Klaus Melfton

For the series, see Lightning Dust (series).
For the episode, see Lightning Dust (Episode).

**Klaus Melfton**, aka "**Lightning Dust**",

## Biography

### Early Life

Klaus Melfton was born to James Melfton and his wife, who unfortunately passed away before Klaus could get to know her. From birth, Klaus had an unnamed heart defect, where his heart is small and weak, causing it to beat too slow and sometimes erratically. In turn, working his body too hard or high amounts of stress often cause a painful reaction, similar to heartburn. Growing up, this was always something Klaus had to be careful of, despite his active nature.

When he was still a baby, various monstrous creatures began to kidnap him on a near daily basis - monsters known as Blood Scouts, Tornadoes, and Shadow Hoppers. Thankfully for him, these attempts have always been thwarted by local hero Crystal Eye. At first, Klaus had an admiration for the hero, much like the rest of Dellville. Over time, however, Klaus quickly found himself growing tired of Crystal Eye, and before long each capture - and subsequently, each save from Crystal Eye - only became that much more grating.

Between constantly being in danger at the hands of monsters and his health issues, Klaus's father constantly stresses over Klaus's safety. As a result, Klaus was initially home schooled by his caretakers, Diane and Edwin, as James believed that keeping him at the house more often would keep him safer. During this time, Klaus was fairly isolated, save for the company of direct family and the odd interaction with James's friends when they were around the house to help him work. The closest he got to meeting someone his age was through James's friend Arnold, who on occasion brought his nephew Andy Kellson to the house - however, James's stress over Klaus getting hurt or overworking his body got in the way of this as well. Things quickly changed when Klaus was around 7, following a particularly close call from another kidnapping - which nearly ended in Klaus drowning, resulting in him developing aquaphobia. The scare led James to be convinced that Klaus should get a chance to live his life properly while he can rather than being cooped up his whole life.

Happy as Klaus was to get some more freedom, the thought of going to public school did initially scare him. At school, he first met Katrine, who attempted to coerce Klaus into sticking with her and her group of friends, who call themselves the Clique. Klaus quickly learned that they weren't his sort of crowd when they began picking on Andy and his friend Kailey. Klaus opted to side with Andy and Kailey, telling the Clique off. From there, they became fast friends, and only grew closer over the years. A few years later, Andy and Kailey introduced Klaus to another friend of theirs, Daniel Carsley, who was a few years older than them. Klaus and Daniel hit it off right away, and from there, a brotherly relationship blossomed.

His new friendships and new freedoms really gave Klaus a chance to embrace his more active nature much more than he could at home. Alongside his adventurous nature showing through, Klaus became more vocal about his curiosity regarding how secretive his father tended to be, particularly about Klaus's mother - though he could never manage to get an answer out of the man, despite Klaus's persistence. As a small win, Klaus was able to investigate James's work side of things, often sneaking into his father's lab to see the various gadgets and projects he was working on. Though James always warned Klaus that it was far too dangerous for him to stick his nose into, that was never enough to actually deter Klaus from continuing to sneak in every chance he could get - if not to feed his curiosity, than to at least rebel and get under his father's skin.

At age 13, early into his newest school year in junior high, a particularly rough day led Klaus once again to sneak into James's lab; but this time, it did ultimately come back to bite him. Klaus found himself accidentally trapped in one of James's machines as he, Arnold and Josh were testing it. The electrocution, surprisingly, didn't kill him; instead, Klaus woke up to discover that the accident gave him powers over electricity. Following a chaotic night of zipping around the town, Klaus landed back home, revealing his new powers to Diane and Edwin. Despite their insistence, Klaus argued to keep his powers a secret from his father, scared that he'd get in a whole load of trouble. Ultimately, his caretakers agreed to keep the whole thing a secret. At school the next day, Klaus divulged the night's events to Andy and Kailey - and after discussing with them throughout the day, Klaus soon got the idea to use his new powers to become a superhero, so as to finally show up Crystal Eye and prove that he's not as great as everyone thinks he is. With Kailey helping make the costume and Andy helping train him to fight more properly, Klaus's alternate identity, Lightning Dust, was born.

### Hero Career

When Lightning Dust's career first started, his central goal was to get Crystal Eye as riled up as possible, and to prove that he was a better hero than Crystal Eye was. After butting heads for so long, their rivalry eventually peaked with an all-out battle, where Lightning Dust shockingly found himself the victor. As a reward to himself, he decided to unmask Crystal Eye - but was quickly shocked when he saw that Daniel Carsley was Crystal Eye. The revelation led Lightning Dust to rethink his opinion on Crystal Eye - though he decided against telling Daniel that he knew his secret.

Early on as a hero, Lightning Dust was far more reckless, leading him to neglect his duties whilst Crystal Eye was recovering from their battle - which inadvertently led to the death of Andy's uncle, which is something Klaus still blames himself for. After Arnold's death, Lightning Dust attempted to try making up for it by tracking down some Blood Scouts and find out where they're coming from so that they can't hurt anyone anymore. This lead Lightning Dust to Josh Sharman's secret lab, where he is revealed to be the one behind the many monsters' creation, and now intends to give himself powers by using Lightning Dust's energy. Though he initially succeeded in sapping Klaus's powers and turning himself into a monster, Klaus made his way back to his father's lab to recreate the initial accident that gave him powers, quickly returning to the field as Lightning Dust again and taking Josh down with help from Crystal Eye. Once the dust settled, Lightning Dust and Crystal Eye properly made amends, and were set to work together from here on out.

Following Josh's defeat, Lightning Dust took Crystal Eye's offer to help train him. Before long, in a bout of overconfidence, Lightning Dust wanted to start handling hero duties around the city all on his own for a while, as he figured that if Crystal Eye could do so for so long, so could he. The endeavor ended up being more than he could handle, however, and very quickly exhausted him - especially when Doctor Zero started taking advantage of Lightning's exhaustion, sending out his robotic goons non-stop to push the young super as hard as possible and take him off guard. Doctor Zero's plan nearly worked, too, as Lightning Dust soon found himself all but sleepwalking, which led him to being captured by one of Zero's massive bots. With Crystal Eye's help, Lightning was able to wake up enough to break out, and the two of them got Zero back behind bars - and no sooner was Lightning Dust apologizing for taking too much on his own out of stubbornness, before he sent himself right to bed to catch back up on all the sleep he had missed through the ordeal.

(one paragraph per episode if possible)

## Appearance

### Civilian

Klaus has pale skin, deep blue eyes, and dark, chocolate brown hair, which has a distinct cowlick-like flip on the left side of his head. Though his wardrobe does vary, his usual outfit consists of a red tank top and jean shorts with space leggings underneath, as well as red shoes.

### As Lightning Dust

As Lightning Dust, Klaus's eyes turn electric yellow, as his hair becomes almost pure electricity. He wears a primarily yellow uniform with an electric blue thunderbolt design across the chest down from his white collar. On each hand is a short white glove, and around the waist is a jagged orange belt with a yellow and orange buckle. For shoes, Lightning wears orange boots with a jagged yellow top and yellow soles.

His first hero outfit was fairly similar, with the main difference being in his yellow suit itself: rather than having his electric blue emblem on it, his chest was bare, and his suit had no white collar. He instead wore a silver choker with an orange gem at the front around his neck. His belt, boots, and gloves were all the same as they are on his new suit.

## Personality

Klaus is very energetic. He often comes off as very confident and cocky, though his actual sense of self-confidence isn't always quite as strong as he lets on, especially when he starts to overthink things. He can be a bit of a drama king, and can be a tad vain as well, particularly regarding his hair. Klaus is also fairly impulsive, and doesn't always think things all the way through before committing to it. Thankfully, he does have a knack for thinking on his feet, and is more often than not able to solve any problems he may cause for himself.

## Relationships

### James Melfton

Klaus's relationship with his father is often rather tense. James's lack of communication frustrates Klaus to no end. On the opposite end of the spectrum, his tendency to spiral into a panic any time Klaus is put in any level of potential danger makes Klaus feel utterly smothered - and matched with his usual stand-offish nature, Klaus finds the bouts of overbearing concern to feel disingenuous.

### Daniel Carsley/Crystal Eye

Klaus has been being saved by Crystal Eye for his whole life, due to how he has always been getting kidnapped by various monsters around the city on a near daily basis. When he was still just a toddler, Klaus actually admired Crystal Eye, but as he got older he got more sick of the hero. He began to believe that Crystal Eye was actually rather pretentious, and that him saving Klaus all the time was more for his own image than out of an actual desire to keep Klaus safe. The negative feelings only got stronger over the years, bringing Klaus to find almost anything he could to complain about regarding the hero. Everyone else's adoration for the hero only made Klaus all the more frustrated and resentful towards him.

On the other side of things, Klaus and Daniel were introduced through their mutual friendship with Andy and Kailey, and the two hit it off immediately. The only thing they didn't agree on was their views on Crystal Eye, though at this point that was nothing new to Klaus. They grew closer over the years, gaining an almost brotherly relationship in which they both trust and care for each other.

When Klaus first got his powers, what prompted him to become a superhero was a desire to get under Crystal Eye's skin and become a better hero than him. From the start, Lightning Dust constantly made himself a nuisance to Crystal Eye, and the tension between the two rose very fast. Eventually, it came to a head in a proper battle, where Lightning Dust came out on top. His pride quickly turned to something closer to horror when he decided to unmask Crystal Eye as a reward to himself, only to discover that he is actually none other than Daniel. The discovery left Klaus feeling hurt and betrayed, at first, until he spoke with Andy and Kailey and quickly discovered that the reason Daniel didn't reveal his identity was out of fear that Klaus would hate him for being Crystal Eye. Klaus decided that he'd start to treat Crystal Eye much better, hoping that he'll start to trust him more and reveal his identity to Klaus, who will reveal his own in return. As Lightning Dust, he had a proper heart to heart with Crystal Eye, and the two decided to start from scratch.

Now, Crystal Eye has been helping to train Lightning Dust more properly. Though Klaus does find he can be harsh at times, he does appreciate it - despite the odd bout of stubbornness. Klaus still has yet to reveal his identity to Daniel properly, and still plans on waiting until Daniel is comfortable enough to talk about his own identity first.

### Andrew "Andy" Kellson

One of Klaus's best friends; though they hadn't talked much before Klaus ran into him and Kailey at school, Klaus had briefly met Andy on occasion prior from Andy's uncle Arnold bringing Andy to the Melfton's house a handful of times when meeting with James for work. Once Klaus started going to public school, he recognized Andy during a fight between him and Kailey and Katrine Darsenia's Clique, and promptly sided with Andy and Kailey. They've only grown closer ever since, the trio becoming inseparable. Klaus and Andy often poke fun at each other, and Klaus admires his fiery spirit.

### Kailey Heartstrong

One of Klaus's best friends; Klaus met Kailey when he first started public schooling, following an altercation caused by Katrine and her Clique where Klaus chose to side with Kailey and Andy. The three grew very close very fast, and easily became inseparable. Before long, Klaus found himself catching some stronger feelings for Kailey, and that crush has only grown over time. Though he does want to admit to it to her, he hasn't brought himself to be able to, often becoming too flustered to do so. Even outside of his crush on her, Klaus trusts Kailey very deeply, and is drawn to her kind nature.

As of the season one episode *"Potion-Struck"*, Klaus and Kailey finally kissed, only to realize that they didn't actually love each other romantically, like they thought. Instead, they've realized that their love for each other is platonic.

### Edwin Dowley

One of Klaus's caretakers; Edwin has been known to be the most lenient between himself, his co-worker and Klaus's father; something that Klaus has certainly appreciated over the years. As much as Edwin offered emotional support to Klaus as best he could, Klaus found himself returning the favor from time to time himself - though most of the time, they're very lighthearted towards each other.

### Diane Shernall

One of Klaus's caretakers; Klaus has always appreciated Diane's level headed advice, even if she can be a tad overbearing from time to time. When he was younger, Diane was a little more loose, but years of Klaus being put in danger has piled on the stress for her. Even so, Klaus knows it comes from a place of caring, and does appreciate her efforts to keep him safe and happy.

## Skills

* **Electrokinesis:** Lightning Dust has the power to manipulate electricity.
	+ **Electrokinetic Surfing:** Lightning Dust can "surf" electricity.
	+ **Flight**
	+ **Channelling**
	+ **Super Speed**

## Trivia

* Klaus's prototypes bore a strong resemblance to *ParaNorman's* Norman Babcock, which Sorixaen is known to be a fan of.
* Sorixaen has a skin themed of Lightning Dust for the Spyro Reignited trilogy