Day One: Electricity

Genre: General

Words: 1358

It took him a while to realize that it was happening, and to tell the truth, he'd probably only noticed because of Tucker's exaggerated frustration that his fully charged PDA had died within minutes. At the time, he and Sam had pacified Tucker by suggesting that the battery was on the fritz and that it was due time to upgrade devices anyway. After all, it was just a simple PDA that definitely wasn't built to sustain being thrown into walls by Skulker's ectoblasts at least twice a week; it was going to break sooner or later.

But then, it started happening more places, and not just with Tucker's precious technology stash. One morning, when he left for school the charge on his phone had been around 90%, and proceeded to keep it in his backpack. Two hours later, when he took it out in Mr. Lancer's class, he realized that the battery had fallen to 18% without any use, which didn't make any sense. The phone couldn't have a faulty battery, because he'd just bought it two weeks ago after Ember threw his last phone at some power lines. He mentioned it to Sam and Tucker after class, but Tucker mainly used it as an opportunity to turn the conversation back to his PDA and how unfair it was for him.

Later, that same week, Mikey brought some prototypes into class to show off his entries for a regional robotics fair. To Danny's surprise, he let some of the students actually touch some of the robots, which was a risky move considering Dash's uncanny hobby of destroying things. Thankfully, Lancer was there, at the head of the classroom, glaring at everyone like a hawk, or more accurately, a bald-eagle.

Danny listened as Mikey explained the different types of robots (and attempted not to cringe when Paulina asked if Mikey could make a talking replica of Danny Phantom's head), and turned his attention to a standing, wagging, animatronic dog. Captivated by the robot's movements, Danny reached out to touch the dog, and jumped back when it emitted a sudden beeping sound before collapsing in an unattractive heap of machinery. Instantly, Danny was stricken with glances from every one of his classmates.

"What'd you do to my dog?" Mikey furrowed his brow with accusation.

"Yeah, Fenturd," Dash smirked, "did you break it? Even after Mr. Lancer said not to?"

"Nothing happened!" Danny attempted to explain, "All I did was touch it!"

"If all you did was just touch it," Mikey questioned, "then why did it execute the emergency power-kill sequence? It's only programmed to that when it has a dangerously low battery, which is impossible, because I rigged the battery to self charge using solar power! This means that I have to disassemble the entire thing and replace the battery, and the robotics fair is tomorrow! I'll never have time!"

"I swear, whatever happened, it wasn't me!" Danny said, pleading for belief. "Mr. Lancer, you saw me, right? I only touched it, nothing else."

"Mr. Fenton, I did not see anything, and from what Mr. Johnson here claims," he cocked his head towards Mikey, "it sounds like you sabotaged his robot dog."

From there, was a short series of arguments that lead to the inevitable fate of a week of after-school detention. And things kept going downhill from there.

After coming back from a routine fight (if you could call it that) with the Box Ghost, Danny accidentally grabbed Jazz's electric toothbrush by mistake before realizing his error and exchanging it for his own. The next morning she grumbled to herself about a broken toothbrush.

On other notable occasion, his Dad dragged him down to the lab to see the next invention on the endless list of things that will somehow inadvertently cause Danny more trouble than it's worth to keep his secret. Jack, with evident enthusiasm, directed Danny in front of his workshop counter in the lab, and wanted to show him how to solder wires together for a gun he was working on. It would've been nice, normal father-son bonding, if Danny wasn't helping his Dad complete a weapon that was most likely intended to hurt him, but Danny took what he got. Well, it would've been a nice parental bonding moment if the soldering iron had actually turned on. Jack examined it thoroughly and was left confused: there was nothing wrong with the tool itself, it seemed more like there was something wrong with the power cord. Failing to find a solution, Jack nearly cursed with disappointment and promised Danny that they'd be able to do it some other time.

The final straw was the lamp that resided next to Danny's bed. Lately, the light-bulb had been blowing out quite frequently, at least twice a week or more. After all the small, recent occurrences, Danny finally started to piece together that maybe it wasn't just a coincidence.

When he reflected on all the evidence, he finally understood the big picture: every piece of technology or hardware around him, was instantly just drained of all electrical energy.

It didn't take him long to leap to the correct conclusion, after all, in both ectology and fictional platforms, ghosts were notorious for interfering with electronics. But what confused Danny, was how he could be draining ambient electricity without his own knowledge. After all, he needed some form of mental awareness to activate his other powers, so it was puzzling why this ghostly side-effect occurred randomly, with not even a tie to his emotions.

Later that night, curiosity bested Danny, and he turned to someone he knew would have a sufficient answer to his query, his Mom. He cornered her after dinner, when Jazz had retreated to her room to study, and when his Dad had lounged in front of the TV to hear a daily summary of ghost attacks.

"Hey, uh – Mom, I kinda have a sort of ghost question for you." Danny unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck, which Maddie immediately recognized as his habitual tell of anxiety.

"Sure, Sweetie," Maddie asked, trying to understand Danny's sudden nervousness, "what is it? Are any ghosts bothering you?"

"No – no, it's more of a scientific thing," Danny said, correcting his posture to seem more at ease. Then, he took the plunge. "Why do ghosts screw up electrical things, like light-bulbs and phones?"

Maddie narrowed her eyes, "And what compelled you to ask this?"

"Curiosity," Danny said immediately, before pausing. "Well, Sam, Tuck, and I were watching this movie with that kind of stuff, and we were wondering if the ghosts that come through the portal can do that."

"Well," Maddie nodded, finally understanding his intent, "it's something that almost all ghosts can do. As you know, all ghosts are made of energy, but they need something to fuel their existence, so they absorb energy around them. It's their equivalent of eating. For example, if a ghost is wounded or low on energy, they have to absorb more energy to restore themselves. Normally, ghosts just absorb ectoplasm, because it's their natural element and it's what the Ghost Zone is filled with. But here in the real world, there isn't any ectoplasm to absorb, so they have to use another form of energy. Logically, the easiest accessible substitute in today's world would be electricity. Of course, I have no doubt that ghosts can also absorb some forms of radiation and other alternate energy sources, but that's more complicated."

At the end of her explanation, Danny's eyes were wide with comprehension. "So if, a ghost got hurt frequently, that means he'd use up more energy around him?"

"'It', Danny. Not 'he', 'it'," Maddie corrected, meticulously. "But yes, that's exactly how it works!"

"Okay," Danny shifted awkwardly, all of a sudden. "Well, thanks for answer. That explains a lot, now."

"Well," Maddie said warmly, "it humors me you even thought to ask. It's like you're not even interested in ghosts these days! I'm glad to know that on some level, you can be involved in our family's profession."

You have no idea how much, Danny thought, with an uncomfortable sense of irony.