Portals

Tired

Sam would never admit it, but every time she thought Tucker had reached his full potential he upped it again.

The kid had hacked the Internet. The Internet!

Underneath the Foogle logo was a flashing ad with Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom on it. Big black letters were emblazoned above the images.

"HAVE YOU SEEN THIS HALF-GHOST?"

The same ad was on the bottom of every single webpage Sam tried, even on the 404-Not-Found one.

How?!

Most of the hits on that webpage were accidental, but the comment section was bursting with paranoid skeptics that suggested that Danny was never real to begin with and thirteen year old girls that accused Sam of being the cause of the "hot ghost's" disappearance. But after they waded through everything, the turnout was still the same. No one knew where Danny was.

Word had traveled around the Ghost Zone too, and pretty much every single ghost Danny had ever fought was now making an appearance in Amity Park. Maddie Fenton and Sam spent their nights charging around the town, bristling with silver ghost weapons. As amicable as they had seemed clinging to the antenna, ghosts were restless spirits. Literally.

Jack Fenton got to participate in the fun too. Jazz and Tucker installed a huge cannon-looking thing that popped from the roof of the Ghost-Hunting vehicle at the touch of a button. It hummed and blinked green, and there was a flash of light and a cool sound effect when he smashed his fist into it. He helped. Yay Jack.

But now she sat on the fence of the courtyard where Danny's statue stretched up one hand.

They had gotten his nose wrong. It was slightly too high on his head and it irked the Goth girl to high heaven, but the statue was the closest thing she had to Danny.

"Nailed Skulker and Technus today." She raised a full Fenton thermos at the stoic image of the ghost boy. "'Upgraded' again. Still haven't upgraded their banter though." She brought down the thermos so she could squint at it. "I'm not entirely sure why they're here. The whole world knows you're missing, yet Skulker was still screaming something about your pelt. Blegh."

Dash turned the corner, then he noticed Sam having her nightly one-sided conversation with the Danny Phantom statue. He spun on his heel and left.

"I'm not crazy. I just want to talk. With Tuck being the mayor and all we don't see each other much anymore." She slung the thermos over her shoulder. "You're my best friend, Danny. Come back soon. Please."

***

Dan raised a hand, almost breaking his fingers against a stalactite. He hissed, but ignored the pain for the moment. There would be plenty of time to use his anger when he was pummeling the life from Danny Phantom's eyes.

The stank stuff was the ticket to victory. It was the world here. The ghost mist from the portal rotted, and temporarily combined human DNA with that of long forgotten ghosts that took over their bodies. Dan had finally found his vessel.

The next time the Sorcerer triggered his ghost sense, the creature trapped it in one of his so-called Chaos Pearls. The rot happened more quickly than Dan could have expected. In just hours he held a thin tendril of brilliant red smoke, one that flashed and wove between his fingers. It had taken a lot out of him just to make it, but it was perfect.

"Now the question is, who are you going to use it on?"

Dan turned to the Sorcerer. He had a wicked grin splitting his face in two. "The thing about stank is that it's not strong. At all. It'll only work on those that've been kicked down or humiliated."

"What?" Dan's eyes bugged. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I thought you would understand. What, can ghosts possess everyone in your dimension?"

Dan nodded before staring at the tendril. It didn't feel weak, and it didn't smell nearly as foul as the other stank the Sorcerer produced. He needed a strong character for what he wanted to do with it.

"I don't know yet. But I'm sure I'll find someone right for the job. Wait here." He shot up to the ceiling of the cavern.

The Sorcerer's eyes narrowed. "It's not exactly like I can do anything else!"

Dan ignored him as he phased through the rock, overshooting the first floor and pausing on the second. It was still rather early in the day. Even the high school was mostly empty, with only a few kids wandering the halls. But as Dan watched, a girl in all black stopped short at a locker with the word "LOSER" scribbled over it. She paused, then carefully spun the combination on the lock and jumped back just before the whipped cream that oozed out of the metal cube got on her boots. She pressed her head against a nearby locker for a moment, then sighed, flipped her black and red hair out of the way and went about the tricky business of retrieving her books.

The whole scene reminded Dan of Sam.

He shook his head at the thought, but still smiled. That was exactly the kind of person he wanted. As Kassady grabbed the last of her stuff and began the long walk to the bathrooms, the invisible ghost grabbed her by the arm and shoved the tendril into her mouth. She fought-- Dan was right, she was the perfect candidate-- but the tendril took hold, and for a beat her eyes turned brilliant green and a few curls of black smoke erupted from her nose. Then it passed and she fell to her knees, coughing as Dan phased back through the floor.

He landed with a swish of dust as the Sorcerer looked hopefully onward.

"Let's create some chaos," Dan smiled.

***

Danny kind of knew what he was doing for once.

He had spent hours on McFistTube the day before, reading up on anyone and everyone he could. He could claim proficiency-- proficiency!-- on the bass guitar that Randy had pulled from his basement, and for that reason joined Thirty Seconds to Math, another excuse to keep himself isolated in Randy and Howard's little circle. An older generation McFist brand cell phone sat in his pocket, a gift from Howard. Ghosts, to his disappointment,  were not commonplace in Norrisville or even the dimension, but the robot attacks would pick up the slack. Randy and Danny had made a pact to help each other in fights, so now that was a thing. And just a few minutes ago he presented himself to the principal as an emancipated minor and asked for enrollment. Now as he trailed after Randy and Howard through the hallways with a schedule in his hand that matched theirs, he knew he was in a good place.

Now he could start looking for a way back home in earnest.