Chapter Three: Danny Fenton Origin
How long it had been since the moment his powers flared, Danny couldn't tell you.
The world seemed to have stopped for him the moment he felt the familiar rush of Ghost energy flaring across the palms of his hands. It was a moment of clarity, of both relief and just shock.
Danny had been in this world for just over two months. The entire time, he had been without his powers. And a part of him had resigned to the fact that his powers may never return.
Now, seeing them return to him like this… it was like Danny had found a friend he had thought he'd never see again.
For Sero, it was seeing something entirely new for the first time. And he was beyond shock at this point.
"Your Ghost powers?!" The tape hero exclaimed as he made way towards Danny. "Man, I thought you said you could only possess people or something! You never said anything about energy bolts!"
"I said one of my powers was to possess," Danny said, his voice still a bit shaken as he turned back to face Sero. "But there's a lot I can do with it. I… Just didn't think energy bolts would be something that I would be doing anytime soon."
And Danny was completely honest in that fact. Even assuming he would get his powers back, he had thought that it would be hard to control or even weakened after so much time of not using it. He had expected to not be able to use much of anything right away, much less the energy from his hands.
But here it was, prominent and powerful. And Danny wasn't sure if he was more excited or nervous about that.
"How?!" Sero asked, still at peak excitement from the return of Danny's powers. "How do you manage to fire off energy like that with your Quirk?"
Danny looked back to his friend. For whatever reason, there was hesitance within himself. He felt so weary about telling Sero what he could do. He had spent so much time trying to hide who he was back on his world, he never imagined he'd be in a situation where someone was PLEADING with him to explain his powers. It felt so unreal to the Ghost boy.
But there was no reason not to tell him what he was capable of. At least, what he hoped he was still capable of. Not after everything Sero had done to both help and befriend him. Danny knew he owed the tape boy that much.
"Well, the energy I have isn't just used for possession," Danny admitted. "I can use and move it around my body and kind of use it wherever and whenever I can. It's what I used to possess, turn invisible and shoot energy out of my hands."
Danny had expected Sero to ask more questions or wonder how it was even possible. The reaction he got was completely different from that.
"What?!" Sero exclaimed again, looking over Danny as if seeing his friend for the first time. "Forget amazing, your Quirk is beyond epic, Fenton!"
Danny was surprised, to say the least. Sam and Tucker had called his powers cool as well, but not the moment he got them. If anything, they were more afraid that he had just gotten hurt. Which was fair, seeing as how he was just spit out of a malfunctioning ghost portal.
But ever since that fateful day, Danny had had many interactions regarding his powers. And almost always upon someone first seeing them or hearing about them, they would want to know more or just avoid the talk of powers altogether. And the media at Amity Park pretty much always hated him just because of his powers.
But here, in this world so prominent with different kinds of powers and fantastic abilities, there was a different take on Danny altogether.
And while he had spoken to people here about his power before, he had expected a different response when they actually saw it.
It was something Danny wasn't used to. And the Ghost boy found the twinges of a smirk pulling at his lips at Sero's words.
"Yeah," Danny agreed. "Yeah, I guess they kind of are."
"Can you do it again?"
"Oh! Um…" Danny pursed his lips. "I really don't know. I was surprised I managed to do it once."
"Well, give it a try!" Sero said encouragingly. "It would probably be good to see if this was just a one time thing or not. Plus, we have to see if the training worked after all!"
Danny nodded. Sero definitely wasn't wrong in that department.
As Danny flexed his arms out for a second time and took a deep breath, a spark of worried doubt scratched his mind. He really hoped that his power wouldn't disappear on him. Not after this flick of hope that he experienced.
It was a nostalgic feeling that Danny had long forgotten. And he really didn't want to lose it again.
Luckily, he wouldn't have to.
As his hands balled into fists and he felt his power building up in the center of his chest, his hands flickered with a greenish light and very quickly became shrouded in a mist like green energy that shot across the nerves of his palms.
A rush of adrenaline and muscle memory came soaring back into the halfa's mind. But more than all of that, there was an unkempt and unwavering feeling of joy.
His powers were back. And he felt a little like himself again.
"You've got them back!" Sero yelled in excitement. "I KNEW that training was strong as hell!" He approached Danny in excitement. "Can you control it, Fenton?"
Danny hesitated for a moment, then flexed his hand. The energy buildup in his fist increased a level in response, humming in seeming anticipation.
His fear of self-explosion put aside now, he beamed.
"I can control it!" He tried not to sound as excited as he was. "Exactly like I could before…"
That was another hurdle Danny found himself happy he passed without realizing it. It would have been pretty embarrassing to talk his power up like this and then have it's control swap on him like inverted controls.
"Well, heck!" Sero said with a pump of his fist. "Let's test it out then!"
In a flash, the tape hero conjured about five small balls of tape and flung them forward, slapping them against the forward fence and attaching them in a wave like pattern.
"Target practice?" Danny asked as he surveyed the fence.
"Target practice!" Sero confirmed with a thumbs up. "I don't think it would hurt to test your aim after so long on the bench, you know?"
Danny didn't disagree with that. "Alright! Let's give it a shot!"
He himself was curious how his aim was after over two months of non-use.
With care, he stretched his palm out towards the center tape ball and concentrated, focusing both his aim and his intent towards the point itself.
It had been so long since he'd done something like it, he felt his muscles cramp slightly, reminding him just how long it had been since he'd gone through this.
With a deep sigh, he steadied his thoughts and took aim with the tip of his finger, sending as much energy as he could to the tip of his finger.
In response, the energy shot forward and built up into a spinning green ball of concussive force.
ZWOOM
Danny's hand shot back slightly as the ball soared forward and towards the ball. It impacted just above the target and on the fence, burning a green hole within the thick brush of the metal wiring.
"That would be a miss." Sero commented.
"I can see that," Danny replied sourly. "Give me a second. It's been a while."
As the ghost boy corrected himself and tried to remember his overall mindset when he used his powers before (it was amazing what a person forgot after two months of not doing something), Sero looked to Fenton's form with curiosity.
"Try loosening your stance?" Sero scratched the back of his head. "I mean, it may help improve the aim better."
The halfa scrunched his expression. "How?" The Ghost boy asked genuinely, looking down to his own feet. "I've always fired the same regardless of where I stood or flew."
"It really helps you direct a lot more," Sero raised his arms to show his tape dispensers. "A loose stance on my end let's the direction of the tape flow without interference or any other crap. Basically, it just makes life a little easier."
Danny took that in. When he had fought in his own world, he had always kept himself forward and pursuing, opting to keep enemies pushed back in order to protect his city.
Remembering it, he did miss quite a few shots fighting that way, but the main deal was keeping the pressure on.
Could something as simple as a lighter stance really chance that.
Opting to test that theory, Danny loosened the weight on his legs and spread them a little farther apart, exhaling a breath as he shook his hands and loosened them to the best of his ability.
On his end, he did feel lighter. And the Ghost energy built within his hands seemed to flow a little easier as a result.
No way.
After taking a moment and building up the green energy in his palm, Danny thrusted his right arm forward and fired a blast straight towards the target once again.
This time, the bolt impacted the right side of the middle tape ball, burning through the tightened wall of the object and eating through a majority of the interior.
It wasn't exactly on target, but it was a lot closer than he had shot previously.
"Nice, Fenton!" The tape hero enthused. And Danny very much shared his enthusiasm.
A ball of excitement welled in the teen's chest, pushing him forward and moving. He raised his palm and fired a second shot, impacting the right side tape ball.
The feeling of the energy. The adrenaline and instinct of the battle. Everything was rushing back to Danny at once. Feelings he really thought he'd never feel again.
Three more shots echoed out as three balls of energy hit their targets, burning the last of Sero's tape away.
"Dude!" The tape teen was grinning ear to ear. "It's like you never lost it!" The tape boy crossed his arms and surveyed the green energy burning. "Damn, that UA Training really is no joke. Your welcome for introducing it to you!"
Danny, though brimming with excitement, smirked. "Oh, I'm supposed to thank you for a regiment that UA did all the work before?"
"That you wouldn't have known about without me," Sero said with a sly smile, though his tone was brimming with his own humor. "I am glad to see it worked so well for you though! It must feel good to have full access to your Quirk again after so long!"
Danny nodded. "Yeah, it really is. I didn't realize-" His train of thought stopped. And his mind focused on the words that Sero had slipped earlier.
Full access.
The halfa raised his palm and flared his power once more. His energy blast came back, but nothing else came forward. No flying. No invisibility. Nothing.
The strangest part was the overall emptiness. Danny was tapping into his power for the first time in months. But it still felt like he was only drawing from the bare surface of it all. He knew the rest of his power was there. But… unreachable.
Why? Danny didn't know. But the ghost boy hoped he wasn't too far off from it. Or it wasn't out of his reach completely, as the small dot of fear in the back of his mind offered.
And, with a start, he realized that he wasn't the only one wondering about the state of his powers. He had someone to call.
"Listen, Sero." Danny turned back to his bag and started to pack up. "Thank you, really, for everything. But I have to go. Sorry it's so sudden."
Sero looked back at his friend, at first in a bit of surprise that he wanted to leave so soon after getting his Quirk back. But he nodded.
"No, I understand. I think it's been a hell of a day for everyone."
"Yeah, you can definitely say that." Danny agreed before turning back and extending his hand out towards Sero. "Thank you, Sero. Really."
"Hey, we're friends right?" Sero replied, shaking Danny's hand firmly. "I figure it's only right to do a favor for you."
The Ghost boy nodded graciously at that before taking off down the side road back towards the route to Seicho's house.
"Hey!" Sero called out. "Don't think this is all free though! Like I said, you OWE me for all of this!"
Danny, despite his mind racing to what he could do to access everything, laughed and called back. "Yeah, I'll get right on that after I count up the favors for all the English words you wanted to learn to sound cool!"
As Sero humorously harrumphed a ways behind him, the halfa turned his attention back to the matter at hand. Or rather, the person at hand.
Pulling out the high tech green smartphone he had been given, Danny quickly scrolled his contacts and punched in the one person he could talk to freely about the extent of his powers.
It took a few rings, much to Danny's own surprise (he was usually so punctual when it came to a ringing phone.), but it was answered.
"Fenton?" The voice of Seicho asked on the other end of the line. "What's wrong? I told you to only call me at work-"
"In case of emergency, I know," Danny quickly replied back. "But I think this more than qualifies as an emergency."
"... You and Sero didn't break something, did you?" Seicho asked after a beat.
"What? No! We didn't…" He thought back to the fence with the burning green hole in it. "Well, one thing. A VERY small thing. But that's not important right now."
"I'm just saying I don't exactly have the deepest pockets right now, Fenton." His guardian replied. "And my next paycheck probably can't cover anything big that you-"
"Seicho," Danny interrupted. "My powers came back!"
THAT silenced the nurse in an instant. For a moment, all Danny heard were the distant steps and chatter from the background of Seicho's line.
"... Came back?" The guardian sounded as astounded as Danny felt. "How? In what way?"
"It happened in the middle of training with Sero," Danny sighed out in nervous excitement and worry. "And I got my power to fire off energy shots, but that's it. Everything else isn't coming back so far."
"You can control it well?" Seicho sounded more worried than anything else.
"As well as I could before," The halfa confirmed. "But I can't control or summon my other powers. And I don't know why."
There was another brief moment of silence, as Seicho seemed to process the situation at hand. Danny couldn't fault him. He had trouble processing it as well.
Finally, his guardian spoke once more. "Are you heading back to the house?"
"As we speak."
"I'll meet you there, okay?" From the sounds of it, Seicho was rushing to pack up. "Don't activate your powers again until I get there. I'll meet you at the apartment."
"Okay," Danny replied, picking up his pace slightly down the road for no other reason than to make himself feel better. He needed to get to the bottom of this faster. "I'll meet you there."
With that, the ghost boy hung up the phone and quickly made his way forward down the street, excitement, uncertainty and fear brimming into a large storm within his chest.
Never in the four years working at the hospital had Seicho ever called out early or out. With Adaption, he didn't get sick very much at all. And he had more or less been by himself before he chose to let Fenton live with him, so there was no need to request time off for any special events.
Needless to say, Seicho had always been a reliable worker.
Today would be different.
He was only halfway through his shift, yet he was quickly packing his bag and zooming through his pockets to check for his keys and wallet. It was an odd experience to say the least, but it was completely necessary in his mind.
Fenton's Quirk had apparently resurfaced. And the kid was panicking over it, since he only had access to a limited amount of it.
Seicho had seen enough Quirk cases to know that Fenton needed support more than anything else at the moment. And more than that, he had promised to see him through any issues and protect him. And he wasn't one to skimp out on promises.
After he finally laced his shoes and found his coat, he zoomed out of the staff room and moved quickly down the hall. It didn't even take him a minute to reach the front desk, where the familiar brown curly hair and brown eyes of the secretary looked on at him in surprise.
"Seicho?" She asked in surprise. "You're leaving already?"
"Emergency at home, Hatsue." Seicho replied, breathless. "Please give my sincerest apologies to Doctor Borruko, but this can't wait."
She still looked surprised, probably from the fact that she had never seen Seicho in such a rush to leave. But she nodded.
"I'll pass the information on."
Seicho bowed thankfully. "Thank you so much, Hatsue." With that, he zoomed out the door.
He moved at a quick pace, not wasting any time as he dodged past people walking on the sidewalk. He was thankful that, though the Sun was setting, there was still enough light for him to find his way through the people in front of him with relative ease.
It would have improved his own mood if he could sprint home and get there before anything else happened to Fenton, but he couldn't risk that.
If he ran too fast, his Quirk would activate and try to give him a boost of speed through the increase of muscle or adrenaline. Which, in all fairness, sounded good on paper. But thanks to the unpredictable nature of his ability, he would never be sure if it would be just adrenaline to boost or if muscles would shoot out of his foot in a painful ripping and tearing way.
And he would rather not risk crippling himself in this situation.
It took him longer than he would have liked, but Seicho eventually arrived at the doorway of his apartment, which he promptly unlocked and swung open.
"Fenton!" He called out loudly as he entered.
The apartment itself was intact, which Seicho was always thankful for (he paid too much for the apartment renovation to have it go all up in some), but his immediate worry still lied with the fifteen year old boy who had awakened his abilities again.
He called out once more and began stepping towards Fenton's room, but stopped as the black haired ghost child stepped out.
"Seicho!" Fenton approached with a relieved smile. "Man, it's really good to see you."
"Likewise," Seicho said with a relieved smile of his own before looking the boy up and down. "You aren't hurt, are you?"
"No," The boy shook his head. "Not at all."
"So you still have pretty good control of it right now?"
Fenton looked slightly uncertain, which unnerved the nurse slightly. But he extended his hand and closed his eyes in concentration.
Fwwmmmm
Seicho looked on in amazement as a green almost liquid like energy encapsulated the entirety of Fenton's hand, shimmering between his fingers and focusing on his open palm.
"I have pretty good control of this," The ghost boy said after he opened his eyes and examined the power he held. "Enough where I can make small shots with it at least."
He fired a focused beam forward and towards the sink, where it knocked into a dirty cup and sent it clattering near the drain itself.
Seicho looked on at the sink silently before turning back to Fenton. "THAT'S your ghost quirk? What happened to the invisibility and possession?" He had heard the kid describe it before, but he thought they were low powered and not the main part of his Quirk.
The energy he had seen was anything but.
"Well," The ghost boy held out his hands. "My power, I think, is that I can, like, use the Ghost energy in my body to do a lot of things. Like invisibility, possession and using that energy to make bolts."
As if to prove his point again, Fenton shot another small beam to knock a dirty plate into the sink. The shot went wide and instead scarred the back of the wall near the sink with a deep black patch.
Seicho looked back towards Danny incredulously. "Hey!"
"Sorry!" Fenton quickly dissipated his power. "It's been a while! I'm a bit out of practice!"
Seicho sighed, but he let the matter go. In a way, he was surprised and thankful it took the kid this long to really do anything to the house itself. That aside, the guardian turned his attention back to the matter at hand.
"So you said you can do everything you can do with this Ghost energy," The nurse repeated. "But you said you couldn't access everything, right?"
For the first time, genuine frustration and anger crossed over Fenton's expression. His blue eyes focused to the ground in thought as he crossed his arms.
"No. I can't do anything else other than my energy bolts," He sighed. "I tried back with Sero and a few times before you got here, but nothing is coming back no matter how much I try to tap into it. And… it's starting to freak me out a little."
Based on the tone that he relayed this information with, the ghost boy wasn't exaggerating. He held quite a bit of nervous fear inside thanks to the limit to his Quirk. And it looked like it was eating him up to no end.
Seicho couldn't claim to know who Fenton was before or what the full extent of his abilities were, but it seemed to concern the kid so much, the nurse had a hard time believing his powers weren't exactly like he said they were. And since that was the case…
"I mean, first of all, it's great to hear you have the beginnings of your Quirk back." The nurse said with genuine excitement. "But the most important thing right is that you're safe and you have relative control over your Quirk. There's a lot of ways this could have happened, but I think it's good we are where we are, right?"
Fenton looked back up at Seicho. "... Well, when you put it that, yeah. Things could have been way worse. And I'm glad they weren't." He flexed his hands. "It's still really weird that I can only access one power when I could access it all before…"
"We can talk about that, I promise," Seicho assured. "For now, let's eat. I'm sure your training with Sero worked up an appetite. And I kind of skipped lunch when I rushed home to help you out."
"... Food does sound really nice right now." The ghost boy admitted sheepishly, which was good for Seicho to hear.
He had learned quite a bit about unstable Quirk situations during his time at the hospital. And one of the first things taught to him in that time was to first keep the patient's mind from focusing too much on the negative aspect.
If they dived too much into that aspect, it was likely they would lose control or use of their Quirk altogether. And it was always best to keep the conversation moving forward and away from that until you were ready to press the situation forward.
With that in mind, Seicho set about preparing his traditional special chirashizushi and set about two plates for Fenton and himself.
It took him a little more time than usual, seeing as he had to change halfway through after remembering it wasn't wise to stain his nurse uniform, but he served a heavy helping to both plates and sat down with Fenton at the table.
Seicho set his chopsticks in hand and regarded the black haired blue eyed boy in front of him, sending him a comforting smile. "Alright. Let's start from the beginning, Fenton. What happened today that triggered your abilities?"
Fenton didn't waste any time. He quickly relayed to Seicho exactly what happened back at the school and what he and Sero talked about before the energy in his palms suddenly activated. He explained the brief training session they had and the feeling of repressed energy he felt deep down, almost like the rest of his Quirk was waiting for him before he returned back to the apartment.
"... and I tried to get more of my ghost energy forward while I waited for you," Fenton concluded, now staring at his empty plate. "But nothing really changed. I'm still stuck where I'm at for now."
"I wouldn't call it 'stuck', Fenton." Seicho said. "You've still made progress, haven't you? Hell, when you woke up this morning, I bet you never considered you would be getting your energy blasts back."
"I didn't," Fenton agreed. "And I'm grateful to have this power back, don't get me wrong! It's just…" He sighed. "I don't know. Maybe it's selfish. But I always kind of thought that if I got my pow… my Quirk back, it would be all of my abilities at once. Like things used to be. This?" He sighed again. "I don't get this."
"..." There was a moment of silence on Seicho's part as his mind ran through the information that Fenton had told him. Finally, he folded his hands together in thought. "Do you mind if I ask you something personal, Fenton?"
Fenton noticeably tensed at that, which gave Seicho a little bit of hesitance. He didn't want to press the kid if it made him uncomfortable. That was one of the last things he wanted.
But the tense nature of the ghost boy didn't last long and soon nodded his approval of the question.
A bit more cautious not to make the atmosphere tense in any way, Seicho approached his question carefully.
"I'm not going to pretend I know what happened before we met," The nurse began. "Or what you've been through. But it seems like whatever may have happened before you and I met, you carry most of the blame on yourself, right?"
The ghost boy kept his eyes on his empty plate. And he got a faraway look on his expression, one stooped in sadness.
"You would to, if you had seen what I've seen." Fenton replied quietly.
"... I don't doubt it." Seicho agreed.
"All I'll say is that it was a situation that could have been avoided if I just stopped altogether or moved faster," The ghost boy's tone cracked and sadness was laced into his words now as he recalled the event only known to him. "And I wasn't able to stop it in time… and it cost me everyone."
Another, more uncomfortable silence filled the room. But it wasn't on account of Seicho not knowing how to react to a situation like Fenton's. In fact, it was more to the fact that Seicho had seen this situation play out in a way he couldn't stop.
"... And everything you thought you had to do, like trying to keep away from hero schools or just hero stuff in general… that's all something you think needs to be done to atone?"
"I'm not a hero, Seicho," Fenton said with grim assurance. "I couldn't save anyone when it mattered most. I really don't think any one of the people I let down would want me to continue after I failed to save them. If you want an answer, there it is."
Seicho said nothing, instead studying the downward cast expression of the boy as well as his closed in stance. If he didn't want to talk about it, that was fine. But what the ghost boy was doing here wasn't that. It was almost like he was trying to contain himself to his words, in a way.
He kept his arms crossed and refused to make eye contact with Seicho, but his eyes were brimming with sadness yet uncertainty.
"Maybe not being a hero in your mind," The nurse began slowly. "Means no powers as well."
This time, the boy's eyes met his.
"What do you mean?"
"You said you didn't think that you deserved to be a hero. That your loved ones would be happy if you stopped being a hero after what happened to them," The nurse leaned forward. "What if you're carrying that out subconsciously to your Quirk as well?"
The ghost boys expression shifted at that, from one of sadness to confusion and curiosity.
"No," Fenton said after a moment. "No, if that was true, I would have been able to activate my powers when I tried to get them out, right? I can't suppress them without knowing I'm doing it."
"Why not?" Seicho asked. "If people are able to suppress and forget traumatic memories in order to live their lives, who's to say the same can't be said in your case?
"It seems to me like you've been cut off from the rest of your abilities by your own fears and judgements on yourself. And, even with your own drive to get back your Quirk, you're still blocking yourself."
"And what makes you so sure?" Fenton asked, cautious curiosity to his tone.
"What you said about your Quirk coming back after your talk with Sero. There's a reason for that, I feel." The nurse pursed his lips. "Just for a brief moment, you considered Sero's words in the moment. And you doubted your own idea that this is what everyone would have wanted. For a moment, your subconscious wavered. And it allowed you access to your Quirk."
And that gave Fenton a longer silence then ever before. Seicho half expected the kid to jump up and scream at him that he was wrong.
But Fenton was different. He seemed to take Seicho's words in and really think about them. There was no absolute denial on his part. And that made Seicho thankful.
He was already fearful of offending Fenton accidently from just bringing up a past that he obviously didn't like to talk about. But more than anything, the nurse wanted to help the boy in any way he could. And he drove this point to help the ghost boy to the best of his ability.
"That… can't be it," Fento replied, though he sounded as unsure as he looked. "After… EVERYTHING I failed at, I was so sure that keeping away from it… was my answer."
"...The body and the mind are two very different things, Fenton," Seicho said as he stood up from the table. "Maybe in the moment, in the aftermath, stepping away from the hero role seemed like the best thing to do. But, in the long term, you have to ask yourself: What do you really want? And what was important to you before?"
With that, the nurse took both empty plates and took them to the sink. "It's just a theory, anyway. But at the moment, Fenton, it sounds like the person preventing you from accessing your Quirk is yourself. And the best solution for that is really to decide what path you want to take."
The ghost boy said nothing for a while, almost making Seicho think that he had left while his back was turned.
"How?" And when Seicho looked back, he saw Fenton was staring intently at his own hands, a maelstrom of emotions and prominent indecision within his gaze. He looked up to match the eyes of the nurse. "... How do you know so much about this?"
For a moment, Seicho wavered. Emotions biled in the back of his throat as he remembered the pain he himself had went through all those years ago.
"... You're not the only person who's gone through such pain, Fenton." Seicho said with a nod. "Always remember that you're not alone in this. Especially not in this house." He ran a towel over a drying dish as his own eyes fell away from Fenton and focused out the window to the stretching line of the Mustafu buildings. "I'll tell you what that means in detail another time. For now, get some rest, okay? You look pretty exhausted."
The ghost boy didn't argue with that. With a nod, the black haired boy stood from the table and bowed. "Thank you for dinner, Seicho. And the advice."
And with that, Fenton made his way towards his room and shut the door behind him.
A quiet atmosphere settled across the kitchen, only interrupted by the ruffle of the towel as Seicho traced circles around the once wet plate.
His own sigh was as audible to him as ever. So much so, he could hear his own traces of anxiety within the action.
"I've helped you the best I can, kid," Seicho said softly. "The rest comes down to you. And what you want to do."
He placed the dry dish to the counter and went to the phone at his side. He opened it and his eyes went to the message sent a good time ago that remained unresolved.
From: Officer Tsukauchi
Is he doing alright?
The message was simple enough, but it was a simple head to what Tsukauchi meant underneath it all. Seicho had informed the officer on his way back home of the situation at hand. And Tsukauchi, ever the worrier, wanted to know if his Quirk was stable or not. Which, with the current predicament at hand, Seicho wasn't entirely sure of himself.
After staring at the message for about five minutes, trying to find the right words to reply with, he finally decided.
To: Officer Tsukauchi
His Quirk is stable for now. And Fenton is having little trouble controlling the power he has now. There's nothing I can call a problem at the moment, but I'll keep an eye out.
It was all he could really say at the moment because he really didn't know what was going to happen next.
That all lay with what Fenton would do next…
Only a few days had passed since his talk with Seicho. But for Danny, it felt like a lot longer.
He really blamed his own indecision and turmoil in that. Danny didn't know WHAT to think in light of everything Seicho was talking about.
A part of him wanted to deny it. Say that it was stupid to think that his own decision led him to not being able to use his powers. Him doing what was right was wrong? Keeping distance from the hero business that has cost his family and friends everything was not what he wanted? He wanted to just say that Seicho had it way off and look for another angle to view this from.
But, at the same time, a part of him also felt that what Seicho was saying wasn't entirely false. Thinking back on it, the first time his powers had failed on him was back when Clockwork confronted him. Right after… everything happened. After he had made the mental decision that he couldn't be called a hero after failing everyone he loved. And the one time his powers surfaced is when he doubted his own way of thinking.
It could all be a coincidence, but it was too much of one to deny that Seicho's theory had a LOT to it.
These two trains of thought collided constantly against each other in his head. And it got to the point where it started to affect his sleep. Like now.
Sighing, Danny sat up in his bed and rested his face in his hands. He honestly didn't know what to do next. And that bothered the heck out of him.
Throughout his life, Danny always tried (he didn't always succeed, but he tried) to find a path and keep to it. In his own world, he knew that he wanted to help his family, friends and town. And that's what he always did. Regardless of what happened, he always went forward with the intention of helping.
He had carried that method over to his schoolwork, home life and pretty much his entire existence. Whatever happened, he would keep to a path. And he wouldn't deviate. He knew what he needed to do next to help his situation.
This time, he really had nothing. No plan going forward, no idea what was true and what was false. Really nothing to go on. And it would remain that way unless he acted.
"... So I have to act."
With that, the ghost boy left the warmth of his bed and stepped out into the cold interior of his room. He flexed his hands and arms while releasing a strained exhale. And he made his way out to the hall.
His thoughts, heavy as they were, went back to one aspect of his conversation with Seicho that stood out prominently: the question of what he wanted.
At the moment, Danny just didn't want anything holding him back anymore. He wanted to know what he was doing. What he wanted to do.
He wanted clarity.
The ghost boy made his way to the center of the apartment's living room and took his position as he always did: arms flexed out and chest straightened.
He hadn't tried to practice fully tapping into his powers on his own for about a few weeks. Truth be told, he stopped trying out of frustration and the fact that his training with Sero had been picking up to a point where he thought he didn't need to really do it solo anymore.
And the last couple of days had been too hectic to really try again.
But, with his own frustrations at the possibility that he may be holding himself back, Danny felt now was as much of a time as any to try again and hopefully figure out this situation.
Before, he always tried to tap into his powers without much thought to anything else. Everything he did was concentrated on trying to pull his powers back to his control, which felt almost like pulling a chain out of ten foot mud.
Now, he was going into this with a new idea about what he could be looking or feeling for. Or, to put it more accurately, what he hoped to find.
"Okay…" Danny exhaled, balled his hands into fists and closed his eyes. "Concentrate."
With the apartment gone from his sight and now alone with his thoughts, Danny mentally reached down to the pit of his chest and towards the ball of energy that rested in it's deepest recesses.
Immediately, familier pangs of adrenaline surged through his body as he took that energy and began to draw it forward and around his body. At the same time, the halfa fought to keep his thoughts together and on the draw of the energy, making sure it would envelope his entire body as opposed to only certain areas.
It didn't even take a minute for Danny to feel the intermediate tickle as ghost energy began to dance between his fingers, which was a relief. Ever since he got the ability back, he held the fear that it may just not come back one of these days. But, for now, it seemed stable.
That couldn't be said for the rest of his abilities.
Just like the numerous attempts beforehand, Danny tried to push the full extent of his energy out and take on his full ghost form again. But the halfa was met with nothing but strained silence for his efforts.
This would usually be about the part where he would start to ease to save his energy, but that wouldn't do tonight.
Danny knew that this had to end. And he was willing to keep going. However long it took.
"I'm not slowing down," The Fenton muttered as he kept pushing out his energy. "I'm not going anywhere until I find out the truth!"
At that, the energy around him intensified, almost as if egged on by his words. And he felt a small bit of new energy bubble to the surface.
But with that, there came a sinking gut feeling and an ache to his heart unlike anything else. Tears began to well in the young man's eyes as a wave of emotions poured into his gut, alongside an immense guilt.
You couldn't save them.
You should have been faster.
You should have been stronger.
You should have stayed with them.
You should have not risked it.
With a gasp, the ghost boy stumbled slightly. And the ghost energy built up around him shook. "What… is this?"
You can't call yourself a hero. You can't call yourself anything. They wouldn't love you after this. Nobody would love you after what you've done.
"..." Danny couldn't vocalize in the midst of this onslaught of guilt and anger. It was as if every ounce of pain he had suffered was coming at him all at once. And he couldn't stop it.
The ghost energy he had built up stopped its increase altogether and began to shrink around him as the emotions piled in faster around him.
You can't justify your want of your power back.
You don't deserve any of this.
You're no hero.
You're a fraud.
"I…" The ghost boy lowered his palms, defeat sinking into his chest. "I'm…"
"You need a cool sounding hero name to go with that costume, Danny."
Within the maelstrom of storming emotions and feelings, a voice stuck out to the ghost boy. One familiar enough to draw him out of the pit.
"... Tucker?"
His thoughts solidified. And he began to recall a distant memory, back from when he first got his powers.
"I'm just saying the Phantom Foley sounds too good to pass up," The tech whiz had added with a childish smile. "Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? OW!"
That last exclamation was from the balled up fist of Sam slamming into his shoulder.
"It's not just about what sounds cool, Tucker!" Sam said in a stern voice. "This is Danny's choice. He's the one with the ghost powers."
"Just offering a friendly suggestion," Tucker had muttered before looking back towards Danny's way. "But you are the one with the powers, Danny. So it is up to you on what you're going to call yourself."
"And no matter what you choose," Sam added with a smile. "It's probably going to stick regardless. Amity Park has never had a superhero before. So this is going to be one GIANT first."
… Tucker and Sam… they wanted me to be a hero from the very beginning. They helped me do that from the very beginning.
"Hoist the plasma net upright, son!"
Another voice broke through the current of emotions. One that gave Danny's heart a jolt unlike any other.
"Dad…?"
"Jack, it's still too heavy for him. I told you to lighten the center console at least."
"Mom…?"
"Nonsense! He just has to get used to the weight and he'll be running alongside us in no time!" His dad laughed aloud before his voice heightened, like he was leaning in to talk directly to Danny. "He'll be fighting ghosts soon enough, just like his old man! I can already tell that he's going to be one of the best ghost hunting heroes around!"
Heroes. Danny's heart twisted like never before.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Jack." His mom's voice broke through. "There's still a lot of training for Danny to go through. But…" She laughed. "Once that training is done, he definitely will be!"
Danny felt his throat tighten and turn hot as pain coursed through his chest. He had forgotten… exactly how much his friends and parents had supported him. They had wanted him to be a hero. And that wouldn't have changed, regardless of what happened.
"I…"
Failure.
You can't live up to what they want.
You can't be a hero.
"I've got your back, Danny."
"... Jazz?"
"Your secret is safe with me."
All at once, Danny's mind cleared. And he truly realized how much he had been missing.
In his own sadness, he had decided what would be appropriate to honor everyone he had lost without thinking about if it was what they would have truly wanted.
Seicho had been right. This wasn't the way to honor any of them. And this wasn't what Danny wanted. More than anything, he wanted to continue to make his family and friends proud.
And what he had been doing… it was all wrong.
Failure.
"But I can still get back up," Danny growled as he came to a stand, the ghost energy building up around him.
You failed to save any of them.
"And I can't fail them anymore by not continuing to pursue what they wanted me to be!"
You were never strong enough. Fast enough.
"And I won't get faster or stronger by giving up." The energy swirling around Danny began to encompass him.
This path will lead you down a route of pain and suffering.
"Maybe," The halfa clenched his fists. "But it will also give me both hope and drive, as well as to the people I want to save."
You can't be a hero again.
"I won't know that until I try. And I want to try."
All at once, the energy around him calmed, almost as if completely bracing against the storm it once was. The whips of energy that had once carried off of him suddenly fell back and settled onto his body.
His control, which felt so far away before, suddenly became front and center in his mind. And he could at last breathe. His body felt light, but heavy. The ghost energy within him felt calm to the point of easily swaying with any movements of his arms or legs.
For the first time in a long time, Danny felt completely in control.
The halfa moved to feel his forehead to make sure he wasn't in the middle of a delirious fever from all this. And when he looked down to his hands, he was met with the familiar glow of the white and black design of the gloves he had long gotten used to starting at.
His entire body, in fact, was now aglow in the familier design of black-and-white that he had worn for almost a year back in his own reality.
His symbol remained proudly emblazoned in the center of his chest. And a glimpse to the small mirror above the kitchen sink confirmed what Danny had already suspected: his hair was now as white as pure snow. And his blue eyes were now a glowing green.
At first, shock made it almost impossible for a single thought to occur in Danny's head. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening.
Yet the ghost boy wasn't being startled awake. This was real. His powers had fully returned.
"No way…"
As he took in the sight of his returned ghost form, Danny also became aware of the streak of wet that made its way down his cheek.
He had been crying without knowing it. And Danny wasn't sure if it was due to his powers returning or the release of some of the guilt present. Either way, it made his heart hammer in his chest.
"Okay…" The ghost boy cleared his head and flexed his arms. "First, I-I need to test to see if I actually have them all back."
With an exhale of excited breath, Danny took a step towards the wall of the kitchen and tentatively reached his hand forward. As his fingers pressed against the surface itself, the ghost boy closed his eyes.
Nervous anticipation sparked in his chest as he focused his thoughts forward, like he had many times before. He concentrated on the want for his hand to phase through the wall itself and focused whatever energy he could on that goal.
Just as soon as those thoughts started to prominently enter his head, he felt the energy in his palm pulse. And he suddenly slammed face first into the wall.
"OW." Danny exclaimed as he recoiled in pain and attempted to blink the spots out of his eyes.
When his vision finally cleared, he found his hand phasing completely through the wall, rifting the material around it in visible ghost energy.
Danny's mouth hung open as he pulled his hand slowly out from the wall and stared in disbelief. Then he began to laugh.
"No way."
He quickly shifted gears towards his ability to fly. And willed his spectral "tail" forward.
Sure enough, with a rush of ghost energy Danny hadn't known since he first arrived in this reality, his legs popped together and became a phantom wisp, allowing him to almost effortlessly float.
"They're back," He said in pure joy, fresh tears brimming from his eyes. "They're all back."
He flexed his arms out once more, pushing forward his invisibility. And sure enough, his body shimmered and disappeared from view.
This time, he wasn't allowed the full time to experience his joy, as he suddenly felt his body droop in exhaustion and his breathing heavy.
At the same time, his powers fluctuated. And both his invisibility and tail dropped.
"Okay," Danny took a steady breath. "I think I'm a bit out of practice…" The Fenton stood. "... But that's not the important thing."
Taking a more cautious approach, Danny slowly levitated off the ground and, once again, pressed his hand against the wall.
His hand phased through once more. And the halfa didn't waste anytime after. Grinning, the boy pushed himself completely through the wall, watching as his body passed through pipes and interior lining before popping into existence in the night air of Mustafu.
He was floating three stories up in front of the apartment building, the one stretching road that connected the complex to the rest of the city stretching below him. The cityscape itself was an ocean of car and building lights, almost completely lighting up the night sky above the ghost boy with a sunset-esque color. It was the first time Danny had really been by himself at night in the stretching city.
People below walking on the sidewalk paid him no attention. They didn't even look up. Danny was invisible to the world once again. And that realization, that feeling of freedom he hadn't felt in so long… it was overwhelming. Another feeling of nostalgia he had long forgotten.
With a small chuckle, the halfa wasted no time. He twisted his tail to the sky, stretched his arms forward and rocketed up towards the night sky.
He really didn't know how fast he was going. He didn't care. All he knew as he spun freely in flight and laughed aloud as he soared past the stretching buildings and out of earshot was the joy of knowing he hadn't lost who he once was.
All this time, he feared that he wasn't who he was. And he battled himself on whether it was a good or bad thing to feel that way in light of what it cost him. But here, relishing in the past that he had thought lost to him, he really didn't feel any argument or guilt.
More than anything, he felt…
Happiness.
With that, he ceased his flight in the atmosphere, did a roll in the air with such grace that it would have made Hawks jealous, and soared back down.
Looking at the stretching landscape from his height really gave Danny a grasp on how big Mustafu was. Definitely a step away from the small town of Amity Park. But regardless, it still gave Danny a rush to see the city rushing up to meet him all at once, almost beckoning him forward and past who he was before.
And there was no doubt in Danny's mind that he would follow that path.
As the many streets and traveling cars edged closer and closer to his vision, the halfa took a deep breath. He slightly shifted his whipping ghost tail at an angle and waited for his moment.
Right before he found himself face-planting against a highway overpass, he willed himself immediately to the right, arcing his direction at a breakneck speed and sending him rocketing to the buildings laid out on his immediate right side.
With his intangibility up, his impact was nonexistent. Instead, he soared straight through the largest window and zoomed through desks and people, trying his best to keep from laughing aloud as he did so. But it was a challenge.
A line of exclamations carried through the building as Danny soared through them invisibly. He knew that he was no doubt giving many people a chill as he passed. And he would challenge anyone to not at least get a chuckle out of the literal straight line of seriously confused line of people trying to figure out how the temperature dropped so dang fast.
Luckily, he was able to hold his laughing until he popped out of the other side of the structure. And there, he laughed to his heart's content, floating back in the air as he did so.
His laughing was, at first, about the people he confused. But it soon transformed into a more grateful and ecstatic laugh. One that truly was just enjoyment as opposed to anything else.
Danny had NO idea how much he had missed all of this. All that time doubting and suppressing his powers out of fear. It all seemed so far away now. He really was happy when he had his powers, he realized. And, while he still held his own reservations about the hero role as a whole, he knew what he wanted. And what his family and friends wanted.
"I have a chance to do real good here," Danny said quietly as he soared up and surveyed the city again. "And I'm not going to waste it. I got my powers back for a reason. This is a city of heroes, right?" He smiled. "So I'll make sure to become better than I ever was before. And I'll make sure nothing like what happened to me happens to anyone else." Danny looked up. "'Rise above.' Okay, Clockwork. I can do that."
Danny had continued to enjoy his powers for almost an hour after, soaring through the air and just enjoying the feeling of being himself again. But, unlike before, the continued use of his powers had actually taken a toll on him.
The halfa didn't know yet whether it was because he was in a new world or because he just hadn't used ghost energy in months, but it didn't take long before exhaustion began to settle in his arms, legs and chest. His own breathing began to heavy like before and his invisibility became harder and harder to manage.
So, even though a part of him wanted to keep enjoying the night of Mustafu like he couldn't before, he eventually returned to Seicho's residence, more exhausted than anything else.
With another activation of his intangibility, he phased through the outside wall of the apartment and found himself inside the kitchen once again.
Without wasting any time, he landed back on the ground and let out a tired sigh of relief. At the same moment, the familier pure white circle encircled his chest and stretched across the entirety of his body. It phased away the black and white colored costume in seconds. And soon, Danny was back in his pajamas like nothing had ever happened.
"That… was a lot more tiring then I remember," Danny said aloud as he tried to catch his breath. "But… it was worth it." The ghost boy smiled as the spikes of adrenaline still kicked in his system. "I'm glad to see that everything works like I remember it."
"And I'm surprised how all of it works in general."
The halfa jumped about a foot and quickly whirled around. There, sitting at the side of the table, obscured in darkness and sipping at a mug, was Seicho.
"You did go into great detail about your Quirk, but I never imagined it was so versatile." He waved his hand. "In regards to the phasing through walls aspect of it."
Danny, who was taken aback at first, sighed and resigned himself to the questioning that was about to take place. He couldn't exactly deny what Seicho had seen. And he really didn't want to, regardless.
"How did you know I was gone?" The halfa asked sheepishly.
"Well, I was worried. As any guardian would be." Seicho answered. "I heard you leave your room and I had thought you were just going to do your usual practice routine. So I was about to fall asleep. Then I heard you crying. And you sounded like you were in pain." He shrugged. "THAT really worried me, so I jumped out of bed and went to check on you. And I find you with your hand halfway through my wall."
Danny smirked. "So you really did see it all."
"Every bit!" Seicho exclaimed, more excited than mad at this point. "Your hair was pure white, your uniform just appeared out of thin air and you completely phased through the wall while flying!" He chuckled. "Like I said, I expected quite a bit. But nothing like this."
"Well, I'm glad to hear I lived up to your expectations." The halfa shared in his guardian's laugh and they settled into a much more comfortable atmosphere. "So, am I in trouble?"
"Well normally yes. I think it's generally considered a good idea to punish a kid who thinks it's okay to run out of the house and leave his guardian worried." Seicho shrugged. "But I would be lying if I said you were the only person I've ever seen in my life sneak out to explore the city. And things were happening pretty quick and fast with your Quirk, so I'm not going to hold anything against you here. You're lucky I get the wanton curiosity you get at your age."
Danny exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Thank you for that."
Seicho still had the presence of humor on his expression, but his gaze switched to one of more concern. "Joking aside, kid, how are you holding up? You didn't really try to deny that you were crying. And, while I'm happy your Quirk is working again, I wouldn't be doing my job properly if I didn't ask what exactly you decided within yourself to reach this point again."
"No, I get it." Danny crossed his arms. "To answer your question, I'm… holding up okay, I think."
"Really?" Seicho asked, with either a tone of curiosity or concern. Or both.
"Yeah. It was all… painful at first, I'll admit it. There was a reason I avoided confronting it for so long. And to be honest…" His gaze dropped to the floor. "... I don't think there will ever be a moment where I won't feel pain. What happened to my family was… horrible. And nothing can ever change that."
But, instead of keeping eyes to the floor like so many times before, he looked back up and focused on Seicho's gaze.
"But facing everything again also really showed me what I've been missing this whole time. Everything's been a mess for so long. And I didn't even know what I could begin to do to fix it all. But…" The halfa smiled. "I think I know the direction I want to go now. One that would make everyone who isn't here anymore happy, you know? And one that'll really give me a direction to go."
The Fenton boy was expecting Seicho to send further questions his way. Instead, the nurse's smile only brightened and his eyes shined, as if Danny had done something spectacular.
"And any decision you make on that will be heavily supported by me." Seicho said as he stood and placed his hands on his hips in what could only be described as an attempted heroic stance. "Though money wise, I would rephrase that 'heavily' to 'somewhat moderately'. We're not rich enough to really emphasize that 'heavily.'"
"Because of all the Kamui Woods merchandise?"
Seicho immediately went defensive, pointing an accusatory finger at Danny. "Hey, it's not a crime to like a hero, okay?!"
Honestly, it was a miracle that Danny heard him over his own laughter. And it was only intensified as Seicho scowled at his response.
"I'm glad you find my enthusiasm for Woods so funny," He said with a sigh. But he looked just as amused as he did so.
Danny's laugh tempered, but his relieved and humored smile remained. "Seriously. Thank you, Seicho. You've really helped me these last two months. And I'm grateful."
"Well, it's the least I could do, Fenton." Seicho said. "Who in their right mind would feel right leaving a fifteen year old kid in the streets of the big city." He raised an eyebrow. "Though if I know your personality would be like this, I would have followed my gut and kept quiet."
"Too late for takebacks."
Seicho sighed in exasperation, but continued. "If you don't mind my asking, what's this path you've decided on?"
Danny smiled at his guardian. "Well, I will say this: it's definitely not something I expected to go back to so soon."
If you were to ask Sero himself, he would pretty much all but guarantee he was a pretty confident guy. He had to be at times. Seeing as how his Quirk was usually one that people looked down on, he had learned to bolster how he used and what he himself thought of his tape in order to improve how people saw him.
His parents always told him that confidence was the key to anything. And, as a result, he developed a whole lot of it.
He had no nervousness when he used his Quirk, none when he failed at using his Quirk, and overall none when he became really familiar with his surroundings. Like Kaizen Middle School.
When it came to this place, he knew it like the back of his hand. Which friends had what schedules, what teachers taught what classes. He was pretty confident he knew just about every aspect of the school, since he had been going here for so long.
But today was different. In particular, one thing was different for Sero: Fenton was late.
"That's strange." Sero scratched his head as he looked back towards the main clock in the center building of the school. "8:25. Fenton should be here by now. That guy is never late."
Yet his friend was nowhere to be seen. Sero frowned. He wondered if this had anything to do with what happened a few days back when they were training. He had to admit that Fenton had gotten all the more reserved after that, it seemed like.
Still, that never stopped him from coming to school on time before. And a spark of worry for the ghost boy emanated in the tape hero's mind.
He waited another two minutes in front of the school before turning back and taking the first few steps to follow his fellow classmates inside the building.
Weird, Sero thought to himself as he approached the doors to the main building. Maybe he's sick or something.
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind, there was a cold chill at Sero's side that seemingly rushed past him.
The tape hero turned in confusion, wondering if he had gotten the tail end of someone's Quirk and if he needed to tell that someone to watch it with their powers. But he didn't see anyone directly behind him. Everyone else was too far away to really do anything so close to him.
Sero looked around for a moment before shrugging and turning back, sure that it was the wind.
"Man, you're usually the one rushing me to get to class. It feels weird to be ahead of you for once."
Sero jumped in shock as he suddenly found his missing friend ahead of him and at the top of the stairs. "Fenton? When did-?"
His words died in his throat as he took in the full appearance of the ghost boy. Fenton now sported pure white hair and green glowing eyes that glimmered in mocking humor (standard for Fenton) . He wore his school uniform, but it now held a white glow that seemingly hung off the uniform itself.
But that wasn't what drew a majority of Sero's attention. No, that was to the fact that his friend had no legs. Instead, a wisp-like tail made up nearly the entirety of his bottom half and seemingly supported him in circular wisps as he hung in the air above the stone steps.
It was certainly a shock to see Fenton like this. Not only for Sero, but for a lot of their classmates passing by. A good many whispered under their breaths. Some were just awed at the power of Fenton's Quirk. He had been without his Quirk for so long, some thought he had genuinely been Quirkless.
"Whoa! What the hell happened to you?!" Sero demanded, an astonished and awed smile drawing across his own expression.
"Well, let's just say..." Fenton's wisp tail suddenly straightened. And it suddenly completely vanished as two full sized legs popped out in their place and plopped down to the stone step below. "... I'm at full power."
"Dude! You got your Quirk back?!" Sero beamed. "When?!"
"Last night." He answered, his tone somewhat reserved. But that was hardly noticed by the tape hero.
"Freaking fantastic! I told you that training would pay off!"
Fenton smirked. "I was just about to thank you, but since you're already patting yourself on the back…"
"And why wouldn't I?" Sero retorted with a haughty expression. "I said the training would work out. And to me, it looks like it really did." The look on Fenton's face only brightened Sero's laugh further. I'm"But dude! That's a seriously cool Quirk! You talked about it before, but seeing it in action is a whole different experience!"
"Well I'm glad it's so popular." His ghost friend said with a smile as they both resumed their walk down the hall and into their main class. "To be honest, I was kind of thinking that my… Quirk… would never fully come back. Even with our training going on. For once, I'm really glad I was wrong."
"So am I," Sero said with a chuckle. "After all that talk about what your Quirk could do, it would have just plain sucked if I was never able to see it in action." The tape hero crossed his arms over his head. "One things for sure now: school is going to be a lot more interesting than it has for the past couple of months. Especially with a Quirk like yours. How the hell does it change your hair and eyes?"
Fenton shrugged. "It came with the Quirk. I didn't really ask for it. But you have to admit…" He ran a hand through the pointed snow colored hair on his head. "It's a cool look, right?"
Sero shook his head as they neared their shared first class. "I was going to go with 'It makes you look old'."
"Ouch," Fenton replied in exaggerated fashion. Then he shrugged. "But if you don't like it, I can always switch it back."
Before Sero could ask further, there was a bright flash of light. And a pure white ring suddenly appeared around Fenton's chest. In short order, the energy split and travelled both up and down the ghost boy, parting the white glow that once encompassed the boy and returning both his hair to black and his eyes to blue.
As soon as the energy reached both the very top and very bottom of Fenton, it dissipated, leaving Sero's friend looking like his old self once more.
"Now you're just showing off." Sero fake muttered. He had to admit, that was one amazing Quirk.
"Give me a break." Fenton insisted. "This is the first time I really got to show off my powers. I never really got the chance back at home."
"Hey, I'm not judging you!" Sero insisted. "I'd probably feel the same way if my Quirk had been pent up for as long as yours has. So go ham, I say! I mean, this school would definitely be more interesting with a haunting. Right Casper?"
Fenton snickered at that as they both finally reached the end of the long stretching hall and the door to their home room. Sero thought this would be the end of their conversation and the beginning of their true plans to haunt the heck out of the school. But Fenton wasn't done just yet.
"Actually," Fenton turned back to his friend. "I was thinking of haunting another place first. The training yard."
"The training yard?" Sero turned to his friend, at first confused. Then, as he saw the Cheshire grin on the ghost boy's expression, he knew exactly what he was implying. "Are you challenging me to a match?"
"Well, I figured it's only fair," Fenton shrugged. "Seeing as how we're on equal ground and I'm far less of a punching bag then before."
"That doesn't mean that still can't happen," Sero countered with a laugh of his own. "But are you sure you want to do this, Fenton? You've only had your Quirk back for a little while. And I'd hate to bum you out with a defeat."
"Those are fighting words if I've ever heard them…" Fenton pointed out. Then he enveloped his hand in the green glow. "I know I've only had my powers back for a day, but I need to get some training done with them. Just to see if I can still do what I could before. Moves and all. And I figured I could kill two birds with one stone and get that done while paying you back."
"... Where did THIS side of you come from?" Sero asked with a laugh. "I mean, of course I accept. I can't let you smack talk me like that and get away with it. But since when do you get more pumped about training then me? That's never happened before."
Fenton thought for a moment before shrugging. "I guess you could say that I know what I want to do now. And, more importantly, where I want to go."
Confusion filled the tape boy's mind. But before he could even ask, Fenton had opened the door and stepped into the class.
"I'll tell you more about what I mean after our match. Or, preferably, after I'm done mopping the floor with you."
With that, the ghost boy entered the classroom, leaving an already hyped up Sero even more so.
Fenton seemed much more comfortable now. More so than he ever had before. And Sero didn't know if that challenge came out of that new comfort or if this was just how Fenton had always been and he was just now seeing it.
Either way, the tape boy clenched his fish in excitement.
"Oh, you are on, Fenton."
As the sun began its first signs of dipping in the sky, the bell finally rang at Kaizen Middle School. And Danny all but sprang out of his seat and quickly made his way to the training area.
It would usually take him a little while to make his way down the winding stairs and past the sea of students that usually flooded them right after school. But now, not only did he have his powers back, he would be able to use them in a way he was never able to before.
With a smirk, Danny straightened. "I'm going Ghost!"
Like a nostalgic dream, the pure white ring stretched across his body once more and brought his abilities straight to the forefront. Even though he had done it countless times before in the past, he could never get over the feeling of power buildup that would conjure when he went ghost. And pride coursed through the fifteen year olds body as people looked on in shock.
With a wave goodbye to his classmates, the ghost boy took a breath and activated his flight at the same time as his intangibility. He soared away from his seat and quickly phased out the side of the wall and to the outside of the campus, leaving behind the lull of the class and welcoming the open air to his lungs.
Without wasting any more time, Danny flew forward and towards the edge of the campus, towards the sports zone and his impending match with Sero.
While a small part of him had to admit to the fact that the whole reason he challenged the tape hero was to properly pay back the one sided training they had been doing over the past couple of months, there was more to it than that.
Ever since last night and his brief trip outside to the city, Danny had had his mind running a thousand miles per hour. He was grateful to have his powers back, but he was also worried about what was presented last night during his flight.
He had gotten really tired really fast when he used his abilities. Much faster than he had used to before. And, while it could be because he hadn't used his powers in a long time, Danny couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it than that.
Getting that tired, to the point of literally just wanting to fall into bed and sleep for eternity… he didn't feel that would be happening after only a couple months hiatus. So he wanted to test his abilities combat wise and, hopefully, see if he could still use them well in a fight.
Luckily, he had a partner in crime he knew would only be too happy to help him improve through some fight training. And it already looked like said partner had beat him to the arena.
Standing there, arms crossed and his smug smile more present then ever, was Sero. He wore his regular school uniform, but both sleeves were pulled up to expose the two rotund bulges that made up his Quirk. He held the right side of the arena and presently stood guard there as he watched Danny approach and set down on the ground.
Before the halfa could even get a word out, Sero held up a tsking finger.
"I beat you here, Fenton," Sero said proudly. "First battle goes to me."
"Wow." Danny responded flatly. "Well one: if I knew we were racing I would have flown a lot faster. Two: your final class is MUCH closer to the arena than mind, so I would call that an unfair advantage."
"No such thing as 'unfair' advantage, my friend," Sero shot back, not dropping the smile. "Just advantages."
"You're the worst, Sero." Danny said simply, but he smiled. "Alright. Ground rules?"
"We'll use the same rules as always," Sero replied as he stretched. "First one outside the gate or unable to move loses. Keep the destruction to a minimum. And, most importantly, no brutal shots to the face." He smirked. "Wouldn't want to disappoint any of the girls by damaging this mug."
"What girls?" Danny asked, stretching as well. "The ones that make it a daily rule to clear a mile wide gap for you?"
"Laugh it up, Casper." The tape hero sneered. "We'll see how well you can after I tape up that mouth of yours. Ghost Quirk be damned."
"Big words before the battle," Danny countered as he readied. He took a big intake of air and let it out, flapping both his hands and rotating his arms. He hoped his flight here wouldn't be draining on his powers. And thankfully, it didn't seem like it was. At least now. He'd have to test it further. "Alright. On the count of three?"
"Sounds good." Sero agreed, pressing his hands against his organic tape dispensers in preparation.
"Okay," Danny flared up his Ghost Energy and focused it to his palms for a beginning blast to throw the tape hero off his balance. "One... Two... " He felt the energy and heat build up between his fingers. "TH-"
In a flash, there was a quick crack in the air as Sero whipped his arms forward and threw what could only be described as a cage of tape forward and towards him. All at a speed he didn't think his friend could hit.
With a yelp, Danny flew back and activated his intangibility at the same second the tape impacted against him. It slammed into him hard enough to throw him off balance slightly, but the full blow was lessened as the entirety of what remained of the lines phased through him and hit the gate behind him.
He still hit the cement rather hard, but at least it was on his legs as opposed to his back, which was what Sero wanted, no doubt.
"Well," Danny said as he dropped intangibility and threw his power to his hands. "You've gotten faster."
"That or I've just been holding back!" Sero called back as he whipped another line forward and rocketed towards the halfa, leg up for an oncoming kick.