The Secret Trio

Chapter 5

Randy and Howard were shaking, eyes wide. Both pairs of eyes were locked onto Danny, who rubbed the back of his neck and blushed. His eyes drifted around the room and then back to them. "Um...Randy Cunningham? The Ninja?"

That surprised them. They recoiled and Randy blinked a few times before talking. "...How...how did you know that? Who are you?"

"He's Danny Phantom, dude!" Howard whispered sharply. Danny nervously chuckled.

"There's this...er...ghost in the Ghost Zone who told me about you. And this must be your friend, er...what's your name?" Danny asked Howard. The boy yelped.

"I'm...I'm H-Howard Weinerman, Mr. Phantom, sir!"

Danny this time finally laughed. "You don't have to call me sir. I'm your age." he chuckled. Randy frowned.

"How can that be? You're a ghost, you must be really old." he said. The ghost boy shook his head.

"No. I'm your age. Can you two keep a secret?" They both quickly nodded. Danny scanned the room for anywhere where anyone else could be looking and then looked to them again. A bright ring surrounded him and passed over him, transforming him into his human form, black hair and blue eyes. Both of the boys gasped, eyes even wider than before. Randy stuttered a second.

"...Holy cheese! You're..."

"I'm a human. Yeah. More specifically, half ghost." Danny's hand covered his face as he blushed. "I'm Danny Phantom. But my real name is Danny Fenton." His other arm wrapped around his waist and his eyes drifted away from them. Randy and Howard stared at him more, taking in his features.

He was just like them. An awkward teenage boy. Randy pulled himself together and was brave enough to approach him. "So, um...Danny Fenton? How did this happen? How long have you been like..." Randy gestured to him, not sure which word to use. Howard walked to Randy's side.

"Like...half ghost?" Howard finished for him. Danny cleared his throat and returned his eyes to them.

"I've been like this for about a year. And what happened was..." He sighed. This was never an easy tale to repeat. "...my parents were trying to create a portal to the Ghost Zone in my basement-"

"Oh, that's so honkin' bruce!" Randy exclaimed. Danny and Howard glared at him and he gave a weak laugh. "Sorry. Continue."

Danny rolled his eyes. "My parents are ghost hunters, by the way. They were, as I said, trying to create a portal to the Ghost Zone. But when they plugged it in, it didn't work. When they were out of the house with my older sister, my friends asked me to show them the defunct portal."

"I bet it's a lab accident. Lab accidents in comics always lead to superpowers." Howard said in a hushed tone. Danny picked up his words and silenced. Howard sighed. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Anyways, my friends Sam and Tucker wanted to see the portal. I showed them and Sam said I should check it out, saying there had to be all sorts of cool stuff on the other side. I gave in and she-"

"Sam's a girl?" Randy asked.

"That's a boy name!" Howard furthered. Danny rolled his eyes. Such a newbie hero team.

"Her full name's Samantha Victoria Manson. But don't ever call her that, because she'd kill you. And I've been friends with her for, like, ever." A peaceful smile came on his face, which both the Ninja and Howard noted as they narrowed their eyes and smirked. They both began to snicker at him. Danny snapped out of his reverie and his face went entirely red.

"Sam and Danny, sittin' in a tree..." Randy sang. Danny groaned.

"You guys have literally known me for about ten minutes and you're already doing this? Really?"