Happy 20 Year Dannyversarry!

Y'know, sometimes Danny really wondered: why me?

Lying near flat on his back beneath a snarling, massive ghost dog was absolutely one of those times. Or it would've been if he'd had more than two braincells to devote to anything other than said dog and its razor-sharp canines gleaming less than a foot from his face.

Around him, people screamed, ran, panicked, and reacted exactly as most people would when a massive monster manifested in their midst and went right for a freshman. Danny, on the other hand, was frozen where he'd fallen in surprise, staring up at the ghost dog.

He ought to be scared shitless and yet all he felt was a strange calm. A few people shouted his name and if he thought about it, he might even be able to figure out who. But all he did was stare into the glowing red eyes boring into him as the dog leaned closer, close enough for Danny to smell its breath (Huh. Funny. He'd expected a ghost dog to have worse breath than a living dog, but all he could smell the sharp burn of ectoplasm) and sniffed him.

And then as suddenly as the dog had appeared, all the snarls and rage melted away. The dog cocked its head and sniffed once more. Then its ears perked up and its tongue lolled out of its mouth in a manner which could only be described as recognition. Except Danny had never seen this dog in his life.

Before he could really do more than process that fact, the dog was sent flying by a powerful ecto-blast. Danny twisted around and saw Wraith hurtling towards them in full view of the assembled Casper High student body and staff.

He barely had a chance to wonder what she was doing there before the dog snarled and Danny whirled back around. The dog had righted itself, teeth bared, eyes flashing, and let loose a bone-shaking bark that sent most of the stragglers running for their lives.

Wraith landed in front of Danny protectively, fists glowing with power, and she shouted, "BAD DOG!"

Danny seized his chance and scrambled to his feet. He nearly transformed right then and there but something nagged at him. He turned towards the school and realized that there were easily dozens of faces watching the scene unfold from behind windows and peeking through the open front doors. The moment the group at the front door saw him looking their way they began gesturing fervently. He swore internally. A ghost fight was going to break out any second now and he was stuck in his human form! He didn't want to leave Wraith to fight alone but what good was he like this? At best, he was a distraction and at worst, a liability.

So, ignoring the instincts screaming at him to stand and fight, Danny sucked in a sharp breath and ran towards the school.

The police showed up within minutes. And the fire department. And the ambulances. Not that it mattered; Wraith and the dog were gone long before the first squad car arrived. The dog wasn't interested in fighting her at all. Once it realized she meant business, it quickly turned tail and loped away into the sky, with Wraith hot on its heels.

As much as Danny wanted to worry about that whole situation, he had bigger problems on his hands. Namely the fact that dozens of people had seen him get attacked by a giant animal and no one was letting him out of their sight. The moment the paramedics arrived, the teachers who'd taken him under their protection escorted him straight to the medical professionals. From there he was subject to all manner of scrutiny by the paramedics while he tried to convince them that, really, he was fine. No, he wasn't in shock (they didn't seem to believe him). He just really wanted to go home. He thanked his lucky stars they found nothing unusual in his vital signs or physical reactions.

Jazz and Tucker arrived to find him sitting out the back of an ambulance with a shock blanket around his shoulders. Tucker hung back a little while Jazz cried his name and promptly threw her arms around him.

"You're alright!" she gasped. "Oh my god. They said you'd been attacked by a bear!"

"A bear?" Danny repeated, dumbly. Was…was that what people thought it was? He was sure it'd been obvious that it was a dog but…maybe not. Most people hadn't stuck around long enough to see anything concrete and those that had were far away. Given its size and the noises it made, he could see why people had jumped the conclusion 'bear'. Even if it had been green and glowing.

He couldn't let this chance go. "Is that what it was?" he asked.

"You couldn't tell?!"

"I'm gonna be honest with you here, Jazz, I was more focused on its teeth than trying to figure out what the hell it was."

She pulled back and looked him up and down intently. "But it…it didn't hurt you? What happened? How did you get away?"

Danny shrugged his shoulders weakly. "I don't know. One minute I was just minding my own business and then that freaking thing just came out of nowhere and pounced. I don't know what it wanted. But there was…this girl just showed up." He glanced at Tucker. "I think she distracted it. I don't know. I just ran."

"Dude, you did the right thing," Tucker finally piped up. "That thing could've killed you. I'd have gotten the hell out of there ASAP, too. But where'd they go?"

Danny shrugged. "I dunno, I didn't see. The bear must've run off."

"Where would a bear even come from?" Jazz wondered. "If one broke out of the zoo, you'd think we'd have heard about it."

"Maybe it wandered into town," Tucker suggested, then frowned. "Do we even have bears around here?"

"Good question," Danny mused. "Maybe someone was keeping one as a pet and it escaped. That'd explain the weird color. And why it was so comfortable around people."

"Oh, god. Sam's gonna freak if that's the case." Tucker muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets, but his gaze was fixed squarely on Danny. "Where is she anyway?"

"I'm not sure," Danny replied. "She said something about going home right after school. Could you get ahold of her? Tell her I'm okay?"

"Yeah, sure. …You gonna be okay?"

Danny snorted, nodding. "After a literal bear, my parents are nothing. Go find Sam."

"You got it, dude." With that, Tucker spun around on his heel and jogged away from the ambulance and the school. Danny breathed a little easier.

When the Fentons arrived, they did so as worried parents, not ghost hunters. And since no one even considered ghosts as a possibility, they stayed that way. His parents fussed over him, conferred with the paramedics and principle Ishiyama, and it was ultimately agreed that Danny could go home and should take the next day off school. A police officer asked for his statement and Danny stuck to his guns on the 'bear' story, though he did admit he hadn't really been focusing too much on the animal and more on its teeth. He even tossed in the idea that it was an escaped pet or circus animal since its fur was painted and it hadn't hurt him at all. It hadn't even knocked him over; he'd just been startled and fell. It had only sniffed him. A wild animal wouldn't do that, and the zoo wouldn't paint their bears. The police nodded, told him they couldn't really be sure of anything just yet, and told him to take it easy. If they'd need him, they'd call him.

Great.

When the first of the news vans showed up, Jazz quietly suggested they take their leave, and Danny agreed. By law they had to keep his identity a secret when the story ran since he was a minor, but he'd rather not be in the footage regardless.

Once they were safely in the RV, Danny fished his phone out of his backpack and checked his messages. Nothing from either Sam or Tucker, which worried him. If Sam had caught the ghost dog, she would've contacted him about it. He could sense that she and Tucker were in the same direction, but beyond that he couldn't tell if they were together, in ghost form, or what. At least he knew neither of them were calling for help. That he would feel.

"Danny, sweetie, how about I make you some hot chocolate when we get home?" Maddie offered, pulling him from his thoughts.

He blinked up at her to see her smiling over her shoulder at him. "Oh, yeah, sure. That'd be great."

"I want you to relax this evening, alright? Worry about your homework tomorrow."

"I will, Mom."

"And if you want to talk, I'm all ears," Jazz added quietly. A snarky retort was on the tip of Danny's tongue ready to go, but he stopped himself. He didn't need her hovering over him but he knew she'd been scared earlier. He would've been too if he'd heard she was attacked by a bear.

"Yeah," he said instead. "Thanks."

Danny frowned at his phone, mulling over his options, which were depressingly few. There was no way he'd be able to sneak out until later tonight and by then the dog situation would be over. It was out of his hands. With a sigh, he sent a quick text message to Sam and Tucker.

fam gonna b watchin me 2nite keep me posted gl

"This is why I'm a cat person," Wraith grumbled to herself as the ghost dog phased into yet another building in its path. It insisted on running on the ground instead of flying through the sky where there were no people to terrorize or obstacles to phase through. She flew in after him, invisible, just as the humans inside realized something was with them and started screaming. A pharmacy this time, she noted, and sighed. Hopefully no one was in getting their anxiety meds refilled or something.

The dog didn't really seem to have a destination in mind and if it did, it had no idea where it was. It just seemed to be running aimlessly, zig-zagging through the streets and buildings of Amity Park like a bat out of hell. She might as well have not even been chasing it for all it seemed to care, and it was fast. Supernaturally fast, even. It was all she could do to keep up and she certainly couldn't risk anything that might slow it down with it constantly zipping in and out of buildings and the streets. She might hit someone.

But the damn dog had to stop eventually, right? It couldn't run forever. (She couldn't fly forever, either, but she was really hoping it ran out of energy before she did.)

They flew out of the pharmacy and into a mostly empty parking lot. Seizing her chance, Wraith fired an ectoblast at the dog's broad back. It missed and hit its rump instead, but it was enough to get the dog's attention. It let out an uncharacteristically high yelp and tripped over its own paws. Instead of running off immediately, though, it whirled around to face Wraith and let out a deafening bark. Wraith pulled herself upright, cutting her speed in the same movement, and powered up a pair of ectoblasts in each hand.

It snarled at the sight and Wraith braced herself for an attack—either it or hers—but instead of lunging, the dog turned intangible and sank into the ground.

…

Wraith stared, completely dumbfounded, at the spot where the dog had vanished. She shook her head quickly, extinguished her hands, then dove down after it.

And immediately regretted her decision.

Now, as a goth, Sam prided herself on being a lover of all things dark and creepy. Nothing was too much of either for her, even before she'd half-died or whatever. But this, being phased into solid dirt, was where she drew the line now and forevermore.

She'd expected, rather foolishly in hindsight, to see the dog flying away from her down there, but there was nothing. Just darkness. But that wasn't quite right, either, because Sam knew darkness, enjoyed it. What surrounded her was impenetrable blackness, and a strange awareness of everything occupying the same space as her body. Could she even breathe?! She was literally in the ground, where would there be air to breathe?

No, no, no, no! Not doing this. Nope.

She shot clear through the surface of the earth and onto the nearest lamppost. She turned tangible once more and crouched on the metal curve of the pole, breathing deeply through her nose.

That…had been disturbing. And here she'd thought it wouldn't have been much different than flying underwater at night, which she'd had no problems with. At least underwater she could see. At least underwater, if she'd turned tangible, the water would move to compensate. But underground? How could it? Dear god, what would have happened if she'd turned tangible underground? Would it kill her instantly? Slowly?

Wraith shook her head. Hell no. She wasn't going to follow that morbid thought any further. That was a level of macabre she wasn't ready to broach. She let out a huff of air, scowled, and turned invisible.

What an absolute waste of time that whole thing had been. Not only had she utterly failed to contain the dog, but she'd gone and revealed herself to God only knows how many people at school. After how crazy things had gotten around their escapades in the park last week, people were going to connect the dots. Hell, she would've if she wasn't involved. Hopefully people would at least remember she'd chased the monster away from Danny and not something else. But who even knew with panicking people, right?

What a mess.

Heaving another sigh, Wraith floated into the air and considered her next course of action. She obviously needed to text the guys. She couldn't call it quits on the dog, as much as she wanted to. It was bound to resurface and resume its mayhem sooner or later, but clearly she wasn't capable of wrangling it alone.

She flew up to the roof of a tall building nearby, ducked behind the parapet, and transformed. Her feet touched the ground as weight settled around her once more and she immediately reached into the pocket of her jeans for her phone. Flipping it open, she found two text messages waiting for her, though neither from her parents. One was from Danny to both her and Tucker, which she took to mean Tucker was probably looking for her. She took a moment to home in on her awareness of both boys and noted that while they were both in the direction of the school, Tucker was much closer. Very close, actually.

Lost the dog. tucker otw.

She hit send on that, stuffed her phone back in her pocket, and sat down to rest while she waited for Tucker to make an appearance. Sure enough, about two or three minutes later, Specter's hazy form floated into her field of vision.

"Hey, Sam," he greeted and became fully visible as he touched down on the roof. "You get the dog?"

She sighed loudly and shook her head. "No. That stupid dog lead me on a wild goose chase then phased into the ground when I actually tried to get it to slow down long enough for me to catch it."

"Why didn't you go after it?"

"I did! Have you tried phasing into the ground? It sucks! I wasn't going to start flying around down there, are you kidding me? Screw that!"

"Whoa, whoa, easy," Specter cautioned, holding his hands up in a placating manner, and she huffed. "I didn't think it'd be that bad. Sorry. …Any idea where it went?"

"Not a freaking clue."

"Oh, great." His shoulders slumped and he dropped onto the roof in front of her. "Man, we really gotta do something about that stupid portal. How did Danny's parents even miss the huge freaking dog coming through?"

"You mean the ghost hunters who haven't noticed that their son is part ghost?"

Specter inclined his head. "Good point."

The plan they came up with was simple, if not efficient or inspired or even good. Split up, wait for ghost sense to go off, call for backup. Terrible plan, really, but without any idea of the dog's motivations it was the best they had. An hour in, Wraith was bored, tired, hungry, and cranky. Hangry? Was that a good word? Yeah. She was gonna go with hangry. And, of course, there was no sign of the dog anywhere.

Floating around what could be considered the southwestern edge of Amity Park, Wraith wondered if she ought to bother going further. The dog could have, certainly. It was a dog. City limits meant jack to it. Whether or not a ghost was their responsibility if it was outside the city was a bit of a gray area for them, and one they had discussed. The three of them had tentatively settled on 'not' for the time being, but this was the first time that had been put to the test. It wasn't as if this was a ghost that had sprung up in another city or something. But was there even a point?

It was hard to tell without distinctive markings or colorings, but she thought it might have been a rottweiler or a mastiff when it was alive. It could have just as easily been a farm dog or a pet. Without getting a good look at the tags on its collar there was no way to tell. But if it was a farm dog, it could perhaps have been trying to find a way out of the city, back out to the open fields.

Or it could be running amok downtown right now.

Or it could've gone tangible underground and wasn't anyone's problem anymore.

She could dream.

Regardless, the only other structure of note out this way was Axion Labs, which she could see glowing in the distance. She'd always had mixed feelings on that place. It was a high-tech R&D facility that developed and produced cutting edge technology in multiple fields. It was one of the largest employers in Amity Park and more than a few of her classmate's parents had jobs there. Her parents owned stock in it. Objectively, it was an asset to the community. But it irked her to no end that they insisted on having such obnoxious exterior lighting. Like, come on. What was the point of boasting below average carbon emissions when they probably spent as much power lighting up the place at night as they did running the production lines during the day?

Wraith felt her phone buzz in the pouch on her belt and she reached for it, flipping it open to see a message notification icon from Danny to her and Tucker.

Danny: u 2 ok?

Sam rolled her eyes and quickly typed out her reply.

Sam: fckn gr8

Tucker: to quote one of the greatest movies of all time

Tucker: we ain't found shit

Sam: ?

Danny: Spaceballs?

Tucker: u get me

Sam: IGNORING that u just called Spaceballs 1 of the gr8test mvies of all time

Sam: the dog vanished and i want 2 go home

Tucker: u cant ignore the truth

Tucker: but yeah im done too its been an hour gg but screw this

Danny: yeah gg

Wraith was very tempted to reply 'gg' as well, or something to that effect, but she wasn't going to risk cluing them on her secret virtual double life on Doomed just yet. She'd already been waiting for a year; she could wait a little longer before dropping that bomb. It had to be timed perfectly for maximum impact or what was the point?

Sam: c u guys 2morrow

Danny's next message came through almost immediately after hers. Text me when u both get home

She sent a quick affirmative then tucked her phone back into her pouch and turned her attention to her surroundings. Right, okay. Southwest side of town. She didn't know the area, and rarely ever came here, but at least she didn't have to worry about navigating unfamiliar streets. Instead, she simply had to point herself in the direction of home and go.

Which is what she would've done…

…if her ghost sense hadn't gone off. Because of course it did.

Wraith mashed her lips together, fighting the urge to shout her frustration to the heavens, and whipped her head around in search of that stupid fucking dog. It'd be nice if her ghost sense could do more than just alert her to a ghost nearby. Maybe, say, point her in the right direction? Yeah, that'd be so nice—

A shrill scream had her whirling around. A second later, she located the source: a gas station the next block over, where a massive glowing green dog could clearly be seen standing on top of the roof, sniffing at the air. A few people came sprinting out of the store to see what was going on and two cars went streaking out of the parking lot in opposite directions. The dog paid them no mind.

Wraith didn't hesitate, immediately rocketing towards the gas station. The dog didn't seem to notice her approach until she was flying into its field of view. It cocked its head as she righted herself just a few feet away, and then began to growl dangerously.

With a frustrated shake of her head, she snapped, "Oh, for the love of—sit!"

She didn't know what possessed her to do it. She certainly wouldn't have expected it to work. But then, to her complete and utter shock…it did.

The dog obeyed without hesitation, slamming its bum to the rooftop so fast it seemed to surprise itself. Its growling ceased and instead it cocked its head, giving her a curious look.

Well that's…weird, she thought. Is it trained?

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Wraith floated closer and adopted a sweet tone instead. "Hey there. Who's a good boy?"

The dog blinked and then its tongue lolled out and it began to pant.

"What are you doing out here, fella?" she went on. "Are you looking for your family?"

The dog did not respond except to pant some more. A man screamed up at them from the parking lot below and the dog's ears flicked towards the sound. A low growl began to build in its chest that Wraith quickly interrupted.

"No, no, no!" she cooed, floating towards the dog with her hands out in front of her. "It's okay. Ignore them. Look at me. Yeah, that's right, who's a good doggy?"

And then before her eyes, the massive beast of a dog began to shrink. Wraith's jaw dropped. In the blink of an eye, it had gone from a monster to a puppy. It stood on all fours, tail wagging excitedly, and yipped at her.

"Uh," she said dumbly. Well. That certainly made things easier.

She reached down cautiously, and the dog didn't so much as wriggle when she picked it up off the ground. It stretched its neck forward to sniff at her chin and she looked the dog up and down inquisitively. Up close, it looked more like solidified mass of ectoplasm in the shape of a dog than an actual dog. No fur, no markings apart from its black ears, nothing beyond the most basic anatomy. The only ghosts she'd seen like this were those ectopusses and the animal ghosts that Skulker the hunter had released on them. Animal ghosts must just be this way.

The dog seemed to approve of her even further because he licked at her chin. The impromptu love fest was interrupted by the sounds of shouting from down below.

"Nuh uh fuck this I'm calling the cops!"

Gritting her teeth, Wraith tucked the dog against her chest with its muzzle on her shoulder and floated over to the edge of the roof. "Could you stop shouting, please? That would be really helpful."

The three men on the sidewalk in front of the gas station gawked at her, completely dumbfounded. One of them had a cell phone in his hands. A can of soda slipped from one of the men's fingers and clattered to the pavement, prompting a quiet growl to begin building in the dog's throat. Wraith quickly scratched its head.

"What the hell?" the man in the middle rasped while the other, not holding the phone, raised a hand to his mouth.

"Uh," Wraith said lamely, suddenly very aware of how alien she must look to them. "Yeah. I'm just gonna take the dog and go now."

With that, she turned herself and the dog invisible, ignoring their cries of alarm, and flew off. She didn't stop until they were several blocks away from the gas station. The dog remained still in her arms the whole ride, watching her curiously. When she became visible once more, the dog perked up and yipped at her.

"Oh, sure, now you're cute," she groused. "Why couldn't you have been like this earlier when you pounced on Danny? You really scared everyone."

The dog did not understand a single word of that, of course, and simply yipped at her again. Rolling her eyes, she cradled the dog against her side to support his weight on her hip while she used one hand to reach for the ID tag on his collar. A turquoise capital 'A' was stamped on one side of the silver metal and the other was…blank. Her lips curled in frustration, and she let out a loud sigh. Turning the ID back over, she studied the letter A stamped into it instead. It only took her a few seconds to recognize it as the logo of Axion Labs.

Well, that explained everything, didn't it? It came as no surprise that a facility like Axion would utilize guard dogs to protect the property. One of the dogs must have recently passed away. Axion would've been his whole world, no wonder he was out here running around like crazy to find it. "You're just trying to go home, aren't you? Back to Axion?"

The dog's ears perked up and he yipped as if in agreement.

Wraith considered her options. The smart thing to do would be to get him back through the portal ASAP. And then…then…. Wraith frowned. She didn't know if ghosts lasted forever. Would it simply fade away unsatisfied or would it persist in perpetuum searching for its old home? The thought of either caused pity to stir in her gut. All the dog probably wanted was to go home…if she took it there, maybe it would find peace and crossover on its own. Or whatever. It wouldn't be hard now that he was this size, all she had to do was carry him around invisibly for a few minutes. In and out. No one would ever know they were there. Yeah, she could do that.

She smiled. "Alright, boy. I'll take you to Axion. But just for a visit!" she added sternly. "Then you have to go back where you came from."

The dog yipped again, tail wagging furiously, and Wraith sighed. Why couldn't they have gotten to this point two hours ago? Keeping the dog tucked firmly against her body, she turned them both invisible once more and flew in the direction of the glowing facilities half a mile away.

(Which, in hindsight, was probably the worst decision Sam had made in her life.)

Danny finally managed to get a few moments to himself by locking himself in the bathroom. As he'd predicted, his family had barely given him room to breathe since they'd gotten home, and it was only nature's call that had finally convinced them to let him out of their sight. Of course, he knew as soon as he emerged, one of his parents would drag him back downstairs. So he turned on the fan, put the lid on the toilet down, and dropped onto it with a sigh.

He reached into his pocket for his phone and checked the group chat again. Nothing new in the last twenty minutes. Focusing inward, he could tell that Tucker was close to home, if not already there, but Sam was still distant. It was difficult to tell but, if anything, she was more distant that she'd been all evening, which made no sense. If she'd gone straight home as he'd expected her to then she should've felt closer.

So he sent a quick message to the chat and waited. And waited. His hopes rose when he felt his phone buzz, only for them to sink once more when Tucker's name popped up.

Tucker: sup?

Danny: does Sam feel far away?

Tucker: yeah

Tucker: wait how

He wondered if he should try calling her. Best case scenario, she was fine and she'd get annoyed at him for not thinking she could take care of case scenario, she was hurt or something. She'd have let them know if she'd found the dog, right?

He was still mulling it over when the decision was made for him because, suddenly he knew with every single fiber of his being that Sam needed them now! Right now!

He was off the toilet seat and transformed into Phantom before he could realize what he was doing. He could barely keep a grip on his phone as he mashed Tucker's speed dial number. He answered before the first ring had even finished.

"Yeah, I know!"

"What's going on?!" Danny cried.

"She probably found the dog!" He heard a familiar rush of energy as Tucker transformed on the other end. "I'll call you if we need backup!"

Danny was about to demand to know what the hell Tucker was talking about and how he was so chill when the line went dead. Shocked, Danny started to hit redial, but the…whatever it was subsided and with it came a rush of clarity.

Sam and Tucker had tried describing what it felt like those times he'd called out to them for help, but they hadn't really been able to explain it. Now he understood why. There just weren't words to describe what he was feeling, how he just knew that she was calling out to him, and how every single fiber of his being screamed at him to go! Find her! Holy shit. Yeah, wow, okay, he could definitely see why they'd insisted this only be used in emergencies.

Exhaling, Phantom flipped the phone shut and sank back down onto the toilet. It was few minutes before he could finally transform back into Fenton and another few before he felt ready to leave the bathroom. He had a bad feeling that the encounter at the school wasn't the only strange thing they'd be talking about on the news tonight.

(It was worse than he'd thought.)