Disclaimer: I don't own DP! I do, however, own Jake/Shadow, Abby Fenton/Phantom, Matt, and Tori.

A few minutes later, both Jake and Matt were standing outside an old run-down building. Its white walls were dirty and worn. The structure was several stories tall. Several windows were cracked. It looked as if it would hold up, though. The looming building seemed slightly creepy.

Woah, what's with this place?" Jake asked, amazed, yet slightly horrified.

"Have you ever heard of the Guys in White?" Matt questioned.

"I think my Dad said something about them once or twice," Jake answered.

"They used to be a ghost hunting team. Destroyed and dissected ghosts, made all sorts of weapons, too. They got shut down a while ago. This," he gestured to the building with wide arms, "is where they used to work. It's completely abandoned now," Matt explained.

"And you know all of this, how?" Jake inquired, slightly creeped out by his friend's amount of knowledge on such an old abandoned place.

"That's not important," Matt replied snappily, obviously not wanting to explain.

The two teens cautiously entered the worn building. Some of the furniture and equipment was still there. It looked as if no one had been here in years, which no one probably had. Dust covered everything and there were a few spider webs residing in corners. It was dim and the only light came from the open door. They crept closer in.

"I can't see anything." Matt stated.

"I have an idea," Jake said. He focused his energy into the palm of his hand and created a glowing red orb.

An eerie red light incased the two friends. It shed some dim light on their surroundings. They were in a long, white (although it took on a pinkish appearance due to Jakes red light) hall. At the end, there was a door.

"Nice," Matt commented, regarding his best friend's energy ball.

"Come on. Let's head for that door," Jake suggested, pointing to the door.

They moved toward the door. When they reached it, they carefully opened it. The door let out a loud creak.

"Perfect," Jake said as he looked at their surroundings.

They were in a large white room with white tiled floors. The walls were in pretty good condition.

"Now all that we're missing is a light. I mean; you can't use that energy ball forever," Matt acknowledged.

Jake smiled mischievously. He turned himself into his ghost form and disappeared through a wall. A little while later, he came back with a machine. It was a big metal box with places for plugs around it.

"What's that?" Matt inquired, baffled as to what the strange object was.

"It's a generator my grandparents made that they gave my Dad. Whenever there is a power shortage, he uses some of his energy and it's turned into electricity. We can hook it up to lights," the half-ghost explained.

After tinkering for a while, they finally got the lights on.

"Great, now we can-" Matt started.

"No, we can't," Jake interrupted. "It's almost ten!"

"We'll start tomorrow then," Matt said, slightly disappointed.

Jake turned off the lights as they exited the building.

Jake, Matt, and Tori sat in class the next day.

Tori passed a note to Jake, who was sitting behind her. Jake opened the small piece of paper.

Want to hang out at the Nasty Burger after school?

Jake took his pencil and, after making sure that their teacher, Mr. Taylors (A short man with thinning gray hair and round glasses, wearing a green sweater vest with a black tie, and black workpants), wasn't looking, wrote something down and handed it back to Tori. Tori unfolded it and read.

Sorry. Matt and I are doing something.

Tori looked slightly upset, but soon returned to listening to the teacher's endless babble.

The bell rang shortly after and the three entered the hall.

"So, what are you guys doing? Can I tag along? Otherwise I'll be bored to death. Either that or my Mom will take me out on another training mission," Tori interrogated.

"We're just…uh…going to the arcade," Jake lied. He knew that Tori didn't particularly like the arcade.

"Boredom it is then," she concluded.

They sat outside for lunch that day. Jake chowed down on a sandwich, while his friends took their chances with the cafeteria food. If this was a game, they lost. A pile of mush lay on their trays and they looked at it like it was about to attack them any second.

"Man, this is just wrong! What the heck is it?" Matt exclaimed while staring at the disgusting food-if you could call it that.

"Mystery Meat, I think," Tori replied, disgusted as well.

"You guys should just bring your lunch like me," Jake advised, taking another bite out of his sandwich.

"Okay, Mr. Perfect-little-vegetarian," Tori retorted.

Jake just glared at her.

"Hey, dude, it's your decision, not ours," Matt added.

This earned Matt a roll of the eyes from his vegetarian friend. Jake continued eating, while the other two just poked their food.

"Jake," Matt whispered to his friend.

"What?" Jake whispered back.

"We still doing you-know-what tonight?"

"Yes, and now is not a very appropriate time to ask. By the way, I told Tori that we were going to the arcade."

"Guys, could you stop whispering? If you don't want me to hear something, then you should probably talk, oh, I don't know, when I'm not right here!" Tori interrupted irritably.

"Sorry," the boys apologized in unison.

After school, the two male teens ran to the old, abandoned, white building. Matt pulled a flashlight out of his backpack and they took the path down the hallway. They arrived in the large room that they would use for training quickly. Jake activated the generator.

"So…what first?" Matt asked, confused.

"I guess I just run through drills. I'll practice a little first, though. See if I can get the hang of using the basics, you know," Jake replied.

"I'll go walk around a little, see what else this place has to it," Matt told Jake.

"Be careful, shout if you need me," Jake warned.

"Whatever," Matt dismissed passively as he exited the room with his flashlight.

Jake transformed himself into Shadow.

"Okay, what first? Let's try flying," Shadow decided.

He began to hover over the ground. "Lift off is okay, now let's get complicated." He dashed from one end of the room to another. Then he performed a series of loop-de-loops. "Alright, I can do that one. Now, invisibility." Shadow turned himself invisible, but only briefly before he was forced back into visibility. "That one needs some work. Two seconds isn't a whole lot of time." The ghost teen tried again, this time lasting a while, but he stopped himself purposefully. "Alright, I guess intangibility is next." At first, nothing happened. He attempted it again. This time, he managed to turn his entire body intangible. He phased through a wall and then came back, regaining tangibility. "What else is there? Oh, right, ghost rays." He charged up his hand. It glowed red, then died. "I can do this. I did it before and I can do it again." He charged his hand up again. The red light clung to his hand this time and stayed bright. He aimed at the empty air and fired. The red beam hit the white wall and left a scorch mark. "Okay, that's all of the basics. I wonder where Matt is."

The young half-ghost decided to look for his friend. He flew slowly down the halls, his eyes scanning the area like a hawk for any traces of his friend. He phased through numerous walls while calling Matt's name. After a few minutes of no replies, Shadow became worried.

"Matt! Where are you? If you are trying to make me worry; you're doing a good job," he shouted.

"I'm in here!" came a voice. It was Matt's! That meant he was okay! Shadow felt relief rush over him like a cool ocean wave on a hot day.

He flew toward his friend's voice. He phased through a wall that he was sure he heard Matt's voice behind. On the other side of the wall lay a room that looked similar to a lab. It was white like the rest of the building and it appeared as if a good amount of equipment was taken out, but there was still some there. Matt was standing in front of a large metal table, moving his hands about and leaning over something. Quietly, Shadow landed on the ground and changed back into his human self.

"Matt, what are you doing?" questioned a baffled Jake.

Matt turned to face him, his work hidden behind him.

"I was just thinking, when you do fight ghosts, what are you going to do with them after?" Matt asked, obviously leading into something.

"I hadn't really thought about it," Jake admitted.

"Well I have, so, I invented this." He held out a small black cylindrical object with red wiring running through it.

"What's that?" Jake inquired.

"It's basically a smaller and more compact version of the Fenton thermos. You extend it, take off the cap, aim it at the ghost, press this red button on top, and it sucks the ghost into it. The black button releases the ghost. Then, you just fold it back up when you're done. Of course, you still have to release the ghosts into the portal," Matt explained, acting out each action as he said it. "I just have to make a few more adjustments and then it's done."

"You know, you are as much of a techno-geek as your Dad," Jake joked. "Thanks."

"No problem. So, how's training going?" Matt asked while still working on his invention.

"Pretty good. I've got the basics down pretty well," Jake replied. "Where did you get the stuff to make that, anyways?"

"It was all down here. Apparently, the people who used to work here didn't clean out everything and still left some gadgets and research behind," Matt answered. He continued working on the new device. "Done!"

"It amazes me how you do that so fast," Jake admitted.

The dark-skinned boy smiled at the compliment. Matt handed the gadget to Jake, who thankfully accepted.

"Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without you," Jake thanked.

"Hey, let's get back to practice; we still have a few more hours," Matt suggested.

"Yeah," Jake agreed.

A while later, they were both tired. Jake from using his energy so much, and Matt from dodging stray attacks and being the victim of the overshadowing exercise, not to mention that it was getting late.

"Want a lift home?" Shadow asked.

"Aren't you tired, though?" Matt inquired, noticing his friends exhausted state.

"Yeah, but it'll be faster, it's dark out, and I'll be fine for just one more flight," he replied wearily.

"Okay, but I just hope that no one sees us," Matt thought warningly.

"Don't worry. If I see anyone, I can turn us invisible," the ghostly teen responded.

Shadow grabbed hold of Matt and lifted them up off of the ground. He shot upward and phased them both through the roof. In a few moments, they were drifting in the clear night sky, gazing at the town below them. They were a good ways above the ground.

"This is amazing," Matt said astonished with wide eyes.

"Yeah. I never really got to soar like this before. It's really cool," Shadow agreed.

The calm was interrupted as an engine was heard. Shadow turned invisible and landed both of them on the ground.

"Sorry, you'll have to walk from here. I have a really bad feeling that someone's looking for me," Shadow told his buddy as he darted into the sky with a serious, yet somewhat scared, expression.

Sure enough, as soon as he got up high enough, he was shot in the back with a blue energy blast. He cried out in pain as he rubbed his sore back. He turned to face the person who had hit him. Sure enough, it was Tori.

"Back again, ghost?" she rhetorically asked with venom and loathing in her voice. She clearly did not like Shadow.

He didn't have time for this. It was almost curfew!

"Can we get this over with? I'm really not in the mood," he snapped.

"It's not over until you're gone!" she declared, firing her weapon.

"Do you actually have a reason to hate me?" he inquired.

"You're a ghost, that's all the reason I need," she stated.

She aimed and blasted him again. He flew out of the blast's path and it whizzed by him, missing him by a short distance.

The teenage ghost sighed. This was going to be a long night, he could tell.

"Wait a minute, are you here alone?" Shadow just realized that her Mom wasn't with her.

"What's it to you, ghost?!" she demanded spitefully.

She aimed her gun and was about to blast, but the ghost disappeared.

"What's with the whole 'ghost' thing? I do have a name you know," Shadow acknowledged as he reappeared behind her.

"Why should I care what your name is?! You're a ghost and that's all I need to know," she said loathingly while turning around quickly. The ghost was right behind her.

"How would you like it if I just called you ghost-hunter girl?" he retorted.

She swiped at him with her fist, but it passed right through him as he had become intangible. He turned solid again a good distance away from her.

"Fine! You made your point. Do you even know my name?" Tori questioned, the burning hatred for the ghost still clear in her voice.

"Tori," he responded.

She scowled. How did he know her name?

"How did you know that?" she asked.

"I just do." he vaguely responded.

"I guess it doesn't matter how you know my name, you'll be gone in a few minutes, ghost."

Shadow disappeared again as she said that. He then reappeared again behind her.

"There you go again with the whole 'ghost' thing. My name is Shadow."

She twisted around. This ghost-this "Shadow"- was becoming extremely annoying. She was close to blasting the ghost again, but a loud bell rang. It echoed through the town.

"I'll finish you off later…Shadow." She spat his name like it was poison.

"I doubt that," Shadow replied with a mischievous smirk.

He had dashed out of sight after that. He changed back in an ally way near his brick house. He raced toward the door at full speed. He stopped right outside of it and slowly opened the door. He sure hoped that no one was there, but his hopes were dashed as the door revealed his parents glaring at him.

"Excuse?" his Dad asked.

"Matt and I were at the arcade and we lost track of time," Jake lied.

"The truth," his Mom demanded.

Man, they were good. Well, he guessed they had done enough lying in their teenage days to know when one of their own children was lying.

"That was the truth," he lied again.

"The arcade closed two hours ago," his Mom stated.

They were annoyingly good. They had him trapped in a corner, but he wasn't gonna give up yet.

"He was probably goofing off somewhere. Or maybe he was out with a certain hunter girl named Tori," Abby interrupted smugly.

"What?! I was not! Why would I be dating my best friend?!" Jake roared at her, his embarrassment clear. Especially since he technically was out with her, just not in that way.

Now he was furious. He was pretty sure his eyes were glowing red.

"Room, now," his Dad commanded sternly.

Jake sprinted up the stairs. He slammed his door shut after he bolted into his room. He collapsed onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. A few moments later, there was a knock on his door and his Dad walked in without waiting for Jake to reply.

"I never said that you could come in," he murmured angrily.

Danny sat down on the side of Jake's bed. He sighed.

"Jake, why won't you tell us what you were doing?" Danny asked more calmly this time.

"I did, but you guys wouldn't listen and then Abby comes in and…ahhh!" he cried in frustration.

"You know, about what Abby said, I have a funny story about something like that when I was a kid." Danny took on a more fatherly tone.

"Oh, please! Not another flashback!" Jake groaned.

"Oh, yeah." Danny smiled at his son's irritation with the flashback. "When I was a kid, your mother was my best friend, which I know you've heard before. We denied it and people teased us about it so much," Danny began to reminisce.

"Dad, I don't like Tori. It's not like when you were a kid," Jake stated irritably. He didn't like like Tori. They were just friends and that was it! Why would no one believe him?!

"Okay, fine. By the way, has Tori started ghost hunting yet?" Danny asked, much to Jake's annoyance.

"Yeah," The teen answered irritably. "Why?"

"Just another funny memory. Tori's Mom and I actually dated when we were in high school."

"Why is that funny?"

"Because she didn't know I was half ghost. In fact, she hated Danny Phantom." His Dad chuckled softly before getting up and walking out of the room, leaving a stupefied Jake.

"Great, now I'm destined to be with Tori, she's got both parts nailed," Jake mumbled to himself.

How Jake hated these moments, these awkward father/son chats. He only liked Tori as a friend. Besides, she hates Shadow, so they could never be together, right? Grrr, why does life have to be so complicated?!

"One thing's for sure," He mumbled to himself, "I'm sure not going to get a lot of sleep tonight."

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