Author's Note: This doesn't really relate to the one from last year. So I decided to make this an annual thing. A way to track how much progress I make as an author. Happy whatever you celebrate.

'Well it's definitely Christmas,' Danny Fenton/Phantom thought to himself as he hung from chains in ghost form. He went over what he knew, he had been kidnapped, some guy named McFist was responsible, he was in a large room with a wrap around balcony and not much else, and he can't phase out of his chains. The last one worried Danny; he really needed to get out of here before his kidnappers came back or he passed out. Christmas was tomorrow (or maybe it was already to day) and his absence was not going to be overlooked.

Jake sighed, he was really not enjoying his Christmas Eve, day, whatever it was. He was on a mission to find a magical creature that had gotten trapped by an evil billionaire. Any other day and this would have been exciting, except he knew the magical creature; it was his friend, Danny, the half ghost. Jake had met him a few months ago when a ghost called Skulker decided to hunt him. Jake hadn't seen Danny since and he had really been hoping that their next meeting wouldn't have to be because they were in danger.

Randy was sitting in a vent inside McFist's mansion. He had infiltrated McFist's Christmas party and hadn't detected any suspicious activity until the end of the night. Apparently McFist had, with the help of the Sorcerer, caught something rare and more powerful than the ninja. If McFist's shouted conversation at Viceroy was anything to go off of. Randy doubted that whatever it was was more powerful than him, it had after all, gotten caught by McFist.

Randy carefully navigated the vents peeking through openings trying to find where this thing was being held at. He heard a groan coming from somewhere to his left. Randy swung down through an opening in the vent. He dropped down on a balcony, walking over he peeked over the railing. Hanging in the middle of the room was what appeared to be a boy. A boy with white hair, a full body spandex suit, and was glowing. And yet he still looked like a kid, well a teenager really. Randy flipped over the railing and landed lightly in front of the boy.

"Hey kid."

Groaning the kid opened his eyes. "Uh hi?" His voice was rough and raw.

"Um what exactly are you?" Rand asked tilting his head to see the boy's eyes better.

"I could ask you the same question." Full of snark, perfect. Well at least that was a good sign, he couldn't have been beaten that badly.

"I am the Ninja of Norrisville. And I'm here to help you escape from my mortal enemy."

"Mortal enemy? The shouty grump with the robot arm?"

"Yep." Randy moved forward using a ninja sai to pick the locks on the hand cuffs. "You still haven't answered my question."

"I'm a ghost."

Randy almost dropped the sai. "You're a what?"

"A ghost."

"No honking way! Ghosts are supposed to be see through and like you can't touch them."

"Intangible?" Danny supplied.

"Yeah! So what's up with you?" Randy stepped back as the last cuff popped open. The ghost rubbed his wrists.

"Not sure, I guess maybe I'm more of a phantom? I don't know." Danny stuck out his hand. "I'm Danny Phantom by the way."

"Really Phantom the phantom?"

"Well what should I call you?"

"Ninja I guess." Danny raised an eyebrow. "That's what everyone else calls me," Randy added indigently. Randy shook Phantom's hand. But before either could ask anymore questions there was a loud crash.

One of the windows had shattered standing amidst the the broken glass was a dragon. "What the juice!?" Randy exclaimed staring open mouthed at the dragon who had just crashed in.

"Hey Jake." Randy glanced at Danny questioningly, Jake was a weird name for a dragon.

"Phantom, are you alright? Was it scarf boy that captured you?"

"I'm fine and no Ninja dude here actually just got done saving me." Danny said over Randy's protest of being call "scarf boy."

"Oh well I guess my work here is done then." Jake said only slightly disappointed. He was happy that his friend was safe, but he had flown all this way just to be made useless, not the best feeling.

Danny opened his mouth to say something but instead he swayed on the spot. Danny toppled over into Randy, who barely caught him. Danny looked like he was fighting to keep his eyes open. "Jake," he rasped out, "could you fly me home?"

"Yeah of course. But what-" Jake stopped talking Danny's eyes had shut. Two rings of blueish light traveled up and down Danny's body reverting him back to Fenton. "Crap, he must have been here for a while. I wonder what they did to him."

Randy didn't reply, he was too busy staring at the boy in his arms. A million questions were running through his head: What happened? Why did Phantom change like that? Why and how did he look human, alive even? Randy didn't have time to voice his questions though, McFist's loud, grating voice could be heard in the hallway.

"It took forever to shoo out that last of the party guests. Do they not realize that I have a very powerful being that needs to be attended to?"

"Let's hope not sir. You do still have appearances to keep up." Came Viceroy's sarcastic reply.

"Ninja," Jake hissed, "get on my back with Danny, they can't see him like this."

Randy nodded once. He wrapped his arms around Danny's torso and quickly ninja jumped onto the dragon's back. He maneuvered Danny so he was straddling Jake. Randy held onto Jake's neck in front of Danny, acting as his seat belt. Jake took off through the already broken window. Flapping his wings to pull them higher into the sky.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions." Jake said as he glided away from Norrisville.

"Yeah I do. First off, where are you taking us?"

"Back to Danny's house."

"He has a house? He's a ghost how can he have a house?"

"Well that's the thing, he's not full ghost."

"Not full ghost?" Randy glanced down at Danny, his forehead was resting against Randy's neck and he was out cold.

"No he's half. Sort of like Schrodinger's boy, he's both dead and alive. Right now he's in what he considers an alive state. When you first saw him he was in ghost mode. Danny can switch between the two states whenever he wants. But when he get's overexerted he passes out and reverts back to the alive state. Which is what just happened."

"That's amazing! But how can he be both dead and alive. He feels alive now, and he seemed alive before." Randy asked puzzled.

"I don't know man. I'm not even sure he knows how it works. Just take it at face value, he can change into a superhero."

"He's a hero?"

"Yeah he is." Jake said remembering all the times Danny had gotten him out of trouble during their last adventure.

"He's like me. I can turn in the ninja but I'm also just a kid. The ninja suit turns me into a superhero. I'm not half dead or I guess in my case half ninja, but it's the same concept right?"

"Yeah you've got it. It's the same with me. I'm half human, half dragon. I can change at will."

"This is so bruce! Wait til I tell Howard, he'll flip out!"

"You can't tell people this. It's our secrets you don't want me to tell people you're the ninja do you?"

"Well no but Howard knows I'm the ninja."

"It's still our secrets. I probably shouldn't have even told you Danny's but I felt I owed you an explanation."

"Okay, I won't tell anyone." Randy said as Danny shifted in his arms.

"Thank you. Okay you see that big metal thing on top of the house?"

"Yeah?"

"That's Danny's. I'm going to fly you in close enough to get through the window, I won't fit in dragon form."

"Got it." Randy said determined. Jake hovered near the second story.

Randy stood up carefully, he pulled Danny on to his back and threw his scarf out. Swinging down in front of the window he used one hand to pull up the window while the other kept a hold on Danny. Randy carefully dropped into the room. Laying Danny down on the bed Randy began to look around. NASA posters covered the walls, a rocket model sat on the desk. Randy turned back to the window when he heard a loud thud. Jake had fallen into Danny's room. Randy had a hard time trying not to laugh when Jake stood up. He was about half a foot shorter than Randy with spiky hair that almost looked green in the dim light, he couldn't believe that this little dude had been a dragon.

"Is there a problem?" Jake snapped.

"No, no, it's just you look.. different from what I imagined." Randy assured trying to cover up laughing at the shorty.

They might have gotten into a fight if it wasn't for Danny's loud groan. He sat up rubbing his eyes. "What happened?"

"I flew you home with the help of ninja boy here."

Randy reached up and pulled off his ninja mask. "You can call me Randy."

The three were silent, watching the others, all thinking the same thing. 'They're just like me.'

"Well merry Christmas." Danny said exasperatedly throwing himself back on the bed.

"Merry Christmas." Randy replied immediately.

"Yeah merry Christmas." Jake said a small smile on his face.