Disclaimer: I do not own anything Butch Hartman does.
Author's Note: Concrit welcomed.
Chapter 5: Norm of Many Forms
Hirsi, the shaman of the Jackal tribe, wondered what the purple object that mysteriously appeared a few weeks ago was. He believed it was from the spirit world. The spirits probably had a message for the tribe.
Unfortunately, none of his rituals had any effect on the purple object. He was frustrated. He had tried all the rituals he knew, now what could he do?
He touched the object, suspecting it might cause something to happen. Nothing. He rubbed it in frustration.
Wondrous teal blue smoke spiraled out and dispersed, revealing a baby. The baby had a smoky teal-blue tail and golden bangles. Humans did not float or have smoky teal-blue tails. Babies didn't wear golden bangles.
"Oh holy spirit from the realms above, what do you have to say to us mere, puny mortals?"
"Where mama?"
Hirsi looked at the spirit in confusion. Spirits didn't have mamas, unless they were spirits of the dead, that is.
"I don't know where your mother is," said Hirsi, "You came to deliver a message to our tribe."
The spirit baby looked confused. Ah well, thought Hirsi, since the spirits sent him, he'll probably tell me why he came sometime. It occurred to him that if he did a ritual, the spirit might tell him why he came. He put on a ceremonial robe, made from animal fur and started chanting while dancing in each of the four directions: North, South, East, and West.
The spirit's confused look didn't fade.
However, something else happened.
Norm rather liked the shaman's robe. He wondered what it was made out of. Then he faintly remembered a visit to the Genie World Zoo with his parents. The two thoughts intersected as Norm impulsively snapped his fingers.
GONG!
Below where the spirit baby was previously floating, there was a teal-blue fawn, wearing golden bangles.
Norm gazed around, wondering what had just happened. Why wasn't he floating? He looked down. Legs with teal-blue fur and pitch-black hooves. A teal-blue furred body, speckled with magenta spots.
Hirsi wondered if the baby's transformation into a fawn was what it was sent there to do.
"So fawns are important somehow?" asked Hirsi in confusion.
Norm wondered what would happen if he attempted it again. He snapped his fingers.
GONG!
He became a teal-blue baby rabbit.
Hirsi wondered if the spirits wanted him to sacrifice a fawn and a rabbit to them.
GONG!
The spirit baby became a rope. Hirsi wondered why the spirits would even care about ropes. Ropes were mortal creations, not spiritual ones.
"So, I have to sacrifice a fawn and a rabbit by tying rope to their necks…"
Norm was confused. How did becoming a fawn, rabbit and a rope indicate that the human had to sacrifice anything?
GONG!
He became his NORMal genie form.
Hirsi guessed that meant the message was done and it was time for him to do the sacrifice.
Norm wondered why on the Earth the human did such strange stuff. The human read weird subtext into everything.
GONG!
A baby bottle appeared and Norm drank from it. He got the hiccups. Just then, a titanic wave of water crashed against the skin tent.
"The spirits don't want me to sacrifice a fawn and a rabbit using a rope," said Hirsi, "What do they want? I wish I knew!"
GONG!
The room filled with ghosts, each telling him their last requests. He had wished for the spirits to tell him what he wanted and now they were doing so.
'"So that's what you came to tell me?"
"We didn't come to tell you anything," said one of the ghosts, "We came here and started talking about what we want."
"He called us," said another, pointing at Norm, "But what does a baby spirit want with us?"
Norm was bewildered. What made them think that he wanted anything with them? The human wished, he granted.
GONG!
The ghosts disappeared.
Hirsi figured that the message had finished. What he did he have to do again? The spirits had told him too much and he couldn't remember any of it!
"I wish I knew what I was supposed to do!"
GONG!
Hirsi knew that he had to wish, he had only one left and the spirit was actually a baby genie that granted them.
"I wish I knew what a genie was."
GONG!
Hirsi learned that genies were magical creatures with smoky tails. They used to live in Genie World but The Darkness forced them into various kinds of containers.
The baby genie was sucked back into his lamp. Hirsi had also learned that genies were sucked back into the lamp when their master used up all their three wishes.
Hirsi decided that he'd tell his tribe about genies. However, again, maybe only shamans could know of them. Maybe he wouldn't.
Author's Note: The ghosts aren't an attempt at a Danny Phantom crossover. There were ghosts in the Fairly Odd Parents episode Wish Fixers so ghosts do canonically exist in Fairly Odd Parents.