The ticking from the clock on the wall overhead was growing unbearable for Danny as the rest of the family sat in the living room waiting for James to return. No one knew what he would do. After several minutes had passed footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs as James returned to the living room wearing a white shirt and holding multiple Item bags in his arms. Once he stood in the middle of the living room, he began dumping the contents of one of the bags, making a pile of clothing before quickly sorting them into two piles.

  Ronald and Danny looked over the two piles of clothes. There were two sets of odd-looking bck fireman’s uniforms complete with boots, pants, jacket, gloves, and a fireman's hat with a number 8 on the front. In addition to all this equipment, there was also a striking extra piece, a white silken shirt. “Danny already knows what the silk shirt is so, Dad, I’ll give you the cliff notes. This thing is magic and resistant to impact. Wear it under everything.” James said tossing the Soft Armor towards his father from the pile. “As for these uniforms, they should be completely fireproof.” While both desperately wanted to ask why they needed completely fireproof uniforms neither were willing to question James right now. The strange look in his eyes coupled with an uncharacteristically stern demeanor gave them both strange feelings.

  For Ronald, it felt like the times he had to make business deals with some of the old sharks. For Danny, it felt like a calm Drill Sargent, if such a thing existed. With that left unsaid while they wanted to ask where he got these odd uniforms both felt like there was no pce for discussion or argument.

  While they got busy putting on their uniforms, James stuffed his arm inside one of the other bags searching for their equipment. He started by pulling out a heavy metal riot shield that seemed to be lighter than it looked. He then pulled out another simir-looking shield and two silver guns. Once the guns were out the two still in the middle of getting dressed stopped for a moment staring at the silver rifles with an unmistakable attachment towards the barrel. "Catch," James tossed one of the guns towards Danny who managed to catch the gun with surprising ease. The gun was surprisingly light. For a second Danny fumbled with the double trigger mechanism for a moment before he figured out how the chainsaw worked. *Buzzz* Growing a childish grin on his face. Ronald stared at the weapons and while it gave him pause, he was starting to understand why his sons liked video games so much.

  Spoiler

  Lightweight Mark 3 Lancer Assault rifle (Gears of War)

  [colpse]Seeing that James had supplied equipment for him and Dad, and a surprising ck of personal equipment Danny was quick to ask “What's your pn? Are you going to use those mushrooms again”?

  "Using mushrooms..." James mumbled to himself. If he used the metal mushrooms with his current pn, they would just cook inside the metal shell, but using a different type wasn't such a bad idea. "No, we're not using the metal ones. Also, I'm going to be moving ahead, the Soft Armor is good enough. You two will be on home defense duty, chopping down what I miss”.

  With that said James went back to pulling things out of the bag, taking out more than a dozen fire extinguishers as he was searching. The pile kept growing as he kept searching. Eventually, he pulled out a set of pictures set together with a paperclip. Putting them aside for now he returned to searching his bag of oddities. A joker's smile spread on his lips as he finally grabbed the item he was looking for; a thin bck device covered in red markings. Clearly a weapon of some kind that the family had never seen before. A tube went from the handle towards the middle of the barrel. At the end of the barrel was a strange attachment that ended in a red ring with a piece jutting out.

  Spoiler

  Ignis Wraith (Warframe)

  [colpse]With the st useful item taken out of this bag, "Mom, the rest of this bag is for you. It's mostly just fire extinguishers and some retardants. It's easier to pull stuff out when you think about the item you want but it can be a bit tricky. Just make sure these two don’t burn the house down".

  “Y-yes.” Diana was a little apprehensive when it came to accepting the magic bag that stored far more than it should. Her typical mannerisms and stern parenting style had colpsed. As was the world around her.

  After handing over the second bag James started sifting through the third one that he kept over his shoulder. "That's not it- but it would be useful," James noted another new idea removing a rge strange metallic orb with five disks spread oddly around its surface. Even with this odd tool removed James’ arm was still deep within the bag searching for something else, “Where is it… found you!” He started pulling out a rge cable, pulling and pulling before a rge spotlight popped out of the bag. "Mom take this to the kitchen and find a good spot to it shine it out the window".

  After handing over the spotlight James got busy taking out various vials from the small stack of photos he had pced aside earlier. Setting up three separate pyramids of various shiny liquids on a nearby TV tray. Looking at the small stack of myriad colors Ronald was about to ask but Danny got to it first; "What are they"?

  "The usual, Resistance, Iron skin, Fire Resistance, one of the blue ones slows down oxygen usage and one of the greens should slow down stamina loss. Should also be some Night Vision in there somewhere".

  "Is all this really necessary?" Ronald had grown increasingly more concerned as James kept removing items.

  Both brothers turned to look at their father, "Yes" responding in a matter-of-fact tone. During their adventure into the Wolves Den Danny realized why James had prepared the way he did. If they didn't have invulnerability they would have died to the mob. Not to mention the boss monster or whatever that thing was.

  Diana was long passed the point of mental exhaustion; she didn't even care that James was using his ability to pull out a bunch of weird tools and weapons. She brought the spotlight into the kitchen before finding a spot on the kitchen's windowsill. Plugging it in and fiddling with the knob, 1000 lumens started shining out the window. Illuminating a sizable portion behind the house. “James! What the hell are those things!” Diana shrieked seeing the multitude of wriggling green and brown tentacles slowly approaching the family home.

  "Did you think I was kidding? We're being attacked by some sort of tree/pnt creature. Meaning either a dungeon spawned nearby, or a tree mutated." Hearing this Danny blushed for a brief moment thinking he had jinxed the situation somehow. "Danny, you take care of the expnation, I'm going to grab a few extras. Also don't drink them all at once! The effects will change or mix- wait for a weird feeling." James said heading back towards his room.

  "Right-" Danny said taking a deep breath and picking up one of the many vials. "Dad, we're not chasing off a bear or hunting an animal. This thing spped James away like a skipping stone." Danny uncapped the vial pouring the contents into his mouth. (It wasn't nearly as bad as the st time).

  Ronald took a deep breath "I get it, Danny." He could tell that Danny was anxious. But Danny was somehow able to cope with the current situation. While James felt like a different person. He got the idea; it was better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.

  "Those things are getting closer!" Diana warned as the vines slowly crept even closer towards the house. With that being their cue the two finished donning their equipment and started drinking their stack of potions. Each one came with a unique taste and a different effect on their bodies. Some had a physical effect, glowing for a brief moment when they activated or the night vision creating a yellow film over the top of their eyes. Then there were those where they couldn't tell if something happened until feeling a buzzing in their ears.

  While they were busy drinking through the various liquids James had quickly returned from his second supply run. Danny curious as to what James went to grab asked, "So what did you get"?

  "A few more of those," James said pointing to the rge metal orb sitting on the couch. "And some of these." He held out his right hand full of simirly orb-shaped mushrooms with a red cap and white dots. Danny looked at them thinking that was about what he expected as they blinked back at him. Ronald on the other hand, "What the hell are those!?" he took a step back seeing one of the Super Mushroom's blink.

  "They work like this," James tossed one of the mushrooms into his mouth a few seconds after swallowing the effect activated his body expanded becoming more muscur and robust. Growing several inches and given his recent growth spurt after eating the mushroom, he was taller than Danny.

  "That's how these work?" Danny looked at the mushrooms then at for the first time in his life looked up at his younger brother. That wouldn't st long as he promptly took one of the mushrooms from his hand and pced it in his own mouth. While chewy, it had a fluffy mushroomy texture and tasted almost identical to strawberries. After swallowing, the effect triggered, Danny grew slightly taller while his muscles became much more defined. It seems that the growth effect decreases as natural height increases. But now the two were of equal giant height.

  (Interesting.) James mentally noted the difference in growth. "The affect will only st until you take any damage- you won't feel a thing. I don't know if the potions would change that." He was keeping his statements concise as he started drinking his own potions.

  With the remaining mushroom pced on the table while James drank his potions Ronald was hesitant to say the least. His sons now stood taller and bigger than before. And if he understood the affect he wouldn't feel a thing if he happened to get hurt. But when the mushroom 'looked' at him he felt a strange sense of guilt? He couldn't quite pce it. He practically grew up fying fish, straight from the creeks and rivers nearby or on a short trip to one of the nearby kes. But he never ate something live, and it wasn't because his mother always scared him with the idea that if you ate watermelon seeds you would grow one in your stomach. It also moved around on the small table which was quite unnerving. Ronald looked at James who had finished another potion, his skin gaining a stony texture then drank another potion while he hesitated. While the fme in his son's eye scared him he had already come this far.

  Taking the Mushroom from the table he pced it in his mouth. The taste wasn’t to his liking, and it was rather chewy in Ronald’s opinion. After swallowing, his body also grew though compared to his sons there were some minute differences. In addition to the growth, his facial hair gained a new shiny luster, and his body no longer had any aches or pains that came from age or the years of farm work.

  Once they had finished drinking all the potions with all the preparations finished James twisting a nob on the side of his strange weapon causing a small fire to burn at the tip of the ring attachment. He was going to be putting everything he'd been testing over the st weeks to the test.

  END

  Spoilerkidmonkey94

  [colpse]