Danny Phantom - The Next Chapter

One Chance

As they approached the top of the obelisk, he recognised the ENP his parents had made standing in the centre of the rubble-strewn floor, Jazz and Tucker appearing to be trying to get it activated. That in itself wasn't a great sign, and he wondered why his parents weren't there if things were so dire. The only reason they wouldn't be was... no, there was no sense wondering. There were more pressing issues to focus on.

The hovership moved until it was level with the floor and Danny clambered out. Sam was quickly at his side, taking his arm and supporting his weight.

'Jeez, Danny,' she muttered, giving him a once over. 'You look like hell.'

'Thanks,' he replied grimly, 'I feel a lot worse. What's the situation?'

'You didn't hear me over the coms?' Tucker asked, pausing and looking up at him.

'They're gone,' Danny replied, gesturing to his ears.

'Things are getting bad,' Valerie explained, 'Your dad was hurt pretty bad and your mom got him out of here. Jazz has only just gotten back.'

Danny's head whipped over to his sister who had her face set in a grim mask, hiding her emotions behind the work that was right in front of her.

'How bad?' Danny asked.

'Mom has it sorted,' Jazz replied tersely, 'Don't worry about them right now. We need to come up with something once we get this thing working.'

'It's no use,' Tucker snapped, smacking the metal in frustration, 'It needs power and right now we don't have a lot to spare, let alone enough to wipe the whole city.'

'Then take mine!' Dani offered, 'Unless I'm going back out there to fight, I'm not doing anything useful right now.'

Danny looked at her; she looked about as bad as he felt with cuts, bruises and blood smeared across her clothes. But she held herself straighter and met his eyes with a challenging look, daring him to question her.

'How much does it need?' Danny asked.

'Mom and Dad were working on extending its range,' Jazz explained, 'From what they could figure, they could get it to cover most of Amity Park, but they never actually tested it. That was all just theoretical. But... they did say if we gave it enough power, it could reach into the Ghost Zone too. If the ley lines were around anyway. it would be more like a regular explosion though because of the whole worlds mirroring each other thing.'

'Could it cover the whole city if we fed it enough power?' Danny continued and Jazz flashed him a frown.

'You want to wipe out all the ghosts too?' Sam demanded.

'No,' he replied, 'I'm thinking it might be time for an evacuation. We get all our ghosts back into the Ghost Zone and seal the portal, then we blast the city and wipe out the half-ghosts.'

'And you?' Sam persisted, 'You're planning on leaving too, right?'

Danny didn't reply and avoided her eyes, which was answer enough.

'Are you insane?' Valerie demanded, 'You'll give up your own powers for this?'

'In my defence, I have the start of a plan!' he protested, 'It probably won't work but if it does, I can keep my powers and we can get rid of all the other half-ghosts permanently.'

'And if it doesn't?' Jazz asked.

'Then... I guess it'll be worth it to save everyone else.'

There was a pause before everyone began yelling at once, telling him it was a stupid idea to even consider if it put his own powers at risk but he ignored them, looking out over the battlefield that was Washington DC.