Author's Note: I own nothing! This will probably be the last chapter of this one.
36 Official Team
Dani found Sam and Tanya after school and before either of them could say anything pulled them both into a hug. They returned it easily.
"Can we just forget this whole extremely embarrassing thing please?" She asked, still buried between the two of them. They nodded emphatically and Dani sighed in relief. Tanya pulled away first and sighed.
"So what did you do with Ember anyway?" She asked and Dani grinned.
"Oh she's gonna be busy for a while, I don't think we'll be seeing her again anytime soon." Dani said a bite to her words that Sam hadn't heard before. He distinctly saw her eyes flash green this time as she pulled away from the hug. She shook her head and changed the subject quickly. "How do you think you did on the tests?"
"Horribly, I got no sleep last night, I could barely see straight this morning." Sam said as they headed off down the road towards FentonWorks. Tanya stretched.
"I don't know what you two are worrying about. Those tests were stupid easy." She said readjusting her beret. Dani rolled her eyes.
"Not all of us got twelve hours on the Cramtastic." Sam snorted at that and Dani grinned. Tanya rolled her eyes.
"I'm gonna get you two back for that someday, you know that right?" She asked with a sly smile. Dani grinned at them as they headed up the stairs and into FentonWorks, her parents were out so Dani directed Sam and Tanya up to her room while she slipped into the lab. She grabbed what she'd been looking for and flew up to her room, phasing through the floor and startling Sam by appearing directly behind him. Tanya laughed and Dani grinned apologetically. Sam recovered quickly.
"Why do you have two Fenton Thermoses?" He raised an eyebrow as Dani set one of them down.
"Mom and dad are trying to get them working. But there's a design flaw they don't know about." Dani's hands lit up white with the same energy that surrounded her when she transformed. The thermos flared to life and she handed it to Sam before doing the same to the second one, handing that to Tanya.
"It needs energy from a ghost to get it started?" Tanya asked and Dani shrugged.
"I think it more needs a charge of fresh ecto-energy. But I haven't tried tossing one into the portal yet so, I'm not sure if anything would happen or if it needs to be a ghost that turns it on." She said shrugging. Sam frowned.
"We've used them before though." He was genuinely confused. Dani nodded.
"Yeah, but you need the fresh ecto-energy to turn it on initially. After words anyone can use it, at least as far as I can tell. Those are for you two." Tanya frowned.
"We get our own thermoses?" Dani nodded.
"We need to be prepared. Ever since I opened that portal more and more ghosts have been coming through. At least Skulker was just after me. But think about it this is just getting more and more dangerous. Spectra nearly killed Jazz and Ember could have taken over the world. I know I can't ask you guys to help me fight the ghosts…"
"You never had to ask." Tanya said and Sam nodded.
"She's right. We're in this together. But we should probably have more than just thermoses in the long run." Sam said and Dani nodded.
"Yeah, but I'm not sure I can sneak any of the blasters away. Though we could just tell my parents you guys are interested in ghost fighting, they'd probably just give you whatever you wanted at that point." Dani said. Tanya frowned.
"I mean that's not a bad idea but it might make your life more difficult. Your dad tends to barge into rooms without much regard for anything if he thinks there's anything ghostly going on." Tanya pointed out.
"She has a point." Sam said and Dani nodded.
"Sadly yes. Sneaking it is. I'll see if they've got anything we can use later. Right now I want pizza and to not think about school." Dani said flopping down onto her bed, Tanya flopping down next to her. Sam nodded.
"Game store's open and that new release of Doom is out for pc. Wanna head there?" He asked and the others nodded.
"Pizza first!" Dani insisted as they left her room, smiles on every face. Dani was starting to believe that maybe things would be ok after all. She had her friends at her back, and with them as her team she felt like they could face any threat from the Ghost Zone. But the fact that her parents were becoming more and more aware of the reality of ghostly activity in Amity Park scared her to her core. She had no idea what would happen if her parents discovered that the poor young dead teen they were talking about this morning was their own daughter. She couldn't help but wonder if they would still want to tear her apart molecule by molecule. She shuddered at the thought, glad Sam and Tanya were too busy arguing about which kind of pizza to get to notice.
"As long as it has pineapple on it I'm happy." Dani interjected and Tanya pulled a face and pretended to gag. Sam laughed loudly and Dani smiled, shoving the thoughts of the cold exam tables and sharp medical equipment in the lab out of her mind, at least for the moment.