Sorry everyone for the late update again, but at least it was only by a few days and not a few months. One would think that being on Summer Vacation would give me more time to write, well you'd be wrong. Between Friends, Family, and visits by people I haven't seen in 10 years, I have had next to no time to myself. It's ridiculous! But now I have some free time... at 12:30 at night... when everyone but my sister is asleep...

Well on to other news! Here is chapter 7. I hope you enjoy it!

~Ned

Chapter 7- Fire and Snow

Danny and Sam seemed to be stuck in place, 'If you have any bright ideas, now would be the perfect time to tell me.' Danny stated to Sam mentally.

Sam glared at him, 'I don't hold all the answers Phantom; you should know this by now. Just like you should have known not to yell and attract attention when there are so many humans in my forest!'

"I know that, but this is an emergency!" Danny yelled, not really thinking about his actions.

"Danny!" Valerie yelled, and her voice was now a lot closer.

Said boy's heart seemed to have jumped out of his chest by the girl's words, 'Not good!'

'Nice going,' Sam said in aggravation, 'you should really learn to keep your mouth shut.' Danny scowled at her, but before he could verbally defend himself Valerie broke through one of the bushes and Danny immediately knew he was toast.

Valerie stared at Danny and Sam in shock for a few moments, but once she seemed to get over her shock a scowl appeared on her face. "Spirits, I knew my father wasn't insane!" She growled, and Danny just stared at her awestruck.

'Phantom, you heard her right?' Sam asked, her voice sounding just as astonished as Danny felt.

'About her father, yeah, and I'm not a big fan of what that might mean.' Danny responded. Then as if the situation could not get any worse, Valerie decided that exact moment to look behind Danny to find… well Danny, with glowing red tattoos. 'Awkward.'

"DANNY!" Valerie yelled in horror as she blindly ran past Phantom to get to the unconscious body. Danny and Sam were too shocked to stop her. "Danny, are you alright, please…Please, wake up!"

'Phantom, we have to do something.' Sam stated quickly, however she did not need to tell Danny twice.

'I-I know…' Danny said as his mind reeled with ideas, none of them seemed to work out all that well since he did not know how to get back to his body. 'Sam, you need to get out of here.'

'What? No!'

'Trust me, please.'

Sam stared at him a lost look in her eyes. 'I'll get the Avatar and his friends, maybe they can help.'

It was then that an idea struck. 'Great idea! Bring them here, but warn them to hide Aang's tattoos and Appa. We don't need anyone knowing that he's alive.' Danny stated, knowing that as much as he trusted and cared about Valerie, she still considered herself a part of the Fire Nation and would not hesitate to inform the Fire Lord of the Avatars survival.

'Alright, but what will you do?'

'Oh, me? Well I was going to hold her off until you get back, or until I figure out how to get back to my body. After all we don't want her taking my glowing butt into a village, who knows what could happen.'

Sam nodded and in a blink of an eye she turned invisible, practically vanishing into thin air. Danny briefly wished he could do the same to avoid Valerie's questioning and/or infuriated glare. But he could not leave his body alone, not now at least.

"Don't worry Danny," Valerie said her voice slightly shaking, "I'll go get help."

'Crap, this is where it gets messy doesn't it?' Danny asked himself, not sending that particular thought towards Sam for fear that she would come rushing back. "I'm sorry, but you can't do that." He said towards her.

Valerie jumped, as if just remembering his presence. "Why not," She growled, "are you going to try to stop me?"

'Yep, definitely messy,' "Well… not the way you're thinking." He said while rubbing the back of his head nervously. "But I'm serious when I say he cannot leave the forest now. What happened to him is beyond your understanding." 'Great, now I feel like Old man Wai.' Danny thought remembering the time he kicked a ball into one of his neighbor's yard and Old man Wai had told him not to go in with the same exact words Danny just said to Val. Well Danny went in anyway and was attacked by a lot of wolfbats that the neighbor kept as pets.

Valerie's anger seemed to have skyrocketed, "I know exactly what happened, you attacked him," Now Danny was at a loss of words, "just like you did my dad! Well I won't let you do it again!"

'Dad?!' Danny mentally yelled, 'I attacked Valerie's DAD!' Then, like it was all a horrible dream, he found everything around him turn into darkness.

"Danny!" Katara yelled as she rushed into the forest to find her lost friend. After she received the news about him from Schim she instantly rushed into the forest, not even hesitating to wait for her friends. However she still did not know the specifics, all she knew was what Schim yelled at her about Danny before she rushed into the tree house to fetch Aang, Sokka, and Toph.

When she finally reached the area she assumed Danny was (since Schim said it was just a straight line from where she came from), she was stunned at the sight in front of her. There was a girl with dark skin holding the unconscious form of Danny, who had… glowing tattoos? Katara found herself rooted to the ground at the sight, the only person she knew of that could glow like that was Aang, but his tattoos glowed blue, Danny's were red.

"Well… not the way you're thinking." Katara heard a male say in an echoed voice that reminded her of Schim's and the Painted Lady's, but his tone sounded familiar, she just could not place who at the moment. "But I'm serious when I say he cannot leave the forest now." Katara then looked at where she assumed the voice came from and was instantly speechless by what she found. In front of her was a human shaped spirit that had snow white hair and glowing green eyes, it was the demented spirit the town was so afraid of. If Katara did not know better, she would assume she was looking at a made-over Danny. He had all his features, down to the large highlight in his hair, except his clothes, hair, and eyes had changed color somehow.

However that did not change the situation. The spirit was the one that had all the towns around the forest frightened to step foot into it, and if Katara was anything like Sokka she would have assumed that the spirit was the threat that Schim warned her about, but based on the spirit's words (and the unmistakable fact that he had Danny's appearance), she had to second guess that assumption.

"What happened to him is beyond your understanding." The spirit continued, and Katara was starting to put some of the pieces together about the situation.

"I know exactly what happened," The girl that was holding Danny yelled, anger clear in her voice, "you attacked him like you did my dad! Well I won't let you do it again!"

Katara stared at the girl for a moment, trying to get a gist of the situation, but before she could put anything together a breathtaking sight took place in front of her. The demented Danny looking spirit in front of her had spontaneously dissolved into a small ball of glowing white vapor and then just suddenly disappeared. Katara was astonished by the sight, it was difficult to imagine that a spirit that could look so pure could have really done as much damage as the village described.

"Danny!" The girl yelled, knocking Katara out of her thoughts. She looked back at the two and found that Danny was awake, and his tattoos were back to normal.

Katara took that as her sign to step out of the bushed, that she had unintentionally hidden herself in. "Danny?" she said, trying to keep her cool through the situation.

Danny looked from one girl to the other, as if he was trying to think of something to say to each of them, so far it seemed like what he was trying to say to one girl was totally opposite from what he wanted to say to the other. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine…" He said while looking at Katara, then he looked over at the girl, "Um… Val, I thought you would be home by now."

'So Val is her name… strange.' Katara thought.

"I was going to, but… I um…" Val said with a nervous smile.

Danny's face became confused, and he was about to open his mouth when a loud yell pierced the air. "DANNY!"

'Sokka.' Katara thought with an exasperated sigh.

"Will you shut it, he's just over there." Toph's voice said from close by.

"Oh…sorry." Just then the three remaining kids came out of the bushes and joined the group, all of them panting from the run.

Danny looked at the three a little shocked before a sheepish smile appeared on his face. "S-sorry everyone, I didn't mean to worry you. I just went for a walk and before I knew it I passed out, I guess I should have tried to get more sleep last night." He then quickly gave the Gaang a pleading look that Katara instantly knew was his way of telling them to leave Schim out of the conversation.

"No need to apologize," Katara said with a smile.

"What do you mean no need!?" Sokka yelled, "Sch-" he started, but was quickly cut off as Toph stepped on his foot, hard, "OWCH!"

"He's just worried about our schedule." Toph said while shaking her head. "He really wants to get going as soon as possible."

The moment Toph said that Val looked both sad and terrified. "You're leaving now?" She asked looking at Danny and worry quickly replaced the other two emotions, apparently whatever happened to him had deeply affected her, but she did not mention it as she continued. "Are you sure you can't wait a few more days?"

"Sorry, but we really are on a tight schedule and should get going. Isn't that right… Lee?" Danny said while looking at Sokka, apparently thinking ahead of everyone else that Sokka was not a very good name to go by in the Fire Nation.

On any other occasion Katara would have agreed with Val about leaving so soon, after all whatever happened to Danny was anything but natural, but since he seemed fine she could only assume that he was fit to at least fly. "I think Danny's right, we should get going. Lee, you and Kuzon go head and take Danny to the tent, Toph and I will meet up."

Sokka and Aang exchanged confused looks before then shrugged and went to take Danny back to the tree house, although he complained that he could walk fine all by himself the whole time.

"So, you know Danny?" Val asked with a skeptical look aimed towards Katara when said teen was out of ear shot.

"Yeah, we've known him for a while now." Toph pointed out before Katara could get anything out herself.

"So how often do you travel?"

"We normally don't like to stay in one place for too long being nomads and all, but Danny insisted we stay here a little longer than usual." Katara could not suppress a smile at how easy it was for Toph to talk so normally about what they did, even if it was not the whole truth.

Val looked satisfied with the answer, though she did not seem all that happy about them. "When do you think you'll be back here?"

Katara was shocked by the question and tried to express that to Toph in hopes they could come up with something together, but quickly remembered the girl was blind so she quickly came up with a response all her own.

"It should be sometime around the Summer solstice, maybe before if we make good time." Which was technically not a lie; the solar eclipse was not that far away from the Summer solstice, which is when Sozin's commit will be making an appearance.

At that news Val seemed to perk up, "So only a few months!"

"Hopefully." Toph mumbled to herself.

To be totally honest Danny was a little relieved that Katara found him when she did, and let Sokka and Aang take him away from Valerie before she could ask any unnecessary questions that would eventually reveal the unnatural reality that he was Phantom, and a Halfa.

Then to add to his relief he saw Sam waiting for him by the house. Sokka complained to her that there was no problem there, that she worried them about nothing. The nothing being Danny's lie that he passed out, though it was only meant to fool Valerie, no one else.

However the relief and amusement the situation brought could not get rid of the overwhelming amount of guilt he felt. He, Danny Phantom, had attacked Valerie's Dad, and caused him to be considered insane by the Fire Nation. So all in all, he alone caused Valerie's life to go downhill. Talk about ironic.

After a couple minutes of Sokka and Sam bickering and Danny mulling over her self-loathing, Toph and Katara finally came back, with Valerie nowhere in sight.

"Hey Danny," Katara stated as walked over to him, "how are you feeling?"

'Bitter, I attacked my friend's dad.' "Better now that I'm on my feet, thanks."

Katara did not seem convinced, but did not push the matter. "Good, cause we should really get going."

Danny only nodded and started to head towards Appa, who was now out of hiding since Valerie was now headed out of the forest. However before he got a chance to jump onto the saddle on the bison's back something white literally flew onto his head. Danny, who has started to get used to a lot of animals flying onto his head recently, only sighed as the animal stuck his face in his.

"Wow, Appa wasn't joking, you really do have the same energy as Schim." The animal stated as his head tilted in confusion. "How is that possible?"

"Um…" Danny stated, a little confused as to how the lemur actually flew onto his head, or even how something so uncommon to the Fire Nation made its way into it, but once he thought about it, the answer came to him. "You're a flying lemur…" he finally stated, although he was confused as to how a lone lemur manage to survive the Fire Nation raids on the air temples, unless Aang froze him in the iceberg too.

"Oh, that's Momo!" Aang said as he pulled him off Danny's head. "Katara, Sokka, and I found him in the southern Air Temple."

Danny smiled and nodded at the information. "Cool, I've always wondered what they looked like. My parents only had a few books about the Air Temples back when they were investigating Spirits, and none of the books actually mentioned flying lemurs much."

"Well they should!" Momo stated in aggravation.

"Your parents studied Spirits?" Aang asked in amazement.

"Yeah, for as long as I can remember my parents have always wanted to get into the spirit world, and until recently, nothing would have stopped them from trying."

"Until recently?" Katara asked.

"Well… the day my home was attacked was hard on everyone. My father was killed, I was injured and left for dead, my mother and sister thought I was actually dead. But right before the attack I … I yelled at my parents about their obsession with spirits, and I guess my mom decided to leave it behind after she thought I died. So shortly after the incident she took my sister and left for the Capital."

"Why didn't you go looking for them?" Aang asked, sympathy on his face.

Danny shook his head. "That's not important."

"Yeah," Sam cut in before anyone could argue, "right now you all should be leaving. You have a Fire Lord to stop after all."

"Those two are right," Sokka stated, "we can worry about all this another time, right now we need to leave before we get too far behind schedule."

Danny, who was slowly starting to like Sokka nodded and quickly mounted Appa, and Momo quickly flew away from Aang and perched himself on Danny's shoulder. "Sorry about your parents."

"Thanks." Danny whispered as quietly as he could to Momo as the rest of the group mounted Appa.

'Good bye Phantom, come back soon.' Sam said as she turned into her human form and waved them good bye.

'Bye Sam, see you in a few hours.'

The moment Danny realized he was out of the forest was the moment he felt excited. For years he has wanted to travel, his main reason was that he wanted to get away from his parents reputation, but after the attack, he has wanted nothing more than to get his family back and then attack Vlad with all he had. Now he can. Now he was traveling like he always wanted. And now he could fix everything; his family, the Forest, and the world, and all he had to do was help the Avatar.

"So when do we stop?" Danny asked as he looked down at the villages flying passed him.

"At nightfall," Sokka stated, "we'll make camp and rest, then we'll travel some more."

Danny looked over at Sokka with a confused look. "You don't want to take in the sights?"

"Nope."

Danny just looked at him a little longer before he turned to Katara. "He's all work and no play, isn't he?" he asked her as he jabbed his thumb in Sokka's direction.

Katara let out a few giggles before answering. "You should have seen him in the south pole."

"He must have been very grouchy if he's gotten better since then."

"He hasn't." Appa stated, and Momo nodded, but the group did not say anything, they simply laughed.

It was not until around nightfall that they finally landed, and it was only then that his stomach growled to finally be fed. To be honest, ever since he became a Halfa, he realized that he hardly ate or slept as much as he used to. So when he saw something soar across the sky, his hunger was forgotten.

Above him he saw a couple lights shoot across the sky just like the first. "Hey, guys!" He yelled as he continued to look at the beautiful scene.

"It's beautiful!" Katara exclaimed.

"What?" Toph asked in confusion.

"It's a meteor shower!" Danny exclaimed as he looked around for the perfect spot to relax. He found a steep hill and smiled with joy, "Over here!" He yelled again as he laid down on the base of the hill to watch the spectacle. Everyone followed his lead, Toph a little less excited then the rest, but that was to be expected.

"Wow, this is amazing to watch." Katara stated as she watched the scene.

"Kinda makes you realize how insignificant we are." Sokka added with a thoughtful voice.

"Ne," Toph started with disinterest, "you've seen nothing once you've seen it a thousand times."

It was then that one of the meteors seemed to go off course from the others, and the hair on Danny's arms started to lift. "Ohhhh." Everyone admired the single meteor as it, strangely enough, seemed to be headed straight towards them, not that Danny was worried or anything.

"Oh man, you have never not seen anything like this." Sokka exclaimed to Toph as everyone sat up to get a better look at the meteor, that was now too close for Danny's comfort.

"GET DOWN!" Danny yelled as he practically shoved all that were near him, that just so happened to be Toph and Aang, to the ground. It was only when he felt something fly past him that he got up to see what happened.

In that instant there was a huge bang in the distance as a blue explosion dented the earth. Everyone started at each other for a split second before rushing to get onto Appa.

"The fire is going to destroy that town!" Katara yelled as Appa flew towards where the meteor smashed into the earth.

"Not if we can stop it!" Aang yelled as Appa finally landed and Toph, Aang, Sokka, and Danny jumped off of him.

"There is a creek here. I'll bend the water onto the fire." Katara exclaimed as she and Appa took off for said creek.

It was then that Danny's body froze, 'She's a waterbender?!' He practically yelled in his head with excitement. 'Finally, someone can teach me not only to icebend, but to waterbend too!'

'Phantom, please try to remember what form bends which element.' Sam stated to Danny, with slight sadness in her voice.

At that his smile evaporated, 'Crap, only Phantom bends water, which means Fenton cannot learn it.'

'Do not be so sure.' Sam stated quickly. 'I'm sure that if you pay close attention when she waterbends you can learn the moves yourself. You were always good at visual learning.'

'Thanks.'

"Toph, let's make a trench to stop the fire from coming any closer!" Aang yelled as he and Toph took off to the impact zone, successfully knocking Danny out of his conversation with Sam.

"What should I do?" Sokka asked as he stared at his weird shaped weapon that Danny could only guess was a Water Tribe club.

Aang stared at Sokka for a brief moment. When Momo flew into his line of sight he stated, what Danny assumed, was the first thing that came to his mind, "Keep an eye on Momo!" then started for the fire again.

Danny looked at Aang, then Sokka, then Momo who just perched himself on Sokka's neck.

"So what, I'm just a lemur sitter?" Sokka asked, Danny just smiled in amusement until Sokka stared up at Momo and started to pat his head. "There, there, feel better?" Danny could not help but crack up into uncontrollable laughter. "What are you doing?" Sokka yelled at him.

Danny simply shrugged, "I don't know, but if you want I could lemur sit Momo."

"No!" Sokka said as he grabbed Momo off him and hugged him like a child that Danny was planning on stealing, he only ended up laughed harder.

It was then that the earth shook and Danny looked over to see Aang and Toph moving a large layer of earth so that they could move the fire into one small area and could not spread. However when they did that some flames jumped across and landed near Sokka and Momo, who both started to put out the flames. Normally Danny would try to help, but considering his status here, he was practically powerless, unless they wanted him to make it worse by attempting to fire bend. No, he was powerless, probably more so than Sokka, who at least had a club to beat the fire. Danny had nothing, just uncontrolled firebending.

It was only when he heard Aang yell, "Stand clear," did Danny realized he was stuck in thought. He looked over to see what he was yelling about, until he saw a huge wave of water come right at him, only to turn into snow shortly afterwards. "Good work everyone!" Aang exclaim as Danny unburied himself from the snow.

"H-hey! Why is it snowing in the middle of spring?!" Danny yelled, as Sokka's head popped out of another pill of snow with Momo sliding across the ice.

There you have it everyone, don't forget to review and inform me of any mistakes. As for my Runaway in Jump Fans, the story will be updated next Tuesday... Hopefully *sigh*

Well onto the trivia! Let's see... what could I ask... Oh I know! What Danny Phantom Character is going to be making their big entrance in the next chapter! Your clue... they went to school with him in the show.

Have fun, the winners get a sneak peek into the next chapter as usual! And don't forget to review everyone, I want to see your thoughts, opinions, and if i have made any mistakes so far. I'll even accept PMs to those who do not want their opinions shown to the public.

~Ned