Danny Phantom Short Stories

Small world

It's not like Danny hadn't thought about death. Or ever wondered what everyone else would think about his.

It's not like he isn't aware a mayority of the population thinks he's been dead way longer than he has. Not like he's gonna correct them. He'd rather not talk about it at all if he's honest.

But he knows they're out there making conspiracy theories about Phantom.

He hadn't expected this though.

It had come out of nowhere too. They were in a class trip for history. In a desperate attempt to awaken some interest in the students Mr. Yob had organised a field trip to a museum.

He especially hadn't expected it because it was a museum out of town. They'd ridden the bus for a half hour to the nearest city and stepped off.

It was only a half hour away but it seemed like a whole other world.

No craters on the ground, no leaves moving along to the suspicious lack of wind, no flickering lights in places no light should be. Everyone was walking on the sidewalk and not careening on skateboards in between the cars or sitting on rooftops because their tolerance of danger had been shot.

It was bizarre.

It was so normal that it made this situation that much more out of left field.

"Do you think anyone here even believes in ghosts?" Tucker asked as if he was taking this seriously.

"No. They just see this as another cult," Sam replied, a hint of humor in her voice.

"Kill me," Danny pleaded, regretting all of his life's choices.

This time, Sam smirked. "That's already happened. The question is how long ago."

"753 BC"

The trio snapped their heads toward Valerie, suddenly scared she'd overheard. But she was focused on the information plate in front of the exhibit they were standing by.

"That's when this was made," she continued. "The Roman Empire time period. There were more plates, but this is the most intact one." She leaned back, hands on her hips and tilted her head back. "This explains his ginormous ego."

The exhibit in question was a huge stone tablet, that must've been a wall once, depicting one of the ancient Roman gods and its achievements.

The ancient Roman god looked suspiciously like their local teen superhero.

"It...could not be him?" Star rubbed her chin and squinted at the carved stone.

Valerie scowled.

"They call him a spirit god."

"Okay, maybe it's him."

"What is he even doing." They squinted at the stone, trying to depict the situation carved.

The class had stopped in front of the sculpture. They had been blocking the route for five minutes (and will be for longer) but moving on hadn't crossed any of their minds.

Dash was especially excited. "It's called chariot racing! Don't tell me you guys don't know about chariot racing."

A few of the students nodded as they recognized it. They were able to decipher the rest of the drawing from that. The alledged spirit god was standing on a chariot being pulled by three horses. He was holding onto the reins with one hand and his other hand was raised in the air behind him with a ball of what looked like energy or light floating in it. The background looked like a stadium and a couple of observers were carved around the chariot. Below the drawing were what looked like flames carved into the stone.

Dash was grinning brightly as he took his phone out of his pocket. "I knew Phantom was a sports kind of guy. So cool!" He thumbed through the phone. "Chariot racing was very important back in Ancient Rome. It was olimpic level sport. And also very dangerous. It was very hard to control the horses and when they crashed they'd get tangled all together. The horses and the drivers probably didn't survive that. They called it a shipwreck. You could also whip other drivers off of their chariots to win." Dash had stars in his eyes. "With his powers, he must've been undefeated."

Mr. Yob watched this all unfold with defeat. "And the Phantom continues to be the only thing that can motivate you to learn," he sighed. The teacher leaned back against the wall and sent apologetic smiles to other visitors passing by.

Valerie pulls a face. "Using his powers? What a cheater."

Tucker shrugged. "Hey, you gotta use what your mama gave you."

"That- Tucker, please stop talking."

"It doesn't look like he raced a lot, though." Star continued reading. "He was a god, remember. Gods get depicted on the side of chariots to represent their teams and for luck."

"Well what kind of team did he represent?"

Dash put his fist up to his chest. "Must've been the best."

Star covered her smile with her hand. "He- he's the god of the underdogs."

"What?!" Everyone congregated around Star and the description plate. Even Danny craned his neck in interest.

Paulina read out loud. "The spirit god was told to stand for the smaller and weaker. He was often worshipped for protection and used as a symbol against the hierarchy and emperor. He is often drawn fighting the emperor of that time. This emperor had one of the shortest reigns in the Roman history, reigning for only three months. Inscriptions have no other explanation for his abrupt departure other than the spirit god overthrowing him after the emperor had terrorised Rome and its inhabitants. The flames on the drawing simbolise the destruction the fight and mostly the emperor had brought upon Ancient Rome."

The class was silent. This was so familiar it was surreal.

Sam had lit up brightly and jabbed her elbow at Danny. "Overthrowing the government without me, huh Danny?" she whispered.

Danny was blushing brightly. "Shut up. I can't believe they made me a god."

"Why not?" Tucker grinned, internally proud of his best friend. "The yeti do it too. Own up to it, Danny."

The halfghost just blushed harder.

"Hold up! Back up!" Dash clapped his hands in distress. "How is he the god of underdogs? He's doing a dangerous sport and beating up emperors?!"

Star snickered as she ran her finger along the words on the plate. "Mostly because of how he's depicted. Look at him, he's gangly and skinny and small and looks like a kid." She squinted at the picture. "He really hasn't changed a bit. Who could've guessed he's so old."

Fenton choked.