Portals

Questioned

Howard was dragging Danny down the hallway by his wrist. "We need to get you to the cafeteria right now."

"What? Why?"

"Everyone watches the Gossip Report, all over Norrisville." Randy panted as he jogged next to them. "There's a good chance that roughly half the school believes what Debbie said, probably more. We need to fix that before people attack you during our next fight."

"So damage control. Darn it, why didn't I think of that when people were convinced I was evil? Oh," he remembered the Ghost Weasel incident, "right. There aren't ghost hunters in this town, right?"

"No, of course not," Randy frowned. "That's all your dimension. World. Town. Thing. Ah, whatever the cheese it is."

"Dimension, I think." They skidded to a stop right outside of the double doors. Danny frowned at the din coming from inside. "Wait, school's still in session? You'd think that after a robot attack—"

"What, does your school close after every ghost attack or whatever it is?"

"Uh, no, but sometimes they drag my parents in with a portable Ghost Shield— okay, I get what you're saying. So now what?"

"You ghost o'clock," Randy shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I— what? I told you we're not going to call it that! I 'go ghost'. Please. That other thing sounds so dumb." He glanced around, checking the ceilings of the nearby hallways.

Howard frowned. "What the cheese are you doing?"

"Checking for security cameras. I finally get back into stealth mode and you criticize me? Really?"

Randy paled. "Security cameras? That's a thing?"

"Oh my gosh. You haven't been checking? How on Earth is your secret identity still secret?"

"Calm down. There are no cameras," Howard hissed. "Just ghost o'clock already."

"I told you not to call it that. Going ghost!" The white ring flickered up his form and a beat later Danny Phantom stood in front of them. He carefully lifted his feet so he was hovering just a few inches above the floor.

"Don't do that." Howard reached forward and grabbed Danny's shoulders, forcing him back down. "And don't make your legs disappear either. Act normal, just as you would now."

Randy nodded. "Pick an empty table and smoke bomb."

"You mean appear."

"No. Smoke bomb. You just appearing would just freak the cheese people out. It still freaks me out. Can you do something like that?"

Plasma started to glow around Danny's hand, then it expanded and almost encompassed his entire body before popping. "Good enough?"

Howard nodded slowly. "Plenty."

"Right," Danny nodded, "I'm going in."

And he turned invisible and fazed through the cafeteria doors.

Howard glanced at Randy. "Do you think he'll pull it off?"

The Norrisville Ninja shook his head. "Not in the slightest."

Danny clung to the ceiling, his back bouncing off of the tiles as he struggled not to knock against the heads of people passing obliviously under him. He'd never know how Randy did it. But at this point, he needed some public relations work that didn't point toward him trying to drag a ghost Ninja back to a spirit world.

Sure enough, he found an empty table. Everywhere else was completely full, and there was just this one empty table in the middle of the crowded cafeteria. What, is this the hero podium or something? Eh, whatever.

He set himself down on top of it, then created his expanding plasma shield and blinked into visibility.

The room around him froze.

Danny lifted one hand and smiled weakly. "Um, hi."

Outside the cafeteria, Randy and Howard watched as the half-ghost floundered. The Ninja shook his head. "He's dying out there."

"Yup." Howard crunched a handful of McDiddles.

"What— you actually took those from him?"

"Hey, he offered. I just accepted."

"Well, at least give me some."

Danny tried some of the public speaking tips that Tuck was always giving him. With the amount of speeches he was giving nowadays he needed the help. Glancing around, trying to make eye contact with some people around the room. And he saw terror everywhere he looked.

"I'm Danny Phantom."

Silence. Then someone bustled forward, raising a McPhone to his face. The flash went off and he flinched. "Your name is Danny Phantom?"

"Yes." Danny blinked thickly, then realized it was the Debbie girl. She had a voice record app running on her phone. Guess he was the star of the next issue of that video blog. "That's my name."

He risked floating up a bit so he could sit on the bench of the table. Debbie backed up a few paces, gaping as he settled down. "So you can really fly all by yourself?"

Danny crossed his legs. "Um, yeah. It's kind of part of the whole 'Phantom' thing."

"So you are a ghost?"

He was about to correct her, then quickly nodded. "Yeah. But I'm not here to take R- the Ninja from you people." He ducked his head, trying to hide his near slip up. His cheeks tinged pink. "I'm just visiting here for a while. I'll help out your Ninja when I can."

Debbie was scribbling as fast as she can. "Great. So you aren't out to kill us all."

"Of course not. I'm here to help. Or try to. You seem to have a monster and robot infestation around these parts."

"Where are you from?"

"The most haunted place on Earth."

"So New Orleans?"

"What? No. It's a small town called Amity Park. We have the worst ghost problem in the entire world and it's where I'm based."

"So are you a malicious ghost?"

"Malicious as in evil? No. But people do find my puns annoying."

"Are you haunting Norrisville High School?"

"Not in the true sense of the word. I do come here often though. You might say every day."

"Lastly, what's your opinion on Mexican Death Bears?"

Danny frowned. "What? What the heck are those?"

"WHAT?" Debbie roared. Danny shot upwards in shock, his shoulders buckling one of the ceiling tiles as he collided with it. As she started ranting about Mexican Death Bears, which, apparently, was a real animal, Phantom spun slowly against the ceiling, waving at his growing audience.

"Right. So, uh, bye?"

He turned one last time to see a girl with short black hair, one that looked almost exactly like Sam. Danny froze mid-roll, then blinked. She had a purple streak in her hair, just like the one that Sam had just put in.

He shot upwards before he could start bawling.

Randy glanced at Howard. "What the juice was that?"

"No clue. More McDiddles?"

Randy shrugged and took another handful. "We need to find him."