A Few Facts
Some facts about ghosts.
Ghosts eat.
Exactly what a ghost eats varies from ghost to ghost. Some ghosts like human food. Undergrowth could get away with light and soil. Nocturne liked dreams. Spectra ate your depression, then followed that back to suck away your life force. Ember got a kick out of worship.
All ghosts, though, can at least absorb ectoplasmic energy, and excess emotional energy.
Different ghosts have different tastes. Spectra is a good example, favoring depression over all else. Other ghosts hate the flavor of emotion, preferring the pure taste of ecto-energy.
It is possible, if rare, for a ghost to 'overeat.' Adult ghosts, after all, can simply stop.
For child ghosts, though, things are different. Child ghosts can't stop. They absorb energy constantly. They need to absorb energy constantly. This means that they are more prone to overeating.
The symptoms of this are not severe. Lethargy, followed by increased energy.
Incidentally, the reason that so many ghosts tolerated wisps in their territories, was that will'o-the-wisps can process one type of energy, into another type of energy. They can alter ectoplasmic energy into excess emotional energy. They can change negative emotional energies into positive ones. Sadness into joy. Or vice versa, depending on the tastes of the ghost they are catering to.
They can also hold onto a great deal of energy for an extended period of time. This means that they are always prepared to feed the ghost in whose territory they reside.
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Danny was a ghost. A child ghost, to be precise.
He was also human.
He was also neither.
Both.
Either.
There were some things that affected Danny as if he was a ghost, all the time, regardless of what form he was in. The Specter Deflector, for example. Or the Boo-merang. Some things affected Danny as if he was human at all times. It could be rather interesting to be hit by something that could supposedly vibrate ghosts into goo, only to have it tickle slightly, or to have someone announce that they were using some ancient defense against evil spirits, only for it to affect every ghost in the area except Danny. With other things, the effects were mixed. Such as with Ember's music, or Freakshow's staff (although Danny was never entirely sure if his lingering humanity was the reason that he was able to resist the later). With a few things, whether or not they affected him depended on which form he was in. Like ghost shields. Sometimes, there were things that were hurtful to both humans and ghosts that didn't touch Danny at all.
Then there were some things that were harmless to humans and ghosts, but could be very dangerous to Danny.
Like the will'o-the-wisps.
Over time, Danny and his friends had discovered that absorbing too much excess emotional energy could affect Danny strangely. It had taken them a while to figure out. For the longest time, Danny hadn't even realized what he was doing. He didn't actually know for sure what he was doing until he'd had a long conversation about it with one of the Far Frozen doctors.
Even now, Danny wasn't always sure how different emotions affected him, and they did seem to affect him differently. Sam's theory was that it was an absorption rate issue, and that depending on his own emotions at the time, he absorbed different kinds of energy at different rates, and that the energy that he didn't absorb hung around, and messed with him. Tucker and Jazz thought that it had more to do with a subconscious awareness of what was going on, and what emotions were 'in the air.' (Tucker had gotten way, way too many jokes out of that.) Danny wasn't sure this was the case. The proportions of the emotions seemed to matter.
Danny had managed to at least figure out how different things usually affected him. Too much anger made him nervous, shy. Too much fear made him aggressive and paranoid. Depression made him, well, depressed.
The will'o-the-wisps back home, in Amity Park, knew very well that Danny had these issues. They knew that it was important for him to have a balanced diet.
These ones, here, they had never met Danny. But they were eager, or least anxious, to meet the ghost whose lair had sheltered them so gently for the past two years. They wanted, needed, to show him that they were useful, to show him that they could stay.
They did that by releasing as much of as many different types of energy as possible.
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.
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Sam didn't immediately register the presence of the wisps as a bad thing, except for the firefight they'd inadvertently started. She didn't interact with the ones in Amity Park nearly as much as Danny did, but she did know them, knew that they were friendly.
Mrs Fenton getting stabbed by the apple tree after trying to fire on the will'o-the-wisps was not something that Sam would have expected, even knowing that the plants here were animate. Valerie shooting at the little ghosts oddly did not elicit the same response. Mr Lancer, Dash, Kwan, Ricky and Mikey were panicking. Well. To be more accurate, Dash and Kwan were panicking, Ricky and Mikey were hiding, and Mr Lancer was trying to salvage the situation.
That was just within the first few seconds of the wisps showing up.
In the next second, Danny was gripping Sam's coat as if his life depended on it. Sam looked at him, and traced his gaze up, to the luminous, kaleidoscopic, symphonic, swirl that was centered just a meter over Danny's head.
It was only then that Sam remembered all the trouble Danny had had with the wisps when they first moved into Amity. She looked back at Danny, alarmed, and saw how blank his expression was. Then Jazz caught Sam's eye, and they each knew that the other had just come to the same conclusion.
"Go help your mom," said Sam. "I've got this." That was the right decision, wasn't it? Danny would never forgive himself if his mother bled out because she and Jazz were too worried about him to help her (even if his mother had done far worse to him that very day). Mr Lancer probably had first aid training, but Jazz had first aid experience.
Jazz nodded, and struggled out of her jacket, which Danny also had in a death grip, and ran over to her mother, making sure to trip Valerie up while she was at it. Good old Jazz.
Okay. So, how had they dealt with this before?
"Hey!" Sam yelled up at the wisps, trying to shout over their music. She waved with the arm that wasn't trapped by Danny. She spent what felt like hours, but was probably only seconds, trying to get the attention of the wisps, only to conclude that they were either ignoring her or didn't understand English. Fine.
She looked back at Danny. Oh, jeez, he was not looking good. She pulled at him, trying to get him to look at her. When he finally did turn, it was to reveal that there was a needle-thin line of toxic, glowing green in each of his irises.
"Sam?" he said softly, only audible to Sam because of how close he was standing. He dropped Jazz's jacket, and raised his hand to touch Sam's face. His hand was painfully cold. "Are you scared?" he asked, sounding both confused and slightly offended. He blinked once, slowly, and tilted his head. "Is someone hurt? I smell blood."
Wow. What was it with Danny and saying super ominous things when under the influence of mind-affecting supernatural shenanigans? What was it about this situation that even made Sam think the word 'shenanigans?!'
"Danny," she said, as calmly as possible, "I need you to ask them to stop."
"Ask who to stop? Mikey and Ricky? They're just playing hide-and-seek. Would you like to play? I think that we should all play. It'll be fun!" Danny's mouth stretched into a smile that was much wider than it should have been.
"No, Danny, not right now. You need to tell the wisps to stop feeding you. You know it's not good for you."
"But they're so happy."
"I know Danny, but I think they'd prefer it if you were healthy, right?"
"Mm," hummed Danny. Then he hummed some more, turning back to the swirl of light and sound above him. Then he whistled, sharply, and the wisps, for the most part, fell silent. A few jingled excitedly, but another, larger instance squealed at them in reprimand, sounding like nothing so much as a shrieking clarinet. Danny hummed at the wisps some more, and the largest of them, which was just slightly larger than a beach ball, floated down to Danny, whereupon it uttered a few inquisitive bars of oboe and cello music, flashing in shades of green, blue and orange.
Valerie shot at it.
The shot was blocked by a falling branch.
The wisps responded by rumbling like a forest of drums. Loud, low, and deep. Valerie paled. She had no idea that this was just an intimidation tactic. That the wisps had no means of backing up the threat.
The large wisp continued to float down, and Danny raised his hands to meet it, releasing Sam's coat. Once the wisp had settled in his arms, Danny brought it down, close to him, cuddling the little ghost as if it were a stuffed animal.
"Pretty," he said finally, as if that explained everything.
"Danny?" said Mrs Fenton.
Danny started to turn to her. Sam grabbed him. Danny looking at Mrs Fenton would be bad for two reasons. One, he'd see that, despite Jazz's best efforts, Mrs Fenton was covered in blood, and probably freak out. Two, his eyes were still messed up, and Mrs Fenton, not to mention Valerie, would inevitably interpret that as evidence of possession.
There was a moment of silence, as everyone processed what she had done. Above them, there were a few bell-like titters from the ghosts.
"Danny," said Mrs Fenton again, more sternly. "Show me your eyes."
Of course Mrs Fenton could have already come to the conclusion that he had been possessed.
This time, Sam wasn't able to hold Danny back. He turned, facing his mother, Jazz, and Mr Lancer. The sharp intake of breath from all three of them told Sam that the green light in Danny's eyes was clearly visible.
"Sam," said Mrs Fenton, with an air of forced calmness, "step away from Danny. Now."
As if Sam was going to do that. She glared at the older woman, shifting even closer to her friend. Mrs Fenton frowned, but turned her attention, and her glare back to her son.
"Get away from my son, ghost."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone