Portals

Angered

Randy really couldn't deny it. The half-ghost thing that dangled from his bed had him backed into a corner, literally and figuratively. He had figured the whole thing out so quickly. Cheese, how'd this happen?

He could try to pull wool over his eyes and make him look crazy, like he had with Debbie Khan. But this kid knew next to nothing about the Ninja, or even anything about Norrisville. Still, he had put two and two together like they were magnets held apart by a thread.

Danny looked absolutely insane. The wide, bright blue eyes seemed to loll about in their sockets when he was upside down like he was, and the smirk that stretched his features reminded Randy of something that he had seen on a television villain. From what he knew about ghosts, they were usually vengeful spirits from the other side. Even if Danny had once been completely human like he claimed, how was Randy to know that the ecto-cheese tacked onto this shoob's DNA hadn't turned him just as evil, or worse? Maybe he wasn't his Amity Park's Ninja. Maybe he was their Sorcerer.

Randy clenched a tight fist around the Ninja mask in his pocket.

On the top bunk, Danny rolled over so his hair fell into his eyes again. The silence, he had expected. If he was right-- and he knew he was-- Randy would keep that secret safe until the mask was ripped off his limp, hopefully just unconscious, form. Danny had done dumber things for lesser reasons.

Randy tried to take a step back, but his shoulders hit the parchment-colored walls of his room for the second time in a handful of minutes. He had to get the mask on. Now.

Danny should have expected the attack. He really should have. But he just stared in shock as Randy ripped the mask from his jeans pocket and yanked it over his head. There was a blinding flash of red light, then it wasn't Randy standing there in the corner of his room anymore. It was the Norrisville Ninja, and he had a sword.

"Going ghost!" He had barely done so when the Ninja brought down a sweeping blow with the weapon. Danny had gone intangible just in time; otherwise he would be short one head.

Randy was too fired up for his own good. Knowing what it was like to try to hide fights from his parents, Danny knew he had to get the Ninja out of the house as soon as possible.

He went intangible as the sword cut through the mattress of the cot that Randy was supposed to sleep on that night. He lunged and caught the Ninja in midswing, pushing them both through the wall of Randy's room and into the street. Both went skidding across the rough asphalt. The Ninja seemed stunned by the experience, but Danny was just trying to get his bearings. He eyed the scarf that still fluttered around the Ninja's quivering form.

"Look, man, you're seeing red--"

"Really? A pun?" Randy roared. The sword was flashing through the air once more, and Danny skidded backwards to avoid it. "And a bad one, too!"

"Jeez, that cut deep--"

Randy charged forward again, but this time Danny couldn't get out of the way fast enough. He hissed and clutched his arm as red streaked from the gash in his suit. He healed pretty quickly, but it didn't stop the wound from hurting. "Look, I don't want to fight you--"

"Ninja bee ball!"

Danny raised an eyebrow and went intangible as the swarm of hornets burst from the yellow ball. "Oh come on. I'm losing to a guy that has a move announcing complex?"

Randy wasn't entirely sure what to make of that, so he slowed in the offensive. "What?"

"Look man, if I wanted to, I could cream you. But I don't want to fight." Danny drifted upwards. Randy bit back another screech as his legs disappeared into some sort of whip-like tail. He wasn't human. Definitely wasn't human. Ghost. What the juice was a ghost doing in Norrisville. But wait.