Danny fumbled with his earpiece, cringing as he anxiously awaited the rushing sound of his friends' voices. He knew the barrage of questions that was coming, and he pulled on his tennis shoes and grabbed a bottle of water before heading off into the Mystery Shack for a different barrage of questions.

"Hey, Danny," Wendy said, her feet propped up on the counter. It reminded the teen of the first time he had met her, and a small smile played across his lips as the Fenton Phones beeped quietly in his ear. Her eyebrows fiddled. "Who's that?"

"Danny!" Tucker and Sam's voices came in unison, their words rushing over one another's. Danny cringed and mouthed 'friends' before taking a swig of his water and sitting down across from the teen.

"Hey, I'm sorry, guys," Danny said, rubbing that back of his neck in embarrassment.

"You're sorry?" Sam was shouting so loud, he was sure Wendy could hear it. "Danny, you just disappeared! I've been worried sick about you."

"We've," Tucker corrected. "But seriously, that was lame. You could've at least told us what happened."

"You're right," Danny admitted sheepishly, glancing up at Wendy's smirking face. "I'll tell you everything. Just ask the questions."

"Okay, what happened with that whole fish thing?" Tucker started, his voice more relaxed than before.

"Okay, that's a long story. Do we have any other volunteers?"

"Answer the question, Daniel James Fenton," Sam demanded. He could practically see her crossing her arms.

"Oh, the full name. I'm so scared."

He smiled at the angered groans before lifting up his hands in submission, though the two couldn't see the gesture. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you. So Wendy took me, Mabel, and Dipper to this stream, and we all swam around in it. The next morning, poof! We're monsters."

"What do you mean by monsters?" Tucker inquired.

Dipper and Mabel walked into the room to see what the commotion was about, rubbing their eyes. Danny glanced at them and ushered them over.

"Wendy was a wolf, Dipper was a deer or something, Mabel was a unicorn, and I was--"

"Let me guess, a fish," said Sam. Danny shook his head and took the earpiece off, pressing the little button that turned on the speaker.

"Well, technically a merman."

"Your voice sounds different. Did you put this thing on speaker phone? Tell me I am not on speaker phone," Tucker urged, sounding slightly anxious.

"You're on speaker phone. Tucker, Sam, meet Wendy, Dipper, and Mabel."

"So you guys are City Boy's friends?" Wendy inquired first, setting down her magazine and leaning forward, resting her elbows on the wooden counter.

"City Boy?" Sam asked, befuddled.

"So, what was it like, Sam? Watching Danny die, I mean," Dipper quickly added, clicking a pen he had found hidden underneath his bed late last night while making a few changes to the journal.

"Danny ... ?" Tucker started, concerned.

"What?" Sam blew, her voice so loud it was practically echoing off the walls. "Tell me I didn't hear what he just said."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck once more. "They found out."

"How in the--"

Danny raced to turn off the speaker, blushing wildly in embarrassment at Sam's antics.

"Sam, there are twelve year olds in here," he whispered incredulously into the mic.

"Does it sound like a give a flying--"

He enclosed the device in his hands, looking around the room at their shocked faces.

"Well then," Wendy muttered. "She seems happy."

"I like her." Everyone turned to watch Stan walk into the room, his tux off and a cup of coffee in his hands. "Reminds me of a younger me."

Slowly, Danny put the earbud back up to his face.

"Danny? Are you even listening to me?"

"No, Sam. I turned off my earbud when you went cuss-crazy. Promise me you'll watch yourself this time, okay?"

"I wish I had the chance to turn off my earbud," Tucker muttered. "I think I'm deaf in one ear now."

Sam huffed. "Fine."

With that, the speaker phone came back on and the Mystery group did the best they could to answer Sam's and Tucker's questions.

"Paulina?" Tucker inquired at one point. "What's she doing there?"

"Pacifica," Danny corrected.

"I think she's back at the Northwest Mansion right now, no doubt getting hounded by her parents." Dipper shrugged, absentmindedly fingering the pages of his journal. Danny watched as Grunkle Stan glanced down at it before lifting his eyes upwards once more.

This old man has got a lot of secrets, Danny thought in amazement.

"Okay, then, what's the plan?" Sam inquired at the end of their speech. She seemed to come to terms with the whole extravaganza quite easily.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked.

"Come on, man. You seriously haven't come up with a plan on how you're going to get Serafina out of there?"

Danny glanced around the room, sharing a shrug with his new friends. "I mean, I don't breathe when I'm in my ghost form, so I guess I could just--"

"She's an extremely powerful creature, Danny. You can't just go in hands flaming like you do with Skulker."

"Who's Skulker?" Dipper queried.

"Do you have a better plan?" Danny asked, obviously annoyed at Sam's sarcastic personality.

"Throw Serafina in the stream," Tucker stated, blocking out whatever sassy remark Sam was going to throw back.

Danny rubbed his eyes. "We can't do that. Mermando told me that she used to be human."

"Yeah, but think about it, Danny. That stream is probably the cause of most of the weird supernatural things going on in Gravity Falls. Maybe if you're a monster long enough, it just becomes you. Like, you guys were talking about how you got less and less like yourself as time went on. Well, maybe Sera is so far gone she's a full monster now. Maybe the river will reverse the effects."

"I'm not following," Stan grunted, finishing off his coffee.

"That actually makes some sense for once, Tuck. Go you."

"Yeah, but it's way too dangerous," Sam offered. "It might work, but it might also just make her more powerful. We have no idea if that'll actually go how you plan."

Dipper shrugged. "I think it's a risk we should take."

"I agree with Dipper." Mabel hadn't talked much, but there was a sudden firmness in her facial features. "Serafina used to be good. I don't want her evilness to hide her true self."

Danny shrugged. "All in favor?"

"I," Tucker offered.

"I." Wendy nodded.

"I."

"I."

All eyes turned to Stan, and he sighed begrudgingly. "Whatever. Don't get my kids wrapped up in your problems, Ghost Boy. Their parents will kill me if I don't bring them back in one piece."

"Well, Sam, looks like your outnumbered."

Sam groaned. "If you die completely, I'm not coming to your funeral. By the way, Dani stopped by the other day looking for you. Said something about Valerie figuring out about Vlad."

"Valerie what?"

"Yeah. She's one halfa closer to finding out about you, Danny."

The teen rubbed his eyes. "Thanks for that. I definitely did not have enough stuff on my plate before you went ahead and piled that on."

"You're welcome."

"How's she doing, by the way?" Sensing that this was a more private conversation, everyone went back to their own business. Everyone except Dipper, that is, who leaned forward eagerly.

"Well, she hasn't been melting into a pile of ectoplasmic goop, so I'd say she's doing fine."

"How much longer you gonna be gone, Danny?" Tucker inquired.

"I don't know. My parents ran into Danny Phantom here, so they plan on staying longer."

"I'm seriously going to make Sam steal her parent's private jet if you don't get home soon, man."

"I'll be back soon. Thanks for the plan, Tuck."

"No problem."

"Bye, guys."

"Danny ... " It was Sam, her voice trailing.

"Yeah?"

"Just ... Be safe, okay?"

"Got it. Talk to you later, guys."

"Bye, Danny."

He hung up the Fenton Phones, sighing as he did so. Dipper raised his eyebrows but said nothing, whereas Wendy elbowed him in the side.

"You like her, don't you?"

Danny smiled lightly and stood from his seat on the stool, ignoring her question.

"Alright. Who wants to go kick some evil mermaid's butt?"