Ethereal

10

There was silence on the other end of the Fenton Phones. Danny didn't breathe for a good ten seconds, and when he did it came out rushed and hitched. He began to hyperventilate.

"Danny, hold up, what do you mean?" Tucker inquired. The teen could hear traces of panic and confusion in his voice.

"I mean I'm not ghost anymore. I just went ghost and . . . I'm not ghost at all."

"Then what exactly are you?"

Danny paused and looked down at his new form with a dangerous mix of curiosity and panic.

"I think I'm . . . a fish?"

It was the first word that popped into his mind and quite possibly the only word he could use to describe such a transformation. He felt the familiar neon green glow of his eyes and could see bits of his eggshell white hair, but the similarities stopped there.

Danny stared down at his shirtless, pale chest. His legs were gone, replaced by a long, scaly black tail that came to an end at a white fan-shaped fin. Two smaller fins of the same design protruded above this large one, ending around mid-tail. There were also fins on his elbows, and by the the uncomfortable poking of something on his back, he assumed they were there too.

"Change back!" Sam's voice broke as it rose in panic.

"I can't," Danny hissed. He was having a hard time breathing and talking, his voice beginning to sound raspy.

Weakly, he reached behind him, feeling the Mystery Shack's wall. His webbed fingers gripped at a window ledge that was just above his head and he pulled himself up.

In the mirror, he saw black scales sprinkling his shoulders and more fins where his ears should've been. The pupils of his eyes were thinner, more slit and dangerous than before. What really caught him off guard, however, was the tips of fangs that pressed against the outside of his bottom lip. His new teeth were ginormous.

He was so busy examining his new form that he hardly noticed Dipper Pines staring out the window at him in horror, his ears pressed back against his head in fear.

Danny tried to speak, but his throat was too dry. He began coughing as Dipper stumbled outside, his terrified expression replaced by one of pure rage.

"Hey ghost, what did you do with Danny?" the preteen shouted. Though his voice was menacing, the teen noticed how Dipper practically fell on his face with every step and how he kept his distance.

With a jolt, Danny realized that though he was no longer ghost, he still looked like it.

"I . . . am . . . Danny," he rasped, each word feeling like fire in his throat. He fell to the floor, gasping.

Dipper took a few steps back. "What? But you look like—"

Mabel came running onto the porch, tripping down the steps. "Oh my gosh! Is he alright?" She shrieked. The sun rose higher in the sky. He couldn't let his parents find him like this.

"Mabel, he's a ghost," Dipper said, his voice strained.

"Obviously not! Look, he's dying. We have to get him some water."

Danny lay on the ground, Sam and Tucker yelling things into his ear as Mabel disappeared back up the steps to fetch water.

"Look, whoever you are, if you even try to touch one of them, I will throw you out to dry in the sunlight," Dipper threatened. It was odd of him to do so, as the tone of voice didn't really suit him. The teen would have smirked if he didn't feel as though he was dying.

With shaky hands, he reached up and turned off his Fenton Phones. They hardly fit now, anyway.

Mabel came running down the stairs again, her hooves clomping. She tripped several times, spilling water onto the floor. Danny took the now half-filled glass greedily, chugging it down. It wouldn't last long, but it would last long enough.

"Dipper, I know what I look like," he breathed. "I don't know why I look like this either, or why I just changed. It makes no sense. But that ghost you saw me fighting, that was a ghost from back home at Amity Park. My parents absolutely hate him. You can't let them see me like this, they won't listen to reason. I promise I'm Danny, Dipper. I promise."

Wendy came bounding down the steps as well. She didn't look nearly as scared; in fact, her carefree expression had made its way back onto her face. She took one look at Danny and began to salivate.

"Wendy, it's Danny," Mabel said quickly, though Dipper was still eyeing the teen suspiciously. "We have to get him to water."

"Is he a fish?" Wendy asked, and her tail started wagging. Danny sensed the threat and instinct made him hiss, baring his teeth. Wendy growled.

"He's a . . . merman," Mabel said, and suddenly her eyes went wide in excitement. She had not yet noticed the hostility that the two teens were showing towards one another. "Oh my gosh, Danny, that's so amazing. You're like Mermando."

Wendy dropped onto her haunches as Danny's fins raised at the threat. Dipper noticed the two and his eyes widened.

"Uh, Wendy—"

She launched, letting out a bark that tore through the morning air. Wendy landed on Danny, who used her own momentum to flip around. Now it was Danny on top, pressing on Wendy's neck like it was the handlebars on a roller coaster. The werewolf growled and then wheezed, but Danny didn't let go He leaned in, baring his fangs.

"Si alguna vez alguna vez me toca, perra, no voy a dudar en aplaster la tráquea," he growled. His pupils were slits, the color in his eyes going from ecto-green to bright yellow. Wendy whimpered as Danny let go, his eyes returning to normal and his energy leaving his body. Dipper helped Wendy up, his eyes never leaving the boy.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his eyes beginning to close.

"I didn't know you knew Spanish," Mabel said, trying to brighten the mood. Her own voice was twinged with fear.

Danny looked up one last time before closing his eyes.

"I don't."

Danny fell unconscious, leaving the rest of the group to talk in private. There wasn't much talking, as Wendy was rubbing her neck and Dipper was filled with anxiety.

In one last final decision, the preteen decided to help the creature. Though it did not look like Danny, it sure as hell acted like him.

At least, when he wasn't trying to murder anyone.

Dipper surveyed the group. They seemed as though they were beginning to fall apart, but somehow he knew that it was only the beginning. They had to stick together.

"Guys," he said, looking back at Danny. The teen had begun to gasp in his sleep.

"We have to get that journal."

Translation: "If you ever touch me, bitch, I will not hesitate to crush the windpipe."

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