"Hey Danny," Sam said as he rolled by her locker. She looked down and noticed the skates, after taking in the gloating, proud smile that beamed from his lips. "Nice blades, where did you get them?"
"A friend of the family," Danny replied sourly. His best friend regarded him with surprise.
"They actually have friends?" She asked, but shook the thought away almost immediately, and looked at him concerned. "What's wrong?" Danny sighed.
"It's just my mom's always needling me and stuff."
"What did she say?" Sam inquired as she pulled a large pile of books from her locker. Danny was about to answer when Tucker came to a screeching halt behind them.
"It's all over the school that you got some Hyper Jet Blades!" He looked down and stared.
"Tucker, stop drooling," Sam rolled her eyes. Danny smiled and shook his head.
"Yeah I got them in the mail, from a friend of the family's," Tucker stopped staring and looked up at him.
"They actually have friends?" Danny couldn't help himself, he started to chuckle, and reached down to undo the skates.
"Apparently,"he grinned. "I've never met any, and no one's ever sent me anything before, but I'm not complaining."
"That's cool," Sam said, and Tucker resumed his staring at the skates as Danny gently put them into his backpack, and pulled off his helmet and knee pads. He shoved those into his backpack without ceremony, and pulled the off the elbow pads. Just as he finished shoving them into his bag, a blue mist escaped his mouth, and he dropped the bag.
"Hey," he said, surprised, and then smiled. "Cool." Sam looked over at him suddenly.
"Cool?" she asked, "you don't normally really like fighting." He shrugged.
"So I don't mind it as much now." He looked around, "Is the coast clear?" Sam Shrugged and looked down the hall.
"Yes," she and Tucker nodded at the same time.
"Good," Danny said, taking a stance, "I'm Goin' Gho–" Two reddish rings of light appeared around his waist, and separated, stopping him in mid-sentence.
"Danny?" Sam asked, noting the surprise on his face.
"Something's...wrong," he grunted before the ring passed over his head, leaving him in Ghost form. He fell back, but floated, as if something were holding him up, looking otherwise completely limp. Sam gaped at him, and Tucker could only stare.
"Um," Tucker said after several seconds of silence, "Is it just me, or does he look different?"
"It's not you," Sam shook her head, unable to tear her eyes off of Danny. His hair seemed to hang in his eyes, and two long black streaks zig-zagged their way through it's otherwise blinding whiteness. He wore a mid-length black cape lined with red, and his now completely black suit was only broken by a red oval on his chest, not unlike the one on his favorite shirt. The normal white belt had dissapeared completely, andred boots along withthe red wrist-guards he'd worn to school was the only other color that broke the whole black look. He still didn't seem like he heard them, so Sam ventured a try again.
"Danny? You okay?" She asked. He responded by lifting a hand to his head and ran it through his hair.
"Yeah," he replied, his voice a little harsher than normal. He lifted his head, and opened his eyes. This time Sam almost screamed in suprise, and Tucker gasped, taking a step away. His eyes glowed a deep, blood red.