Chapter Three

Danny Sat up in bed the next morning, tired from the lack of sleep and befuddled if he actually almost got pulled into a parallel dimension the night before. His phone buzzed on his floor. He got out of the bed dizzily and looked at his wet shirt and pants that smelled of moss and leaves. He pulled his mostly dry phone that luckily still worked and answered.

"hello?" He said scratching his head.

"Danny? It's Sam." A voice said from the other end.

"Oh!" Danny said clearing his throat and coming awake "What happened last night?"

"You don't remember?" Sam asked worried. She sat at the edge of her bed. She had just cleaned up the pond water on her floor from Danny and the mud tracked in by the three of them.

"A little, but vaguely." He answered still groggy "It's like I only remember bits and pieces, like we ran to your house but I don't remember why and I remember getting pulled into the ghost portal but not being pulled out."

"Maybe Tucker and I should come over there." Sam suggested

"Sure- wait no!" Danny said then quickly corrected himself

"Why not?" Sam asked pulling her eyebrows together. She, Danny and Tucker talked like they've been friends their entire lives but Sam still was scared they secretly still thought of her as 'the creepy goth'.

"This is just an excuse so you can Tucker can see the lab." Danny said finally snapping awake. Sam sighed.

"I promise not to ask to see the lab." She said slowly.

"…Fine." He decided "Can you call Tuck? I should probably wake up a little more first."

"Sure!" Sam agreed unusually cheerful as she hung up and dialed Tucker's number.

Knock, Knock Jazz opened the door not expecting company. She looked at Tucker and the goth girl standing in front of her.

"Uhhhh," She started seeing the dark eyeliner and the black clothing. I should get rid of them, Danny shouldn't be hanging out with them. Tucker is okay but this girl won't be good for him to hang out with, he is in such a fragile stage of life right now! It's crucial he has role model worthy friends, so I should definitely get rid of Tucker too. "Sorry, Danny's not home right now." Jazz said quickly trying to close the door.

"Sam!... and Tucker!" Danny yelled waving running down the stairs. Jazz pursed her lips and hurried away from the door. Sam and Tucker both waved to Danny smiling. "Come on guys, let's go upstairs." He said jamming a thumb over his shoulders towards the stairs. The three made their way upstairs and into Danny's room. As they walked in Tucker flopped onto Danny's bed and pulled out his PDA starting an intense game of Snake. Sam looked around, her big lilac eyes taking in everything. A few space ship models were on shelf's and the desk in the far corner of Danny's room. Sam pulled the chair in front of the desk out and plopped down.

"So this is you crib?" Sam asked referring to the show on MTV.

"I guess you could say that." Danny laughed

"Okay spill it," Sam said leaning forward to look at Danny.

"Spill what?" Danny asked confused. Tucker sat up stuffing his PDA into his pocket.

"Dude, you practically fell into the ghost zone! If we hadn't grabbed your legs you might still be there!" Tucker cried out

"What else do you want to know?" Danny asked slowly confused of what he was being asked.

"What was it like?" Sam pressed. Danny looked at her for a moment, the intensity growing with each passing second. As if knowing the answer was more important and he was wasting time.

"I don't remember." Danny said lamely looking down at his hands. Tucker and Sam stared at him with their jaws dropped. They had been waiting for that?

"That's it," Tucker concluded making Danny look up at him as he hopped off the bed. "We are going to the lab." Tucker quickly walked out of the room and Danny and Sam ran after him.

"Tuck!" Danny urged, wanting him to wait. Danny's parents and Jazz stood at the front door.

"Oh Danny!" Mrs. Fenton gushed " Good thing you are right here, I was about to call you down sweat heart!" Danny face palm because of the embarrassment. "We are going to be gone the rest of the day and Jazz is sleeping over a friend's house."

"And you have complete access to the lab if you need it!" Danny's dad added as they all rushed out the door. Danny rolled his eyes at the irony. Tucker made a break for it. Running after Tucker Danny followed and following Danny Sam was right behind him.

"Tucker, stop!" Danny yelled trying to grab the back of Tucker's mustard colored shirt. They rushed through the kitchen and Tucker turned back against the basement door. "Sam you said-"

"I was speaking for me not for Tucker!" Sam protested raising her hands in surrender. Danny turned his glare back to Tucker.

"This isn't a good idea." Danny said shaking his head

"C'mon Danny, it's not like you've never wondered about your parents… work." Tucker said trying to persuade Danny.

"Not really! The stuff they work on isn't, like.. real!" Danny shot back

"Danny, last night you almost got sucked into another dimension. You can't tell me that never happened!" Tucker yelled raising his arms into the air.

"Okay… but doesn't that kind of raise a red light about all of this?" Danny said raising his eyebrows and crossing his arms over his white t-shirt.

"Your parent's portal doesn't work, right?" Sam asked

"Well, no but…"

"Then it's settled!" Tucker smiled widely in victory.

"Don't you want to check it out Danny? Just a little bit." Sam said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"… fine." Danny said smiling "But only because it does sound a little cool." Sam and Tucker jumped in excitement and raced down the basement stairs. Danny trudged down the stairs getting a look at the lab. He only had been down there a few times, in completely necessary situations. The walls were mostly coated in silver metal and were a dark blue in places without it. The floor was paneled with metal and concrete. There were tables lining all the walls with test tubes filled with strange liquids and gadgets that Danny had no idea if they worked. At the far end of the room was a hexagon shaped tunnel in the wall. The inside coated in metal and wires. Danny shivered at the cold from the basement not daring to think it might be some kind of weird ghost energy.

Tucker and Sam ran around letting their hands hover over everything like they are in some kind of candy or toy store. They pointed at things gaping then run to the next thing wanting to touch it but not knowing if they are allowed as if they would get scolded. Danny kept his eyes trained on the tunnel. The apparent ghost portal that his parents had almost finished but couldn't figure out the last piece. He was afraid it would light up with the green swirling mist the way the pond had. Tucker and Sam came to the portal last gaping at it's size.

"How come you never begged me- actually scratch that, forced me to come to the lab before, Tucker?" Danny asked

"Before what?" Tucker said dreamily staring at the tunnel shaped hole that took up most, if not all, of the wall.

"I don't know, just ever? You've never asked to see the lab before Tuck." Danny said studying Sam's expression waiting for her to get too weirded out and leave.

"I didn't have back up." He said still dreamily gesturing to Sam.

"You're going to go in there right?" Sam asked turning to Danny.

"…I think I have to." Danny said looking into the hole in the wall.

"You don't have to, not if you don't want to." Sam said

"I want to though; I mean, what kind of cool things could be on the other side of that portal." Danny smiled getting excited and shifting from foot to foot. Danny started to step towards the tunnel.

"Wait!" Tucker urged. Danny turned to him as if he had ruined his big moment. Tucker gave him a weak smile then grabbed a jump suit from the floor. It was a white jumpsuit with a black ring around the middle, the feet and hands were black too. As if wearing black gloves and boots. The color was black as well, stretching a little bit up the neck like a turtle neck. "You should wear a jumpsuit."

"Why…?" Danny asked raising an eyebrow.

"Because your parents always wear jumpsuits and maybe its so they don't get zapped or something." Tucker said smugly as if he was the smartest person in the world.

"Whatever," Danny shrugged taking the jumpsuit and putting it on over his clothes. When he stood he looked determined. He looked towards the ghost zone and took a step in. Nothing happened. Sam and Tucker watched, not knowing what to expect. Danny put a hand up to the wall and started walking letting it trail along the wires and metal framing. He looked up at the ceiling, it looked dark as if it was some place for bats to sleep, the wires acting as vines in a cave.

Suddenly his hand hit a button. He quickly withdrew scared he broke it. He grabbed his hand as if it had been burned. A vrooooom sounded getting louder and more intence. Danny panicked looking frantically around the little tunnel as it started to glow. Sam and Tucker gaped.

The light turned from bright white to green and zipped around Danny like lightening bolts. It caught him in the arm and the leg and suddenly everywhere.

"Danny! No!" Sam and Tucker screamed reminding them of the park. Danny seemed to raise from the ground, back arched screaming. His arms stuck out twitching like the rest of his body but unable to move. Suddenly the entire portal seemed to grow misty and almost seemed to fill with water but It was the green spirals of the portal. The vroooom faded, replaced by the swishing sound of the portal, like splashing water. Someone stumbled out and fell to the ground.

"Danny!" Sam yelled running Danny's side as he lay on the floor. Tucker gaped at Danny.

"Sam…" Tucker asked hesitantly

"Tucker! Come help!" Sam yelled, even though Tucker was only a few feet from her.

"Sam! Look!" Tucker said pointing to Danny. Usually Sam would make a snarky comment that she knew Danny was there or that she knew he didn't look too good he just got zapped with maybe 5 billion volts of electricity. But as she looked again at Danny she noticed something. His usually Jet black hair was snowy white and his skin was a shade paler. His hair didn't look old person like, it was more like it was his natural color hair. He lay with his eyes closed. Then she noticed his suit. It was the opposite from when he went it. The body of the suit was black and the belt, hands, feet and color were white. She stared in shock. Maybe the electricity messed with the colors. Could electricity do that? His hair was the opposite of his regular color too. But can that happen? Her hands hovered protectively over him wanting to help but not really knowing how she could.

"Uhh,uhh." Danny mumbled, his eyes twitching. Sam's eyebrows pulled together considering if she should bring him to the hospital.

"Danny?" She said quietly. His eyes shot and he sat up quickly like he had just woken from a dream. He put his palm to his forehead and squinted.

"Danny! You're okay!" Sam yelled, fighting the urge to throw her arms around him and plant a kiss on his pale lips- wait what? Sam thought to herself realizing this but pushing it to the back of her mind. Tucker stood stunned looking at Danny gaping.

"What? What is it, Tuck?" Danny said eyes widening. He turned to Sam and she gasped almost falling backwards even though she was already sitting on her knees. "What!" Danny almost shrieked grabbing at his face.

"Uhhh…" Tucker managed looking into Danny's frantic GREEN eyes. The green was absolutely spectacular and beautiful like his blue but this scared Sam and Tucker. Not fear for themselves but fear for their friend. I'm pretty sure electricity can't do that. Sam debated with herself. He stood and they gasped again because his green eyes matched the color of the swirling green portal behind them perfectly.

"What is it?" Danny yelled. But when they didn't move he ran to the mirror in the corner of the room. He almost screamed when he saw himself. The snowy white hair and the glowing green eyes were not his. He was sure of it. He staggered backward.

"Danny!" Sam yelled snapping out of her trance running towards him. He swayed and fell backward. Sam ran fast enough she could stick her arms out and easily catch him but he went right through her fingers. Not metaphorically thought, he literally fazed through her fingers and hit the ground. Sam gaped at her hands when saw what looked like ghostly mist rise from them like white flames that quickly faded into the air. Tucker seemed to snap in action then and ran to kneel next to Danny.

"Oh man!" He yelled putting and hand right through Danny without any reaction from the weary Danny.

"W-what?" Sam asked looking down at Tucker.

"We killed him!" Tucker yelled

"What!" Danny yelled snapping out of his weariness and floating to the ceiling. "Ahhh! Help!" Danny squeaked trying to reach his friends. They ran underneath him and tried grabbing his frantic hands but they were too high.

"Umm…" Sam started awkwardly "Shouldn't we umm.. get your body?" Danny squeaked and reached harder for his friends. Tucker's jaw locked and he ran to the portal. Danny's body wasn't on the ground… he walked a step closer and stuck his head into the portal. He looked around and the swirling green looked to be the outline of the strange world. He looked down and it looked infinite. He gasped and pulled himself back into the real world. He quickly pressed the red button next to the ghost zone to close the big doors.

"I couldn't find… body." Tucker said slowly looking at Danny's terrified expression. Suddenly two silver rings appeared at Danny's waist and went opposite ways down Danny's legs and up over his head. What they left behind was the old Danny, black hair and blue eyes along with his old clothes. He fell from the ceiling landing on Sam with a thud and they both fell to the ground. He quickly stood up and helped up Sam.

"Tucker… I found the body." Sam said pointing to Danny who looked normal again. Tucker turned and gaped. Then he ran and jumped onto Danny knocking him to the ground.

"Danny! You're alive!" He shrieked hugging him. Sam laughed and joined the big hug.

"What happened?" Sam asked Danny

"I… don't… know… can't breathe!" Danny huffed from beneath his two friends.

"Maybe it was temporary." Tucker hoped

"Maybe." Danny said smiling. "Now let's get out of here." The three seemed to just notice the ghost portal again and they all rushed up the stairs, but Sam and Tucker kept an eye on Danny as if he might disappear.