Yo, Sam Manson was just 14 when her parents built a very strange machine. It was designed to view a world unseen. Then Sam went against her better judgment, and things went downhill from there. My take on the Reverse Trio AU.

Sam Phantom

Chapter 1: The Price for Twenty Bucks

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Saturday, August 14 2004

Manson Residence-Basement/Lab

4:35 PM

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"So... your parents blew a hole in their lab just to go to another dimension?" A young, Goth African-American teenager asked incredulously as his teal eyes stared at the large, circular pathway in front of him.

His question was met with a sigh.

"I already told you, Tucker. It's not a different dimension, it's just an extension of ours. They called it the Ghost Zone. My parents are still working out a lot of bugs on the portal. Like, it won't even turn on." A teenage girl said as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"And your parents left us unattended with this thing why?" another teenager questioned as he adjusted his NASA-cap, using the same incredulously tone as the other boy.

Another sigh.

"Danny, nothing dangerous, or anything for that matter, is coming out. No ghosts, alright? Like I said, the portal won't turn on."

The teen girl shifted her weight from one foot to the other as her two male companions, Tucker and Danny, struggled to wrap their mind around what she was currently showing them.

"That doesn't answer my question, Sam," Danny retorted lightly, "I mean, why would your parents leave three kids alone in a house full of ghost equipment? and a thing that's basically a doorway to the dead?"

Sam clicked her tongue, "You know my parents. 'Pamela and Jeremy Manson: Amity Park's Leading Ghost Experts'. They've lived and breathed this paranormal stuff for years. Ever since they designed this thing, they haven't paid me much attention. They went out to get more supplies for their experiments and won't be back until later tonight."

She then placed a firm hand on each of the boys' shoulder and smiled, "As long as we don't touch anything, we're good. I just wanted to show my best friends the new crazy thing my parents invented."

Both boys looked at the girl between them, and returned a supportive smile, knowing how much Mrs. and Mr. Manson's inventions drove Sam insane. It was odd enough to think that the boys were friends with a girl whose parents hunted ghosts for a living...but then again, Amity Park supports that type of career anyways.

Amity Park is considered one of the most paranormal locations in America.

If one were to follow their own stereotypical beliefs on haunted towns, decaying houses, cemeteries, and crazy neighbors would cross their minds. If one were to actually visit Amity Park, they would realize this cozy and rather cheery town had the misfortune of attracting those whose lives have passed on and have not yet found closure.

Not only did this town attract paranormal beings, it attracted The Mansons, and that in itself was daunting enough for the residents to think about.

Pamela and Jeremy Manson are an eccentric couple, and this eccentricity fuels their need to explore, probe, collect, dissect the paranormal. Both scientists were lean, fair-skinned, intelligent, and had possessed some wealth in their youth. Their wealth provided them enough money to study paranormal science during their time at the University of Wisconsin, as well as build all the gadgets in their current house of seventeen years.

Samantha 'Sam' Manson is the only child of the self-proclaimed Ghost Experts, and she grew up dodging, tumbling, and twisting through everything dangerous her parents invented, which was basically all of them. Doing this for fourteen-years shaped the girl into a lean and clever girl. Sam's rather cynical, and rebellious personality clashed with her parents' over-enthusiastic personalities, but she still loved them regardless... no matter how many times she came close to death because of her their curiosity.

Being fourteen and the daughter of the town's (crackpot) ghost hunters did not necessarily help the girl's popularity in middle school, and it wasn't going to help her going into high school. The already established A-Listers regarded her as a freak, the bottom of the popularity chain, despite the fact that high school hasn't started yet and she wasn't that bad to look at.

Her onyx-black hair was cut just above her shoulders, and was always seen pulled into a semi-ponytail. She usually wore variations of short sleeved plain lilac shirts, black jeans, and ballerina flats. She often turned to adding light eyeliner above her eyes to bring out her lilac irises; if anyone were to describe her style, they would say she was just a normal girl.

But 'normal' is not in a Manson's dictionary.

Though Sam appeared normal, her actions were certainly not. She often advocated for animal rights and was a proud 'ultra-recyclo-vegetarian'. When she was not trying to save the frogs from dissection, she was busy learning 'Esperanto' and Latin, both of which were dead languages. When she was not busy with that, she was busy writing poetry to present at Poetry Night at the local cafe.

In all honesty, it seemed that the only reason why Sam was not popular was because she did too many unique things.

Sam, however, was so glad that her two best friends were the most supportive people she's ever met, in regards with tagging along with whatever unique thing she, and her parents, did.

Daniel 'Danny' Fenton was the son of Jack and Maddie Fenton and younger brother of Jasmine 'Jazz' Fenton. They were an average family, nothing too special about them. Jack worked with Axion Labs as an engineer, while Maddie was a surgeon. Jazz Fenton was the typical sixteen-year old girl with dreams of going to an Ivy League School for psychology, while juggling her time with boys, and girl friends.

Danny, in particular, was a rather klutzy teenager. He had thick-rimmed glasses and wore a NASA-cap, as his dream is to one day be an astronaut. He wore ensembles of red and white T-shirts, dark blue jeans, and black converse shoes. Despite his rather clumsy and "nerdy" traits, he did have a sarcastic attitude that earned him one-too-many locker stuffings during middle school from Dash Baxter; but hey, if that bully kept his attention on Danny instead of the other kids too afraid to stand up for themselves, then he would take as many locker stuffings, punches, and wedgies as possible.

Tucker Foley, on the other hand, came from one of the richest families in Amity Park. The only difference was that unlike all the other rich families in the area, The Foley's did their best to not flaunt their earnings, and actively gave back to the community. What set Tucker apart from the other rich kids was his taste in the 'doom and gloom' of life, in other words, being goth. He wasn't always a goth, he had a huge techno-geek phase ever since he was in kindergarten and that phase will always remain; he just has to share his love for dark things with his collection of PDA's.

Somehow, Tucker amplified his gothic attitude with rebelling and challenging certain things not even Sam would. He was nowhere near being a criminal, but sometimes Sam (and Danny) wondered how they had the (mis)fortune of watching their friend cross over to the dark side.

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Tucker tapped on his phone, and pressed an app. "Sam, why don't we just take a picture of you by the portal."

The girl raised her brow, "And why would I do that?"

"Ya know, for the memories. This is one of the few inventions that hasn't actively tried to incinerate us when we move." Tucker reasoned with her as he held his phone to show that the 'camera' app was ready.

Danny chuckled, "Okay, Tuck. But why does Sam have to do it? Can't you take a picture with that...Ghost Zone portal? You're the one into that supernatural, gloomy stuff."

"That's true, but this isn't my house. I'm not gonna go in and touch any of that stuff." Tuck smirked, "Why? Afraid your girl's gonna get hurt?"

Sam and Danny blushed and Sam was the first to react, "Oh shut up, Tucker. Danny has nothing to be afraid of, because I've got enough brains and bravery to do it...and I am no one's girl."

"Whatever you say, Sam, but please? Just this once? Who knows if your parents will end up scrapping this if the portal's a bust." Tucker reasoned again.

Silence passed between all three friends.

"Fine. Just one picture, and then that's it." Sam grumbled as she stomped near the portal's circular opening.

Tucker was about to take a picture then he hummed in thought, and put his phone down. Sam, already posed in front of the portal, noticed the goth's actions and rolled her eyes.

"Something missing, Mr. Doom-and-Gloom?" Tucker smirked.

"Why yes, there is. This whole thing doesn't feel...ghostly enough." Tucker said as he tapped his chin, "I think you're missing a jumpsuit."

Danny, who was quiet throughout most of the exchange, snorted and finally spoke up, "Tuck stop messing around. Just take the picture before Sam's parents get home."

Sam was glad her other best friend stood up for her. She added, "Yea, and how is a jumpsuit going to make this anymore gloomy for your taste?"

"Simple: You'll look like a true Manson Ghost Expert. I never see your parents wear anything but these suits. Why not project a little of your parents for us?" Tucker suggested as he pointed looked at the rack of jumpsuits hanging on the adjacent wall. The jumpsuits were a range of different colors (courtesy of the parental Mansons' eccentric and bubbly personalities) from royal blue to rosy pink.

Sam's lilac eyes stared right into Tucker's teal ones, and for a moment Tucker had to fight the urge to twitch under his friend's intense gaze.

Danny was about to defend Sam again, until the girl agreed. In disbelief with his best friends' constant antics, Danny just sighed, and readjusted his cap.

"Danny," Sam started, "Can you please grab that red jumpsuit on the far right? That's one of the only jumpsuits that actually fits me." Danny paused for a moment before heading towards the suits. He was still in disbelief of what was supposed to be a simple picture slowly escalating into one embarrassing task after another.

'Next, someone's gonna dare someone to do something stupid...' The boy thought with an eye-roll.

Danny snagged the material from its designated hook, and walked towards Sam. Once he stood right in front of the girl, Danny's blue eyes bore into Sam's as if questioning if she really wanted to do this, and the girl felt her face flush. She turned away while quickly snatching the bright red jumpsuit from the boy's hands.

"Don't worry, Danny. It's just another one of Tuck's harmless jokes. Just a couple of minutes of me in the suit, take some pics of the portal, and then we're done." Sam reassured him, hoping he wouldn't see the blush spread across her cheeks. Danny only nodded, and squeezed Sam's shoulder with reassurance before turning away to walk to Tucker's side.

"You know Tuck, I swear in another life time you weren't entirely goth," Danny stated once he stood by his other best friend, "Are you sure you're goth? You're a little more techno-preppy."

Tucker rose a brow and chuckled, "It's not every day Sam shows us things like this. I'm just trying to savor the moments we have before freshmen year starts, and get memories of this pretty sick ghost portal. I actually hope Mr. and Mrs. Manson figure it out. Who knows what they'll find?"

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Sam was not all too pleased with the idea of stripping her current clothing in front of her male friends, nor was she pleased with wearing the jumpsuit over said clothing.

'Eh,' like she told Danny, 'it was only for just a couple minutes. Take some pictures by the portal, then take the thing off. Quick, easy, harmless.'

Once she zipped up the rather bright red material over her clothes, she posed once more in front of the non-functioning portal, with a pesudo-interested look on her face. Tucker snapped his pictures, and Sam thought that was the end of it.

"I dare you to go in." Tucker said just as Sam was halfway through unzipping the jumpsuit.

Sam froze, and she swore she was close to having whiplash when she snapped her head to look directly at Tucker.

"What?" Sam stuttered, her brows furrowing in confusion. Oh-no, no, no, no, Tucker was not going to play her into this little game. Yes, they were best friends, and having dares, not matter how daunting or disgusting, was not uncommon to the trio, but this type of thing-involving her parent's work- no.

"Aw, is Sammy afraid?" Tucker joked lightly.

"C'mon Tucker. You just said a couple of pics and Sam would be done." Danny intervened.

Tucker groaned, "C'mon Danny," he mimicked as he turned to him, "Sam said so herself: the portal doesn't work. Totally safe."

"I did not say it was 'totally safe'," Sam hissed as she restarted unzipping the jumpsuit, "There could be loose wires or sharp objects that I could trip on."

Danny nodded in agreement, "Yea, dude. If you're so interested, why don't you go in the portal yourself?"

Tucker shook his head, "No way. I said this already. Not my parents, not my portal to explore."

Danny made an impatient noise, "That's more of a reason to not dare Sam! If you won't do it, why ask her?"

"Why are you so worried? Your girl's gonna be fine!" Tucker knew it was a low-blow to tease his best friend about his not-so-secret crush, but he was really getting on his nerves.

Danny, on the other hand, blushed furiously and ignored the lasts statement, "You can't answer a question with a question!"

All the while, Sam listened to her boys argue and each retort increased her need to rip her short hair out of her scalp; this was the price she gets for having two guy best friends.

'At least Danny defended me.' She thought with a blush, 'But fine. Tucker wants to play this game right here, right now? Just fine.'

"I'll do the dare."

Sam's declaration interrupted the gradually escalating fight between Danny and Tucker. Tucker blinked before fist-pumping the air and uncharacteristically cheered, while Danny blinked and uttered a devastated 'no! you don't have to!'.

Ignoring the two very distinct response, Sam stared hard into the cold portal and re-zipped the red jumpsuit. She, however, wasn't doing this without testing her boys. She turned halfway to look at her two best friends, who stood a few meters away from her.

"What's in it for me?" Sam questioned the boundaries of Tucker's little impromptu game, and surprisingly it was Danny who answered her.

"How about you quickly complete the dare, and Tuck and I each give you five bucks?" Danny's bright blue eyes looked at the girl, trying to help her win this dare as quickly and safely as possible.

'Oh sweet, sweet Danny... as much as I appreciate you helping me...'

Sam tapped her chin, "Only five? This is my parent's crazy invention you're talking about. Make it ten each, and you got yourself a deal."

Sam swore she heard Tucker curse that he only had an allowance of ten dollars for the week, and she smirked...until Tucker replied, "Fine. Ten each. You'll get twenty all together after you spend at least three minutes in the creepy portal."

"Fine, boys. I'll do it. I'll go in the portal, because Sam Manson does not back down from a dare, especially from you, Goth Geek." She said affectionately to Tucker and turned away from her best friends to face the portal once more.

"Besides, the portal didn't turn on when my parents tried it." Sam took a tentative step into the metallic chamber.

"Nothing can go wrong. Especially if this was for twenty bucks." Her voice echoed the farther she went in.

Danny and Tucker watched their friend quietly explore the portal, a feeling of uneasiness settling in their guts.

Why? They didn't know. They did just owe the girl ten bucks each; maybe the dread was from losing a bet?

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Sam walked a couple more steps, and she wished her parents did a better job leveling the ground of the portal. Fat wires crossed each other as if it were a snake pit, and Sam found it hard to keep her balance. The girl decided that she already fulfilled her bet, and decided to head back to her boys.

"You guys owe me!" Sam's cheerful voice echoed to the other two, "Maybe you guys want to check this out, too?"

As she spoke, her feet struck a wad of overlapping wires, and tripped.

Out of reflex, Sam's right hand shot out to the side of the portal for support, and she instantly felt terror when the object her hand connected with pushed into the wall. Like a button. What the hell?

Sam immediately snapped her attention to whatever she touched and was mortified to see an 'ON' and 'OFF' panel. What probably did it for her was the fact that her hand was still on the 'ON' button.

Who in the right mind puts the power panel INSIDE the machine? Oh right, my parents! Holy...

"Crud." Sam hissed loudly, but it was drowned out by the whirling noise surrounding her.

She repeatedly pressed the 'OFF' switch, but the machine kept powering up. Somehow a light breeze flowed through the already cold chamber. Oh God what is happneing...

"Sam! Get out of there!" a voice called out to the struggling and panicking girl.

The girl snapped her attention to Danny's mortified voice from outside the portal, and saw that the boy was ready to jump in and rescue her. Tucker, much to Sam's terror and confusion, pulled Danny away, and said something that only the other boy can hear. Each boys' face was full of loss after that, and Sam knew that Tucker said this thing was going to kill her.

After fourteen years of avoiding whatever crap her parents invented, their minuscule guns, dangerous nets, and even chemicals in the kitchen, this pile of scrap metal was going to kill her. Her. Samantha 'Sam' Elizabeth Manson.

Not if she had anything to say about it.

Sam gave one last punch on the 'OFF' switch, which still had no effect, and tried sprinting towards her best friends without tripping again.

Just then, a bright white light blasted around Sam. She was frozen in shock from the visual assault, and blinked repeatedly to regain her perceptions.

The bright white light turned green, the portal's whirling leveled off to a stead hum, and everything exploded.

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If pain had a color it would be green and black. If pain had a sound, it would be Sam Mason's anguished screeching from inside the portal.

Sam couldn't hear herself scream, but she knew she poured all the pain into her vocal cords.

Electricity and...ectoplasmic goo...surged through her entire body. Everything was a swirl of black and green, and Sam wondered how much longer will she have to suffer this unfortunate fate.

Dear God, if she ever survived this she is going to write strongly worded letter to her parents about the dire importance of placing the 'ON' and 'OFF' switch outside their inventions.

Suddenly, the searing pain was replaced by a surge of power that the girl could not for the life of her place, and all her senses...stopped.

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Danny and Tucker watched and listened helplessly as their best friend was electrocuted for what seemed like an eternity. Sam's horrified screeching will forever haunt the boys' nightmares for as long as they live, that was a certainty. Guilt for coercing their best friend into doing something so unstable and so stupid will be another thing to haunt the boys' to their graves.

Suddenly, Sam's horrific screaming died down, and both boys felt their hearts fall into the pit of their stomach with the high possibility that their best friend died right then and there. The portal's electric surge leveled drastically, and the once all-metal chamber transitioned into a swirling, green vortex of the unknown Ghost Zone.

Just then, Sam crawled out of the deep green void with tears running down her face. She felt instant relief when she saw Danny's NASA cap, jet-black hair, piercing blue eyes before her. Oh, and Tucker too. Thank God, her friends never abandoned her while she was fighting for whatever life she had in that death-trap. Literally.

But...why were they looking at her like that? She better not have lost a limb...or suffered any degree of burns...

Danny was instantly kneeling in front of Sam, and the girl was too exhausted and disoriented to internally fan-girl over how close he was.

"Oh God..." Danny murmured has he tried lifting Sam away from the metal-death-trap, "Sam, can you hear me? Please tell me how you feel."

Tucker rushed right beside Danny, and both silently agreed to gently carry Sam away from the newly-activated, swirling, green vortex of the Mansons' creation, The Ghost Zone.

"Sam," Tucker stared once he and Danny gently placed Sam down on the floor, far, far away from the portal. The two gathered around their very injured friend, "You haven't said anything since you got out of that thing. Danny and I need to know if you can hear us."

"G-guys," the girl blinked at her friend and stuttered, "you didn't leave." Sam couldn't believe how hoarse her voice sounded...or the fact that that was the first thing she said.

Danny immediately placed a strong hand on Sam's shaky ones, "We could never leave you."

If the moment wasn't too terrifying for all three teenagers, Tucker would've made a jab at how disgustingly romantic Danny was being. But something more important needed to be addressed. Tucker lightly nudged Danny's side, and gave him a pointed look about Sam's...appearance.

Danny sighed raggedly before speaking. "Can you stand? We...we need to show you something." Danny said softly has both his hands gently moved from the half-conscious girl's hands to grip her arms.

Sam blinked again, and turned to Tucker, who had a very grim look on his face. Well...more grim that usual. "Uh...show me what? What happened to me?"

"We don't know how to explain it..." Tucker ran his hands through his hair and asked Danny for help.

"Please Sam. I'm sure that whatever we'll show you, your parents can fix." Sam blinked once, then twice, and then three times.

'What did that portal do to me? Other than fry my inside...'

"O-okay. Just...please help me up." Sam said quietly. Danny was the first to react, and gently helped the traumatized girl up from the lab floor.

Sam was slowly lead to the full-length mirror at the far end of the lab with Danny's help, and she felt so empty when she couldn't recognize her own reflection tiredly staring right back at her. Was this really...she...did she really look like this?

Sam's reflection showed the girl's once midnight-black hair turned snow-white, and her entire jumpsuit inverted from the original bright red to bright green. Sam blinked and felt tears weld up in her eyes when her previous lilac pupils were the same green tint as the jumpsuit. Her entire body felt cold, and emanated a haunting glow.

'Oh no...'

At least her skin tone was the same color.

'But oh no...what am I going to do...what will my parents say? Oh man, what about school?'

Cautiously, Sam pulled away from Danny's grip and reached out to her reflection with her right hand because 'none of this could be real right? None of this was possible, right? I can't be a ghost!'

Sam was startled see her right hand turn invisible along with her forearm.

"Crud." Tucker whispered when he too saw what happened with his best friend.

Sam screamed once more, and what she would later consider a sick joke from the heavens, finally passed out onto Danny's arms. As Sam passed out, two bright white rings formed from her waist and traveled opposite directions, transforming her from...this thing...back to a normal human girl with black hair, jumpsuit-free clothing, and definitely all visible limbs.

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Saturday, August 14 2004

Manson Residence-Basement/Lab

5:27 PM

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A/N: First story in almost a year. Please be kind. Reviews are always accepted with tons of appreciation.