A/N: VERY hectic week! AP English has got me running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I've got an essay due Monday, read Beowulf, read War of the Worlds, and write a term paper for it. Things aren't going too swell. To top it off, my youth group is going on a retreat this weekend, so I have little time to work on my essay. So…I'm not sure about when I can update next and the summary of the fan fic in my head will have to be on hold. With that said, enjoy your Underworld chapter. It is full of fun!
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Danny Phantom. But oh how I wish I did!
Chapter 19 Doggie Chow
All they could see was black. The hole in the earth had a football field sized diameter. The dark void it created seemed to set the mood for the whole group as they silently stared down into its depths. The only sound was the rush of wind that sounded more like a wild howl as it crossed the barren land at the deep hole. The foreboding feeling of death sent chills up and down the teen's spines, while goose bumps tickled their skin.
"Okay, who wants to go down the creepy pit first?" Danny asked. No one said anything. They just kept staring downward. "Let's not get too excited," Danny muttered as his sarcastic remark to lighten up the situation failed.
"That's a creepy with two E's," Tucker finally said.
"More like three," Sam added.
Rhodes shook her head to agree. The fox spirit wasn't too sure about her decision to join these guys right about now. The entrance to the Underworld was making her incredibly nervous. Sure, she liked living on the edge, but this looked more like jumping off the dangerous cliff.
Theo sighed before yanking his eyes off the black pit and walked toward the slope that would take them downward and into the hole. The rest of the teens watched Theo walk for a second before hesitantly joining him on the hike downhill. The slope was rocky and narrow, curving around the sides of the circular hole. It soon got too dark for them to see their tentative steps. Theo led with both his hands in flames while Danny took up the rear with balls of ectoplasm clasped in his hands.
It took the better part of an hour for the team to get to the bottom. Theo suddenly stopped as his sensitive ears picked up something. Rhodes looked up at him from where she was beside the demigod. She had heard the noise too. It was coming from a small open door across the floor of the pit. It was the only door there, meaning it was the only way to go next.
"Um…why don't I just stay up on the surface and make sure you guys come back safely?" Tucker asked, clearly freaked out.
"Tuck, you've battled ghosts with me for almost two years," Danny said. "Don't tell me now that you're afraid of seeing one."
"No, I'm just uncomfortable with the lighting of this place," Tucker said defensively. "It hurts my eyes."
"Sure," Sam said with the roll of her eyes.
Theo turned around to face the others before saying quietly, "Without the Ghost Zone in this time period, all ghosts and the dead go to different Underworlds. For the Greeks and Romans, they come here, which is ruled by Hades. I've…uh…never actually spent time with this god, to tell the truth. He didn't want to take the time to look after me on my probation, so I've never been down here. From this point on, I'm close to clueless as to what exactly will happen."
"Oh, that's a nice thought," Tucker said, "Our guide doesn't know how to guide us anymore."
"Don't worry," Sam said with some overconfidence to calm the group down, "I know a lot about Greek Mythology and the Underworld. I actually paid attention in History class…unlike some people I know." She eyed both Danny and Tucker while saying this. They gave her sheepish smiles.
"Good," Theo said, "Because we need all the help we can get." He paused before saying, "Now let's get moving. That door over there seems to be the only one. I'd advise you guys to be careful, though. There is some noise coming from inside it."
"Goody, mysterious noises," Danny mused out loud as he hovered after the others that were walking toward the door. "That doesn't seem scary at all. I know you're a laugh-in-the-face-of-danger kind of guy, Theo. But this is insane!"
"If it gets too intense, we can turn back," Theo declared stubbornly without even looking over his shoulder.
The group glanced back at Danny to see his ghost sense going off every two seconds as they approached the door. Sam and Tucker knew the ghost sense was always a bad omen, so they expected the worse. Theo ignored the eerie hint coming from Danny's mouth as he stared their fear right in the face by assertively walking through the stone doorway. The others followed with more timid steps.
Gasping, the group found themselves on a high platform carved out of the earth. Many steps led down to the ground floor of the underground chamber. Large stalactites hung from the ceiling, ominously dripping with dark water. Sleeping bats hung from their perches on the roof of the cave. They looked like a sea of black that screeched as the bright light from Theo's fiery hands burned their blood red eyes. But it wasn't the bats that had captivated the teens' attention.
The floor was a flood of ghosts. Their transparent, multicolored bodies mindlessly mingled around as a massive crowd. They were all talkative, going off into random rants that were never listened to by the others. They were all different ages, ranging from the rugged old to the very tiny baby held in a woman's arms. They all had the same blank stare as if they were all not completely there. It was a very disturbing sight for the teens standing above them.
"Out of all the months we've battled ghosts, I don't think I've seen so many in one place in my whole life," Sam breathed in shock.
"Yeah," Danny said, still wide eyed and taking in the sight, "No kidding."
"Please tell me these guys won't hurt us," Tucker said. "I'd hate to have to fight all these guys."
"I don't think they will hurt us," Theo said while in thought. "It doesn't look like they know we are here. I bet they can't even see us." He paused, slightly unsure with himself, before saying, "Let's keep moving. We want to get this done before sunset. Mount Olympus is a good day and a half away, maybe two because you guys are so slow. I don't want to spend that time watching ghosts. If I wanted to do that, I'd just stare at Danny."
Sam and Tucker frowned at Theo's brash way of wording his thoughts, but followed him down the steps anyway. Danny only grinned absentmindedly at Theo's words. He was all too used to them by now. His friends would just have to endure the demigod like he had to.
Rhodes didn't even notice the rudeness as she stuck close to Theo's side. Even though she trusted Danny more with the fighting, she didn't want to look like a wimp by going to the back and walking next to the ghost boy. Of course she could easily fight if she had to, but that would mean revealing her fox spirit identity. At all costs she wanted to keep that a secret only Theo would know.
It took only a few seconds for the whole team to totally freak out. They were walking across the large room to the other side when a group of phantoms ran right through the still-living beings. It wasn't everyday that the teens had people walk through them, so the cold, unsettling sensation they got made all five scream in fright.
"Ohhh! That was just wrong!" Tucker yelled with a shiver.
Danny laughed at the others, more used to it than them. "Are you now glad I don't do that to you?" he asked Sam and Tucker, "Because I've thought of it a few times." Their only response was glares.
A now thoroughly creeped out and silent Theo led them farther across the floor. They avoided the other ghosts as best they could, but sometimes they would have to walk through the apparitions with shivers going up and down their spines. All their eyes were wide with a touch of dread in them. There was an unspoken fear in all of them by now. The Underworld usually had that effect on any living being daring enough to venture into it.
"Newcomers!"
The sudden shout from behind produced either a loud gasp or scream of the teens as they spun around. A short, old man stood there. He had gritty and dirt stained rags that hung off his bony limbs. His skin was pale but so filthy that it looked black. His bulging eyes were yellow with a tint of red in them. White, lice infested hair was like a disgusting mass atop his balding head. The little man smiled up at them, his teeth brown or literally gone.
"You five look so fresh that you almost seem alive!" the old man said in amazement. He suddenly grabbed a fist full of Sam's black hair and yanked her down to have a sniff at it. Sam screamed her protest as the man said, "And you're clean too! You must be some spoiled brats from those rich folks in Athens. Those snobby Athenians! Hate them!"
Even though he looked malnourished and emaciated, the old man was strong. He shoved Sam back at her group. She landed with a yelp into Danny's ready hands. The force sent them to their butts. They stayed there for a moment, Danny giving the man a lethal glare. Sam was too dazed to do anything.
"So the little brat doesn't like me touching his lady?" the man asked Danny. He leapt forward and stuck his repulsive face into Danny's for a better look. An evil glint was the man's eyes, putting Danny's nerves on edge.
"What gives you the right to push Sam around?" Danny barked at the man while trying to get to his feet.
The man's hand came out of nowhere. The palm smacked onto Danny's forehead and forced it against the ground with no ounce of concern for the boy. Danny struggled as the man ground the teen's skull into the earth while eying the boy closely.
"You're a not a normal mortal," the man said in a hushed tone. "How very interesting."
"Get off me, you creep!" Danny shouted, finally pushing the guy off him. The little man bounced away from the angered ghost boy with a wicked and annoying laugh that seemed to mock them all. Danny scrambled to his feet, green eyes blazing.
Just as quick as before, the man snatched Theo's ear with the scarred Egyptian symbol on it. He yanked the ear down to his eye level, making Theo winced in pain while being pulled to his knees. The little man seemed to be very enthralled with the symbol.
"Back off!" Theo hissed. He lifted a fire blazed fist and threw the punch, but the man seemed to dodge the move and deftly caught Theo's wrist.
Smiling cruelly into Theo's bemused face, the man said with a knowing air, "You don't belong in this Underworld, do you, brat?"
Theo frowned before driving his free arm's elbow up and slamming it into the man's nose. Screaming in anger rather than pain, the man jumped back from the group. Theo got back to his feet and said, "We're not here to discuss our afterlife. We're here for Hades."
The strange old man raised an eyebrow in interest at Theo's words. A peculiar smile came to his wrinkled features as he eyed the teens in a new light than before. "Why didn't you say so?" the man asked. "Hades told me to look for only two live ones. I didn't realize you picked up three along the way."
"Where can we find Hades?" Danny asked in a firm voice. He didn't trust this man. "All we want to do is give the god his symbol and leave peacefully."
The little man laughed at Danny's clueless behavior about the Underworld. "Peacefully, eh?" he asked. "You might find that route difficult to achieve, brat." His words sent an unsettling vibe through the teens standing before him. It was hard not to just turn back and leave.
"We'll take our chances," Danny said boldly. "Now take us to Hades."
The man gave them a sly, toothy grin before asking, "How much money do you brats have?"
"Money?" Tucker asked in surprise. "Why one earth would we need money to see Hades? It's not like we have to schedule for a meeting or something."
Theo growled in frustration of his ignorance. As he smacked his palm against his forehead, Sam said with dismay, "To get farther into the Underworld, you have to have a obolus and pay it to Charon, the ferryman, to get across the Rivers of Hades."
"Ah, the woman is smart for her gender," the man said. "You all have to pay me one obolus for me to ferry you across the Rivers." He paused before saying stiffly, "That's five oboluses for you learning impaired brats."
The teens glared distastefully at Charon before moving into a huddle for a private discussion. They needed to gather their wits. They also didn't trust the old man. They didn't want him overhearing any information about their mission that might come back and bite them in the butts later on.
"I don't have that money," Theo declared, rubbing the aggravation out of his forehead. "I don't even have a single obolus."
"Then what are we going to do?" Tucker asked. "It's not like mister crazy is going to let us across the river any time soon." He tilted his head toward Charon to indicate who "mister crazy" was. The others agreed with nods.
"This is stupid!" Theo growled, his fists bursting into flames in his anger outburst. "We went all this way to fail because we don't have the money!"
Rhodes, silent all this time, slowly took out a pouch from inside her toga with special care. Danny saw her open her pouch. He lightly put a hand on Theo's shoulder to get his attention while Sam and Tucker watched Rhodes closely. Theo spun around with a glare directed at his friend, but stopped short as he spotted Rhodes taking out five coins from her small bag.
"Um…will this do?" she asked them quietly. She held up her palm to show them the five oboluses. They seemed to glow in the haunting light the ghosts around them gave off.
"But, dude, that's all you have," Tucker pointed out.
Rhodes sighed, knowing this sacrifice was difficult but surely needed. Years spent in captivity, and this was all she had managed to get her hands on by either finding by mistake or stealing. Before she could change her mind, she grabbed Theo's wrist and forced the coins into the demigod's hand. "You guys need it more than I do right now," she said, slowly letting Theo's wrist go.
Theo, and the rest of the group was at a lost of words. For a moment, Theo stared down at Rhodes with a look of mixed emotions on his face before curling his fingers around the coins and averting his eyes over to Danny's. Relief made them smile at each other. Because of Rhodes they were able to continue.
Charon happily accepted their toll with his annoying, mocking laugh. Giddy with his greed, the little man led the group to the first river, Acheron, the river of sorrow. Luckily, no other ghosts were waiting for a ride to their afterlife. The teens had the boat to themselves.
The teens hesitantly got into the narrow boat moored at a rotting wooden deck. The river was pitch-black, looking more like dark sea of ink than a river. The boat had a dangling lantern tied to a stick that Charon made Danny hold in the very front. It cast off a faint glow, making the flickering shadows on the stone walls large and almost creature like. Danny found himself clutching the stick with the lantern on it as he stared up at the foreboding darkness pressing down on them.
Charon pushed off the dock with a long pole used for steering and navigating through the winding passageways the rivers created. It was deathly quiet in the hollow river chambers. The rock ceiling was lofty and the rivers were wide. Most of the ride was just one big engulfing black mass.
At one point Tucker had gotten curious enough to try and stick his hand into the inky water. His fingers were barely brushing the wet surface when suddenly Theo latched onto his wrist. Tucker gave a frightened gasp at the sudden movement and the unknown strength the demigod had in his grip.
"Don't touch anything," Theo said sternly into Tucker's face.
"It's just water, man," Tucker said, trying to sound calm even after the little scare.
"I'd do what Theo says, Tuck," Danny said from the front. "He's kina the expert."
"You could have added in a please, you know," Tucker said to Theo with some hostility in his voice. He didn't like having some random person come into his life and take his spot at Danny's side of best friend. It didn't help that Theo was somewhat of a bossy jerk along with it.
"Please is not exactly in my vocabulary," Theo said with a thin smile. "If I had said please, it would have sounded like a suggestion. What I gave was an order. I'll say it again because I don't think you got it the first time. Don't touch anything." With that said, the demigod let the human's wrist go. Theo ignored Tucker's sharp glare by staring off into the darkness.
Shortly after Theo and Tucker's spiteful encounter, the boat arrived at the far end of the Underground. Another wooden dock waited for them at the rocky shore. The teens quickly got out of their seats and jumped onto the decaying wood as soon as Charon moored the boat. Hovering above the others, Danny gave Charon back his lantern pole in silence.
"If I knew you would have any, I'd wish you brats luck," Charon said with his trademark laugh. He sneered wickedly at their weary frowns before stating, "The gods must really dislike you. Well, at least if you die, you won't have to travel far." Laughing insanely at his own hysterical joke, the little man pushed away from the dock and floated back to the other side of the Underworld.
"Well, that could have gone worse," Sam muttered, glaring intensely at the spot where Charon had vanished into the blackness.
"Please don't jinx us, Sam," Tucker said.
"Don't worry," Sam said, walking after Theo who was leading the way once again. "That was the easy part," she continued with an evil grin. "Here, the horrors are never ending. It's just like I imagined! This is so cool! I never thought that all that mythology I had read over the years would actually be so true!"
"What kind of freaks do you befriend, Danny?" Theo asked Danny with a wry smile.
Danny chuckled before coming back with, "I befriend ones like you."
"Cute," Theo said slyly. "I see your pickings are greatly improving."
"Aren't we forgetting something?" Sam butted into their conversation suddenly. All of the sudden she looked confused and slightly worried.
"I've heard a thousand stories about this place," Theo stated. "Its hard to tell which ones were true and which were false. But, yeah, I have this feeling like I'm missing something from all the legends." From many years of paranoia, the half sphinx narrowed his eyes in thought as his ears began to flatten.
"I know I'm forgetting something important," Sam muttered, tapping her chin with a forefinger in perplexity.
"Hey," Danny said with an over confident shrug, "I guess we'll find out sooner or later. Actually, this trip has been pretty easy."
"Hopefully it will stay that way," Tucker chimed in from behind.
They rounded another corner of the cave hallway lit up by sizzling torches. Their light footsteps echoed off the craggy walls. With the conversation being over, it was silent and eerie in the passageway. Things didn't help when a low, protective growl rumbled past the group of teens. All five stopped dead in their tracks, paralyzed with fear of the unknown.
"Holy! What was that?" Tucker asked in a whisper to no on in particular.
"It sounded like a canine," Theo said, trying to keep his natural fear of that type of animal out of his voice.
"Cerberus," Sam said with a gasp. The others looked over to her for more of an answer. "You have to know who Cerberus is, guys," she said, her tone close to a panic. They didn't remember. "It's the three headed giant dog that blocks all the undead from passing through to Hades."
They stared blankly at her for a few seconds, processing this information as best they could.
"We're undead," Theo said slowly. He didn't like where this was going at all. He'd heard a lot of stories about this creature. Only Heracles was able to pass the massive dog with brut strength. Would they even have a chance of doing so?
Danny, putting two and two together stated solemnly, "And that makes us soon to be doggie chow. Eat up."
A/N: Whew! I'm in such a rush; I had to type the last page really quickly. I haven't fully read and reread the entire chapter, so some grammar and spelling mistakes are sure to arise. Sorry about that. So…my plan for updating is in two weeks from now. Don't quote me on that. If I do have to change it, I will post my decision in my bio. Thanks for reading! Hopefully see you readers in two weeks!