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theguardiansseries · 1 year ago

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From the Beginning - Chapter 3: Danny Is Just Trying Really Hard To Survive His First Day At School (Dani Is Just Swearing At All The Static)

A/N: Sorry this is a little late (but still uploaded when I said I would! Rejoice!), I got caught up re-reading the chapter because I was enjoying reading it that much. (That's gotta be good, right?) So hopefully you all enjoy it just as much!

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Rating: Teen Audiences

Summary:

Dani Fenton (who is sometimes starting to go by Danny Fenton) is a fifteen-year-old almost sophmore who was just going about her normal life when she figured out she sort of liked being seen as a boy. Oh, then he (he had definitely been a he at the time) got shocked by a machine his parents built to view into another world that they believed contained a world of ‘ecotplasmic entities.’

Danny really isn’t sure how to tell them that they were right and that he was in the machine when it turned on and that maybe he isn’t so human anymore. (He might also not be a girl anymore, but that one was a little more difficult to explain than the fact that he ((she?)) might be half-ghost.

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54944266/chapters/139747483

Chapters: <<First>> <Prev || Next>

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Chapter Three: Danny Is Just Trying Really Hard To Survive His First Day At School (Dani Is Just Swearing At All The Static)

Danny Fenton nervously rubbed sweaty palms against her (his!) new favorite pair of jeans while inside his chest his heart was playing double dutch with how much jumping and stuttering it was doing. It would have been easy to blame it on first day back jitters and even easier to say his skipping heart was due to some lingering effects from the Portal, but, no. No, his panicked heart was all due to one person and one person alone.

“-can’t believe you talked me into letting you return to school. You still had a fever! Granted it was a low one, but 99.2 is still a fever!” Jazz, being annoyingly cautious of stop signs as always as she drove the two of them to Danny’s high school, hadn’t yet said a word about Danny’s new look.

Oh, sure, there had been a conversation or two sort of close to the topic a few weeks back, but that had been when he (she?) was wearing a dress and still looked like just Danielle. But now, altogether with his hair fully tucked up under his hat and the layered very obvious guy clothes and the fact he was trying something new and trying to lower his voice even though it was way harder than it should be- Well.

It wasn’t like Danny was expecting Jazz to lose it and go all Karen on him, but he had at least expected a comment about the fact that he was wearing the outfit Sam had first picked out for him back when he decided to try being Danny instead of Dani. With the way it all turned out he definitely looked more like he than anything else — and Jazz hadn’t said a word-! Well, no, she had said way too much in such a short time, but it had just been about… stuff.

“-know that you’re looking forward to finally being out of the house after everything, but school can wait! Teachers can be pretty understanding when it comes to things like this- Don’t give me that look. I had all the same teachers you did-”

“Petricoff,” Danny cut in, viciously pleased to both be distracted from his worries and see Jazz pause, close her mouth, and then gain a look. It was the same look she usually had when she wanted to say something bad about their parents but then remembered it was about their parents.

“Alright,” Jazz said after a minute. “Maybe not all of your teachers are understanding, but Petricoff doesn’t count and you know it. She’s some evil, demonic creature from the pits of hell.”

Not bothering to fight back a laugh, Danny couldn’t help but push it with a smug, “Never gonna forgive her for that C, huh?”

Danny half-expected some lecture about forgiveness and not holding things against people, but instead he was blessed with a wonderful, “Never. She’ll be in her grave and I’ll be sure to graffiti her tombstone every halloween. Now, did you get everything for your first day back? Backpack?”

Looking down at his backpack, which was on the floorboard, Danny looked back to Jazz, who was glaring at some old guy without a helmet passing them on a motorcycle. At least she was consistent in her hatred of motorcycles. “No. I threw it out my window to try and attract the attention of some aliens.”

“Notebooks and pencils?” After the first day of freshman year? Danny was pretty sure he had a notebook and pencil for each class — including lunch.

“Nope. I used them all to build a boat. I plan to use it to escape down the river tonight and sail all the way to Atlantis.” It was disappointing that Jazz no longer even looked at him.

“Lunch money?”

“Donated it to an organization that has a goal to punch every first grader in the face.”

“Phone and phone charger?”

“Gave ‘em to Tucker so he could make a supercomputer out of them. I’m pretty sure he’s just a few pieces away from taking over the White House.”

“Tell him the real power is through the Senate and to strike there first. Pain medication?”

“Took it all this morning at the same time so I can finally enter into a coma like I always dreamed of.”

“And should I be calling you Dani or another name now?”

Words dying in the back of his throat, Danny felt like his heart, which had traitorously calmed down in the familiar back-and-forth between him and Jazz, was going to explode. He was pretty sure it was beating faster than possible, Danny barely able to suck in a breath because how was he supposed to respond to that?

He had no response. He had nothing planned, his mind had gone absolutely blank, and there was no Sam or Tucker around to distract Jazz or defend him and he had no idea what he should be doing. They were pulling up towards the school so Danny could always bail and jump out of the car and run. That seemed like a good, solid option.

He was just about to try when he felt the car roll to a stop behind a few others, Jazz’s hand settling on his shoulder and it was fifty-fifty whether she would freak out or start being over accepting and- “I see you’re trying out a new outfit today.”

“Wait, what?” Was she being subtle? Jazz wasn’t subtle. She was as subtle as a brick wall. Was it a trick? It was probably a trick. “I mean, uh, yeah- No? Um… Sam helped me pick it out.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Jazz laughed, a hand resting on his shoulder and giving a light squeeze and okay, that was… a good sign? “You look good…?” The last word trailed off and sounded like she was trying to ask a question- Oh. Oh!

“Danny.” She wasn’t freaking out. “Still Danny, just with a y, now. And another n.” She wasn’t going off into some spiel about accepting every part of himself like she would have even a couple years ago, either. “At least it, uh, sometimes is. I think.” She was just… smiling at him.

“Well, Danny.” And there was emphasis there. There was emphasis to show that it was more than just… her. (It showed it was him, too.) “I think you look very nice for your first day back at school.”

Letting the silence stretch and half-aware that they were probably going to get honked at soon because they were just sitting there, Danny finally bit his lip and risked a quiet, “Really?”

“The only thing I ask is to keep me updated so I know whether I should be gushing about my smart baby sister or my smart baby brother.”

“You’re the worst,” Danny managed, refusing to admit he was choked up and absolutely ruined by such simple acceptance. Danny had been expecting some dramatic scene or a fight or to try and find the words to explain what the whole thing was about and instead it was just… It was Jazz smiling and accepting him. Just like that.

He really shouldn’t have expected anything else considering this was the sister who, after being told that Danny planned to become an astronaut, went out and bought a couple hundred dollars worth of instruction booklets and flight simulators. Still, it took way more than it should have to resist the urge to start crying and school hadn’t even started yet.

“The absolute worst,” Danny repeated, grabbing his bag and tumbling out of the car as he tried to steady himself because he had been ready for some kind of fight and instead he got that. Jesus, it was like the universe knew it gave him pretty useless parents so it made it up to him with Jazz. “Why can’t you insult me like a normal older sister!”

“Have a great day at school, sweetie!” Jazz called out to him through the open passenger window, grin smug and ugh. He loved her. “Be sure to make new friends!”

“Hey, now, what’s wrong with his old friends!” Ah, and here came Tucker to make the situation even worse. Danny didn’t even flinch at the familiar arm over his shoulders, Tucker beaming at Jazz and breaking up whatever had been left of The Moment.

“Like I said, make some new friends!” Jazz called as she started to pull out from the lineup of cars dropping off kids, Danny just barely biting down a laugh at Tucker’s over-the-top offense.

“See if I get her any obligatory Christmas gift,” Tucker huffed, squeezing Danny’s shoulder and giving him one of those quick, questioning looks even as he grinned. “Ready for our first day of sophomore year?”

“As long as we make sure to find Sam so she can scare off the jocks for us.” Right. Right! His first official day as Danny Fenton. What could go wrong?

⁂

“You know, when you think about it, there’s probably enough jaded students to start an all out war against her.” Sam’s bracing, amused tone was the only thing keeping Danny from shoving himself face-first into a locker out of a mix of rage and shame. “Like- Here. Hey! Mikey! What do you think about Petricoff!”

Mikey, one of the self-proclaimed ‘nerds’ in their year, startled from where he was walking next to them in the hallway on his own way to lunch like the rest of them. Danny, somehow, managed to feel even more shame and embarrassment, “Sam. Don’t just-”

“She’s a total asshole,” Mikey answered, which, okay, he hadn’t expected that. “See you guys at lunch.” With that he was speed walking away, which, fair. Sam had just shouted him down in the middle of the hallway and Sam could be… Sam.

“See? Total asshole and all the students hate her,” Sam beamed, linking her arm with Danny’s before her grin fell into something a bit more serious. “I promise, no one else in class looked like they agreed with her.” Well. At least there was that. Danny had been too busy trying not to look at anything or anyone when Petricoff had started frowning when he corrected his name on the call-sheet from Danielle to Danny (or Dani, depending on the day).

“Pretty sure some of them were glaring at her,” Tucker chimed in, bumping his and Danny’s shoulders together. “Plus, hey, she was the only teacher who had a problem with the whole name thing, right? We can deal with one homophobic teacher!”

“It’d be transphobic since this is a gender issue,” Sam cut in, frowning and slowing down in the hallway. “At least I think. Technically it’s about gender fluidity, but still…”

“Guys, it’s not that big of a deal. I mean, my name still is Danielle, and she’s a teacher. Pretty sure she gets final say.” While Danny hadn’t expected to have to go through his first day telling most of his teachers that he would prefer to go by Danny (Dani, technically), it hadn’t been that awful. Most of them just nodded, made a note of it, and then had kept going with roll. Petricoff, though…

Danielle, apparently, was what was on the attendance sheet and so in her class her name would be Danielle. After all, Dani sounded like such a boy’s name, and she didn’t want that, right?

God, the only thing that had kept Danny from sinking through the floor was Sam’s hand snapping out to hold onto his tight enough to hurt and Tucker’s chair squeaking like he had actually been about to get up and start a fight.

“Not every adult can be as cool as Jazz about the matter and, besides, there’s more important things to worry about, like the fact I’m starving.” Which wasn’t a lie. Danny was pretty sure he could eat at least three servings of a Thanksgiving dinner he was so hungry.

“That is the fifth time you’ve complained about being hungry and lunch has only just started.” Sam shook her head as she steered them along towards the cafeteria lunch line, other kids already sitting down and digging in. “Did you even eat this morning?”

“Bold of you to assume Jazz would let me leave the house without eating as long as she’s still at the house and not the dorms,” Danny snorted, digging out his lunch money, and, yeah. Jazz had been paranoid so he could probably double up on some things. “Think there’s a limit on how much cafeteria food I can- Shit!”

“Got it!” Tucker caught the dropped tray — and the food already on it — before it could hit the floor, handing it back to Danny with a frown, “You okay? That’s like the sixth or seventh time you’ve dropped something today.”

“I…” As much as Danny wanted to snap and say he was fine, that… had definitely happened more than it should have.

It was Sam to set a hand on his shoulder, giving a light squeeze, “Hey, it’s okay. Just let us know when you need help or if you need to go home early.”

“Yeah, man, I know you wanted to see the first day through, but you’re still recovering,” Tucker said, Danny pretending not to see the look of fear in his eyes. “It was… It was pretty bad, Danny. When you came out of there-”

painpainpainpain it hurt it hurt why did it hurt so fucking badly

cant breathe cant breathe cant breath make it stop make it stop makeitstop

why does it hurt so much-

“I’m fine.” Absolutely refusing to look down at his hands which he knew were shaking, Danny grit his teeth and kept moving down the line, shoving his stupid memories down as far as they could go. “I’m just a little shaky. It’s nothing some food won’t fix.”

Even as he said it he knew it was a lie. He hadn’t felt his hands shaking constantly like the doctors feared they would, but he knew what side-effects could be caused by getting electrocuted. He was lucky he could walk without his body suddenly going limp and numb from all that energy rushing through him-

“Oh, look, hey,” Sam’s voice, louder than it should be, had both him and Tucker following the direction she was pointing. “I told you guys the school board approved my petition to add vegetarian options to the menu!” It was an olive branch and distraction in one and Danny happily took it for what it was.

“Oh, yeah, you were saying something about that a few days ago.” Danny shoved a few fries in his mouth as Sam loaded up on her salads and fruit cups, Tucker making a face at it. “Is it here for a trial period or…?”

“Nope! Year-round,” Sam grinned, her happiness making Danny feel a little less raw around the edges as they finally got up to the cashier. “Hey, I got it,” Sam said, digging for her wallet before Danny could pay. “And it’s important to make sure kids have the choice to eat healthy and follow their beliefs.”

Glancing at Tucker and half-expecting the blood feud of carnivore versus herbivore like in middle school, and most of their freshman year, Danny was pleasantly surprised Tucker did nothing more than roll his eyes. “What? No fight about meat being better?”

“She’s got a point about the whole belief thing,” Tucker sighed, dramatically. “And the health thing. Just because my body can handle five double cheeseburgers in a row doesn’t mean it’s the same for everyone. Plus, Sam’s paying. I’m not gonna start shit until after I’ve eaten.” Ah, there was the jerk best friend he knew and loved.

Focused on completely decimating his fries, Danny absently listened to his friends talk until they were settled in their own little corner at a table. It was while Danny’s mouth was full that his friends looked at him and ah… The battle was about to start.

“Focus up, Danny, it’s time to go to war.” Sam was looking way too serious as she pulled out a notebook and pen that Danny had no doubt was for nothing except dramatic effect. “We need a battle plan if we’re going to survive the year.”

“I thought our battle plan was to just keep to ourselves and avoid pissing anyone off,” Tucker countered, shaking out some of his fries onto Danny’s own tray. Danny made a note to let him win the next game they played because his best friends were literally angels — fallen angels, yeah, but still angels. “Unless you changed that plan and we’re going to war against the A Listers, now.”

“Oh, god, tell me that stupid name didn’t stick.” Sam looked horrified while Danny smothered his laughter into his food. While ‘A Listers’ was a little on the nose when it came to identifying all of the ‘popular’ kids, it was great to use just to hear Sam complain about what an awful name it was. “Okay, Tucker, you’re literally wired into the internet. Have the generals remained the same?”

Tucker took a moment to just stare at Sam, finally shaking his head, “Okay, you know I love you, but you’re getting into the war strategy way too much. How late were you up playing last night?” The guilty look was answer enough and made it even more hilarious considering Sam had been looking ‘menacing’ while talking about ‘battle plans.’

Swallowing the last of his burger in a few quick bites, Danny gave Sam a light nudge against her foot with his own under the table, “No worries, Sammy, we all get caught up in all-night gaming marathons, sometimes. Seriously, though, come back down to high school. We need you to survive.”

“And to answer your question, yeah, everyone came back for the year as far as social media has told me,” Tucker chimed in, counting off on his fingers. “Paulina, Dash, Kawn, Star, and Valerie all accounted for.”

“Good, we should tell Paulina about the name thing, Danny. Gossip monger that she is, she'll have it out to the rest of the school before- Holy shit, are you already done?” Jumping at Sam’s words, Danny glanced down to his empty tray, which, yeah, okay, so he had been a bit hungry. “Your tray was filled.”

“Guess I was just hungry.” He still was, honestly, but like hell was he going to say it when Tucker and Sam were already giving him those looks again. The looks that showed they were worried and ready to call Jazz to take him home early because now he was fragile and hurt and- “Okay, what’s our ‘battle plan’ for the rest of the day, then?”

He was maybe a little out of sorts, but he was fine, or at least, he was recovering. Besides, being a little hungrier than normal and a little more clumsy didn’t mean anything bad. It just meant he was a little off his game, so, really.

He was fine.

Even if, after all she ate, she was still hungry- He. She. Ugh, Dani didn’t even care anymore whether it was he or she or even it because she just wanted to go home and get something to eat before crashing in bed. God, she’d never even be able to admit it but coming back for the first day had been a horrible choice.

She was starving, she was clumsy to where everything she held kept dropping it felt like, and now her skin was all tight. Her skin felt like it did after a bad sunburn or a too hot shower, all tight and overheated and like it was all just about to crack.

It was her last class of the day which was of course her stupid English class which meant of course she had Lancer and, of course, he was the one teacher who cared. That meant he kept looking at her as if checking to see if she had finally kicked the bucket or not.

She was honestly ready to either jump out of the window or stand up and scream if it would make the stupid day end early. Maybe she could distract herself by eating the notebook paper in front of her. It probably wouldn’t taste good, but-

Static. Static electricity.

Static electricity felt like it punched her in the chest before spreading out to every inch of her, skin tingling like her entire body had fallen asleep and was now just waking up. The only reason she didn’t call it burning or lightning was because it didn’t technically hurt but also what the hell.

It was like the feeling of when she had been really little and had been watching an old VHS tape before the movie had ended. She had been left with a static filled television and the feeling of dragging her fingers through the static that prickled up from the television in the remaining quiet. It was like that except everywhere.

It reminded her of the Portal way too much. All the static spreading across her skin and making it feel like a storm was about to break reminded her of the Portal way too much. The only thing that kept her from going into a full-on breakdown was the feeling of her pencil bumping into her fingers and almost rolling off her desk, sending her scrambling to catch it and right, right.

Right. She was fine. She wasn’t in the Portal. She was in her English class and she was supposed to be taking notes about what books they were going to read that year and she was okay. She was… Actually. She was okay — or better, at least.

Apparently a flashback to the worst moment in her life was enough to distract her because she no longer felt starving or even hungry, just bored as was usual in Lancer’s classes. She… He. That was right.

He still had to finish his first day of school.

⁂

Holding her breath as she sat down carefully on the middle step, Dani didn’t let herself breathe until she heard the soft, frustrated voices of her parents from where they were sitting at the kitchen table. While Dani couldn’t see into the kitchen from where she had sat herself, she could hear them well enough, and even see the harsh kitchen light that filled the hallway and ruined the soft darkness that had been there. “-just don’t understand. None of these readings make sense. We shouldn’t be seeing such a sharp increase so soon.”

Her mom definitely sounded frustrated. It was a tone Dani was used to overhearing when it came to discussing whatever they were working on in the lab, but it had been a while since Dani had heard the tone sound angry, too. Her dad didn’t sound much better, mumbling something that was just too soft for Dani to catch.

“-checked them against the previous readings. I even made sure to check them against our projected readings. The numbers aren’t lying, Jack, it’s just… far more powerful than we planned for.” The two were definitely trying to keep their voices down, but they weren’t trying to be quiet.

“You think we should try shutting it down? It’s been running since Danielle’s accident.” It was nice to hear the concern in her dad’s voice, but Dani was more focused on how the accident had happened just a little under a month ago. That meant the Portal had been active for almost four full weeks. That was… a long time to have something so dangerous and experimental up and running. Even Dani knew that. “The numbers have only been climbing.”

It was quiet except for the sound of rustling papers before his mom gave a sharp, frustrated sigh, “No, I don’t think we should try shutting it down, it just- There’s so much we don’t understand, yet. It’s making me as angry as it is excited.”

And that was definitely her dad laughing, the sound nervous and excited both, “Hey, we always planned on it being powerful. We just didn’t plan on it becoming self-sustaining.” Okay, whoa, hang on, the Portal had become what? “Mads, this could change a lot.”

“It could, but please remember, dear, that we’re not scientists looking for a cure to the world’s energy problems,” her mom said, anger and frustration seemingly gone as her laughter filled up the hallway. It made everything in the hallway seem less empty for a few moments. “We have all of this set up for a reason.”

“Hey, nothin’ wrong with dreaming about winning the Nobel Peace Prize here and there, right?” Her dad may have been joking but, well… Self-sustaining energy. That was a pretty big deal. If it was running off of nothing but itself and ‘ectoplasm’ instead of the generators and power though, then that was a huge deal. “I know, I know, we’ve barely even scratched the surface. It’s… All our old research is holding up though, Mads.”

“I know.” Voice soft and excited, she reminded Dani of Jazz in a way she couldn’t quite name before she focused on the quiet words. “Jack… Isn’t this exciting? Our life’s work — we’ve almost done it.”

There was another laugh before their voices dropped off, the sound of rustling pages and long strings of words and numbers filling up the space instead. Dani took the opportunity for what it was, careful and quiet as she snuck her way back upstairs and into her room.

Moving to collapse on her bed, Dani stared up at her glow-in-the-dark stars once again. This time she made sure to stick her tongue out, “Judge me all you want, but I’d like to see you try to get information out of them.”

Her parents had always been strict about their lab work and keeping them out of it so they didn’t get hurt, but after the Accident? Dani was lucky if she could even mention the lab without her parents sharing looks and Jazz swooping in to usher her back to her room and seriously. There was an entire world — or at least close enough to an entire world — in their basement. How was anyone not supposed to get excited over that! Even her parents were crazy excited! Granted it was for different reasons, but still!

The Portal was up and running. The Portal was working. Just down a few flights of stairs was a portal into what was an entire new world and-

“Jesus-!” Body flinching and arching away from what once again felt like so much static shock tearing through the air, Dani swore even louder as she slipped off her bed and landed on her hardwood floor in just the right way to hit both her elbows.

It was a tense moment of mentally screaming every swear she knew as Dani waited for either Jazz or her parents to start yelling at her or panic-worrying. When neither happened, Dani eased herself off the floor with a soft grunt, wincing and rubbing at her elbows.

“Jesus, universe, if you wanted to teach me a lesson about eavesdropping then there are easier ways to do it without triggering me,” Dani muttered more to herself than the universe at large, tugging herself up and back into the bed cautiously. There were no more shocks from the blankets or anything else, but jeez.

It had felt almost like it had in her English class earlier, a sensation of static jolting through her heart and then spreading out through the rest of her body. If the Portal really was still active and self-sustaining and putting off a ton of crazy energy, it might at least explain the crazy static shock everywhere.

Right. She had school tomorrow and her parents kept the lab locked up tight. There was no time or way to do anything about the super-secret-awesome portal that led into another world.

Then again… no one ever said she couldn’t daydream about it just a little.

—

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#danny phantom #ftb chapters #the guardians series #danny phantom rewrite #and I actually have a chapter ready to go for Saturday too #take that executive dysfunction!!!

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snappedsky · 2 years ago

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Fanatics 99.2

Squee goes up against four aliens in the first game of the competition.

*Links to previous and next chapters in reblog*

Greatest in the Galaxy Part 2

Planet Tourney in the Andromeda Galaxy was designed for games, contests, competitions, and tournaments of all kinds. The whole planet- its surface, underground, and even the sky- serves this purpose.

Much of the planet is split into sections; each section is built for different games, holds different stadiums, or has dormitories uniquely designed to remind guests of their home planets.

Grounds B is designed to look like a generic abandoned city, with hundreds of empty buildings, some derelict. Somewhere amidst these buildings sits a single red flag.

Somewhere else in the fake city, Squee appears beside his opponents- Mixa of Irk, Nimbel of Swif’el, Screwn of Techon-3, and Bikeps of Mus’ular. From the sky, they can hear announcer Mic.

“First player to find the flag wins the game! Ready!”

Squee flinches as the other players get into a ready position.

“Go!”

They all look at him, murder in their eyes. They swing at him simultaneously but he jumps over them, lands on Bikeps head, and leaps away into the shadows of the surrounding building.

“Get him!” Mixa barks.

“Don’t tell me what to do, Irken,” Bikeps snarls, “or it’ll be your head I crush.”

“Uh oh, what’s this? Seems the opposing players have silently decided to take out the new guy first! This is a common practice when newbies are in the game. Will Squee be able to survive?”

The four aliens race around the buildings, searching for Squee who has disappeared from their sight. But not from the sight of the cam-bots. One buzzes next to him as he hides next to a wall, panting worriedly.

“Why are they ganging up on me?” he whines, “why can’t they just kill each other? It would make my job a lot easier.” On Earth, his friends are watching him on Tak’s TV.

“Poor Squee,” Tenna remarks.

“He’ll be fine,” Johnny insists, “once he gets over his anxiety, nobody will be able to stop him.” “I think so too,” Maddie agrees, “it’s like when I sing in front of people. It’s nerve wracking at first, but then I get lost in the music.”

Back in the game, Squee flinches as he hears someone coming. He quickly jumps onto a windowsill and scurries like a squirrel all the way up to the roof just before Screwn comes around the corner.

“Not much is known about Earthanoids, but if Squee is anything to go by, their speed and agility could match Swifs.”

Squee crouches on the roof as he watches Screwn go by below. Not far he can see Nimbel also searching around.

“Fine,” he snarls, “they want me, they’ll have to find me first. And while they’re looking for me, I’ll look for the flag.” Silent as a ghost and almost as light, Squee leaps across to a neighbouring building.

Not far below, Mixa’s antennae twitch and she looks up. Spider legs extend out of her PAK and she scales the wall of the building.

“Hey, isn’t that cheating?” Pepito asks in the stadium.

“Technically no. Since Irkens cannot survive without our PAKs, they don’t count as physical enhancements,” Tak replies.

“Psh,” he scoffs.

Mixa crawls along the roofs with her spider legs, following the twitches of her antennae. She takes a sudden dive between the shadows of two buildings and stops, looking around suspiciously. Her antennae have gone still.

“Where did you go?” she mutters.

A cam-bot quietly follows Squee’s movements as he slinks through the shadows. Mixa senses him and spins, but he mimics her, keeping her back to him, and strikes like a snake.

He slips between her spider legs and grabs her mouth with one hand and both antennae with the other. She doesn’t have time to fight back as he squeezes, causing a paralyzing shock to shoot up her body.

“You’re too much of an issue,” he snarls and tugs hard. She gasps in pain before falling unconscious.

“Amazing! Squee of Earth has incapacitated Mixa of Irk!”

The stadium erupts into roars of outrage. Beneath it all, the Battalion cheers, as do their friends on Earth.

Squee gently lays Mixa’s body on the ground and gets ready to take off again when a chill shoots up his spine. He looks back and sees Bikeps come around the corner.

“Found you!” he cheers and charges, his heavy footfalls smashing the ground with each step. Squee flinches with surprise and barely ducks beneath the alien’s giant fist, making him punch the wall behind him.

“No use resisting, little one,” Bikeps says as he swings at him again and Squee leaps back. “You may be able to take down an Irken with their tiny bodies, but I have no weaknesses.”

“You kinda do,” Squee argues, “you don’t pay attention to your surroundings.” “Huh?” he grunts questionably and Squee points up. The wall Bikeps punched is crumbling, causing the building to come crashing down.

“Uh oh,” Bikeps whimpers as the rubble tumbles down onto him. Squee jumps back well out of the way and continues through the city.

“Incredible! Bikeps of Mus’ular is down while Squee remains unharmed!”

Squee races through the streets, checking each corner as he passes. He sees no sign of his remaining two opponents, but he skids to a stop as he spots a dot of red amidst the drab greys and browns.

“The flag!” he gasps and starts to run for it but stops when he hears a little patter-patter. He looks around the corner and sees Screwn charging his way.

“Stop right there, alien!” he barks in a high-pitched voice.

Squee watches as the knee-high alien runs up to him and pushes against his legs, grunting angrily. He cocks his eyebrow with bewilderment and picks up Screwn by the back of his body suit, like a kitten.

“Wow, you really got the disadvantage here, huh,” he remarks, “I mean, that Irken could use her PAK, but you can’t use anything?”

Screwn sighs heavily as he limply hangs from Squee’s grip. “It’s the Irken domination.”

“Right. Well, kudos for trying anyway.”

Squee hangs the little alien off of a screw sticking out of the wall like a picture frame before running off. He quickly approaches a kind of town square with the flag stuck in the middle. He starts to smile with relief when he sees, across the clearing, Nimbel also enter from a different road.

They both gasp as they spot each other, the flag an equal distance away.

Nimbel drops onto all six limbs and takes off at an amazing speed, almost a blur on the viewing screens.

“This could be it, folks! Across the galaxy, the speed of the Swifs is unmatched! Surely a bipedal creature like Squee doesn’t stand a chance!”

“Come on, Squee,” Johnny urges from Tak’s living room. “Show ‘em what you can do.”

Squee scowls. As his foot steps onto the ground, dust rises up around it. There’s a crackling like electricity before he suddenly picks up speed and zooms across the square, the ground cracking as his feet leave it.

“Amazing! Incredible! Who would’ve guessed Earthanoids possessed such speed! It’s neck-and-neck! Who will reach the flag first?”

Two blurs fly towards the flag. Everyone watches with bated breath, on the edge of their seats, as Squee and Nimbel reach out.

There’s a sudden flash of light and the camera feeds cut. On the stadium ground, the flag appears with Squee and Nimbel gripping either side of it. They crash into each other and crumple to the ground, still holding onto the flag.

“Woo, he did it,” Devi sighs with relief.

“I told you,” Johnny says, “Squee may not be competitive, but he loves to win.”

“Amazing! Incredible! Unbelievable! It’s a tie, between Squee of Earth and Nimbel of Swif’el! This awards both teams five points!”

The stadium erupts into excited cheers. Squee and Nimbel lift their heads, slightly dazed, and look at each other. They both flinch defensively and jump back onto their feet.

Squee glances around, finally noticing they’re back in the stadium. He stares with disbelief at the cheering crowd and the scoreboard hologram overhead, displaying Earth and Swif’el tied for first with five points.

“I...I won?” he questions.

“We tied,” Nimbel spits, “ridiculous. That I could be considered an equal with the likes of you.”

“Well, like it or not, we seem pretty equal from where I’m standing,” Squee smiles, pointing to the scoreboard.

“It won’t stay that way for long.”

“You’re right. Pretty soon, you’ll be in second.”

“No, I mean...ah, forget it.”

“Huh?” Squee questions and watches as she walks away, dejected. “Hm. Even I’m better at smack talk than that.”

He starts to walk away when pain shoots up his legs. Wincing, he grips his thighs and continues a little slower. When he returns to his team’s sky box, he’s met with cheers and hugs.

“That was amazing, Squee!” Pepito exclaims, peppering him with kisses.

“Not a bad way to start the games,” Dib remarks.

“I would prefer a solid win,” Zim says, “but I suppose a tie is good enough.”

“I’m happy to meet the bare minimum of standards,” Squee replies.

“Are you injured?” Shmoopy asks worriedly.

“I think I just pulled a muscle when I did that super speed.”

“Well, I should still look you over,” she insists and points to the table and chairs. “Please, have a seat.”

“Hey, dorks, get over here,” Gaz demands from the balcony. “They’re announcing the next round.” Everyone but Squee and Shmoopy quickly hurry out to watch as the hologram screen shows the players of the five teams on separate lists. A name from each team starts getting randomly selected.

“Now it’s time for today’s battle! And the players shall be...Tav of Irk, Olap of Swif’el, Wirez of Techon-3, Peccs of Mus’ular, and Gaz of Earth!”

“Gaz?” Dib gasps, horrified.

She smirks darkly. “Yes.”

#invader zim #invader zim fanfiction #johnny the homicidal maniac #johnny the homicidal maniac fanfiction #iz jthm crossover #myocs #myart

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