A/N: Okay, I'm having a hard time pumping out two chapters a week like I used to, so I'm making it so that every Friday I'll update. And have you guys been watching the new episodes at four all this week? I live in PA, so if you live in that time zone area, you should be getting the new episodes and you should be watching them. Other than that, I have nothing to say. Proceed to read my latest chapter!
Disclaimer: Wishing gets you nowhere…and that is why I don't own Danny Phantom.
Chapter 12 Pyramid Hideaway
For a second there was complete silence in the temple. The crowd was puzzled over Ra's want for a servant. As a god, the guy could get something with the snap of his fingers. Gods usually had no need for a slave unless the person gave their soul to the god, or the god really wanted to make that person's life miserable.
Theo didn't dare look up at Ra. The cold hand of fear had managed to finally grip the demigod's heart, threatening to bring panic with it. Being a slave for a god meant going through hell till death…then you could bargain with Hades to try and talk your way out of experiencing it again. It meant you were literally bound to that god. Escaping was not even considered an option. And defiance was just as bad as trying to escape because it all came down to one thing. That god owned you.
How long would it take for Theo to break? Would he crumble to Ra's ways and rules in a few weeks, or would it get prolonged out for a year? One thing was for certain, though. The demigod would break down at some point. When no hope was there, Theo would surely crack by either killing himself or becoming Ra's perfect slave. Those were really the only two options a slave to a god had in life.
Only knowing the ins and outs of ruling Egypt for less than a few years, the pharaoh didn't know the life of a god slave. There hadn't been one in his lifetime. They were pretty rare. The pharaoh saw that sparing the life of the demigod would be better than sending him straight to the Underworld.
"I believe that is a very…creative solution. I agree with you on it. The demigod will become your slave," the young pharaoh said after some thought. He tried to catch Theo's eyes, but the demigod was quickly scanning the whole room, his mind racing for a way out. The pharaoh then looked over to Danny and said, "And his Greek friend will become a slave in my palace. I will see how he manages. If he is not to my liking, I will sell him." There, no one was going to loose a head. It made the kid very proud of himself.
"Actually," Theo said quietly from where he was still kneeling next to Ra, "I hate that idea!" With a sharp battle cry, Theo whipped out his dagger from what seemed like nowhere and plunged it deep into Ra's leg. The god let out a cry of pain and released his grip on Theo's hair. The demigod pulled the blade back out of the bloodless wound and rolled out of Ra's reach.
"You will regret that!" Ra hissed at Theo.
"I regret not doing that earlier," Theo said with a dark smile. The teen then jumped high into the air, did a flip, and landed in a crouch right next to Danny. Acting faster than the soldiers coming at them, Theo cut both his and Danny's binds while yelling urgently at him, "Ghost! Go ghost, Danny!"
"It's about flipping time!" Danny said with grin. In a flash, the normal human teen had turned into a full fledged ghost. The crowd retracted, gasping and screaming in fear or shock. Even the soldiers paused a little, hesitant about fighting two demigods at once. Danny's grin widened when he saw Ra's astounded expression. "Unimportant am I?" he shouted over to Ra.
"No time for spiteful comments! Fly us out of here before they snap out of their shock," Theo said to Danny. The ghost kid nodded, and wasted no time grabbing Theo's wrists and blasting out of the temple. They were both all too ready to kiss Egypt and its crazy system goodbye. The sweet taste of freedom was only a day flight over the Mediterranean Sea away.
It was losing that taste of freedom when Danny suddenly turned back into his human form that sent a pang of horror through both the boys. One moment they were shooting out of the temple, and the next moment they were falling straight toward the earth at a harsh angle. The city's brick rooftops quickly got bigger as the teens fell with screams of alarm. This was going to be a very painful landing.
The boys impacted the earth for a brief second before rolling haphazardly down a dirt road close to the palace. People scattered with screams as Danny and Theo came skidding to painful stops on the road. A thick dust cloud gathered around the moaning boys as they struggled to pick themselves up. After a few winces and groans, the bruised demigods somehow dizzily got to their feet, covered from head to toe with dust.
"What was that?" Theo asked Danny, choking on the dust that clogged his nose and put a gritty taste in his mouth.
On the brink of swearing, Danny shouted back in frustration, "That guy just shorted out my powers! I hate it when other ghosts do that! I'm powerless till I regain enough energy. I hate that god!" Theo was a bit surprised at Danny's outburst. He hadn't seen Danny that angry before…unless he counted that fight they had the other day.
Theo looked up to where the temple was a few blocks away. Human soldiers were pouring down the stairs, on their way to apprehend the demigods. They didn't have much time. And with Danny powerless, it was going to be hard to fight the soldiers. Things weren't going the way Theo had originally planned them.
"Figures," Theo muttered before asking Danny, "How long will it take for you to get enough energy?"
"A few minutes," Danny answered quickly. "But it would be useless if Ra would just short them out again. I really need to learn how to deflect that power somehow."
"I thought you missed Egypt, Theo," the chilling voice of Ra said from behind them. "Why would you want to leave so soon?"
"How did you –," Danny asked as he and Theo spun around to face their enemy.
"Teleportation," Ra answered as he flashed them a confident smile.
"Jeez, I forgot about that power!" Theo hissed to himself. How were they to leave Egypt with Ra knowing exactly where they were and being able to follow all day? They would have to wait till night when the sun wasn't shining over the land. But where could they stay hidden for the next seven hours?
As Ra started to walk briskly toward the boys, Theo's ears perked up as an idea hit him. He knew he was crazy by even considering it, but it was possible once Danny got his powers back.
"Follow me," Theo whispered to Danny. He then made a mad dash for a dark alleyway a few yards away. Danny was right with him, ready to get away from Ra by any means possible. If that meant running up thousands of stairs a millions times, he was up for it. He was starting to realize why Theo said dying was better than living here. Danny was on the brink of agreeing.
A flash of light in front of them gave Theo the hint that Ra was teleporting again. The demigod quickly shot forward into a duck roll, coming up right behind the god who had appeared there as Danny dashed around the light. Pushing off one heel after the roll, Theo thrust his body into a high spin kick. His other heel collided perfectly with Ra's ear, sending the god staggering. Seconds after landing, Theo was up and running after Danny.
"Do you know how to use a weapon?" Theo asked Danny as they ran down the dim alley. A look over his shoulder told Danny that Ra wasn't following them. It was like the god was allergic to shade or something.
"I can use a sword somewhat," Danny answered, remembering back to his battle with Plasmius a month ago when he had lost the Infi-map to the man.
"Good," Theo said with a nod. Danny saw a hint of a thoughtful smile come to Theo's lips. The guy was concocting something in that constantly working brain of his. Danny wondered if it was going to be a good or a bad thing. He could never tell with Theo.
"Why do you ask?" Danny asked suspiciously.
They stopped to catch their breaths at the edge of the alley. Two more steps and they would be in sunlight. At the moment they were safe and out of harm's way. But soon the soldiers would be on them. Theo turned to Danny and explained to him his off the wall plan in a rush of words.
"Okay, we are going to hide out in that pyramid over there," Theo said as he pointed to the biggest pyramid of the three that soared high into the air. Before Danny could say something, Theo continued. "Ra won't be able to catch us if we stick to the shadows. He can go in shadows, but he can't teleport from them or into them. If we stay here and fight for a few minutes till your energy is restored, we then could phase into the ground and end up in a tomb. We stay there till night time, and then we leave without any difficulties."
Danny stared at Theo for a second in silence. "Are you high?" he then asked seriously.
"What?" Theo asked in confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Like, are you on drugs?" Danny said.
Silence.
"No!" Theo shouted his frustration. "I'm not on drugs, you idiot!"
"Give me one good reason why I should go spend a day in a nasty, dark and creepy mummy infested tomb all day," Danny said while crossing his arms.
"It's the only place these soldiers won't dare go into," Theo explained. "Ra won't be able to get into the pyramid too because the sun never shines in there. We will be safe for the whole day."
"Safe?" Danny asked, liking the word somewhat.
"Yeah," Theo lied with a grin. Hey, if it got Danny to go ahead with the plan with him, then he'd lie his heart out. He nodded a few times as he said, "It will be the safest place in all of Egypt. I swear."
Danny didn't want to believe Theo. He had always heard horror stories about haunted tombs and mummies coming back from the dead. He'd seen the movie "The Mummy" with the guy from "George of the Jungle" in it a thousand times over. He wasn't stupid when it came down to over exaggerated mummy stories like these. But what other option did they have at the moment? It was a plan, and like it or not, Danny saw that it was a half decent one.
"Okay," Danny said with a defeated sigh. "We'll hang out in a tomb all day."
"Good, because here comes the soldiers," Theo said with a grim smile. "I'll take care of someone for you so you'll have a weapon. After that, all we have to do is hold out for a few minutes."
"You're saying this like its going to be some simple task," Danny pointed out with a troubled tone in his voice.
"Trust me, you want the optimistic version," Theo snapped back.
Around half a dozen armor clad soldiers flooded the opening to the alley which the demigods had first ran through. Theo took a few steps toward the soldiers, ready to take them down. Danny leaned out of the other side of the alleyway when he heard marching footsteps. He bit his lower lip in concern when seeing six more soldiers coming their way. They were soon going to be surrounded!
Theo wasted no time in going into action. He knew the Egyptian soldiers were a bit timid about fighting the demigods, so he'd just have to use it to his advantage. He ran straight up to one soldier, and just when he was in sword range, he dropped to his knees, skidded under the blade pointed at him, and grabbed the man's hand that held the sword. With a grunt, Theo rolled onto his back and used that momentum to fling the soldier over his head with his feet.
"Danny, catch!" Theo called to the ghost boy as he slid the sword he had recently obtained across the sandy ground. The handle of the blade stopped right at Danny's feet. The teen smiled as he snatched it up with his right hand. It seemed like they could actually manage now. Theo's plan just might work.
As Theo fended off the first six soldiers on his side of the alley, Danny turned toward his six that had finally caught up. Danny hadn't ever taken any sword fighting lessons, so he didn't know exactly how this would play out once he saw the men round the corner.
The boy did know how to use a sword from having weird ghost fighting parents, though. Even before he had that lab accident where he turned into a half ghost, Danny's parents had come up with different ghost weapons. Most of them didn't work and Danny ended up with the remains. One of them had been a morphing sword. It could change into any blade you programmed into it. When bored, the kid had played around with it, figuring out how to defend and attack as the years went by. Now he was going to see if all that kidding around was going to pay off.
A soldier suddenly broke out of the formation and rushed toward Danny with his sword flung over his head. Acting fast, Danny kneeled down as he raised his sword over his head to deflect the blow. The man's blade came down vertically onto Danny's horizontal sword. The clash of metal on metal made Danny cringe. The strong vibrations alone were enough to jolt Danny into reality.
"This is a lot different than practicing on my sister's dolls," Danny mused to himself.
Letting his fighting instincts take control, Danny quickly stood back up and shoved a foot into the soldier's stomach. The guy fell back into two other soldiers, delaying their attacks and giving Danny a few seconds to think about his next move.
The two soldiers' blades came at Danny simultaneously. The boy managed to spin out of the way of one attack while parrying the other. Confidence growing with each step, Danny swung his sword back at the man with a battle yell escaping him. The soldier defended the attack, but Danny didn't mean to hurt him anyways.
Having that wild feeling of adrenaline pumping through his veins, Danny jumped into the battle with his whole heart now. As if he was a pro at the art, Danny danced around the small area he had as his battle field with his sword swishing and twirling everywhere. It was parry here, dodge there, and attack.
Danny soon had a grin on his face.
Dealing with his own six soldiers was Theo. The demigod was having just as much fun as Danny, but he was calm and serious about it. The smile was hidden, but it was tempting to show. Instead of using the broad sword Danny was flinging around, Theo had stolen a long wooden staff with a spear at the end. As a kid growing up in Egypt, Theo had used this very weapon till he had run out of uses for it. These soldiers were in for a hard fight.
Without much mercy, Theo twirled his staff above his head before bringing it close to the ground and swiping it under two soldiers' feet. With cries of alarm, the men fell to their rear ends with their armor clanking in the process. Theo was already onto another soldier. He sprung high into the air, catching the soldier off guard, and came down hard onto the man's head. The blow sent the guy to dreamland in less than a second.
Landing in a crouch, Theo looked up to see that two more soldiers were coming at him. He rolled sideways, dodging a deadly blow from a sword that was now firmly stuck into the sandy ground. Still crouching, Theo rammed the butt of the staff into the next soldier's stomach, making the man stagger backwards and gasping to regain his breath. The teen snapped the staff so it was horizontally in front of him, whacking the soldier with the jammed sword in the head in the procedure. Theo let himself express something of a sly grin as he saw the guy fall to the ground unconscious.
"How you holding, Danny?" Theo called behind his shoulder to his friend.
"I'm good," Danny shouted back from where he had his sword interlocked with a soldier's. "How 'bout you, dude?"
Theo rolled his eyes before taking a quick swipe at a soldier with the spear; somewhat amused at seeing the alarm on the man's face. If Theo wanted to kill these guys they would all be dead by now. But Theo had already given up the cruel action of taking the life of someone. He had already decided that depriving someone of their life wasn't his job. His heart was too sensitive to ever enjoy death. It was that heart that got him kicked out of Egypt in the first place.
"I'm peachy," Theo responded. "How long till you have your powers back?"
"Don't tell me that you're tired already, Theo," Danny said teasingly from the other side of the alleyway. He grinned wickedly at the other soldier who had locked blades with Danny before the ghost boy shoved the man away. He parried an attack. Acting rather than thinking about it, Danny hooked his foot behind the attacking soldier's ankle and pulled in that leg. The man gave a yelp as he tripped on the foot and fell onto his back.
"I'm almost finished with my six," Theo came back, keeping up the joking mood. "I have at least three out cold right now. I saw your six and noticed that all are still standing. Maybe you need some help." Simply stepping to the side, Theo avoided a charging soldier. The demigod quickly stuck out his staff to make the man trip, successfully sending the guy to the ground. He then whacked the guy's head to launch him off to la la land. "That would now be four out cold soldiers," Theo added smugly.
Theo got no answer from Danny. He turned around in confusion to see six much worn out soldiers looking around in bafflement and perplexity. Danny was gone!
"Crap!" Theo hissed as he scanned the alley for his ghost friend. "Why does he have to play mystery games with my mind?" Theo asked himself. "I'm in no mood for hide-and-go-seek!"
It was the almost silent sound of sand shifting from footfalls which Theo caught with his perceptive ears that alerted the demigod of the near danger. Spinning around to face the attacker, Theo held his staff at the ready. His eyes went wide in fear when he saw Ra briskly walking toward him with a sinister energy pouring off him.
The god was ready to tear Theo's head right off. The demigod could literally feel the air around him become dark and foreboding, increasing with each step Ra took toward him. All Theo's hairs stood up in anticipation. The teen got into a battle stance, on the balls of his feet, ready to fight Ra if it really came down to it. He didn't believe he would ever win an encounter like this, but he was going to go down swinging.
And then suddenly he was sinking into the ground. Screaming in alarm, Theo was sucked into the floor by an invisible force. All he could see then was black. It felt like someone was pulling him along somewhere. After a moment, Theo realized it was Danny. They were heading toward the tomb! His plan had worked!
Coming out of the floor of the tomb was like breaking the surface of water. Theo didn't like the feeling of phasing through the ground. There was a creepy feeling to it that sent shivers up his spine.
The tomb was pitch-black. A dank, musky smell instantly overwhelmed both of the boys' noses, making them want to gag on the thick, stale air. It was cold in the black tomb they had arrived in. The coolness was a nice change from the overbearing scorching heat they had experienced for the last couple of hours.
"No! Don't put me down! Don't put me down!" Theo screamed at Danny with alarm plainly heard in his voice. Danny smiled in confusion as he felt Theo tighten his grip on his wrist. What could possibly cause Theo so much panic? It was almost comical to Danny.
"What? You afraid of getting your paws cold?" Danny asked with a chuckle.
"Light! Get some light in here!" Theo demanded urgently.
Danny rolled his eyes while letting one of his hands burst into green ectoplasm energy. The rock walls of the small room instantly lighted up with an eerie green flicker. Danny looked down to see the floor covered with black shining scorpions!
Both boys screamed.
A/N: I just loved my ending of this chapter! It reminded me of that old school Scooby-Doo show where they leave you off with Shaggy and Scooby screaming because some mummy popped out of nowhere or some monster has appeared. I can just picture Danny holding Theo like how Shaggy always held Scooby and them screaming like girls. Sometimes it's the simple spooks in life that freak you out more than the big ones. I'll see you guys next Friday with another chapter! Please review!