A/N: There, now all the details that I'd retconned regarding Danny's age have been completely fixed. :D The issues with Sam's parents' names will be handled after the story is complete, so I don't confuse anyone…along with that other detail that only mrit and possibly Akoya really know about; I don't care to rewrite it right now, and I doubt anyone else will notice or think it matters that I forgot to expand on it. XD Yay!

Thanks for your patience, everyone, and thanks to conan98002, shadow929 (that was so not a cliffhanger:P), AkoyaMizuno, Galateagirl, passing4insane (it would be, but they're related, you see! Isn't it just like Tucker to name his kid Tucker Jr…and then Tucker Jr. to name his kid Tucker III? Ar har har!), Lt. Commander Richie, dPhantoMfreak (okay, here's a cliffie for ya, then!), Jimmy the Gothic Egg, luv2bamom, Jenna Dax, Phantom of a Rose, Anomaly25, Leppers (thanks for the tip, and that detail's now fixed!), Yoshi, animeobsessed3191 (absolutely, we're coming up to the climax now!), littlekittykat, Sweeteen19, dArkliTe-sPirit, L'ange-Sans-Ailes, Annabelle Carter and HAlFa34 for reviewing the last chapter!

I'll have you know that I had to valiantly fight off the "writing a Fairly Oddparents one-shot bug" in order to present this chapter! Be proud of me! –pose-

Estrelas

Chapter 23

by Shimegami-chan

"Okay," Tucker said, beckoning for Sam to follow again. "To put it simply, Danny's lost his ghost powers."

"Ghost powers? I thought he was half-ghost."

"He is. Well, he was. I just call them his 'ghost powers.' What I mean to say is that Danny got into a fight with Valerie, and she shot him with something that pretty much turned him back into a human."

Sam couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stopped with one hand on the door of Tucker's silver car and hesitated for a long moment before glancing back up at the elderly man. "What about the…aging problem?"

"Gone," Tuck confirmed. "As far as we can tell, everything ghostly about him was completely expunged."

"You're kidding me." As she got into the car and buckled her seatbelt, Sam's brain was processing all this new information at a maddeningly slow rate. But that means that he could go out in public again, live normally…well, if it wasn't for the fact that the town's on high alert. He could…

Sam sucked in a sharp breath. These new developments changed everything. If he was going to grow up normally, what could stop their relationship now? It was as though Fate had intervened for her again. Despite everything going wrong, one thing at least had gone right…the one thing Sam wanted most.

She dwelled on these thoughts for several minutes as Tucker drove, no words passing between them, until a single worry came to her unbidden.

But if Danny's human now…completely human…what are we going to do about Penelope?

"We're going to have to take Spectra on by ourselves," Tucker informed her, as though sensing her hesitation. "Danny's on his way here now and he's going to bring the rest of the ghost-hunting equipment…unfortunately, most of it's sealed under your grandmother's house, so we'll have to make do with what Jazz has been keeping at her place. I--" He stopped speaking suddenly, reaching one hand into a trouser pocket, where a handheld computer was beeping insistently. "There's a ghost nearby!"

Danny…? No, it has to be Penelope! "What? Where is she?" Sam asked nervously as Tucker pulled over onto the side of the road and inspected the screen grimly.

"She's coming in from the east, going west."

"And we are?"

"Southbound," Tucker said with a frown. "She's heading to where we just came from."

"Well, obviously!" Sam snapped. "She was supposed to be seeing me, remember?"

Tucker dropped the PDA into his lap and swung the car in a wide u-turn, barely checking himself against the oncoming traffic. "Right, of course, of course!"

"Where are you going?" Sam demanded.

"Back?"

"You're kidding!" she yelled. "We can't fight her there!"

The man's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "So what do you suggest? Let her waltz in where your parents will notice you're gone, put the police out looking for you all over town, and put everyone at risk of Spectra getting angry and trashing the place? We have to make a stand somewhere!"

Sam groaned, knowing that Tucker was right. "Yeah, but can't we wait for Danny?"

"I'd love to, but I don't think we have the luxury." Tucker thumbed the control on the side of his earphone. "Danny, you there? We've got trouble."

"Understatement of the year," Sam grumbled.

"Change of plans," he said into the microphone, rattling off the Mansons' address. "We'll meet you there as soon as possible, and you'll want to have all weapons blazing."

Great, Sam thought to herself. I get to help fight off my undead therapist with the help of a seventy-year-old man who's so spindly it looks like he's never exercised a day in his life, a belt that may or may not actually work at warding off ghosts, and a souped-up Thermos. On my front lawn, which will undoubtedly be crawling with cops before long. Fantastic.

Tucker had disconnected the call and was driving with one hand on the wheel, the other holding up his pocket PDA. He peered uncertainly at the display over the tops of his glasses. "She's within two hundred metres."

"And there's my house," Sam said superfluously as they approached the driveway. "So what are we going to do?"

"We're going to take a stand," Tucker said grimly, screeching to a stop and almost tumbling out of the car before the door was completely unlatched. Sam followed suit, throwing off her seatbelt and vaulting out without stopping to close the passenger door. Tucker held up the PDA again, mumbling to himself. He hit a button on the keypad and the trunk swung open in response, its compartment filled to the brim with electronic devices, computer parts and weapons trimmed with green decals, many of which had the word "Fenton" embossed upon them. "Okay, grab something, hurry! Before she actually gets here!"

"This is ridiculous!" Sam snapped, looking over her shoulder at the front door of the mansion, which was within plain sight. Still, she unslung her backpack and pulled out the Thermos Danny had given her earlier. "If my parents catch me out here, I'm dead! And I don't know how to use any of this stuff!"

"It's not hard!" Tucker said distractedly, sifting through the contents of the trunk for a weapon of his own. "For the Thermos, you just press the button on the side and aim it at the ghost. It's nothing at all." He picked out a large, bazooka-like gun. "Aha. The Fenton Foamer…perfect."

"Oh, please," a male voice drawled, its source invisible. "You don't honestly think that's going to work on me?"

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Tucker demanded.

Sam frowned. That voice sounds familiar…it has to be the ghost that was with Penelope at the library! But where was his companion? Tucker had said his tracker was detecting a ghost, not two!

One may be easier, but Danny said that Bertrand was much more of a threat. Sam tried to glare in the general direction of the ghost, but it was somewhat difficult to pinpoint his location. He could have been a kilometre away or right in front of her face, for all she knew…

"Oof!" A powerful force then hit Tucker and sent him tumbling to the ground, held down by an unseen enemy of considerable weight. "Hey!"

Sam ran to his side, uncapping and brandishing the Thermos. "Let him go!"

"Oooh," Bertrand said, sounding amused. "I guess he filled you in. But where is your little loser boyfriend, hmm?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Sam insisted, feeling her cheeks redden. Is he? "And he's not here, so you'd better clear off!"

"Or what?" Bertrand chose that moment to hop off Tucker's chest and show himself, looking much the same as he had when he'd first appeared at the library – a formless, shapeless blob with malevolent red eyes and a wicked grin. "I'm not particularly scared of you. But I guess you're telling the truth – I don't sense the baby halfa anywhere. Guess we'll just play until he shows up!"

"Where's your partner in slime?" Tucker demanded, looking winded but still managing to scowl at the ghost's backside.

Bertrand shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to tell you, I suppose. She took the car to keep up her human disguise – but don't worry, she'll be here soon enough, and then when Danny shows up we can have a grand little party!"

Sam felt sick. No way could the three of them take on Spectra and Bertrand without Phantom's powers! She knew in a heartbeat that they couldn't count on Danny to show up before Penelope joined the fray. She and Tucker would have to take Bertrand out of the fight by themselves. The Goth gulped, holding the Thermos close to her chest. "You'd better stay away from Danny!"

The ectoplasmic ghost looked positively gleeful. "To tell you the truth, girl, we're not all that interested in your loser boyfriend. But you…well, your misery is just delicious!" He cackled, holding out his glowing green hands. "Spectra and I make a great team because we both feed off negative emotion, and you are just full of it, my dear! If you're good now, I can't wait to see what you'll give us after we kill off the Phantom – permanently. It's about time, I think!"

Sam let out an involuntary gasp. All this just to get to me, even now? They'd kill Danny just because they know it'd break my heart? That's low…

Well, I'm not going let it happen. I'll take care of this one myself! I've got one shot…if this equipment really does what it's supposed to!

"Kill him?" Sam repeated weakly, trying to look as vulnerable as possible. "Please don't do that! I'll surrender, if you promise to leave him alone!"

"Sam, no!" Tucker protested, still trying to climb to his feet. "They'll drain you dry! Danny wouldn't want that!"

She took a deep breath and dropped the Thermos onto the ground. "Maybe not, but I don't have a choice. If I go willingly, will you stay away from Danny?"

Bertrand looked absolutely ecstatic. "That might even be better than if we killed him! Ah, the things you humans do for love! Heartbreak, imprisonment, yes, yes…that'll do nicely. So you'll come back to Amity Park without a fight?"

"Gladly," Sam said truthfully, willing Tucker to move faster. The dark-skinned man was standing shakily, with Bertrand's back still to him, looking at her in shock. She raised her hands in the universal gesture of surrender.

"What am I going to tell Danny if I let you go with this guy?" Tucker moaned, drawing a scowl from Bertrand.

"Don't hurt Tucker either," Sam added quickly, glaring over the ghost's shoulder at the short human. "That's part of the deal, if I'm going with you."

Bertrand approached her slowly, looking only slightly disappointed. "Fine, fine. We'll go now, so that when Spectra shows up your parents will find out you're gone right away. Come on, girl – we'll fly there." He reached out and snatched her by the arm—

And the Specter Deflector activated, zapping the ghost with thousands of brilliant bolts of energy. Sam grabbed Bertrand with both hands and held on, refusing to let him fall out of contact as she sent Tucker a desperate glance. "A little help here?"

"Right!" Tucker picked up the Fenton Foamer from where it lay on the ground and shot a mass of green bubbles in her direction, coating both Sam and the ghost in ectoplasmic goo. Bertrand howled in pain and collapsed onto the grass, taking her with him, where she was just barely within reach of the fallen Thermos. Hanging onto the convulsing spook with one hand, Sam managed to aim the opening of the device at the pile of green and activated it, being thrown backward with the force of the energy shooting out of the container. It locked in on Bertrand and began to tractor him in, barely giving him a chance to scream out before he was drawn into it, and a wisp of smoke issued from the business end of the Thermos. Blindly she groped around the grass until she found the cap, and shoved it over the opening.

"Ew," she finally said, trying to clear the green mess out of her eyes.

"…Wow," Tucker managed to say at length. "Danny wasn't kidding about you being a take-charge kind of girl. I seriously thought you were going to just give yourself up."

"Not my style," Sam told him, wishing she could see. She flung several handfuls of ectoplasmic foam from her face onto the grass, but found that it was still writhing in her hair as though alive. She accepted a scrap of cloth that Tucker pressed into her hand. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Tucker helped the teenager to her feet and attempted to clean her off as best he could with the sleeve of his cardigan. "At least we got rid of one of them. Without Bertrand, Spectra's pretty much useless."

"Is that so."

Sam groaned, recognizing Penelope's voice speaking behind her before turning around with a frown. "Great, I thought your PDA was going to let us know when she got close?"

"It's supposed to," Tucker replied, looking at Spectra as though he actually expected an answer. "But it's not detecting any ghosts nearby."

The therapist, still in her human disguise, made a dismissive gesture. "Come on, kids, you should know better than to expect your toys to work on me." She looked around. "Hey, aren't we missing someone?"

"Do we have to go through this again?" Tucker complained, but then he straightened suddenly and a smile spread over his features, one hand moving to hover near his earphone. He glanced over his right shoulder, drawing Sam and Penelope's attention to the two people just entering the scene at a run. Sam's heart leapt into her throat.

"Nope, the gang's all here," said Danny, his features stern. "I guess the party can start."

-to be continued…

A/N: I'm going to stop apologizing for "short" ones, since so many of them are short that we only really have "average-sized chapters" and "longer-ish chapters." :P Average/Shorter means more frequent updating, yes?