A/N: Gah! I really don't like writer's block, especially the kind when you know what you want to write but nothing turns out right when you do so. So I'm sorry if the quality of this chapter is off. I had to push through the block. Oh well. I'm giving you readers a gift because of my lateness. Go to my bio, scroll down to Fan Fiction Art, then click on the link to see a sketch I drew of Theo. More pictures are to come…like Danny as a pirate! Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Own, I do not. I'm going Yoda on you guys.

Chapter 8 Breathtaking Performance

"It all begins…now," Dionysus said with the snap of his fingers.

"Helmsman!" Danny called loudly down to Theo. The demigod swung his head around to look up at Danny and realized Danny was addressing him as the navigator. He looked back at Dionysus with a questioning glare.

"You didn't think I was planning on killing you, Theo," Dionysus said chillingly. "It would be more entertaining to see you watch everyone here die while you live. It's so hard to get you upset, but I think I've finally found your sore spot. This whole performance is for you."

"Cute," Theo growled back.

"Helmsman Theo," Danny called again. Theo wasted no time. He bounded up the few steps to Danny's side, frantically trying to keep himself together.

"I got to tell you something, Danny," Theo urgently whispered to his companion.

"It's Captain Danny Phantom, to you helmsman," Danny corrected Theo with a wide grin. "Your knowledge will have to wait, though. We have a ship to sail! The captured prince will make us as rich as kings! Plot our course!"

"Danny," Theo tried once more.

"Captain," Danny corrected again, his smile waning.

Theo rolled his eyes in frustration before growling back, "Captain Danny, this news can't wait. That 'prince' over there," he pointed to Dionysus who was bound to the main mast and watching them carefully, "Is not a prince at all. We are dealing with a god."

"Nonsense!" Danny said with a laugh, playing his part as pirate captain quite well. "How could he be a god? If he was one, then we could all be dead right now. Now…plot our course!" And with that said, Danny forcefully shoved Theo into the helm and walked away to give orders to the rest of the crew.

Theo was left at the helm, feeling completely hopeless and lost. He spotted Dionysus below with a wicked smile on his lips. Theo frowned at him then looked back out at sea, furiously working his brain to come up with a way out of the mess. If he remembered the story right, the whole pirate crew, except for the helmsman, would either get killed or turned into dolphins. And it was the captain that would get slaughtered by Dionysus.

Suddenly a shriek of alarm cried up from one of the shipmates. Theo knew what was going on right away. He had seen the story played out in many theaters that Dionysus had dragged him to while he had been under probation. And just like he predicted, the ship was filling up with blood red wine. The crew members were either freaking out or gulping in mouthfuls of the intoxicating liquid.

Theo spotted Danny bending down to drink, and that was where he drew the line. Theo jumped up and grabbed two ropes flapping in the breeze above him. He quickly tied them around different sides of the helm to keep the ship on a steady course. Acting fast, Theo jumped down from the helm without taking the stairs, landing with a giant splash right next to Danny.

"I don't think so, kid," Theo said to Danny as he grabbed a fist full of his hair. Theo then dragged the ghost boy through the wine flooded vessel back up to the helm where it was dry.

"Let go, Theo! This hurts!" Danny complained noisily. He tried to pull away, but Theo was more furious than frightened now and wasn't going to let go. He only gripped his hold on Danny's raven colored hair tighter. When they got to the helm, Theo roughly pushed Danny to the wooden deck floor with a scowl on his face.

"Snap out of it, Danny!" Theo hissed at him. "We don't have time for you to drink till you're a thoroughly intoxicated pig. I know you're smart enough of know you are under Dionysus's power."

Danny looked up at Theo from where he was sitting on his butt with a funny expression on his face. "Dude, you need to relax," he finally said with a loopy grin. "I know this is an illusion, but at least I'm having fun. You, on the other hand, are ruining everything. Calm down and just go with it. Dionysus is the god of entertainment and having a good time. Maybe he's doing this to force you to enjoy yourself for once."

Theo's eyes widened as he heard this. Dionysus's illusion was clouding his brain. Maybe he did need to relax and take a mini hiatus from the stressfulness of life. Maybe what Danny was saying was all he needed to do to get out of there. It was so simple. It also sounded really pleasing.

"No, stop!" Theo whispered to himself. He squeezed his eyes shut as his logic wrested with his wants. "I don't want a stupid vacation right now," he said. "I want out of this dangerous performance. I don't want a vacation."

To his surprise, when Theo opened his eyes he didn't see the sea or the wine filled boat. For a fleeting second he saw the hypnotized and smiling audience who was watching the performance. The hill side theater was packed with people all staring blankly at the actors on the stage and smiling hauntingly as if they were forced to have a good time. That's how strong Dionysus power could be used.

Just as quickly as he saw the real world, it was gone. But that was all Theo needed. He knew that what Danny was saying was just what Dionysus wanted him to say. No amount of trickery or mind games was going to work, though.

Theo saw that Danny was once again on his feet and heading for the stairs. The demigod walked right up to the ghost teen and tapped him on the shoulder, smiling slyly. "Captain Danny Phantom?" he asked in a fake innocent voice.

"Yeah," Danny said as he turned around to face Theo.

Theo answered by throwing a fist back and slugging Danny right in the face, making the ghost boy black out for a second and fall like a sack of potatoes to the deck. Danny floated back to sanity to have Theo pinning him to the floor, his face inches away from Danny's. The grin betrayed the scared look plainly shown in Theo's eyes.

"I wanted to do that for days now," Theo said with a chuckle. The grin quickly faded as he whispered harshly into Danny's face. "Listen up now, kid, or you'll be killed. As you can see, I'm not in a very good mood. You better snap out of whatever hold Dionysus has on you, unless that punch actually whacked you back into reality."

"What the heck is going on?" Danny yelled up at Theo. "What are you talking about? Stop speaking in riddles, Theo, 'cause you're freaking me out!"

"Seems like knocking you out did the trick," Theo observed. He didn't let Danny go, though. The ghost boy struggled to get out of Theo's hold, but surprisingly the demigod was strong and had no trouble keeping Danny at bay. "Ready to listen?" Theo asked.

Danny looked around, confusion written all over his face. His memory was hazy, but he was able to remember some things when he was under Dionysus's mind power. There was also something in Danny's head that was making him think sluggishly. Danny shook his head to unclog it and focus.

"Give me the condense version," Danny said.

"We are somewhat under Dionysus's power and are in an illusion," Theo said rapidly. "Don't ask me why or how. But the point is that I know the play he is making us perform. He is thought as a prince and captured by pirates. You are the captain, and I'm the helmsman. The problem is that you die and I don't. Because I like you so much, I decided to knock you out to try and help you live."

"Sounds like fun," Danny said to adapt to Theo's sarcasm. "You have a plan, right?"

"No," Theo said bluntly.

"Nice," Danny muttered.

"Thanks," Theo growled back, his ears flattening. His annoyance deepened as the situation worsened. The ears were right back up again as they picked up another sound above the rushing waves and the drunken pirates singing off tune. He looked back down to Danny just before ordering, "Hang on to something."

Danny and Theo sprung to their feet a second later. Danny lunged for the helm to grab onto; not hesitating to see what would happen if he didn't abide by Theo's words. Theo rushed to a railing and latched onto it just as the ship lurched to a sudden stop.

With a yelp of alarm, Theo was thrown over the railing. Danny got the wind knocked out of him as the inertia forced the top of his torso over the helm, driving one of the wheel's handle's into his stomach. The rest of the crew was either sent overboard with screams, or into a mast or railing. Dionysus watched the whole thing with a grin, laughing with happiness when seeing one pirate slam headfirst into a railing and blacking out.

Gasping to regain his breath, Danny staggered away from the helm holding his stomach, clearly in pain. Theo dangled over the rolling waves of the sea, struggling to get a better grip on the railing to pull himself back up. The wood was wet and slick, though. His feet constantly kept slipping. He was going to fall if he couldn't pull himself up soon. And if he fell…in the illusion he was in he would surely die.

"Need some help?" Danny asked as he appeared at the railing above Theo. He coughed and winced, trying to get over the effects of getting the wind knocked out of him. Theo wasn't prideful enough to refuse help and quickly took hold of Danny's outstretched hand. Soon the demigod was safely on deck.

"This is the second act of three," Theo said. "After the wine come the grape vines. That's what made us stop. We need to get out of here before act three."

"Why?" Danny asked, worry in his voice.

"That's when Dionysus turns into a lion and kills you and the rest of the crew," Theo said solemnly. He ran a hand through his hair, the fear clear as day now to Danny. "I can't think," Theo finally stated. "I don't know what to do."

The wine started to drain out of the suspended ship as vines burst out of the wooden deck at random places. The liquid stained the deck blood red, a grim foreshadow of what was to come. The two companions watched with apprehension as the vines overtook the ship, growing at a rapid rate to cover the wood with its presence.

"Hey! Didn't you knock me out?" Danny asked Theo, excitement in his voice now.

"Yes," Theo answered, not knowing where Danny was taking this.

"If knocking me out got me out of that trance, then wouldn't knocking out Dionysus shut down the whole illusion?" Danny asked.

Theo stared at Danny then at Dionysus, a surprised look on his face. He then looked back at Danny and said with a slow nod, "Yeah. I think that would work." The two then broke out into smiles.

A ferocious roar from below pierced the tense air just as hope had been restored. The boys turned toward the stairs just in time to see a giant lion fling itself up them, its glowing yellow eyes pinned solely on Danny. The beast was at least two times bigger than a normal lion, with a full flowing mane. The claws of the creature were out, and its teeth were bared.

In a flash of light, Danny was in ghost form. But his mind was still cloudy as Dionysus's power tried to take a hold of him again. He just couldn't get past his fear of the lion before him. Theo and he slowly backed up as the beast gave a deep, haunting growl and leisurely pursued.

"All you have to do is punch him," Theo whispered to Danny. He glanced over to see Danny's wide eyes were looking ahead. He was paying no attention to him, lost in his own terror.

Acting quickly, Theo ran forward and toward the giant lion. The beast snarled and took a swing at him with one of its huge paws. Theo deftly ducked to avoid the claws. They came so close that Theo could hear the paw wisp through the air above him. The demigod rolled past the lion, ending up behind the thing.

The lion had no business with Theo and completely ignored him once he was at the back of him and out of the picture. The big cat locked its gaze back on Danny and started to move forward again. It knew it had its prize cornered. And like all cats, it was ready to play with its meal before devouring it.

Theo had other plans.

Without stopping to think better of it, Theo grabbed the lion's swishing tail and pulled…hard. The yank produced a painful roar from the lion before it spun around with an outstretched paw. The demigod retracted, but one lone claw managed to slash Theo across the cheek. Blood slowly escaped the open wound, but Theo didn't even wince.

There was a moment where the lion and Theo glared at each other, the hate between them thick and boiling in the air. Then the lion smiled, the perfect picture of Dionysus; mysterious, destructive, and confident that his amusement was the best thing on the planet. Theo responded with his own sly, secretive grin. It was time for the king of the jungle to get a few notches on his pride bar to get knocked off.

At that moment Danny flew in from the side, his fist colliding violently into Dionysus's lion form's jaw. The force sent Dionysus into the air. Danny didn't let the lion even land before he struck again. He kneed the god in the stomach while at the same time punching him again in the face. In mid air the god blacked out and morphed back into his human form. Danny hovered above the god as he landed roughly on the deck of the ship as if he was a limp doll.

As if the curtain was pulled up, the illusion of the ship and sea faded away to reveal…chaos. Humans were screaming in fear, running like mad men, or sitting in their seats looking deeply confused and scared. Apparently the crowd who had been hypnotized a second before had been released from Dionysus's power too.

"We got to get out of here," Theo told Danny with urgency as he ran up to him. He noticed Danny was still in ghost form and hissed, "Change back into human form before people start to freak out even more!"

A second later, a blue eyed black haired normal teen stood where a ghost used to be. "Sorry for coming in late," he quickly apologized with a weak smile.

"We're in the middle of a crisis and you're apologizing?" Theo asked, bewildered by Danny's niceness. "I will never understand you."

"Dionysus is out, I thought we were okay," Danny defended himself feebly. The boys glanced down to where the god was passed out at their feet. A loud snore suddenly rumbled out of the god as he rolled over to his back. Theo chuckled at the strangeness of a snoring god while Danny lightly kicked the god with the toe of his sandal. The god only snored louder.

"He'll be out for fifteen minutes max," Theo said. "We need to get out of town by the time he wakes up again. I don't want to be near him when that happenes. Like I've said before, you don't want to see an angry god."

Danny opened his sack and dropped the grapes in it on the god's stomach. "Wait, another god is close," Danny said as Theo started to walk away. Theo turned around, his shoulders slumping as if he was deflating. "I guess this means we'll have to deal with another god today," Danny said with a sigh.

"You catch on quickly," Theo said tiredly.

A/N: I might be really busy these next few days. I'm trying to get my drivers license before August, and the only way to do that is to drive all the time and learn how to parallel park. I've got a few hours under my belt, but I need more. So…I'm really sorry if the next chapter is not out in a few days. It might be out in a week, but I'm not sure. Anyways, thanks for reading and please review!