The next day Kael went to visit the Fenton's house.
The Fenton house doorbell chimed with its familiar, cheerful cacophony. When the door was open, it revealed Maddie Fenton, her goggles pushed up on her forehead, a smudge of grease on her cheek.
"Kael!" she exclaimed, "We haven't seen you for months! Come in, come in! I have heard Elmerton is an ancient town with long history. Must be great for you. You are always curious about things. Well, it's good to see you after a long time."
The warmth of the Fenton household was a stark contrast to the silent atmosphere of the Veyne mansion. The familiar scent of ozone and burnt toast filled the air. Jack's voice echoed from the lab below. "Is that the pizza? I ordered extra anchovies!"
"It's Kael, dear!" Maddie replied.
A thunderous clatter of footsteps later, Jack Fenton emerged, beaming with joy "Kael, my boy! Good to have you back! You're just in time—we're calibrating the new and improved Fenton Ghost Gabber! It translates ecto-impulses into haiku!"
Jazz ran the stairs happily, "He means it makes random, vaguely threats. It's… a work in progress." She gave Kael a brief, genuine hug. "It's good to see you. How's Elmerton?"
Before Kael could answer, Danny came down from his room, a video game controller still in hand. "Dude! You're back! You have to see my new high score on Doomed."
For a few hours, Kael let himself be swept up in their chaotic normality. He shared his school experience with Jazz, nodding politely at Jack's enthusiastic, jargon-filled explanations of the Gabber, assuring Maddie he was eating well, and letting Danny trounce him in a few rounds of his game. He asked questions about their work casual, his eyes subtly reviewing every new gadget and half-finished blueprint in the lab. He got inspiration for his own hunting tech gears by seeing the Fentons proto types.
His absence had been four months. Long enough for his return to be an event, but not long enough to make him a stranger.
Back at the mansion, his real work began. The basement was transformed into a high-tech workshop. The centerpiece was the Recovery Chamber: a cylindrical pod connected by thick, heavily insulated cables to the portal itself. For thirty-seven days, he labored, assembling, soldering, and coding, using the Fentons' shared knowledge and his parents' more advanced notes to complete the complex device.
The first time he activated it, the chamber hummed to life, filled with a swirling, concentrated green mist siphoned directly from the Ghost Zone. He stepped inside in his ghost form, the raw energy washing over him. The deep, cold ache in his core flared, then began to slowly, noticeably recede. The hairline fracture was knitting itself back together, accelerated by the pure ectoplasmic energy. A five-month recovery was now on track to be completed in just under three.
While his ghost form was healed for several hours each day, his human hands were never idle. Project: Hunter took physical form on workbenches. The wrist-mounted blaster housing was crafted from a lightweight polymer. The hoverboard's thruster assembly lay in pieces, awaiting its power core. The HUD goggles' lenses were carefully calibrated. The hunter suite was crude, blocky, and far from the sleek suit in his designs, but it was a start. He was building the prototype.
The summer weeks bled into one another, a productive blur of healing and creation. By the time his aunt called to check in, his voice was relaxed, his stories of "catching up with friends" utterly believable.
The farewell lunch at the end of the summer was a similarly boisterous affair as his welcome. As they finished, Maddie made an offhand comment. "Oh, Vlad called. He's finally making a trip out this way next week. Wants to 'see how we're holding up.'" She rolled her eyes fondly. "He's always so concerned."
Kael's fork froze halfway to his mouth. The pieces snapped together in his mind with terrifying clarity. Vlad. If he's coming next week, than something must have recently happended here to pique his interest. His mind instantly came to a conlusion. The portal energy spike.
He didn't see a concerned family friend. He saw a apex predator who had detected a ripple in his pond and was coming to investigate. Vlad's assumption would be the Fentons. He would poke, and charm his way through their lab, looking for the source of that clean, artificial signature. The man's technology was decades ahead of his own prototype; if Vlad so much as glanced at the Veyne mansion with his sensors, the game would be up.
A cold dread settled in his stomach, immediately followed by a surge of grim determination. His peaceful days were over. The threat was no longer abstract; it had a name and a arrival date.
On the ride back to Elmerton, Kael's mind was racing. The Recovery Chamber had done its job. The fracture in his core was healed, his power restored to a stable low C-Tier. But he felt no joy. Vlad's impending visit was a stark reminder that power alone was not enough.
As the lights of Amity Park faded behind him, his strategy solidified. He recalled everything from the original timeline: Vlad's vast wealth, his political puppets, his stranglehold on technology and reputation. To fight a ghost like Plasmius, you needed a ghost. But to fight a man like Vlad Masters, you needed an empire.
He couldn't build a billion-dollar company. Not yet, But he could start building influence.
He needed to be more than a student. He needed to become an asset. A person of value to the community. He would make himself indispensable, so that if a powerful outsider like Vlad ever came asking uncomfortable questions, the town would instinctively protect its own.
The car had arrived into Elmerton. Kael looked down at the sleepy town. Vlad was playing checkers with billion-dollar pieces. Kael would play chess, and he would own the board.
He had recovered his power. Now, it was time to build his legacy. The first move in his game against Vlad Masters had just begun.