#and seeing his parents make then destroy a proto-ghost
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The Two Ghost Motel
So, as I mentioned, I joined the DP Ecto-Implosion Event this past month and it's Posting Week now! So I get to finally share with you the first chapter of my fic. Still working on editing the second half of the fic, but it's fully written as of this time.
For those who don't know, for the Ecto-Implosion event, artists drew/animated/composed some piece of art and writers then went in and wrote fics based off their art.
I was lucky enough to be paired with the super talented @i-think-in-metaphors who made this gorgeous artwork:
You can read on AO3 here (this fic is not locked to AO3 users only).
And for those of you who prefer to read on Tumblr:
Word Count: 5k
Warnings: Minor Original Character Death (not in this chapter)
Fandom: DPxDC (though no knowledge of DC is necessary for this fic. I use a single character and he has amnesia, it takes place in an original setting or Amity)
Summary:
Danny is tired.
Endless ghost fights with too many responsibilities and too little time; he barely passed sophomore year. When Ember visits town for a bit of fun, she mentions the Two Ghost Motel, a place of peace and refuge for restless ghosts who aren't ready to cross over.
“I’m fine, Ember.”
Danny’s got a home and friends. He’s fine, really.
But when his parents begin experimenting with electricity to destabilize ghosts, it’s too much for Danny. Unfortunately, neither Sam nor Tucker can host him for the night and he’s left wandering in the night, alone. Then he sees it: The Two Ghost Motel.
He checks in.
“Welcome.”
-----
Danny wasn’t sure when he first saw the neon sign. Honestly, he didn’t even realize it was something ghostly when he did. He just thought it was one more ghost-themed business that had come to Amity since the portal opened.
But when he mentioned the motel to Sam and Tucker, they looked at him like he was crazy.
“I’ve never heard of any Two Ghost Motel,” said Sam. “Where’d you see it?”
Tucker was typing into his PDA. “Nothing’s coming up online, either.”
“Oh come on, you’re pulling my leg. We’ve passed it at least a half dozen times. Last night when we were leaving Nasty Burger for one! And I think, what, three nights before that? On patrol? Where were we?”
“Dude, that night we were near the library. No where near Nasty Burger. No way you could’ve seen the same place both nights,” said Tucker.
“Danny, when was the last time you got a full night’s sleep?” Sam’s brow was knit in concern.
Danny waved off her concern. “Whatever. I know I’ve seen it. The sign is bright pink and orange with blue ghosts on it.”
Sam just shrugged and shook her head. “Point it out next time you see it.”
Before Danny could reply, his ghost sense went off and he groaned. “Ugh, looks like someone’s around. I’m too tired for this.” Danny glanced around. They were in the park and no humans were nearby so he let his transformation wash over him.
He flew into the air and tried to listen past the sound of his breaths echoing through his mask. Even though he didn’t breathe when transformed, something about the hazmat suit remembered and the sound was inescapable.
A guitar chord played behind him and Danny instinctively threw up a shield and fell ten feet right as a blast from Ember’s instrument headed his way.
“Hey there, baby-pop!” she called. “I was sitting around, bored out of my mind, when I remembered I could just come here to have some fun!”
Danny turned to face her. “Come on, Ember.” His voice always sounded so robotic when filtered through the mask. “I’m tired.”
“Too bad. I’m not.” She grinned at him and strummed a few notes, sending more attacks his way.
Danny dodged, only to have to watch one of the blasts hit a bench and destroy it. He flew higher, hoping her next attacks wouldn’t cause more collateral that would be blamed on him.
“What, you just gonna dance around like that? Come on, attack back!”
“My moves not good enough for you?”
“You need to step it up if you want to be my back up dancer.”
Danny couldn’t help but laugh and when she sent her next blast his way, he avoided it by doing a backwards dive towards the ground only to circle back up until he was facing her. “How’s that?”
“Better, but you’re still not there. Your moves have to match the music!” She played a tune with a fast beat and Danny dodged and spun. And if he added some flair to his movements, well, he deserved the chance to have a little fun.
Another blast his way, and he twisted his hips. Matching Ember’s beat, he sent a few ectoblasts back at her.
Ember laughed. “Now you’re catching on!”
Danny allowed himself a quick glance down where he saw Sam and Tucker not even trying to hide. Tucker was filming them.
Which, of course, is when it all had to be ruined by the unmistakable sounds of the GAV driving cross-country.
“Through the park?” he moaned. “Seriously?”
“Shit, that’s your folks, isn’t it.”
“Yeah. C’mon, let’s get out of here.”
“You’ve got it, babypop. I came here for fun, not to mess with them.”
The GAV came to a stop and Danny saw his mom rush out of the passenger side with one of their new, long-distance guns. He tacked Ember, only just getting her out of the way of the blast.
Without any discussion, both turned invisible and flew out of the park. Danny didn’t let them stop until they were in a forest out of range of his parents’ trackers. Exhaustion set back in as soon as he realized they were safe, and he just plopped down on the ground and leaned against a tree.
“Ready to resume your dancing lessons?” asked Ember.
Danny groaned and rested his head against the rough bark. It was probably stupid, but he let his eyes close. “Maybe next time. I meant it when I said I’m tired.”
She didn’t say anything as one, two, three breaths sounded from his mask. And then he heard some leaves rustle. He cracked open an eye to see Ember making herself comfortable on the ground a few feet away.
“You really are tired, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Yeah. Finals are coming up and if I don’t do well, I’m going to fail sophomore year.”
“Y’know, I’ve heard of a place…”
Danny waited for her to continue, but when she didn’t, he hummed. “A place?”
“Yeah. Haven’t been there myself. But, there’s this place. It’s for ghosts who aren’t ready to move on from Earth just yet. Ghosts who live only on Earth without ever going the Zone get tired and weak. There’s just not enough ectoplasm around. Except for here, of course.”
“So what’s this place do?”
“Gives you somewhere to rest. And recharge. It’s not really on Earth. It’s a sort of in between place. Called the Two Ghost Motel. Might be worth checking in for a night if you ever don’t want to be at home for one reason or another.”
Danny hummed. “I’ve seen it around. Thought it was just a regular motel, but Sam and Tucker didn’t know what I was talking about.”
Ember picked out a tune on her guitar, but this time no attacks emanated from it. “It’s not a place for the living from what I’ve heard. Just the dead.”
Danny looked up at the stars through the tree branches, but he shook his head. “I’m fine, Ember. Just need to get some sleep.”
“Whatever you say, baby-pop.”
---
After that conversation with Ember, the motel began basically haunting him. Every night, as soon as dusk started to fall, he’d see it. Always a few streets away, just sitting there calling to him; it’s sign bright in the dark.
Sam and Tucker couldn’t see it, no matter how often he pointed it out to him. Jazz could sometimes see something out of the corner of her eye, but when she looked on more directly, it was never there.
Danny never approached. He was fine. He had a home and friends. There was no reason to go to some random motel.
Finals came and went. He managed to scrape by with at least Cs in everything. His parents, especially his mom, had not been happy with those grades, but Danny was just glad to have passed.
Didn’t stop him from being grounded and forced to help out more in the lab. One afternoon, he was in his room playing Doomed with Sam and Tucker when he got a message from his parents calling him back down to help them out.
“Ugh, I’ve got to go down to the lab.”
“Seriously?” complained Tucker. “Again?”
“Yeah,” agreed Sam. “Seems you’re always off helping them lately. Can’t you say no?”
“It’s this or having my phone and computer taken away. I’ll take the lab work.” He saved his progress. “Will you guys be on later?”
“Can’t,” said Sam. “My parents are forcing me to go to a fancy dinner somewhere. And they’re not giving me any more information than that to keep me from planning anything disruptive.”
“And mine have declared we’re having a tech-free family bonding night,” said Tucker, rolling his eyes. “With board games! Who plays board games in this day and age?”
Danny laughed. “I’ll see you both tomorrow, then. Later.”
Danny signed off and went downstairs. The hazmat suits were kept in a closet right next to the door to the lab, and Danny went through the process of pulling it all on. The mask that came with it was even more annoying in human form than ghost. The filtered air always tasted strange, but he’d given up complaining about that years ago.
He unlocked the lab door and went down to the lab.
“Dan-o!” called his dad as soon as he saw him. “Come here! You’re job will be to control the current!”
“Uh, current?” asked Danny.
“We’re trying to figure out how to disrupt the electrical signal in ectoplasm that gives ghosts their shape,” explained his mom. She had a bowl of ectoplasm in a glass terrarium and was arranging two metal probes so they dipped into it.
“Exactly!” agreed his dad. “So you’re going to sit at this computer”—he pulled out a chair before one of the lab computers and gestured for Danny to sit—“and adjust the frequency and voltage.”
Danny took a seat and stared at the program that was loaded on the screen. At least he wouldn’t be anywhere near the probes? A glance at the puddle of ectoplasm had him holding back a shudder.
“First we’re going to try and force the ectoplasm to form a shape,” continued his mom. “We’re going to do that with probe A. You’re going to start with a low frequency and voltage and slowly increase it while your father and I mark down how it affects the ectoplasm. We have some hypotheses about when it’ll start to form a shape.”
“And once it forms a shape,” said his dad, “you’ll use probe B to send a contrary electrical signal to destabilize it!”
“And then no more ghost!”
Suddenly Danny was glad his suit had a face mask. His parents were going to do what? Figure out how to use electricity to destabilize ghosts? It wasn’t possible. There was no way it could work. Right? He had to stay and prove to himself they were talking crazy.
“What—” His mouth was dry and he had to try again. “How should I start?”
“The settings are already loaded,” said his mom. She grabbed a tablet and sat down in front of the terrarium.
Dad sat next to her, grinning widely. “Go ahead, Dan-o!”
Danny’s hand shook as he placed it on the mouse. He sat on the other to hide it. Then he turned on the probe.
At first, nothing happened. The ectoplasm stayed a puddle and there was no visible change in it. But as he adjusted the current, it began to ripple. His parents loudly exclaimed over every change as they shouted instructions back to him.
Each change had Danny’s heart beating harder in his chest.
Two hours in is when it happened. The ectoplasm started to form a ball that rose up out of the bowl. Danny could feel something cold in the back of his throat. Not his ghost sense, but something close.
“This is it!” yelled his dad. “Danny, what’re the settings?”
Once more, Danny was glad for the way the mask muffled his voice just enough to mask how horrified he was by the thing that was forming. His parents’ theories about electrical currents couldn’t be true. They couldn’t.
“Now for us to try disrupting the current!” The glee in his mom’s voice made bile rise in Danny’s throat. But when she told him to turn on probe B, he did.
It only took twenty minutes to find the settings that made the ectoplasm fall apart back into a puddle.
Danny was up on his feet, chair toppled, in an instant. He held a gloved hand to his masked face as if he could keep from throwing up with the motion alone. It had looked so much like Ellie when she was destabilizing.
“Danny?” asked his mom, tablet forgotten on her chair as she rushed over to him. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I… I’m feeling a bit sick. Can I, can I go? Bathroom?”
His mom reached out to brush a hand over his covered forehead as if to check his temperature. “Oh sweetie, of course you can. You should’ve told us you weren’t feeling well. There’s some soup in the fridge if you think you can eat that.”
“I— yeah. Thanks.” He didn’t wait to hear anything else she had to say and just ran up the stairs. He shed his gear in record time and ran all the way up to his room. He slammed the door shut and grabbed his backpack from where it hung on his desk chair.
With shaking hands, he took out everything in the main compartment. Then he ran to his dresser and grabbed a change of clothes and something to sleep in. He couldn’t stay here right now. He just couldn’t.
From the bathroom, he grabbed some toiletries and added those.
Less than fifteen minutes after leaving the lab, he was out the front door and walking down the street. It was late, dusk starting to fall.
He considered going to Nasty Burger to get some dinner, but then he remembered the way the ball of ectoplasm had melted and he changed directions. Eventually his wandering brought him to the park where he found a bench in an empty area and sat down, dropping his backpack at his feet.
Danny buried his face in his hands as he forced himself to just breathe. He and Tucker could mess with the results from these experiments just like they had so many times in the past. It was going to be fine.
His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out.
Jazz: Hey, Danny. Mom said you weren’t feeling well?
Jazz: Where’d you go? You’re not in your room.
Danny: Sorry, Jazz. I had to get out of the house.
Danny: Ask mom and dad about today’s experiments.
Danny: You’ll understand why. I’m gonna spend the night at Tuck’s.
Jazz: Okay. See you tomorrow?
Danny: Yeah. I’ll be back tomorrow.
Jazz: Love you.
Of course, Tucker was having a family night. He couldn’t crash that. And Sam’s parents had banned him from their house. Where would he spend the night?
And then he noticed it. Right outside the park glowed the sign: Two Ghost Motel.
He was on his feet and walking there before he’d even consciously made the decision to go. A glance around showed he was alone, that night had fully fallen on Amity so he let his transformation wash over him.
He reached the street and, for the first time, was staring directly at the motel rather than catching glimpses from a block or two away. The parking lot had a few cars in it, the oldest looking like it might’ve been from the twenties with the newest looking like it was ten or fifteen years old.
A glance in either direction showed no cars coming, so Danny crossed the street.
As soon as he stepped off the sidewalk and into the parking lot, Danny could feel a change in the air. It was nothing obvious, but something integral was different. The sounds of the city were muffled, the sense of life dulled. The air felt lighter and the door seemed to call to him. Most importantly, it was easier to push away the memories from his afternoon in the lab.
The sign, when he reached it, buzzed softly in the night. He held a hand up towards it and felt an echoing buzz under his skin.
He stared at the lights for a moment more before continuing towards the building at the other end of the lot. It hadn’t been repaved in ages and was riddled with cracks. But the plants that grew up through them weren’t the normal grasses and dandelions. He wished Sam were with him to help him identify them.
Instead he knelt down and pulled out his phone to take a picture. They glowed slightly in the night, their stems ectoplasm-green with blue leaves and red bulbs. Danny reached out to touch one, only for the bulb to open and snap at his finger.
Danny laughed in surprise as he pulled his hand away. Something inside him relaxed. A night away would do him good and maybe he’d see other cool things besides the flowers.
The motel itself was a long, two-story building. The main entrance was smack in the middle of the building with rows of rooms extending to either side. Next to the office, a passageway through the building led to the back side of the building and had stairs leading up to the second level. It was clearly old, worn in the way only time could do.
The office door wasn’t automatic and the handle stuck slightly under his hand when he tried to turn it. But just a little bit of force had it opening.
Inside, the carpet was worn, beaten down and dull in the middle. The walls were covered in floral wallpaper rather than paint. Against one wall buzzed an ice machine and against the other sat a vending machine. A man with slicked back hair and a cane stared at the vending machine without moving. A two-seater couch was next to the vending machine with a wooden coffee table in front of it. Two women sat side-by-side on it: one in modern jeans and a windbreaker, the other in an old-fashioned dress that looked like it may have come from the sixties. They were holding magazines, but in the time it took Danny to look around, neither had flipped a page.
Cutting off the back of the room was a long desk, behind which sat a closed door. A woman sat behind the desk. Her blonde hair was cut shoulder length and curled inward. She wore bright red lipstick and heavy eye shadow. But strangest of all, she wasn’t moving. Her chest didn’t raise with her breathing, she didn’t shift in her seat. The women on the couch, at least, made the little movements people make when they’re engrossed in their reading. And the man at the vending machine was tapping his fingers on his cane as he tried to decide what to get.
But the woman at the counter was utterly still.
“Evening.” Danny’s voice was loud in the small room.
The woman in modern clothes cocked her head slightly as if trying to hear a distant noise.
“What are you reading?” Danny asked her.
She just shook her head slightly and looked back at her magazine. Slowly, she turned a page.
“Oh-kay,” said Danny to himself. He walked past them as he made his way to the desk.
As soon as he reached it, the woman came to life. She turned and smiled broadly at him and her finger started tapping on a paper log book that sat in front of her. “Well hello there. Welcome to the Two Ghost Motel!” She had a slight southern accent. “What can I do you for?”
“Uh, well. I heard you might have a room I could rent for the night.”
“Sure do,” she agreed with a nod. “Can certainly set you up with one of those.” She looked him up and down then nodded to herself. “Ah, yes. We knew you might need a place soon so we made sure you’d be able to find us. Glad to see you finally stopped in.”
“What, uh, what do you know about me?”
“Same as we know about any of our potential patrons, sweetie. That you’re a restless spirit that isn’t ready to pass on yet. Two Ghost was set up to give you a place to rest while you’re still on Earth.”
“How much would it cost for one night?”
The receptionist threw back her head and laughed. Her teeth were sharper than a normal human’s. Behind him, another voice joined in the laughter. Danny turned to see the modern-dressed woman was finally looking at him, though it was only to laugh at him.
Danny rubbed the back of his neck and smiled self-consciously. “I take it that was a stupid question?”
“Honey, there’s no charge for spending the night. Wouldn’t be much of a place to rest if we forced y’all to pay when no dead has money.”
“Right. So do you want anything in exchange? I’m pretty good at fixing things up.”
“All we want is for you to have a good night’s rest.” She turned the log book around. “I’ll just need you to put down your name here and I’ll give you your key.” She waved her hand to indicate a pen that was chained to the desk.
Danny grabbed it and hesitated just a moment before signing “Phantom” on the page. The ink was ectoplasm-green.
She took the book back and made her own marks before smiling at him. “Well that’s all in order. Now just to get you your room key.” She opened a drawer which was filled with a number of small envelopes, each with a handwritten number on them. She flipped through a few before stopping on one, seemingly at random, and pulling it out. “You’ll be in room 214. Leave the office, take a right. You can’t miss the stairs. Climb ‘em, continue to the back side of the motel, and take a right.”
Danny took the envelope from her. On it, the numbers 214 were written, with Two Ghost Motel in cursive below it. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Enjoy your stay at Two Ghost,” she smiled one more time at him, then looked down at her logbook and froze exactly as she had been when he’d first entered.
“I appreciate your help. You sure there’s nothing I can do in exchange for the room?”
But the woman didn’t stir again. Danny shifted from foot to foot. Should he try and wake her? Was she hurt? Was this a normal ghost thing? He tapped on the desk again.
“Ma’am?”
No response.
Danny looked down at his key and back at the woman. Hesitantly, he turned towards the door, but he couldn’t help looking back frequently. He paused by the women on the couch, but neither looked up from their magazines. At the vending machine, he peered around the man.
“Do they have anything that looks good?” he asked.
The man didn’t move, so Danny shifted until he was standing right next to him and could look inside the machine.
The bottom two rows were filled with drinks, water and Gatorade took up space right next to shots of ectoplasm. And were those beers? What? Above those were a few types of nuts and candy bars and chips. Danny only recognized half the brands.
Then he noticed the package of bottle caps. “Oh man, been ages since I’ve had some bottle caps. Mind if I grab those if you haven’t decided yet?”
The man hummed and moved to the side so Danny could get to the bill input and number pad.
“Thanks, sir! Appreciate it.” He pressed the numbers for the candy to see the price, but the machine whirled to life and it was dropped down without requiring Danny to put in a single cent. “Oh, shit, did I just use your money? What do you like? I’ll get it for you as an apology.”
“I don’t… I don’t remember,” said the man. His voice was very quiet, but clear. Danny couldn’t place his accent.
“Are you looking for a snack or a drink? Sweet or savory?”
“My son always pretended he didn’t like sweets. I was going back to him. How did I end up here?”
“Dunno, sir. But if you like candy, I’d recommend the skittles if you want chewy, m&m’s if you want basic chocolate.” He opened his own package. “Hold out your hand, I’ll give you a few of these so you can see if you like them.”
The man did and looked at his own hand as if he’d never seen it before. Danny turned his package so a few bottlecaps fell out. “Thank you,” said the man.
“Sure thing. Hope you enjoy!”
The man stared at his hand a moment longer before bringing one to his mouth and chewing the candy with a pensive look on his face. “I think I remember these, but it’s been so long. Thank you.”
“Anytime. My name’s Phantom; I’m in room 214 if you need anything.”
“Phantom. Pleasure to meet you. I’m Tom.”
“Well, Mr. Tom, hope you find something to eat that you like.”
Tom hummed and turned back to look at the vending machine. Danny took one last look at the receptionist, still entirely frozen, before slipping out the door. He slipped the package of bottlecaps into his pocket; he’d eat them in his room when he could take his mask off. In the passageway to the back of the motel, two boys played jacks under a flood light.
Danny couldn’t help but pause to watch them. He’d tried playing a few times when he was younger, but Tucker wasn’t into the game and none of the other kids had been willing to spend enough time with the weird ghost-hunter’s kid to teach him.
He waited until the kid who’d been picking up the jacks tossed them back on the ground before asking, “So, who’s winning?”
Both boys looked up at him with the same blank expression. The one on the right was a red-head while the one on the left was brown haired. They were about the same age, maybe ten years old and Danny wondered what happened to bring them here.
“I never learned to play,” Danny admitted, waving a hand to indicate their game. “So I don’t know how to tell. Or, is there even a winner in jacks? I might be completely off the mark.”
The red-head raised his hand. “I’m wining. I’m on the foursies round. Alan is only on twosies.”
“Matt cheated and made me drop my jacks.”
“It wasn’t cheating, just strategy,” protested Matt.
“Cheating,” repeated Alan.
“Prove it by beating your threesies round perfectly this time.”
Danny smiled to himself as the boys returned to their game and ignored his presence entirely.
“How’d you do that?” asked someone behind him.
Danny spun around to see a boy around his own age on the stairs leaning over the railing. He had dark hair and light eyes and was dressed in modern jeans and a t-shirt.
“Do what?” asked Danny.
“Get them to talk to you. Everyone ignores me entirely.”
Danny glanced back at the two boys who were entirely absorbed in their game and not paying Danny or the stranger any attention. “They’re mostly ignoring me, too.”
The kid rolled his eyes. “But they still talked to you. I haven’t even gotten that much.”
Danny shrugged. “I just asked them about their game.”
He groaned and kicked at the railing. “I’ve tried that. Who’re you, anyway?”
“I’m Phantom. Staying here for the night because, well, just because. Who’re you?”
“Jay.”
Danny cocked his head. “Like the bird?”
Jay’s eyes widened in surprise, then he grinned back. “That’s it! I knew I was forgetting something. I’m a bird. Thanks, Phantom.”
Danny laughed. “Sure thing, birdie.” He adjusted his backpack. “Let me put this down. I’m in room 214. What’s there to do in this motel?”
Jay shrugged. “More if you can get the other people to talk to us. But the TV always has your favorite show or movie on and the vending machine in the office always has your favorite snacks.”
As Danny made his way up the stairs, Jay fell in step besides him. “What’s your favorite movie?” he asked.
Jay shrugged again. “Dunno. But every time I turn on the TV it’s playing.”
“What did you watch last, then?”
Jay hesitated a moment and when Danny looked at him, he was frowning. “I don’t…” He shook his head. “I don’t forget things. My d— Someone made sure I could give accurate reports. But I don’t remember.” He looked at Danny with his brow furrowed. “Why don’t I remember?”
Danny shrugged. “Well, when we get to my room, we can turn on the TV and see what comes on.”
Jay brightened immediately at the suggestion. “Duh! That’ll remind me. Thanks, Phantom! Come on, your room’s this way. We’re neighbors; I’m in 215.” He jogged the rest of the way up the stairs so Danny had to speed up, too.
At the top of the stairs, Jay took a right and Danny’s door was several down.
“Home sweet home,” he said, gesturing to the door.
Danny laughed as he unlocked it. “So how long have you been here?” He pushed open his door and took in the space. The carpet looked like it hadn’t been upgraded since the seventies. A double bed sat against one wall covered by a faded, green paisley quilt. A low dresser and box TV against the opposite wall. Most of the wall facing the walkway was taken up with a large window, though the closed blinds kept it private.
It wasn’t until Danny stepped in and dropped his bags on the bed that he realized Jay had neither responded nor followed him in.
“Birdie? Jay? You okay?”
Jay was frozen outside the door staring out into the distance away from the motel. The back of the motel had very few lights, and the night made it seem like there was nothing out there but endless black. When Danny called out, Jay shook himself and grinned as he entered the room and sat down on Danny’s bed with enough force to bounce. “Course I’m okay! Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You spaced out there for a minute.”
Jay rolled his eyes. “No I didn’t. Where’s your remote?” Before Danny could do anything, Jay was already standing and picking it up from the dresser. He turned on the TV. “Oooh, the Godfather! Told you it always has your favorite movie.”
“So The Godfather is your favorite?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen it all the way through.”
“Then you’re in for a treat! Come on, sit next to me. I’ll make sure you notice all the good parts.”
Danny did as told. Which is when he remembered he still had the candy. Wordlessly, he held it out to Jay who grinned as he took a few to snack on.
-----
Chapter 2
Hope you enjoyed chapter 1! This was so much fun to write. I loved taking part in the event so much. Please consider checking out the rest of the art and fics from this event because there are so many talented people who took part. (My reading list is gonna be filled for at least the rest of the year, no lie.)
Just search the tag #ectoimplosion2023 to see what I mean.
#dpxdc#ectoimplosion2023#danny fenton#jason todd#the two ghost motel#my writing#danny has electricity trauma#and seeing his parents make then destroy a proto-ghost#...#well it wasn't good for him#but will where he ends up be any better?
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DP Prompt - Purify (& Aftermath)
Now, we've all seen fics where the Fentons try to cure Danny & Danny struggles, saying that they'll kill him & "please stop, I'm still your son" & then he dies.
But I don't think I've ever seen one also get the Fentons' reaction after he does. Them expecting to have just expunged Phantom, but doing so killed both sides of him. Where they really were doing it to save Danny's life & they were so sure it would work.
Thing is, it would've worked had Danny actually been possessed, but because Fenton & Phantom were one & the same, it killed him.
So his body is left with half the ectoplasm in his body bleeding away to leaving him looking like half Fenton & half Phantom.
I wanna see them crushed. Both of them. I want them destroyed & mourning in 2 completely different ways. Jack being inconsolable & Maddie in frantic disbelief, asserting that it should've worked, why didn't it work, & no, it's just a ghostly trick. Her baby boy is out there, she's sure of it.
I wanna see Jazz hate them for killing her baby brother, Sam & Tucker for killing their best friend. Tucker's practical brother. And in Sam's case, her maybe more than a best friend.
I wanna see the Fentons struggle with keeping the ghosts at bay because now that there's no Phantom, they're running rampant.
I wanna see the town rally against the Fentons for killing their protector.
I want havoc!
I want them to only now realize just how much Phantom did for them.
I want them to ask for Vlad's help, who knows what they did & despite how much they fought, he really did care for Daniel (in his own twisted way). How it makes him want to kill Jack even more now, not just for himself, but also for his little badger.
I want him to also feel betrayed by Maddie &, suddenly, she doesn't look like as much of an angel as she did before.
I want him to come to the realization that he's alone again & it's devastating to him. Then he remembers Ellie & for a brief second, hope wells up in his chest, until he remembers how he'd melted her down. It suddenly no longer matters to him that she wasn't the perfect clone. Just that he's not entirely alone even if she hates him.
I want the Fentons to eventually learn that Vlad & Plasmius are one & the same. At first, they think Vlad's being possessed like Danny was, but then Vlad rages at them & explains what'd happened in the hospital while they were off playing happy family as he rotted away like an infected wound. How it was their proto-portal that made him a freak & their ghost portal did the same to their son. How there is only one entity inside his body & his name is Vlad. How Daniel was the same & they tortured him for something that was their fault.
He calls them murderers & kid-killers (rather hypocritically) & he loathes them both.
Maybe, for the purpose of allowing a ray of hope to shine only to snuff it out afterwards, Danny does return as a full ghost, but he's younger than he should be (because he died a frightened child) he remembers nothing of his life & only has brief flashes of his time as Phantom. But he's a broken little thing with the appearance of both Fenton & Phantom fused together, split right down the middle. Fenton in the white & black hazmat that he wore just before he turned halfa. His arm is burned to a crisp where he touched the button inside the portal with, still lightly steaming, & lictenburg scars that glow going up his arm, his neck, branching out at his chest to cover his cheek & where his heart used to be, ectoplasmic replicas of the very straps that his parents had used to strap him down were bound tightly to his wrists & ankles, so tight that they bit into the skin, & he keeps losing consistency only to reform. He is, in a word, unstable. He has a very pure & unfiltered love of space, but is extremely timid & has a chilling, soul-deep fear of doctors & scientists. But little else beyond that. His skin is ice blue with glowing constellation freckles.
He recognizes no one & he never will because some deeply-hidden part of him doesn't want to.
In the end, he's taken in by Soujorn, who takes him journeying all over the universe & Danny doesn't even look back once. And he's happy & his friends & sister are mournfully happy for him, but Jack & Maddie are destroyed.
Give me all of them grieving in their own ways.
Give
Me
ANGST!!
DP Character Masterlist
#danny phantom#dp#purification#fenton parents#purify#angst#ectober#aftermath#consequences#emotional fallout#character death#maddie fenton#jack fenton#aikoiya prompt#vidisection
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The Trouble with Ghosts - Part X [FF | AO3]
Lancer hadn’t realized how closely young Mr. Fenton’s school troubles–and the secrets he surely wasn’t telling his parents–were tied to ghosts until after that encounter with Phantom.
<< < Part X >
-|-
The Picture of Dorian Gray, he didn’t think he could stand much more of this.
“Vlad’s like you,” Lancer repeated, and Danny squirmed. “Vlad Masters. The mayor.”
“How many other Vlads do you know?” Danny mumbled, not looking at him.
Lancer didn’t bother to answer that. “He shares your, ah, affliction, and he’s actively hunting you down?” Were there others? Lancer wasn’t sure he wanted to ask right now—Danny would surely latch onto that and turn the conversation in an entirely different direction—but the thought was…disquieting. A human with ghostly abilities…. The potential abuse of power alone was a terrifying prospect, but the number of people who might attempt to gain these powers, were the truth known that such a thing was possible….
Danny pulled a face but looked up. “I dunno if you can call it an affliction. We’re not sick. I mean, Vlad had the ecto-acne, but that was just because he got blasted in the face. I think. Maybe the pop did way more than just make the proto-portal malfunction. It’s just…. This is more a state of being. We just are this way. It’s easier not to question it.”
Easier for him, no doubt. Lancer wanted to press for details about whatever accident Danny was alluding to—he could guess what the proto-portal must have been, given the installation in the Fentons’ basement, though he was at a loss for everything else—but he didn’t want to allow young Mr. Fenton to lead him on a merry chase away from the subject at hand. Which he was clearly trying to do. Again.
Fortunately, it sounded like the circumstances that led to the creation of these ghostly abilities in humans were rare. Danny hadn’t given any details about his own accident, but if Vlad’s had involved a proto-portal—
No. He wasn’t going to ask now. The dubious safety of the FentonWorks lab could be addressed later. At least…. At least it wasn’t as bad as Lancer had first feared. At least Danny was still alive. He and Vlad both displayed too many signs of life for that not to be the case, particularly if Vlad’s accident had happened in his college years.
“So why, for David Copperfield’s sake, would Mr. Masters be hunting you instead of helping you?” If Vlad’s experience was remotely similar, and surely there must be similarity enough if the effects were the same, he could be helping Danny. Guiding him through this. Rebuilding an old friendship with Jack and Maddie while getting to know their kids. If he fancied Danny as the son he’d never had—
“Hunting me down isn’t the best way of putting it, either,” Danny said instead of answering what Lancer thought was a perfectly reasonable question. “He’s not like Skulker. He doesn’t want my pelt at the foot of his bed or on his mantle or anything gross like that.”
Lancer barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Danny was trying to sprinkle in little details that he hoped Lancer would follow up on instead of the more pressing matters at hand. The bait was blatantly obvious.
And harder not to take than it was to spot.
“You said he wishes you were his son. That he’s obsessed, to the point that he’s been conducting genetic experiments. If he wishes to be a mentor to you, why does he seem so set on trying to destroy you?”
“Uh. That’s not really important. I mean, it’s Vlad. It’s hard to say anyway.”
Sometimes, it was very hard to remember that he’d signed up to help his students, not strangle them.
“I rather think I know enough that telling me a few more supposedly unimportant details won’t make a significant difference to my health, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Danny winced. “Can we just change the subject for now and circle back later?”
Fine. If Danny didn’t want to talk about it right now, they didn’t have to talk about it right now. There was more than enough time for him to tell Lancer exactly which ghost was associated with the mayor—though he had an awful feeling that he might already know, if he allowed himself to think about it for any length of time. In the meantime, there were a number of other matters they should talk about sooner rather than later.
“Would you rather discuss exactly what you should tell Miss Gray?”
“…No?”
“Because you aren’t going to continue to let her do this,” Lancer continued. It wasn’t a question, and from the look on Danny’s face, he knew that. “You can’t. However skilled a ghost hunter she is, however skilled at evading her you usually are, you cannot allow her to continue to hunt you down simply because you feel that it is easier to be hurt and bear that pain and these secrets than to hurt her by telling her the truth.”
“Would you still be saying that if she shot me in the face with her ecto-gun once I told her?”
“Mr. Fenton. Do you honestly believe that would be her reaction?”
Danny was quiet for a moment. Then, “I guess not. But it’s still a possibility.”
“A more distant one than I’m sure you imagine,” Lancer said dryly. “Miss Gray is merely seeking to protect this town, much as you are. If neither of you will stop, you can at the very least share the burden and not make things worse for yourselves.” Danny looked like he was trying to come up with something he could use as a decent protest to this point, so Lancer added, “And if you do not tell her now, you will only invite more trouble for yourself. She is surely suspicious of us both, and if she does go to the mayor with her concerns….”
“Vlad’s going to be a problem either way.” Lancer just looked at Danny, and Danny relented. “But, yeah, you’re right, if Val mentions seeing me, he’ll know exactly where I am. I just…. Do I really have to tell her?”
That was a concession, whether or not Danny had realized it. “You do know her secret.”
“That’s, um, part of the problem.”
“Which will only grow into a greater problem unless you actively do something to resolve it. Contrary to what we all wish, most problems do not go away when ignored. It is high time you stopped ignoring this one. And once you tell Miss Gray, you will have a better idea of how to tackle the issue when you tell your parents.”
“But I don’t….” Danny trailed off. Lancer didn’t need to have as many years teaching under his belt as he did to recognize the unhappy expression on Danny’s face. He didn’t want to do this. He had no desire to do this now.
But he also knew he should, and that was one of the many reasons Lancer was going to win this particular argument.
Really, he already had.
“Are you ready to discuss Mr. Masters candidly, then?” Danny shook his head, so Lancer sighed and got to his feet. “Very well. I’ll see if I can catch Miss Gray—or the Red Huntress. Please, for the love of Robinson Crusoe, stay here. You won’t be doing anyone any favours if you try to sneak off, least of all yourself.” In a softer tone, he added, “You aren’t out of the woods quite yet.”
“Vlad doesn’t want me dead,” was all Danny said. He didn’t promise to stay put, and Lancer wasn’t keen on the idea of trusting in young Mr. Fenton’s common sense, but between what Danny had confided and what Lancer had guessed, he hoped there was enough trust between them for Danny to trust him, too.
And trust him enough to listen to him.
He didn’t know if he’d be able to find Valerie, but he knew that if he didn’t leave now, he had no hope until after school was let out. The lunch break would be over soon. If she truly intended to observe that, she couldn’t stay in his neighbourhood for long, even if she was looking for clues to Phantom’s whereabouts. Furthermore, if he were able to find her, convincing her to come back with him would take more time. If Danny truly wanted to run, he’d have ample opportunity.
But trust must go both ways.
Still, it was hard not to regret leaving Danny alone.
XXXXXXXX
Danny wanted to bolt. He stayed in bed, holding his breath and listening as Lancer locked the front door behind him. And then he wanted to jump up and transform and fly away and hide.
Except he still couldn’t fly, and even if he just walked out the front door and left it unlocked behind him, invisibility was still out. And he didn’t know what he could tell his parents about what had happened to him when they inevitably found him. If he walked out as Fenton, someone could call them, if only so they could get some peace and quiet. If he walked out as Phantom, well….
Danny sighed and slumped back.
Despite what he’d implied when talking about Sam and Tucker borrowing the Spectre Speeder, getting into the Ghost Zone was easier said than done right now, if only because getting home undetected seemed nearly impossible. It offered no guarantee of sanctuary, anyway—at least not from Vlad. Even if there were somewhere safe he could go, running wouldn’t solve his problems. Lancer wasn’t going to let this go. He wouldn’t just forget about this. He wouldn’t just ignore it. Danny had no way to reset the situation.
He wasn’t sure he’d do that even if he had the chance.
He hadn’t thought anyone would react like this. Jazz was concerned, sure, but she’d never tried to stop him from doing what he was. She opposed Vlad when she could, they all did, but he knew she wasn’t doing as much as she might because protecting his secret meant protecting Vlad’s, too.
Except Lancer had figured out his secret, and Danny had told him about Vlad, and even if Vlad could get Lancer fired or worse, Lancer was willing to take the risk.
Or, more accurately, Lancer was willing to face the consequences.
Because there would be consequences.
There had to be consequences.
Even Valerie…. What would Valerie say to this? What would Lancer say to her when he found her? How much was he going to tell her before he expected Danny to admit to everything he’d kept secret for so long? Would Valerie even be able to look him in the eye after this? Would she warm to Phantom because it was him or scorn Fenton because of what he was?
“I need to not worry about this,” Danny muttered. That was easier said than done, of course. Just because he couldn’t control how anyone else would react didn’t mean he wouldn’t rather keep them in the dark forever.
But Lancer was right.
Sooner or later, that ignorance would put them in danger. He might not be able to protect them. And…and not telling them was as much for selfish reasons as any excuse he told himself to justify putting off telling the truth. He really was protecting himself more than he was protecting them.
It was just…hard.
Even just thinking about telling them everything. Valerie, his parents…. So much had happened. Maybe too much. He knew it was easy to put it off, he knew that would only make telling them later harder, but he still….
He still wished he had more time. That he could do this on his own terms. That he didn’t feel forced into it, between Vlad’s actions and Lancer’s decrees.
If he was being honest with himself, though, he knew that he might never tell anyone unless he had to.
It was too easy to focus on the possible negatives than dare to hope for any of the positives.
Danny lost track of time. He didn’t notice the door open, but he heard voices, and a sudden terror seized in his chest. Lancer had found Valerie. Whatever he’d told her, he’d brought her back, and—
“Danny?” That was Valerie, knocking on the door frame of Lancer’s spare room. Danny blinked and tried to focus. Judging by the confusion on her face, Lancer hadn’t told her much. “Mr. Lancer said you needed to talk to me?”
She didn’t ask why it couldn’t wait, why he hadn’t said anything when she’d been there earlier, or what would so important that Lancer had gone after her and would be perfectly okay with her skipping school for this.
She didn’t really need to, though.
“Yeah.” His voice was weak. Danny swallowed, unsuccessfully trying to push down his fear, and said, “Sit down, Val.”
She looked over her shoulder, but Lancer hadn’t followed her. She moved to the foot of the bed and sat. As the silence stretched between them, Danny could hear a kettle beginning to boil.
Tea—or whatever Lancer offered them—wouldn’t fix this.
Danny wasn’t even sure it would smooth things over.
But it would give him something to hide behind, and Danny was grateful for that.
“What’s going on?” Valerie finally asked.
“I….” How was he supposed to go about this? He never intended to tell Valerie like this. He wasn’t even sure he’d ever intended to tell her. “It’s, um…. It’s kinda complicated.”
She waited, raising her eyebrows in a prompt to continue when he didn’t.
“It’s just….” Asking her to promise not to freak out wouldn’t do any good. “Look, recently Mr. Lancer, um, kinda found out a few things.”
“About?”
Everything. “Some, uh, ghost stuff. It’s…. I’m sorry. This isn’t easy to explain.”
Valerie frowned. “Danny, if this is about something your parents invented, why not talk to Sam and Tucker? They know more about that stuff than I do.”
“It’s…not exactly that? It’s, uh….”
“Look, just why did you want to talk to me? It’s not that I don’t want to be your friend, but this doesn’t really seem like it involves me. I should be in school. You should probably be sleeping if you won’t go to a hospital. Y’know, to regain your strength.”
There was no easy way to say any of this. “I know your secret.”
She froze for a split second before forcing a smile. “It’s not really a secret anymore. Besides, I hardly have to do the mascot job now. I’ve got enough seniority that I’m usually on cash or in the back.”
“I don’t mean your job at the Nasty Burger.” He should just come out and say it. He should—
“I made you two some hot chocolate,” Lancer said, coming into the room with two steaming mugs topped with little marshmallows. He set them on the dresser. “I’ll be in the kitchen doing some marking if you need anything.”
They watched as he left, neither moving to grab the hot chocolate. Danny was tempted, but—
“This is weird,” Valerie said. “I mean, Mr. Lancer’s being nice and all, but it’s still weird. I’m just going to head back to school, okay? Call me after if you actually need something, and—”
“I know you’re the Red Huntress,” Danny said.
Valerie couldn’t school her expression quickly enough, but she still poured the incredulity into her voice as she asked, “Are you kidding? You think I’m the Red Huntress? I mean, I’m flattered, she’s awesome, but I barely have time to do my homework as it is.”
“You got your new suit from Technus,” Danny continued, “but Vlad still supplies all your weapons. And I’m assuming he empties your thermos, too. He’s got a ghost portal in his secret lab.”
Valerie stared at him. “Vlad. As in Vlad Masters? You think he has a secret lab with a ghost portal? Your parents are the ghost hunters, Danny, not him.”
“They worked together in college,” Danny said. “They thought Vlad gave it up after his accident, but he didn’t. He just focused on some other stuff for a while.” He took a slow breath and then chickened out rather than take this opportunity to spill everything. “I know the whole story, Valerie. Including why you started doing this in the first place. You don’t need to keep pretending.”
Valerie studied him in silence, maybe trying to figure out if she could convince him he was wrong. In the end, all she said was, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help when you got caught in that ghost fight.”
You were. “It, ah, wasn’t the kind of ghost fight that you’re thinking. Look, I know this is a lot to take in. I’ve known for a long time. Pretty much right from the start.”
“How? Who told you?”
Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “No one really needed to tell me. And, uh, you should know that Lancer figured it out, too. When you came by this afternoon.”
Now her eyes were narrowed. “And what gave him that idea? That I’m the Red Huntress just because I dropped by to do some fundraising?”
Danny swallowed. “Because he knows—we both know—that that’s not why you really came. You’re looking for Phantom.”
Valerie straightened up, the last vestiges of her pretense dropping away completely. “He’s here, isn’t he? I knew it. My tracker’s never been that far off. He’s the one who told you two, isn’t he?” Perhaps catching the look on Danny’s face, she hastened to add, “It’s nothing personal, I swear. I know you think he’s a good ghost, but—”
“Valerie, the whole reason you’re hunting ghosts is because it’s personal. You think Phantom’s the reason your dad lost his job, and—”
“You don’t know the whole story,” Valerie interrupted. “You can’t, so don’t pretend you do. And it’s not just about Phantom. He’s not the only ghost in this town. He’s just the only one that’s convinced everyone else except your parents and Mr. Masters that he’s good.”
“Actually,” Danny said slowly, “you’re the one who doesn’t know the whole story.”
He wished he had the hot chocolate to hide behind now, but it was a good thing Valerie was empty-handed; she might be tempted to throw it on him otherwise. It wouldn’t stop her from calling up her suit and trying to shoot him, but hopefully the fact that this was Lancer’s house would if nothing else did. Maybe she’d just settle for screaming at him?
“What are you talking about? Of course I—”
“The thing is,” interrupted Danny, “you never let me tell it.”
“Just now?”
“Pretty much any time you saw me.” She was confused. He could see that easily enough. Confused and ready to protest. Again. And he…. He just had to say it. Say it and show her. “Cujo’s not my dog, and I never meant to ruin your life. I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I’m….” He’d come too far not to say it, but he found himself staring at his hands and unable to meet her eyes. “I’m Danny Phantom.”
Silence.
He risked looking up, only to see her staring at him. “I’m, uh, not kidding. I really am Phantom.”
Her expression gave away nothing, so he risked transforming.
It was the only thing he could do to show her, anyway. To prove that he was telling the truth. About everything.
Valerie’s expression tightened, her hands balling into fists, but she didn’t call out her suit. She didn’t try to shoot him.
She blinked.
Blinked again.
Abruptly stood up and left—fled—without a word.
Danny didn’t try to follow her. He just sat there, hoping she’d come back. When he heard Mr. Lancer down the hall, he knew she wasn’t. He got up, closed the bedroom door, and grabbed the two mugs of hot chocolate from the dresser. He kept one as he crawled back into bed and set the other on the bedside table, hoping the drinks would be distraction enough from what had happened.
The mug was lukewarm in his hands, but his insides were cold. He wasn’t particularly hungry anymore, but maybe this would warm him up. He just felt… He just needed something. Jazz would probably hug him, talk to him, but he wasn’t about to go out there and chase Valerie down. He’d rather ask for her forgiveness later. Sometime when he’d worked up the nerve to see her again and she’d actually want to see him again.
Danny took a sip of the hot chocolate. The marshmallows had melted into a sweet foam on top. Ordinarily, he’d like it, but now….
It was hard to keep his stomach from turning, given Val’s reaction.
After how Lancer had taken it, he’d hoped…. He’d hoped it wouldn’t be this bad. He’d hoped she’d at least talk to him, even if that talk had started with yelling.
But just leaving….
It was too easy to remember Spectra’s words. Too easy to be tempted to believe them.
Not a ghost, not a boy. A freak. Just some creepy little boy with creepy little powers.
Valerie must see him that way, and if she took it like this…. He’d have to do the damage control he could. Convince Lancer to give it up. Not keep pursuing this, wanting him to tell his parents or do something about Vlad. Things didn’t have to change. He didn’t…. He couldn’t….
The first tear dripped off his chin and into his hot chocolate.
By the time the last one fell, the drink in his hands was cold.
XXXXXX
Lancer had made a point of leaving the kids to themselves. He didn’t think he’d be a mediating force as much as an interference; the fact that he’d arranged everything, that this meeting was taking place on his terms at his house, should be mediation enough. If he gave them the time to sort this out for themselves, they could work through whatever needed to be worked through. Then, he could help them when they were ready for his help.
He only got halfway through the first essay before Miss Gray appeared at his side. A few tears tracked down her cheeks; most still gathered in her eyes, no doubt blurring her vision as she looked down at him. “Did you know?” she whispered.
He had perhaps misjudged the situation after all. Lancer gestured for Valerie to pull out a chair, and she did, barely looking as she flopped down. “I learned about your, ah, extracurricular activities less than an hour ago.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I’m afraid I only found out about Mr. Fenton’s condition this morning as well.” In truth, it hadn’t been long before Miss Gray had turned up on his doorstep, but it felt much longer.
Maybe he had pushed too hard, rushed this, but given the circumstances his students were facing, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.
It was better that the truth came out now rather than in worse circumstances. Whatever Danny thought, he couldn’t keep his secret forever. From the rest of the world, sure, but those he interacted with so often? Particularly when he’d said his ghostly enemies were well aware of the situation? Not all the ghosts he faced would be so honourable as to respect his wishes. Sooner or later, one would come along which would use his secrecy against him.
As far as Lancer was concerned, Vlad Masters already was.
“Then you….” Valerie sniffed and wiped at her nose with the back of one hand. “Then you know what I’ve done. What I’ve been doing. I…I thought…. Why wouldn’t he just tell me? Explain? I wouldn’t have…. I wouldn’t….”
“I expect he was afraid,” Lancer murmured. He reached over to the counter for a box of tissues and passed them to Valerie. She took one and almost immediately needed another. “Not of you, Miss Gray. Not exactly. He was afraid to hope for the best. This means that he feared not being believed, that the misunderstandings would grow, or perhaps that people would be angry at him for keeping his secret as long as he did and not try to understand why he would make that choice. Perhaps most of all, he feared the consequences of hoping the truth would be well received and finding that hope misplaced.”
Valerie sniffled but said nothing.
“Some of his reasons for keeping his secrets,” added Lancer quietly, “might well align with yours.”
She stiffened but didn’t deny it, which confirmed his suspicion that very few people knew the identity of the Red Huntress.
“Another reason for wanting to keep his secret is that he didn’t want to hurt you with the truth.”
“That’s stupid,” Valerie said immediately. “I mean, I could’ve…. I almost….” She shook her head. “I need to tell my benefactor. He’ll…. He’ll be able to fix my stuff. Make sure it doesn’t hurt Danny. So I don’t do this again by mistake. I don’t…. I can’t hurt him. Not again.”
Lancer blinked. Danny hadn’t told her that Vlad—? “I’m afraid Mr. Masters is already aware of the situation.”
“What?” The news seemed to have shocked away her tears. “No, he can’t be. He’s only after ghosts. Danny’s human.” She hesitated. “Isn’t he?”
“He’s still human,” Lancer assured her. He didn’t know the details, but if nothing else, Danny was human in every way that mattered.
At least Valerie wasn’t trying to deny Vlad’s involvement. She no doubt correctly suspected that Danny had filled him in on that little tidbit after he’d deduced her identity. That was for the best; he’d like her cooperation moving forward.
“Then he can’t know. He wouldn’t…. He asked me to go after Phantom!”
“From what Danny tells me,” Lancer said quietly, “he is not the most scrupulous of people.” Cloning. Experimentation. He’d spare Valerie the details for now; she’d no doubt have questions he couldn’t answer. “You would have to ask Danny to explain what he can to you. In the grand scheme of things, I fear he’s told me very little.”
Valerie said nothing, focusing instead on stuffing the mound of damp tissues on her lap into a dry one, which she promptly shoved into her pocket.
At least it wasn’t another denial.
“I know this is a lot to take in.” Treasure Island, he knew. “It may be little comfort, but I called the school after you went in to talk to Danny. Your absence this afternoon is excused. I know you would likely prefer to clear your head, but if you’re willing, Danny could use our help.”
Her mouth twisted. “Right. Because he’s still recovering. From being in a ghost fight. Where he was the ghost.” She took a shuddering breath and wiped at her eyes. “Yeah. I’ll do whatever I can.”
-|-
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Yugioh S4 E3: So Many Dragons in This One
Y’all so I’m like getting over a pretty nasty cold that’s pretty much wiped me clean like a hard reset and this episode coinciding with it is something else because this episode is essentially a fever dream start to finish.
First off:
If your mind didn’t immediately start playing ska-like alt rock and go through every lyric from “Escape From the City” then I can’t help you. Because that’s where my mind directly went and stayed for the entirety of this episode.
Back in the museum, Yugi learns about some more crypto-history.
Because Y’all, Yugioh just LOVES to screw with history. I mean we’ve already seen what they did to Seto Kaiba’s timeline, but get a load of what they’re about to do with world history.
(Arthur now has the USA gradient because I was at a loss of how else to describe Arthur. If Bandit Keith comes back then I’ll be mixing fonts, yet again.)
This was done mostly to recap the last 3 seasons, but also to drop in some brand new lore that came out of freakin nowhere.
Atlantis.
Yes, he said Atlantis.
(read more under the cut)
In the actual dialogue of the show, Tea mentions she read a single book about Atlantis once in her life, and then Joey and Tristan go “Tea, you nerd!” and it’s like wow the standards are low in this group. One single book, boys? That’s all it takes to be a nerd? When you have any of the KAIBAS right over there? One single book is the requirement?
Starting to think no one in this universe knows what a nerd is.
So the underwater cave dwelling from a few episodes back is none other than the Atlantis ruins. I feel like this should be a way bigger deal in terms of like all of history, since in this universe, Atlantis is time wise at the dawn of (checks wikipedia)...proto-writing...and yet they seem to really have their math and large construction science down.
The arch wasn’t really utilized (I hesitate to say “discovered” as it is an arch) until about 2000 BC or so. Good on the Atlanteans, I guess?
Don’t know why we’re getting so sidetracked by cards when a civilization 10000 years ago could make immense underwater 60 ft castles that don’t immediately collapse under the pressure, but this is the Yugioh universe and everyone’s card addiction runs strong and true.
It just seems funny to me that Hawkins, who devoted I want to say like 60 years of his life toward becoming a walking encyclopedia about Egypt, got super sidetracked and ended up 10000 leagues under the sea in Atlantis. He just threw all that Egypt work completely to the wind and basically changed his career at age I dunno 70 or so. Or maybe this guy is only 50 but he just seems super way old to me.
(And raising his granddaughter for some reason? Hell knows what happened to Rebecca’s parents, but knowing Yugioh, it will probably be really, really tragic.)
So then, although Atlantis is in our world and under the sea, Hawkins decides to throw another fast one on us.
(I just chose a random number, but Buzzfeed decided Washington was 34th. Which is wild.)
Bro took this moment to explain to me in great and excruciating detail that the Atlanteans in Aquaman did in fact invent tanks. Aquaman is his favorite. Ya, I know.
So I thought “ah, this is the Shadow Realm” (since we have seen Bakura just make a monster a real boy before) but then it became kind of unclear if the Shadow Realm is a different realm than this other realm which is just where the nice monsters live. So um...I’m still not sure about that one, I’ll get back to you when it’s made clear (I may never get back to you on that one)
Then Rebecca decides to drop this lore about the ghost that lives in Yugi Muto’s head that we’ve been *pretty Sure* up to this point was strictly Egyptian dealing with strictly Egyptian things.
I am not entirely sure how we’re going to take a guy who lived 5000 years ago and explain why he’s living now in AD 2002 Yugi Muto’s head because of some guy 10000 years ago. But they’re going to try.
Like I’ve heard this referred to as a filler season, because it uh did not happen in the Manga. So, legally, they can’t really touch the manga at all (and I assume they were probably waiting for the manga to finish at this point), and so we’re just gonna...pull Atlantis out of nowhere because the nice thing about Atlantis is that it is so freakin old that it is well outside of copyright. Completely fair use. But it’s still kinda wild.
Also, Yugi made sure to off-handedly tell us that most of the monsters who’ve invaded their world have been very, very, nice, and that’s why everyone has been so chill.
I mean. OK?
You still have literal dragons flying around but apparently only some of the dragons are mean and attack, the rest just chill and float around like a fish or something. Personally, I wouldn’t be thrilled by this.
Hawkins notices Yugi’s enchanted dead guy necklace, and without asking “so...does this belong to a dead guy? Did you get this from the dead guy’s corpse? Yugi? Yugi, look at me. Yugi, young man, is this another dead guy necklace you’ve been carrying around in your pocket because I feel like I see a problem here, buster.”
Hawkins suggests, instead:
Oh OK...that’s a lot to take in.
Didn’t expect giant possessed lady statues but it’s a nice spooky touch. Can’t have enough giant possessed lady statues in your anime, honestly.
Also, I’m really glad they gave this skinny lady statue a double chin.
And after all that, Hawkins decides he’s done with his one single afternoon in Japan, and he’s going to go and travel 16 hours back to the US stuck in a plane within hearing distance of Rebecca. Worth that 32 hour round trip for that one afternoon in Japan (or actually one way is 4 hours longer than the other way or something? I forget the details.)
And like the show had him blush and then Tea got mad, but like Yugi also blushed when Mai gave him a note once that said “thanks for the help!” so I feel like Yugi just shuts down completely whenever he has to deal with girls.
Maybe this is just the face Yugi makes when he quickly enters the pyramid zone and is like “Pharaoh, it’s getting mad weird out there!” And Pharaoh’s just sitting on his throne eating cheese whiz straight out of a can in star pj’s with matching bootspants and he’s like “My Gods, Yugi! If I’m here, and you’re here, who’s driving the plane!?” and then they just start shrugging at eachother about who has to go on the date this time until Yugi snaps out of it.
ah, a disembodied voice.
Literally thought it was my own voice.
It keeps Yugi up for a while, but when has Yugi ever fallen asleep right away on this show?
After Yugi calms down enough to go the hell to bed, we zoom back to our Xtreme sports boys who have finally decided to stop Tony Hawking all over this island long enough to deliver the sober news that Gurimo is freakin dead.
Which they barely brought up at all because who freakin cares about Gurimo? This guy sure didn’t.
Cool. Good plan.
Hard to rebuild civilization without people. Just throwing that out there.
But ya. Lets go end mankind on Episode 3. Thought it would take a little bit longer for him to get enough soul juice but apparently he’s good on the soul juice from these three juicy cards that have no souls (I thought).
3 God Cards + 1 Gurimo - 1 Rex - 1 Weevil = Destroy Humanity
First, a dream sequence.
This is one bizarre ass dream sequence and like...I don’t even know if I have much to say because it’s like...so out of left field and both out of the lore of this show and just barely inside the lore enough for it to work.
Still feels hella out of nowhere though.
That may be just the Dayquil talking.
Either way, we get to have Yugi run around in pjs again, but unfortunately they have no stars so I just don’t freakin care when see it. I get that stars are hard to animate and he’s a year older and maybe grew out of the star pj’s but c’mon. We had a good thing going, show.
But they hear a voice within the pyramid, and I’m using Tea’s font color here but it’s not Tea, it’s another girl who is...a lot like Tea honestly.
So up to this point we’ve accepted that the puzzle is all of Pharaoh’s mysteries and also mixed with the memories of Yugi as well. We have a room of short term memory (that pharaoh never uses) full of little clones of Yugi’s friends. We have a room full of all the lego pieces that Yugi lost over his young life (and 2 very cursed tamagachis.) We have a room that has a gigantic guardian Dark Magician who almost killed Shadi once. We also have several rooms that are just traps that can basically kill you, or if you are Shadi, just totally set you on fire, because screw Shadi.
Also it has this room:
But we find a new room that is like an entire fantasy realm and it’s like...so what memory is this?
Somewhat confusing if you’re me and you’ve assumed up to this point that everything in the puzzle has something to do with Pharaoh’s past. Apparently there’s just a door to another world in here they just never knew was here.
Just this entire time Yugi and Pharaoh were completely unaware that they had a DOOR TO ANOTHER WORLD in their necklace. Which, as I mentioned before, is where all the duel monsters live, but looks nothing like the Shadow Realm, which we’ve seen before.
And like honestly I kinda just figured at first that the giant eye was supposed to be there eating dragons, as if this was some sort of cycle of life for the duel monsters, to be a dragon, grow old, and then get devoured by the eyeball in the sky to start over again as nutrients to feed the baby dragons.
But in fact the eye is Not Normal and we should be alarmed by it.
Very hard to know what should and should not be normal when I’ve never seen this place before, also it has three crystal dragons that I guess the other monsters MUST be worshiping or something because check out the purple tile palace they made just for these crystal dragons.
Like this made me ask a LOT of questions about the civilization of duel monsters. Like who made this? Did a bunch of Kuriboh make this? Hell does this civilization works and is it a monarchy and are there castes?
Do they do taxes?
And then we meet her, the voice asking for our help, it’s this girl. Dark Magician girl. Nice to finally meet you. Wish it had a little more build up and made more sense.
We’ve talked to this chick before. She was digital at the time, but she kind of pretends that she already knows Pharaoh and Yugi and they kinda just...take this as it comes. I mean there wasn’t much time to deliver this dialogue so they were like, if the lady in the cornucopia hat says so, I guess we have to do the thing.
It is nice that we do finally get an explanation for why Pegasus could make all these cards but could not resurrect his dead wife--being that she is...not from this world.
But like now the puzzle not only dives into Pharaoh’s past but is also just a straight up a dimension portal. You can just...visit these people whenever? I guess?
I was getting used to the puzzle being a very large metaphor, and I wasn’t actually prepared for it to have a utilitarian use like a Stargate. This asks a lot of questions, but put those questions aside because we have to adopt this dragon by pulling a huge ass sword out of it’s right eyeball.
This show is SO mean to eyeballs.
She explains that there was some lore that lead to this sword being plunged into this buddy’s eye over here but I forgot it already. It was like half a sentence and then it was gone and I’m on Dayquil and I’m sure it’ll come back. At some point they’ll bring it all full circle, I’m sure.
Like if this happened in a dream then does this place even exist on a mortal plane at all? Can it only be accessed through dreams and being dead? It’s kind of a fascinating concept since these duel monsters have to be summoned through paper, which has all sorts of relevant meaning in a lot of Eastern mythologies.
Stuff I’ll never know because say goodbye to the Duel Monster Land that Apparently-Exists-Now-And-Absolutely-Always-Existed,-Stop-Thinking-About-Who-Invented-Tanks,-It-Was-Obviously-The-Atlanteans-10000-Years-Ago, we’re gonna go and take this huge ass dragon we have no business inheriting but are anyway because the dumbass ghost in our brain has this grand reputation that he banished some sort of evil 5000 years ago but has absolutely no memory of how the hell he did that or what even occurred, and because of his completely wiped bean, this makes him a complete idiot at best and a complete psychopath at his absolute worst.
But yeah, lets take this dragon and see what happens.
You gotta bring furniture, but the dragon is free. 2 bedrooms, no rugs, it’s free.
I just realized we got a dragon and not the sword. Only in this anime.
And then he wakes up to the last thing I expected.
It was nice of Yugi to take the time it took for him to get entirely dressed and ready, but I guess if the world has to end you gotta go out in style. Which for him means his school uniform because, although Yugi absolutely hates this school for some reason, he has a lot of pride for it. Just a crazy amount of school pride for how rarely he attends school and for the lengths he went to get out of soccer practice that one time. But will Yugi be caught dead in anything but his school colors? No.
HOW IS THIS CITY STILL STANDING.
Also Kaiba must be having a wild time on the top of Kaiba Tower but maybe he took a helicopter a while back to go on a world dragon tour because we didn’t hear a peep out of him this entire very Very VERY dragon-centric episode.
Really weird how many dragons there are with so few Kaibas. It’s like the moment they turned around, every dragon on Earth came out of hiding to throw a huge ass dragon party.
PS get a load of this dragon.
Why would you ever give a dragon an ass?
I don’t even know how this is possible because it doesn’t have a butt crack, but it’s got serious ass going on. It’s the Lizzo of dragons, when you set it to defense mode, it probs just twerks to intimidate the other side.
(Yugi’s friends are so freakin patient OMG)
Also how the hell can Yugi play this card on his duel disk if neither Kaiba or Pegasus have any idea this card exists? Magic, I guess? The duel disk is part magic?
Not like it matters much, we know from Bakura that you don’t need a duel disk to make real boy cards if you have a millennium item anyway.
So at this point I’m like...I think I watched the last episode of the season, I think it’s...out of order and bro was like “nope...it’s Episode 3. We’re still on Episode 3.”
And so after that it closed the...dimension joining portal, which was a Golden Compass style aurora borealis, then Dark Magician Girl returned to her home planet.
...Which is also dangling around Yugi’s neck.
This was a lot.
I have a lot of questions.
Everyone in domino SHOULD have a lot of questions but I think they all went back to bed.
A tornado with a GLOWING EYE tried to destroy their city, and they just rolled over and went back to bed.
This season sure takes off really quickly holy crap.
Now fair warning, because I’ve been hella sick the next recap is uhh...a huge mess so it will probably be a week or so before I post it/even get to it. At some point I started numbering them completely wrong and I either saved 10 caps to a different folder or I never made them in the first place and I honestly am not entirely sure. Last week is kind of a blur and it’s a mess on my desktop right now, so my pacing is gonna reflect that because I am...behind...on everything.
Oh dude and actually now that I look at what date it freakin is, I have to go to one of my best friends weddings real soon so can we just say...it might be a few weeks before I can steadily update again? I have to learn a whole dance routine for this giant wedding and y’all, I am not a dancer. And, while my friends have had dance classes since they were like 5, I’m like...low key extremely certain I will fall completely on my ass. Anyway, there is no way out of this situation I thought would never actually happen, and thought was just a funny idea they invented when they got drunk at the bachelorette, but nah, they remembered, and this is really happening but the bride will think it’s funny so here we go.
PS this dance is to the only existing mashup of Bollywood and N*syncs Bye Bye Bye (which, yes, it is a breakup song) I hope you feel the second hand embarrassment through your computer, I am dancing for 300+ people. Directly following the groom’s parent’s dance, which is 10 minutes long, and for which they hired a professional choreographer. We are the only dance out of four epically spectacular dances that is from the bride’s side, and our dance is...2 minutes and the equivalent of a high school lipsync.
TBH I'm low key excited to do it because potentially it could be a really great story depending on the reaction of what happens.
Anyway, so if I disappear for a while only to post fanart I’ve drawn out of stress, that is what I’ve been doing in the background. I’ve just been trying to remember how to do the Bye Bye Bye dance correctly for 2 straight weeks while feverishly trying to catch up with all my other work.
Also, because I mentioned George Washington, I had to go and find the horny grandma clip from Gilmore Girls and I’m so glad that two people on the internet managed to clip it, and I can’t believe the only two people who’ve clipped this did it with their phones. In fact, kudos to this youtuber for videoing a Tablet with his phone, because there’s no better way to watch a show from the 00′s than to make you feel really illegal about it.
youtube
#Yugioh#ygo#photo recap#episode recap#Yugi Muto#dragons#Joey Wheeler#Tea Gardner#Tristan Taylor#Arthur Hawkins#Rebecca Hawkins#Grandpa Muto#The Eye of Sauran or something#Again this episode is kind of a blur and I'm amazed I managed to cap anything this week#Oh yeah#The lost city of atlantis#s4 ep3
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On P5/DCMK...
I saw a very interesting post earlier that compared P5 and Detective Conan/Magic Kaito, drawing parallels between Hakuba and Kasumi, and between Akechi and Shinichi. (Not reblogging because the OP does not need my word vomit clogging up their dash.) I’m going to have to say that honestly, I see it the other way around-- Akechi is Hakuba and Kasumi is Shinichi. I suspect the OP has seen a bit more of the Royal trailers than I have, of course… but I’m gonna do a bit of a deep dive into Hakuba and Shinichi’s character evolutions first, and then explain the way I see the correspondence. I know the OP was focusing almost totally on their relationships to Joker... but I’m going to nerd out a bit further.
Okay, so it all starts back in the late 80’s with the manga Magic Kaito. Aoyama’s first manga series, if you can believe that. Magic Kaito introduces us to Kuroba Kaito, teenage magician, prankster, and occasional pervert. (It was manga in ‘87, that was practically required.) He slapsticks his way through a school day, and then discovers that his father, long dead in an accident, was the legendary thief Kaitou Kid! But Kaitou Kid is holding a heist tonight! Kaito crashes, dressed in his dad’s old costume and learns that his father’s accident was actually murder, and swears to bring the culprits to justice. So right away, we’ve got the tone set-- a lot of slapstick and silly humor, with the occasional dramatic suckerpunch hitting when you don’t so much expect it.
That goes on for two volumes, with mostly silly stories about Kid escaping an army of robot surveillance cameras, Kid helping a little boy deal with bullies, Kid dealing with an honest-to-god witch who’s attempting to put him under her spell, Kaito and Aoko hunting ghosts that turn out to be a teacher trying to hide his research into hair growth formula… you get the idea. Then in 88, Kid went on hiatus, as Aoyama had moved onto his next manga, Yaiba!
Then we hit 1994. Yaiba has just ended, as has a short baseball-themed series called Yoban Saado, and so Aoyama comes back to Kid. His drawing style has evolved and so has his storytelling-- seven years of continuous work will do that to you. There’s still a lot of slapstick and silliness, but the drama has tightened up its act and is now setting snares for you instead of just punching you and running off laughing. It’s in this period of time that we meet Hakuba Saguru.
I should pause at this moment to say that Aoyama Gosho has some of the strongest special interests I have ever seen in a mangaka. The man loves Sherlock Holmes, Arsene Lupin, stage magic, and baseball, not necessarily in that order. He also loves working in a semi-unified world. Yaiba ended with a character announcing that “Kuroba and Nakamori,” IE, Kaito and his best friend Aoko, were finally going out. The new volume has a chapter in which Kid goes up against Yaiba in one of the most ridiculously slapstick things the series has done at this point. Remember this for later.
So into this mess comes Hakuba Saguru, transfer student. Hakuba’s role, as suits the slightly more focused and dramatic tone of the series in this volume, is to be an antagonist slightly more competent than Nakamori. His initals make him a reference to Herlock Sholmes, but as he’s half-British, reading his name in the Western fashion does evoke Sherlock Holmes. Really, at this point, Saguru is not narratively one particular reference as he is The Detective-As-Antagonist. He’s handsome, smug, confident, charming, brilliant, and basically a rival to Kaito in every arena, from school to romance to their nightly activities. His very first appearance has him ignoring the trick that the rest of the police fall for, forcing Kid to step up his game. Not long after that, he actually manages to realize that Kuroba Kaito is Kaitou Kid, and comes up with a clever plan to prove it. Unfortunately, he’s still in the Magic Kaito manga, and thus is thwarted by a witch riding in on her broom. (It makes sense in context.)
It’s towards the end of this volume that Kid learns of the gem Pandora, the reason his father was murdered, and vows to find the gem himself and destroy it. At this point, Kid switches from stealing various interesting baubles to targeting gems and only gems.
… And cue Detective Conan, which has been running for, as of this writing, twenty-five years. (Dear God.) This introduces us to Kudou Shinichi, detective and Sherlock Holmes otaku extraordinaire. One of the first things we learn about Shinichi is that he is incredibly privileged. (He’s also a huge dork, but I digress.) He’s handsome. He’s rich. His parents love him, but they’re out of the country, leaving him to live on his own with a ridiculous degree of freedom. He has cases to stimulate him. He’s a brilliant detective whom the police and media adore. The kids at school love him, though none can really be considered his friends except Mouri Ran, his best friend. Shinichi’s biggest problem in life is that Ran has a nasty habit of cracking concrete with her fists when he says something insensitive. Later flashbacks and retcons tell us that Shinichi, while he can be hugely thoughtless, is nevertheless instantly ready to throw all of that power and privilege behind protecting the weak and the innocent. He’s just… better with victims and witnesses than he is with normal social interaction.
Contrast this with Hakuba, who while, yes, he’s rich and charming and his father has enormous social and political pull as the Superintendent of the police... he’s still half-white. And thus will always be, on some level, an outsider. Neither manga does a lot with this, but it is still there.
Then he witnesses a drug deal, gets shrunk into an elementary-schooler, and it all goes down the tubes. Shinichi starts off as being very much like Hakuba-- or rather, Hakuba was a sort of proto-Shinichi. But Shinichi has twenty-five years of appearances and is the protagonist, so he gets the kind of character development Hakuba could only dream of. Shinichi loses almost everything and has to build it anew, without the privilege he had to begin with. In the process, he grows and changes, becoming more thoughtful and more appreciative, with less smugness and ego.
Into this world, Gosho decides to do one of his usual things, and drop Kaitou Kid in for a story. Holmes vs. Lupin, it’ll be fun, right? The fans ate it up, and so Kid became a regular guest star. After that, when doing Sunset Mansion, a story loosely based on Young Kindaichi’s “House of Wax” story, which involves a detective gathering, Hakuba Saguru was a natural choice. And here we come to one of Hakuba’s issues as a character.
It’s now the year 2000. Detective Conan, always more serious in tone than Magic Kaito, given the rampant murders, has progressed in the past six years. The art is better, the storytelling is more dramatic… And Hakuba’s previous narrative slot has been filled by Shinichi. What does Gosho do with him? I think a lot of the characterization that follows was Gosho trying to get a handle on who Hakuba IS, in a world where all the characters he played off of have changed so dramatically. In Sunset Mansion, he acts more like James Bond than either Herlock Sholmes or Sherlock Holmes. He’s handsome, charming, and dangerous, and while he’s not convinced of Kid’s essential benevolence, he is adamant that Kid is no killer.
Fast-forward to 2006. Hakuba shows up again for the Tantei Koshien, a detective competition that seems designed to play up the differences between Hakuba and Hattori Heiji, Conan’s best friend and fellow detective. This is quite possibly the most characterization Hakuba gets, and he’s… not shown in a great light. He’s scornful of Heiji’s impulsive nature and rash action, and lets his focus on thefts and frauds mislead him into identifying the wrong culprit. He takes his correction rather graciously, but hasn’t appeared in Detective Conan since.
And now it’s 2007. Kid is rabidly popular, enough that Gosho puts out another volume’s worth of Kaitou Kid chapters. Now that we’re back behind Kaito’s eyes, we see a combination of the goofy prankster in the earliest chapters and the smooth gentleman thief we’ve come to know in Conan’s tales. These stories are more tightly plotted, with more danger and escapes, the magic tricks used to set up a central “howdunit” for the chapter, and there’s a bit more character development. Kid also evinces more detective skills, as there’s often a mystery for him to get to the bottom of, as well as his own tricks for others to decipher. Hakuba makes a guest appearance, calling Kaito to give him information when he’s going head to head with another kaitou over a rare gem, and then shows up when Kid is threatened by a murderous thief named Nightmare. At the end of this case, he agrees with Kid in deliberately hiding the truth of Nightmare’s identity, as the man is dead and the truth would only hurt his family now.
Hakuba is still charming, flirty, and confident, and to be honest, still kind of smug. But now he’s being shown as someone capable of empathy, not a detective concerned only with the law, or even the truth. He’s come to understand that justice requires mercy. But we don’t get to see any of this happen, and he’s still only in a few pages in two stories out of five.
Hakuba and Shinichi both have complicated relationships with Kid that can’t be boiled down to “rival” and “enemy” quite so easily. The biggest difference, in my opinion, is that Hakuba is chasing Kid to catch and stop him, while Shinichi really sees Kid heists as a chance to match wits with an intellectual equal. Hakuba is concerned with Kid’s breaking the law, while Shinichi seems to consider that mostly a non-issue, being focused more on beating Kid as almost a matter of pride. He’ll give it back and nobody died, no big deal. … That said, Hakuba’s characterization in spinoffs such as the Magic Kaito specials is leaning a bit more towards actual rivalry, but that’s because in that continuity, he has bigger spiders to fry.
So why did I go into all that? We don’t know much about Kasumi, but we know a lot about Akechi, so I’m going to start with him. Visually, he resembles Hakuba much more than Shinichi, with the perfectly pressed appearance, light hair, and visually adult fashion choices. He’s a media darling, and is incredibly charming. Beyond that, in all his interactions with the Phantom Thieves before his reveal, he is apart from them, even when assisting them. His outfit is brilliant white and gold, rather than the blacks and reds of most of the team. He even tells them that while he will help them clear their name of murder, they have to stop thieving. This is all very Hakuba. Of course, it’s all a mask, but even so… he wants to stop the Phantom Thieves. He’s tied into the forces of law and order, both in his mask persona and as Yaldabaoth’s pawn. (Law and Order being two different forces here… although maybe not so different as they seem.) He’s strongly drawn to Joker and winds up helping him, despite what his position and duties would suggest.
Kasumi is… well, we don’t really know. Visually, however, as a thief, she strongly resembles Joker. We’ve seen that she seems to act as a Phantom Thief, even if she’s quoted as saying that she doesn’t believe in their justice. (“Thieves are boring,” Conan scoffs, right before meeting a nutter in a white top hat.) A lot of her visual shots are set up to suggest a strong parallel between her and Joker, and there’s a possibility of her being yet another Wild Card. Kaito and Shinichi are canonically said to resemble each other strongly, and while this is probably partially Gosho making fun of the fact that all his hot teenage boys look alike… he’s said there is a deeper reason for it.
This is all speculation, of course. We won’t really know until the game comes out. (Can we get a Switch port Atlus? Please?)
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Idea for an Age-swap AU
We’ve recently seen some age-swap and role-swap AUs floating around the DP fandom. The most common of these are the direct reversals, where Vlad is the teenage protagonist and Danny is the adult villain.
Now, I’m not the hugest fan of the straight-swap versions because it’s not particularly interesting or in-keeping with the canon characters. If Danny becomes the amoral villain and Vlad the plucky protagonist then you basically just have the original Danny Phantom again, except with the characters wearing each other’s skins.
However, a version of the age-swap that keeps the characters closer to their canon personalities has great comedy potential.
Imagine this:
Young!Vlad is a disaffected but highly intelligent freshman whose ‘genius’ is seemingly unrecognised by everyone in town. Pretty much everything sucks for him - he’s bored at home because his parents are always away on work, he’s bored in class because he finds the material too easy, the school’s head jock and posse make a policy of ruining his day, the student body president is ‘inept’, and - despite Vlad’s intelligence and apparent ability to analyse people - he never seems to make it into the spheres of the influential or popular classmates. He’s aloof and vaguely disdainful towards everyone around him, except for his two best friends; the naive and eccentric but occasionally brilliant Young!Jack, and the beautiful and sharply intelligent Young!Maddie. He hangs out with them partly due to their mutual interest in the paranormal, but also because Maddie is the only person in town he sees as an equal and he really wants to date her (too bad she’s always making eyes at Jack).
[If you’re looking for a reference he’s basically a cross between Sue Townsend’s Adrian Mole and Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated]
Like in the original series, the three of them attempt to build a proto-ghost portal as a step in their research. This one goes even worse (after all, it was built by teenagers) and Jack rushing to activate it gets Vlad blasted with way more ectoplasm than in canon. Just like the original it lands him in hospital for a bit - but in this case only a few months. On coming back to school he is very resentful (mostly towards Jack though he’s a bit miffed that Maddie didn’t come to visit his room while he was awake) both for the accident and the Danny-like power-problems he’s experiencing. Although in Vlad’s case he hides them from his friends and outwardly acts like everything’s been forgiven.
As he gains controls of his powers, Vlad decides to put them to use ‘correcting’ some of the ‘wrongs’ in his life; serving disproportionate comeuppance to the jocks, subtly embarrassing Jack in from of Maddie, scheming and manipulating his way through the school’s systems, and generally messing with people to alleviate his boredom.
It basically turns into a Deathnote-like moral situation, in which Vlad is a nominal ‘hero’ on the best days and an entitled, arrogant person at worst. He may be the protagonist but he’s sure not the ‘good guy’ of this story.
(He still makes himself a vampire-style suit and goes by Plasmius in ghost-mode because despite being highly intelligent he’s also a dumb 14-year-old who unironically thinks it looks cool.)
How does Danny get involved?
While Vlad is still in the nominally-heroic part of the story (dishing out retributions to people who actually had it coming, chasing away some minor ghosts that were attracted by the portal explosion, manipulating outcomes that fix genuine problems etc.) he starts to notice an older person hanging around and following him. At first Vlad’s concerned - has someone caught on? Is it an enemy ghost? A rival trying to take out the competition? - until Phantom introduces himself. Danny’s a lot of things but subtle is not one of them.
Older!Danny is in his early 30s. His parents were some of the first modern ecto-scientists and successfully built a working portal (the source of the accident that gave him his powers) but because the hauntings stayed localised near the portal (never spreading beyond his own hometown) their ecto-research didn’t reach mainstream science beyond a few ‘professional ghost-hunters’, paranormal aficionados and an obscure branch of government that mostly just makes messes bigger in their attempts to ‘contain and study all unauthorised ectoplasmic entities’.
Despite his unease, Danny is honestly happy to meet another half-ghost. He might have reservations about actual teaching (“I’ve got an Engineering degree, not a Dip. Ed.”) but he genuinely wants to help this new kid through what he remembers being a tough period of power-adjustment and guide him to use his abilities productively.
Unfortunately, Vlad is having none of it - who is this condescending fool to tell him what to do? In his eyes Phantom is either trying to recruit him so that he can use his power (after all, that’s what Vlad would do) or he’s an idiot for wasting such potential. Actually, he must be an idiot either way because who else would try to manipulate someone of Vlad’s intelligence?
Eventually this devolves into a cat-and-mouse game in which Young!Vlad uses his brains and abilities in attempts to manipulate his way into Maddie’s affections, positions of influence and possession of powerful items, with Phantom having to step in and ‘defeat Plasmius’ before someone gets hurt. Unlike in canon, where Vlad mostly toys with Danny to demonstrate his superiority, Young!Vlad learning techniques from their fights is intentional on Older!Phantom’s part. Phantom really wants to give this kid a chance to turn things around, and figures that letting Plasmius experiment with his powers in a relatively safe space might help Vlad get under control and avoid the temptation to do something truly stupid. Unfortunately, all this actually does is teach his accidental-arch-rival to be a more competent villain.
Shenanigans ensue:
Vlad deliberately creating dangerous situations so that he can impress Maddie by ‘dramatically rescuing’ her from the ‘evil Plasmius’. What he forgets is that, under her pretty face, Maddie is a top-tier asskicker - at least a third of the time the love of his life hands his ecto-hide to him long before Phantom can intervene. He’d find it attractive if it wasn’t so humiliating.
Jack also proves disturbingly competent with his ‘anti-creep stick’. It’s literally just a baseball bat with a cross-stitched handle and the club logo sprayed on the side but Vlad still makes a point of stealing and destroying them whenever Jack makes a new one.
Maddie concludes that Plasmius and Phantom are both evil and working together.
Vlad: “Of course, but as the older and stronger, Phantom is clearly in charge. If we get rid of him then surely Plasmius will leave.”
This results in Vlad doing a very careful dance whenever he and Danny are in ghost mode while Maddie and/or Jack can see them.
In attempt to ‘eliminate the competition’ Vlad considers alerting the Guys in White to Phantom’s status.
Danny: “Look, kid. Vlad. If you go to them with that intel they’re going to wonder how you got it. I might survive - my company holds the patents for a lot of their tech - but you’re a high-schooler. You really want to risk outing both of us?”
This is one of the few things they eventually agree on: Under no circumstances is anyone to intentionally involve the GIW.
Vlad tries to recruit other ghosts in attempt to keep Phantom distracted.
This mostly consists of him failing to intimidate Skulker with his scrawny teen stature, then flattering him into it because “surely as the first and strongest of his kind Phantom would be a much worthier prize for such a skilled hunter.”
He has more luck with the resentful Yiddish vultures, although they can’t do much beyond being a nuisance.
The Box Ghost offers his services. Repeatedly.
Vlad travels to Amity Park in attempt to steal ecto-tech from Fentonworks. On arrival he is horrified to see just how haunted the town is due to its permanently active portal. He beats a fast retreat after getting cornered and resolves to come back with better plans.
Vlad returns to Amity Park in attempt to recruit more minions from the thronging masses. This is somewhat successful, but a few rogue ghosts follow him home - forcing him to try to contain the situation while hiding it from Maddie and Jack.
Youngblood starts messing with Vlad’s schoolmates (interfering with some of his social schemes in the process). As an adult Danny is incapable of seeing him, and Maddie and Vlad’s tendency to act older than their age means that Jack is the only one with a real handle on the situation. Eventually (to his intense horror) Vlad has to do things Jack’s way to solve the problem
Jack: “You know what V-Man, I’m glad to have you back. You’ve been so serious these last few months, I was worried you’d forgotten how to have fun!”
Vlad: *audible teeth-grinding*
Vlad refuses to swear because he thinks it’s a sign of inferior intellect and therefore beneath him. Danny doesn’t swear because he’s desperately trying not to teach this kid any more bad habits.
Vlad makes a deal with Technus to steal some software for use in a financial scheme. Too bad that they make this arrangement in the same week that local Information Technology rising-star Tucker Foley is invited to speak at the school’s career day.
Vlad’s plans failing because his ‘superior intellect’ leads him to over-engineer excessively complex schemes.
Danny: “You know you could just have done this, right?”
Plasmius later tries Phantom’s suggestion and Danny is kicking himself because darn it I was trying to get him to knock it off, not give him pointers.
Vlad attempting subtler social schemes (e.g. overshadowing staff and student council members to make changes). These sometimes work but other times Jack messes up the plan with his overenthusiastic support for his ‘best friend’.
Danny eventually recruiting one of Vlad’s classmates Red-Huntress-style because look, I’m running my parents company, volunteering at the observatory and trying to keep the ghosts under control. I can’t be constantly flying to another town to make sure Plasmius isn’t bringing on the ecto-apocalypse.
Out of respect for Vlad’s privacy Danny doesn’t reveal the secret identity thing. Instead he asks them to keep Plasmius under control and also look out for Vlad Masters because the ghost might be interested in him.
What Danny didn’t notice was that this kid really doesn’t like Masters and has a pretty big grudge against Plasmius after being on the receiving end of one of his schemes. What should have been a simple recon job instead ends up with them aggressively pursuing an intense rivalry with both of Vlad’s halves. They also get overzealous in their ecto-hunter task and start going after Phantom as well. So now Danny has two problems.
Jazz Fenton (a qualified and practicing psychologist in this AU) takes a job as the school’s councillor.
While there she works to convince Vlad of the benefits of altruism, tries to wheedle him into confessing his connection to Plasmius (Danny told her everything) and attempts to foil his social manipulations. The first two aren’t met with much success but she does get in the way of the third a few times.
For his part Vlad tries different schemes to get her fired or make her leave so that he can continue plotting without interference.
Vlad sneaks into the Ghost Zone in attempt to steal a powerful item (Ring of Rage, Pandora’s box, the Fright Knights Soul Shredder etc.). This goes about as badly you’d expect. Unlike in canon, where Vlad bails and makes Danny deal with it, Older!Phantom drags Young!Plasmius back by the ear because you made this mess so now you’re going to help clean it up.
Phantom: “So, did we learn anything today?”
Plasmius: “I should do more research before handling powerful objects.”
Phantom: *aggrieved sigh* “You know kid, I honestly thought you were smarter than this.”
Whether Young!Vlad eventually learns his lesson or keeps spiralling until he becomes a canon!Vlad level criminal chessmaster is something that could go either way.
What I’m getting at is: Can someone please do a version of the age-swap AU where Vlad Masters/Plasmius is an intellectually snobbish, overly theatrical, entitled adolescent ‘mastermind’ (who isn’t quite as bright as he thinks) and Danny Fenton/Phantom is the well-intentioned and experienced adult hero (but poor teacher) who really wants to give this kid a second chance but is getting more and more done with all the villainy nonsense.
#Danny Phantom#age-swap#alternative universe#Vlad the teenage villain#Danny the tired hero#comedic twist#no role-reversal#3WD
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