ZAFT: Update on a Monday again? Haven't done that in a while. ^^'
Takuya: Yeah, what happened? You guys are normally on a Tuesday for updates.
DarkFoxKit: We finally remembered to update today.
Andy: Hey! You're not locked in your room anymore!
DarkFoxKit: I finished the game. Now I feel empty…
ZAFT: Better hope DarkFoxKit doesn't find another game to get addicted to… ^^' Heavens knows it's hard to get her out of her room when she finds a game she likes… ^^'
Takuya: Want me to burn the next game she gets?
ZAFT: Don't make me shove you into the chapter, Takuya!
DarkFoxKit: If you burn the next game I get, fire boy, I will be siccing both Corrupted Danny and Corrupted Andy on your butt.
ZAFT: Okay… Back into the chapter you go so as to not piss off DarkFoxKit… ^^' *Pushes Takuya back into chapter* Sorry about him… ^^'
Andy: He kinda deserved that… Wait… what was that about a Corrupted Andy?
DarkFoxKit: *Pushes Andy into the chapter* No questions.
ZAFT: Okay, onto the chapter then… ^^' I really need to keep that fire boy on a leash…
(Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title)
Digital Phantom!
(Shows three forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley)
Three worlds, connected side by side
(A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that)
Connections, with many secrets to hide
(Andy Fenton is shown with a small purple fox-like creature, Dorimon, in his arms as Takuya Kanbara appears behind him, a form in shadow behind Takuya himself)
Is one always chosen by fate?
(Danny is shown transforming into his ghost form, Danny Phantom, flying towards a vampiric looking ghost, Vlad Plasmius)
Or can one make their own destiny?
(Andy is shown looking on as his cell-phone transforms into a Digivice, the D-Arc)
Digital Phantom!
(Andy holds up his D-Arc as a heart symbol appears on the screen)
The power is deep inside!
(Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire just as Dorimon glows and becomes Dorumon, firing off a metal ball into the distance)
Digital Phantom!
(The metal ball blasts past Vlad Plasmius as he fires off a ghost ray at Andy, who blocks it with his Fenton Rod)
Destiny is unbound!
(The Fenton Rod is smacked away by Vlad, going spinning before Sam, with a small puppy-like creature next to her, reaches up and catches it, a shadowed form with wings appearing behind her, transparent in appearance)
Digital Phantom!
(Sam throws the Fenton Rod to Tucker, who spins it before throwing it at Plasmius, a big bunny-like being with gun-hands appearing behind Tucker, transparent in appearance)
Fight on, without regret
(Shows Takuya looking up from his D-Tector as he makes eye contact with his Human Spirit of Agunimon, who give a smile back and reaches out a hand as Takuya takes it)
Two sides never rest
(Danny is shown reaching for a glowing Digi-Egg, before the light glows to reveal Patamon in front of Danny, green eyes meeting Danny's baby blue ones.)
Digital Phantom!
(Jazz is shown with the form of Lopmon beside her, a larger, shadowed form behind them both)
Never regret or look back
(Takuya is shown looking up as a ball of fractal code covers his hand, surrounding him before it dissipates to reveal his Fusion form of Aldamon)
Fight on, with victory
(Aldamon fires off a slew of fiery bullets from his cannons, each of those bullets hitting Plasmius before the ghost teleports away, revealing a shadowed form behind him)
Nothing will stand in our way!
(Andy, Dorimon, Danny, Patamon, Tucker, Terriermon, Sam, Salamon, Jazz, Lopmon, and Takuya all appear with Vlad above them, sneering evilly as all ten look on defiantly)
Digital Phantom!
Chapter 57: Ghost Hunters in Amity Park
Danny was sighing. He was riding on the passenger seat in Jazz's car while Takuya was riding in the back.
"Danny, relax. Mom and Dad will take care of Andy while we're at school. And I already told them it's not a ghost disease, so the Fenton Catcher isn't going to help," Jazz assured her brother for what felt like the upteenth time that morning.
Since the water damages were repaired quicker than people thought, the roads were opened up, and so were the schools. Much to Danny's chagrin as he'd rather stay with Andy until he got better.
"I know, Jazz…" Danny sighed again. "I just wanted to stay with Andy until he recovered. I mean, he was acting all weird last night, and while it was kind of adorable, it was also a bit disturbing."
Jazz was trying not to laugh. Lopmon had shown her the recording he took of Andy's delirious conversation with Danny last night. "It's possible whatever he was dreaming about could be a representation of some of his fears, and maybe some of his future sight got mixed in there as well."
Danny pouted. "Makes me wish I had been on patrol that night instead of Andy…"
"Well, you weren't, and wishing for it now will only cause Desiree to make it into a nightmare," Patamon warned from Danny's backpack.
"I wasn't being literal!" Danny shot back, but it was more of a pout than a real snap.
Takuya blinked. "Do I want to know what went on with Andy last night or am I better off not knowing?"
"I could show you~" Lopmon grinned deviously.
Takuya shivered at the grin the Rookie-level Celestial Digimon was giving him. "I'll take not knowing…"
Danny chuckled. "You're better off not knowing, cuz."
"He thought Danny ate Amity Park," Lopmon snickered.
Takuya looked at Lopmon. "Wow… That sounds… weird…"
"How do you think I felt when Andy said that?" Danny grumbled. "That's why I'm worried about him."
Patamon frowned. "Danny, Andy will be fine. Just let him rest for now."
"I know… I just don't know how I'm going to focus on school like this…" Danny sighed. "Whenever one of us got sick, the other did too. It's rare we ever got separated like this…"
Takuya frowned. Is it because of Danny's accident? Is that why Danny is so worried about Andy? Because the accident has changed them each into separate species?
Takuya wished he had a twin brother. He could try asking Koji and Koichi about this, but they both could become Digimon, so they wouldn't understand the situation of one twin having powers and the other not. Speaking of Koji and Koichi, I still need to give Koji a piece of my mind for letting Ranamon's Spirits out.
Sighing, Takuya pushed the incident of Ranamon from his mind for now. I can deal with that later. School is first.
"Oh, you know, Takuya…" Patamon spoke up, sounding serious. "You still haven't talked to Tucker and Sam about your ability to become a Digimon."
Takuya sighed. "I know. I need to do that, especially since Tucker saw me evolve during that Halloween incident."
Danny, Jazz, and Lopmon all looked at Takuya in surprise.
"Tucker saw you?" Jazz asked, though she had to keep her eyes on the road since she was driving.
"I had no choice." Takuya admitted. "The Fright Knight was holding him hostage and I had to do something!"
"But this doesn't have to be a bad thing," Patamon spoke up. "It would be better if all Tamers know about the Legendary Warriors so they can work together more effectively."
Patamon then frowned. "Oh… there is one more Tamer now though…"
Takuya looked back at Patamon. "Who?" He hadn't been aware of another Tamer. "Do you know who it is?"
Danny frowned. Should we tell him? "Uh… well… with that Ranamon incident… Andy and Dorumon weren't the only ones facing her before I arrived at the scene."
"Huh?" Takuya blinked. "Who else was there?"
"I'm not sure if I should be telling you this, but…" Danny sighed. "Well, keeping you in the dark isn't really going to be helping us either. Valerie was there… and… she had a Digimon partner with her, a Digimon called Gomamon."
Takuya's eyes went wide. "Valerie?! She is the new Tamer?!" He was floored by this news. "And she was facing down Ranamon too… Oh… Oh crap…" Takuya paled. "If she was facing down a Legendary Warrior… Then… wouldn't she hold a grudge against them as well?"
"I doubt it. She had a Digimon with her who ensured her that Ranamon was an exception rather than the rule," Patamon reassured. "She did make a comment about hating the Legendary Warriors, but I think she more meant she hated fighting the one drowning them than actually hating them all."
Takuya groaned. "Better hope that is the case… That girl can hold a grudge if she feels someone wronged her…"
"Guess we'll have to worry about that later. She's likely sick in bed like Andy is right now anyways," Jazz stated.
"Great…" Takuya muttered under his breath. "I may have to watch my back when she recovers…"
"Hey, don't worry about it. It's not so bad," Danny chuckled before he gave Takuya a grin. "But welcome to my world, cuz~"
Takuya gave Danny a deadpan look. "No comments from you."
"Alright you two, settle down, we're here," Jazz spoke up as she began to park her car.
High school students were already walking into the building. Danny couldn't help but grin a little when he saw how cramped the school bus was, and was grateful Jazz decided to drive him and Takuya today.
Takuya looked at the cramped bus. "How can so many students fit on there? It looks like there's no room to move."
"It's an old school bus, it was meant for fewer students than we have now," Jazz sighed. "I'm just glad I can drive without worrying about that school bus anymore."
The three of them picked up their backpacks before they began walking into Casper High. It was nice and quiet, since they arrived a little early. For once, Danny wasn't running late because of a ghost or a Digimon.
"Thanks for the ride by the way, Jazz," Danny thanked his older sister as they were walking down the hallway.
"No problem, Danny," Jazz chuckled.
Takuya sighed. "I'm glad we got here without any issues for once."
"And just quietly and anonymously slip into school," Danny added.
But as if to ruin the moment, an alarm began to sound, and an automated voice began to call out to the students. "Ghost Alert! Ghost Alert!"
This caused Danny, Jazz, and Takuya to freeze in alarm themselves.
"Danny, hide!" Jazz frantically said as she grabbed her brother's shirt.
"N-now, calm down, Jazz! Let's see what this is all about first," Danny quickly said, not wanting to jump to conclusions and risk looking suspicious.
Takuya frowned. "I'm not sensing a ghost nearby at all. So it can't be a ghost attack."
All the students stopped where they were as well, though they didn't look as alarmed as they did about it. Tucker and Sam caught up to them.
"There you are, we've been trying to call you all day yesterday," Sam remarked. "I wanted to tell you how Gatomon got me out of that boring business party early by making one of the big important men trip on her tail ring and spilled juice all over Mom's dress."
Danny blinked. "Wait, what?"
"Terriermon and I beat the high score in our game, while also taking Niki on a nice, romantic date… in my house. Mom could be a romantic it seems," Tucker chuckled, blushing a little.
"She got you a rose, and candles," Terriermon laughed from in Tucker's backpack.
Danny sighed. "So that's where you two were."
"We have a lot of catching up to do… like Takuya's explanation?" Sam said, looking at the older boy. "And… where's Andy?"
"Wait, one thing at a time. First... what's with this ghost alert thing?" Jazz asked.
Tucker blinked before he looked at Jazz. "That was the ghost drill. The school is running them now it seems. We just got the announcement earlier today."
"How could you have gotten the announcement earlier today? School hasn't even started yet," Takuya questioned.
"What Tucker meant was we all got a memo about the ghost drills on the bus," Sam explained, holding up a piece of paper.
"As for where Andy is, he is home sick with a cold due to fighting against the Warrior of Water." Danny explained. "And… Valerie was also there."
"... Yeah, we really need to catch up." Tucker frowned.
"Ooooh~ I am a ghooooost~" Mr. Lancer said, trying to imitate a ghost.
The man was just walking down the hallway with a demon Halloween mask on. The students all just stared at Mr. Lancer.
"So… if a ghost comes… we should just stay still and stare at it?" Jazz asked. "That's the implication I'm getting right now."
Takuya groaned. "Who would fall for that? That's not even a real good impression of a ghost."
"It's not supposed to look authentic, Mr. Lancer is just supposed to pretend he's a ghost to see how the students will react. Panicking and running all over the place like headless chickens isn't exactly a good strategy on how to deal with ghosts," Sam grumbled.
"I do have to agree, but standing there isn't going to be much better either," Gatomon whispered from Sam's spider backpack.
Takuya looked back at Sam and Tucker. "As for what Tucker was asking about… what he saw on Halloween… It's true-"
Takuya was interrupted suddenly by Jack. "GHOST! I got the memo about the ghost drills!"
Jack came barrelling over, wearing the Fenton Peeler. "I know there are ghosts around here!"
"Dad! What are you doing here!? You should be at home, taking care of Andy!" Jazz snapped.
"Don't worry, Maddie is taking care of him," Jack assured. "But I'll be darned if I let a ghost hurt my other children as well!"
"But Dad, it's not a ghost! It's an out of shape teacher in a mask!" Danny quickly said.
"That's what the ghost wants you to think," Jack said before grinning. "Now don't worry, if he's human, the Fenton Peeler can't hurt him. The worst it can do is tear off his clothes."
Takuya smacked his face with his hand. This won't end well...
Danny flinched. "Uh… Oh boy…"
Jack aimed the Fenton Peeler at Mr. Lancer. "Eat Ghost Peeler, you spook!"
The Fenton Peeler shot out a green beam at Mr. Lancer. The beam didn't hurt Mr. Lancer, but it did take him by surprise. Mr. Lancer cried out as the mask peeled away, followed by his shirt, and then his pants, revealing boxers that had images of Shakespeare's head on them. Mr. Lancer grabbed a jacket from a nearby student and slipped it on, looking quite mad. The students around Mr. Lancer were now laughing, some even took out their phones to take pictures.
"Huh… he is out of shape," Jack noted. "I mean, uh… sorry! I had to make sure you weren't actually a ghost, or overshadowed!"
Mr. Lancer stalked up to Jack. "I might not be able to give you detention, but someone named Fenton is staying after school for this…"
"Whoa, look at the time!" Both Jack and Jazz quickly ran off, leaving poor little Danny to take the fall.
"Wait, it's not my fault that Dad did that to you. Why should I get punished for it?" Danny asked.
Mr. Lancer glared at Danny instead of responding.
Danny sighed. "I'll see you after school, Mr. Lancer…" Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I did eat Amity Park after all...
Takuya frowned as Mr. Lancer walked off, still steaming mad. "Wow… he's really in a foul mood."
"Can you blame him? He's in his underwear in front of all the students," Sam pointed out.
"And let's not worry about that right now. You've got some explaining to do," Tucker spoke up, looking at Takuya.
Takuya sighed. "Okay… What you saw on Halloween… It's true. I can become a Digimon." He admitted at last. "I'm the Legendary Warrior you guys have seen."
"Nooooo, really? I thought that you and the other Agunimon were totally separate beings," Tucker replied sarcastically.
"Sorry, you took so long to talk to them that Gatomon and I sort of told them the whole story," Terriermon sheepishly admitted.
Takuya groaned. "Great…" He then sighed. "Look… I had my reasons for not telling you, but can you blame me? You did the same with Danny's secret you know!"
"We're not blaming you Takuya, calm down," Sam said. "We were just surprised when we learned about it. Though I guess it would explain why you were suddenly gone whenever Agunimon or Flamemon suddenly appeared."
Takuya nodded. "Yeah, that's the reason." He then sighed again. "But now that you know, it feels better to be more open than to hide it."
"I agree. I mean you can turn into a Digimon! That's just so awesome! A Legendary Warrior too! Now I know two people who are superheroes of this town~" Tucker grinned proudly.
"I'm not a superhero, Tucker." Takuya rolled his eyes. "Danny is the superhero. I'm just a Legendary Warrior."
"Hey, you're someone with magical powers that no other human can have, and you defend people, that makes a hero. As far as I'm concerned, you fit the description of a superhero to a T," Tucker pointed out.
"He's got a point," Terriermon snickered.
Takuya groaned. "Whatever…"
"I do apologize for not waiting for you to explain it," Gatomon said softly. "But I didn't want to keep Sam in the dark about it. The longer you wait, the riskier it becomes. Because Sam would start coming to her own conclusions, and you know how dangerous that can be."
Takuya grimaced at that. He remembered how he and Andy had come to their own conclusion about Danny, and how he himself had reacted to Danny's secret before Danny had told him. "Yeah… I can't blame you then…"
"It's all good though." Sam smiled. "I mean the conclusion I was coming to was that you were actually a demon brought from hell to do good in order to gain access to heaven."
Takuya gave a wince. "Yeah… I'm glad Gatomon told you about that then…"
"Okay, so what was this about Valerie and Andy being sick?" Tucker brought up.
Danny let out a sigh. "You know about those water damages yesterday?"
Maddie wiped Andy's face with a wash cloth, to try to keep him clean, and a little cooled off from the fever. Dorumon stayed by Andy's side.
"I'll bring you some more warm soup, okay, sweetie?" Maddie said softly to her youngest boy.
"Okay, Mom…" Andy answered tiredly.
Andy's fever had cooled down a bit since yesterday, as such, he was sober now. But he still felt like crap.
Dorumon looked at Andy. "That was weird yesterday, with how you were acting."
"I don't really remember what I did yesterday," Andy groaned. "I just remember waking up a lot to Jazz or someone standing over me, asking me how I feel, and some soup. The rest is a blur though…"
"Let's just say your fever made you act a little loopy." Dorumon noted with a bit of a grin.
"What do you mean 'loopy'? Did I laugh a lot or something?" Andy asked, suddenly getting an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, or that could just be the nausea.
"'You ate Amity Park, Danny.' That is what you were saying~" Dorumon snickered.
Andy blinked, and looked at Dorumon. "... Please tell me I said that to you and not Danny…"
"Maaayyybbbeee you said that to Danny~" Dorumon grinned cheekily.
"Uuuuugh…" Andy grabbed the pillow and put it over his face.
"Be glad no one recorded that." Dorumon noted with a smirk.
Jazz was having a little talk with Jack down at the lab. "I thought we talked about this. After your little incident with Agunimon, you said you'd be more careful about accusing people!"
Jack looked down, remembering that incident well. "Yeah… I'm sorry, Jazzypants. I just got a little excited, that's all… Besides, it's not like the Fenton Peeler could've hurt someone if they were human or Digimon."
"Maybe you didn't hurt the guy, but man did you embarrass him!" Lopmon laughed. "I got it recorded too~"
"I need to take that phone away from you," Jazz sighed.
Jack chuckled. "I think Lopmon has a bit of a mischievous side to him."
"Look, Dad, I know you had good intentions, but perhaps you should think your actions through a little more. You really got Danny in trouble," Jazz lectured.
"I guess you're right, Jazz. I will try to think things through more." Jack promised. "But you know when it comes to ghosts I can't help myself. I will try to do better though, I promise."
"That's good, I'll hold you to that," Jazz remarked.
Jack looked over at the Fenton Portal. Next to it was a filter that had been filtering consecrated ectoplasm since the portal turned on. It's what kept the portal stable. However, there was a limit to how much the filter could hold, and if it was left unchecked, it could destabilize the portal, and cause an explosion.
"Looks like the ecto filtrator needs to be replaced soon. It hasn't been changed in over six months now," Jack noted.
Lopmon blinked. "Is that bad?"
"Is that bad? Let's just say the entire house won't be here anymore, and would go up in flames and smoke," Jack answered.
"Maybe you should, oh I don't know, change it then?" Danny groaned as he walked down into the lab, carrying a bunch of books in his backpack. Patamon wisely stayed on Danny's head so he wouldn't get smooshed under all those books. Mr. Lancer really hammered all the extra assignments into my backpack. I don't know how I'm going to get all of this done in less then a week...
Jack looked at Danny. "I would if I could find the replacement filter."
"What do you mean? Don't you have several?" Danny asked.
That was when Danny took a good look around the lab and realized the mess it was in. Jack and Maddie had been so caught up in their inventions that they failed to keep the lab clean and organized. There was trash all over the place, and there were ecto samples all over the lab.
"Really, Dad? You and Mom always told us to clean up after ourselves, yet you couldn't be bothered to do the same with the lab?" Danny groaned.
"Sorry, Danny, but your mother and I have been busy lately." Jack apologized.
"But now you can't find the replacement filter," Patamon noted.
"Yeah… that's a problem…" Jack frowned.
"We'll have to clean up then. I rather not have this house explode because you didn't want to clean up," Jazz grumbled.
"Ugh… gotta clean up the lab, gotta do all this extra homework Mr. Lancer assigned… I don't know if I have time for all of that," Danny groaned. "And I haven't been able to check in on Andy yet."
Jack frowned. "You can go check on Andy. I will see about cleaning up the lab."
"Hey, I know what will make this go by quicker." Jack smiled before he turned on the small TV he had in the lab.
As soon as Jack turned it on, Harriet was on. She was holding a paper and began to announce something. "The hunt is on for the ghost boy!"
This took everyone by surprise.
"After today's false ghost alert at Casper High, the need for competent, not Jack Fenton, ghost hunters in Amity Park has never been more obvious." The screen showed Mr. Lancer in his underwear, wearing the jacket of a student, while everyone in the school was laughing at him, and it showed Jack Fenton in the Fenton Peeler.
"They actually showed that on the news…" Lopmon noted. "Now I really do feel bad for that teacher."
"Hey, I'm on TV!" Jack smiled before frowning. "Am I really that incompetent that they had to single me out? To be fair, if that was a ghost, I would've caught it right away."
Jazz frowned, not sure what to say to that without upsetting her dad.
"Luckily, a mysterious benefactor had offered a million dollar reward for the head of Amity Park's most famous ghost, Invisobill. And hired the best known ghost hunters to track him down. Though the public are mixed about this, some claim that the ghost boy had nothing to do with the water damages, others claim that he helped stop whoever was responsible for the water damages. But the authorities still believe the ghost boy was the one responsible for the damages." Harriet continued, showing a picture of Danny Phantom flying in the sky, then showed some protesters about how Invisobill was innocent and didn't deserve to be hunted down.
Jazz, Lopmon, Patamon, and Danny all began to count down. "Three… two… one…"
"Nobody's catching that ghost kid but me!" Jack announced loudly, picking up his bazooka.
"Wait, are you going to take Mom with you?" Danny asked. "What about Andy? He still needs someone to take care of him."
Jack frowned at that reminder. "That's true…" He then grinned. "I'll have Takuya take care of him. He's the oldest, and I want to make sure you kids get to see your old man in action!"
Danny groaned. "Of course…"
Patamon giggled at Danny's reaction.
Since the ghost hunters weren't meeting up until tomorrow afternoon, Danny decided to check up on Andy. He hoped Andy was sober, he wasn't sure how he was going to explain the whole Amity Park being eaten thing if Andy was still stuck in loopy land.
Danny walked up and opened the door to their shared bedroom. "Andy? Are you awake, bro?"
Patamon flew over to Dorumon while Danny walked over to Andy's bed. He saw a tray with an empty bowl and cup. Andy likely just had dinner. Andy looked to be asleep in his bed, though he opened his eyes when Danny spoke up.
"Hey… Are you feeling okay, Andy?" Danny asked as he approached his brother.
Andy looked over at Danny before he gave him a goofy smile. "Hey, bro, are you still biggified? Where did you put Amity Park?"
Danny looked uncomfortable. "Um…" He wasn't sure how to answer that.
Andy then gave Danny a sad, puppy dog look. "You did take it out, didn't you?"
"Uh… of course I did, bro." Danny replied.
"You did? … Could you show me then?" Andy requested.
Dorumon looked like he was trying his best to hold in a laugh.
Danny looked at Dorumon and raised an eyebrow before turning back to Andy. "Uh, sure… Just look out the window."
Andy glanced at the window before pouting. "You totally didn't, did you? You big meanie. You just want Amity Park all to yourself."
Danny frowned. Dorumon was biting his tongue to avoid laughing, which was a giveaway something was up. "Andy…? Are you still delirious or are you messing with me?"
"Why would you ask-" Andy couldn't keep a straight face anymore and started laughing. "Oh gosh, you should've seen the look on your face!"
Danny sighed. "Yep… you were messing with me…" He groaned, though he was also relieved. That means he's getting better.
Andy finally calmed down a bit to speak, though Dorumon was on the floor laughing his tail off. Patamon just rolled his eyes. "No, but seriously, I needed to do that since I already embarrassed myself when I was delirious."
"Of course you did…" Danny sighed. Patamon giggled at Danny's comment.
"You looked like you were going to have stomach trouble when Andy messed with you!" Dorumon howled with laughter.
"Do you know how uncomfortable it is at being told you ate an entire city?" Danny grumbled.
"It was no walk in the park for me either… not that I can remember thinking you actually ate Amity Park, but that must've been quite the dream I had," Andy remarked.
"It sounded weird since you were muttering about it in your sleep." Danny remarked with a grin.
Andy frowned, blushing a little. "I don't mutter in my sleep…"
Danny sat down on the bed next to his brother. "Sure you don't, bro. But there's something I need to tell you since you're sober now."
"What is it?" The feverish brother asked.
"Let's just say… well… my ghost half currently has a million dollar bounty on it, and ghost hunters are coming to try and claim it." Danny admitted, unsure of how Andy would take it.
Andy didn't take it very well. He stared at Danny for a second before screaming out. "WHAAAAAAAAT!?"
This, of course, really hurt Andy's already sore throat, and he started coughing up a storm after that scream.
"Calm down, bro!" Danny exclaimed. "You're going to make your throat worse!"
"Forget- *cough!* forget about my throat! You have- *cough cough* bounty hunters coming- *cough cough cough* after you!" Andy coughed out in distress.
"Andy, it's okay! I just need to lay low for a while." Danny reassured his sick brother. "And if any ghosts do show up, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Takuya, and Dash can handle them."
Dorumon quickly gave Andy a cup of water for Andy to gulp down and calm down his coughing. Which was good, because Andy wasn't done yelling at his brother yet.
"Even if they could, would you really not transform if you see someone in danger? You're in real danger, Danny. These ghost hunters aren't like Mom and Dad, there would be no stopping them if they catch you and if you reveal your human side to them," Andy said in concern. "We should move you out of the country, put up fake holograms of Danny Phantom flying around, have Tucker and Terriermon tweak all of their scanning technology, and make it so Danny Phantom mysteriously vanishes for a few months until everyone leaves. Do you like sushi? I hear Japan is nice this time of year."
Danny sighed. "Calm down, Andy. I can handle not being in the spotlight for a while. If there is a ghost, I can fight with Patamon, as a human."
"Are you going to go where all those ghost hunters are meeting up at?" Andy questioned.
"Just as a human," Danny said. "This way I can see what weapons they have and if I really need to avoid them."
"But what if their scanners still pick you up despite you being in human form?" Andy frowned. "What if they could pick up Digimon and think they're ghosts? I should go with you, to make sure you'll be safe."
"No, Andy." Danny said sternly. "You still need rest. I'll be fine, I promise."
"But if Mom and Dad are going, then I should go anyways. I can't be left alone with just Dorumon to watch over me, right? He'd probably eat all the metal in the house," Andy bargained.
"Hey, I have a little more self control then that," Dorumon pouted.
"Actually, Takuya is going to be keeping an eye on you." Danny pointed out. "Dad suggested the idea."
"What if Takuya has to go out to fight a Digimon? Hmmmmm?" Andy asked.
"Takuya isn't needed for every Digimon attack, is he?" Danny countered as he folded his arms stubbornly.
"Hey, I think I'm feeling better. I should be well enough to go out with you tomorrow," Andy perked up.
"Are you still coughing?" Danny asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
"N-no, of course not," Andy said, grinning nervously.
Danny narrowed his eyes. "Andy… No. You are not going out. You still have a fever, and you look pale as a ghost."
"Says the half ghost…" Andy mumbled. "How can you tell if I still have a fever?"
"Your cheeks are red." Danny pointed out with a grin. "And as I said, you're looking pale."
Dorumon was trying hard to not laugh again. Patamon was rolling his eyes in amusement.
"And just to be sure…" Danny put a hand over Andy's forehead before Andy could react.
It was at that moment, Andy remembered something from that dream. That someone pushed his forehead before he fell… fell down… somewhere.
Danny kept his hand on Andy's forehead for a minute to feel his temperature. "Yep… You're still warm from the fever."
"Hey, how do you know I'm warm? You could just be used to colder temperatures," Andy pouted.
"I'm still half human." Danny pointed out. "Just because I'm half dead doesn't mean I can't feel when someone is warm from a fever."
Andy frowned before he took Danny's arm and clutched it. "Please… don't let yourself get captured… I… I almost lost you once, Danny… I don't want to lose you for good."
"I will be careful, Andy," Danny reassured his brother. "I promise."
"I'll be sure to keep an eye on this knucklehead," Patamon promised.
"I'll be sure to do the same," Dorumon chuckled.
"I'm not a knucklehead… Am I?" Danny asked.
"You're stubborn, overprotective, you're a Fenton, and you hunt ghosts even at the risk of your own health," Patamon listed.
"Yup, Andy's pretty much the same," Dorumon agreed.
"Hey!" Both brothers groaned at the same time.
Both Dorumon and Patamon laughed at the response they got from the twins.
"Okay… I'm a knucklehead…" Danny sighed. "I get it…"
Andy started to give a goofy grin again. "A knucklehead with an overprotective streak. Just don't go putting anymore towns in your stomach to protect them, okay?"
Danny groaned. "You're messing with me again, aren't you?"
Andy didn't stop giving Danny the goofy grin.
The next afternoon, after school was out for the day, Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Jazz were standing just outside of the Nasty Burger. There was a big banner that said 'WELCOME GHOST HUNTERS'.
"Why are we meeting these ghost hunters in front of a fast food restaurant?" Gatomon questioned.
"It's the meeting place." Sam replied. "The Nasty Burger is like the town's main landmark because of how popular it is."
"Just seems like an odd place to welcome bounty hunters," Gatomon remarked.
"In the Digital World, bounty hunters usually get to meet up at important places in any towns they go to," Terriermon said. "I remember having to escort one of them. They were quite intimidating."
"Sounds like Digimon bounty hunters are more about intimidation at first glance, and if that doesn't work, then skill backs up the intimidation factor." Jazz noted.
"It usually works, since Digimon naturally give off pressure when trained to assassinate someone," Lopmon remarked.
"Like the pressure you usually gave off as the evil version of Cherubimon?" Patamon asked.
"Oh shut up," Lopmon grumbled.
Danny chuckled at that. "Hey, don't blame him. Digimon becoming evil happens quite a bit in the Digital World, remember?"
"It happens a little too often if you ask me," Patamon grumbled.
"Well, regardless of that," Tucker spoke up. "I would've brought Niki, but she doesn't like being around ghost hunters. So looks like I'll have some time for this~"
Tucker held up a white cloth of some kind. "Tucker's Boo-Yeah Ghost Tours is bound to be a hit!" He slipped on the white cloth, which had eye holes and said 'Boo-Yea Tours' on it in green. "Boo-yeah!"
"Wait, Ghost Tours?" Sam asked.
"Thanks to Danny, we know all the hot spots where ghosts are likely to appear," Tucker explained.
"Maybe you shouldn't wear that when the ghost hunters appear," Terriermon suggested.
Tucker reached up and pulled the outfit off. "Yeah, that's a good idea." He admitted with a sigh.
"Speaking of ghost hunters, aren't you worried, Danny? They were called in specifically to hunt you down," Gatomon asked the halfa boy in concern.
"Please, these guys are the best known, not the best," Danny chuckled. "The Groovy Gang and Scaredy Cat? The Extreme Ghostbreakers? The government's Guys in White? It's a virtual who's who of who can't catch ghosts."
As Danny said that, the Groovy Gang's van drove up and parked near the Nasty Burger. A woman with long orange hair and glasses, and a lanky man with yellow spiky hair, as well as this big white tiger, came out of the van.
"Mmm, something about this place, like, smells good!" The lanky man smiled.
The white tiger looked to be shaking in fear, looking around frantically. Sam didn't think it was possible for a tiger of any kind to be so scared like that, but she was evidently proven wrong.
After the Groovy Gang came up, the Extreme Ghostbreakers came on the scene, using their ATV and motorcycle to come in. They skidded to a stop and gave each other high fives. "Yeah, we made it in extreme style!" The man on the ATV exclaimed.
Soon after the Extreme Ghostbreakers, two tall, buff looking men walked into the scene. They both had bald heads, wore sunglasses, and wore white suits. The only thing different about them were their skin tones.
One of the Ghostbreakers zoomed past them, kicking up mud on the two agents' suits. They put the place on 'lockdown' by dropping a cube and a barrier came over them.
"Out of all of them, the Guys in White might be the most dangerous, even if they are… a little odd," Gatomon muttered.
Danny chuckled again. "It's going to be fine, Gatomon. No need to worry."
"It would still be wise to be careful," Sam agreed, looking concerned as well.
"Oh, I think I see the Fenton RV coming in," Patamon remarked from Danny's head.
Danny groaned. "Oh great… that means Dad's coming…"
The Fenton RV came to a stop, making sure to not slam into the Extreme Ghostbreakers' vehicles.
"Whew, that was a close one," Jack said in relief.
"Your driving skills are getting better, Jack," Maddie complimented as they started exiting the assault vehicle.
Jack beamed at hearing that. "Thanks, Mads!"
Tucker picked up Terriermon, Danny kept Patamon on his head. Gatmon stayed beside Sam since she could still act like a normal cat.
Jazz frowned. "I hope this doesn't turn out to be a disaster…" She was holding Lopmon in her arms as well.
"I can keep recording to keep this day as a reminder," Lopmon whispered.
"That's it, no more phones for you," Jazz hissed.
Lopmon pouted as Jazz took her cell-phone back from him. "Aww…"
"Don't worry, they'll just have a small meeting about who's gonna catch 'Invisobill', then they'll scatter across town trying to find him. I just have to not go ghost for a while and we should be good," Danny reassured.
Patamon frowned as he looked up.
"What's wrong, Patamon?" Gatmon asked, noticing Patamon was looking around.
"Do you… get the feeling we're being watched?" Patamon frowned.
Danny frowned. "No… I'm not getting that feeling. Why? Is something observing us?"
Jazz groaned. "I don't think this laying low for a while will be as easy as you think, Danny…"
Suddenly, Danny's ghost sense went off. All the Digimon began to look up in alarm. In the sky, three green vultures were flying towards them. It was obvious they were ghost vultures. This caused everyone to scatter across the parking lot.
"So much for it being easy to lay low…" Patamon grumbled.
Danny looked at the ghost hunters, but he didn't see any of them making a move to attack the ghostly vultures. "Huh… You think those ghost hunters would go after the ghosts…"
"Stand back everyone! I've got the home field advantage!" Jack spoke up, holding up the Fenton Fisher before he began chasing after the ghost vultures.
"Like… that's not the million dollar ghost." The Groovy Girl frowned, putting her hands on her hips.
"Then we should sit back and enjoy the show. It's going to be a riot!" The female Extreme Ghostbreaker agreed with a grin.
"An extreme riot!" Her teammate replied in glee.
"Do they ever shut up?" Sam grumbled under her breath.
"I'm surprised Valerie isn't here. She'd kill for a chance to get a million dollars and beat your tail to oblivion," Tucker remarked to Danny.
Danny groaned. "I told you; Valerie is out sick. And please don't remind me."
Terriermon groaned as well. "Why do I get the feeling this is going to end badly?"
Jazz sighed. "We'd better get ready for when Dad embarrasses us…"
Patamon was frowning as he looked at the vultures. Those three… aren't they…?
"Honey! Are you sure you don't want some help?" Maddie called out to Jack as he was chasing the vultures.
"I have this under control!" Jack assured his wife. He then threw the end of the Fenton Fisher rod towards one of the vulture ghosts and snagged it around one of its legs. "Gotcha!"
Jack began to reel in the ghost vulture. The vulture let out a screeching noise as it pulled against Jack, and due to its ghostly strength, it was able to pull Jack with it. Jack yelped as he was being dragged on the ground by the ghost, and he tried to pull back.
"This ghost is strong!" Jack exclaimed as he tried to get up, but the ghost kept stringing him along. Then Jack saw where he was being pulled towards. "Oh no… This is going to hurt…"
Jack slammed into the Nasty Burger's electronic menu and he was forced to let go of the Fenton Fisher. The Nasty Burger's mascot, the robotic Ned's head fell on top of Jack's head. "Welcome to the Nasty Burger. Wow, you're the worst ghost hunter ever."
The other ghost hunters began laughing at Jack while Maddie went to go help her husband. Jazz and Danny now both wished they were at home sick with Andy right now.
"Yep… It ended badly…" Terriermon sighed.
"Danny, aren't you going to do something at least?" Sam asked in worry. "You don't have to go ghost, but at least do something to help."
"What do you want me to do? Throw Patamon at my Dad like a throw pillow next time?" Danny frowned.
"Danny has a point, there really isn't much we could do here," Jazz agreed.
"Besides, it's not like anyone's in real danger yet, right?" Danny said, trying to look on the bright side.
However, the two other vulture ghosts decided to ruin the moment by flying in and trying to snatch up two of the teenagers. However, they forgot to take into account their Digimon partners. While the ghost hunters were busy making fun of Jack's folly, they didn't see Terriermon, Lopmon, and Gatomon turning at the vultures. The two vultures stopped and gulped.
"Bunny Blast!" Terriermon shot out energy pellets from his mouth at one of the vultures.
"Blazing Ice!" Lopmon shot out ice from his own mouth and froze one vulture solid into a block of ice.
The third vulture was trying to come in to snatch someone, but Gatomon jumped at it. The vulture's red eyes widened in shock just before Gatomon punched the bird's face off. "Lightning Paw!"
The third vulture fell back into its frozen companion as the first vulture fell onto the other two.
"Those idiots better think twice before they try to grab our partners," Terriermon said as he puffed out his chest.
"But why were they trying to grab our partners?" Lopmon frowned.
Gatomon frowned as well. "Maybe they were trying to lure Danny out? I don't know for sure, but…"
Patamon was paling, he suddenly felt like throwing up.
"Patamon?" Danny felt his partner shivering on his head.
Danny grabbed onto Patamon and looked at him. "What's wrong? You don't look so good."
"Those vultures… they worked for Vlad… my former partner." Patamon frowned. "If they're here… Vlad must be here too!"
Danny's eyes went wide. "Oh no… Vlad… here?!" Danny then remembered Andy was at home. "Oh no! Andy!"
Takuya just cleaned up the dishes from Andy's lunch. Andy had been eating plenty of warm soup, and taking lots of liquids. So the boy should be getting better soon. At least Andy wasn't being stubborn about this.
I guess staying home with Andy was the right call. He's been pretty good about listening to me when I tell him to rest and drink lots of fluids. Takuya mused as he finished wiping down the last bowl.
As Takuya was whistling to himself on this nice, quiet day, Andy was tossing and turning in his bed.
Andy could see Vlad Plasmius was grinning as he grabbed Danny's arm, zapping him with electricity. Andy could see Vlad throwing Danny Phantom in the middle of all the ghost hunters, their weapons all aimed at him. Andy could see Vlad invading their house, ordering his ghost minions to grab Andy since he couldn't do much to defend himself. Dorumon was easily knocked down. Vlad trying to take the ghost portal away. The ghost portal exploding.
Andy's eyes flew open, and he was covered in sweat. "Dorumon!"
Dorumon looked up sleepily. "What?" He asked groggily. "I was having a nice dream…"
Andy got up from his bed, and opened the drawer on his nightstand, grabbing the D-Arc from it. "No time to sleep, we need to go! Danny's in danger!"
"Are you sure?" Dorumon asked as he woke up a bit more. "We could have Takuya go and check. You know he is reliable for getting Danny out of trouble." He yawned again. "And you still need rest."
"I can't rest knowing Danny's in danger! Vlad is here! The house is going to explode!" Andy shouted frantically.
"Huh?" Dorumon blinked, snapping wide awake now at hearing Vlad's name. "Vlad Plasmius?! Why didn't you say so first?!"
"Just digivolve!" Andy held out the D-Arc to Dorumon.
Takuya was about to fall asleep on the couch due to how bored he was, but then he suddenly sensed Dorumon's digivolution that woke him up quickly.
"Oh no… Don't tell me…" Takuya groaned as he got up and ran outside, his D-Tector in hand. He looked up, seeing Dorugamon flying away. "Great…" Takuya growled. "Now I have to go and get Andy back too…"
Takuya grabbed his D-Tector and held it up, forming the familiar ball of fractal code around his left hand. He scanned it through the D-Tector's light, swiping his hand up as he did so. "EXECUTE NOW! FUSION EVOLUTION!" he cried. The fractal code surrounded him, transforming into a blue-white cocoon of light. Within it, he felt the familiar transformation sweep over him. His body grew in height and became more muscular as a tugging sensation near the bottom of his spine transformed into a tail. A slight pain accompanied the growth of his wings and a sharp pain filled his mouth as his teeth elongated. Armor formed on his body and his hair turned yellow, becoming long and wild as his eyes turned a sharp, icy blue color. The light finally shattered and he flared his wings, landing and shouting out his name as he did so. "ALDAMON!"
Now evolved, the Fusion Warrior flared his wings and took flight after Andy and Dorugamon. You'd better have a good explanation for this, Andy… Aldamon thought to himself as he pursued down his runaway sick cousin.
"Why would Vlad be here?" Terriermon asked. "Maybe he just sent his vultures to cause some chaos."
"No. Vlad wouldn't send them alone. He normally comes when he sends them out to cause mayhem." Patamon admitted.
"You mean that day when those three vultures were looking for Dad, Vlad was around too?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, he was watching, waiting to see if they would find Jack," Patamon answered. "But when you chased them off, he decided to leave and use the invitation as a trap for Jack instead."
Danny frowned. "This doesn't sound like a winnable fight for us if I fight as a human…"
"Can you see him anywhere?" Sam asked.
"It might help if we knew where he was," Tucker agreed.
Gatomon looked around before her eyes landed on a shape on top of a building nearby. "I think I see a shape on that building!" She exclaimed as she pointed at the building in question. "I'm sensing ghost energy from that direction as well!"
Patamon shivered even more, snuggling into Danny's chest. "I-it's him… It's V-Vlad Plasmius…"
Patamon didn't want to go back, he couldn't go back, he didn't want to be Tsukaimon again. He didn't want to go back to that lonely existence in the giant mansion Vlad called home.
Danny looked down at Patamon and frowned before he hugged the little Celestial Rookie closer to his chest. "It's okay, Patamon. Vlad won't get you, I promise."
"I won't let him get to you either, Patamon." Lopmon agreed, determined to help protect Patamon as well.
"Make that three of us." Gatomon added, stepping forward as well.
"We all have your back," Tucker reassured.
"But what are we going to do about Vlad?" Jazz asked. "It's likely he is trying to draw out Danny Phantom. Maybe he's hoping that the ghost hunters will… well… do him in."
"Why? Last I checked, he wanted me as his evil son." Danny frowned.
"Or it could be some kind of psychological play against Danny." Lopmon mused. "Vlad seems to be the kind of guy who likes to play psychological games with his foes."
"Whatever his reason is, we can't just let him do what he wants." Sam frowned.
"Are we going to face him like this?" Danny asked.
"You shouldn't be using your ghost form right now anyways. Let's trust in our Digimon," Tucker stated.
Danny smiled. "Yeah, you're right. We aren't facing Vlad alone. We have our partners with us. And since two of you can digivolve them to Champion level, and we have one at Champion level already, we may have a good chance of beating Vlad."
"You bet we do!" Terriermon exclaimed as he puffed out his chest again.
"Alright, then it's time to digivolve!" Tucker smiled.
Tucker tried to hold out his D-Arc to Terriermon, but he suddenly couldn't find his D-Arc. Tucker frowned, and dug around his very empty pockets.
"What's wrong?" Jazz asked, seeing Tucker looking frantic.
"I can't find my D-Arc!" Tucker quickly said.
Sam looked for her own D-Arc, but found it missing as well. "Mine's gone too!"
Jazz felt around for her D-Arc, but like Sam and Tucker, found it missing. "Someone stole my D-Arc as well!"
Danny frowned. "Who would steal D-Arcs?"
"Who indeed?" Vlad's voice suddenly spoke up above them, which made them all jump.
Three Vlad Plasmiuses appeared above them, each one holding a D-Arc.
"Hey! Give those back!" Tucker yelled.
"Without those, we can't digivolve." Lopmon frowned.
"My own powers are halved without the D-Arc link." Gatomon frowned as well.
Danny narrowed his eyes. "I should have known it was you, Plasmius!" He hissed. "Give those back! They're not yours!"
"What do you take me for? A fool? I am well aware that Digimon can't digivolve without the input of a D-Arc. So no, I won't return them." Vlad's first clone sneered.
Then the Vlads looked at Patamon, who flinched from the red eyes that were now on him.
"Tsukaimon… I still can't believe you betrayed me, even after the promise we made to work together to create an energy stronger being," One of the Vlads said in a disappointed tone.
"Perhaps Daniel should get a new partner, since you would likely betray him too," Another one of the duplicates remarked.
What Vlad, or his duplicates, said stung Patamon. The little Digimon already felt bad about leaving Vlad like that, and he was worried Danny might start to hate him one day too.
"Your D-Arc isn't worth taking, Daniel. After all, you two are so out of sync that it's laughable you even became partners to begin with," Another one of Vlad's duplicate sneered.
Danny growled. "You don't know that, Plasmius! Patamon has been more of a partner to me than you might think!" His eyes flashed green briefly before returning to normal. "He left you because you weren't much of a partner to him!"
"And even though you took the D-Arcs, we can still fight you!" Lopmon growled.
"Oh really? Are you sure about that?" One of the Vlads grinned. "After all, you might be too busy keeping your partners safe."
"Safe from what?" Terriermon asked.
Just then, a roar echoed and the Digimon tensed up. "Oh… crap…" Terriermon swore when he heard that.
Danny paled as well. "You have got to be kidding me…" He murmured.
A large ghostly gorilla with four arms and bug wings appeared from behind a car, swinging its arms around as it roared out again. Other ghost animals appeared as well, with one being a lion with two tails and the horns of a bull, another being an ostrich with gorilla arms, and yet another one being a bear with the head of a gorilla and the lower half of a bull.
All the Digimon quickly got in front of their respective partners and were hissing and growling at the ghost animals that surrounded them. Except for Patamon, who was still shivering in Danny's hold.
"What are those ghost hunters doing? Shouldn't they be seeing all these ghosts?" Sam frowned.
"The ghost hunters are after Danny, not other ghosts." Jazz pointed out. "But you do have a point… They should be paying more attention…"
"They're still too busy mocking Jack to notice that four teenagers are being surrounded by dangerous ghosts," Gatomon hissed.
With a snap of his finger, all the Vlads gathered into one Vlad, likely the original one. He smirked before giving a whistle. The three ghost vultures flew around the teens, adding more to the pile of ghost animals that wanted them dead.
"If you don't transform soon, Daniel, I'm afraid your friends may not make it out alive," Vlad taunted.
Danny gritted his teeth in anger. One one hand, Vlad had a point, but on the other, if he did transform into his ghost form, then he would be targeted by the ghost hunters. This appeared to be a no-win situation for him and his friends.
Patamon's green eyes widened as he just realized what Vlad was planning to do with Danny. Despite his fear, a burst of anger and determination suddenly came out of the little Digimon. He quickly flew up from Danny's arms, surprising the boy. Patamon flew up, meeting with Vlad and the vultures.
"I know what you're trying to do, Vlad, and I won't let you do it!" Patamon growled.
Vlad only grinned as one of the vultures moved in to grab Patamon with its talons. In a surprising show of agility, Patamon dodged the vulture before he blew his body into a balloon. "Boom Bubble!"
The vulture let out a screech of pain as the Boom Bubble hit it in the back, and caused it to fall onto the gorilla ghost.
This caused the ghost animals, and the other Digimon, to spring into action. Lopmon and Terriermon immediately went into their Double Typhoon twister attack while Gatomon punched the lion with two tails in the face with her Lightning Paw.
In response, the ostrich with the gorilla arms and body of a bull charged at Gatomon and slammed into her, sending her back into Terriermon and Lopmon, resulting in a pile of three Digimon.
"Ouch…" Gatomon groaned.
Patamon was still facing down the three vultures in the sky. He had been showing a lot of agility by flipping, dodging, and rolling around in the air. Though that didn't leave him enough room to attack without being vulnerable to another vulture's attack.
Danny looked worried as he watched Patamon fighting off the three vultures. He wanted to transform, but the ghost hunters in the area made that plan a no-go. Yet he also wanted to help Patamon in some way.
The three Digimon were about to get back up to fight again, but the ostrich with the gorilla arms held them down with immense strength, while the lion and the gorilla ghosts grabbed onto Tucker, Sam, and Jazz.
"Should've brought some Fenton gear with us…" Jazz groaned.
"Now we are the ones in distress…" Sam muttered. "What a fine way to end up…"
Tucker was trying to kick the gorilla ghost holding him, but to no avail. "Darn it! Of all the times to wear the wrong shoes… I should have worn harder footwear..."
The ghost animals then began to fly up while carrying the three teens. The ostrich began to leak out ecto rays on the three Digimon, weakening them more as they couldn't move. Ectoplasm was poisonous to the Digimon.
"No… Sam…!" Gatomon hissed.
"Tucker…" Terriermon groaned.
"Hold… on… Jazz…" Lopmon frowned.
Sam, Jazz, and Tucker all looked alarmed at what they were seeing and began to panic.
Danny saw his friends were being carried away, and Patamon was starting to get tired from all the dodging.
Patamon could see that Danny's friends were in danger, but he couldn't do anything about it with these three vultures trying to attack him. Patamon managed to get two of the vultures to slam into each other, but the third one managed to back attack the little Digimon with its talons. Patamon let out a shout of pain as gash marks appeared on his back. This led to the other two vultures, who recovered quickly from slamming into each other, to peck at Patamon, before the last vulture swung its wing to hit Patamon right into the road.
"NO!" Danny shouted as he ran to his partner's side. "Patamon!" He reached the little Rookie-level Digimon's side and knelt down. "Patamon… are you okay?"
Danny noticed some ectoplasm on Patamon's scratch marks. Patamon shivered before he suddenly degenerated into Tokomon.
"Oh no…" Danny muttered, feeling his face growing pale. "No… This… Patamon…"
"Ectoplasm is very dangerous to humans and Digimon, Daniel," Vlad stated, his arms crossed. "If Tsukaimon… or should I say Tokomon? Gets any more intake of ectoplasm, he may just get turned back into a Digi-Egg if he's lucky."
Danny glared up at Plasmius. "You will not get away with this!"
"I think I will, little badger. Look around you; the ghost hunters don't care. Your idiot father is too preoccupied at being made fun of. Your friends are out of commission. And your little Digimon partner is now in his In-Training level. What do you think you can do at this point, hmm?" Vlad sneered.
Danny growled. He had a feeling Vlad was trying to bait him into transforming, but he didn't want to play into his hands. What can I do? I can't transform because it will play into Vlad's hands, but if I don't, then Patamon and the others will not survive! Aw man… if only Andy were here… Andy, Dorumon, and Takuya! They would know what to do!
But Danny didn't see any other options. It was either transform or risk losing those he cared about. The boy clutched Tokomon close to his chest before he looked at the ghost hunters, who seemed to be giving Jack a hard time. Hopefully, if he played his cards right, none of them would ever notice him.
Without even saying his battle cry, Danny summoned the rings on his torso, dividing them up in order to transform himself into his ghost form. Once he was in his ghost form, Danny carefully put Tokomon down. "You should be safe here while I deal with Vlad."
"But… you can't… do this…" Tokomon weakly protested.
"I don't have a choice." Danny frowned before he glared up at Vlad.
Vlad looked amused. "So, you decided to even the playing field, Daniel? I was hoping you would do that."
"Only because I have no choice!" Danny snapped back. "It's either I let my friends and partner die, or I face you directly."
Danny flew up at Vlad, while at the same time, all the ghost hunters' ghost radar went off. They quickly began running around the area, looking for the ghost. The Ghostbreakers were using their jet skates to move around back and forth with their ecto nets. The Guys in White agents seemed to be using metal detectors, though those were likely to detect ghosts rather than metal. The white tiger was shivering in the lanky man's arms.
Vlad grinned as he blocked Danny's incoming attack with an ecto shield, which did push Danny back a bit. Danny blinked a few times, looking down at the mess the ghost hunters were. "... Wait… did you hire these idiots?"
"Who? Me? Whatever gave you that idea, Daniel?" Vlad asked innocently, but his grin was predatory, not at all like the grin Danny himself would give his parents in a similar situation.
"Who else would have money to blow like a million dollars to have someone bring my head to you?" Danny growled. "Especially since the jury is still out on whether or not I'm a bad ghost."
"So you do have a brain in that head of yours after all," Vlad chuckled.
Danny glared in annoyance. "But why are you doing this? Did you want me dead that badly because I took your partner away from you?"
"Oh, it's not because of you taking my partner. Besides, I'm not that cruel to hurt you, little badger." Vlad said in an almost insulted tone. "But don't think I'm going to reveal all my plans to you, little badger, it wouldn't be as much fun then~"
Vlad's hands glowed with pinkish red ecto energy, and Danny knew he better prepare himself.
Andy was getting tunnel vision. Dorugamon was flying fast, but they didn't know where they were flying to. Andy only knew that Vlad was here, but he couldn't remember the vision's detail enough to know where. Come on, where are you!?
"Dorugamon, can't you sense any ghostly activities nearby?" Andy asked.
"Sorry, Andy, but with you sick, it's dulling my senses," Dorugamon apologized.
Andy frowned. "How are we supposed to find them like this?"
"ANDY!" A familiar voice called out. "Stop!"
Andy looked back, seeing a familiar Digimon chasing after them. "Uh-oh… it's Aldamon…"
The Warrior of Flame came to a hover as he reached their location. "What's going on? Why did you suddenly leave the house when you're sick?" Aldamon asked, not too happy with having had to chase down his sick cousin.
"Danny and the others are in danger, Aldamon!" Andy replied. "They need our help!"
Aldamon's eyes went wide. "What?" He then mentally scolded himself for not remembering Danny and Andy had a connection with each other. "Ugh… Of all the times to forget…"
The Fusion Digimon then shook his head and focused on the issue at hand. Aldamon took a breath and let it out. "Okay, I understand why you left when you did…" He then looked back up at Andy. "So… we need to find them, right?"
"Yeah… but…" Andy frowned, trying to hold in a cough by making it look like he was hesitating. "I don't know where they are."
Aldamon sighed. "Just leave that to me then." He closed his eyes and focused in on his Digimon senses, only to feel the sudden flashes of heat and cold at the same time. Aldamon opened his eyes suddenly as he gasped at the chill the combination of feelings gave him. "Ah… I hate that feeling…"
Aldamon looked at Andy. "Quick, follow me!"
Dorugamon didn't hesitate to fly after Aldamon. Andy held on tight to Dorugamon's fur. The winds were making it cold for Andy, and his head was starting to hurt. But Andy had to hold strong for his brother. Dorugamon frowned as his flying started to slow down the more unwell Andy felt.
Aldamon looked back, seeing Dorugamon was slowing down. "Are you okay?" He called back.
"Y-yeah… just a little tired from flying around frantically with no destination," Dorugamon called back, though he knew the real reason why, Andy would never forgive him if he said anything that would stop them from getting to his brother.
Aldamon frowned but accepted the explanation for now. "Okay. Just try to keep up. We're getting close."
They were starting to approach the Nasty Burger. Aldamon could already see a black and white blur trying to fight with a familiar and powerful vampire-looking ghost, who seemed to be hardly putting any effort in the battle.
Growling lowly in the back of his throat, Aldamon knew what he had to do. He wasn't going to let Danny fight that ghost alone!
"Wai- *cough* *cough*! Aldamon!" Andy spoke up, coughing on how loud he spoke those words. "Let… let me and Dorugamon get a surprise attack on Vlad. We're really good at dive bombing."
Aldamon looked back at Andy, coming to a hover. "Are you sure?" He wasn't sure about letting his sick cousin fight, but if Andy had a plan, he would let the boy pull it off.
"Don't worry, we've got this!" Dorugamon smirked before he began to fly up higher to get into position for a dive bomb attack.
Just as Dorugamon was flying higher, however, Aldamon saw Danny's wrist getting caught by Vlad's hand. Then Vlad began to zap Danny's body constantly with his reddish pink electrical energy. Danny was screaming as his body was being electrocuted.
At the same time, Andy suddenly started screaming, feeling sudden white hot pain through his body. This in turn caused Dorugamon's eyes to widen, his wings locking up, and he started to fall from the sky.
Aldamon saw this and gasped. "No!" He was torn on what to do. Rescuing Danny or Andy… Aldamon flew down towards the falling Dorugamon, hoping he wouldn't regret this. Or that it hurts...
Dorugamon was flailing around in a panic, letting out roars of panic as he tried to get his wings to work. His body was spinning a bit as he was falling. Andy gasped as he was off of Dorugamon's back and was falling separately.
Despite the white hot pain, Andy gritted his teeth to try to endure through it. He had to or they were dead. "Stop moving around! You gotta calm down!"
Dorugamon heard Andy's words and tried to calm down, but falling without being able to fly was a very scary thing, and he didn't want to be so helpless in the sky. "You try suddenly not being able to fly!" Dorugamon snapped back, not that he meant to.
"Just fall back towards me!" Andy called out.
Dorugamon struggled to try to fall closer to Andy. The boy reached out, trying to grab onto Dorugamon's back. Andy managed to grab onto his partner's fur, and was trying to get the rest of his body onto the falling Digimon's back. Dorugamon hissed as he was now just falling straight headfirst. Andy pulled Dorugamon as much as he could, which caused Dorugamon's wings to suddenly spread out, making them glide across the sky, towards the restaurant's building.
Seeing that, Aldamon sighed in relief and pulled out of his own dive, coming to a hover. "That was close…" He then remembered Danny and Vlad. "Shit…" Turning, Aldamon flew back to where Vlad and Danny were fighting.
Dorugamon sighed as he felt his wings open and he felt better now that he was in control. "Wow… That was something I do not want to experience again!"
However, Dorugamon wasn't quite watching where he was going.
"Look out!" Andy shouted.
Dorugamon ended up crashing right into the ostrich ghost, forcing it off of the other three Digimon.
"Ouch…" Dorugamon groaned before he tensed up at feeling ghost energy. He looked down, seeing the ostrich ghost under his larger form. "Oh… Oh dear…"
"Kill it!" Gatomon shouted.
Without hesitation, Dorugamon bit into the ostrich's head and tore it off while he slashed the rest of its body with his claws.
Dorugamon panted as he felt the head vanish from his mouth. Then he winced at the taste in his mouth. "Yuck! That was nasty!"
"Of course it was, that was mostly ectoplasm you bit into," Terriermon joked.
"Come on… let's go save our partners!" Lopmon spoke up.
Lopmon, Terriermon, and Gatomon wasted no time moving towards the other two ghost animals. Lopmon and Terriermon puffed out their ears to get higher into the sky while Gatomon scaled up a street lamp and jumped.
Dorugamon looked back at Andy. "Are you okay?"
Andy groaned. Not only did he and Dorugamon almost become splattered pancakes on the road, but he was still feeling that white hot pain, and his head was spinning, or maybe Dorugamon was still somehow spinning.
Meanwhile, Aldamon was trying to get to Vlad. Danny almost changed back to human after being zapped for so long, he almost lost consciousness. But Vlad suddenly stopped, allowing Danny to remain as a ghost.
"Let him go!" Aldamon shouted as he flew in towards Vlad, a fist drawn back for a punch to Vlad's blue, fanged face. He was not going to let Danny be hurt by this man any longer!
"Let him go?" Vlad smirked. "If you insist."
Vlad tossed the ghost boy suddenly, and Danny yelped. He was still feeling weak from being electrocuted, so he couldn't fly up or go invisible as he was falling towards the group of ghost hunters, including his parents.
Seeing this, Aldamon gasped before he flew down and made sure his back was towards the ground before grabbing Danny in his arms. This is going to hurt… He braced himself for the impact with the ground, knowing that he could take the impact better than Danny could in his weakened state.
Aldamon slammed into the ground. His wings definitely felt most of the pain, but at least Danny was safe. However, he heard a lot of machines that sounded like they were powering up. Opening his eyes, he saw a lot of ecto guns being pointed at his face, or more specifically, at the ghost child in his arms.
"It's the million dollar ghost," One of the GiW agents noted.
"Like, is this demon dude one of his familiars or something?" The lanky man questioned.
Aldamon wanted to move, but his back was aching and his wings were throbbing with pain. Yeah… that hurt… He winced at the pain in his right wing as it twitched. "Okay… bad idea on my part…" He muttered to himself.
"The demon seems to be intelligent enough to speak," One of the GiW agents remarked.
"Hey, back up!" Jack called out, quickly bumping into everyone with his big body. "Don't attack- I mean, that ghost kid is mine! So back off!"
With Jack's interference, Danny managed to turn both himself and Aldamon intangible, allowing them both to sink under the road.
A distance away, Aldamon and Danny emerged from the ground. "Ouch…" Aldamon groaned as he tried to move his right wing. "Okay… That was a dumb idea…"
"You bet it was!" Danny scolded. "What are you thinking?!"
However, whatever Aldamon was going to say was lost when Danny noticed something small and white suddenly running across the road. Both of them looked back, and gasped in horror when they saw Tokomon jumped towards Vlad with his mouth wide open, showing sharp teeth. Vlad didn't expect Tokomon to suddenly jump him, because he gave a sudden yelp when the In-Training grabbed onto his pants and started moving around frantically.
"Why you little- you know how hard it is to keep this robe clean, Tsukaimon!?" Vlad snapped at his former partner.
Tokomon didn't reply and was biting at Vlad's side.
"Tokomon, what are you doing!?" Danny yelled frantically.
Aldamon blinked before he put two and two together. "Patamon… became…" His eyes widened before he gasped. "Oh no…" Getting to his feet, the Fusion Digimon then ran at Vlad himself, a shout escaping his throat as he did so.
Vlad grabbed onto Tokomon's ears… antennae, and tossed him to the ground. He then teleported himself just before Aldamon could reach him.
"Damn it… Where is he?!" Aldamon hissed, looking around for Vlad while standing in front of Tokomon protectively.
Danny floated over to Aldamon. "Forget it. Vlad's gone. I don't sense him in the area anymore."
Aldamon growled. "Damn… I was hoping for a bit of payback on him." He then sighed. "But I guess that will have to wait for now…"
Danny bent down to pick up Tokomon. "What were you thinking back there? You could've gotten killed."
Tokomon just gave a smile before he opened his mouth, showing three D-Arcs.
Aldamon blinked. "W-wha… How come he has three D-Arcs in his mouth?"
Danny reached in and took the three D-Arcs, a little bit disgusted by the Digi saliva, but he smiled. "Vlad took Tucker, Sam, and Jazz's D-Arcs earlier, that's why their Digimon couldn't digivolve."
"You didn't think I would recklessly attack Vlad without good reason, did you?" Tokomon asked.
Aldamon smiled as he shook his head. "So that's why you were attacking Vlad…" He chuckled in amusement. "Very sneaky on your part."
"Danny! Are you okay?" Sam's voice called out in concern.
Danny and Aldamon were still a bit far away from the other ghost hunters. Danny was surprised to see Tucker, Sam, Jazz, and their Digimon partners were okay, since the last time he saw them, they were being held hostage by Vlad's pets.
Aldamon turned, surprised to see the others there, but he figured it wasn't too much of a surprise. "Are you guys okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, when our Digimon was free from the ostrich ghost with the gorilla arms, they were able to beat up the other ghost animals that had us in their grasp," Jazz answered.
"It was fun to watch." Tucker grinned. "Terriermon can be quite vicious when he's feeling protective."
"You bet I can be!" Terriermon exclaimed with pride. "Those ghosts didn't stand a chance!"
"Here, Tokomon got your D-Arcs back," Danny said, handing the three D-Arcs back to their respective owners.
"Why… are they wet?" Tucker asked.
"You… probably don't want to know," Danny sheepishly answered before something occurred to him. "Wait, how did your Digimon partners escape that ghost ostrich?"
It was here that Aldamon remembered who he had been chasing down and he smacked his face with his hand. "Ugh… I can't believe I forgot…"
Danny blinked at his cousin's comment. "What?"
"We… didn't exactly escape that ghost on our own." Lopmon frowned. "Dorugamon came crashing in."
Danny gaped before he gave a glance at Aldamon. "'Dorugamon'? I thought you were keeping an eye on Andy!"
"Hey! Andy had Dorumon digivolve to come and help you!" Aldamon exclaimed in his defense. "I was trying to get him back, but he said Vlad was in the area and that you needed help!"
"This really isn't the time to be arguing! We need to get to Andy, now!" Jazz spoke up, worried for one of her brothers.
Aldamon nodded. "Yeah, we should." He then sighed. "Andy is so getting tied down to his bed if he keeps doing stuff like this…"
Danny didn't have anything to add, he just transformed back to human and hurried to find his brother.
Dorugamon had degenerated back into Dorumon. He was frowning as he was trying to help Andy lean on him, but Dorumon was too short for Andy to lean on comfortably. Andy's cheeks were red, his fever spiked up a bit.
"What's wrong, Andy?" Dorumon asked in concern, sensing his partner's distress.
"We… we have to… talk to Dad… Vlad… Vlad is…" Andy groaned, trying not to fall over from how dizzy he felt.
Dorumon frowned. "Andy, just stay still. You need to rest."
"There's… no time…" Andy hissed.
While his fever was acting up, so were his visions. They were overwhelming the boy, Andy couldn't even tell where or when he was anymore. He saw Vlad ready to kill Jack in his own house. He saw Vlad holding up a skeleton key and grinning sinisterly. He saw Danny flying frantically through the Ghost Zone, like he was looking for something. He saw Takuya going into the Digital World. He saw Calumon coming out of the Digital World. He saw a ring master, holding up a staff with a mysterious glowing red orb on it. He saw Danny in his ghost form, with red eyes, grinning evilly at him.
Andy reached out, trying to find some semblance of reality. Everything in his head was getting jumbled, and he was trying to find some kind of ground. He ended up grabbing onto someone's arm.
"Andy?" A familiar voice asked. It sounded like his cousin's voice.
Takuya saw Andy had grabbed onto his arm. Andy looked to be in a daze, not even registering Takuya was there. Takuya frowned in worry when he noticed Andy's cheeks were red.
Takuya had reverted back to human form earlier, out of sight of course, and was now with Andy, worried about him. "Andy? Are you okay?"
"Where's Calumon…? Did we lose him?" Andy asked Takuya.
Dorumon frowned. "He's been talking like he's in a completely different place and era then we are right now."
Takuya frowned as well. "He looks like his fever has gotten worse." The boy noted with concern. "We have to get him home so he can rest."
"Andy! Takuya!" Danny called out, and rushed over to them. "Andy, what are you doing here?"
Andy looked over at Danny. "Do you remember Sam or did Desiree really make you forget her, bro?"
"... What?" Danny frowned. "Oh, no, no, no… he's gotten delirious again?"
"I don't know…" Takuya admitted, running a hand through his hair. "I just found him like this. He could be talking nonsense for all we know."
"Are we both half ghosts now, Danny?" Andy suddenly asked.
Danny carefully took Andy's shoulders. "... Uh… yes. But you need to rest while you… uh… get used to being half ghost, bro. I'll take you home, okay?"
"Okay, bro…" Andy closed his eyes as Danny sighed in relief.
Danny caught Andy as he fell forwards. "I can't believe he came out here while he was sick. Andy could have gotten hurt or worse!"
"He did feel you getting electrocuted by Vlad. We nearly went splat on the road," Dorumon informed.
Danny paled. "Oh… no… do you know what that means?"
"No more ghost hunting for you for a while, or you'd risk Andy feeling all the pain too," Tokomon finished for Danny.
Takuya sighed. "I guess we should find a way to sneak Andy into the house without getting seen."
"I can do that… but let's get the others first," Danny said. "Then… we'll figure out what to do from there."
Dorumon nodded. "Good idea. We need to get a plan in place too, just in case Vlad is not done yet."
Danny groaned. Of course Vlad had to decide to come to Amity Park to mess with me while Andy is sick! Can this week get any worse?
Ed: DarkFoxKit: The bio-merging is… well, we can't exactly tell you because it's spoilers.
ZAFT: And as for Dark Danny's return… again, that is spoilers, but… we will keep it in mind for the future. ;3
DarkFoxKit: I think they meant Dark Danny comes from the canon's world and into our story's world.
ZAFT: Ooooh, okay. That could be a good idea. :3 We will keep that in mind for a possible idea. :3
Titanic X: DarkFoxKit: Yes, yes it was, and I loved every minute of it. :3
ZAFT: Delirious Andy is a fun Andy~ :3