EctoMagic

Danny Fenton was 9 years old when his parents attempted to create a portal into the ghost zone. 

He had always wanted to be closer with his parents. He wanted to spend more time with them but they were always so busy. He didn't understand most of the scientific terms they used, so he couldn't hold conversations with them. He wanted to learn about science—maybe then they give him their attention.

His sister Jazz was his closest friend. She always nagged him and gave him long lectures but she also helped him when the sausages attacked him at the breakfast table. She helped him do his homework and play with him during the holidays.

With Christmas only a few weeks away, Danny wanted to do something special for his parents this year. The portal they were building wasn’t working. They had gone to meet a friend who could help them fix it. They said they’d be back by Christmas, so Danny decided to fix it before they returned.

If they came back and saw that he fixed the portal, they would definitely give him a present. Maybe dad would even make fudge.

Jazz had told him not to go into the lab without a hazmat suit. Well, Jazz also told not to go into the lab alone, but he needed to do this. Jazz would understand.

The portal wasn't really what Danny had imagined it to be. It was just a metal gateway, kind of like the arc on the school entrance.

"You can do this. You’ve taken apart two toasters and figured out how to unscrew the fridge doors. All you need to do is find the problem and fix it. Easy. You got this, Danny."

The metal arc wasn't very welcoming but he stepped inside anyways. It was like a very dark tunnel with no light on the inside. 

He turned back around to get a torch. There were a lot of wires on the ground and while his eyes adjusted to the dark he tripped and fell. 

All of a sudden the electricity surged through him, setting every nerve on fire and suddenly Danny wasn’t sure if he was standing in the lab anymore. His body collapsed, but he wasn’t in it—he was floating, suspended in nothingness, watching himself lying there on the cold metal floor.

The pain that had been overwhelming moments ago was now muted and distant, as if it belonged to someone else. Green and black light swirled around him like an endless storm, humming and crackling with energy that vibrated through him in a way he couldn’t describe. It was strangely tranquil.

For a second, Danny felt weightless, untethered, like he was part of something bigger. He wasn’t just Danny Fenton anymore—he was something else. But the swirling vortex began to pull, dragging him toward the glowing arc of the portal.

His form twisted and stretched, unraveling like threads in a tangled web. He wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

And then, with a burst of light brighter than the sun, everything went dark.