(Rewrite) Transdimensional Troubles

Chapter 5: A chase

Danny scratched the back of his neck in thought, while chewing on the wooden edge of the brush. It was hard to make a full-blown replica of the portal when he didn't have a throughout knowledge of the technology. No, he had an understanding of the ecto-engineering, but he was basically creating the gateway from scratch. And that was only one of the issues which didn't let him get home by now, there were many others, which led to several sleepless nights. The never ending chase after the Avatar for a few weeks by then didn't give him any additional hours of rest.

The raven haired teen was snapped out of his observations when he heard the door opening. Danny briefly glanced up and saw that the Princess and her friends had returned from whatever they were doing outside.

"Back already?" He asked.

"This pathetic little town has no entertainment at all," Azula grumbled, sitting on the nearest chair and rubbing her forehead.

"There are different kinds of entertainment," Danny noted.

"Says the one who sits over the list of paper all day."

Danny didn't respond, continuing to scribe something.

"Whatcha doing?" Ty Lee leaned over Danny's shoulder to look at his work. It was so sudden that the teen jumped in surprise and clenched his paper list, earning multiple laughs. The ghost teen blushed brightly with green color and turned away. He put his belongings on the table and continued to scribe something.

"What are these knots?" Ty Lee asked the next question. 

Phantom sighed. "Each machine is composed of details. And each detail needs its own blueprint. And these 'knots' are letters of my language. It's a real headache trying to write small notes with a brush. I need a pen. Or pencil at least."

The girls only looked at him in confusion. "Nevermind that. Since this world is foreign, first I have to understand the frequency for the portal. It's like precisely calculating the place where the trebuchet's projectile should fall. Same here, to pierce the fabric of reality I need to know where to do it...I need a different hobby."

"It is a weird hobby," Mai deadpanned.

"My parents were earning money that way. And my father's side did this for generations. So, by seizing the throne I kind of broken the family tradition. Before that I was taught enough. Thank the Ancients that this world is advanced enough to let me construct it. I could be summoned in medieval era, or worse."

Suddenly an idea occured in Danny's mind. He walked over to the chimney and took an iron poker. The teen took out a small piece of burnt off coal.

"The brush may be useful for drawing, but I have to make notes and calculations," he said, putting the piece on the paper. "I need some rest, and please don't burn my blueprints. AGAIN."

"Depends on my mood, servant," Azula smirked, putting hands behind her head.

"I'm not your servant, I thought we got over it," Danny complained with a groan.

"I'm not going to change the nickname, though," the princess smiled sweetly.

Phantom shook his head and sighed. It was pointless to argue with her. The ghost teen exited the house.

"You know what, he is actually really cute," Ty Lee commented, earning not amused look from her friends.

"Ty Lee, need I remind you that he is a walking corpse?" Azula deadpanned.

The acrobat shrugged.

The house they wasn't really big, but, because the princess wanted the best, the house was rather luxurious. The small town they were staying in was taken over one day ago. Their group had joined the forces with the squad of Fire Nation troops and broke the resistance quickly enough. Since no big battles were anywhere in sight, he didn't have to fly across the continent to fight there. After a few citizens were interrogated, they learnt where the Avatar went. Why didn't they move further? The War Minister had sent a message about the new machine which was about to arrive in their disposal.