I'd like to take this time to acknowledge the praise I've gotten! Thank you all very much for your support, MintBushCat, Andy-ships-all, and many more! I will try to update as frequently as I can- all these updates for this story are occurring because I'm striking as the iron is hot.

I'm also taking this time to address wherein each timeline this story takes place;

ADJL: post-season 2

DP: post-season 2, post Reality Trip, pre-season 3

RC9N: post-Ninjception, pre-finale

Thanks ~Cosmo


"So you still wanna meet Invisobill, Randy?" Tucker inquired, walking with his nose stuffed in his PDA, running a reverse image search on the pictures he took of the dragon. The image turned out oddly blurry. Tucker in the photo was left perfectly intact. However, the dragon was out of focus as well as blocking its face. As if the photo was taken while the dragon was moving, though he couldn't. Tucker knew that the dragon didn't move while he took the selfie.

The inquest turned up similar images in the search engine. Blurs of red and black with the occasional fire burst. Though there was nothing identifiable within the frame. Most of these pictures could be found on the retired personal blog of someone calling themselves: Professor Hans Rottwood.

A rather unfortunate name, Tucker concluded.

He bookmarked the page for reference. There were long rambling passages following the undistinguishable pictures about various things, ranging from the readily acceptable paranormal possibilities like ghosts and aliens. The ideas of life outside of the human perspective. Ending with the utterly half-baked, Fairies, Leprechauns, and the jersey devil. Foley scrolled quietly through the mess, doubting he could decipher the nonsense from reason.

Randy lingered behind the group with his newly attained crutches, "You're not changing my mind."

Danny turned, walking backward to face Randy, "You were there when he dropped a building on you, right?"

"Technically, he just stuck a dragon through the ceiling; the ninja was the one who brought the building down."

"Yeah, the ninja…" Danny trailed off; this was the second time that Norrisville just took off from a fight, "What's his problem? You'd think he'd have a hobby or something."

Sam remarked, "Something age-appropriate for an eight hundred-year-old- like canasta."

"Honestly, the ninja would pull that kind of stuff all the time." Randy swung forward on his crutches, landing next to Danny, wincing as the weight came down on his leg, "He's kind of an idiot."

"Hey, watch it, Cunningham, we wanna send you back in one piece," Fenton propped a hand on the taller boy's chest, trying to keep him from eating the sidewalk.

Cunningham adjusted, "Bro, I've been in a million pieces and glued back together before. I'll be totally bruce-ing it up in no time at all."

"Just hope your pain pills kick in soon," Sam Sighed.

Hurriedly Randy limped to Sam, like a gait that could only be described as a busted-crab. He waggled his eyebrows towards her," So, when were you gonna tell me that you were dating Inviso, huh?"

If she was a lesser person, she would've hit him- but since he was already down a leg and probably functioning at a quarter instead of the half brain he normally had- it would've been mean. Fighting a blush on her cheeks, "You wanna see how fast your mouth runs with only one crutch?"

"Okay, Okay, touchy-" Randy chuckled, backing away.

In amazement or shock, Danny still repeated, "That thing- That dragon was alive."

"What makes you say that? I read up on some of the ghost attacks before I signed up for the big switch week." Randy recalled the rather sensationalist travel articles- the ones with mostly pictures, "A dragon didn't seem that too outta keeping. I mean, didn't like a fourteenth-century knight attack once?"

Tucker offered, "Amity Park is host to a few recurring ghosts. It isn't like an ant infestation where we can just set a gas bomb off in the house and come back after. Danny usually b-" he snapped his teeth on his cheeks to refrain from speaking.

Danny's lips folded inward and regarded Cunningham with his eyes- just to reinforce that he should zip it.

"I mean the- Invisobill… beats them all. The same ghosts usually get out. They all usually come out of the same place."

Randy shrugged, "People die all the time; how come there can't be new ghosts?"

"That's morbid, dude."

"I'm just saying," Cunningham defended his view.

Fiddling with his glasses, Foley assured, "I'm not saying that there can't be any new ghosts, but they're just… rare."

"Tucker's right, but it still has nothing to do with the fact that the dragon was alive," Sam said, leading the pack to her townhouse.

Randy adjusted his backpack," Not to sound like a busted record but wh-Wha-Wha-W—"

Danny playfully punched Randy in the shoulder. He made a scratch noise, "What makes you say that, our shining ray of sunlight?"

So easy, to just kick him over and watch him flounder, she thought.

Sam rolled her eyes, "Ghosts have certain abilities. They can phase through objects. If that dragon couldn't phase through the ceiling, then it wasn't a ghost. Da- Da-finitely Invisobill knew that, and that's why he cleverly got him submerged into the ceiling."

"Could be that the dragon was a ghost, and he was slow on the uptake?" Randy asserted, smirking to himself.

Sam replied with a smile before punching in a key code and trotting off behind the ornate gold fence to her home, "At least you'd have that in common with him."

"Hey," Randy said with a pout.

"She doesn't mean it," Danny popped a few colorful mcfizzies into his mouth," At least I don't think."

"So like… do I just need to be hot to be a part of the ghost club or what? Because I can get some fishnets and eyeliner," Randy gestured to Sam's house with his head, still holding a look of contempt on his face. She didn't seem like she was kidding. He couldn't fathom why a dynamic duo like Tucker and Danny would bother with someone who sounded like she'd rather be doing anything else. She seemed wary of Randy. Wary like somehow Randy needed to prove himself. It wasn't like he was especially popular with girls back home, but there was something about this brush off that seemed insulting. Randy had thick skin, at least that's what he told himself.

He fumbled with his hoodie strings, "You guys, like, clearly don't have anything in common. Does she only hang around for ghost benefits?"

Danny shook his head, embarrassed by the suggestion, "It isn't like that. I'm telling you. Sam's just-"

"Pretentious?" Tucker teased.

Fenton threw a piece of candy at his friend. Sam would skin him alive if she found out they were flanderizing her. Danny didn't want to admit that Tucker was right. Sam had a talent for making other people feel small. Though he was Whenever she tuned out while he talked about astronomy, he thought about how well she would pay attention if he was in ghost mode. It was a chip- a insecurity he thought he had mended. Danny was insulted on behalf of her, yes. But he found the notion of her only sticking around out of obligation was closer to the truth than he wanted it to be.

"She helps keep things interesting. She has great taste in music. Sam helps to get me and Tucker out of the house." Danny argued, "Without her, we would be wasting away just- playing video games!"

That appeared to have stuck something within Randy. He rolled his shoulder as if attempting to relax; he shrank, "More interesting than living in a town full of ghosts?"

Tapping away on his PDA, Tucker spoke out of the side of his mouth, "Tourist."

"When in Rome, Tuck, when in Rome," Cunningham hobbled along. He couldn't help but be befuddled by the laissez-faire attitude the kids of Amity Park had. At least Norrisville made a big deal about monsters. The citizens took the decimation of their burger shack the same way someone would walk off, breaking a plate. By the time the police left, the people had already gone home. It felt like exhausted people running through a rehearsed production. Randy exclaimed with tired awe, " I can't- I absolutely can't believe you guys are bored of ghosts,"

He snickered, "I cannot believe you guys tried to say you hate Invisobill."

"If you meet my parents, you'll know why," Danny said with a bit of an exasperated smile that made his eyebrows raise but kept his face soft. Like he was reminiscing on a rollercoaster at the fair, he dreaded more than anything.

The evening had finally settled in. Lights in house windows flickered on; curtains became drawn to keep the heat in. The streetlights came to life unceremoniously as they do in all neighborhoods. Time, despite not feeling like it was passing, was. Cruelly so. The conversation met its inevitable conclusion. Though perhaps 'conclusion' wasn't apt. It wasn't simply a matter of running out of things to talk about. There wasn't awkwardness bleeding through as if penned by a marker. No conversation was truly over, at least as long as there were people around to talk the subject in all manner of directions.

Clouds hung low in a thick fog around the rooftops. The moon was a sliver in the sky miles and miles away from the group. It was a kind of night that felt like so far away looking back on it. Like they were at a distance from the world. Like they didn't occupy the same space anymore. A space that could only be for them. It was innately human.

No, it wasn't a conclusion. It was three people who were comfortable enough to not get the last word. However, that didn't stop them from trying. Kicking cans and talking as if they had known each other their whole lives. Life endangering experiences have a way of making people closer. Laughing in the face of absurdity. Facing life's obstacles, a bitter 'okay, fine.'

Though, they had their obvious adverse effects too…

Randy couldn't have been a stranger because he never felt more at home. A home that he would ultimately abandon as soon as his job was done. Despite the injury and having to work on vacation, Randy was reluctant to say he was having a good time. He couldn't help but think that it would be better with Howard. No matter how out of place he felt in Norrisville, being next to his best friend was good enough. He finally felt like enough standing with Howard.

Tucker volunteered to escort Randy back to the hotel the Norrisville kids were residing at. Still, Cunningham insisted that he didn't need to go anywhere so soon, as he had already missed curfew. So what was a few more hours?

Eventually, after so many beats from the crutches and turns- The three found themselves at Danny's home.

It was a huge brick building- as if it was originally intended for apartments, given the fire escapes at certain windows, with the startling addition of a metal annex on the roof. It at first appeared like a UFO. An intimidating chrome observatory on the roof of what was an ordinary brick house. A small yard full of machine parts, oil puddles, and a patchy ill yellowing lawn.

Towering above them was a green neon sign with an orange arrow, reading 'Fentonworks.'

"Heh, look, it's you," Randy nudged Danny with his elbow.

"I am aware."

Tucker went ahead and answered a question that hadn't been asked, "Danny's folks are inventors. Ghost traps, stuff like that."

"Wow," Randy scanned the building again as if he hadn't soaked it in already," They must make a lot of green then?"

"Ha, not even the slightest," Danny said; he laughed but had no hint of humor in his eyes. He marched up the porch steps, almost letting on how tired he was from the three tough battles and all the uncertainty that the day had created.

He jiggled the handle, only to realize his dad must've locked the door since going into the lab. Fenton produced the spare house key from under the mat. Danny gestured for the two on the sidewalk to turn around, "Do not share this with anyone- ignore the mat!"

As the key fumbled with the others on the spare ring-

The door opened wide, letting out a nearly pure white fluorescent light. As if they were being pulled from the dream-like hazy night by their hair. They hissed and shielded their eyes.

"Danny! There you are! Are you okay?! Did you see the Tv?!" a sharp feminine voice phrasing an innocuous question like a demand.

"Mom, mom, mother! I'm alright." He repeated over and over again, "I'm alright."

"I don't want you out of my sight or near another fast food burger again!" She grasped her son by the shoulders, shaking him up," Do you hear me, young man!?"

Randy leaned to Tucker," Does she do this every time?"

"Almost, yeah."