"He's not answering," Sam turned to Tucker after trying Danny's cell phone three times.

Tucker inhaled and exhaled slowly, hardly trusting himself to speak. "What if we're too late?"

Sam felt her heart sink into her gut. "You mean… what if she got to him first? Did she even know that our Danny is the Phantom?"

"Well Vlad was calling the shots. He probably told her, so she'd have a head start," Tucker reasoned.

Sam only shook his head, saying, "That doesn't make sense. Why not attack until now? Why wait? If she's known this whole time…"

Then Sam realized her prior statements were completely wrong. Her eyes bugged when she came to the only possible conclusion. She turned away from her friend. "I was wrong," she mumbled to the floor. "Kim did know – she knew that Danny was halfhuman, and was just waiting around for a good point to attack. She's not a hero. She's just some dumb vigilante; taking the law into her own her hands at the cost of our best friend."

"You really think she would do that?" Tucker questioned.

Sam couldn't respond. She was too sad. She thought Kim was a nice girl, too.

Then an intense feeling of rage swallowed all the sadness that she thought she felt.

That bitch! It was all a show to her, wasn't it? Were there hidden cameras included in this little joke?! She thought, and felt her face tense up in anger. She wasn't even trying to hide those emotions. They were seeping out of her; leaking anywhere that saw the light.

Her eyes narrowed, and Tucker immediately looked concerned, "Hey, you okay?" He asked.

Sam clenched her fists tightly, and shouted, "No! How could I possibly be okay?! I feel so… betrayed. She was our friend! She had us all fooled. Little did we know, she was just waiting to plan her perfect attack." She rolled her eyes in a huff of annoyance.

"Well if you feel like this, imagine how Danny feels," Tucker added sadly. He knew that he was really falling for the villain.

Sam gasped, "Danny! We have to find him. She's probably dragging him back to Vlad as we speak!" She started rushing up the stairs, but Tucker called after her.

"Wait, Sam! We don't even know where to start looking? What about the Ghost Zone? By now, they could be in Kim's home town! We need the boo-merang." Tucker said definitively.

Thankfully, this speech pulled Sam's head back into rational thought, and they began searching for the angled finding device. In the heaps and mounds of useless ghost tools, the only useful one for them was nowhere to be seen, and Sam began to float back into insanity.

"Tuck, we are wasting time! Come on!" she began walking back up the stairs when an idea dawned onto him.

"Jazz's room! She's constantly worried about Danny. I bet she has it."

Sam looked worried, but she compromised, and decided that that was a good idea. "Okay, let's make it quick though."

Tucker agreed, and they made their way up the stairs.

"Wait," Sam paused in her stride when they reached the second stair case. Tucker waited for her to go on, so she did.

"Are we telling Jazz about… you know…"

"About what?" The pretty feminine voice rang in the air, causing Sam and Tucker to snap their heads to the top of the stairs.

Tucker and Sam must've shown their worry on their faces because Jazz immediately dropped her back and duplicated the look. It would appear she had had plans to go somewhere, but changed her mind.

"Where's Danny?" Tears began to well in her eyes, but both Sam and Tucker stayed silent. They knew that Danny wouldn't want her to worry.

"Jazz –"Sam finally tried, but the other girl interrupted her before she could go on.

"Damnit Sam! Enough, okay? I'm stronger than Danny thinks. Stronger than you think. Now tell me right now. Where. Is. My. Little. Brother?" she emphasized every word, making Sam gulp. She didn't know what to do. It was clear that Jazz meant business, but there was nothing that Sam could do. Danny wouldn't want her to know.

She turned to Tucker for help, but he appeared just as lost. Sam bit her lip until the metallic taste of her own blood began to fill her mouth. Finally, she couldn't take the silence any longer, and she spat, "Fine! We don't know where he is. We need the boo-merang. So we can find him. Do you know where it is?"

Jazz nodded, but quickly added, "But you don't get it not until you tell me what's going on."

"Do you really wanna risk Danny's life for your own personal gain?" Even Sam had to grimace at the harshness of her words, but it did what she planned for them to do.

Jazz's face immediately softened, and she retreated back up the stairs. "Wait here. I'll go get it." And she vanished up the stairs, leaving Sam and Tucker at the bottom. Once she was gone, Tucker turned to Sam.

"We should tell her," he tried to think with a level head, which is hard when your best friend has been abducted.

"We'll tell her what she needs to know," Sam said, and Tucker only nodded. The conversation ended there because Jazz immediately returned bearing a bent piece of metal in her left hand. She hurled it away from her, and screamed, "Find Danny!" before releasing it from her fingers.

The boo-merang spun a few times, and began heading back into the kitchen. The three friends – or two friends and a sister of a third friend, rather – chased after the flying saucer. They went all the way down the stairs into the basement lab where Tucker and Sam had emerged only two moments ago.

The device kept spinning and headed towards two sliding doors that Sam and Tucker couldn't help but grimace at. The boo-merang hit against the striped doors, and clamored to the ground, unable to go any farther while the doors remained closed.

"He's in the Ghost Zone," Tucker breathed in awe.

"Trapped is more like it," Sam mumbled to herself. So quiet that all Tucker and Jazz could hear was an inaudible murmur.

"What?" the two said together, wanting to know what it was that Sam said.

"He's trapped in there. Danny installed that ecto-lock on the other side of the doors so that no ghosts could escape this way. And I doubt he brought his key unless he was planning on getting thrown into the Ghost Zone," Sam said – always the pessimist.

"So in other words… Danny either needs to find another way to get back, or…" Tucker trailed on, but stopped talking when he realized the only other option.

"We have to go in after him!" Jazz ran towards the Specter Speeder, but Tucker held her back.

"If we go in there, then we'll all four be trapped in there! We don't have a key either." Tucker reasoned.

Jazz stared at him with tearful eyes. "We can't just sit here, and do nothing!"

Sam, with her back to the other two teenagers, narrowed her eyes in rage, "No we can't."

An idea popped into the Goth's head, and she turned towards Jazz and Tucker.

"I have an idea."

…

Danny had been searching through the Ghost Zone for a good hour. He'd flown by the Warehouse, and saw the Box Ghost busy at work. He even saw The Acropolis of Athens and paid Pandora a short visit before asking if she'd heard anything about a girl being kept somewhere. She wasn't any help, but she still appreciated the effort.

He didn't realize that saving Kim was going to be this hard. He thought it would make sense if he went through the mirror while looking at her that he would end up exactly where that mirror was pointing. Unfortunately, he'd been dooped into believing that by the one and only Plasmius, and instead showed up right by Pariah's Keep, and had to escape the legendary Carnivorous Canyon and River of Repulsion, fighting to stay alive.

As he flew further he realized, with no doubt at all, that to find Kim, he would first need to get the Infi-Map. Translation: wasting time to find Frostbite, asking to borrow the Infi-Map while Vlad might already be torturing sweet Kim as he flew around. He'd have to work fast.

Of course, without the Infi-Map finding Frostbite was going to be real pain in his–

"OW!"

Danny felt a burning against his rear, and whipped his head around just in time to see a whoosh of aqua hair flying towards him. He heard the stroke of a guitar, and on instinct jumped out of the way just in time. He looked back to where he was standing – er, floating – and saw the green flame flash, and then disintegrate.

Ember, he narrowed his eyes and felt them surge an electric green.

"Tell me who you love!" he heard in the distance, but couldn't see anything amidst the green fog and smoke.

"Definitely not you," Danny mumbled under his breath before going intangible. He flew around trying to find the source of the calling and guitar playing. Finally, a particularly thick green cloud moved out of the way, revealing to Danny a beautiful girl with hair of flames and spiral black eyeliner. Danny bundled a good amount of ectoplasm into his left hand. He was about to fling it towards the ghost when he realized something.

Fighting ghosts in the ghost zone would do nothing for him. He had no thermos, and nothing to hold them in. He would simply have to fight the other off to exhaustion – something he didn't intend on doing while his number one focus ought to be finding Kim. Plus, he was intruding on their domain. Honestly, the ghosts had every right to do whatever he did to them when they trampled into the human world.

So he diminished the fire in his hand, and flew the other way. Fighting Ember wasn't worth his time when Kim's life was on the line. But first, he had to get to Frostbite and the Infi-Map.

Of course, finding Frostbite was something he'd have to do on his own. He turned to his left and realized that the whole area looked slightly familiar. In the distance he saw the Whirling Vortex, and instantly realized where he was. He had traveled this way two years ago when he took his two friends on a mission to scope out the Ghost Zone. That was one of the first days he had realized that there is no scoping with the Ghost Zone. It's endless; bound by no natural means. Still, that little escapade did get him knowledge about the part of the Ghost Zone closest to his portal, which meant most of the ghosts that emerged from that portal were located in the area that he and his friends scavenged.

As he flew over the spinning blackhole known as the Whirling Vortex, he came across a hollowed out iceberg, cavern. It had sharp icicles are around the inside, and under ordinary circumstances, Danny wouldn't go near the death trap, but he knew that the inhabitants were friends and possibly the only people that could help him out. So, for the sake of his friend's life, he decided he would have to find the Infi-Map.

He entered the cavernous cave with caution, as there were plenty of hanging icicles that he did not want to run into. He flew down, farther and farther, and was aware that the glow from the green fog at the mouth of the cave was quickly diminishing, and soon he wouldn't be able to see in front of him. He'd have to get his own light, so he bundled a bit of ectoplasm in his left hand, and flew around, making sure to easily dodge the icicles.

Soon, thankfully, he found the light at the bottom marking the beginning of Frostbite's realm, where the light first began to glare off the icy snow.

When he had found his way to the bottom and landed on the soft ground, he found a towering yeti awaiting him.

"Great One! You've returned. Anything you need – anything at all – we are at your service," the snow beast smiled warmly and spoke with his deep voice. After his speech, he bowed deeply and rose gracefully.

"Frostbite! I'm so happy to see you. But I do need a favor…" Danny started.

"Name it," Frostbite assured his loyalty, and Danny told him what he had come for.

"The Infi-Map?!" Frostbite replied to the halfa's request. "But – why?"

Danny explained the short-version of the story: how one of his friends was at the wrong place at the wrong time and how the ghost named Plasmius (who Frostbite knew as the one who had stolen the Infi-Map) captured her, and trapped her in the Ghost Zone, and now he needed to find her, but had no idea where to start.

"Of course, Chosen One. My people will do anything they can to ensure that pink-ectoplasm-man won't show up here again. Come, follow me, and I will lead you to the map."

Danny nodded, and followed closely behind the snow beast. They walked a bit in the snow, and it took all of Danny's self-restraint no to collapse in the soft ice. He forced himself to trudge through, and eventually they made it to a great big tower built of finely polished ice. The ice was clear and pristine with perfection; truly flawless. The smooth exterior felt oddly warm under Danny's hand as he danced his fingers around it.

"This is as far as I can take you," Frostbite said and turned around. "You must face the rest on your own. Though, I warn you. We have upped our security since our last encounter. There are a few challenges to prove your worth before getting to the top, but this is no maze. The only way to go is up." Frostbite told him in those cryptic messages that Danny despised. Regardless, he knew he had to get to Kim, so he didn't think much on what Frostbite had really said.

Just before Danny crossed the icy threshold, Frostbite called one more thing after him: "Remember, Great One, often, the map will bring you where you need to be, and not necessarily where you want to go." Danny turned and gave him a curt nod of understanding before stepping into the tower.

As soon as his latter foot had crossed into the atrium, the tower's open door had slammed close. Danny tried to push it back open, but it was stuck. Frostbite had been right: the only way to go would be up.

…

Sam was fastening a GPS-device onto the Boo-merang with steel wire. Jazz and Tucker peered over her shoulder as she worked. After she tied the last knot, Sam had officially connected the navigator from the Specter Speeder to the Boo-merang.

"What do we do now?" Tucker asked now that Sam had finally finished.

"The best thing we can do for Danny is help him get out of the Ghost Zone. We'll do that by giving him the map of the Ghost Zone that his parents installed on the Specter Speeder. We'll open up the portal, and tell the Boo-merang to find Danny, and when it does, Danny will get the GPS tracker, so he'll know how to get out." Sam explained

"And if another ghost finds it?" Jazz asked, rationally, knowing that in the wrong hands the simple navigator could be very dangerous.

"I've password protected it with the day that Danny first went into the portal. I'm assuming he still recalls the day," Sam answered.

"You give him a hint, though," Tucker recommended. If there was just an 8-digit pin that he would be expected to know, the day that he became a ghost might not be first on his mind.

"I'll write a note," Jazz offered, and sat down. She took her pen, and wrote in her neat, cursive script.

Danny,
I hope this finds you well. Whenever I see the Boo-merang, it makes me think of the day that this all began, don't you think? Well, good luck.
Love,
Jazz

She folded it up, and slipped it under the steel wire. Tucker pushed the large red button that made the portal doors open, and Jazz walked to the entrance of the swirling green fog, and hurled the device into the abyss. "Find Danny," she ordered, and let the bent metal release from her grasp.

Even after the doors had closed, Jazz remained staring where she had flung it, as if she was hoping Danny would emerge at any moment. Sam and Tucker noticed this with a sad sense of pity, so the former decided to approach the girl from behind, cautiously.

"Now we just have to wait," Sam assured, and put a hand on Jasmine's shoulder. Jazz finally closed her eyes, though sadly, and turned towards Sam. She threw her arms around the Goth girl – knowing perfectly well that Sam was not a hugger – and cried into her shoulder. She did try to be brave, but it had gotten to a point where she couldn't be the strong one. She was so full of worry for Danny that it had consumed all other emotions.

Instead of rejecting the bodily contact, Sam wrapped her arms around the ginger, and stroked her hair. She promised everything would be okay, only she didn't exactly know who she was convincing.

…

Danny's eyes adjusted to the darkness that surrounded him. He lit a small amount of ectoplasm in his left hand to use as a light source, and walked down the corridor. It wasn't long before he came across a staircase that spiraled around a horrific ice sculptor. The image had fangs and sharp nails with jagged hair and red eyes. Danny stopped his gasp in his throat, and instead looked at the engraving.

"Countless others have tried and failed where you are currently standing. If you wish to proceed, you must name how many, exactly," he read out loud, and noticed the entrance to the staircase was blocked off. A top the low fence, a keypad made of ice just like the gate was present. Danny assumed he would have to put his number in there.

He considered the riddle before him, and realized that this maze-thing was not ancient. Frostbite had even said that it was a new addition to security since Vlad had last been here. He took a wild guess, going out on a whim, and pushed the zero located at the bottom of the pad. When his finger pushed the key into the gate, it suddenly snapped open, and Danny couldn't help but smile. Countless others, huh?

Danny realized he was now allowed to go through. He stepped up onto the first step, and when nothing bizarre happened, continued to ascend the staircase.

It wasn't until he'd gotten to the next landing that another riddle appeared.

Danny spoke the riddle aloud again: "What is powerful enough to smash ships and crush roofs, yet it still fears the sun."

This time a gate with a letter key pad appeared at the entrance to the next set of stairs. Danny didn't think twice about this one. He was surrounded by it for crying out loud!

With ease, he punched I C and E into the gate, and watched as that one, too, latched open.

He sprinted up the next flight only to be greeted with a third riddle. Figures… he rolled his eyes.

The next riddle appeared, and Danny again read it out loud:

"As beautiful as the setting sun, as delicate as the morning dew, an angel's dusting from the stars that can turn the Earth into a frosted moon."

Danny saw that the keyboard this time was another one filled with letters. He'd already used the obvious ice, so he didn't think that was what it was, but what else? A frosted moon? It has to be something to do with the tundra he was in; the icy, cold tundra that stood in the way from the map and him, which indirectly stood in the way of him reaching Kim. The stupid snow beast couldn't just give him the map? Didn't he realize this was a pressing matter?

Snow…

Danny typed the four letters roughly, and smiled as he heard the lock give on the gate. He, yet again, sprinted to the top, only this time there was no more gate and no additional stairs. Instead, he saw an icy door with another phrase engraved on it.

"Beyond this door, the physical challenges begin. Only the strongest will survive what lies within." Danny slapped himself in the face. These rhymes were just getting pointless. He felt like he was stuck in the Ghost Writer's world… again. He bravely opened the door, and felt his eyes bulge from his head.

Saw and razors made of ice spun around the floor. Pointy icicles and unrefined edges stuck out on the walls, and a gigantic hole was in the middle of the floor where he assumed one would fall three stories if slipped.

He took a deep breath, and decided to go about this logistically. If he was in the human world, he would simply go intangible and walk through, only this was the Ghost Zone, and ghosts weren't intangible.

…but humans are…

He recalled when he had been trapped in Walker's prison and how he could walk through walls and that Walker couldn't get his grimy hands on him. Danny smiled at the recollection. He immediately phased into his raven-haired human form, and walked into the room. As expected, the door slammed behind him, but Danny walked to the other side with ease. He avoided the hole, and was sliced in half by one of the saws that passed right through him. He walked along the wall and watched the icicles go into his left and side and out his right.

When he'd safely made it to the other side, he found another door, and stepped through it. He found asylum on the other side when he realized this one was wooden. Everything before had been made of ice, but this one – for some reason – was made entirely of wood.

It wasn't long before Danny realized that reason. There was a box on the floor of the room, and Danny quickly walked over to it. When he opened it, he immediately recognized the ancient scroll that was contained in it, and picked it up.

Immediately, the walls of the room caught on flames.

If Danny had been in his ghost form, he would've burned alive – or, er, dead – but the ghostly fire, like everything else, could not touch him. Still, in order for the map to work, he would need to be a ghost. This would take careful accuracy. He would have to change into his ghostly half and go intangible with a millisecond in between. He instantly felt the immense heat of energy around his abdomen as his body changed from the warm, human blood, to the cold, eerie ectoplasm that Danny had grown accustomed to.

With a shout, he opened the map up and raised it high to prevent it from burning with the fire on the walls, and shouted to it: "Lead me to Kim." Immediately, any prior trace of Danny vanished into the old paper, and he was sent down into a tube connecting his current location to wherever the map was leading him. His stomach dropped as he fell into a bottomless hole.

…But then the sensation stopped. Danny realized he was surrounded by green mist and smoke. He looked in front of him, and instantly saw a bit of ginger hair floating through the fog.

If he hadn't been so caught up in getting to Kim, he would've realized that the map had purposefully deposited him a ways away behind Kim opposed to directly in front of her. Alas, this detail was overlooked in the brain of Danny Phantom.

A/N: I am so sorry.

It's been like three weeks since I've updated, but I've just got so much going on with Spring Break coming up soon. Please forgive me :)

I tried my best to make a long chapter since its been so long since I've updated. So let me know what you think about it. :D

Review! Review! Review!