Chapter Text
Present Day
Danny yawned as they landed again. His energy was quickly draining, but he had to keep going. His exhaustion can and would be the death of him if he let it.
The Carnivorous Canyon was just up ahead. It was like a giant scar in the middle of the Zone, with gnashing teeth and flexible walls. Eraserhead looked at it like he was going to be sick.
“Welcome to the Carnivorous Canyon,” Danny said with the addition of jazz hands. Eraserhead looked unamused.
“And we’re flying through it?” He asked. “You can barely get from one rock to the next.”
“Well, over it. And this is why I’ve been doing that. I’m trying to conserve energy, not waste it. This way we can get over it without too much of a problem. We just need to find an easier way to carry you.”
“We could use this,” Eraser said, taking off his capture scarf. “I can ride on your back and you can tie me to you. That way if we need to do any maneuvering it won’t be too much of a hindrance, or if you need to use your other powers.” Danny shrugged and took the scarf from Eraserhead.
“Hop on, old man,” he said, turning around and leaning forward. It was awkward with his bad ankle, but he managed okay. Once he was secure with the capture scarf, Danny straightened back up and looked over the canyon, assessing it. It was too wide to go around, plus they had tendrils that could snap you up and throw you in. The safest way was over the top.
Danny cracked his neck and relaxed his shoulders. With his supernatural strength holding Eraserhead wasn’t too bad, but if he did it for too long he had a good chance of passing out. The faster they got through this, the better.
“I’m gonna fly as fast as I can,” he said over his shoulder. “If you need me to slow down just tap my shoulder or something.”
He got a hum from the pro, which was a resounding yes from the man if he’s ever heard one. Danny nodded to him once more, and leapt.
They fell for just a moment as Danny adjusted to the new weight in the air, and they were off.
Danny could fly fast. At least a hundred miles per hour indoors. But outside, with nothing but a man-eating canyon in front of him, he could really let loose.
He shot off like a bullet. The canyon, even when it was anticipating his movement, was too slow. It reached up and snapped at them, but always missed. Danny would fly higher and higher, avoiding the reach of the monster. With Eraser on his back it was harder to maneuver himself in mid-air, but for a slow, dumb thing like the Canyon it was workable.
Danny kept the speed up for longer than what was probably healthy. His core was straining with the effort. If he slowed down for even a second they would be eaten. He couldn’t afford that. Not with Eraser and Jazz both on the line.
Danny let out a triumphant laugh as they reached the end, but his victory was celebrated too soon. As they passed the threshold, a tendril whipped out, wrapping itself around Danny’s entire leg and tugging him down, bringing the pro down with him. Danny grimaced as he flew, fighting with the monster. With the way Eraser was tied up against him, he was pretty much useless. It was up to Danny. He turned around, making a poor attempt to fly backwards. His hand was glowing green, but just as he was about to fire, another thing wrapped itself around his waist.
It wasn’t the Canyon this time. It was much thinner, like wire, digging into his skin through his suit. He groaned as he was pulled in two different directions. He could remedy one of them, at least.
He blasted the Canyon off of him, ignoring the ache in his leg from the pressure it had squeezed him with. He and Eraser were sent off in the other direction from the other thing pulling him.
He managed to twist himself in mid-air before colliding with whoever was butting in. But before he could process who it was, he was suddenly on the ground, under a glowing, green net.
“I was wondering when I’d see your face again, Whelp,” Skulker said, looking down at Danny. He had managed to twist himself so he landed on his side and not on Eraser, who had taken the liberty of immediately untangling himself from the scarf. He didn’t have anywhere to go under the force of the net, but it was still a relief all the same. Danny could move around a lot better now.
“Skulker, is there any possible way you could look to where your heart should be and reschedule?” Danny snarked. He hadn’t missed Skulker in the slightest, and he was more than irritated with this turn of events.
“After you have evaded me for so long?” Skulker barked out a laugh. “Your pelt will be used as a rug for me to walk over.”
“That is unnecessarily graphic,” Eraser said with a grunt. Danny barked out a laugh. It wasn’t often that the overcaffeinated underground hero made a joke.
Skulker didn’t say anything to Eraser. He just scowled and pressed a button on his arm. Immediately the net was alight with green electricity. Danny felt white-hot pain coursing through him, and had to bite his lip to keep from screaming out. Eraserhead’s hands were on him. How was he not hurt? Why wasn’t he writhing in pain? Right. Ghost stuff didn’t work on humans. But if he turned human now, he’d probably collapse from exhaustion, and that would be counterproductive.
The electricity stopped after what was probably a few seconds, but it felt longer to Danny. His whole body relaxed, his chest heaving. Skulker only growled in frustration.
“You’re that scarf bastard,” he said to Eraser.
“In the flesh.”
With a quick flourish he threw the net off and threw his scarf at Skulker, who was too slow to dodge. Even from the ground, at a disadvantage, Eraserhead was a force to be reckoned with. He pulled hard, and dragged Skulker to the ground with a large thump. Danny couldn’t help but marvel at the skill through his labored breaths.
Skulker wasted no time in recovering. In a tangle of limbs it was hard, near impossible to get away from Skulker. He took the chance and pounced on Eraser, holding him down with a knee in his gut. His ribs were on fire, and his vision blurred slightly. Skulker leaned forward, digging his knee in even deeper.
“If you’re friends with the runt, you’re an enemy of mine,” he growled.
He leaned back with a grin. A green hunting knife was in his hand now as Eraser struggled under the full weight of the ghost. And just as Skulker started his downward motion, Shouta’s life quite literally in his hands, he stopped, as if he was stuck.
Shouta experimentally grunted and thrashed around, but Skulker would not move.
Shouta could feel his heart in his chest. He could barely move with Skulker stuck like he was, but absolute relief washed over him as Phantom poked his head out from over Skulker’s shoulder. He looked like absolute shit, but he had a huge grin anyway.
“You should really update your armor, dude,” he said. “It’s pretty sad that just anybody can make your suit seize up. Even an idiot like me figured it out.”
The smug teenager walked around and ripped off Skulker’s face mask, revealing a very tiny, very angry green blob with a high pitched voice. If Shouta hadn’t nearly died just a second ago, he would have found the profanities amusing.
“Fuck off, Skulker,” Phantom said. He put the ghost in the palm of his hand and blew him away with an ectoblast. Once he was out of sight, Phantom picked up the prone armor like it was nothing and threw it into the Canyon, who consumed it with what could only be described as excitement. How a canyon could feel excitement, Shouta didn’t care. He was too tired to even attempt to put much thought into it.
“He shouldn’t be a problem for a while, now,” he told Shouta. Phantom held out a hand, and the pro gripped it. Despite the pain Phantom must be feeling, he pulled Shouta to his feet like it was nothing.
For the first time, Shouta realized just how much Phantom has grown. He’s a few inches taller now, nearly as tall as him. He’s filled out, too, like he’s done nothing but consume protein powder for the past year. Shouta had no doubt in his mind that if he wanted to, he could beat Shouta in a fight any day of the week.
“Are you okay?” He asked. Phantom shrugged.
“I’ll be fine. Just-electricity and I don’t mix all that well. He’s learning.” Shouta knew enough to read between the lines, and left it at that. There was no reason to pry over something like a cause of death to a still very alive boy. “How are you holding up?”
“Just peachy,” Shouta replied. He was tired and in pain, and just wanted to go home and snug his husband and his cat. Maybe even take a nice, hot bath. He was irritated, but not at Phantom, who at the very least seemed apologetic.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I wouldn’t have asked you to help if I had known we would be hitchhiking through the Zone.”
“No, it’s fine,” Shouta said, squeezing his eyes shut. “It’s just been a long day.”
“Yeah,” Phantom huffed out a laugh. “You’re preaching to the choir.”
Phantom held out his arm and Shouta took it, leaning on the ghost once more. Before long, they were back in the air.
“Where to next?” Shouta asked over the wind. Phantom was already pale, but he managed to get even more so at the question.
“Dora’s kingdom. But we have to go through the Eldritch Forest to get there.”
This was going to be a long day.