- Revealing the Truth.

Danny and company knew about the massive abduction after their last period, when Jack and Maddie contacted him and Jazz by cell phone; the hunters were called to help the police with the investigation, and, as usual, Jack couldn't help but tell his son and daughter about the circumstances of the attack, as well as complain and blaming himself for not thinking about setting the alarms after the first kidnappings.

"I'll better go to that school and see if I can find something." Danny told his friends and sister, but Jazz stopped him.

"Mom and Dad will be there, remember? Invisible or not, they might detect you, and, if you go as a human, even if trying to hide from them, you'll probably mess with the crime scene."

"Not to mention that, once Valerie knows about this, she'll be inspecting the zone as well." Tucker added, and then, in a perfect cue, the group heard the characteristic sound of the huntress' sled, flying over their heads and dashing away.

"If this was a TV show, that would be a great timing," Sam sighed, but then her expression brightened, "Danny, this is the best chance you'll have to use your plan! All the ghost hunters will be located at one spot, so you'll be able to avoid them easily."

"Cool idea, Sam!" Danny's face brightened as well, and then, once they were far away from the school (and Danny gave a fast look to the window of the detention room to see Dash's bandaged face) asked his companions to cover him to transform. A few seconds later, he was flying, invisible, on a direction contrary to Valerie's.

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Freddy moaned and grabbed his head when finally recovered conscience, feeling the worst dizziness ever. When his sight cleared, noticed he was naked except for his Danny Phantom trousers, and several kids were around him on similar conditions. They were in a large and cold room, with no light except for the one that passed down the door and a few tiny holes at the walls. About half of the kids were terribly dirty and smelly, and there were a couple of large buckets in one corner that smelled horrible; Freddy wasn't eager to know about what was on them.

"W… where am I?"

"Cool down, pal… I'll explain you everything." Freddy turned to see a brown-haired boy, apparently a couple of years older than him, sitting next to him.

"Who are you? And where are we?"

"My name is Nelson Smith, and don't know exactly where we are," the older boy explained, "but I was one of the first kids who got kidnapped, so I got to discover a lot of things."

"You mean… we are in a ghost's lair?" Freddy gulped.

"No; the kidnappers aren't ghosts, they just pretend to be," Nelson explained, and then pointed at a loose brick of the wall next to them. "Remove the brick and take a look… but be careful; they don't know we can hear and see them."

Freddy nodded and removed the brick carefully; it was one of the lower ones of the wall, so the kid had to get laid on his chest to take a look. At first he only saw a couple of booted legs, but then, when the legs moved a little, he could see a hooded man at a distance, a very large one holding a whip on his right hand and a hideous black mask on the left one. Nelson tapped Freddy's shoulder to get his attention, and motioned him to cover back the hole.

"They always use the masks when giving us food and water, and the guy with the whip is always menacing us with it to keep us quiet," Nelson told Freddy, "I've even heard them when preparing for a kidnapping; they use some weird lights and smoke bombs to simulate a ghostly appearance and stun or confuse the kid they are catching, and today they used the disguises in public so everyone think ghosts are guilty. They even have several escape routes to appear and disappear pretty fast, so they leave no traces."

"But why they attacked the school? I thought they only attacked at night and just a kid every time."

"Well, according to what I heard, these guys have a contact at school who gives them information about the kids to catch them easier; and yesterday he told them that the school was getting ghost alarms," Nelson sighed, "Then, this people thought our parents would start asking for alarms to protect our homes as well, and that would blow the cover because, if the alarm doesn't sound when catching a kid, it would confirm the attacker wasn't a ghost, so they decided to catch as many children they could today and leave Amity tonight while the cops still think the kidnappers aren't humans."

"Leave?" Freddy gasped in fear, "Where are they taking us?"

"They are selling us." Nelson looked down, fighting back fear-induced tears, "they want to sell the youngest of us to work on something called horn, or porn, or something like that… and the oldest ones, like I… they just say our kidneys and livers will make them rich."

Freddy paled, looking how Nelson couldn't resist any more and started crying. Freddy was just as scared; he wanted to go home, back with his parents, and not with a bunch of strangers who might hurt him. Worst of all, if they left Amity, even Freddy had to admit Phantom wouldn't be able to locate them since the ghostly hero, as much as he knew, usually didn't leave the city.

"Come on, Freddy, think… what would Phantom do?" Freddy thought, making a mental list of all the things Phantom would do to escape; unfortunately, all of them involved phasing, flying, blasting, or some other supernatural power the kid obviously lacked. After a few minutes, Freddy took a deep breath, and thought again, "Okay… what would Phantom do WITHOUT his powers?" and, after a minute or so, his expression brightened.

"Nelson, I have an idea!" Freddy said to the other kid, who gave him a puzzled look, "I think I know a way to escape, so at least one of us can get help."

"It will be useless," Nelson sobbed, "They are a lot, and bigger and stronger than us. We can't do a thing."

"Phantom wouldn't give up, and I'm not doing it!" Freddy insisted, "If he can face ghost hunters and evil spirits every day, and still be a hero, then we can handle a bunch of adults playing with Halloween disguises. I know we can, but I need your help."

Nelson got surprised at the little kid's outburst, and, deciding he would try anything to conserve his internal organs… well, internal, nodded and heard what Freddy had thought.

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Danny entered the house of Anna Walters, the last girl who got kidnapped previous to the massive abduction, keeping himself invisible and intangible the whole time. The room was particularly clean, since obviously this girl wasn't as messy as Danny, so he had to be pretty careful to not ruin the evidence for the cops.

After giving the room a fast look, Danny entered the girl's closet, finding what he was searching; her dirty laundry's basket. Danny grabbed a little red shirt, and then left the place after giving a fast look to the girl's parents, who were sobbing at the living room, with some family members and two police officers around them. Danny felt extremely bad when looking at the couple, and frowned; ghosts or humans, the kidnappers would pay for this.

Once Danny was at a certain distance, became tangible and visible again, and took out his cell phone to call Jazz.

"Jazz, I have the girl's clothing… and don't worry, nobody saw me. I'm just calling to know if the coast is clear."

"Don't worry, bro," Jazz, who was at the Elementary School, behind the police line, to keep an eye on her parents, replied to him, "I hadn't seen Valerie, but I am almost sure she is around here somewhere… and about Mom and Dad, well, they are currently distracted chasing the least likely suspect."

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

"Come back here, you ectoplasmic fiend!" Jack, holding the Jack-O-Nine-Tails on his right hand and a blaster on the left one, chased the ghost just a few yards behind Jazz, with Maddie running next to him, aiming at the specter with a blaster on each hand.

"You can't catch the master of all things cubic and square; BEWA... AAURGH!" The Box Ghost yelled in pain when receiving two blasts at his rear, courtesy of Mrs. Fenton.

"Unless all those kids were playing inside a huge cardboard box, this ghost's only crime was trying to steal the children's lunch boxes." Jazz rolled her eyes, and, after wishing good luck to her brother, hung off the phone.

Danny flew over the buildings, gaining as much height as possible while looking around, just to be sure Valerie wasn't at the same neighborhood ; luckily, as Sam said, it seemed she still was searching around the school, and it was a little far away from Anna's house, so the risk was minimal. Once Danny decided it was safe enough, took a little bright object out from his outfit's pocket; it was a bright tube that glowed slightly with silver and blue tones. Danny placed it on his lips, and blew as hard as possible; it seemed to do nothing but making the glowing more intense.

Danny remained on his place, hovering without moving, and then, after a minute or so, a slashing sound was heard behind him, and Danny turned to see a large bright hole on midair.

"This thing really works!" Danny said while looking at the tube, getting a slight smile.

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"Help, please!" Nelson hit the door as hard as he could to get the kidnappers' attention.

"Shut up, kid!" The menacing voice of the whip-using man silenced the boy, "Or do you want to face the whip?"

"N… no, sir, but one of the kids you just brought isn't breathing or moving." Nelson said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"Rats! Maybe the kid was too sensitive for the gas we used, boss." Another man said, making the first one to groan.

"We need to keep the merchandise alive! Open up the door."

The door opened, and the large man and two other ones, all of them using their masks, entered the room. Nelson motioned them to a kid who was on a fetal position the other side of the room, totally immobile; the criminals leaned to check him, and started shaking the kid.

"Oooh… my head," the boy, who was none other than Billy, complained after a few seconds.

"He was only stunned, boss, and…" The criminal stopped and his eyes, behind the goggles, wide opened in surprise, "Hey that kid is escaping!"

Freddy, who was hiding next to the door when it opened, dashed outside when noticing the kidnappers were totally distracted, and got spotted when he was already at the corridor, getting a good distance from the room.

The kid turned right in another corridor, trying to find a way out. He then noticed a stairway, and, not knowing exactly at what floor he was, decided to run down… however, the yelling from the criminals behind him alerted the rest of the gang, who were at the floor behind the kids' prison, and Freddy heard them running upstairs, so the boy had no more option than running upstairs as well.

Freddy reached the rooftop, and ran to the building's edge. Apparently, it was a condemned building, pretty old and damaged, with nobody around who might hear or spot whatever happening there. Freddy gulped when noticing it was also a pretty high building, about 15 stories or so, and there was no other building next so he could jump to its rooftop, so the kid was now trapped in there.

"Get the brat!"

Freddy turned at the rooftop's door, looking at the large criminal sending three of his accomplices against him. The kid found himself cornered by the adults, who got ready to jump over him, and one of them did exactly that, making Freddy to jump in an attempt to avoid the kidnapper… but slipping, right at the building's edge.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"You morons!" The criminal boss snapped at the other three men, "Your stupidity just cost us a little fortune! Now, go down and get the body; we'll need to hide it!"

"You are the one who should hide."