Work Text:
"Come on Danny, you have to check out what's inside."
"Who knows what other worlds lie on the other side?"
Thud. thud. Thud. Click.
Zippppp. The Fenton's weren't always the biggest on lab safety, but at least they knew enough to wear protective gear. Danny dawned on his white hazmat before entering the dark cavern in the wall. His parents had been working on this portal for years. He felt bad for them when it didn't work. Sam ripped the stupid picture of his dad off the suit before he embarked on his exploration.
He took one step into the metal abyss. His friends were shouting encouragement to go further in. Not that he needed them to. He felt oddly drawn to it. As the tunnel got darker, he used his arm to support him against the wall and continued further on. He failed to notice the pipe on the floor.
His hand quickly went to support him against the wall. Click. Ah shit. There was a brief moment of silence filled with the hope that nothing would happen. The machine was broken after all! That hope was short-lived.
Danny's eyes widened as a spark crackled at the end of the tunnel. A mesmerizing, green light filled the cavern. It was beautiful. His hair stood on end as electricity traveled up the sides of the portal heading straight for Danny. The arm that was supporting him soon met thousands of volts of energy. The effects were instant.
Pain flourished up his arm as his skin started to peel. It spread throughout the rest of his body, and he felt his nerves burning all over him. The light surrounded and enveloped him. He felt like his organs were being turned inside out. He let out a blood curdling scream as the power of two dimensions ripped him apart. His nerves finally grew numb because there were no nerves left. The smell of pork filled his nostrils as ran out of breath. His heart stopped.
Tha-thump Tha-thump. Danny gasped for air. A cold feeling reawakened his senses. He watched skin regrow on his chard form. The remains of his jumpsuit started to repair itself, and its color changed from a pearly white to a charcoal black. He felt something pulling him, and within a split second he went flying into the lab.
"Danny?"
"What happened?"
"Danny, wake up! Are you okay?"
"Wait, I think he's coming around!"
Danny groaned. He felt like a victim of his parents driving. What the hell happened? He opened his eyes to see the blurry figures of Sam and Tucker looming over him.
"Danny! You're alive!" His dark skinned friend exclaimed and tried to pull him up into a hug.
"Easy, Tucker! He could have a lot of injuries!" Sam scolded, "We shouldn't try to move him just yet."
"I'm fine guys! I just feel like I got hit by a bus," Danny argued and tried to sit up. His eyes widened.
"Guys? I can't feel my arm."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam had called 911 while Tucker helped him get the sleeve off to assess the damage. It was bad. Danny looked over his shoulder to see a shriveled, burnt stump in place of his arm. His fingers had crumpled off as soon as Tucker removed his glove. Up to his elbow was burnt to a crisp, the rest wasn't much better.
The doctors had to remove the rest of his arm. All he was left with was a little nub next to his shoulder. They told him they'd get working on some prothesitics. In the meantime, he should get some rest. He went through a lot.
About a month has passed since the accident. Danny laid in his bed and stared at the ceiling. He hasn't really been able to get out of the house besides doctor visits. Sam and Tucker dropped by several times to check up on him. He misses being able to go out with them. He will in time, but first he has to adapt to life with one arm. Today was his first day back at school.
Unfortunately for him, his left arm was the one to get chopped, which sucks because it was his dominant hand. So now he's stuck relearning how to write, how to throw, and even how to hold a stupid fork. Yes, he will be able to go back to two arms with the prophetic, but the fake arm could only do so much. Thankfully, he was given a laptop to complete his assignments on until he can write better.
Danny decided it was time to get ready for the day. He slumped out of bed and hunted for a shirt. His eyes wandered over to the mirror. Every time he wakes up and thinks it won't be there, and every time he's disappointed. Scar tissue spread like a tree with many branches from his arm nub to his chest and extended upwards onto his cheek. He hated it. Every time he looked in the mirror it stood there haunting him, reminding him of that day. He sighed and wormed his way into his shirt.
He walked downstairs to get some breakfast. Jazz greeted him when he entered the kitchen. He grumpily walked over to the cupboard and grabbed some cereal. Cereal was the only safe food in the house. Everything else was at risk of being contaminated. Last week they had to fight off an army of hot dogs.
Danny sat at the table and began to eat. His mind drifted to school. Today was his first day of highschool. He was both nervous and excited at the same time. His thoughts were interrupted by his spoon clicking into his bowl. He must've dropped it again by accident. He moved to grab it and was shocked when his hand didn't miss his spoon but went entirely through his bowl. He kept trying to grab at his spoon until finally his hand let him. He looked at his hand. What happened to him?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Aw, sweetie, you're getting so big! I remember when you were just a little boy playing with your toy rocket!" Danny's mom gushed while berating him with kisses.
"Akh Mom gross!" His face scrunched in mock disgust.
"I just want to let you know we are so proud of you, Danno!" His dad chimed in, "now go get 'em!"
Danny walked into the building and started searching for Sam and Tucker. Through the sea of people he spotted a head of raven black hair and a red beret. They looked like they were arguing about something.
"Hey guys!"
"Hey Danny! You gotta help me, bud. She's crazy!" Tucker said, pointing at Sam.
"Hey it's not my fault that your diet promotes the slaughter of innocent animals!" The goth retorted.
"She changed the lunch menu to some weird dirt dish with no meat! How am I gonna cope!" The geek exclaimed, shaking Danny by the shoulders.
"Not sure how to help you there. Who knows maybe you'll like it?" Danny replied. The trio began walking towards their new lockers and compared schedules. It looks like they all had classes together which was good cause Danny could use the moral support.
"Hey guys, could I talk to you about something more serious? It's been a month since the accident and things have been strange," Danny started. He took his friends' expressions as a sign to continue, "I-well, somehow strange things have happened where I'll sometimes pass through things or disappear and I have no idea what's going on or how to stop it. It just kinda happens."
"Like right now?" Tucked asked, pointing at Danny's sinking form.
Danny looked down to see himself sinking through the floor. He started to panic and flail around while his friend's tried to help him.
"See what I mean. I don't know what all happened when I went in that portal, but it changed me and not just my arm."
The trio proceeded to head to class before Danny bumped into someone.
"Well, well, well if it isn't Fenturd-Woah what happened to your arm?" An all too familiar voice called out.
"Nice to see you too, Dash," Danny groaned. Dash had been picking on him since middle school. He had hoped that now they were in high school the bullying would stop, but alas he was mistaken.
"You should consider yourself lucky! If you hadn't lost that arm, I would've been able to wail on you from that prank last year!"
"Ah yes, because losing a limb is lucky."
"Don't make me regret sparing you, Fentoe-nail!" Dash spat before walking away.
"What a jerk!" Sam growled.
"Agreed," Tucker nodded.
"Come on guys, let's get to class," Danny replied.
Class was as boring as he remembered. At least since it was the first day he didn't really have any homework. The day dragged on and soon it was time for lunch.
"Sam, no offense, but what the hell is this?" Danny said, gesturing to the pile of grass on his plate.
"This is an ultra-recycle vegetarian delicacy and it's good for you," Sam replied while taking a big bite of her food.
"Yeah… no thanks! I prefer my meat!" Tucker pushed his plate away and stuck his tongue out.
Mr. Lancer walked up to Sam to thank her for the "innovative" menu change. Tucker sniffed the air.
"Meat," he said simply, "meat near."
'Oh Great he's going crazy,' thought Danny
"I'm afraid the rumors of the all you can eat steak in the teacher's lounge are greatly exaggerated," Lancer replied, "thanks again Miss Manson."
"Yeah thanks Sam for making us eat garbage!" Tucker remarked.
"It's not garbage!" Sam scoffed.
Danny and Tucker looked at each other and replied, "It's garbage."
The first ten minutes of lunch passed smoothly. It was at that moment when Danny felt a gas bubble fill up in his throat. It felt like a breath that he didn't release. The breath lurched out of his throat and left his mouth in a cold mist.
"Guys I gotta go. Like, now. I have this feeling that there's something here."
Danny scanned the room with a worried glance. His gaze turned to the food window that was connected to the kitchen.
"Isn't that the lunch lady who died of a heart attack last year?" Tucker spoke up.
"Yeah, but how is she here? Is she a ghost?" Sam chimed in.
"I don't know, but I have a strong feeling we should check it out," Danny replied and started to get up.
The other two followed close by as Danny walked into the kitchen. Judging by how translucent the lunch lady was, there was no way she was human. Her eyes turned towards the children and she cracked a sweet smile.
"Hello, children, I was wondering if you could help me? Someone decided it would be a good idea to change the menu," the ghost asked sweetly.
"Oh, yeah she did!" Tucker stated, pointing at Sam.
"YOU CHANGED THE MENU! THE MENU IS SACRED. IT'S BEEN THE SAME FOR OVER FIFTY YEARS!" Screeched the Lunch Lady. A wind started picking up as the sweet lady morphed into something more monstrous.
"Guys…get behind me!" Danny called his friends who immediately complied.
"Wow. I feel safe," remarked Sam.
"Something's happening like I'm going… I'm going ghost!" Danny exclaimed. White rings formed around him and traveled his body. His t-shirt and jeans were replaced with a black Hazmat suit with white boots and a white glove on his right hand. Huh. Still no left arm even as a ghost.
The cabinets started shaking on their hinges. That can't be good. Food and dishes exploded from every direction and swirled around in the air. The Lunch Lady waved her hand and sent dishes flying towards Sam and Tucker. Danny flew in front of them to try and catch the plates, totally blanking on the fact he only had one arm. A few seconds before impact he became painfully aware of this fact and braced himself.
He caught as many plates as he could and was surprised when he didn't hear any shatter behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see where the extra plates fell and noticed something green out of the corner of his eye.
In place of his left arm was a lime green tentacle holding all the plates he missed. Huh, neat. He flew around and continued to catch more plates.
"Ya know if this whole ghost thing doesn't work out I could be a busboy," Danny remarked. The food swarm grew bigger and started to attack his friends. Since when are the cabinets big enough to store all this? Danny flew over to them and grabbed their shoulders. Maybe he could make all three of them able to go through the wall. He concentrated on being intangible and pulled his friends into the hallway.
"It worked!" Danny celebrated. The party was short-lived when piles of meat started to fly through the hall. Tucker started identifying the different cuts by their scent. Kinda weird, but ok. Where did all this meat come from? The yell of 'Paradise Lost' could be heard from the teacher's lounge.
The meat swarmed the Lunch Lady ghost until it morphed with her into a giant meat monster. Oh shit. Danny stanced to take off, but accidentally detransformed instead. Double shit. The meat monster took Sam. Danny was about to chase them when a firm hand pressed on his shoulder.
"You two are in so much trouble. I don't know how you did it, but you took away one of the few joys I've had in my life. I am supposed to be chowing down on a sir loin!" Lancer's voice yelled from behind him.
Danny and Tucker were led to Lancer's office. Lancer droned on about finding a suitable punishment and left the room to grab something. Now was their chance. Tucker sniffed the air.
"That meat is still in the building," he whispered to Danny. Danny got up and turned so he could grab Tucker. He focused on him and Tucker sinking into the floor.
They sank into a musty basement beneath the school. So this is where the meat was stored! A pungent smell invaded his nostrils. This place is probably a health hazard. Tucker's eyes widened at a gigantic freezer simply labeled meat.
"How come I'm the one-armed dead guy and you're somehow weirder than me," he whispered to Tucker. Danny peered around a corner and looked around. He spotted Sam trapped in a pile of meat.
Danny forced the transformation rings to change him into a ghost. Maybe he could figure out how to summon that tentacle thing again. It was time to rescue Sam.
"I'll free Sam. You take the monster," Tucker whispered. Danny nodded and took off.
"Hey you! I'd say it's nice to MEAT you, but that would be a total lie!" Danny yelled, getting the monster's attention. While he was engaged in battle, Tucker pulled out a fork and ate Sam's way out. The two watched as Danny got snatched by the meat monster's giant hand.
"Don't worry, Danny! I'll eat you out!" Tucker yelled. The meat monster chucked Danny through the wall.
"Run?" Sam suggested.
"Run." Tucker agreed, and the two booked it.
The meat monster lunged at them and blocked the exit with steaks. Danny poked his head back through the wall. Once he noticed Sam and Tucker being chased, he flew over to get them to safety. His new tentacle arm thing wrapped around his friends. Danny decided they needed to make a tactical retreat and phased the three of them through the wall outside the school.
"Hey Danny? Are you ok? You look really tired," Sam asked him. Tucker matched her face of concern.
"Yeah I'm fine…." He started before sinking. His tentacle arm slinked back, dropping Sam and Tucker. His friends both looked down at the form of their sleeping, human friend.
Danny woke up in the comfort of his own bed. His eyes glanced over to see his friends looming over him.
"What happened?" Danny asked and used his arm to sit up.
"Dude, we thought we lost you. You've been asleep for four days!" Tucker replied solemnly.
"Wait, really?!"
"Nah, it's only been a couple of hours."
"Tucker! Knock it off! Your carelessness almost got him killed!"
"My carelessness? If you hadn't changed the darn menu we wouldn't be in this mess! That's it, I'm changing the menu back!"
Tucker ran out of the room. Sam followed and screamed, "If you want to put meat back on the menu you're going to have to go through me first!"
Danny sighed. Hopefully it'll get better by tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It did not, infact, get better. Danny arrived at school the next morning to see a meat festival on one side, and a veggie protest on the other. How his friends managed to orchestrate this overnight? He'll never know. What mattered now was trying to stay neutral.
"You're either on my side-" Tucker yelled.
"Or you're against him!" Sam interrupted.
The two kept on squabbling. Danny eventually started to zone them out. His daze was interrupted when the feeling in the back of his throat appeared again. Just like last time, a puff of cold mist released from his mouth. He looked up at the school to see a red tornado of meat. He glanced around. There were too many people who could see him transform.
"Um guys? I think now would be a great time to make up!" His friends wrapped around him to cover him. He let his ghostly side leak through and turned invisible.
A giant meat monster raged over the school and terrorized the students. Danny had to act fast. He exchanged punches with the ghost. The lunch lady eventually grabbed him and yeeted him across the building.
Unbeknownst to Danny at the time, Jack and Maddie Fenton prepared to catch a ghost who was posing as their daughter. (She wasn't actually a ghost, but they didn't realize that.) Jack whipped out a prototype Fenton Thermos which would capture the imposter, only it didn't really work. It needed a better power source. Jack finally realized that maybe he shouldn't be hunting ghosts. Maybe it was better to spend time with his kids. Jack decided at that moment to vow off ghost hunting and chucked the thermos.
Danny was falling when he was hit by a metal object. Ouch. Danny quickly realized this was the prototype catching device his parents were working on. Maybe he could give it some juice? He thanked his parents and fell through the ground right in front of them.
"GHOST! SEE I TOLD YOU THEY WERE REAL!" was the last thing Danny heard before he sank into the ground.
Danny reemerged on the other side of the school. Let's hope this works. He focused his power into jumpstarting the thermos. Time to catch a monster.
"Hey meaty! I don't know what you have STEAKed in this, but you gotta handle your BEEF somewhere else!" He yelled to get the monster's attention. Danny popped open the thermos. Here goes nothing!
A bright light exploded out of the cylinder as the meat monster tried to fight against its pull. The meat divided to reveal the Lunch Lady as she was sucked into the Thermos. Piles of meat littered the school grounds. Danny felt bad for whoever had to clean this up.
"You three are in SO much trouble!" Lancer yelled, "you will all report here after school to clean!"
"Why me?! I only got one arm! How am I supposed to clean?" Danny argued.
"I'm sure we can figure out a way."
And so Danny spent his afternoon with a glove on his hand, picking up individual pieces of meat. Maybe he'll be able to figure out how to summon his tentacle arm as a human, so next time he can stick to a broom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a realm of floating doors, an old clock tower stood. Inside was a figure draped in a purple cloak. He stroked his wispy beard as he watched the birth of a paradox. Both dead and alive. This one was destined for great things. He will bring balance to the Realms.