"Behold!" Sidney Pointdexter said, pointing dramatically at a busted old locker. "Locker 724!"

With a flourish he keyed in the combination and threw the door open, revealing an oval mirror attached at the back.

It was weird seeing Dash's body act so… eager to please. To see his face, and his stupid square jaw, looking at him expactantly. Respectfully.

Actually it wasn't that unfamiliar, but Phantom had only glimpsed Dash's hero worship from far away. Up till now he'd avoided the teen like the plague.

But this isn't Dash anyway, Phantom reminded himself. Sidney Pointdexter. Pointdexter. Pointdexter.

"How does it work?" Tucker said. His hand hovered over the mirror, but he hesitated to touch it. "It's a portal?"

"Yes," Pointdexter said. "But it's safe to touch, my negro friend! It only activates when I tell it to."

"Oh wow," Fenton said. "We gotta catch you up on, uh, modern politics."

Tucker laughed. "Hope you didn't call Kwan… uh… Danny what did they call Asians?"

Accidentally, Phantom answered at the same time as Fenton. In the exact same tone, they both said: "Y-yellow?"

Phantom snapped his jaw shut so hard he imagined they could all hear the firm click of his teeth.

He stared at his boots and noted they were on the ground. He wasn't even glowing.

He wasn't glowing?

There was a moment of silence.

Pointdexter chuckled. "Jinks!" He said. "You both owe me a sodapop."

"Th-that's not how…" Fenton cleared his throat. "Sidney, could you help us get in there?"

"Oh no," Pointdexter said. "I wouldn't want to send humans in there who didn't deserve it. They'd be trapped."

"But you come and go whenever you want," Tucker said. "Is it safe for ghosts?"

"Well sure." Dash directed a winning smile at Phantom, all glittering teeth.

Not Dash. Pointdexter. "Especially a powerful ghost like the Phantom? Sure, he'd be king of the place."

"If I can't get Dash out," Phantom said. "Sh-should I…"

He looked at Fenton.

Fenton, who was taller than him now, but still shorter than Tucker. Fenton blinked at him with those familiar blue eyes.

Phantom didn't think of them as his own eyes anymore. Especially since he'd never been fond of his own reflection in the first place. He'd thought of himself as un-photogenic.

Not ugly, but boring. Unimpressive.

Fenton didn't seem unimpressive anymore.

"What do you want me to do?" Phantom said.

Phantom wondered if it was Fenton's growth spurt that made him seem… better than he was when Phantom was him. Or something else entirely?

Because Fenton was something else now. Someone else.

And Phantom didn't want to let him down again.

"If you can't get him out…" Fenton regarded him with furrowed brows. It was a look Phantom had seen on Jazz many times.

As if she were trying to read his mind.

"Then you come back," Fenton said. "And we'll regroup. Come up with a plan. Or something."

"Okay," Phantom said. "Sounds good."

He glanced at Tucker and Pointdexter. Then he slammed his palm on the surface of the mirror.

Nothing happened.

Dash laughed at him.

Pointdexter laughed. "There's more to it than that!"

"What more? What do I do?"

"You've never gone through a portal before?"

Phantom winced. "A portal went through me once."

Fenton winced too, a beat after.

"Just make yourself fuzzy," Pointdexter said. "Like strolling through a wall. Don't need no doorway."

"Oh," Phantom said. Allowing his hand to go intangible, he poked it through the mirror.

It wasn't like sticking his hand through a wall.

A wall wouldn't pull at him.

It felt like…

Getting sucked into the Fenton thermos.

Phantom's eyes widened. "W-wait," he wanted to say. "Is there a mirror on the other side?"

But there was no room to speak.

The last thing he heard was Dash Baxter's condescending voice. "Oh, baby ghost…"

Then everything was green for a second.

Just for a second.

Blindingly green.

Then it was dark. And cramped.

Except for three slivers of light. Like…

Like sitting in a locker.

"Shit!"

Phantom elbowed the door.

"H-hey! Let me out!"

He could hear people laughing.

"Hey!" He repeated. "C'mon guys!"

Wait a minute. He was a ghost.

He wasn't trapped.

Phantom took a deep breath (not that he needed it!) and decided to become intangible. To fly out of the locker.

But nothing happened.

"Thinks he's special!" He heard someone say.

"Baby ghost." A girl. She almost sounded like Kitty.

"I'm not a baby!" Phantom shouted. "Let me out!"

They continued to laugh. He tried to squint through the locker slits, but someone moved in front of the light.

He tried to summon ecto-plasm into his clenched fists. Tried to punch the door open.

The teenagers in the hallway continued to laugh. It was cartoonish, the way they kept going. And it seemed like the crowd was growing. Voices mixing into each other.

"Just a sad echo," someone whispered. "A clone. A shadow."

His voice was deep. Like an adult. An old man.

"A parasite," Vlad Masters said.

"Fuck off!" Phantom said. "It's a trick. This was a trap."

"Duh," Dash said. "You're a real idiot, Fenturd."

The locker door opened so abruptly Phantom fell out.

Dash caught him.

"Phantom!" Dash crouched in front of him, hands on his shoulders, and urgently whispered. "Are you here to rescue me?"

"Wh-what?"

Dash didn't look right. His hair was gray. His whole face was washed out.

Black and white.

"They're fags!" Someone shouted.

Dash's eyes widened.

"Eeeew," the crowd chorused. "Get a room!"

Phantom glanced around, straightening and throwing Dash's hands off him.

Everyone looked the same. Washed out. Black and white.

"L-like Pleasantville," Phantom said, stepping towards the crowd.

He glanced around for a crack in the circle, legs tensing to make a run for it.

A guy in a black leather jacket pushed Phantom back towards Dash. "Nice outfit," he said. "Auditioning for ballet? Huh, fag?"

"Wh-what?" Phantom found himself sandwiched between the dude and Dash.

He glanced back and noted that Dash was being hemmed in on all sides. They were both being kept against the lockers.

"It's so form fitting," a girl said. She had a high ponytail and a large hoop skirt. "Your boyfriend loves it, huh?"

"He's a superhero!" Dash shouted. "If you saw the shit he could do-"

Leather jacket smirked. His hair was as inky black as his jacket and full of so much hair gel it was practically dripping.

"Let's see what he can do then," he said. "Show us a trick, baby hero."

Phantom gulped.

This was not going according to plan.

But nothing ever did.