I don't own DP. Hey, is it really necessary to say this every single chapter? I'm sure we all got the point a long time ago.
I suppose my biggest issue with putting the theories in the chapter is that I'd want to explain them, too: why they're wrong and what's so funny about the misconception. My problem with that is that they're MY ideas about why they're wrong: absolutely no support from anything in Danny Phantom canon. Sorta like an OC hypothesis? Haha.
Still, I see where you're coming from, BrandyMyDog. Detail is nice. I'll add in the ideas at some point... either by editing Chapter 2 or by trickling them in gradually over chapters.
Silence. No one seemed to want to speak first. Danny stole looks at his parents, then at Sam and Tucker, looking down again quickly. "I... uh..."
"I thought the blossoms were only supposed to affect ghosts?" Valerie said slowly.
"Yeah... about that..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck. Think, Fenton, think! Come on...
Sam saved him. "Er... Danny's been around enough ectoplasm from ghost attacks on the school and from exploding inventions at home that some of it must've affected him a little so he's more susceptible to ghostly poisons." She flipped a hand lightly, trying to pass it off, but her voice was strained.
Jack frowned. "Inventions explode on me a lot more, and I don't have that problem," he stated bluntly.
"You have a haz-mat suit. Danny doesn't," Tucker made up feebly.
For a terrible moment they thought someone would ask something else, roll their eyes, do something they couldn't explain away; but Maddie nodded slowly. "I suppose that makes sense."
Jack grinned, instantly convinced. "Great! You'll need to wear a haz-mat suit then, Danny," he informed his son genially.
Danny groaned in horror, nevertheless internally grateful for the distraction. His classmates were snickering at the idea, allowing it to distract them from the whole thing. The more distracted they would stay, the better. "Daaad..."
"It's a good idea, Danny," Maddie admonished.
It won't be conspicuous at all, I'm sure, Danny thought desperately. All they'd have to do is reverse the colors... it's obvious enough as it is... "Can't you make a bracelet or something, like a Specter Deflector, that keeps all ectoplasm from contaminating you?" he burst out, not censoring his words. As soon as he'd said them, he wanted to take it back, but it was too late.
Jack snapped his fingers. "That's a great idea!"
Maddie backed him up. "Of course! We'll get right to work this afternoon!"
Danny, Sam, and Tucker stared at each other in barely masked horror as the two Fentons returned, high spirits restored, to the front of the classroom. Great. Blood Blossoms solved... unknown invention with incredibly bad effects coming up.
Sam glanced around, then slipped a paper onto Danny's desk, before moving back to her own. Slowly, he unfolded the paper behind his desk. They're all suspicious. Valerie keeps giving you sidelong glances. Keep your head down!
He crumpled the paper and shoved it deep into his pocket. His parents had started talking again, continuing their lecture on the effects of Blood Blossoms, though they didn't pull out any more flowers. Most of the class wasn't paying attention, though; staring as they were at Danny.
Dropping his head onto his arms, he allowed his aching body to relax. All the extra energy from this morning had fled with the last vestiges of blood-blossom energy, and he wanted nothing more than to get away and sleep for awhile.
Valerie propped her head on her hand, staring with eyebrows furrowed at the black-haired boy's pale, drawn face. I didn't know humans could absorb ectoplasm, she thought. To the point that weapons could hurt us, register us as ghosts... shouldn't the weapons drive the ectoplasm out? It shouldn't affect the human body... Well, I'm certainly no expert. It can't be possible to be partly ectoplasmic. The Fentons have been doing this for years... they know what they're doing.
A little trickle of thought interfered with her self-reassurance. What if some of the more intelligent ghosts we fight were once human, and had simply absorbed too much ectoplasm, destroying their humanity and life, and lost their minds to the evil ghost energy? The idea was too terrible to consider for long; she pushed it away. Wouldn't the pain only happen if the ectoplasm were a part of him? Not just if it were inside him... but it's impossible to be truly part-ectoplasmic, that would mean you're part-dead... aah, don't think about it; ghosts are bad, humans are good, there is no relation between them. She put the matter out of her mind. Still. I'd best watch Danny more closely. I get blasted a lot by ghosts, and if that means I might absorb the ectoplasm, I need to find a way to guard against it... I don't want the same problem. I wonder if the Fentons would be willing to give me a bracelet too?
The class finally ended. Danny pulled enough energy from his limbs to get to his feet and rush to the door ahead of the class, just behind Sam. Tucker was right next to him. They got to the lockers before anyone else; Danny phased his homework free before continuing out of the school, where Sam and Tucker caught up within a minute. They disappeared around the corner of the school, finding a nice quiet place to talk and rest out of sight.
It was quiet for a long moment. Danny sighed, running his hands across his face. "I never wanna go time traveling again."
Tucker laughed weakly. "It does seem to cause a lot of trouble. Three hundred years old? I mean, c'mon..."
Sam's lips tightened ruefully. "There's nothing we can do about it now. Though I do hope we don't end up hearing about the ninja-ghost in the history of China, or the strange flying kid in the Coliseum who fought Vladdius Caesar, or something."
They all winced. "What're we gonna do about the bracelet?" Danny asked hopelessly. "I wasn't thinking when I said it..."
"I know," Sam sighed. "I don't suppose you know what the bracelet would do to you, exactly?"
"Not without having the invention itself... but I said 'keeps all ectoplasm from contaminating you'... so if they go by that, it'll tear me apart," he replied grimly.
"Wouldn't it just split you in two, like with the Ghost Catcher?" Tucker asked hopefully.
"No, the Ghost Catcher does it more cleanly," Danny answered wearily. "It didn't exactly split me in half; it just sorta pulled my body and personality into two separate places, like some weird form of duplication. Something that is simply meant to 'drive out all ectoplasm' would tear me apart at the genetic level... much more slowly, and much more permanently."
Sam winced. "Sounds painful."
"I bet it will be," he muttered darkly.
"Don't talk like that. We can reprogram it or something once your parents give it to you," Tucker suggested.
"I will have to wear it for at least a few minutes though, they'll want to see me put it on."
"Oh." He frowned. "Still... I can unlock and reprogram it anyway, so long as you can handle a few minutes of it..."
"We'll have to go with that, I guess," Danny nodded wearily, internally hoping with all his might that his words wouldn't come back to bite him. "Thanks, Tuck."
"Just don't say anything else like that," was the reply, in an attempt at humor.
"I'll do my best."
A voice called from the front of the school. "Danny! Where are you?" Maddie sounded concerned.
Sam smiled weakly. "Time to face the music..."
Danny took a moment to steel himself, then crawled slowly to his feet, walking around the corner as slowly as he dared. The other two flanked him, almost like bodyguards; Sam even looked the part, glaring at everyone nearby like an angry hawk.
They'd half expected Maddie to question him further on the incident, but somewhat to their surprise she didn't mention anything. "Come on, we'll drive you home, Danny," she said calmly, putting her hand on his shoulders to steer him toward the Fenton RV. Sam and Tucker turned to follow, but she shook her head. "You two can come by later."
Okay, maybe she was going to mention something, but didn't want to say it around his friends. Danny swallowed hard and smiled weakly at the other two, trying to push his apprehension back into a small knot in his gut. From their expressions, he wasn't too successful. "See...see you later, guys," he muttered.
They murmured responses, watching as he was herded into the RV. Jack was in the driver's seat; as soon as they were seated he revved the engine and drove out of the parking place. They sat silently for a long moment, the only sound the screeching of the tires and indignant yells from those nearly mowed down by the road hazard that was Jack Fenton's driving.
Danny looked from one to the other, waiting for them to say something. "Mom?" His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. "Mom? Dad? Where's Jazz?" She wasn't being driven home alongside them, and his mind leaped toward unpleasant possibilities as paranoia began taking over his senses.
"She had to drive her own car home," Maddie replied. "Otherwise we'd have had to come back for it later." Her voice, reassuringly, was calm: not frightened, angry, or otherwise unusual like he'd been half expecting. She turned back to smile at him, and it was a genuine smile, just like always. The knot in his gut loosened a little. Maybe it really was nothing.
Jack decided to speak up now. "We just want to get you home so we can measure you up for a new invention," he boomed happily. "You'll be wearing it a lot, so we want to make sure it's something you can keep around without getting in the way too much."
Despite knowing what the invention would likely do to him, Danny felt the clenching pain in his gut ease almost completely with this. The whole world took on a slightly cheerier aspect. They'd be all right.
...Now I just have to survive the measuring, he thought dryly, as they pulled up with a jerk to the curb in front of the house, and Jack picked him up by the scruff of the neck and dragged him into the building excitedly.
Well, there was one of my ideas... the Ghost Catcher effect versus New Invention effect. What do you think? It never made much sense to me that Danny would be 'split in two' so easily... we are all 'wholes' for a reason, and it's not just because his personality was completely out of whack; we can't survive as half a being. I don't think humans can be 'cut in half' so easily, and half-ghost or not, he was fused completely with the ectoplasm, so he wouldn't be either. Thus, he must not have truly been 'split in half'. The Ghost Gauntlets would have the same effect.