Level three: Friend or Foe?

Level three was very different from the museum stage. For one thing, there were no locks or secret passages. Plus the boss monster was a real shocker!

"HALT! No one may pass this gate without proving themselves worthy!" roared the Gatekeeper.

"Sorry, I forgot about the Gatekeeper again…" said Kisuke.

"It happens. I will accept the challenge from the Gatekeeper!" replied PhantomLoki.

"Very well. You must prove yourself by determining who the ally is and which the real foe is. Guess wrong and you will be barred from passing. Guess correctly and you earn a new teammate! Do you still wish to accept?"

"Yes, I still accept the challenge!" replied Kisuke.

"Enter the arena where your challenge awaits!"

Warning! This area is an unauthorized room! Continuing further will result in a strike. Do you still wish to enter?


Kisuke clicked yes and a strike appeared on his screen. It was a small price to pay for going through. PhantomLoki entered the arena, and was amazed by the sight!
Creatures of all shapes, sizes and attitudes were waiting for him. He entered the arena and said he had come for the Gatekeeper Challenge. The creatures separated into different groups, based on type. They were: Virus, Data and Vaccine. PhantomLoki had to choose one out of the three groups which was friendly. If he chose correctly, they joined his team. Chose wrong and they attack.

The first group he went to was the Data group. He had quite a few to choose from; and only five out of the fifty were friendly. All in all, the odds against him weren't too bad.

He immediately saw ten of the creatures that were unfriendly. Another ten looked like possible allies; yet another looked like they didn't want to go. Ten more looked friendly but didn't have the nice aura. The final ones were unknown.

Kisuke was stumped. Which ones were possible allies?! One of the creatures caught his attention for a moment, but only for a moment. The creature wore ragged clothes, and a steep hat. PhantomLoki didn't think he was a good ally by the state of his clothes.

"Don't judge so quickly. You forget that "Wiz Pet" looks like a rabbit, yet he turns into wings for you to fly. Speaking of which, where did "Wiz Pet" run off to?!" exclaimed Kisuke.

"Wiz Pet" had wandered toward one of the creatures. It looked at him with surprise, but then turned away from the strange rabbit. "Wiz Pet" wasn't fooled and jumped on his hat playfully. PhantomLoki saw that the creature didn't try to knock off his furry companion, which meant that he was an ally. He walked over to the creature and "Wiz Pet". It was the same one Kisuke told him not to judge.

"Hey, what's your name?" asked PhantomLoki.

"My name is Wizardmon. Your furry friend here is very playful."

"Would you like to join my team?"

"I wouldn't mind, so long as it's alright with you."

The conformation popped up yet again. Kisuke clicked "Yes" and a weird music played.

"Congratulations. You have chosen correctly! Wizardmon will now join your group!"


The next group he looked at was the Virus group. The name didn't sound very encouraging, but he looked through anyway. Wizardmon waited on the side with "Wiz Pet" who could only help once in the challenge. He was on his own on this one…

"Let's see, I've narrowed the list down to five choices. I have a choice of a weird tadpole with a Mohawk, a purple one with an attitude problem, a caterpillar with a stinger, something that looks like a cross between Dracula and a Demon, and a walking wolf. Which do you think is best, Kisuke?"

One of the candidates snickered. That immediately knocked them off the list. The Dracula/Demon went back to its friends. The walking wolf went with him. Soon Kisuke narrowed the list down to two. The purple one with the attitude and the caterpillar with the stinger. After much debate, they choose the caterpillar.

"What's your name friend?"

"I'm Wormmon. Can I join your group? The others seem to think I'm their personal kickball!" said Wormmon excitedly.

"Sure! Glad to have ya on the team Wormmon!"

The conformation screen came up like clockwork, and Kisuke quickly confirmed his choice. Music played like before, but it was a little different this time around. Kisuke thought that this was because of the group type until he saw a new message appear on the screen.

"You have chosen Wormmon. He is cowardly and may desert you to save himself. It's your funeral, PhantomLoki!"

"Okay…that was weird! On to the next group!" said Kisuke.


The last and most difficult group was the Vaccine. They were the hardest to choose since Vaccine types generally were all friendly. Once again he narrowed the list down to five.

"Okay, the list is down to a Kyuubi fox, a white cat with a ring on it's tail, a kappa like one, a rabbit with metal claws, and something that resembles a ferret. Man this is a tough call…"

"Rabbit, Kappa and ferret are definitely out. They don't look like they want to leave their friends anyway. So we either choose the cat or the vixen. That is a tough one…"

"Excuse me…" said the Fox creature.

"Yes?"

"Are your enemies very hard to defeat or are they all talk?"

"My enemy is a murderer who hides in his own shadow. He isn't some pansy unfortunately…" answered Kisuke. He idly wondered why the fox asked when the cat creature noticed an old friend on his team.

"Well I wouldn't mind joining you if it'll be a fair battle…" said the fox.

"Hey, is that Wizardmon over there?!" exclaimed the cat.

"Um, yes that's what he said his name was…why?"

"Wizardmon is a friend of mine!"

This just went from hard to damn near impossible! PhantomLoki thought.

"This is too hard to choose. I'd love to have both of you on the team but I can only choose one! This day keeps getting better and better…" muttered Kisuke.

"Hey, what's your name kid?" asked the fox.

"It's PhantomLoki."

"I'm Kisuke Niwa. What are both of your names?"

"I'm Gatomon…" said the cat.

"And I'm Kyubimon," finished Kyubimon.

"Hey, PhantomLoki, did you know that there's nothing in the rules about one of us following you even if you didn't choose us?" said Gatomon.

"Actually I forgot about that glitch! Good thing I never went back to fix the level."

"So who is the official new teammate and who's the unofficial one?" asked Kyubimon.

"Kyubimon, would you like to join the group?"

"I'd be delighted."

Sure enough, the conformation screen popped up. And as usual, Kisuke clicked "Yes."

"Impressive. You've chosen Kyubimon! It also appears that Gatomon wishes to join your team uninvited. You've passed the Gatekeeper's Challenge and may skip through level four if you wish. The strike against you has been removed from your character."


Daisuke went through the test also, though MurderousShadow wanted nothing to do with it. As a result, Daisuke got a cheat code and bypassed level four to join PhantomLoki. MurderousShadow had to fight his way through level four alone. Next up was level 5!


(In case you were wondering, the creatures are Digimon. I couldn't resist adding them!)