DP: Return of the Hero Chp 19

It was several minutes before Danny, Tucker and Sam were finally able to come up and join the rest of the Fentons in the upstairs observatory. Once Danny had gotten over his freeze, Sam gave him back his shirt to put on. Danny asked to keep the blanket a little while longer, more or less because its warmth made him comfortable.

When they arrived upstairs, they soon realized what kind of changes Danny's parents had put to the suits.

"Whoa, major upgrade since yesterday, dude," Tucker said with a soft laugh as he and the others walked in.

Jazz was wearing her suit, but instead of the giant bulky ones that Sam and Tucker had tried the day before, this one actually fit her as if it was a jumpsuit of some sort, made of a thin yet flexible and durable layer of metal.

"Wow, what did you guys do to the older ones, Dad?" Danny wondered, looking at his father.

Jack looked up from his work on his own suit and smiled proudly. "Your mother's idea, actually," he said. "She figured the other suits limited too much movement, which wouldn't be good if we were trying to run for our lives."

"So, we reprogrammed these new jumpsuit-like ecto-suits and made one for each of us," Maddie added, standing up while wearing her suit. She smiled and held up her arms. "Pretty sexy, huh Danny?"

Danny covered his eyes while Tucker covered his mouth. "Uh, please don't ask me that question, Mom," he muttered, making Sam laugh.

Jazz did a cartwheel in her suit before standing up again. "But, these suits are liable to explode, just like the other ones," she said. "So if too much negative energy is absorbed into them, we may need to ditch the suits and vamoose. And considering that the Ghost Keeper knows how to use the Dark Arts, we may need to actually do that."

"Oh, that's rich," Sam noted sarcastically while frowning. "So while we've got some kind of armour to protect us for a certain amount of energy, Danny's got nothing."

"Uh, Sam?" Danny interrupted flatly, catching her attention. "I am part ghost. I have several defence mechanisms that you don't. Armour for you, good; armour for me, same as going ghost."

Tucker giggled behind his hand while Sam blushed. Sam frowned at Tucker after a moment and punched him in the shoulder, making the black man yelp painfully and rub his shoulder.

Jack walked over to them and held up two suits, one for a man and one for a woman. "With that settled, this one is for Sam, and this one is for Tucker," he said, handing them their suits. "So put it on and watch the magic, Kids."

Tucker and Sam looked at each other before stepping into their suits and zipping it up. Once they had been zipped and sealed, the suits began to glow and were immediately wrapped by a layer of mechanical medal, just like Jazz, Maddie and Jack's suits.

"Whoa-ho-ho, man, do I look good in this or what?" Tucker laughed, holding up his arms and checking himself out.

"I have to admit, they are pretty neat," Sam added. "Actually making this battle worth fighting."

Danny placed the blanket down and clasped his hands together. "Then I guess it's time to take this show on the road," he said. "Once I transform, and the whole town sees me again, they'll be more than ready to fight whatever's coming."

"Good enough for me!" Jack exclaimed, holding up a fist. "So, let's go kick some ghostly butt!"

Suddenly, the house began to tremble violently. Everyone shouted in fright as they stumbled to keep their balance, and then just as Jazz fell into her mother's arms, the lights went out and sent the room into complete darkness.

"Oh, no!" Jazz cried out in terror. "The power's gone! That means that the ghost shield won't be working! What are we going to do?!"

"Don't worry, Jazz," Jack replied. "The ghost shield is now running solely on the energy Danny gave it when this all began."

"Which means what?"

"That it'll stay up for another seven hours, give or take."

"It's eleven thirty," Tucker noted. "Which means that the shield will stay up until around six o'clock. Maybe six thirty if it isn't sent too many blows, but if it's attacked too much, it may be just until five o'clock."

"Great; so now we have another deadline," Sam noted sarcastically. "And now, we can't even find the front door. Does anyone have a match or something?! Who didn't think of raising the steel blinds over the windows in this place?"

Danny rubbed his hands together and smiled cleverly. "Don't worry, Sam," he said as his eyes glowed green. "I can lend a hand with our darkness problem." He got into ready stance. "And now that the power's out, that means the ecto-defense system won't work unless set manually. And that means…"

The glowing halo of light appeared around his waist and split into two as it intersected his body. Once they disappeared, Danny's body was illuminated by the ghostly glow around him, making him visible to everyone in the room.

Danny smiled. "… That I'm free to go ghost in the observatory," he finished. Clapping his hands twice, they began to glow green, allowing everyone to see things to a certain distance. "Follow me," Danny instructed as he walked to the doorway and down the stairs.

*****