The four boys returned to Randy's house, Tucker calling Sam along the way to meet them. Danny carried Tucker and Howard across town while Randy, still as the ninja, used the rooftops. Danny phased his passengers into Randy's bedroom, ignoring Howard's alarmed, slightly frightened, gasp. Tucker was completely enveloped in checking his beloved PDA for damage, hardware or software. Howard however remained wary of the halfa, confused and worried by Danny's knowledge.
"Are you really friends with the ninja?" Howard ventured while they waited for Sam and Randy. Danny drifted into a seated position mid-air casually.
"Yep," Danny confirmed with a smirk, enjoying the confusion on Howard's face. Blame his ghost side, ghosts were naturally mischievous, some just took it further than others.
Randy stomped into the room and collapsed on his bed, mask safely screwed up and stored in his pocket.
"Do you have to fly so fast?" Randy moaned, slightly breathless still. Danny chuckled.
"Not my fault you can't keep up," Danny teased.
"I have to stay out of sight and dodge chimneys! You can just turn invisible!" Randy complained loudly. Danny laughed.
"Perks of being me," Danny retorted, enjoying being able to brag about something the ninja couldn't do. It felt good to find something in his favour rather than the ninja.
"Can you tell me now how you know so much?" Howard inquired impatiently, Danny having refused to answer without everyone present.
"Gotta wait for Sam first Howard," Danny reminded the shorter teen.
"B-but-" Howard began. Tucker let out a loud sigh of relief.
"They didn't hurt my baby," Tucker announced. Randy and Howard blinked in confusion and turned to the techno-geek while Danny sniggered.
"Baby?" Randy repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course!" Tucker agreed animatedly. Danny rolled his eyes.
"I introduce Tucker, Casper High's own techno-geek. He's convinced his tech has feelings. We're trying to get him help," Danny joked. Tucker glared at Danny.
"Do I have to bring up a certain lock of hair you have," Tucker threatened.
"I'm a ghost. It's natural for me to take things too far. Besides, I was under a spell at the time," Danny replied, dismissing the threat easily.
"I know you still have it," Tucker deadpanned.
"Hello! Ghost," Danny pressed, desperately trying to supress the blush rising on his cheeks.
The doorbell rang and the boys all shared looks, silently trying to get the others to answer the door.
"Fine! I'll get it," Randy grumbled, rolling to his feet tiredly.
"It is your house," Tucker pointed out.
"I'd hurry up though unless you want Sam breaking in. She'll do it," Danny warned. Randy blinked before his eyes widened with the recollection that Sam taught him to pick locks. Howard huffed softly, crossing his arms impatiently.
"I guess we have to wait for Danny now too," Howard muttered. Tucker and Danny shared a secret glance knowingly. Sam walked in with a smile.
"Glad to see you're still alive Howard. You too Tuck," Sam greeted calmly. Danny waited a moment before waving at the Goth.
"Er, hello? Where's my greeting?" Danny inquired, semi-joking, semi-serious. Sam smirked at him.
"I'd prefer to wait for my friend to make an appearance," Sam retorted cryptically. Tucker snorted loudly with amusement.
"I get no respect," Danny muttered, pouting playfully, Sam and Tucker laughed.
"Can you get on with it? I kinda want to relax over a game of Grave Puncher," Randy interjected as he flopped on his bed yet again.
"What's with him?" Sam asked curiously.
"Lost a race," Tucker answered with a smirk.
"It wasn't a race!" Randy protested.
"Dude, it was a race. You lost. Get over it. I can fly about 120mph," Danny retorted.
"Then hurry up now!" Randy snapped tiredly. Danny smirked before turning to Howard, his amusement visibly shifting into nervousness.
"Um, it's probably best I just show you and then explain. But… please don't run away or anything and… you gotta keep this to yourself," Danny began nervously. Howard blinked in surprise before nodding slowly in agreement.
Danny nodded curtly and took a deep steadying breath. He floated down and set his feet on the carpet and closed his eyes, he wasn't sure how Howard would react and he wasn't sure he wanted to see the reaction. A bright white band of light appeared around his waist. Howard's impatient expression faded into wonderment and awe as the light split and slid across the ghost's body, revealing a very familiar human one. Howard openly gaped at Danny Fenton as the teen hesitantly opened his now blue eyes. Sam and Tucker waited with bated breath for Howard's reaction while Danny stayed as still as possible, his heart pounding in his chest. Randy glanced at the scene, already knowing what Howard would say but he felt like getting a little revenge on the halfa for the race across town.
"That… was…" Howard began slowly, his voice level and serious.
"Honking bruce! How is that even possible!?" Howard exclaimed excitedly. Danny, Sam and Tucker visibly relaxed and grinned at the response.
"Lab accident in my parent's lab in our basement," Danny admitted sheepishly. Randy raised an eyebrow.
"Wait a sec, I never asked… do your parents really hunt Phantom? Hunt you?" Randy questioned, a bubble of worry and concern surfacing. Danny pursed his lips sadly and nodded.
"Yeah. Well, they don't exactly know it's me. But… yeah they do," Danny confirmed sadly.
"That's wonk," Randy sympathised and Howard nodded in agreement.
"Just my life. But I think my sister's getting through to them that I mightn't be a bad thing for Amity Park. I'm pretty sure they go after the other guy before attacking me now," Danny replied thoughtfully. Randy and Howard shared a glance, that didn't exactly sound much better to them.
"I bet you have some funny stories," Howard ventured hopefully.
"We all do," Sam affirmed with a grin.
"How about we get some snacks and play a round of Grave Puncher before we swap stories?" Randy suggested. Danny, Sam, Tucker and Howard shared a simple glance before eagerly agreeing with smiles.
The next day, Norrisville High and Casper High had their delayed basketball match. The gym was repaired during the time Casper High were forced to stay in town, mostly due to the fact that construction had stopped in the housing estate to make it safe for the students to stay in. It was a close game but Dash managed to make the final basket, breaking the tie, within the last minute of the game. Lancer had been very worried about Danny because of the obvious head injury and had actually forbade the teen from being the mascot during the second half, as planned. Danny wasn't complaining although the bandages that Sam bought and wrapped around his head were annoying. Dash found it hilarious though, making the new nickname of Fen-enstein, one of the jock's smarter insults. Danny didn't bother to correct the blonde on the fact that Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster. Sam and Tucker had found the insult hilarious too since it was so close to the truth.
The game was played in the morning and at lunch there was a surprise delivery of five hundred tacos. Randy had flushed bright red when he admitted to his friends that he ordered them by accident when he tried to the hack the robot. Then at the end of the day, after almost a week of waiting, a new bus arrived at Norrisville High to take the Casper High students home.
Howard simply waved to the trio of friends before walking off in the general direction of Greg's Game Hole.
"He's crying on the inside," Randy assured carefully.
"It's fine Randy. Take care of yourself, alright," Sam replied calmly and hugged the teen. Tucker then hugged the teen, distracting Randy from the fact that Sam had pickpocketed his phone and tossed it to Danny. Danny smirked as he send himself a text using Randy's phone and inputting his number in the contacts list. He then gave Randy a brief hug, more a thump on the back, and returned the phone.
"See ya around," Danny concluded before the trio walked over to the bus, smirking at their final prank.
Randy smiled and waved at the bus as it drove away.
"Cunningham! Hurry up!" Howard whined.
"Alright Howard, I'm coming," Randy called soothingly. As they walked, Randy's phone gave a short jingle. Randy pulled it out and his eyes widened at the text message. Howard grabbed the phone curiously.
"Next time, watch your pockets. Let me know if you ever need an invisible hand," the text read, the contact name above being Danny Fenton.
"When did they get your phone!?" Howard exclaimed, impressed.
"I have no idea! I should have asked them to teach me that," Randy replied, scolding himself for the missed lesson.
"Didn't the nomicon warn you against that?" Howard pointed out.
"Yeah… but there's no harm in trying to find tools to try and fit in my toolbox you know. As long as I don't force them in, like the hacking," Randy reasoned. Howard blinked slowly before shrugging.
"Whatever, you're the ninja. By the way… you owe me a portion of fries and a fistful of dimes," Howard informed his friend, holding out a hand expectantly for the cash.
"Oh, here," Randy muttered without thinking handing the money to the shorter boy before he realised that he didn't owe Howard any money at all and if he did, Howard owed a lot more anyway. Howard however hadn't waited for Randy to realise his mistake and rushed off into the arcade to get some food and grab a game. Randy sighed, rolling his eyes and let the whole thing go. He glanced at his phone, smirked at the message and tapped out a thank you before pocketing the device, following Howard into the arcade.
Couldn't resist giving Danny and co the last laugh.
Anyway, that's the end. Let me know what you thought of the story now that it's over.
I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read the fanfic and I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did writing.
Again, sorry for the wait, but that just proves that I do requests, even though they might take a long time to be posted. Check out my website if you have a request for me. There's a link in my bio.
I'd also like to thank everyone that took the time to leave a review. It honestly makes my day to see you guys interacting with me throughout the story, leaving theories or comments. I love hearing your thoughts. I'll be putting some of my favourites on my website to keep an eye out for that. Again, there's a link in my bio.
The first chapter of the winner of the poll will be posted today so keep an eye out for it. I have an advert on my facebook page if you want to watch that first. There's a link in my bio.
So, I think that's everything…
Until the next fanfic.