Hey everyone, Lord Pugsy here. Sorry for the delay, but the next couple of chapters will be put up once a week due to stupid amounts of uni work. Without further delay, here is the next chapter of A Phantom Marooned.
The beautiful morning sunshine mocked the weary class as they stared at their burned out fire, listening to the gentle breeze rustling through the trees. The scream from the previous night had left them all shaken; the gravity of their situation finally crashing upon them as they realised that they weren't the only ones on the island. There were things out there which could kill them. The next topic on the class' mind was Danny's sudden appearance from the trees, blood coating his neck and the top of his shirt. Dash had commented that Danny had fallen over, but everyone glared at him for that, silencing him immediately. On his return, Danny had diligently scrubbed his shirt clean, not wanting people to ask questions about the flecks of green in his blood. Where peoples' minds were fixed on the scream they heard during the night, Danny's mind was focused out to sea. Beyond the energy field, the largest storm cloud Danny had ever seen (bearing in mind he had fought Vortex) was slowly making its way towards them. Knowing that he was about to incite confrontation, Danny walked over to the rest of the group and tapped on Tucker's shoulder, still hunched over and working on the beacon.
"Hey man. How's the beacon going?" Tucker looked up at him.
"Not good dude." He said pessimistically. "It's taken me a week to clear out all the burnt parts, let alone getting around to fixing it."
"You'll figure it out Tuck," started Danny. "You always do." He smiled down at his best friend as Valerie took one of his arms.
"Anyway." Danny said again, this time everyone was able to hear him. "If you haven't made any progress by the end of the day, stop and pack up." Cries of anger and confusion followed swiftly.
"Are you crazy Fenton?" Demanded Dash.
"That beacon is our only chance of getting out of here." Said Star
"We need him to keep going." Craig chimed in.
"He clearly wants us trapped here." Said Dash, looking to Paulina for support, but her terrified eyes were transfixed on Danny. Danny saw her looking at him and registered the amount of fear in her eyes, and looked down guiltily.
"Robinson Crusoe!" Exclaimed Mr Lancer, silencing the argument before it got too out of control. "Now Danny, would you mind explaining as to why work on the beacon should cease?" Danny pointed out to sea where the storm cloud was still approaching.
"Do you see that? That storm is massive, and it will interfere with the beacon's signal. Won't it Tuck?" Tucker looked out to sea, then back down at the beacon.
"He's right." Said Tucker, looking around the class. "Even if I were to fix it by the time that storm gets here, the electro-static energy could react with the energy-field and blow it up for all I know."
"There's more though." Said Danny, after he let everyone take in the bad news, looking from the storm to the area they had been sleeping since they became stronger. Then it dawned on Sam.
"We're going to need shelter, aren't we?" Danny looked into her eyes and nodded, deeply missing their dark purple colour, before getting back to the situation at hand. He was about to tell them what they needed to do, before realisation hit him. A knowing look was passed between Danny and Mr Lancer, the latter nodding, understanding what needed to be done.
"Right class," began Mr Lancer, getting everyone's attention off of Danny and onto him. "It looks like we need to build ourselves some living quarters."
Whether on purpose, or by accident, Danny had been put into a group with Dash. This meant that unfortunately Danny had to take the back seat on this task, as the other members of his group (Paulina, Alice and Chelsea) were still slightly wary of him; although, people were beginning to show more confidence in his presence now. Their task was to gather as many vines and long branches as they could, and then bring them back to the beach. Typically, Alice and Chelsea had been designated vine duty and Danny was left to carry the branches they collected as they went; Dash and Paulina just strolled ahead of them, not carrying anything.
Typical, just like school thought Danny as he walked behind the rest of his group, his arms piled high with branches. With his strength it didn't bother him in the slightest, but he thought that Dash may have wanted to contribute to their survival. This thought was reinforced when Alice tripped on the vines she was carrying, subsequently falling into Chelsea and sending them both to the ground in front of Danny.
"Watch it losers." Snarled Paulina. "Don't go breaking all the stuff we worked so hard to find." She was about to say more when she caught Danny's narrowed eyes and turned away quickly and walked slightly ahead of Dash. Danny held in his chuckling, as he realised that Paulina was still terrified of him, and instead stooped down to help Alice and Chelsea collect the dropped vines.
"Thanks Danny." Said Alice and Chelsea once they gathered everything.
"No problem." Smiled Danny, causing the girls to smile back at him, as they headed back towards the beach. When they arrived back, Danny saw something which caused him to smile again. Valerie's group had arrived ahead of them, but what Danny saw was something better; Valerie and Star were talking and laughing together. He knew how hurt Valerie was when Star first deserted her, but seeing them now meant that Star had finally come to realise what a big mistake she had made. Danny continued to look at them as Star was even talking, and appearing to have a good time with Nathan, Craig and Michelle. Only Sam's group was missing, but Danny wasn't too worried; he knew she could take care of herself. Danny, Alice and Chelsea continued walking towards the group, dropping off their piles of branches and vines on top of the other groups'.
"Everything alright?" Asked Danny, joining the larger group.
"It's getting there. Slowly." Responded Valerie, glancing over to Star, who smiled back at her. Danny was about to talk again, when the air was filled with a loud scream, then another, and another, and another, and another. Everyone on the beach looked around at each other, mortified.
"Sam." Danny said quietly.
Danny charged through the trees following the sounds of the screams, desperately trying to get to Sam as fast as possible, his ghostly speed helping him significantly. He finally came to a clearing and saw that Sam, Kwan, Bradley and Eric were helping Mikey scramble up the tree they were situated in. But Danny's attention was drawn to the base of the tree they were in.
"You have got to be kidding me." Danny said aloud, dumbstruck. In front of him was a three metre long Komodo dragon, scratching at the tree with knife-like claws.
"DANNY!" Screamed Sam. "GET UP A TREE! THEY CAN'T CLIMB!" Danny slowly stepped back towards a nearby tree, only for a stick to break under his foot. The great lizard's head snapped around, its eyes narrowing as it located easier prey. Faster than Danny could have anticipated, the Komodo dragon whipped round and rushed towards him. Fortunately for Danny, he was considerably faster. He turned and race towards the nearest tree and jumped onto the lowest branch, just out of reach of the dragon, as it barrelled straight into the tree. Flicking its tongue out to test the air, the lizard looked up at the teen in the tree before him; realising that there was a greater number of prey in the other tree, the lizard turned and shuffled back to the tree with the five students in it.
"So, err, Fenton," started Kwan, fearfully looking from the Komodo dragon to Danny in the opposite tree. "You got any ideas?" Danny looked into the groups' eyes as he started brainstorming ideas.
Ok, stupidly big lizard who can run fast, thought Danny. Can run faster than them, but not me. I could lead it away while they escape to the beach. Danny started formulating a plan, when his nagging feeling returned as he looked at the large lizard patrolling around the tree, its tongue still flickering in and out.
Its tongue! Thought Danny in a moment of realisation. It can taste us in the air. It can track our scent wherever we go. Dammit!
"Any ideas Danny?" Asked Mikey in a scared voice. Danny gave his best comforting smile.
"Yep. But I'm so not going to like it."
"What are you talking about Danny?" Asked Bradley.
"Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to jump down and lead it away from here. As soon as we're gone, you're going to jump down and run as fast as you can back to the beach." Said Danny.
"Danny you can't!" Cried Sam, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "That lizard is too quick."
"Not for me." Smirked Danny, as he jumped out of the tree and landed heavily on his feet so to attract the Komodo dragon's attention. He edged around the clearing, finding a large enough gap in the trees for him to run through; the lizard's eyes following him.
"When you hear me shout 'GO', leg it." Commanded Danny, before picking up a small rock.
I am really going to regret this thought Danny, before throwing the rock, hitting the lizard right between its eyes, before running off; roaring with anger, the dragon gave chase. When he was about a hundred metres away from the clearing he shouted as loud as he could.
"NOW!" Danny chanced a look back, slowing ever so slightly so he could be in the lizard's sight at all times. What he didn't expect was for the dragon to be right on his tail.
Damn it's fast thought Danny, as he yelped and put on a slight burst of speed. He continued to run, with the lizard hot on his heels, as he prepared himself for what he needed to do. He spotted a low hanging branch ahead of him and slowed down ever so slightly so the dragon was right behind him. Upon reaching the branch, Danny jumped for it and swung himself up on it, the large lizard racing past him. Before the lizard could course-correct, Danny concentrated his cryo-kinesis and shot an ice beam at the ground, extending it out into the distance, taking the dragon with it.
"Wow," Danny said aloud. "That worked better than I thought." Danny made his way back to the clearing, happy to see that his classmates had done as he had asked of them. He made his way into the centre and prepared himself.
"Let's hope this goes just as well." Danny said to himself, as he powered up his Sense. Looking around, he saw all six of their scents clearly hanging in the air. Concentrating, Danny made the air around him drop to sub-freezing temperatures, and then pushed the air outwards in every direction, taking their scents with it.
Let's just hope that puts off any other predators wanting to make snacks of us thought Danny, as he made his way back to their campsite. But Komodos in the Atlantic? This island just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Danny barely made it out of the trees and onto the beach before he was tackled by a hug which could rival Frostbite's; Danny looked down to see Sam clutching onto him for dear life. Danny was about to hug her back before she pulled away and slapped him hard.
"Don't you ever do anything that reckless again Danny Fenton." She said angrily, but Danny could hear the underlying care in her voice, causing him to pull her back into a tight hug.
"You know me Sam. I wouldn't be a ghost superhero if I wasn't reckless from time to time." This caused Sam to give a small chuckle as she quietly cried into Danny's shoulder. Danny finally let out a sigh of relief as he finally got his best friend back, and maybe, something more.
That night was one of Danny's best; he was sat against a fallen tree, significantly closer to the campfire than what he had been before, but still far enough away so that he wasn't going to be disturbed. He looked to his left and saw Tucker asleep next to him, still clutching his broken 'Cheryl' closely to his chest. Valerie wasn't with him this time as she was still with Star; Tucker respected this as it had been a few months since they had properly spoken to each other. Danny then turned to his right and saw Sam, leaning against him asleep. Every now and again, he would cast a watchful eye over his sleeping class around the campfire, then over to the large pile of vines and branches, soon to be their shelter when the storm was due to hit. Danny then heard a slight rustle in the bushes up near the treeline and looked for the source; his own blue eyes came across a set of yellow eyes, glowing bright from the reflection of the moonlight, lurking within the shadows. If he hadn't of been looking for something, he would have missed it. Their eyes were locked for a matter of moments, before Danny decided to have a bit of fun and flashed his eyes green, scaring the hiding animal. Danny chuckled as his super-hearing heard the animal run off in fright. Feeling only slightly guilty about terrorising the animal, Danny then turned his gaze towards the oncoming storm, only a few miles from them.
Tomorrow is going to be really interesting.
I hope you enjoyed this latest instalment, and I hope you continue to read and enjoy it. Until next time.
Lord Pugsy.