Portals

Desperate

Danny plunged through the rock layers,  dragged by the ice cold hand around his waist. If he struggled, he could be left behind somewhere surrounded by stone until his powers returned, and who knows how long that would take. Anything was better than that.

They burst into the cave. Danny hung limply from Phankasm's surprisingly powerful arms as she drifted down.

"I found him." Phankasm threw him across the flat space of rock in the center of the cavern, where he tumbled to land at the Sorcerer's feet.

"I see that." The Sorcerer appraised Danny's weak form as he tried to force himself up. A long scrape had formed on the side of his face; the rock wasn't exactly worn perfectly smooth by the pacing of its occupant, even over eight hundred years.

"Let go of me," Danny tried, ripping off the gag, but it came out as more of a croak than a snarl. His throat felt disgusting, almost like he could feel the stank in there, ripping away his powers.

"This is Dylan's younger self?" The Sorcerer raised an eyebrow at Phankasm.

She shrugged, swinging her hair over her shoulder. "This is Danny Fenton. Dan's human version, once upon a time when he had one."

"Danny Fenton? Danny Phantom." The Sorcerer narrowed his eyes. "The names even sound alike. How is that considered an alter ego? At least the Ninja is generic."

Danny's eyes widened at the mention of the Ninja. The Sorcerer didn't fail to notice.

"You know him."

"The Ninja and Danny Phantom are allies, yes."

"No, you know the Ninja. Who he is, as a student of Norrisville High?" The Sorcerer's golden chains rattled as he lunged, grabbing the half-ghost by the throat and pinning him to the stone. "Who is the Norrisville Ninja?"

Danny gasped, shaking his head.

The green-skinned man backed up, pondering the situation. He had Danny Fenton here, powerless and perfect for Declan to take his revenge. But the older ghost had spooked and run off, frightened by his powers fading away.

Powers fading away.

"You're only half ghost. So your body can sustain your abilities outside the strange dimension that you came from." The smile that stretched across his mottled skin could only be described as evil. "We just found an unlimited supply of ghost-making stank."

Danny jerked back but crashed into Phankasm, who glued him to the cavern wall with a massive glob of black goo. "No. No! Let me go!"

Phankasm floated up, grinning. "Say ah, Danny."

He felt something rip from his throat, then he coughed violently. A second later, a tiny bundle of black slipped out of his mouth and fell into the blackness below him.

Then the rush of cold air fluttered up his throat, but he snapped his mouth shut, refusing to let them have his ghost sense. That had to be what they wanted. So simple, he wouldn't give it to them.

"Come on, Phantom, open up. You're turning blue."

But not from holding his breath. He was funneling whatever power the sense was giving him into his skin. Ice collected across his face and tiny puffs of frigid air came from his nose. But he could already feel the black goop around his hands congealing. Phankasm just had to stay near for a few more minutes.

***

"Not a good idea, Cunningham. Not a good idea!"

The Norrisville Ninja stood with his sword poised over the Eye of Eternity, ready to bring it crashing down. He looked up. "Phankasm has Danny."

"So? We never agreed to save his life!"

The Ninja's eyes narrowed behind his mask. "That's what allies do, Howard.  They save each other's lives."

"It doesn't mean I have to like it," the teen grumbled. "Well, hurry up. I don't have all day."

"Actually, you do." And the Ninja split open the Eye of Eternity.

Smoke ripped free, swarming into the air until it massed over the teens' heads. Howard's courage failed him at the last moment and he turned tail, but that was precisely what allowed the smoke to launch its attack. He bowled over with the force of the entity hitting his back, then he forced himself up, eyes glowing. His nose formed a long, curved beak and he squawked, ruffling long orange feathers that sprouted all over his arms.

"Tengu," the Ninja breathed, then he closed his eyes and focused on projecting one singular thought to the brilliant bird.

Help me.

Expectedly, the bird hopped way, pecking at some invisible speck on the crumbling mosaic. The Ninja stepped off carefully. The prison was already disintegrating. This needed to happen, and fast.

"Here Tengu," he whistled. "Here, boy!"

The bird's head popped up and turned, the great bulbous eye meeting the Ninja's. Then it hopped once, sending a thundering crash through the mosaic that started the true collapse of the tiles. The Ninja spared the gap a moment as he stared, then redoubled his efforts with the bird.

"Howard, here. Here. Come on!"

Then the bird's thoughtless gaze locked onto Danny's thermos, which now looped over the Ninja's shoulder. It hopped toward him, once, twice. The Ninja flinched as its massive beak nuzzled against the silver metal.

The Ninja blinked, then yanked off the thermos and held it out in front of him. "You like it? You can have it. Just come a bit closer– gotcha!"

He grabbed a fistful of the Tengu's feathers and hefted himself onto the bird's back, ignoring a startled squawk. The bird reared, flapping gently, then grabbed the thermos that the Ninja had dropped and launched itself into the air above the foyer. It flapped until the Ninja's back was pressed against the dusty roof, then dove.

The Ninja screamed as the mosaic flashed toward him. Then there was that tingly, not-there-anymore feeling he had whenever Danny rescued him from a particularly close call with a monster. He forced his eyes open as the bird kept going, flying through the rock as if it were air. As if they weren't really there.

The Tengu had turned intangible.