I was shocked by the number of reviews on this story. I wasn't expecting it to be so popular, but I'm not complaining.
Both Maddie's eyes and Danny's eyes widened at the same time, except Danny's became a slightly darker blue. "Nobody heard that, right?" he said. Danny looked around in surprise and then up at Maddie. She simply looked too stunned to say anything.
"Well, I didn't want to do this but I really have no choice." Danny vanished into thin air and didn't reappear.
"Ghost Toddler!" Jack screamed. He pulled a dangerous looking ectogun out of his jumpsuit and started looking around for Danny. I just hoped that he could keep his fourteen year old mind long enough to escape.
Jack let out a high pitched scream as Danny appeared in front of him. "Boo Daddy!" apparently he couldn't stay a teenager. Danny giggled despite the fact that there was a gun pointed at his head.
"Jack no!" Maddie pushed Jack aside and a shot narrowly missed Danny. Maddie opened her arms and Danny floated into them. Then he changed back into a human. Maddie stroked his soft black hair and looked down at his small form.
Tucker and Jazz looked at each other in a panicked way. I ran over To Maddie and Danny, and Maddie looked up at me. "He's small for a toddler." She said. "How long has he been dead?"
"Well, um, he's not exactly dead…" I stopped and wondered how much of this conversation Danny's parents would remember after we changed them back to normal. Jack looked thoughtful (for once) and answered for me.
"I think he's both Maddie baby!" Maddie gave him a strange look but he continued. "If he's been exposed to a lot of ecto-energy then he could have had his DNA altered just enough to allow ghost abilities." I was stunned. Did Jack go to college and become stupider instead of smarter?
Jazz tried to cover for Danny. "Um, no you both just are hallucinating. What was it that Tucker said earlier? Oh yeah, you both just have schizophrenia and can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy."
Jack looked almost thoughtful and then said, "Na, if I had schizowhatever I would not dream something silly like ghost toddlers. I'd dream about fudge or cookies or ranch dressing…"
"And isn't it impossible for two people to see the exact same things when they have schizophrenia?" Maddie said. It must be hard to have genius parents. You can't lie to them.
"I always thought that schizowhozziewhatsit meant that you have two personalities." Well, at least one of them is a genius. Jazz sighed but didn't go into her speech about Dissociative blahdy blah.
Danny suddenly sat up and stared around in shock. "I have to stay a teenager- oh smoof." He had just looked up and found himself in his mothers arms.
Maddie opened and closed her mouth at the sound of his teenager voice and then said, "He's not a normal ghost toddler is he." I shook my head and tried my best to explain.
"Apart from the fact that, um ghost toddlers aren't exactly normal, he's, um…"
Danny's eyes lightened and he smiled. "I'm a superhero!" I smacked my hand to my head and Danny laughed. "Meanie's funny mommy!"
Maddie still was in shock. "Why do you keep calling me your mommy, Danny?"
Danny became almost absurdly serious. "Because you told me not to talk to strangers."
"That doesn't make sense!" I said. Maddie laughed anyway.
"He's three. What do you expect a genius?" I knew right away from the look on Danny's face that she had made a big mistake.
"Um, Maddie, he's three and a-"
"HALF!" Danny screamed insistently. He looked dazed for a second and his scream echoed loudly.
A small almost invisible trickle of smoke came from his mouth. "There you are Daniel." A chilling voice spoke that sent shivers up my spine. I looked up and saw none other than Vlad Plasmius floating towards us. "You'd be quite surprised at how hard it is to track a toddler with ghost powers."
"What do you want Plasmius?" I hissed at him. I tried to sound menacing but I pulled Danny close to me to stop my hands from shaking. Plasmius laughed wickedly.
"I'll give you three guesses Samantha, and a hint. Who do you think helped Ember learn her new power in the first place, hm? She's certainly too stupid to learn that by herself." Vlad smirked as realization spread across my face.
"It was you? You're the reason Danny's like this?" Plasmius nodded. While I had been distracting Plasmius, Maddie had pulled out a small gun and was sneaking behind him. "Is there a way to reverse it?" I asked not really expecting an answer but desperately hoping for more time.
He laughed again. "None that I would reveal Samantha. Young Daniel will be mine, and I will teach him to be my son." Danny had been silent all of the time Vlad had been talking, and I looked down to find him staring straight ahead like he was concentrating.
Vlad floated down towards me and as I tried to run he blasted ectoplasm from his hand and I was stuck to the ground. Maddie, Jack, Tucker and Jazz suffered a similar fate. Danny was still silent. His eyes seemed to have glazed over.
I hugged him closer but Vlad started pulling him away from me with ghostly strength. Danny still was silent. My fingers clutched the fabric of his white shirt, but there was a terrible ripping noise as his shirt ripped and I was left holding white fabric. Danny still was silent.
Vlad held him out just above my reach. He examined Danny like someone might look at a toy trying to decide whether to buy it for someone or not. "He's an awfully quiet toddler. Training him should be very easy since he shows no resistance."
Danny's eyes closed and opened a blinding green color. "Guess again frootloop!" Vlad dropped Danny out of shock but Danny simply changed into his ghost form and flew towards Vlad. "I would never join you whether I was a toddler or a teen!"
I watched in terror as Danny collided into Vlad's stomach and they both flew backwards towards a building. Then Danny flew back from Vlad and Maddie blasted him with her ectogun. Electricity seemed to crackle through Vlad and he sank down to the ground unconscious.
Danny floated down next to me and fried the ectoplasm with a bright green blast. He also blasted the ectoplasm off of Maddie and everyone else. Then he laughed slightly and said to Vlad, "You just had your butt kicked by Short John Silver."
When I first wrote this chapter my muse Emollie strangled Laughnatu, and we ended up with a sad chain of events that started with Danny actually being hit by Jack's ectogun. Then I remembered that this was supposed to be a humorous story and quickly shocked Laughnatu back to life. Strangely enough both chapters end the same way due to Haplyevraftr. If you'd like the alternate chapter review me and I'll send it to you via the wonderful world of email. If you have no clue who all of the strange people that I've mentioned are check my profile. Or, if you've simply ignored this whole paragraph than you have no need to do anything.