Sorry about the length. Some people would have been able to make this at least ten chapters long, but this was really as long as I could make it. I apologize again. It's just a problem I have.
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Imagination
Part 1
Knock on the Head
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"Danny! Catch!" Sam shouted, throwing the thermos up to him as hard as she could. The half-ghost easily swooped and caught it, but before he could even get the cap off, it was knocked from his hands and clattered noisily to the ground.
The giant green ghost they were fighting gave a mad chuckle as it dodged Danny's ecto-beam, swiping at him with one of its many tentacle-like arms. It caught the halfa in the chest and sent him careening backwards into the side of a building.
"Tucker! The thermos!" Sam ordered her friend, gesturing madly to where the trap had fallen near him.
"I'm trying!" Tucker called back, making another dash for the thermos, only to be blocked again by the monster's long arms.
Danny shook his head to clear it from the impact, charging again at the ghost. "Will somebody get that thermos?!" he shouted as the ghost threw him back into the wall.
"We're trying!" Sam and Tucker yelled back in unison. The boy dove for it, under the ghost's swinging arms, and shouted in triumph when he got a hold on it. The ghost's round purple eyes turned downward at the sound. "Uh-oh." Tucker jumped up and ran screaming as the ghost began chasing him, arms swinging madly. "AHHH! Somebody do something!"
"What are you running for?" Danny shouted, though it was lost in all the confusion. "Just get him in the thermos!"
"Here!" Sam cried, holding her hands up and waving. Tucker threw her the thermos, which she easily caught and uncapped. "Say goodbye, ugly!" she yelled up at the ghost, pressing a button and sucking it in. The ghost monster gave a mournful wail as it disappeared in a blue vortex into the thermos.
"Goodbye…ugly," Tucker panted, jogging back.
Danny floated down to them and changed back into his human half, tenderly stretching his back with a grimace. "I swear, if I get thrown into one more wall tonight…"
"C'mon, it's not that bad," Sam grinned. "It's not like you haven't been knocked against a few walls in your lifetime."
"All in a night's work," Tucker answered for his friend. He grabbed the thermos and spun it around on his finger. "Ghost caught, city saved, and we'll be home in time for curfew!" He threw the thermos up into the air.
"No, Tucker, don't!" Danny and Sam shouted together, but it was too late. The thermos slipped out of Tucker's grasp and clattered again to the ground, releasing the ghost inside.
"…Oops."
The ghost roared victoriously, swinging its long arms madly. "Goin' ghost!" Danny shouted. He glared at Tucker. "Again."
"What! It was an accident!" the boy defended. Danny just transformed back into his other half, superhero ghost-butt-kicking Public Enemy Number One Danny Phantom, and flew up to the other ghost's level to attack again.
"Well it was!" Tucker insisted, but Sam merely sighed and shook her head, turning back to watch the fight.
"Tucker, look out!" she screamed hardly a moment later, as the giant ghost came crashing down on them. She jumped and pushed her friend out of the way, only to be crushed down onto the pavement by something heavy on top of her. Her head hit the street as she fell, and next thing she knew, everything went black.
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Part 2
Floral Print?!
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Sam cracked her eyes open, her first sight being a fuzzy white ceiling. She groaned and rolled out of bed, moaning and clutching her head at the movement. There was a solid knot on the side of her head and she promised herself darkly that Tucker would pay.
Sam stumbled out of her room, still holding a hand to her head as she went downstairs into the living room. Her parents smiled up at her as she entered, her mother rising to check the knot on her head. "How are you feeling, Sammy?"
"Fine," Sam answered, pulling away. "What happened? How did I get home?"
"Oh, we brought you home," her mother replied. "The doctor said you would be fine, no need to take you to the hospital. Do you remember what happened?"
"Yeah." I was fighting ghosts with Danny and Tucker and one squished me. "I…fell off my scooter on the way home."
Her parents shared a confused look. "That's not what happened," her father said slowly.
Ah! Did they know the truth? Surely not. "…Right. I must have just—forgotten then. What happened, again?"
"You tripped and fell down the steps after your piano recital," her mother reminded her.
…What the heck?! "Piano recital?"
"Yes, the piano recital? At Mercury Hall? The one you've been practicing for for six weeks now?" her mother prodded.
Sam just grew more confused with every word spoken. "I play piano?"
"Oh, dear." Her mother looked worried. ""Perhaps you hit your head harder than we thought."
Her father stood, hands held out in a calming gesture. "Now, now, it's getting late, and we're all tired. I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning, Samantha."
"Uh…whatever." She turned and quickly went back up to her bedroom. Her parents were acting even stranger than usual. Her eyes caught her reflection in a mirror as she passed, and she stopped dead, eyes going wide in horror. She was wearing a near-floor-length pink floral print dress. "WHAT THE HECK?!"
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Part 3
Vince
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The next morning, much to her continued horror, Sam found that nearly all her clothes had been replaced with such girly and frilly items as the dress she had been wearing the previous night. "If this is some kinda sick joke, somebody's going to be sorry," Sam muttered to herself, quickly finding the most normal items she could—a pair of dark jeans and a black cropped tee and a pair of black and white sneakers. She would find out what happened to the rest of her things later, but right now she was bordering on being late for school.
She grabbed her back pack—plain red and not her purple spider, she noted—and rushed downstairs and out the door, barely shouting a "YES!" to her mother's question of if she was feeling better. The knot in her head was smaller than the night before, but still definitely there.
Outside school, she did not see any traces of Danny or Tucker, so she headed inside to her locker. She spotted Tucker a little way down the hall talking to a few girls—since when was he able to communicate intelligently with the opposite sex?—and grabbed her books for first period, heading over to him. "Hey, Tucker, have you see—whoa, what's with you?"
His usual beret was missing, along with his oversized glasses. He wore a green jersey with a yellow number one on the front and matching green basketball shorts. He gave her a confused look. "Do I know you?"
"Very funny, Tuck." She rolled her eyes. "Listen, have you seen Danny around?"
He smiled a bit. "Sorry, you must have me confused with someone else. My name isn't Tucker, it's Vince." He grinned cheesily at her. "But you can call me Tucker if you want."
Sam did not even acknowledge the fact that he was hitting on her, and growled in annoyance at him. "This isn't funny. Now either you tell me what's going on right now, or so help me, you'll be begging Dash to take you back."
"Vince" laughed at this. "Dash Baxter?" He laughed again, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "That guy couldn't hurt a fly if he tried."
Sam's eyes widened as she saw Dash, or what looked like a much smaller version of him, being picked on and then shoved into a locker by three much bigger jocks. "Tucker, what's going on here…?"
The boy before her frowned. "Are you okay?" Just then the warning bell rang. "Um, I'd love to help you out, but I gotta go—I never got your name?"
"Sam," she muttered softly, not feeling well. Something was very wrong here, and she was sure it had something to do with the lump on her head.
"Sam," Vince repeated. "Maybe I'll catch ya later, 'k?" He winked at her and was gone.
Sam shook her head in confusion and started walking toward her first class. Maybe things would sort themselves out if she just gave it time.
(Anyone who can tell me where I got Tucker's new name and look from gets an extra-large cyber cookie!)
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Part 4
No, The Other Lab!
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The final bell rang, a flood of students pouring out of the school building. Sam slowly walked down the front steps, deep in thought. Danny had not been in any of his usual classes, though she did share a few with Tucker—or "Vince."
A sudden fear gripped her, making her stomach sink. Maybe Danny had been injured in the ghost fight after she had been knocked out, though it would have to be pretty bad to miss school over. Sam felt her anxiety grow and she hurried in the direction of his house, ignoring the Tucker/Vince problem for now.
Sam sighed in relief as the two-story house came into view, the large "Fenton Works" sign out front. At least that had not changed. Then she gasped in dismay as she looked up and saw that the huge OP center on the roof was missing.
She hurried to the door and rang the bell, waiting impatiently for someone to answer. Jazz came to the door a minute later, and Sam was surprised to see that her bright red hair was only shoulder length. "May I help you?"
"Jazz! Is Danny home?" Sam asked.
The older girl frowned in confusion. "Do I know you?"
Sam nearly groaned in frustration. "Not you too."
Then, to her relief, Jazz's face lit up in recognition. "Yes, I know you! You go to my school—Samantha Manson, right? Can I help you with something?"
"Yes!" Sam looked around. "Um, can I come in?" Jazz led her to the living room before she asked again, "Is Danny home?"
Jazz looked a bit confused. "Of course…"
"Can I talk to him?" Sam asked eagerly. Maybe she could get some answers from her friend.
Jazz's confused frown only deepened. "Umm…okay. I don't see why not." She turned to the back of the house and called out, "Danny, come here, boy! Come here!" It was Sam's turn to be confused. That was hardly the way to call a little brother. It sounded more like she was calling…
A big black lab bounded into view and over to the two girls, licking Jazz's hands. "Aww, that's my boy, yes, that's my Danny," Jazz babied the dog. "You wanted to see him?" she asked of Sam.
Sam nearly felt ill as she stared at the dog. "Um…that's not what I meant. Is your brother Danny home?"
Jazz laughed a little. "Brother? I don't have a brother. Nope, it's just me and Danny here, and my parents, of course. Are you alright? You look a little pale."
Jack Fenton chose that moment to walk in, dressed in a suit with a briefcase in his hand. Not a jumpsuit, but an actual suit. Sam could not think of a time when she had ever seen Jack Fenton out of a jumpsuit.
"Hey, Jazzypants, I'm home from work early!" Jack exclaimed. "Who's your friend?"
"Work?" Sam repeated faintly. Jack and Maddie did not work—they were inventors! This just kept getting weirder.
"Daddy, this is Samantha Manson," Jazz introduced. "She goes to my school."
"Um, pleasure," Sam forced out, turning back to Jazz. "There's something I have to check. Be right back."
"Um—ah—uh—okay, then," Jazz stuttered as Sam rushed to the back of the house to the basement door.
Sam ran down the basement steps, nearly collapsing in shock at the sight that greeted her. Gone were all traces of the lab of before, including the large ghost portal, replaced with boxes and shelves of papers and other junk—normal basement stuff.
Jazz was quick to follow the other girl down, watching as Sam surveyed the dingy underground room. "Are you sure you're okay? Do you need something?"
"Where's the—the—the lab?" Sam asked in shock.
Jazz frowned. "He's still upstairs. Danny!"
"No, not that lab! The science lab! All the ghost stuff!" Sam waved her arms above her head.
"Uhh…maybe you should…go now," Jazz suggested.
Sam took a few deep, calming breaths. "Yes, you're right. Sorry to bother you." She calmly walked back up the stairs and out of the house, patting the black-haired dog on the way out. As soon as she was out of sight, she began running as fast as she could back to her own house.
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Part 5
Priscilla Spertac
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Sam burst in the front door, startling her parents, who were having tea in the living room. "Please tell me you know who Danny is!" she shouted before even closing the front door.
"The grocery delivery boy?" her mother asked slowly.
"NO!" The two were nearly complete opposites. "My friend Danny! My height, black hair, blue eyes, you had a restraining order put on him one time! Ring any bells?" Sam had clasped onto her mother's arm without even realizing it.
"Danny?" her mother repeated.
"Danny, Danny…" her father mulled. "No, sorry, dear."
"Maybe we should keep better tabs on whom she hangs around with," her mother suggested.
"No!" Sam cried in exasperation. "How can you not remember him? He's my very best friend! We hang out every day after school with…Tucker…" She trailed off as she noted the strange looks her parents were giving her. "What?"
An hour later Sam sat slumped in her seat, arms crossed in annoyance as she glared at the psychiatrist in front of her. The red-haired woman looked over her sunglasses at her clipboard as she took notes, though Sam could not think of what, seeing as she had not said anything yet.
Sam finally huffed after a few minutes of silence. "Listen, Miss Spertac—"
"Please, call me Priscilla," the woman interrupted with a dazzling smile.
"Priscilla. I don't know what my parents told you, but I'm not crazy and I certainly don't need any shrink."
Priscilla merely smiled. "Of course not. Now, tell me about this friend of yours…Danny."
Oh, he's half ghost, half human, and we fight ghosts together on the weekends. Yeah, that would certify that she didn't need a shrink. "We go to school together," Sam said instead. "And we hang out all the time. I don't know why my parents can't remember him." 'Or his own family, for that matter,' she added mentally.
Priscilla nodded thoughtfully. "I took the liberty of calling your school before I came, and there's no record of a boy with that name and description attending Casper High."
Sam merely glared. "Then someone erased it."
Priscilla merely continued on, slowly, as though she were talking to a small child. "Samantha, do you think it's possible that you might have…made him up? People sometimes construct other people in their minds, somebody to talk to when they don't have anyone else."
"I didn't make him up!" Sam exclaimed, shocked that somebody could think that. "We're best friends! I've known him for years! There is absolutely no way he's imaginary."
"I know how you must feel," Priscilla said, though Sam doubted it, "but I've seen it before. People have very vivid, realistic illusions, with completely imaginary people, places, and events that may stretch over years. For some people, it's a way to deal with grief, or in your case, loneliness."
"I have friends," Sam growled.
Priscilla raised an eyebrow, as though mocking her. "Who?"
"Tucker," Sam replied automatically, forgetting until then the Tucker/Vince situation. "He's my other best friend."
"I see." Priscilla jotted something down on her clipboard. "And he's friends with Danny, too?"
"Hey! You can check the school records for him," Sam defended, almost smugly, at being able to thwart the shrink. "…Except he goes by the name Vince."
"I believe you, Samantha," Priscilla smiled sweetly. Sam's smug look faded back into a glare. "Now, back to Danny…Can you name one instance of something you've done together? Like, going to a movie or a carnival, for example."
'How about fighting ghosts?' Sam asked in her head, but out loud she simply crossed her arms again and said, "I think we're done here. You have everything you need to know." Talking about Tucker had reminded her of her other problem, and she had to go check it out.
Priscilla sighed sorrowfully. "Alright, but promise we can talk again later."
"Whatever." Sam rolled her eyes and left the office as quickly as she could without making it too obvious. "Soul-sucking shrink," she muttered to herself.
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Part 6
I Didn't Wish
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Half an hour later Sam stood in front of Tucker's house, the boy not noticing her as he played basketball in his driveway. 'Since when did Tucker ever engage in any exercise besides clicking his PDA?' He jumped and made an easy three-pointer. 'Whoa. And since when was he any good at sports?'
The boy turned to get ready for another shot and finally noticed her. "Hi there. Sam, right?"
Sam nodded slowly. "Vince."
"Yeah. What's up?" Sam had to smile at his teenager way of asking, "Why are you stalking me and what do you want, you psycho?"
"Nothing. Mind if I play?" Sam asked casually.
"Sure, go ahead," he replied, tossing her the ball.
She made a difficult shot easily, impressing the boy. "Listen, Tuck—Vince. I know this sounds crazy, but we're actually best friends."
He laughed a bit. "Yeah, you're right—that does sound crazy. I mean, you seem nice and all, but I've only seen you around at school a few times. I've never met you until this morning."
"I know. Hey, did you ever see me around school with a boy my height, black hair, blue eyes?" Sam asked, hopeful.
"Uh, sorry, no. But I wasn't really paying attention." Vince shrugged.
Sam groaned. "Oh, man, this is just like that time I wished I had never met Danny, except worse! He doesn't even exist! Only, I didn't wish anything. And everything else is all screwed up, too. If this has something to do with ghosts, I'm gonna kick their ghost butts back into the Ghost Zone myself."
Vince watched curiously as the girl began mumbling to herself. "Ghosts?" he laughed. "You do know ghosts don't exist, right?"
"Oh, I beg to differ," Sam replied dryly. She gasped suddenly. "Oh no! What if Danny's been captured by a ghost who put a spell on everyone! But why wasn't I affected? Either way, I've got to get in the Ghost Zone and save him!" She gasped again. "The Ghost Zone! The Fentons don't have a portal! How am I supposed to get in?" She quickly thought over everything Danny had told her about ghost portals, then it dawned on her. "Vlad Masters."
She looked back up at Vince, who was now convinced that she was completely insane. "It was nice talking to you, but I gotta go to Wisconsin, bye!"
Vince was left staring after her retreating form in confusion. "Wisconsin?" He shook his head and turned back to his game.
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Part 7
Vlad's Secret
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The following morning (a Saturday, thankfully, as Sam did not know how much longer she could have waited), Sam caught a flight out to Wisconsin—thankful for once in her life for her parents' immense wealth, seeing as how they would not notice the cost. She had simply told them she was spending the night at a classmate's house and left before they could ask too many questions.
A flight, bus ride, and taxi later, Sam stood on the doorstep of the mansion of her best friend's billionaire archenemy. Taking a deep breath, she rang the bell and stood back. Whatever helped get Danny back…
A minute later a butler came to the door and led her into the foyer, leaving to fetch Vlad upon request. Sam stared around the expansive green and gold foyer in a bit of awed disgust. The guy really needed an interior decorator.
Only a few minutes later, Vlad entered, dressed in a rich blue suit that contrasted his graying hair surprisingly well. Wait—what? Graying? Hadn't it been white since his college days? Shaking this off, she introduced herself to the man before her, as he did not seem to recognize her. She found him strangely not as intimidating as usual. There seemed to be an edge to him that was missing, a dark glint in his eyes that was not there. "Mr. Masters. I'm Sam, Sam Manson. I'm a friend of…Maddie's." She thought it better to give the name of his obsession rather than his enemy.
The billionaire's eyes lit up. "Ah, Maddie. How is the old girl? I haven't seen her since the old days, when she dropped out of lawyer school to get married. Such a shame, too. She would have made a brilliant lawyer."
"Lawyer?" Sam repeated. Seriously, did everything have to be different? "Um, yeah, she's great. Listen, Vlad—Mr. Masters, sir. I came here to ask a favor. I need to use your ghost portal to go find Danny," she blurted, hoping beyond hope that he would let her for some reason.
Vlad merely blinked at her. "A ghost what? Find who?" He seemed genuinely confused, but Sam was not falling for it. She decided to resort to begging before force.
"Please, Mr. Masters, it's an emergency. Something very weird is going on here, and I'm the only one who seems to realize it. Please. I just need to use your portal."
Vlad only looked more confused. "Young lady, I think you have the wrong Vlad Masters. I do not have any—portal. I'm sorry I can't help, but I think it's time for you to go now." He started to show her to the door, a resigned look on her face.
"Alright, I'll go. But may I use your bathroom first? It was a long trip over." Sam put on her best innocent expression.
"Yes, of course. It's down the hall, third door on the left," Vlad replied.
"Thanks." She hurried the way indicated and made as if to enter, but slipped down the hall unseen instead. Danny had only been here a few times and could not provide a clear layout of the huge house, but with any luck she could find what she was looking for soon. She had to at least try.
Sam nearly shouted in triumph when she found Vlad's private study only a few minutes later. She ran up to the huge fireplace at the opposite end of the room and pulled down on one of the golden footballs adorning the mantle. From what Jazz had told them, this would activate the secret passage leading down into Vlad's lab.
She waited a few seconds. Nothing happened. She growled in annoyance and pulled on it again, with the same result. She tried the other one, only to find that it was not attached at all.
"What are you doing in my private study?" Vlad's sudden voice made her jump in surprise, and she pressed herself back against the fireplace. She noticed that she still held the golden football in her hand and realized how it must look. "Stay right where you are," Vlad ordered, picking up a phone from a nearby table. "I'm calling the police."
"Don't do it, Vlad!" Sam shouted. "I know all about your little secret, and don't think I wouldn't expose you to everyone!"
Vlad looked startled, and even a little fearful, Sam noted with satisfaction. "How do you know about that?" the man growled. "There's no way you can know about that."
Okay, so maybe ticking off an evil half-ghost with twenty years of experience wasn't such a great idea. Before Sam could respond, however, she felt the wall of the fireplace give way behind her and she gave a startled yelp as she fell backwards. Tumbling down a few steps, she landed at the bottom, bruised but not really hurt.
Lights automatically turned on at the activation of the secret passageway, and Sam inwardly rejoiced at discovering the hidden lab. When the last light was on, however, she froze at what she found.
The large room was devoid of any and all traces of anything ghostly, most importantly the portal, but was completely packed wall-to-wall with Dallas Cowboy merchandise. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of the posters, autographed footballs, framed silver and blue jerseys, and absolutely everything in between—even a huge inflatable quarterback, at least three times actual size.
Vlad followed her down, wringing his hands in worry. "Please, please don't tell anyone!"
"I don't understand…" Sam muttered.
"I'm a fan of the Cowboys—" that was the understatement of the year—"but my wife would kill me if she knew! She's an absolute fanatic for the Green Bay Packers, but I can't stand them. If she ever found out…!"
Sam blinked a few times before what he had said finally sank in. "WIFE!" Sam shouted. "You're MARRIED?! As in, not single and bitter?"
Vlad looked at her as though she were crazy. She had been getting that look a lot lately. "Yes, of course. Why?"
Sam merely put her head in her hands and groaned loudly. Whatever ghost that had messed everything up had certainly done a good job of making sure she could not rescue Danny. She stood up and waved Vlad's question off. "Nothing, nothing. Sorry to bother you. I'll be going now."
"You won't…tell anybody?" Vlad asked, sounding rather like a hopeful child.
Sam resisted the urge to smile at him. He had not loved Maddie, had never been in the accident at college, was not plotting to kill her best friend, and was not making any plans for world domination. "No. I won't tell."
(Giant quarterback guy really exists! He's in front of the Cowboys shop at my mall!)
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Part 8
New Plan
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Sam slowly walked down the street to her house, deep in thought. If the Fentons did not have a portal, and Vlad did not have a portal, then where in the world was she supposed to find a portal? All the ghosts in the world must have come through somehow, and Wulf was the only ghost she knew of that could create his own hole between the two worlds. Well, he and the evil Dan Phantom of the future, but it was quite out of the question to ask him for help. And besides, he was in the safekeeping of Clockwork…in the Ghost Zone.
So then, what was she to do? Her options were quickly withering before her. Sam's only hope now was that the ghost that had taken Danny and messed up reality was still somewhere in the human world. Not that that helped. The world was a very big place.
Stopping in front of her house, Sam looked up at it, not really feeling like going inside yet. Instead, she sat down right on the sidewalk, legs folded Indian-style and an elbow on one knee, resting her chin in her hand. After a second she groaned and rubbed her hand over her face. "I'm going to need help. But who? Tuck—Vince already thinks I'm insane, talking about ghosts like that in front of him. What was I thinking? I should have known he wasn't really Tucker just by the fact that he was holding a basketball and not a PDA.
"Vlad can't do anything, either. He's probably never even seen a ghost." Sam chuckled a bit as the mental image of the billionaire running screaming from a ghost as it destroyed his Dallas Cowboys merch flashed across her mind.
"Jazz…No, the Fentons aren't even interested in ghosts any more." 'Smart move,' Sam had to silently admit to the unknown ghost that had messed up everything. Then it hit her. Of course! Everyone she knew in the real world—the right world—was here in this seriously messed up one, only most were changed in some way. Why should Danny be any different?
'Besides the fact that he's half ghost and has made himself some pretty powerful enemies,' Sam added dryly. Man, she hoped her new plan, which was even now rapidly forming in her head, worked.
She stood and went inside her house long enough to make her returned presence known and drop her overnight bag, before leaving again. With a new determination in her step, she made her way again to Fenton Works.
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Part 9
Interrogation
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Sam waited hidden out behind Fenton Works, peering at the back door through a hole she had found in the fence. Every once in a while she would also check her surroundings to see if anyone was nearby, as she had gotten a strange look from an old lady walking by at the sight of a young Goth girl spying through a fence.
Sam waited patiently as evening began to fall, though she did get stiff from standing in the same position for so long. But sooner or later the Fentons would have to let the dog out, and then was her chance.
She was rewarded when, only a quarter of an hour later, Jazz let the black lab out the back door, instructing it to "go potty" and closing the door again behind her. The dog, however, did not move off the small porch, eyes and nose trained on the back fence. Then he let out a short bark and trotted over to Sam's hiding place, wagging his tail excitedly.
"Hey, Danny," Sam greeted, and she could not help but feel a bit awkward. "C'mon, I'm breaking you out of this joint. I'm taking you to my house, and maybe we can figure out a way to get you back to normal." She opened the back gate and the dog came to her, shaking in excitement. "Let's go before someone sees us."
Sam had a bit of trouble sneaking the large dog into her room, but she managed to slip past her parents without being seen or heard. She slammed and locked her door as soon as they were inside her bedroom, staring at the dog for a moment. "Alright, bark once if you can understand me, Danny," she urged the dog.
Danny stood up on his hind legs, jumping a bit and barking loudly. Sam winced at the sound; perhaps that had not been a good idea. But it was a large house. There was a chance her parents had not heard that. On the other hand, she was now certain that Danny had been turned into a dog. Either that or the lab just liked barking at her. She was not sure which she preferred at the moment.
"Now then…do you still have your ghost powers?" Sam asked. The dog dropped back on all fours and merely blinked up at her. "I'll take that as a no." She could not help but smile though, noticing the dog's eyes, which she had not before. They were blue, the shade of which she had never seen in a Labrador before.
"Okay, no ghost powers," Sam continued. "Do you have any idea how you got this way?" Danny flopped over on his back, legs hanging in the air. "Play dead? Dead? It was a ghost?" Danny's tail thumped happily on the floor. "It was a ghost! I knew it! Do you know which one?"
The black-haired lab rolled over onto his stomach, crawling towards Sam and whining a little. "I don't understand," Sam said, brows drawn down in a confused frown. The dog continued crawling forward, nudging Sam's foot with his nose. She sat down and scratched behind his ears, trying not to think about how weird it was.
"Alright, I'm going to start listing off ghosts, and you tell me when I get to the one who did this, okay?" Sam asked Danny. He merely blinked at her, so she started naming all the ghosts she could think of.
"Plasmius." No response. "Desiree." He just continued staring at her. "Ember." Danny yawned. "Ember? It was Ember?" The dog merely blinked at her again. "O-ok, not Ember. Skulker, then?" Stare. "Ghost Writer?" Nothing. "Walker? Johnny 13? Pariah Dark? Box Ghost? Lunch Lady? Clockwork? Fright Knight?"
This continued for several more minutes, until Sam had named every ghost she could remember them ever coming in contact with. But Danny had not given her any sign, and was now in fact lying at her feet with his head on her leg, ready to go to sleep. Sam supposed being in the body of a dog would be rather taxing.
"Alright, Danny, I guess I should take you home now before someone starts to worry." Sam sighed as she stood. "But don't worry, I'll figure out some way to get you back to normal, then you can help with the rest."
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Part 10
Wake Up and Face the World
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Later that night—after taking Danny home and telling a worried Jazz that she had found him after he had apparently gotten out somehow—Sam lay on her stomach on her bed, tapping a pen against her chin. She had again listed all the ghosts she could think of, this time on paper, and had crossed off each one she did not think capable of changing the reality of Amity Park. The only logical remaining choice was Desiree.
Had someone made a wish that there was no such thing as ghosts and Desiree had perverted it more, as per her usual style? But why then had Sam not been affected? She had not been wearing the Specter Deflector that she could remember.
Was what Priscilla had told her true? Had she really been living in a dream world of her own making for the last several years? No. She simply could not believe that. Danny was not a black lab, Tucker was not an athlete, the Fentons were inventors and ghost hunters, and she did NOT wear floral print or play piano.
Sam rubbed her eyes tiredly. She did not even know they owned a piano. But more importantly, she had to figure out what to do about Danny. Having no one to talk to about this entire mess was really starting to wear her down, and more than anything she just wished she could at least have Danny back.
That was it! "I wish Danny was human again and everything was back to normal!" Sam shouted to the air.
…Nothing happened. Darn it. Desiree was no anywhere around. That meant she had to find her. Oh well, tomorrow she would sneak into Fenton Works and grab the Fenton Ghost Finder and—darn it! there was no such thing, because the Fentons had never invented it!
Sam smacked her forehead. "Oh, this is just great." This was going to be much harder than she thought.
"What's just great?"
Sam jumped nearly a foot in the air at the sudden voice, rolling off her bed in surprise and landing hard with a thump. A moment later, she cautiously peeked over the top of her bed at the speaker on the other side. She jumped up immediately and her eyes went impossibly wide. "Danny?!"
The black-haired boy laughed. "The one and only. Well, sort of."
"But, how did you—I mean, you were—Danny…dog…" Sam stuttered in surprise.
Danny, human Danny, laughed. "Yeah, why were you talking to that dog? You didn't honestly think that was me, did you?" Sam looked away, her cheeks tinted pink. "Oh, c'mon, Sam. It's a dog!"
"Well what else was I supposed to think?" Sam snapped back, felling foolish now. "Everything else is all wrong, why shouldn't that be, too?"
Danny's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean, 'everything's wrong'?"
Sam gestured wildly about herself. "Hello! Everything! There's no ghosts, no ghost hunters, Tucker plays basketball, I play piano, and you're a dog! Everything!"
Realization dawned on Danny's face. "You stopped believing, didn't you?" he asked solemnly, and there was a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Believing what?" Sam asked slowly, suspicious of his tone.
"You stopped believing…in me," he answered unexpectedly. His eyes took on a hint of pleading. "Don't make me go!"
"Believing in you? Go? Go where? What are you, a fairy?" Sam scoffed.
Danny studied her for a minute. "You must have hit your head harder than I thought."
"Hit my…yeah, that's when this all started!" Sam's face lit up in joy. "So this is all just a dream! A really, really weird dream! Ha! I'm going to wake up now. See you later, Danny." She sat back on the bed and willed herself to wake up. After a minute she cracked open an eye to see Danny staring at her in amusement. "What," she snapped.
"You still don't get it, do you?" he asked, smiling. Something was wrong, though. His eyes changed from blue to green to back to blue, and his hair seemed to switch back and forth between black and white. It was just then that she noticed, even though he was in human form, he floated about a foot off the floor.
"What's going on, Danny?" Sam questioned fearfully.
"Perhaps you should be asking what isn't going on. At least, not any more," he answered cryptically.
"What are you talking about?" she demanded. "This is all some weird dream…"
"Oh no, Samantha Manson," he chuckled. "I'm afraid this is as real as it gets."
"I don't…understand," Sam admitted in a small voice.
Danny sighed, and his normal clothes flickered to a black and white jumpsuit for a moment. "Think about it, Sam. Logically. Which world sounds more real, this one or the one in your head, where ghosts attack the local high school every day?"
Sam's mouth hung open in shock. "Wha—how can you—all…in my head?"
"I'm afraid so, Sammy," Danny replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
"But—how? No, I don't believe you. I know what's real."
"Oh, really?" Danny challenged, raising his eyebrows. "The world where the Fentons are a normal family with normal jobs and a black-haired, blue-eyed dog; or the world where they're obsessed ghost hunters with a ghost portal in their basement and their son is a half-ghost?" As he said this, he turned half into Danny Phantom, the two split evenly right down the middle.
"Yes…" Sam answered weakly.
"Come now, half-human, half-ghost hybrids aren't possible. Ghosts don't even exist!" Danny laughed.
"So what are you then?" Sam challenged back. "My imaginary friend?"
Danny nodded. "And a big part of your own little world."
"I—I still can't…believe that."
"Why do you find it so hard to believe that everything is normal?" Danny asked softly. "Which is harder to believe—That Vince is good at basketball, or that you've been kidnapped and taken to an alternate dimension known as the Ghost Zone?"
"He doesn't even look like a 'Vince,'" Sam mumbled. "He looks like a 'Tucker.'"
"Which is why your mind chose that name for him," Danny said softly.
"No! We three are best friends and…we…we hunt ghosts…Your archenemy is your dad's old college friend…" Sam's argument was beginning to sound weak even to her own ears. But it had all been so real! There was no way it could have all just been her imagination!
"Here, let me guess—Tucker's girlfriend is a vengeful ghost hunter and your psychiatrist, Penelope Spectra, is an evil soul-sucking ghost that feeds off your misery."
"Actually, yes! But her name is Priscilla Spertac…"
"And you and your two best friends, a techno geek and a half-ghost, battle impossible odds on a daily basis and always end up coming out on top, without serious injury." He cocked an eyebrow at her. "A little convenient, don't you think?"
Sam felt like putting her hands over her ears and shouting that she could not hear him, but she could. Loud and clear. Just the imagination of a lonely little girl…
"But it's alright, Sam," Danny said comfortingly. "This day had to come some time. I always knew it would, but I was hoping it would be easier for you." He sat on the bed beside her, smiling slightly. "We had some pretty amazing adventures, though, huh? They would make a great story."
Sam returned the smile half-heartedly. "Yeah, they would."
Danny frowned sadly. "But now that you know the truth, I have to go. It's time you faced the real world."
"You're leaving me?" Sam asked in shock.
"I have to. It's time you made real friends—like Vince or Jazz. You might not find them too changed." He smiled again. "It's for the best. You have to wake up from your imaginary world. Wake up to the real world. Wake up…Wake up! Sam, wake up!" He was shouting at her now.
Her eyes snapped open and she shot straight up, nearly butting heads with Danny. She groaned at the pain in her head and put a hand to the side of her head to feel a growing knot there.
"Sam, are you alright? You've been out nearly ten minutes. Tucker and I were starting to get worried." Danny really did sound worried about her.
She took a very long minute to take in her surroundings before asking, "What happened?"
Danny and Tucker shared a quick glance. The techno geek shrugged and the white-haired boy looked back at her. "The ghost knocked you out when it landed on you, but I managed to catch it in the Fenton Thermos again. Are you alright? You look really pale."
She merely stared up at him for a very long time, running over again all that had happened in the last couple of days. Had it really all just been a dream? Or was she now really back in her imaginary world, the one Danny himself had nearly convinced her didn't exist?
"Sam?"
"I'm fine. I just…had a really crazy dream." She smiled at him. "I had to wear floral print."
The End!
Please review and tell me what you thought! Sorry again about the length.