Technus felt all the air rushing out of his chest when the ectoblast hit him. While recuperating his sensors picked up a spike of energy. His foe was charging another ectoblast. His internal computers were frantically trying to process an ideal strategy. The battle had already damaged one of his sensors, fried several circuits, and drained his energy to an alarming level. His foe had not sustained any damage nor looked the slightest bit drained. His internal server came up with one tactic that would most likely succeed, a feint and tactical retreat.

His adversary's ectoblast was nearing in completion, in 0.4 seconds to be exact. Technus put his plan into motion. He fired a weak ectoblast at one of the human followers. Enough to harm the follower but not enough to kill. Technus did not need his foe seeking him out for killing one of the human followers. Predictably, his adversary abandoned his ectoblast and made a desperate dive to save his follower. Technus took advantage of this and shot towards the glowing ghost portal.

He could feel the ectowave patterns wash over his beaten form. Forcing his way through the waves he neared the end of the portal. Emerging from the portal he quickly about faced. He diverted more energy to his ectoshields; fully expecting his foe to come charging after him. As he floated backwards, an attempt to place more distance between him and the portal, his foe did not emerge from the portal. It seemed that Technus' ectoblast had found its' mark. Not questioning his goon fortune, he began his journey to his lab.

Although ghosts usually gave this particular ghost portal a wide berth. He kept his systems on high alert for other ghosts. It was not uncommon for ghosts to prey upon other ghosts. Technus was in no condition for another fight.

Frustrated beyond words, he was. Everything he had tried had failed miserably. He had been outmatched in every aspect. He could not match his adversary's strength. He was lucky if he could best Ember in a fair fight, never mind him. With his decades of existence and genius mind, one would think that he could outwit him. But even his most elaborate schemes were seen through at just the right moment. His foe was only a child for heaven's sake! That blasted ghost child had blocked his every attempt at world domination.

Reclining in his lab chair, Technus steepled his fingers and puzzled over his string of recent defeats. True the child had been able to best almost every ghost in the Ghost Zone. But it still irked him that he could not even claim one victory against the child. Not only had he been defeated by the child, but the child had pointed out errors in his own being! This was unacceptable, there must be some angle that he was missing.

Standing up and carefully avoiding and stepping over all of his experiments and inventions, he made his way to the back of his lab. Absentmindedly he noticed one of his failed experiments was making an interesting amount of sparks. He would have to look into it later. Finally reaching his destination he looked at the black board that resided in the back of his lab. He had been very through with the notes he kept on that board. The list of the child's powers had grown uncomfortably long. He had also mapped out the past battles he had with the child, including the most recent one. True he had all of this data stored away electronically in his memory banks, and he knew writing out all of this data was a waste of time. After all, he never physically recorded any data for his experiments or inventions. He just stored data electronically into his memory. He couldn't help but feel that this problem called for this method and this had been the way he had once done things long ago…

Turning his attention back towards the data, he began to reprocess the data. One of the key things that stood out in the data was that the child was unpredictable. Each time they fought the child would have a new mindset, new fighting style or new power. But the ghosts in the ghost zone they had… patterns. A set style or fighting method. This was what he used against his enemies. What he lacked in strength, he made up for in analysis. But his typical means of engaging in a few small skirmishes and then formulating a foolproof plan for the final battle just did not work against this child! The child was a being of ectoplasmic energy just as the rest of them were! The child should have the same weakness that the rest of them did. Why couldn't he find any?

Pushing away from the black board in frustration, he decided to lay the problem to sleep for now. Turned to look at his lab. His lab was not as sleek or modern as the labs that he had seen in the human world, but it served it's purpose. His lab had tables pushed up against all four walls and one large table in the middle of the room. Upon each of these tables dozens of experiments, devices and tools were heaped. Very few of these were completed. Many were either unfinished or failed. He couldn't bring himself to finish or focus on these projects. When ever he started a new project, it felt as though there was something else demanded his attention. Something from long ago… This subject was almost as frustrating as the ghost child topic. He had scanned his memory files over and over again for whatever it was that he needed to do. And always came up blank. He always had multitudes of ideas for inventions, but there was just something… arg! He lacked the data to know what it was. He had already searched the entire Ghost Zone's data network and came up with nothing… Then there was the human world. That world was overflowing with data, always changing and finding new data to add to the old. That world also had a powerful thing which the child and his followers called the 'internet'. He was certain that if he could gain access and control to that data he could uncover… whatever it was that he needed to do. But that confounded child always stood in his way!

A rather loud spark from one of his failed experiments caught his attention. Technus flew over to the sparking device. It had been a pity that this particular device had not worked. On one of his excursions to the human world he had managed to find several electrical components and bring them back to the Ghost Zone. He had tried to weave the human technology into already existing Ghost Zone technology. There had been unexpected affects. The interactions between the ghost and human technology had actually magnified the power of the device to nearly thrice of what the device could normally produce. Unfortunately the device had also sent out pulses that affected the very structure of the ghost zone. This had sent the entire Ghost Zone into a frenzy for days. Luckily no one had been able to trace the pulses back to his lab. He did not need a visit from Walker, thank you very much.

Technus began to gather up the experiment then paused. Carefully touching the human technology, he began to process a sudden stream of new data. What if the child was like this experiment? Technus had never paid much mind to the human portion of the child. Was the child like this failed experiment? Was the weak human component of the child magnifying it's ghostly component? If so… It would all make sense. In the Ghost Zone the general rule was that with age came power. The child was a baby when compared to the other ghosts in the Ghost Zone. Skulker had existed for so long that his ecto structure was in the process of reforming it's self. And even in that reforming state he was strong enough to control that mechanical suit. Yet the child could easily thwart him…

He frantically shuffled through his memory banks for the data on the experiment…

Experiment #1435

Goal: Discover the compatibility of human technology to ghostly technology.

Data: The experimental device at first seems to have difficulty accepting the foreign technology but after a time the device adapts to the new components. The experimental device functions just as smoothly as the other ghostly devices. The device is also much faster and produces much more energy than the other devices. In every aspect the experimental device is superior to the other devices. Unfortunately, the device sends out pulses that are hazardous to ghostly existence. Also, after a period of time, the experimental device begins to malfunction. Upon closer inspection, the device has been worn down by the extra power that was created from the union of the human and ghostly technology. In conclusion, the fusion of the two components greatly improves the general performance of the device, but greatly reduces the functioning time span of the device.

Application: This experiment has no practical use. Obtaining usable human technology is extremely difficult. Also merging these components tends to backfire rather than succeed. The life span of the device does not reimburse the time and resources that was used in the creation of the device.

Status: Failed

There were too many similarities to ignore. The child was much like the experiment and perhaps shared it's weakness… According to the data the child should have a much shorter life span than that of the normal human. In theory if he bided his time, the very energy the child used would eventual kill him. Technus knew there was no way to calculate the amount of time the child had left. His memory banks held little to no data on humans. For all he knew the child could have days to a decade left. Days? Fine he could wait that long, but he would not wait a decade or more.

So far he had been able to deduce that the child's powers did not depend on the ghostly portion but rather the union of his ghost and human halves. If he could accumulate more data on the child's human component. Then he could most likely formulate a plan. A plan that would hone in on and attack the very structure of the child.

As he began to rise into the air he could feel a gleeful smile stretch across his face. At last there was clear path for him to follow. Making his way out of his lab, he started his journey towards the Fenton ghost portal.