They had made it to the same portal that had taken them to and from the Ghost Zone many times before. Though no amount of past experience could quite douse the strange sensation of phasing from one dimension to another. To see a swirling green atmosphere flash to the Fentons' basement in the blink of an eye was something no human being could quite get used to. Though perhaps it was the feeling of passing through the portal that was the most otherworldly. A split-second chill that ran up the spine, replaced by a rush of warmth once completely on the other side. It was another one of those things that had become such a part of the three's daily lives to the point where it was almost normal. If having a friend that was half-ghost and frequently visiting the realm of spirits could ever be considered normal.

What wasn't normal, was the small group of people anxiously awaiting their return. Revealing to his parents - not to mention the entire world - that he was part ghost had been worse than having Jazz know. Actually, to be more accurate, it was worse than having Jazz know that he knew that she knew. Jazz had kept her knowledge of Danny a secret for her little brother's sake; she knew if he wanted her to know, he'd tell her. During this time she had not only kept his secret safe, but hadn't treated him any differently in the process, for the most part.

However, when Danny eventually learned that she knew of his secret, there was no reason for Jazz to pretend anymore. She had made it her mission to assist her brother in every aspect of his ghost hunting - a nightmare if there ever was one. She had eventually come to terms that her little brother could handle himself without her intervention, and frankly was probably better off without it. Jazz had always remained protective of him, but that much was to be expected - he was her little brother, after all. There was and always will be the instinct in her to be the big sister to him, though thankfully after a while she had stopped insisting on following him about everywhere he went.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said about his parents.

But of course not. They're his parents, not his sibling. In their eyes he's still their little boy, much to Danny's misfortune. For the past three months since the almost-end-of-the-world, they've been tailing him in the Fenton RV every ghost attack. Danny supposed he should have seen it coming, but deep down he was only glad they had taken to his warped DNA in such a positive way. Every nightmare of his parents' revolted reaction, of tearing him apart molecule by molecule had dissipated. They had accepted him for what he was, embraced him. They loved him and he now knew for certain that nothing, nothing would stand in the way of that love.

Opening the door of the Specter Speeder, Danny and his friends stepped out, immediately engulfed by the crowd that was his parents and sister. Overprotective and worry-driven as it was, Danny couldn't help but feel a sense of comfort in the presence of his family.

"Danny! Are you alright?" his mother asked in a nearly frantic voice. She made a point of checking every square inch of her son - despite his protest - as if searching for some unseen injury. Tucker and Sam were convinced the discovery of a paper cut would give her a heart attack.

"Mom, I'm fine," Danny replied, trying in a vain attempt to squirm out of his mother's assault of gentle prodding.

"You sure, son?" his father inquired. "Your mother was about to shove the whole of Fenton ops into the Ghost Zone and come looking for ya."

"That! - wouldn't have been necessary," Danny said nervously, imagining his mother literally trying to do that for the sake of searching for him. "Everything was under control."

"So did you find him?" Jazz asked as they all made their way up the stairs, taking their conversation to the kitchen.

"Oh yeah, we found him," Tucker affirmed, taking his seat at the kitchen table.

"But we're not sure it was him," Sam added.

"What?" Jazz looked surprised. "I thought Techno was always the reason things like this happen."

"It's Technus," Danny corrected with a small smirk. "And we thought so too, but like Sam said, we're not entirely sure."

"Technus..." Danny's mother had a finger to her chin in contemplative thought. "Who is he, again?"

That was another thing that came along with his parents' knowledge of his ghost half. They - though mostly his mother - had taken a fascination in different ghosts and their special attributes, and they insisted on Danny telling them everything he knew. His father still had more of a simplistic "see a ghost, shoot it!" approach on the matter, but still, as a scientist, and since the topic was ghosts in general, his father was just as attentive.

"He's the one that took over the house that one time, remember?"

"Ah, yes, the one with technokinesis abilities." His mother nodded in recognition, then frowned as a thought came to her. "And this is the ghost you went to see? Danny, are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine mom, really," her son smiled softly in reassurance. She smiled in return, but it was more of a sad smile. It was difficult for her; her son was growing up, fighting ghosts, saving the world. It seemed not long ago she could hold him easily in her arms. Such a small, delicate, harmless thing he was back then. That's changed. She knew as a mother she had to accept that, but it was so difficult. Especially when her said son went through things no teenager - no human - had ever endured before.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Fenton," Tucker added, bringing her out of her thoughts. "He's not as dangerous as he sounds."

Most of the time, no one bothered to add.

"He sounds pretty dangerous to me," Jazz argued. "With that kind of power he could manipulate technology on a world-wide scale."

"Uh, yeah, about that..." Tucker trailed off nervously.

"We have a bigger problem than we thought," Sam finished for him.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

The trio looked at one another anxiously before Danny responded, "When we found Technus, we asked about the blackouts in the city." He paused. His parents nodded for him to continue. "He said he wasn't responsible, but he told us... something else."

"Danny," Jazz put a supportive hand on her brother's arm. "What did he tell you?"

He sighed. "He said other places in the world were having blackouts, too, and that within the month, the entire world will have lost power."

There was silence in the kitchen, very much like the silence that engulfed the three when Technus had first told them. It was a grim silence, one they would have preferred to have been broken, but no one knew what to say. The first one to break it eventually, however, was Jack Fenton.

"A world-wide power outage? We're going to need more matches," he announced as he got up and ran out of the kitchen, presumably to get more of said material.

Maddie sighed.

"Wait, how do we know he's telling the truth?" Jazz asked skeptically.

"We've thought about that the entire trip home," Sam answered truthfully. "Honestly, we don't know, but we've never known Technus to lie about anything."

"He was pretty upset back there. Seemed legit to me," Tucker said. "But Sam's right, we can't possibly know for sure."

"Let's assume the world is slowly losing power," Maddie offered. "If that's so, what could be the cause? And what could be done to stop it?"

"Technus didn't seem to know." Danny frowned.

"Do you think he was lying?" Jazz asked, noticing her brother's expression.

"Maybe not so much lying, but I can't bring myself to believe that the self-proclaimed Master of Technology is as clueless as we are in this situation."

"He may have some theories," Maddie pondered aloud. "But not enough to make a decisive conclusion." She turned her attention back to the others. "He didn't say anything else?"

"Just that he's not the one doing it, and that he doesn't like the situation one bit," Tucker supplied.

"What are we going to do?" Sam asked perhaps the one question that mattered most at the moment.

"I'm going to try to figure out what I can," Maddie replied. "But first I'm going to have to relay this to the mayor."

"The mayor?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. He wanted to know the outcome of your trip into the Ghost Zone. Besides, people need to know what's possibly happening."

Danny buried his face in his hands and groaned as his mother left the room. Another thing about the world knowing about him: the sudden interest in his whereabouts. As if the publicity and the press hadn't been bad enough, he had people who wanted to know about every aspect of his adventures, particularly his trips into the Ghost Zone. There have been plenty of news reporters and the like that have insisted on becoming a part of his life. The activity had died down considerably after the power outage, but Danny wouldn't be surprised if the U.S president ended up on his doorstep one day and requested a tour of the Ghost Zone, Secret Service and all. Thankfully, no human other than Tucker and Sam have visited the other realm.

Yet.

"Cheer up, Danny," Sam told him.

"How? I'm going to end up having a camera strapped to my head that's broadcasted across the globe. It'll be called, 'Phantom Cam'."

"Danny, you're used to being the only one standing up against ghosts," Jazz reasoned. "Now that people really know what's going on, just how much ghosts are involved, it's only reasonable that they want to know what's happening from now on. And if there's a threat to the world, they want to know about it."

"I know," Danny mumbled. "I guess I'm just not used to it..."

"Dude, the weight of the world isn't on your shoulders anymore," Tucker told him. "You can finally let yourself relax a bit. You have a world to back you up now. We're not just three guys anymore."

"Hey!"

At Jazz's protest, Tucker added hastily, "Alright, four guys. But you get my point."

Danny smiled. "Yeah. It'll just take some getting used to, I suppose."

The room quieted for a while and the initial - and more serious - problem rose to the surface of their minds again. The entire world without power. It sounded like something out of a Sci-Fi film, unreal. Yet here it was, the threat of a possible world-wide power outage within a mere month.

"Are you alright, Danny?" Sam asked out of the blue.

"Uh, sure, considering. Why?"

"It's just - I really should go. My parents never really accepted the fact that I delve into another dimension with a half-ghost, so they're probably worried about me."

"Same here," said Tucker. "Gotta make sure our folks don't have panic attacks."

Danny laughed as he walked with them to the door. They hesitated on the porch, then turned and said their goodbyes, promising they'd return tomorrow first thing to discuss what had transpired that day. Danny smiled. He could never ask for a pair of better friends.

Walking back to the kitchen, he discovered Jazz was still in the same place, seemingly in deep thought.

"What're you thinking?" he asked curiously.

"Oh!" She looked up to him, as if he'd startled her out of her thoughts. "I was just thinking about the power outages... Is there a ghost you've ever met that would be capable of doing this?"

"Other than Technus? No, not one I've ever met." Danny stared at the table underneath his folded hands, a small frown decorating his face.

"Hey," Jazz spoke softly. "Whatever this is, you'll figure it out. I know you will."

"I hope so."