Lord Pugsy here. Here is the next instalment of A Phantom Marooned where we find the class drifting in the middle of the Atlantic. I hope you enjoy it. I do not own Danny Phantom; only the story.
"I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with 'S'."
"Sea?"
"Yep. Ok, I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with 'S'."
"Sky?"
"Yep. Alright, I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with 'S'."
"Sun?"
"Damn. I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with -."
"You say 'S' one more time, I'm going to throw you over the side."
It was the beginning of the second day stranded at sea and everyone had become very irritable at the lack of food; boredom had also quickly set in as the group struggled to think of things to do to pass the time. Things had become so desperate, the class had resorted to cloud watching and playing multiple games of I Spy. Danny and Sam still hadn't discussed what happened back on the ship, but they were currently enjoying each other's company as they were often seen cuddling at the back of the boat, much to Tucker and Valerie's approval as they thought it was about time.
"I'm so hungry." Whined Paulina, breaking the silence. The rest of the boat, including Mr Lancer, just groaned; the Latina hadn't stopped moaning the entire time they had been adrift. Even Dash was getting annoyed with her.
"Everyone is hungry Miss Sanchez." Sighed Mr Lancer. "So would you please refrain from reminding everyone that there is currently no food?" Paulina huffed, uptight that no one was paying her the usual amount of attention she was accustomed to back at Caspar High. She glared hatefully over at Danny's group as more people were talking to them than they were her, due to the fact that Danny was quite knowledgeable in their current predicament. She huffed again.
"I'm so hot." She moaned again, dramatically fanning herself with her hand, trying to get the attention back on her.
"You're going to be something else in a minute if you don't shut up." Murmured Sam from Danny's lap, causing Danny to smirk. Unfortunately Paulina heard her.
"What did you say to me?" She asked angrily. Sam just looked her dead in the eye.
"Wow. I would have thought the lack of hairspray would increase your hearing, not dull it even more." Sam said sarcastically, causing Danny, Tucker and Valerie to stifle their laughter. Paulina leapt to her feet, causing the boat to rock.
"You got a problem you Goth Freak?" she asked insultingly, causing Sam to jump to her feet, the boat rocking dangerously now.
"As a matter of fact I do. It's five foot tall and looks like an Oompa Loompa did its makeup."
"War of the Worlds!" Exclaimed Mr Lancer, giving the two fighting girls incredulous looks. "Miss Manson, stop baiting Miss Sanchez. As for you Miss Sanchez, end your infernal complaining, or so help me, I will put you in detention for a month when we get back to school. It is not helping anyone right now." The thought of detention and being back at school was a sobering thought as both girls sat back down in their usual spaces; the ensuing silence beginning to become too much until Danny finally spoke up, with a wide smile on his face.
"I spy with my little eye something beginning with 'L'."
"A low-life, loudmouth Latina?" Said Sam, glaring daggers at Paulina.
"No," Danny said, still smiling wide. He pointed out in front of them. "Land."
The class was just staring at the small, jungle island in front of them; they were still quite a way away from it, but if they paddled hard, they would get it to with daylight to spare.
"Dude, please tell I'm not hallucinating." Begged Tucker, as he gazed in front him along with the rest of the class.
"You're not hallucinating Tuck." Confirmed Danny, still smiling. Rejuvenated with hope, Dash and Kwan took up the oars and started paddling ferociously. Their paddling was so erratic that they were soaking everyone in the boat, but the class was beyond caring at this point as they continued to cheer on the two jocks. Danny almost joined in when his nagging feeling returned as he looked at the island in front of them; standing near the back of the boat so no one would see him, he activated his Sense and looked at the island. There was nothing special about the now blue island, but it was what was encasing the island which was worrying Danny.
Is that a force-field? Thought Danny as he looked upon the blue dome surrounding the island. The idea was dismissed when he saw birds flying straight through it, with only a slight noticeable hindrance as they faltered slightly. This worried Danny even more though, as he couldn't think of what energy it could possibly be. Turning off his Sense, he could now see the energy-field; it made the island shimmer ever so slightly.
"Stop paddling right now!" He shouted, startling the rest of the boat.
"What's wrong now Fenton?" Groaned Dash, pulling his paddle back into the boat. Mr Lancer, recognising that Danny was a more competent leader in this situation (much to his surprise), had ordered that whenever Danny said to do something, they did it.
"Do you guys not see that?" Danny said, pointing at the island.
"See what Mr Fenton?" Asked a confused Mr Lancer, squinting ahead at the island.
"Does it not look like the island is shimmering to you?" The class continued to strain their eyes looking at the island until eventually everyone could see it.
"Whoa." Said Kwan.
"Yeah, whoa." Mirrored Chelsea.
"Could that not just be the salty air playing tricks on our minds?" Asked Mr Lancer nervously.
"Yeah, like what can happen when you're dehydrated in the desert and you see mirages." Said Mikey.
"That's what I thought, but look up there," Started Danny, pointing to where birds were still passing through it. "I don't think hallucinations can physically affect a bird flying through it." They all took a moment to think about it.
"So what do we do Danny?" Asked Valerie.
"That island is our only refuge," Danny sighed, rubbing his temples. "We carry on, but slowly. We know it's physical. We know it only slightly hinders organisms, but we have no idea what it will do to this boat when it goes through it." As they neared the energy-field, the tension in the boat could have been cut with a knife. Sweat was pouring off of Dash and Kwan as they tried to maintain a slow pace towards the island, as the current began to pick up speed. When they were ten metres away, everyone could see it clearly; it looked like the air was thick with tiny diamonds as the sun reflected off of it. With five metres to go, everyone held their breath. The tip of the boat seemed to pass through effortlessly, but the occupants gripped the sides of the boat tightly as it felt like something was pushing against them as they passed through it. As Danny was at the back of the boat, when he finally passed through it, he knew something was wrong; his vision blurred, his lungs constricted and his stomach clenched in pain. Before he could cry out, the pain ended as soon as it started as they passed the energy field. The sea on this side was much calmer, so Dash and Kwan had an easier task of getting the boat to the island, which was suddenly a lot bigger than it what it was on the other side.
"Wow," Said Star. "Did everyone feel that?"
"Yeah," Said Nathan. "It was like trying to push your hand through jelly."
"Yeah, but with your whole body." Piped up Alice.
"Yeah." Muttered Danny, holding his stomach. "Like jelly." Only Sam heard the distress in his voice.
"Are you alright Danny?" She asked worriedly, placing a hand on his arm.
"Yeah, I'm fine Sam. Just feel a little woozy as all." Danny said, trying to assure her. The uncomfortable feeling had seemed familiar but he couldn't place it. She was about to say more when Michelle called from the front.
"Hey!" She shouted. "My bag is smoking!" Danny whipped his head around, not fully understanding what Michelle was saying.
"What are you talking about Michelle?" Danny asked wearily, still holding his stomach. Michelle lifted up her bag, which had smoke pouring out of it. Danny was about to speak when he noticed that everyone's bag had smoke coming out of it. Hesitantly, Danny picked up his smoking bag and tentatively put his hand in, trying to find the source of the smoke. He recoiled slightly when he felt something hot. Carefully, he pulled out the smoking remains of his phone, which appeared to have melted. He gave everyone a confused look, as they all reached into their bags to find their phones in a smouldering mess. It was difficult to judge who wept the hardest between Paulina, who's whole life revolved around her social network of friends, or Tucker, who's whole life revolved around his PDA. He was about to join Valerie and Sam who were consoling him, when Eric spoke up from the front.
"We're almost there!" Danny stumbled up to the jocks that were still paddling, not particularly concerned that their phones were probably piles of melted plastic in their bags.
"Great job guys." He commended. "Just be sure to take shallow strokes the closer we get to the beach. We don't want to snap or snag the oars on anything." Eventually, the lifeboat hit the beach. They had made it. Everyone got off the lifeboat and started to walk up the beach, mesmerised by the jungle in front of them, before Danny spoke up.
"I know everyone wants to explore or lie down, but we need to drag the boat up to the trees. We don't want the tide taking it away when we're not looking. Not you two." Danny added, clapping Dash and Kwan on the back. "You guys have done enough. You go up to the treeline and just rest. We can handle the boat." Normally Dash would have punched Danny for touching him, but he was too exhausted from all the paddling, so he and Kwan just trudged up the beach and promptly fall down in a heap.
"Alright," Said Danny. "Everyone, and I do mean everyone, grab a side and pull/push." He specifically looked at Paulina when he said this, noticing she just wanted to head up the beach with the two guys and weep over her phone. Tucker was the same with his PDA. As soon as they started pushing/pulling, Danny knew it was a lost cause. Everybody was just too weak and tired from lack of food and lack of a good night sleep, so he manoeuvred himself to the back where no one could see him clearly, and begun to use some of his ghostly strength. Before too long, everyone had 'pushed' the boat up to the treeline where Dash and Kwan were fast asleep. Danny wanted nothing more than join the sleeping boys, but he knew they couldn't put anything off just because they were tired; especially as they were in the middle of nowhere.
We need a fire, thought Danny, looking up as the sun had just begun to set, colouring the sky a vibrant orange. He looked around the class to see who was able enough to collect some fire wood.
"Eric? Craig?" Danny asked, the two boys looking up from where they were laying. "Can you come with me and help collect some firewood? It's going to be night soon and we're going to need some source of warmth." The boys grumbled an ok, before standing up and following Danny to just inside the treeline, where they stripped branches from the nearest trees.
An hour later, the class had a strong fire going, with everyone in a silent circle around it, each deep in their own thoughts. Danny was preoccupied with the fact that he was the one who was affected the most by the energy field, reinforcing the notion that it was a ghost, or ghost hunter who had done this to them; his mind roamed back to the exact feeling he had experienced when passing through it, struggling to remember when he had felt like that before. It was a sort of empty feeling. He was somewhat aware of Paulina on the other side of the fire, who had begun complaining to a clearly bored and irritated Star.
"And without my nightly mud-mask, my pores are going to open and get clogged with all this sand." Moaned Paulina; Star was just nodding in an absent minded way, having heard this complaint twenty times since they arrived on the island.
"We could always clog your throat with sand if you preferred?" Asked Sam, who was leaning on Danny, opposite Paulina.
"I heard that freak."
"You were supposed to." Smirked Sam, causing Paulina to jump to her feet, memories of their argument on the lifeboat flooding back to her.
"It was clearly your fault that this has happened to us!" Shouted Paulina.
"What are you talking about?" Asked Sam.
"Your creepy voodoo and jealousy over my good looks is why we're stranded." Shot Paulina, causing Sam to laugh.
"Yeah, because that's the reason we're here."
"So you admit it!" Cried Paulina, going slightly delirious.
"To Kill A Mockingbird!" Cried Mr Lancer. "Calm down this instant girls!"
"Come off it Paulina." Said Sam standing and facing off the crazy Latina, ignoring Mr Lancer's protests and gawps from the rest of the class. "What's to be jealous of? It takes you three hours to put your 'good looks' on." That did it for Paulina. She launched herself at Sam and started slapping and scratching her. Sam, forgetting that she had a black belt in karate, copied Paulina as they attacked each other. Mr Lancer attempted to intervene, but he got sideswiped by Sam, and went crashing to the sand. After that, everyone just started cheering 'cat fight' at the girls in combat in front of them, until Danny had had enough.
"ENOUGH!" He shouted. Everyone turned to look at Danny, who was standing up, scared by the pure rage in his voice. He marched up to the girls, grabbed them by the back of their necks and lifted them both into the air, showing a feat of strength that confused and awed the rest of the class. He brought his arms out and dropped the girls, so that he was in the middle of them. He turned first to Sam.
"Stop it Sam. You know she can't help it, and you're just making it worse."
"She started it." Growled an angry Sam, annoyed at the fact that he was standing up for Paulina.
"I don't care. I'm finishing it." He said, glaring at the Goth. She was about to fight back, but she saw the rage in his eyes; they may have been their usual blue, but she could see Dark Dan's red eyes lurking deep within them, and was silenced quickly. Danny then turned to Paulina, who faltered under the same gaze.
"Get it into your head Paulina. There are no mud-packs, spas, shopping centres or hair spray here. We are against Mother Nature herself out here on this forsaken island, and she doesn't like to take prisoners. Your petty arguments and incessant complaining is not going to help us survive. You either put aside your ridiculous, egotistical pride and survive by working with everyone, or remain a spoilt and narcissistic little girl who won't last the week. " No one, including Sam or Tucker, could believe how dark Danny was sounding right now.
"How dare you speak to me like that Fenton?" Spat Paulina, finally regaining her voice. "Who do you think you are freak?"
"Oh I dare Paulina. I very much dare." Danny said, his tone of voice becoming low and dangerous, sending chills down everyone's spines. "As for who I am. I am the freak who is going to make sure everyone lives through his hell." The fire's reflection danced in Danny's eyes, giving them a more dangerous look, creeping everyone out and silencing the Latina completely. Realising he may have gone too far, Danny turned and walked off, not meeting anyone's eye. He left the circle and headed towards the up-turned lifeboat where he stood on top of it; his body language clearly stating that he didn't want to be disturbed.
A few hours later, Danny was still in the same spot on the lifeboat as the rest of the class fall asleep around the campfire. He was about to jump off and head back to the fire when he caught the faint scent of burning coming from the boat's hull. Looking at it closely, he could make out a small hatch with the word 'EMERGENCY' on it. Confused, Danny pried it open, finding the remains of an emergency signal beacon.
"Typical." Danny said to himself.
"What is typical Mr Fenton?" Said a voice behind him. Danny turned to see Mr Lancer standing a few feet from him.
"We were sat on the beacon this entire time." Danny sighed. "It looks as if that energy field destroyed it along with our phones. Although, it doesn't look completely ruined. Maybe the boat's metal hull shielded it slightly. I'll get Tucker to look at it later." Mr Lancer just nodded in agreement, an uncomfortable silence befalling the duo.
"That was quite the performance back there Mr Fenton." Mr Lancer said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah," Said Danny, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think I may have gone slightly overboard on Paulina. But she had to understand we're not in Amity Park anymore."
"Oh I agree wholeheartedly." Said Mr Lancer, shocking Danny. "But I do think an apology will not go amiss either." Danny nodded sullenly as Mr Lancer spoke up again.
"Your girlfriend has quite a mean right cross Mr Fenton. I would steer clear of agitating Miss Manson whilst we are here." He chuckled.
"She's not my girl -." Danny stopped himself, looking at the amused look on his teacher's face. "I suppose she is my girlfriend now."
"You are unsure?" Queried Mr Lancer.
"We haven't exactly had much time to discuss it."
"I see your point. I would not leave it too long though Danny." Mr Lancer said, as he began to walk away.
"Mr Lancer?" Asked Danny.
"Hmm?"
"You called me 'Danny'." Mr Lancer turned to the teen and smiled, who reciprocated the smile.
"I did. I think, under the circumstances, such school formalities are irrelevant in our current situation." This caused Danny to chuckle.
"Does that mean we get to find out your first name?" He asked jokingly.
"That, Mr Fenton, you will have to wait and see." He started to walk away again, laughing slightly, when he looked back one final time.
"You are an enigma Daniel Fenton." He said, thinking over the teen's sudden change in behaviour, knowledge and strength. "An enigma I shall endeavour to figure out." He gave Danny one final smile before walking back to the fire.
"Good luck Mr Lancer." Danny said, as he turned to face out to sea. "When the time comes though, you may wish you hadn't."
I would like to thank a reader who pointed out the emergency beacon which modern-day lifeboats have nowadays. I knew I was forgetting something. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time.
Lord Pugsy.