Danny Phantom - Gender Bender (Discontinued)

Chapter Twenty

The following Tuesday, Danny sat through her classes patiently, eager to use her spare moment after school to see Frostbite. The past two nights had been filled with keeping a low profile while handling thieves and other cons, and study. The other notes from Milo had been too cryptic for her to decipher - like the perimeter pieces of a much larger puzzle. Milo had gone on to talk about how he got his powers. He had stumbled across something called a nemeton, a powerful source of supernatural energy stored in a large tree. Both he and his corresponding Plasmius had gotten their powers at the same time, having had fought drunkenly into the forest to the north of London, only to fall over the large roots of the tree. Why Milo had left those messages hidden in the pages, Danny could not tell. It also appeared that those leaflets were not placed in chronological order, and the first one she had read seemed to be the last note he had left. What had happened when Plasmius activated the portal? Did anything happen? Why was Milo so concerned with hiding this information, and why did he think it was important if no Phantom or Plasmius in the past had known what had transpired in their past lives?

These questions swelled her head suddenly as she stared lazily outside at the cold, blue sky. She was sitting in history class, zoning out like she usually did, but suddenly it seemed rather interesting. Milo had mentioned he had gotten his powers in 1847, and that Plasmius' machine was in the works three years after. Mrs. Berry was teaching the class about Celtic lore, and how the Druids had messenger trails stretching from the south of Wales, through London, all the way to the northenmost tip of Scotland. She displayed a map of the routes marked in red.

"The druids, obviously, were not actually magical," Mrs. Berry continued, Danny intrigued, "but their culture was respected, or avoided, by all the superstitious rulers in the UK ever since their practices came about. They would often meet in groves around a nemeton. Now, can anyone tell me what a nemeton is?" Danny's hand mindlessly went up. "Yes, Danny?"

"It's essentially a tree which acts as a silo for supernatural energy. That's where the Druids drew their powers from."

"Very good. They were very large trees, as they often grew in very fertile, ancient volcanic soil. Unfortunately, however, most were cut down during the reign of King Charles I."

A girl at the back with blonde hair and light freckles spoke up, her hand lazily waving in the air. "Uh, Miss. Why are we talking about medieval stuff? I thought this unit was the Victorian era." Star looked very confused. Danny stared at her unconsciously, but shook herself out of it when Star smiled at her. She smiled back and flipped back to the front.

"Ah, Star. Im glad you asked. Yes, during Charles I the practice of Celtic magic was all but forbidden, and thus almost lost. But as we have been studying the past few weeks, the Victorian era was very gothic - obsessed with science-fiction, and the supernatural. Many people took up the practice in underground societies, mainly sanctioned in London. Alas, all of those lairs would have been crushed in the 1850 earthquake which hit London with a magintude of 6. The worst one London had seen. A very odd occurance, as the ground structures remained relatively undamaged, but many underground passages were destroyed, and the streets caved in."

"An earthquake?" Danny started. "In London? London isn't on any fault lines, surely it can't get such a bad earthquake?"

Mrs. Berry gave her a queer look through her small glasses and smiled. "There have been offshore earthquakes of that magnitude that caused severe damage to England's east coast."

Danny leaned forward eargerly in her chair. "Where was the epicenter of the 1850 one?"

"Well, they didn't have the technologies we have now back when Victoria ruled, but if you must know, the most damaged was sustained in underground archives immediately below Buckingham Palace." Danny murmured those words to herself. The teacher just shook her head and went on with the lesson. As the bell rang, and Danny was packing her bags, a dainty hand slammed a colourful flyer on her desk. She look up with a start to see Star beaming at her. Danny grinned back and questioned the poster.