Dash nearly punched himself in the face, just to get the bitch to stop laughing. It's not like it was actually his face.
He settled for tugging at her hair (their hair?) and winced at the pain on their scalp. Was longer hair more painful to pull? He felt tears gathering at the corner of his eyes- their eyes- but also felt breathless as he continued to laugh.
As she continued to laugh.
This shit was so goddamn confusing. Were the tears from the laughter or the pain? He quickly loosened his grip.
Fenton and Foley shared a look and Dash was ready to punch their lights out- what the hell was he missing?!- but then Mr. and Mrs. Fenton barreled into the house with a giant water tank between them.
Or he figured it was some kind of water tank. A fish tank? There was a sheet over it, but he could hear the water sloshing inside.
And something knocking against glass.
Manson's laughter dried up as they stared at the thing.
Mrs. Fenton was slightly out of breath, her hair was disheveled and damp. It stuck to her face, but she paid it no mind.
"Oh, kids, I'm glad you're here," Mrs. Fenton said. "We caught it! But we might need a bit of help getting the ghost out of your classmate."
More banging on the glass and Dash felt his chest tightening, a soft little gasp. It was Manson, reacting to the news before he could process it.
"Wh-what kind of help?" Fenton said.
The grin Mrs. Fenton directed at them creeped Dash out. It was wide and half crazed, like when his mom stayed up all night redecorating the house.
Mr. Fenton seemed more normal, until Dash realized he was covered in some kind of Jello. He pushed the tank past them and said over his shoulder, "C'mon boys help me get this sucker down to the lab!"
The tank was on wheels.
"Oh, Jack we should install a temporary ramp or something-" Mrs. Fenton started.
"Nah, we'll just roll it down the stairs!"
It's like helping Mom move the couch, Dash told himself. No big deal, no big deal.
Except he realized, rather quickly, that he was stuck with noodles for arms. Manson had more muscle to her than her loser friends- apparently- but she had nothing compared to what Dash was used to.
Mr. Fenton took the brunt of the tank's weight, holding it up as they slowly directed it into the Fenton's creepy basement.
Dash flinched every time the thing inside knocked on the glass.
He's just a ghost, Dash told himself. In my body, but he's like a guy. Like Phantom. Just… dead.
He wished he knew what the ghost looked like. He imagined a creepy vampire type of figure, with blue skin and sharp teeth.
Nothing like Phantom, who was a little asshole, but also a hero. He wouldn't take someone's body or trap them in a creepy mirror world.
Phantom had gone in there to save Dash, hadn't he? And he'd gotten Dash out.
Phantom's eyes were GREEN, he was so pissed. The only spot of color in the black and white hallway. Then he breathed some kind of mist and everything was frozen.
Dash lost his feet. Phantom pulled him up and broke him. His legs ended in jagged stumps.
"I didn't mean to," Phantom had said. "You'll be fine! It's not your real body."
Dash shivered.
"Here you go, Sam." Mrs. Fenton put a hand on his shoulder and handed him- them- a water hose. "Jack is going to pull him out of the tank and you hose him down okay? We need to get the stasis gel off him before putting him through the net."
Dash blinked. He'd spaced out for a second. What had he missed? "The what gel?"
He could feel Manson rolling her eyes. "Just let me handle it," she muttered.
But Mrs. Fenton was talking to Foley now. "The thermos is simple. You just point and shoot."
"Wait, Mads, Tuck should man the camera," Mr. Fenton said. "This is a first, it's groundbreaking. We gotta record it!"
"I do have an eye for filming." Foley walked around the lab like he owned the place and pulled a camera from one of the cabinets. "Is this going to be like an exorcism?! Should we chain him to a bed?"
Mr. Fenton was wearing some goofy metal gloves. They reminded Dash of Kwan's old Hulk gloves, but- well- metal.
He punched them together and the resounding clang made Dash flinch.
"Nah, I'll hold him down with these," Mr. Fenton said. "The Fenton Ghost Gauntlets! There's not a ghost in the world that can phase through 'em!"
And the gloves sparked with some kind of green electricity.
"Awesome!" Foley said. "A bit bulky, but nice and dramatic. Very cinematic."
Dash felt himself cuff Foley upside the head, but it was one of those actions his body carried out without him. Manson did it and she glared at him.
"Sorry." Tucker had been pointing his camera at Mr. Fenton- already filming?- but he lowered it sheepishly. "Uh, is Dash going to be okay?"
"Don't worry, he'll be waking up good as new in a second." Mrs. Fenton was carrying a weird glowing green net thing. It was stretched out into a circle and attached to this big pole. "We're calling this one The Ghost Catcher."
"Like a dream catcher," Manson said. "Uh, nice design."
"Thank you!" Mrs. Fenton said. "Okay is everyone ready? Danny, you've got a thermos?"
"Wait, what is-" Dash started, but Manson cut him off. "We're ready."
They were standing around the tank in a circle, Foley with the stupid camera and Fenton with a thermos. What the hell was the thermos for?!
He could feel Manson planting her feet and pointing the water hose towards the tank. Mr and Mrs. Fenton stood closer. She was holding up her weird net with a hand on the lid and Mr. Fenton was poised with his stupid gloves.
When the sheet was pulled away he could see himself floating in a bunch of purple goop and breathing through an oxygen mask. Dash stared in horror at himself banging on the glass.
"In three, two, one, go!" Mrs. Fenton pulled the lid off the tank and Mr. Fenton reached in and grabbed Dash's body- grabbed the ghost- by the armpits to hoist him out.
Manson hosed him down and the ghost cried out, he cursed, but he was ignored. The net was passed over his head and a black and white boy in glasses and waist high khakis flew out.
"Get him Danny!" Mrs. Fenton shouted.
Dash felt his world tilting as he lurched forward. Everything blurred and faded and he tried to curl in on himself, tried to touch the floor as he wobbled, but he had no control.
And then he was coughing, and he was wet, and familiar blond bangs were in his face when he opened his eyes.
"I didn't mean to," Danny was saying. "I guess I missed?"
And the Fenton parents were running out of the house as quickly as they'd barreled in.
"The fuck," Dash muttered. "What happened?"
Sam grabbed him by the elbow and hauled him up. "You got your body back," she said. "Don't worry about the rest."