...no comment.

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Tori groaned as she walked around with her cell-phone. "Why won't he answer?!"

"Maybe because he knows you're going to yell at him?" Matt suggested, fiddling with some thing-a-majig.

"I wouldn't have to yell at him if he didn't keep disappearing." She snapped the phone shut, realizing her friend wasn't going to pick up anytime soon.

"Why are you being so overprotective?" Matt inquired.

The girl slumped down onto her bed. "He's my best friend. I don't want him getting hurt."

"So, if it was me, you'd do the same thing, right?" he prodded.

She paused for a moment. "I…I…Of course I would."

Matt smirked a bit to himself. She sounded a bit doubtful, which made an implication that only he would think of. He put down his gadget. "Just give him some time to cool off. He'll come back."

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Jake woke up with a bright light shining in his face. At first, he was dizzy, but once that cleared, he tried moving, only to realize he couldn't. Panicking, he noticed that he was strapped down to a table.

"Hey, what's going on?!" he shouted, struggling some more.

A man's low laugh reverberated throughout the room. "Awake now, are we?"

Jake picked his head up to see a muscular dark-skinned man in a grey suit with cropped black hair and an angular face walk through the door. His sunglasses were so thick that the boy couldn't see his eyes through them.

"Who are you? Why did you bring me here?" demanded the teen.

"So impatient," the man teased, his voice completely calm. "Is that a quality all of you half-ghosts have?"

Jake's expression became one of disbelief. "What? I-I don't know what you're talking about."

The man chuckled again. "Take a good look at yourself, kid. You weren't that way before you were knocked out."

Jake's eyes widened in realization, but then his face hardened. "You have nothing to prove it."

"There are traces of ectoplasm in your blood. Don't deny it, Shadow." He sounded so sure of himself, making Jake angrier. "As for your earlier questions: I am Commander Balk. As for why you're here…we needed a new specimen for a new project. The Phantoms are too well-known, but you seemed to fit the half-ghost persona. Honestly, I'm surprised no one has caught on yet."

"And what happens when someone starts looking for me?"

The man looked even more arrogant. "We have your fingerprints. It's only a matter of time before one of our researchers matches a name to the face. From there, we can cover up the evidence; find a way to erase you from existence. It'll be too easy." He gave Jake a second to think about this before continuing. "But for now, I'll show you to your new home. Don't even try escaping. Everything here is ghost proof and we injected you with a special serum that will deactivate your powers for the next two hours." The restraints came off of Jake, but the man immediately took a strong hold on the boy so he couldn't escape. They walked down the long corridors and came to a prison cell. Jake was shoved in and the door closed quickly behind him.

"So, the halfa's in here too now," a young male's voice observed.

Jake turned from the bars to see the three ghosts from earlier. "You? You're the ones who got me locked up here in the first place!"

The oldest ghost sighed. "It's not like we had much of a choice. We disobey; we're eliminated." She sized him up for a minute. "I'm Nightmare, by the way. The other two are Sparky and Becky. Who are you?"

Jake was now sitting down like them, but in the opposite corner of the cell. He stared silently.

Nightmare raised an eyebrow. "Should we just call you 'kid', then?"

Sparky snorted. "Stop wasting your time. If he wants to be cranky, let him. He'll break eventually."

Jake narrowed his eyes at the boy. "My name's Shadow."

"Wow, creative," the elder teased sarcastically, smirking slightly.

He sent her a harsh glare.

"Not one for jokes, are you?"

He stayed silent, choosing not to look at her. Becky quirked her head to the side as she stared.

"You know, you could at least make an effort!" Nightmare called.

"Yeah, we're pretty much stuck here anyway. It's us or complete isolation," Sparky agreed, but then smirked mischievously. He let a little spark fly from his hand. "Of course, I could probably find other options…"

"Don't even think about it," snapped Nightmare, sending him a firm look. The boy pouted and let his sparking hand fall back down.

"I don't plan on staying here long," Jake suddenly said, standing up. He held onto the bars. "I'm going to find some way out."

"Uh, hello, we're in a ghost-proof cage!" the oldest ghost reminded him tersely. "Besides, they chip all of their experiments. They'll know where you are."

Then, a small voice spoke up. "He's worried about his family." Everyone turned to Becky.

"How did you know that?" the half-ghost questioned, the earlier malice gone.

"She's kind of psychic," Nightmare explained. "She can read minds and who-knows-what else."

"Great," Jake muttered to himself, falling to the floor again. The others didn't seem to hear it. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back for a moment. That is, until he felt a small zap and yelped.

"What was that for?!" He glared accusingly at Sparky.

The electrical ghost smirked. "Just making sure you weren't dead."

Jake looked like he was about to make a move, but Nightmare instantly held out a hand. "Calm down, Shady, he does it to everyone."

The teen settled back down again, but kept a careful eye on Sparky.

Nightmare sighed. "This is going to be a long day."

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A bright light cut through the darkness next morning. Jake didn't notice at first because he had his hood pulled over his head.

"Can I?" Sparky asked the oldest of the group.

Nightmare glanced at the newbie and then back to the twelve-year-old. Tiredly, she said, "Go ahead."

The boy let sparks dance around his finger tips before sending a small one at the sleeping teen who was instantly jolted awake. "Wake-up call," he announced a bit too enthusiastically with a big grin plastered on his face.

"I hate you," Jake stated with a glare.

Seconds later, footsteps marched down the corridor. The man from yesterday stepped in front of the cell.

"Good morning, N26, T84, U32, and the as-of-yet to be named half-ghost. Don't worry, kid, you'll get your nice code as soon as we crack your identity. At this rate, I wouldn't even give it until the end of the day." He smirked before looking at the others. "You three are lucky, you have the day off." He glanced back at Jake. "You, however, have your first day of testing." Before Jake could move, the man had already pulled him out through the door and down the halls.

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Back in Amity Park, Tori flew her jet sled over to Matt's house and knocked on his window. The boy opened it up and the huntress jumped inside, recalling her board.

"Matt, can you believe it?!" she started worriedly yet exhaustedly.

The boy looked depressed. "I just got Mrs. Fenton's call. I thought for sure he would have been back by now."

"I think Jake's really in trouble this time," Tori assumed. "We have to go looking for him."

"We'll be ditching school," the boy argued.

"Jake's more important."

"But we don't even know where he is!" the geek exclaimed.

"No, but my tracker would," she responded, tapping her wrist. "All it needs to find a ghost is their ectoplasmic signature. I programmed Jake's in last week."

She activated her board again, ready to fly out the window. Matt cautiously stepped on. "Do I even want to know how you got that?"

"Probably not," she answered simply. Before she flew out, she looked at Matt once more. "But before we go; remember that suit Jake told you not to use?"

"Yes," Matt responded.

"Use it."

After following her orders, the two took off. They were flying for a few seconds before Matt piped up.

"Wait, what about Chris? Shouldn't we get her, too?"

"There's not enough room on my board. Oh, well." Her tone betrayed her, giving away the fact that she really didn't want the other girl to come along.

"Tori, she's Jake's friend, too," Matt reminded her, annoyed.

The girl groaned. "Oh, fine." She turned the board around and headed reluctantly to the house of the other girl.

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Chris is annoying me right now. I'm trying to write her into the rest of the story, but she's being evil. Don't get me wrong, I like her overall, but for this particular section she is irritating me.

I am curious of one thing, though. Are there more JxT people or more JxC?