Hello again! Sorry this took so long, but it's here! It's hard to keep up with work, school, and clinicals, but I try to add to it when I can. Hope you all enjoy this long-time coming chapter!

BayGirl31

I do not own Danny Phantom, Young Justice or their characters. All rights belong to their respective owners.

Location: BioShip

Date: Sept 6th

Time: 0924hrs EST

The atmosphere in the BioShip was tense as everybody was afraid of saying anything that may cause their spectral friend to feel worse. Danny felt this tension as well, but was also afraid of saying something. But right now, he had to focus on the mission. Everything else can wait until after that. Hey, maybe this 'unknown energy reading' could be a ghost portal!

The remainder of the trip passed in awkward silence. The only noise being the low hum of the BioShip and the air passing over the it. Robin, obvious to the tension on board, decided to make the BioShip go a little faster. The sooner they get to Salem, the sooner they can get on with the mission and away from this awkward situation.

Danny couldn't help how he felt. He knew he shouldn't feel this bad, or at least he shouldn't let his depression be felt, but he couldn't help it. He was stranded in a different and unfamiliar dimension with no known ways of getting back. Anyone would feel down after going through something like that! That being said, he hated having such an influence on the moods of his friends. They were nice enough to take him in without knowing anything about him, and this is how he repays them? 'Smooth move Fenton. And you say your obsession is protecting people? You can't even protect people from the negative energy you release when you're upset.'

Danny looked to the little green dog currently curled up on his lap. 'Well at least I have something familiar here with me.' He thought. 'I get a bit of a break from ghost hunting. It will be nice to not have to deal with the Box Ghost, Skulker, Ember, Klemper, Plasmius, Technus…'

"Oh crud! Technus!" Danny shouted into the once quiet BioShip, managing to startle it's other three occupants while he fiddled around with his suit, searching for the item that held the technology loving spirit: the Fenton Thermos. He forgot that he no longer carried it with him. Since he figured that he wouldn't need it on any missions in this dimension due to this dimensions lack of ghosts, he left the thermos back in his room, stored away in a drawer. He wondered briefly if, by forgetting Technus was in the thermos, he condemned him to a slow and painful death. If this dimension really did lack the free-floating ectoplasmic energy that full-fledged ghosts like Technus required to survive, then would he have the technology-loving ghosts' death hanging on his shoulders?

"What's the matter Danny? What was with that outburst just now?" Wally asked.

"Oh, ummmm… Remember how I told you that I was fighting another ghost before Plasmius arrived and sent me here?"

"Kind of…"

"Well that ghost, Technus, is sort of in my thermos. And since there isn't supposed to be any ectoplasmic energy around here, I'm afraid that he may fade from existence."

"Wait. You said he's in a thermos?" Wally questioned, to which Danny nodded. "So how does that work exactly?"

Danny shrugged. "I dunno. Just because my parents invented it doesn't mean that I know how it works. In fact, I'm pretty sure that they don't understand how half their stuff works either. But that's not the point. I don't want Technus to fade from existence! I'm supposed to be a hero, not condemn my enemies to death!"

"Well technically he's already dead…" Wally pointed out, to which Danny exclaimed "Not the point!"

While Danny and Wally argued back and forth, Robin was thinking about what Danny said and comparing it to what he said when he first showed up. Maybe there is hope for this 'Technus' yet.

"Hey Danny." Robin called.

"Yeah?" Danny responded, turning all his attention to the colourful crusader.

"You said your parents invented this thermos right?" To which Danny hmm'ed in the affirmative. "And you also said that your parents are completely obsessed with ghosts, especially hunting them?" Another nod. "So what powers the thermos for you to be able to trap a ghost in it?"

"It has an ectoplasmic core that I sometimes give a power boost to using my own ectoplasmic energy. Why? Where are you going with this?"

"So you're telling me that ectoplasmic energy powers the thermos? If that's the case, then would there be a large enough source of the ectoplasmic energy to allow Technus to continue to exist?"

Danny had to think about the logic the bird came up with. How was he supposed to know if there was enough energy to keep him 'alive'? It's not like he knew how his parents' inventions worked, what the specs were, etc. All Danny knew was that the thermos held the ghosts (sometimes even him), the guns worked and hurt, and that he had to avoid basically everything his parents made just to ensure his survival. But what Robin said made some sense now that he thought about it. Since the thermos was powered by ectoplasm, maybe he can keep Technus existing long enough to get them both home.

That got Danny thinking about how Technus was inside the thermos. Was he a more basic form of just energy? Or was he just shrunk down to a smaller size temporarily, like what the Fenton Crammer done to him, Dash and Skulker, until he was released. Even though Danny has been inside it before, he wasn't sure how he was while inside it. He felt like he was still him, formed and aware, but at the same time he didn't. He just felt numb and time felt like a distant concept. Still, thinking of all the ghosts as miniatures and running around inside the thermos made Danny laugh a little.

While Danny was thinking about the inner workings of the thermos, the other teens shared a confused look. No matter how much they learn about the teenage spectre, they may never really know what goes on in the head of that boy. Their confusion furthered when Danny gave a small laugh.

"I hope your laughing in relief." KF said to Danny.

"Kind of." Danny replied. "I think Robin has a point about the thermos, but I don't know enough about my parents inventions to be sure it would work that way. I think I might try and give the thermos' energy source a boost with my own ectoplasmic energy when I get back, just to be extra sure. If I can keep him in existence until I can find a way to get us both home, that would be an accomplishment in my book."

The other members nodded at him. Danny was always thinking about others, no matter if they were his friends or foes, he always had everyone's best interests at heart. But they could think about that later. Right now, they have a mission to accomplish.

Location: Happy Harbour High

Date: September 6th

Time: 1045hrs EST

Megan sighed as she watched her history teacher as he wrote some notes on the blackboard. Sure she was happy to be taking part in normal Earth activities, but she really wished she was out on that mission with her teammates. But being stuck at school did have its benefits, particularly being stuck there with Connor (Superboy's new secret identity), who she was currently staring at out of the corner of her eye. She was also curious about Batman's concern over her and Connor missing school, but wasn't concerned over the others missing class. Apparently she wasn't the only one who thought that, as Connor's voice interrupted her thoughts and chimed in her mind.

"I don't get why the others get to go on a mission on a school day while we're stuck here. They have school too don't they? And where did Aqualad run off to this morning?"

"Maybe they had today off?" Megan tried to reason. "Or maybe because they already had their first days of school and we haven't?"

"Maybe, but I doubt it." Connor crossed his arms and leaned back, looking angrily at the board they were supposed to be paying attention to. In reality, Connor already knew this stuff thanks to the education the Genomorphs gave him, but he looked like a 16 year-old, so he had to go to school. "I think there's something else going on that Batman isn't telling us about, and if I'm right, I don't think the others even know what's going on."

Megan looked a little troubled by what he said, mostly because she had a similar feeling, and was hoping it was all in her imagination. "I hope everyone makes it out alright."

Location: Salem

Date: September 6th

Time: 1058hrs EST

"We're approaching Salem. Putting BioShip in camouflage mode." Announced Robin.

Artemis stretched. "Finally! I was starting to go a little stir crazy."

"Me too." Kid Flash replied. "What about you Dan…ny?" he trailed off, only start again in a loud whisper. "Hey guys, check it out!"

Robin and Artemis both turned to see what KF was talking about, only to see Danny sprawled across the chair, one arm across his belly and the other hanging off the side, head hanging over the arm of the chair, drool running out of his wide open mouth, and Cujo curled up on his stomach, rising and falling in time with the ghost teens near non-existent breathing.

All three team members decided to immortalize this moment by taking pictures: Wally and Artemis with their respective phones, and Dick with his phone and glove. All three had one thing in mind: Blackmail for the future. Once they were done with taking their photos, Robin went to wake Danny from his sleep.

"Hey Danny, time to wake up!" Robin said loudly as he poked Danny in his ribs, eliciting a yelp, flail, and crash to the floor of the BioShip from the slumbering spectre.

"Hahahaha! Just the reaction I was looking for!" taunted Robin. Danny shot him a glare from his spot on the floor. "Aw, come on Danny. You left yourself wide open for that one."

"Aw man dude! That was awesome! Hahaha!" Laughed Kid Flash as he watched Danny pick himself up off the floor. Danny scowled at the big mouthed speedster. 'Oh, I'll get you back Wally, just you wait.'

"Yeah, yeah. Lets all laugh at the dead kid. Hardy har-har." Danny said while he wiped the dust off the front of his suit. "So are we there? Are we at Salem?"

Robin nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah. That's why we woke you up. Come on, we have to change into our civvies."

Danny looked questionably at their leader. "Civvies?"

"Yeah Rob, not all of us know everyone else's secret ID's" Kid Flash mentioned, referring to Artemis not knowing Robin's identity, but trying to make it sound as if he didn't know Rob's identity either.

"You sure about that KF?" Robin teased with his signature mischievous grin. Wally looked at him confused, then directed that confused look at Artemis who smiled knowingly at the speedster. When he turned around to look at the masked ebony-haired teen again, he found that instead of looking into the masked eyes of their resident vigilante, he was looking into the brilliant blue orbs of Dick Grayson.

"Dude! Are you crazy! Bats is gunna kill you!" KF exclaimed. He then turned to Danny and said, "And he'll kill you the rest of the way for letting him do it! Actually, now that I think about it, wouldn't that make you a full ghost? I wonder how that works…"

"Calm down Baywatch. Batman already knows about it." Artemis said to the red-head while shifting her weight to rest her hand on her hip. She smiled when she got an open-mouth and wide-eyed reaction from the teen speedster.

"But.. How.. Ah… What?! Why her!" Wally shouted while pointing at Artemis and still wearing a confused expression, which resulted in an accusatory glare from the team's archer. "Why couldn't it be my—-I-I-I mean our lovely resident martian? That makes more sense to me."

Dick put his hands behind his head, closing his eyes as he did so. "Wally, Batman suggested it. In his own, weird way." Seeing another question about to sprint forth from the endless abyss that is a speedsters mouth, he added. "Yes, this does mean that she knows Batman's secret identity too. Now can we get back to the mission please? Lets just get changed."

Danny cleared his throat and looked around at the teens with a slightly confused face. "Again I ask; Civvies?"

Dick looked at Danny with a questioning gaze, but answered the question. "Yeah, as in civilian clothes. What, you never knew that?"

"You may glow, but you're not the brightest are you glow-stick." Artemis said mockingly as she walked toward the back of the ship with her bag of clothes. Danny glared at her back for a moment until she was no longer in sight, then sighed and sat down to wait for them to return, which didn't take them long at all.

"Lets go team." Dick announced, now sporting a green hoodie and black jacket, black pants, and converse sneakers, sans sunglasses.

Artemis, now wearing a white tank-top, brown jacket and black pants, looked over at Danny and quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, because walking around with a glowing, white-haired teen in a black-and-white jumpsuit just screams 'stealth'." Danny's answer to this? Grin and transform back to plain ol' Danny Fenton.

"Show-off."

Location: Salem, Massachusetts

Date: September 6th

Time: 1137hrs EST

The team, now dressed in their civvies, walked out from the small clearing among the trees that the BioShip was hidden in and onto the main street, as it was labeled. There were old-styled white houses lining both sides of the mildly busy road. Coming from cities such as Gotham and Central City, the few tourist vehicles going up and down the road in addition to the vehicles of the residents weren't anything to grab the team's attention.

"So this is Salem, huh?" Wally asked as he glanced around at the quaint scenery. "I gotta admit. It's not exactly what I pictured."

"Yeah, it's more modern than I thought it would be." Artemis agreed. "For a town made famous for their witch trials, there really isn't much here about it is there."

Danny was actually relieved by this observation. The less from that time there was, the better it was for him. Especially if he had to go ghost at some point. As he looked around at the scenery, he realized that, even though he was technically here during his chase with Plasmius, nothing here looked remotely similar to anything he seen during his brief amount of time he spent there. Maybe their Salem is different than 'his' Salem after all.

The team continued to walk the streets amongst the crowd of civilians, keeping an open ear for any conversations that may mention something that is out of the ordinary. Additionally, Robin had his glove in his sweater pocket set to continuously scan the area for any abnormal energy signatures. If anything was detected, it was set to notify his cell phone so he wouldn't have to try to use his glove while in a populated area where its use may cause unwanted questions to be asked.

As the seconds turned to minutes, turned to hours, the team was confident that they had seen all that could be seen of Salem with nothing to show for it. Maybe there really wasn't anything happening here for the Justice League to worry about, and they were sent here on a wild goose chase. But on the bright side, they got a day off of school because of it, and that was absolutely okay in their books.

Besides, what's the worst that can happen.

Location: Salem, Massachusetts

Date: September 6th

Time: 2228hrs EST

Night has fallen on the town of Salem and, tourist town or not, it may still be seen as suspicious to see a group of teens wandering the streets. The team was receiving weird inquiring glances and stares from the town's population. It was a little unnerving.

And more than a little creepy.

Recognizing the situation, Dick turned to face the team from his place in the front of the group. He was met with tired eyes that were filled with disappointment and lacking their previous determination. "Alright guys, lets head back to the BioShip and scan the town while flying over. Maybe its sensors may be able to pick up something my tech can't."

Danny, Wally and Artemis exchanged glances. Danny looked back into the blue orbs that were not unlike his own. "That's a great idea and all Dick, but ah…"

"We're starved man!" Wally interrupted. "We've been walking for hours and I'm all out of snacks!" As if to emphasize his point, his stomach growled for all to hear.

Dick hadn't realized that they went so long without eating. He was so focused on scanning the area with his eyes and frequently checking his glove's readings with his phone, that he forgot about food. Now that he was reminded of the need to eat, he could feel his stomach churning like it was trying to digest itself. He couldn't deny the hunger even if he tried.

"Sorry guys. I was so focused on the mission that I forgot about eating. Why didn't anybody mention it earlier?"

Danny and Artemis grinned while Wally crossed his arms and hmph'd. Dick raised an inquiring eyebrow to which Danny shrugged, saying they "Weren't hungry" while Artemis nodded the affirmative. Wally quickly uncrossed his arms and pointed an accusatory finger at Danny. "That's because you used your intangibility to steal some of my snacks!"

Dick grinned at the group and the antics they were getting on with. After the death of his parents and his family, he felt like he would never be truly happy ever again. But thanks to Bruce, Batman, the Justice League, and the team, he felt like his life held meaning again. He has the people in his life to thank for shining the light that brought him out of the darkness, and for that he would be forever grateful. Even if he is the protege to the Dark Knight.

Funny how those kind of things work out.

"Alright team, lets double back. I know I saw a little cafe down the street that was still open. Maybe we can grab something to eat there and then make our way back to the BioShip to scan for anything abnormal before giving up for the night. Everybody whelmed with that idea?"

The other three teens froze in their bickering to give Dick their full attention. The relief was evident in their eyes and Wally looked like he was vibrating in his spot from excitement. "Well lets go! Lead the way dude!"

It only took the teens about 10 mins to reach the cafe that, thankfully, doesn't close until midnight. Sitting at a large vacant table, the team sighed in relief as their feet were granted a reprieve from supporting the weight of their upper body. When it came time to order, Wally went about ordering enough to feed a small army, Danny ordered enough for two grown men, while Dick and Artemis ordered a standard meal for a teen.

Throughout the meal, Danny felt like something was a little…off. It was evident that the others never felt whatever it was, so Danny tried to take his mind off of it by eating everything he ordered. Everyone mostly ate in silence, or as silent as long as Wally's chewing isn't included.

Towards the end of his meal, Danny began to feel increasingly worse. He glanced around the cafe to see if anything or anyone may be classified as suspicious but found that, besides them, there was only an elderly couple having tea and a piece of dessert on the other side of the room and the waitress placing new centrepieces on the tables.

Then Danny knew what was wrong. Those new centrepieces contained a large blossomed flower in the colour of a deep red with a strong and acidic odour. There was no way he could mistake those flowers.

Blood Blossoms.

Danny quickly stood as the waitress began making her way to the tables close to their own and subsequently bolted out of the cafe as he realized he was nearly surrounded in a circle of Blood Blossoms. He did NOT want to re-live that experience ever again.

The team exchanged confused looks as they watched Danny take off from the cafe and run across the street before stopping. Realizing the look of terror in his eyes, the team quickly got up and paid for their meals (Wally taking everyones leftovers for himself for later) and joined their teammate on the other side of the street.

"Dude!" Wally exclaimed. "What was that about! Now my food is gunna be cold by the time we get back to the ship…"

"You're food?" Artemis questioned with an raised accusing eyebrow.

"Well it's not like you were going to finish it!" Wally defended, to which Artemis responded with a roll of her eyes.

Danny, after taking a couple of extra seconds to try and calm down, and to make sure that he really was OK, stood up straight again and pointed through the window of the cafe. "You see those dark red flower centrepieces?" The answered by nodding their heads in the affirmative. "That's why."

Artemis quirked an eyebrow. Those flowers didn't look like something someone of Danny's power-level should be afraid of. "You mean to tell me you ran away… Because of flowers…"

Wally snickered. "Whats the matter dude, didn't like the flower arrangement?"

Danny glared at Wally for his remark. "Laugh it up West. If I hadn't of noticed what was going on with those flowers when I did, you three would most likely be down one team member right now."

Those words startled the three young heroes. Did Danny mean that seriously? He must have! He was so serious when he said it and maintained eye contact with the one who was openly making fun of him. It must be the truth!

Dick decided to be the leader he was supposed to be and ask the obvious question that everyone wanted to ask. "So those flowers, could have killed you?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah. They're called Blood Blossoms and they are actually deadly poisonous to ghosts. Heh, it's actually funny that I encountered them here, considering that this is the first place I encountered them when I went back in time chasing Plasmius. I never knew what they were then, just that once I was surrounded by a ring of them I was in unbearable pain that made me feel like I was being tore apart from the inside. Turns out they're edible, so Tucker ate them to save me. Afterwards I found out that they hurt to touch and are uncomfortable to even be near. Luckily they're rare so I don't really have to worry about them much in my world. I guess the same isn't true here though."

"So you basically have an allergic reaction, but for ghosts?" Artemis questioned.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that. But I can almost guarantee you that an EpiPen won't do much to help."

"Okay, so no red flowers. Got it." Wally said. Throwing a thumb over his shoulder he added, "So can we go back to the BioShip now? I just want to get this mission over with, and to eat my leftovers."

Dick nodded in agreement. "Wally's got a point. Lets head back to the BioShip so we can finish up for the night. Maybe we'll get lucky and finish tonight."

As the team headed back to the BioShip, Danny glanced up at the night sky. There were no stars to be seen, and the half-moon could only be seen through the small and few gaps in the clouds. He thought back to all of the events of the day, all the emotional strain and stress from the information he received from Wulf, and the tingle he continued to feel travelling along his spine regardless of how far they got from the cafe with the Blood Blossoms. 'What's going on?' Danny thought to himself. It was then that a familiar cold made its way up from Danny's lungs, seemingly pulling him in a particular direction.

"It can't be!" Danny exclaimed before taking off in the direction the were already heading in.

"Danny! Wait! Where are you going?!" Dick yelled after the ghost boy.

Danny looked over his shoulder and shouted a response. "My obsession!"