The room was quiet. Three of them couldn't believe what they had just heard, while the fourth simply remained silent. With a wave of his hand, the computer system seemingly dissipated, the room empty again. Glances were exchanged between the teens, but no words were spoken. What could be said in such a situation? Hundreds of questions flitted about their minds, but none of them were asked. Rather, these questions only brought more questions, offering little to ease their minds as they desperately searched for some explanation. None could be found.

When one of them finally spoke, it was in a hushed, wondering voice, "But - how?"

The ghost turned to her, answering simply, "I don't know."

"Wait, wait, wait - time out," Tucker said before Danny could demand information. "The entire world is losing power, and there isn't even a trace of why it's happening?"

"That's correct."

"But how is that even possible?" Sam inquired.

"It shouldn't be," Technus answered. "Under normal circumstances."

"Normal circumstances?" Danny crossed his arms.

"Yes, normal circumstances. Otherwise this would've happened before," Technus said slowly, as if it was obvious.

"Then are there any abnormal circumstances that would explain this?" Tucker asked.

"None that I can think of."

Danny opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. It quickly became apparent to him that he did not like this situation. What he was used to dealing with were ghost attacks. The solution to beating them was not always clear, but the enemy was often right in front of them. Now it seemed that they were being attacked by unknowns; power outages caused by something they couldn't see. Not only that, but the whole world was involved, making the entire aspect more frightening, and potentially more dangerous. Having saved the world from the Disasteriod, any widespread threat like this made Danny feel responsible. But how could he fight an enemy he couldn't see? An enemy that wasn't even a person at all, but rather, a reoccurring event that may as well be like trying to fight a rainy day.

The situation itself seemed impossible, let alone how to face it. Danny sighed, the heroic Phantom inside of him churning and demanding to solve the problem and save the day, yet with no clue how to go about doing it. But he was far from giving up yet. And he wasn't finished with the ghost across from him.

"And we're supposed to believe you're not involved in this?" Danny asked, uncrossing his arms to curl his fists by his sides.

Technus turned to glare at him, "Do you really think if I were the cause of all this, I would sit here and explain it to you?"

The three teens looked at one another.

"Well -" Tucker stopped at a harsh jab in the ribs from Sam.

The ghost let out an aggravated sigh and paced about a bit before stopping a short few feet in front of Danny and saying, "I am not happy about this situation either, Ghost Child. And I know this probably means nothing to you, but I keep my word. So when I say that I have nothing to do with this, I mean I have nothing to do with this."

Danny stayed quiet, and neither Tucker nor Sam interfered. Backing off slightly, Technus focused on a spot on the floor for a while before continuing, much more calmly, "The blackouts are most... disturbing to me, Ghost Child. I have studied the events leading up to them and have found no substantial evidence as to what may have caused them. It's... frustrating, to say the least."

"So you really have no idea why this is happening."

A nod. "That's right."

Danny exchanged glances with his friends. They looked to him with the same expression on their faces.

Putting his back to them, Technus suggested, evenly, "Perhaps you should leave now."

Looking from one to another one last time, the three nodded to each other before quietly leaving the ghost's abode. Closing the door behind him, Danny flew himself and the others back to the Specter Speeder. Once settled inside, they laid in a course back to the portal that would take them home. None of them had spoken a word in the process.

Tucker was the first to break the silence, "Well. That was..."

"Different from what I was expecting," Sam finished.

"Yeah," Tucker agreed softly.

"Danny, are you alright?" Sam asked, touching his arm slightly.

"I'm fine," he answered. "It's just... everything seems so strange. The blackouts, Technus..."

"He was acting pretty weird back there," Tucker added. "Just... didn't seem like him."

"Do you still think he's behind all this?"

Danny thought for a while. He didn't trust Technus. He didn't trust most of the Ghost Zone's residents. But Tucker had a point, he was acting pretty strangely. The whole situation seemed... off. And he didn't like it. He was worried that, in the dark of the power going out, something bigger was happening. But did he really think Technus was behind that...?

"I don't think so," Danny finally answered. "I don't think he's telling us everything, but I don't think he's behind it."

"What do you think is going on?" Sam asked, worriedly.

"I'm not sure. The sad thing is, this might not even be ghost related." For Danny Phantom, the concept of a problem that wasn't ghost related seemed alien. "This could be because of something entirely different, and we just don't know."

He lowered his head, half out of deep thought and half out of frustration. He stared at the operative controls of the Specter Speeder, dimly aware of their occasional blinking and chirps. A fine thing it was, often underappreciated, but the vehicle had served them many times on several different occasions. In a way, it made Danny feel less alone. For much of his half-ghost life he had felt so terribly alone. He had always had his friends, yet as faithful as they always were - even if at times, he wasn't - the feeling had still remained. He certainly wasn't alone now, the entirety of the world knowing of his unique existence, yet something about the gentle hum of the machinery before him reminded him that he had always had the subtle companionship of friendly little devices. The Fenton Thermos, for one, always there, always handy. Granted, it could not console him like his friends could, yet thinking about it now, Danny could hardly imagine ghost-hunting without it. The mental image of literally dragging ghosts by their tails and throwing them into the Ghost Zone one at a time certainly did not appeal to him. Maybe he wasn't so lonely in those days after all... but he was sure he would need all the support he could get if he was going to figure this one out.

"Danny? Are you okay?"

Said boy looked up at the speaker, the goth girl next to him. She looked concerned; he must have been nonresponsive for a while.

"Yeah," he replied. "I'm just worried, I guess."

"Relax dude," Tucker told him, giving him a reassuring smile. "You always come out on top against the bad guys. This time isn't any different."

"Tucker, we don't even know who the bad guys are," Danny protested.

"Not yet," Tucker grinned. "But there have been plenty of anonymous visits from the Ghost Zone, and you've figured all of them out."

"Maybe," Danny consented. "But like I said before, this might not be ghost related."

"If not ghosts," Sam pondered, "then what could be causing all of this?"

"I don't know," the ghost boy said simply.

"Seems like Technus doesn't, either," Tucker said grimly.

"See that's the thing I don't get." Danny leaned back in his seat, idly intertwining his fingers and twidling his thumbs. "If anyone would know about what's happening, it should be him. I don't understand how he can be just as clueless as we are."

"Maybe he's lying," Sam suggested darkly.

"But why would he lie to us if he's not the one who's doing this?" Tucker asked with an eyebrow raised suspiciously.

Danny shook his head, "That's not Technus's style. He's not like Vlad" - the mere mention of that man's name made the atmosphere change - "he doesn't weave together lies like that."

"What if he's changed," Sam furrowed her brows in thought. "What if -" She took another moment to consider it, then started again, "What if he's had an upgrade?"

The others took a moment to think about it as well. It was a perfectly valid theory, for they all knew the ghost of technology was capable of it; he had done it before. Only the last time Danny had considered him to have stayed as "the same old Technus". Now, however, as he put more thought into it, he did notice just how much change there had been in the ghost since that upgrade. Aside from his change in appearance, he soon took on an entirely different personality. The seemingly half-crazed, mad scientist was gone, and was replaced with a more logical entity, one that saw emotion as weakness, weakness to be exploited in his enemies. With this new psyche, he had become one of the few ghosts to come close to world domination.

Same old Technus, indeed! Danny thought sarcastically. As he thought more and more about the concept Sam had just introduced, the more frightening it seemed. He had underestimated Technus's ability to adapt in the past, and now there was a possibility that he's done it again. If the Technus they had encountered back at his lair was the Technus they were going to be dealing with in the future - The thought was frightening.

His friends seemed to generally have the same thoughts judging from the grim expressions on their faces. If anything, one thing was clear to all of them: Upgrade equals very bad for them, even if it was just a minor one.

"And, you think what we saw... back there, was part of...?" Danny trailed off. He didn't have to say more.

"I'm not sure," Sam said. "All I know is that the ghost back there wasn't the same Technus we know."

"Agreed," Tucker put in, far more serious now.

"I mean, that computer system he conjured up could've been something entirely new..."

"Or it could've been something we've never seen before..." Danny added. At Sam's curious look, he continued, "We just don't know what's going on. There could be hundreds of explanations."

"Well, in any case," Tucker leaned back in his seat and folded his arms behind his head, "I think we should keep an eye out for him."

Danny nodded, "Definitely."