Five-Rivers encounters Phantom... but he isn't himself....
A Danny Phantom Podfic for Ectober 2021.
Written by summerssixecho on tumblr, ao
Twin green lights greeted the new guest, like lanterns that lit up the foggy night, casting all attention away from the uncertainty of the murky waters up ahead. It drew the visitor to its source, like Icarus ignoring all signs of imminent danger before getting too close to being burnt.
“Phantom?” the new voice calls again.
The sound of their friendly concern made the ghost perk up. The warmth of the wide smile not quite reached the giddiness in his glimmering eyes.
“Oh, you’re really here?” The sound of the ghost boy’s words sent shivers down River’s spine. Where once had been a friendly and playful voice, was now surrounded with a soothing, white noise. The echo was still present. “Are you another gift my brothers sent me? Or just a mirage?”
Rivers looked up, down, and around. Where was ‘here’? Darkness spread below, almost moving to cover their feet. The sight of the millions of stars covering distantly the dark expanse didn’t match any of the constellations found in Amity Park’s sky. The ‘stars’ moved like wisps attached to the dark ooze, pulsing, fading, whispering, creating smaller fractals in their wake.
“Is this the void? Did I stare at it for too long?”
Phantom’s smoke-like body got closer in a blink, with no signs of moving at all to cut the distance between them. Was that even Phantom anymore? Where were the puns and the confidence? The town’s hero usually made them feel protected, safe, untouchable whenever he was fighting a ghost. But now that feeling was nowhere to be found.
“Ha, nice of you to humor me,” the ghost replied with a sinister smile. “I love playing with w̴̬̫̠̿́͗o̴̙̘͌͜r̵̤͊͑d̸͕͇̊s̵͋̐͒͜. I heard you like them too?”
His eerie green eyes stared at the ground, the once black expanse at their feet shifted slightly to a new form. Tiny orbs began to appear, mirroring the endless sky. Each minuscule light shifted into a letter, then a word, then full paragraphs to be followed on a path.
The human tried to make sense of the stream of text that continued beyond the horizon. Familiar names got their attention, “Lethe” stood out in larger letters, floating away in the ghastly road. Another look around showed different paths connecting to a larger one.
As “Lethe” got away, the words that followed whispered secrets. Lore created by ghosts, not available to any other human before, the voices said.
“So what do you say we play a game?” Phantom cut into Rivers’ thoughts. “Unless you’d rather forget about it.”
Rivers felt something nagging, a shadow lurking at the back of their mind. But this was Phantom. They needed to help him. So maybe they could play along for a while… “What kind of game?” the wary human asked.
The smile stretched even wider as the green orbs shone with more intensity. “See how many words we can play with here? It’ll be fun.” The ghost extended his darkened hand. “Here, I’ll even give you a hand.”
The visitor belatedly realized this wasn’t the myth of Icarus. This wasn’t Charon taking them to the other side.
If anything, this was closer to Phantasus and as they followed the path to a door, they lost themselves in the dream...
Phantom, you have to remember that they are not your brothers! The only family that I know you have is that little girl ghost that looks just like you. I don't know if she's your sister, your cousin, some kind of ghost clone, or what. But she has got to be missing you. You can't abandon her! And you can't abandon Amity.
We are definitely going to save you, so please try and remember.
A sister? There’s a sound, like an earworm nagging at the back of my mind. But it sax that I can’t lift the fog in my head to hear it right… If it’s a sister, Herbie-g accomplishment was probably to destroy any harmony at home. Or we probably fought all the time, making my Arm-strong enough to beat her in any game. Nah, I’m getting just Dizzy thinking about this, my thoughts running Miles per minute.
Oh, wait… a cousin! I remember! Danielle, was it? You know, you're right. I can't abandon her.
Maybe we can get her to join us… She’ll love having a new home. We could get her Core-aligned (gotta ask that tumblr cryptid guy Neil, the one who’s not an astronaut, about it… He also knows all about the Sandman… I mean, Nocturne, right?)
But don’t worry! You don’t need to save me!
I’m perfectly f i n e
And have you seen my bros? Nocturne is a treat to talk to, and Fright looks so badass (did you know he can burn you to a crisp?)
Here’s something our new guest @13thcat drew to show me gushing at Frighty's soul shredder
Well Phantom, it looks like your plight pulled me out of retirement. Been awhile since we faced mortal danger together. Looks like some things never change.
Look if you need more scary stories…I might have another one coming for you. And I know I’m not the only one. Everyone’s rallying together and cooking up some great stuff for you.
We’ll keep playing their game until they find out we’re actually playing them…
I am so happy to hear you will help us!
We've been trying so hard to protect protect ̴̡͚̝̥̼̓̓p̴̬̙̝̠͋͛͐̚ ̸̦̀ř̴̰̌̉͑̕ ̴̦̓͠o̴̭͂̾̎̌ ̵̲͋̅̑̊͝t̴̡̘̼̠́͛̈̿ ̴̢̡̹̹̩̏̔̀͠ė̴̛͚̈́͊ ̶̣͙̫́̔c̷̣̫̽ ̶͖̩͈͉̹̏͗͠ẗ̷̬̩́̄͊ͅ ̸̣̬͕͙͝ͅ
First! Set your pan on the eye of a stove. Set stove to medium heat. Place oil of your choosing inside pan to melt.
Second! Crack as many eggs as you would like in a separate bowl. Pour a splash of milk of your choosing into the mixture. Add in a decent amount of sour cream. Then, take a salt shaker and shake that thing over the eggs for 1 second per egg.
Third! Take a big fork and beat it! A lot! Make sure it is all combined.
Fourth! When eggs are mixed and oil in pan is hot, pour eggy mixture into pan. Take spatula and move the egg mixture around. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan so that the eggs are not sticking and burning.
5th! If you like soft scrambled eggs, remove them when the eggs are still slightly shiny. If hard-scambled, keep the eggs moving until they look completely dry.
Voila! Scrambled eggs!
Oh, sounds like someone is egging us on.
Careful not putting all your eggs in one basket if you can help it.
Don’t want to break anything while figuring this out.
The five steps are great; it captured everyone’s appetite.
