therefore, they were rather unsure about where Team Phantom was going with there plan.
"Alright," Sam said, "we don't really have any choice but to cross the island anyway. Danny, see if you can find something to use as a ramp that will reach the more stable part of the path."
Danny nodded and was about to turn away when his mom objected to the idea.
"Wait just one minute. How do we know that island is safe to cross. If what you said about it being large is true, we will probably be on it for a while. Our group would be an easy target for a ghost."
"Maddie, we're the greatest ghost hunters there are! We can take care of any ghosts!" Jack piped up excitedly, bouncing at the thought of his favorite hobby—DESTROYING GHOSTS!
Maddie sighed in unsure contemplation. We haven't been very good at our jobs on this trip so far, Maddie realized. In fact, Danny seems to have been doing our job more than we have! He's been fighting all of the ghosts we come across.
"Mom, if we turn around now, we'll have made no progress," Danny stated. He then admitted, "Of course, I'm not exactly sure if we are going deeper into the Ghost Zone or not."
Maddie sighed and replied, "I don't think any of us expect you to. We don't have a clue as to where we are— you know at least some locations in here, and that's the best that we can ask for. I suppose we don't really have a choice. We have to cross the island."
Danny nodded as he turned and walked away from the edge of the island. He looked at the dense forest in front of him. Spotting what looked like a fallen log not too far away, Danny headed into the trees. As he walked up to what really was a fallen tree, Danny smiled and reached for it. What he was not expecting, however, was for his hand to feel like it was suddenly electrocuted. He almost cried out as he pulled his hand away, but refrained himself due to his high pain tolerance so that he wouldn't worry the class. Red wisps of smoke rose from his stinging hand as Danny stared at it in shock. Thankfully, the shock hadn't lasted long. Danny looked at the log and found nothing unusual about it. He had felt something similar to that shock before, however. To test his theory, Danny cautiously reached his hand out again. He received an identical shock. He whipped his hand away from the log and immediately the pain subsided. Danny gasped as his theory was confirmed. It wasn't blood blossoms—the electrocution wouldn't have gone away when he pulled his hand away if that were the case—but it was the same feeling as when he had been affected by the blossoms when he went back in time with Sam and Tucker to Salem, Massachusetts. Danny took a step backwards and crouched down to inspect the log better. Below the log was a ditch which concealed red flowers, yet they were not shaped like the typical blood blossom—a rose or tulip shape. These were shaped like stars.
"There are different types of blood blossoms?" Danny whispered as he stared at the innocent looking flowers. They gave off red smoke, detecting that a ghost (or half ghost) was nearby.
Danny decided their short term effect was a result of the shape. The rose shaped blood blossoms kept their power more concentrated, and therefore likely had a stronger effect on ghosts. These star shaped blood blossoms were open, so most of their power was released in the red smoke, giving them a short effect on ghosts that only lasted as long as the ghost was in range. The flowers beneath the log were smaller flowers that were still growing. Danny guessed that this was why their range of effect was so small.
Making a mental note to watch out for the larger flowers, Danny stood up again and walked to the other end of the log. No wonder Danny hadn't found any trace of a ghost with his ghost tracker. They all knew to stay away from the ghost repelling flowers. Danny was surprised the blossoms even managed to grow in such a ghostly place. Apparently they grew much easier in the Ghost Zone seeing as there is a whole island full of them. Danny was secretly curious as to how many different forms the blood blossoms had—even though he would probably be electrocuted or even die if he tried to find out.
Danny grabbed the end of the log that was further from the blood blossoms and pulled it away from the flowers. He then easily lifted it with one hand even though it was a full grown tree and carried it to the edge of the woods. Pretending to struggle with the tree as he neared his class's range of sight as to avoid suspicions, Danny dragged it to the ledge of the island.
"Took you long enough!" Meghan exclaimed.
"Do you… want to drag… a tree… through a… dense forest?" Danny asked rhetorically as he pretended to be out of breath. Meghan huffed and backed away to whisper with her friends about the 'freak'. Danny exclaimed while using air quotes, "Hey, this 'freak' just got you your ticket onto the island!"
Meghan jumped a bit and stared at Danny. The other members of the class stared as well.
"How did you hear her?" Gregory asked.
"Yeah, I didn't even hear her, and I'm a lot closer to her than you are," Josh added.
"Good hearing," Danny mumbled in response as he appeared to struggle to heave the heavy log off of the island. The tree was now a few feet off of the edge of the island and Danny walked to the end of the log still on the island so that he could push it the rest of the way.
"We might want to move back a bit," Sam warned. "Danny, be careful when you set the tree down on the path. It's pretty thin, so it will break if you simply let it fall onto the path."
"I know, I know," Danny called down as he pushed the tree far enough that it began to tilt downward. As he pushed a final time, he grasped the top of the log so that it wouldn't fall onto the path. He slowly lowered it so that it settled on the path gently.
"Now, we need to do this one at a time," Sam ordered. "We're just going to pull the log out a bit more so that it isn't to steep. After we do that, Danny, hold that end of the log so that it doesn't roll." Danny nodded his consent as Sam, Maddie, and Jack pulled the log further on the path. Maddie then knelt down and held onto the base of the log so that she could help make sure that it wouldn't roll.
"Who wants to go first?" Maddie questioned. No one was too eager to step forward.
Sam said exasperatedly, "Really? No one? Well, you all have to cross it at some point. I guess I'll just go first." Sam then expertly walked across the log. From above them on the island, Sam called to the class, "Because everyone else isn't as good at this, I suggest crawling on your hands and knees, unless you're sure you won't fall. It is always better to be safe rather than sorry."
The next to cross was Alexa, who, after almost falling when the path cracked, wanted to just get the danger and nervousness over with and be safe on the sturdy island. She crawled on her hands and knees, not being confident enough to stand up and walk across. The roundness of the log plus the angle it was at seemed foreboding and sure to be an accident waiting to happen. She didn't want to take her chances.
Next to cross were Jessica and Ashley who wanted to catch up with their friend. They followed her lead and crawled across. After them was Kathy, who walked across. She had learned to walk across tightropes when she was young and was confident she wouldn't fall. Her friends, Emma and Chelsie, weren't as confident so they crawled across. Gregory and Josh were next to cross, and after a lot of encouragement, so was Mikey. Valerie walked across with no fear of falling, her experience with balancing on her overboard as the Red Huntress giving her the confidence of an expert tightrope walker. John and Matt lacked that confidence and both took forever to crawl across. Meghan was more confident and, although she almost slipped once, walked across with her chin tilted arrogantly upwards. Darren and Nick stuck to their pride and walked across on shaking legs. Both almost fell at least three times. Chris, too nervous to care about his pride, crawled across. Star was able to walk across due to her attempts at being like Paulina— she constantly worked on her posture and balance. By now there weren't many people left to cross the makeshift ramp.
Nicole walked across, loosing her footing once and falling onto the log. Without Danny and Maddie holding the two ends of the log, it would have been likely that the log would have rolled and she would have slipped off. From where she fell, she opted for crawling instead of walking. Tucker then walked across. He had stayed behind to encourage the more nervous people across. He was able to walk across due to his hand in helping Danny hunt ghosts and the training that Sam put him through ever so often to make sure he stays in shape for ghost hunting. Mr. Lancer decided that he might as well cross now, and unashamedly crawled across. It was quite the sight to the class to see their overweight English teacher crawl across a log—many had to consciously refrain themselves from attempting to take a picture of the adult (the Ghost Zone's ghostly aura affected the devices and made them unusable, which is why the class didn't use them to call for help, not to mention the fact that cell phones don't work when attempting to make a call to another dimension).
Finally the only people left to cross the log were Paulina, Dash, Kwan, Jack, and Maddie. Paulina and Dash got into a fight as to who had to go first, opting for some deciding games of rock, paper, scissors. Rolling his eyes at Dash, Kwan crossed the log by crawling while Paulina and Dash began their games. They decided on two out of three, and by the time that Kwan had crossed, they were only on their second game. Dash had won the first game with 'rock' and Paulina ended up winning the second game with 'paper'. Dash refused to do anything but 'rock' because, as he reasoned in his mind, it was the most like himself. Paulina liked 'paper' because it is so clean and perfect like herself and 'scissors' because they are so dangerous (which she could definitely be… verbally, of course—she liked to leave the physical work for Dash and his jock buddies). She didn't mind 'rock' but preferred to win with the other two options. As Dash did 'rock' again, Paulina did 'paper' again.
"Ha! Now hurry up, Dash. Go across the log like a good little jock," Paulina said in an icily sweet voice.
Dash muttered a few well chosen highly inappropriate terms for the shallow 'w'itch as he said, "Go on Kwan, you go across first."
"I already did," Kwan called back smugly from the island. It figures that Dash would want to make him go across first.
Dash looked surprised as he looked up at Kwan, as if he had expected the entire world/Ghost Zone to stop what it was doing and witness his 'ever so important' rock, paper, scissors game with Paulina. The fact that that wasn't the case seemed to upset the jock as he glared at the log as if it was mocking him. He indignantly crawled across the log as if it had forced him to cross it looking like a fool, and he certainly did look like a fool. His tough talk and punches didn't seem to fit the image presenting itself to the class. They also didn't seem to be enough to enable Dash enough confidence to cross normally. He took forever as he scooted slowly across the log, inch by inch. The class could hardly believe that it was their bully that was doing this.
When he finally had crossed, it was Paulina's turn. She crossed standing up. This was a terrible mistake on her part. She was extremely lucky that Danny had thought ahead and grabbed a long stick while he was dragging the log. While she was walking across the log, she looked down and was overwhelmed at the never-ending abyss below her. The class screamed Paulina's name as they watched their dizzy classmate fall off the log. No one was close enough to grab her. A fleeting thought flickered through Alexa's mind as she screamed with her classmates—that would have been her if Danny hadn't saved her. Suddenly a long stick with a curved end whipped through the air. The curved end caught Paulina around the waist. The eyes of the class trailed up the length of the stick to its holder to find none other than Danny Fenton.
The speechless class watched as Danny pulled her up. He didn't pretend to struggle with Paulina's weight to avoid suspicions for if he did, she might've slipped off the stick. Besides, Sam had moved beside him to make it look as if he wasn't pulling Paulina up by himself. The class exhaled a collective deep sigh when Paulina was pulled onto the island.
"God, Danny," Nicole whispered in awe. "I can't believe you thought ahead and brought that stick along."
Danny smiled. He was incredibly thankful that he had thought of it, as well. However, saving anyone who fell was not his main reason for bringing it along. He would've saved Paulina even if he didn't bring the stick by going ghost and transforming into Danny Phantom. Sure, his secret would be out, but he wouldn't keep his identity a secret over the life of anyone, even his shallow classmate. Of course, he'd rather keep his identity a secret and save the life of the person in danger, which is why he brought the stick.
Everyone smiled and praised the ghost boy as Sam knelt down to inspect Paulina. She was the best suited for this task, even if Maddie had been on their side of the log, for Sam had tended to Danny's wounds after many of his ghost fights. She didn't need to inspect Paulina for long, as it was obvious what had happened.
"She's fine, she's just passed out," Sam called. Sam couldn't exactly blame her. Of course, if it had been Sam who had fallen off the log, even if she did face the eternal depths of the Ghost Zone, she wouldn't have fainted. Sam would have been sure that Danny would rescue her—and he would have, even if it meant revealing his secret to the class.
It was good and bad luck that the Ghost Zone's anti-gravity didn't affect humans. It was even easier for ghosts to fly without even a single bit of gravity trying to pull them down to earth. However, it would have been quite the hinderance for the humans to be floating around aimlessly when they got stuck in the Ghost Zone, especially since, because they weren't ghosts, they would have had no control and wouldn't have been able to fly in a wanted direction. Although it would have been good in this situation because the class wouldn't have been able to fall if they were affected by the anti-gravity, Danny decided that his class was much better off having not been affected by the anti-gravity.
It is a somewhat similar case for the 'humans are the ghosts in the Ghost Zone' rule. The class was just lucky that that rule didn't affect natural things in the Ghost Zone such as the natural path (it would have been a disaster if humans could go through that), islands, and trees. Danny had already had some knowledge of the extent of the general rule for humans being ghosts in the Ghost Zone when he and Valerie were stuck on Skulker's island. Yes, he had been a ghost at the time, but Valerie was able to stand on the ground without sinking through it. In addition, in Walker's prison, when Sam and Tucker first figured out the rule, Danny hadn't sunk through the prison's floor. As all rules have strange exceptions, the humans are the ghosts rule was no different. Apparently, humans can stand on 'ghost-made' floors as well as come in contact with the natural things throughout the Ghost Zone. Another thing that led to Danny's knowledge of the floor exception was Clockwork's tower. Sam and Tucker never sunk through that floor.
Danny was brought back into reality when he heard a loud snapping noise. Danny realized that his dad was now crossing, by crawling, and his weight had began to break the tree. He hurried across the log to island and looked at the poor, abused log. What had it ever done to be sentenced to be tramped on by a whole group of people? The last person to cross was Maddie, and Danny made sure to hold onto the log tight, seeing as there was no longer anyone on the natural path to make sure that that side of the log didn't roll. It turned out that Danny had no need to hold onto the log so tightly as his mom moved with the grace of an experienced ghost hunter that was a master of stealth. She leaped over the crack in the log and just as her feet touched the surface of the island, the log finally gave away and fell spiraling into the depths of the Ghost Zone.
The log was not alone in its spiral, however, as a huge impact on the island caused it to go careening away from the natural path. The screams of the class filled the air as they were thrown to the ground by the force of the blow. Danny, managing to get onto his feet, looked at the natural path to find someone he was none too pleased to see.
There, floating in the wide gap between the two broken ends of the path where the island used to be was a very familiar ghost. Slitted red eyes full of loathing were placed directly on Danny. It was the strange lizard ghost Danny had fought so long ago… And apparently it didn't exactly like him.
Me: Hehehe!
Narrator: Bet you weren't expecting THAT! And why are you laughing?
Me: Poor, unfortunate, ex-tree. And we got to look into the messed up logic of Paulina and Dash in their amazing rock, paper, scissors game.
Me Again: Did anyone else notice the odd flaws in the 'Humans are the ghosts' rule? I mean, seriously, in the very episode it was introduced, Danny became human and walked on the prison's floor even though he was technically intangible. I find that odd.
Danny: Oh! Oh! I know why I could stand on the ground in Walker's prison when I was human!
Me: Why?
Danny: BECAUSE I'M MAGICAL!
Narrator: *Rolls eyes* Kill me now. Before he begins his magic rant. (He's a bit obsessed with the Harry Potter movies. Of course, he would never be seen dead reading the Harry Potter books. I don't own those or the movies by the way.)
By the way, I have some extra time at my hands so I'm hoping to get another update up soon.
Danny: *Waving a stick that looks peculiarly like the elder wand (I don't own Harry Potter)* REVIEW OR I'LL USE THE AVIS SPELL! (don't own)
Me: That makes birds. What good will that do?
Danny: Fine, THE AVIFORS SPELL! (don't own)
Me: That will turn the readers into birds. Then they wouldn't be able to read or review.
Danny: *in an exasperated voice* I'll conjure Voldemort (don't own) to give you a lecture about why you should review.
Me: That works.
Danny: SO REVIEW!