DP: M. of the Spirit Gems ch22

Shade held onto the child tightly, proud of the prey he had captured. Andy, through crying for his mother, tried fighting back and kicked as hard as he could. "Let me go! Let me go!" the five-year-old yelled angrily.

"Why let go of such a precious little child?" Shade replied as he continued to fly. "If you hold such great value to your mother, just think of the value you hold to your father. You're a priceless prize, little boy; you would not want to fall to your doom and disappoint your parents, would you?"

"You're a mean ol' ghost!"

"Yes, well, aren't we all? You'll make the perfect bait for your father. He won't dare attack me now—!"

"You're mean and dumb!" Andy scolded. "My daddy doesn't even know I'm his son!"

At these words, Shade's smile disappeared.

"I was born while he was in the Ghost Zone! Your plan backfired, you bad ghost!"

Shade remained silent for a moment, slightly furious with himself for not realizing that detail, and then grinned again. "Perhaps," he said. He held on tighter to the boy, causing him to gasp. "But that still doesn't mean you are of no value to your mother. And I know how much her happiness means to Danny."

"NO! Let me go! LET ME GO!!!"

Shade looked down at him as the boy fought back and growled lowly until another shout caught him off guard:

"LET HIM GO, SHADE!!!"

Shade looked downward. Shooting up towards him faster than anything he had ever seen do so, was the white-haired ghost that had been a thorn in his side for five years. Danny glared angrily at him as his eyes glowed green and, while baring his teeth, tossed one sphere of ghost ray energy at Shade after another.

Shade gasped and dodged all the attacks, carrying Andy along with him. He groaned painfully when one of Danny's attacks sliced his shoulder. Once it had been able to heal, he glared furiously at the ghost-man. He raised his tail and shot one red ghost ray after another at the hero.

Danny zigzagged passed them, flipped over one and stretched out his body to let another go through. Each missed shot continued on until it had hit a building, causing it to begin to crumble and sending large pieces of debris sailing into the sky.

Danny went intangible and let one last attack go through him before making his eyes glow blue and shooting ice rays from them.

"Not his ghostly ice again," Shade growled in frustration, dodging the attack. He yelled painfully when the tip of his tail froze in solid ice, slowing his movement down incredibly.

Danny took the opportunity to charge straight at him. He held out his fist. "You're messing with the wrong halfghost, you overgrown CLOUD!!!" he yelled before activating his ghost ray and punching Shade in the gut as he flew by.

Shade cried out in pain and finally let the boy go lose. Andy, with nowhere left to go, began the long plummet back to the ground, shouting out in fear.

Danny stopped flying and gasped before diving head first downwards. "HANG ON, KID!!!" he cried out.

*****

Andy screamed in terror watching the ground rush up to him. The wind whistled in his ears, his black hair was pulled furiously back by the cold air, and giant pieces of crumbling buildings littered the space left between him and the ground. Either he would be crushed upon impact with the ground, or smacked silly by a building.

Danny dodged a flying piece of a brick wall, pushed against it and propelled him forwards faster than before, determined to catch the child before impact.

Andy would have rejoiced if he saw his own father and his hero rush towards him. But at the moment, he was concerning himself about how to evade at least one of the horrible death choices he had; and that was passing the crumbling pieces of brick walls, steel plates and glass.

Only one solution came to him. Andy quickly shut his eyes tightly, focused all of his energy until his entire body turned intangible and phased harmlessly through a giant piece of a wall that rushed towards him.

Danny had noticed the boy's stunt, and immediately raised his eyebrows in surprise and gasped softly. After dodging the same piece of debris that the child phased through, he continued to watch in utter disbelief as the child held onto intangibility and sailed through every possible threat to his life, save the ground that was quickly gaining upon them.

He's… got ghost powers? Danny thought. But I didn't sense him. How's that possible?

After nearly running into a steel plate because of his thoughts, Danny returned to the moment at hand, frowned boldly and flew downward towards the child, holding out his arms. Turning his body intangible in order to properly grab the boy, he passed through every piece of debris without gaining a scratch. A few short seconds before impacting with the pavement on the street below, Danny caught Andy in his arms and sailed back upwards, just evading having his suit scrape against the ground.

When he turned solid again, so did the child. Andy, arms folded tightly at his sides, hands closed in fists and his eyes tightly shut, had safely evaded certain death.

Danny looked at him as he slowed down. "Are you okay?" he asked gently.

Andy cautiously opened his eyes and stared up at him. It was at that moment that Danny suddenly noticed the similarities between him and the boy. His piercing blue eyes said everything.

Danny stared at him in silence for a moment or two, wondering why he was staring at himself, and wondering how this child had been given ghost powers without giving off a ghost scent.

Andy stared at him in silence, his hair fluttering in the wind, before he smiled through his tears and immediately wrapped his arms around Danny's neck. He shut his eyes tightly and buried his face in the man's black jumpsuit, still startled by the sudden close shave yet overjoyed to finally be in the arms of the one person he had wanted to be held by for five years.

Danny was taken aback by this action, still not completely sure of what to understand. But after a moment, he gently wrapped his arms around the boy more securely before finally turning back towards the ground to land.

*****