#ecto contamination

They eventually figure it out but can't seem to decide whether their friend is actually dead or if there's something else going on. They inadvertently become ghost experts while playing detective, while also simultaneously trying their best to help Danny from the shadows without him finding out that they found out.

Bonus points if they have to fend off Jazz with a stick cause she knows something's up and she knows that Sam and Tucker know but Sam and Tucker keep covering their tracks and doing their best to throw her off the scent.

Bonus, bonus points if Jazz knows that there's something very messed up going on and desperately wants to know what happened to her brother but Sam and Tucker think she's on her parent's side and are convinced that she'll just report back to them if she ever finds out.

Bonus, bonus, bonus points! if Jazz just has this deep, gut-wrenching feeling that she can't tell her parents about her suspicions and that there's something increasingly disturbing about both her parents and Danny's behaviour as well as how the three of them interact after the portal got turned on. She does her best to keep her parent's attention off of Danny, which kinda helps but also inadvertently gets in the way of Sam and Tucker's helping.

But then, when the agent met with them, a covert alarm on their person went off.

The scientist couple were severely ecto-contaminated. More than most anyone else they’d ever seen, even in Amity Park.

So plans changed.

The pair were captured.

What if the reason no one figured it out was because Danny and Jazz, growing up surrounded by ectoplasm, not wearing the hazmat suits that their parents do, have become somewhat mutated by it over the years? Jazz, despite not being half ghost like Danny, sometimes has that ghostly echo in her voice. The first time Danny’s eyes lit up green wasn’t after the portal- it was when he got super frustrated during an English test in 6th grade. Sometimes, when Jazz is super happy or angry, doors and windows will fly open or shut. I speculate that, after a while, Jazz is capable of feeding on a person’s emotional energy, but unlike Spectra, she feeds on positive emotions. They don’t have much of an effect, but it can energize her. Sometimes, when Danny was in elementary school, he would turn partially invisible during games of hide and seek, but never realized it. Even Sam and Tucker, who usually spend nights at Danny’s house, begin to show odd traits, like Sam being able to grow plants that were thought to have been extinct, or Tucker being able to jumpstart electronics without even touching them.

By the time the portal accident happens, everyone in Amity Park is well aware of the Fenton kids ghostly traits, why wouldn’t they be? The Fentons have always been odd, and their kids have been doing ghostly shit for years, and everyone knows about the accident. So, when Danny suddenly begins to sink into the floor, everyone is just like, “yep, same shit as usual” because they just chalk it up to ecto contamination over the years. Yeah, they notice that Danny’s become a bit more ghostly, but that makes sense seeing as he was caught in an ectoplasmic explosion a week ago.

Of course, they don’t know that Danny is phantom. Yeah, phantom looks kinda similar to Danny, but Phantoms a full ghost. Danny may exhibit ghostly traits, but he’s been doing that for years.

Danny, of course, is completely oblivious to this little tidbit of information, and believes that no one noticing his hand suddenly turning invisible is due to luck. In actuality, the reason no one says anything is because they’ve seen it before. Danny walked through the vending machine? Eh, not that odd, it’s not the first time.

The animals become far more in tune with ghosts and thus have less fear of humans. Now they tend to wander into town and people have to watch out for deer that wander across the roads and birds that nest low to the ground and way too close to the footpath. Cats no longer hiss at passing shadows or wandering spirits, and dogs no longer bark nor growl at passing strangers - only those who come from out of town.

The flowers grow curious and wild. Larger and thornier and wholly untamed. Abandoned buildings are quickly overrun by trailing vines, vibrant moss, and the expanding fringes of the untameable wilds that surround the town. The most beautiful blossoms bloom in the presence of shuffling mourners and weeping widows. Petals scatter the surface of freshly unearthed soil and the air is filled with an intoxicating fragrance that carries on the wind, laced with a siren's call. The cemeteries of Amity have never been so inviting.

After all, death cannot exist without an abundance of life.

Shadows flicker and move when they shouldn't. Alleyways lead to abrupt dead ends and sudden curves. An evening stroll can take you down winding labyrinths that'l lead you to the other side of town despite having walked in the opposite direction.

Something's made it's home in the woods surrounding Amity and no one knows what it is, only that it shouldn't be disturbed. Sometimes you can hear it in the dead of night, but only if you close your eyes and strain your ears. Sometimes the only thing you can hear is the screech of birds and the silence that follows.

The street lamps have all been powered with ectoplasm so they wont go out during ghost fights or disasters, and when it gets dark the streets are bathed in an eerie green glow. The shadows they cast are misshapen and flawed. It's always best to avoid those who linger beneath them.

Amity park evolves over time. The place gradually becomes influenced by Danny's Obsession as the contamination seeps into every crack and crevice. As the town becomes more and more apart of Phantom's lair it becomes more isolated. People who end up lost or in need of help in the surrounding areas somehow always stumble their way into Amity park, guided by some unknown force that pulls them towards this unearthly safe haven. Amity becomes more and more like a spider's web as Danny continues to grow, the strands of his Obsession being spun through the air and through the ground, extending beyond the borders of his lair and into the surrounding land.

Despite the dangers of living in Amity, the people who live there feel this inexplicable sense of safety. The residents insist that they've simply gotten used to the ghosts and all the little quirks that have popped up over the years. But people are more passionate than they used to be, more livelier and spirited. They say that growing up in a place like Amity builds character.

No one ever leaves Amity Park. And if anyone ever dared to ask, they'd only ever receive one answer,