ZAFT: Getting warmer here, so not looking forward to the heat of summer. XP
DarkFoxKit: If you were to ask me what was my least favorite season, it would have to be either spring or summer. First of all, I hate being hot, second, spring has pollen which causes my allergies to act up. Third, bees and other bugs start coming out, and they love to buzz around me when I'm just trying to take my dog outside to use the bathroom or pick up the mail. Fourth, it gets really, really hot if the AC isn't working.
Andy: That's a lot of reasons.
DarkFoxKit: Oh, let's not forget that grass starts growing aggressively, so we have to mow the lawn almost every two weeks. I used to tolerate summer because it meant I have two months off of school, and I get to go swimming. But these days, I don't go to school, and I haven't been able to go swimming in years. So now I just hate summer.
ZAFT: I don't mind summer, but the heat gets to me and don't get me started on mosquitos. Those little blood suckers come to me whenever I am outside in the morning or evening, so I try to stay inside all day if I can. XP
Takuya: Want me to roast those mosquitos?
ZAFT: If I asked you to do that, you would set them all on fire… ^^'
DarkFoxKit: No, please, kill them all with fire~
ZAFT: Um… okay, back into the chapter you go, Takuya! *Shoves Takuya into chapter*
(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 54: Tidal Changes
Andy was glad to be home after what felt like one of the longest days at school. He couldn't find Danny, so he had hoped his brother would be at Fenton Works. He wasn't.
"Jazz, have you and Lopmon seen Danny?" Andy asked his sister while Dorimon was eating some scrap metal.
Jazz looked up. "He went on a patrol really quick. Why do you want to know?"
Dorimon looked up from his metal. "He probably doesn't want to ruin his date with Paulina." He quipped with a grin on his face.
"He's going to exhaust himself at this rate," Andy grumbled. "I wanted to talk to him about his relationship with Paulina."
"Ah, you mean that whole scene at the cafeteria today where Danny became a new A-List?" Lopmon chuckled.
Jazz looked at Andy. "Did you know that would happen?" She gave him a look.
"No, why would I know that would happen?" Andy grumbled. "I already told you that I'm not a seer, Jazz. Besides, I really don't like that Paulina's glomping all over our brother."
Dorimon giggled as he resumed munching on his scrap metal. "You're just upset because you did see your own popular status coming~"
"Wait… so you were popular too?" Jazz asked, surprised.
"How did you not know about that? We go to the same school!" Andy pointed out.
"I wasn't really paying attention to the latest thing going on at school." Jazz grinned sheepishly. "Lopmon just told me about the big scene with Danny and Paulina."
Dorimon bit down hard on his scrap metal to keep from laughing again. He succeeded, but it was hard to keep it under control.
"Thanks for the sympathy, Dorimon, you're a real pal," Andy sarcastically grumbled.
"You know… this might not be such a bad thing. It's giving you and Danny an opportunity to see both sides of the spectrum instead of just one," Lopmon pointed out.
Jazz nodded in agreement. "Yeah, look at it in a good way. You could learn a lot about how someone acts around their peers and the pressure of trying to fit in."
"I already know about that," Andy sighed. "Besides, that's not really my biggest issue right now. I'm just worried for Danny. Paulina is bound to break his heart… or tell his secret to someone. She could easily use that as blackmail if he decided he didn't want to do something for her one day."
"Wait… back up…" Jazz frowned. "Did you just say that Paulina knows about Danny's secret?"
"Which one? Patamon or his ghost half?" Lopmon questioned.
"His ghost half," Andy answered. "She saw him transform back at the pool park."
Jazz frowned. "That's… quite troubling."
"You're telling me…" Dorimon muttered.
"What about Gatomon's ability to erase her memory? Or Danny's overshadowing ability?" Lopmon asked.
"She's already known for at least a full day now, it would be difficult to get rid of the memory," Dorimon answered. "And Gatomon was worried about tampering with this particular memory, because it was so strong, it could mess up Paulina's psyche if Gatomon tried to erase her memory. And Danny… well, he wasn't comfortable trying it himself."
Jazz frowned again. "I think you can use this new status of yours to keep an eye on Paulina. If she tries to do anything to Danny, you can let me know and we will figure out what to do."
"Right. I'll try, I was busy with trying to change up the popular scale though," Andy sighed. "But I can't do that and keep an eye on Danny at the same time."
Jazz gave Andy a small smile. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, little brother. But it would take a long time to really be able to change the system the students themselves had placed already, and been long ingrained into them. You can try to change them little by little, but there's only so much you can do. For now, our priority is Danny. He's our brother, and Amity Park needs him to keep it safe from ghosts and Digimon attacks."
Lopmon nodded in agreement. "Sometimes the biggest changes can ripple out the furthest. And the biggest change you can do is keep an eye on Danny and keep him safe."
Andy sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. Sometimes he hated being reminded just how important Danny Phantom was to Amity Park, because it reminded him of Danny's situation, and how much so many people were relying on him. But Danny was just a kid, he couldn't shoulder such a responsibility like that forever.
"I'll keep an eye on Danny," Andy sighed. "Speaking of which, I better get ready for my… 'date' with Star soon. I'll probably have to meet up with Danny at Amity Park Lanes."
Jazz smiled. "Enjoy it then, Andy. And remember, you're not alone in this." Jazz put a comforting hand on Andy's shoulder. "I'm worried about Danny too. But all we can do is be there for him since none of us have ghost powers."
"And also, Andy…" Dorimon spoke up, giving Andy a serious look in his eyes. "Remember that Danny isn't alone in keeping the people of Amity Park safe. We're helping him too, all of us."
Andy blinked, surprised that Dorimon seemed to just know what he was thinking earlier, but he gave a nod. "Yeah… thanks, all of you."
Jazz smiled at Andy. "No problem, little brother. That's what siblings are for."
Andy met up with Tucker and Niki at the bowling alley, Amity Park Lanes. Star was already there waiting.
"Were you able to talk to Danny yet?" Tucker asked as they were getting their bowling shoes.
"Nope, he was out when I came home. I'm guessing he'll be meeting up with his date here soon though," Andy answered.
"How did you know that Danny and Paulina would be here if you didn't get a chance to talk to him yet?" Niki asked curiously.
"I heard Paulina announcing she wanted to come here for a date with Danny. It's also apparently popular for the popular kids," Andy shrugged.
Terriermon remained silent, but he was inwardly grinning.
"So, are you ready to do some bowling?" Tucker asked Andy.
"Yup." Andy grinned. "Just hope that my little invitation was sent."
"What invitation?" Tucker asked.
"You'll see~" Andy replied.
After getting their bowling shoes, Andy walked over to where Star was. She was holding a cup of soda in her hand.
"Here, hold this, and don't spill." Star said as she thrust the cup into Andy's hand.
"Star, I'm your date, not your personal butler," Andy spoke up. "Besides, why have me when you have him?"
Andy remembered how Star always looked at Kwan in the classroom before the whole popular chain got rattled by Danny and himself. He just hoped his hunch was right.
Kwan himself was walking towards them, giving them a big friendly smile.
Star blinked as she saw Kwan coming up to her. "Huh?" She was surprised. "Kwan's here?"
"Hey, Star, Andy." Kwan greeted them as he reached their location.
"Hey Kwan, glad you could make it." Andy greeted with a smile.
Star was staring at Kwan before she gave him a friendly yet shy wave herself.
"Hey, since you came all this way, how about you and Star become bowling buddies?" Andy suggested.
Kwan looked at Star. "Seriously?" He gave a grin. "That would be great!" He then paused. "Uh… that is, if you want to, Star…"
"Of course! That would be wonderful, Kwan!" Star smiled, looking quite excited.
Kwan gave a big grin. "Really? Awesome!" He then looked at Andy. "Thanks for inviting me, Andy."
Star then looked at Andy. "You invited him?"
"Of course. I just figured you'd prefer having a really muscular guy help you out with bowling and… carrying your stuff and all," Andy chuckled, putting down Star's drink at a nearby table. "You two have fun, alright?"
Kwan smiled. "We will, Andy. And thanks again." He then gave Star a bright grin. "C'mon, Star! Let's see if we can find a good lane to bowl on."
Star was very giddy. "Sounds great, Kwan!"
Andy gave a sigh of relief. "Glad I could fix up that little problem."
"I can't tell if you're an evil genius or just really good at what you do," Dorimon whispered from Andy's bag.
"People watching comes in handy sometimes, I wouldn't call myself an evil genius, that trait belongs to Vlad," Andy rolled his eyes.
Dorimon giggled. "Then you could be a matchmaker~"
"Great, then my next job; getting Danny away from Paulina, and getting him and Sam together," Andy remarked, looking over to where Paulina was.
Danny just walked over to Paulina, looking a bit tired, but he was grinning, likely happy to be on a date with the 'girl of his dreams'. Paulina just lifted up a bowling ball, but she ended up dropping it on the lane, which caused the bowling ball to go into the gutter. The other popular guys started laughing at the pathetic attempt at bowling Paulina just did, which struck as odd to Andy, since he doubted most guys would even think to laugh at Paulina of all people.
"Danny, I'm so embarrassing myself." Paulina sighed. "Could you be an angel and give me a little 'invisible' help?" She asked as she gave him the bedroom eyes.
Danny frowned a bit. "Isn't that cheating?" But a kiss from Paulina changed his mind. "Or creative point scoring! I'll be right back after your strike."
Dorimon blinked as he wiggled his head out of Andy's bag as he heard the exchange with his superior hearing. "Huh?"
"What is it?" Andy asked his Digimon partner.
"Paulina asked Danny to give her a bit of help with bowling. I heard it because my hearing is sharper than a human's." Dorimon replied before he frowned. "But isn't that cheating at something?"
Andy sighed. "I'm not surprised at this point, but… well… I guess Danny's too blinded by love to really argue. I don't think Patamon, who is literally an angel, would be too approving of it though."
Speaking of Patamon, Danny went off to transform. However, just as he got behind a big fat man, eating what appeared to be a triple deluxe burger, Patamon came up from Danny's bag.
"First off, that man needs to go on a healthier diet soon," Patamon stated, looking at the man about to pig out. "Second, Danny, I really think you should reconsider trying to help Paulina cheat."
Danny blinked. "Huh? Why?"
"Because I don't like the idea of you cheating for the sake of having her look good," Patamon answered. "You know cheating is wrong. If you want a healthy relationship with your… girlfriend, you can't always give her what she wants, especially if it involves you doing something you know you shouldn't be doing."
Danny frowned as he looked down. Patamon had a point, he realized. Danny then sighed. "Yeah, I know, but if I don't keep Paulina happy, she could spill my secret. It's not that I don't trust her, it just… she is the gossip queen and it would be bad if she decided to just conveniently 'spread a rumor' I was half ghost."
Before Patamon could answer, Danny noticed Paulina was already picking up another bowling ball. "We'll talk more about this later, Patamon."
Danny transformed into his ghost form quickly, Patamon quickly lowered himself in the backpack since Danny's ghost movements often left him sick. Danny was invisible once he was in ghost form and went underground. When Paulina dropped her bowling ball, Danny easily heard it under the ground. He lifted up his invisible hands and grabbed onto the bowling ball before he moved it to the pins, causing a perfect strike.
Andy and Dorimon had been watching Paulina's bowling ball carefully, it didn't even roll down the lane, it looked like it was floating slightly before it was suddenly brought right into the pins.
Dorimon sighed. "That was Danny, wasn't it?"
"Unless Paulina got another ghost to help her, yeah, I'm pretty sure that was Danny," Andy answered.
"We have to get Patamon to scold Danny." Dorimon noted.
Paulina was excited when she saw her strike. "I did it, I did it, I did it!" She then turned to Danny who was coming back over to her. "Thank you so much Danny! You're the best!" She then kissed Danny on the cheek.
Danny looked quite satisfied with that. Patamon stuck his head out a little from the backpack, frowning a bit.
"Well, looks like Danny is ignoring the angel in favor of the she-devil," Andy sighed.
"Speaking of she-devils… I wonder what Sam is doing," Dorimon muttered curiously.
"I think she said she was taking Gatomon to her favorite book store, the Skulk and Lurk Books. You know, because they have this whole goth theme going on with it, though I'm not sure how much Gatomon would like a place like that," Andy chuckled.
"You'd be surprised…" Dorimon muttered. "Sam has been… quite the influence on her… if you get what I'm saying..."
"Is… that a good or bad thing?" Andy frowned.
"No, it's not a bad thing. I'm just saying it wouldn't surprise me if Gatomon found it interesting at the Skulk and Lurk Books bookstore." Dorimon clarified.
Sam always enjoyed the Skulk and Lurk Books, it was her favorite bookstore because it was a place for goths. Tonight was poetry night, a night where the goths could share their dark, angry, and depressing poems to each other.
"So why do adolescent humans often like to go goth? Do you all really have that much repressed angst that the only way to let it out is to go dark and depressing?" Gatomon whispered to Sam from under the table.
Sam sighed. "It's the person's choice how they express their angst. I chose to go goth as a way of going against my parents."
"I suppose… Digimon aren't too different in that regard," Gatomon muttered.
"Really?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Digimon have several different evolutionary lines they could take depending on how they feel. If I wanted, I could slide evolve into BlackGatomon to better represent the goth theme you have going on here," Gatomon explained with a proud smile.
Sam blinked before she smiled a bit. "That's nice, but I think I prefer you as a white cat. It sort of offsets my goth theme but in a complimentary way."
Sam then noticed it was her turn to read her poem. She stood up and walked over to the stage. Gatomon kept watch from under the table.
Sam cleared her throat before she spoke into the mic. "My days were cloudy, but with you I had been less pouty. You made my darkness shine, and yet you also make me feel like I'm choking on a vine. We make the sun and the moon, until one day, you were taken by a loon. My sky becomes pitch black while I watch you being given what I lack. I feel a hurricane going through my once clear sky, and you just settle for this girl who lives by a lie."
Many of the audience members were quite impressed with Sam's poem, as it was just what they liked, dark and gloomy. A few even clapped for her. Sam blushed a bit at the praise.
Sam walked back to her table and sat down while the next goth person went up on the stage to start their poem.
"Sam… that was beautiful, but… does that have anything to do with Danny dating Paulina?" Gatomon quietly asked in concern.
Sam frowned before she sighed. "In a way…" She admitted. "It's hard to explain, but I feel like I'm missing something in my life with Danny gone, you know? And I mean as a friend, not like, well… gone gone..."
"I understand… you likely almost felt this way too when you thought you really lost Danny on the day of the accident too, didn't you?" Gatomon asked.
"Well, that one was more devastating than… well…" Sam hesitated, she didn't want to say 'jealousy', but she knew she couldn't hide this from her partner. "I guess… jealousy."
"I don't like seeing you like this, in pain, and unable to really talk about it." Gatomon frowned. "I know you don't want to ruin it for Danny… but maybe you should try talking to him about it? How what he's doing is making you feel?"
Sam smiled a bit. "That would probably be best, but now that he's an A-List, I can't just walk up to him and start talking to him." She then looked down. "But maybe if I catch him at his home, I could."
"Then do that." Gatomon grinned. "I'm sure Danny will make it up to you when he realizes what he's doing is hurting you."
Sam then frowned. "But… can he really? … Gatomon, you're my partner… I know Tucker and Andy teases me about this sometimes, but… I do like Danny… like… like like him… but if he's already going on dates with Paulina, pretty much the girl of his dreams… what would I get other than heartbreak?"
Gatomon blinked. "Maybe just talk to him and just tell him how you feel about him dating Paulina."
"And… if he doesn't feel the same way?" Sam asked.
Gatomon sighed before she took a deep breath and let it out. "Love is very complicated, Sam. No matter the species, there is no clear answer to that. But if you truly love Danny, then despite him not returning your feelings romantically, you at least know he does love and care for you. So you would want him to be happy if you love him… as the saying goes; if you love something, you should set it free."
Sam smiled at Gatomon. "You really know just what to say to make me feel better, don't you?"
"I did have to run a Digital World for eons, I've learned to pick up a thing or two," Gatomon chuckled.
Sam nodded before sighing. "It's already getting late… maybe I can try catching him at Fenton Works, and if not, I'll see if I can try to get him alone at school tomorrow."
It had been a bit of a long night. Since Andy gave up his spot to Kwan, he didn't get to bowl. At first, Andy didn't mind it, he was content with watching Danny and Paulina. Paulina would often get Danny to do her invisible favors, which the boy happily did as long as Paulina rewarded him with a kiss to the cheek or something. Though Danny did sneak some food for Patamon. Despite Patamon not approving what the boy was doing, he didn't complain when Danny fed him.
Speaking of food, Andy did get some food for himself and Dorimon. Tucker and Niki were off doing their own thing. Terriermon was enjoying himself, he liked having Niki put him on her lap. While Andy and Dorimon just ate alone, like a couple of bachelors eating with married couples around them.
"Does it feel like we're a bit out of place here?" Andy commented to Dorimon, who was sitting on the other side of the table. They were at a corner, so nobody was paying them any attention.
"If by that you mean we're the only ones without dates, then we would be, yeah." Dorimon replied, munching on a big chili dog Andy had bought for him. "But considering you're just a teenager and everyone else here is a teenager too, mostly anyway, then no, you're not out of place."
"I did mean the dating thing," Andy chuckled as he took a sip of a cup of lemonade. "It's not really something I think about much. Jazz never talked about having any interest in anyone herself. But just seeing all these people with their dates, I can't help but feel just a little out of place. Who knew bowling would be such a romantic hotspot for teenagers?"
Dorimon snorted. "Anything could be romantic for teenagers." He then paused as he watched these small black forms crawling all over the table. "Um… Andy? What are these things crawling on the table?"
Andy was sipping more of his lemonade when Dorimon asked this. He frowned as he looked at the things crawling on the table. Those things were ants. Andy's eyes narrowed before he followed the line of the ants to Dorimon's food, and his cup. Andy stopped sipping his lemonade and looked into the cup. Sure enough, some of the ants had crawled into the sweet smell of the lemonade. Whatever lemonade Andy had in his mouth was immediately spat out right onto Dorimon's chili dog.
"Andy!" Dorimon whined. "... Oh well, it just has some lemonade on it."
Andy stuck out his tongue in disgust. "Those are ants, Dorimon! I can't believe we didn't notice them!"
Dorimon blinked. "Ants? What are ants?"
"... Was there ever an Antmon where you're from?" Andy questioned.
Before Dorimon could answer that, he noticed Danny and Paulina were starting to leave the building.
Dorimon frowned. "It looks like your brother and his date are leaving the bowling alley."
Andy looked back, seeing they were indeed leaving. "Great, so now I have to worry about the possibility of swallowing ants, and my brother and Paulina going out together after a romantic night. Come on, Dorimon, let's go."
"But I still have food left," Dorimon whined.
"It's contaminated! Why do you still want to eat it?" Andy questioned.
"I want to eat! I'm hungry!" Dorimon muttered.
Andy groaned. Of course he wouldn't be bothered by ants or spit…
Meanwhile, Danny was standing in front of Paulina just outside of The Amity Park Lanes. Paulina was giving Danny a very seductive look.
"If you like me, Danny, then kiss me…" Paulina purred as she puckered up her lips for that kiss.
Danny smiled, feeling giddy at the idea of kissing Paulina right on the lips. This would be his first real kiss. That fake out make out with Sam didn't count.
Danny began to lean in to kiss Paulina, but then Patamon whispered in his ear. "Danny… Is this what you really want?"
Danny paused for a moment, but the idea of kissing the hottest girl in the school won out. He ignored Patamon, much to the Rookie-level's dismay.
However, a bright light suddenly stopped the two from kissing. At the same time, a familiar blue mist came out of Danny's mouth. Patamon looked up, having sensed the ghost approaching them. The light turned out to have belonged to a motorcycle, and on that motorcycle was Johnny 13 himself, and he looked rather angry.
Johnny came to a stop and glared at Danny. "Listen, punk! You stay away from my girl, ya dig?" He was rather angry about something, and it was confusing for Danny at first.
His girl? But this is Paulina! When did Paulina become his girl? Danny questioned.
However, instead of being scared and running away from the ghost biker like any normal person would, Paulina just stormed up to Johnny. Suddenly, there was a green glow around Paulina before she fell down, and a ghost woman stood in her place.
"Beat it, Johnny! I'm Danny's girl now!" The ghost girl snapped at Johnny.
Danny caught Paulina, confused as heck. "Johnny? Kitty?" He looked at Paulina. "Paulina? What the heck is going on here?!"
"I think I see what's going on," Patamon said as he had watched what just happened. "I thought it was odd that Paulina was giving a slight stench of a ghost. That ghost lady had been overshadowing her."
Danny looked at Patamon. "Then… Paulina didn't really like me? That was all just Kitty?"
Paulina began to groan as she started coming to. "Ugh… What's… going on?"
Andy finally came out of the bowling alley, he was holding onto Dorimon under one arm, while holding his precious chili dog with the other hand. "Ugh, you're getting chili sauce all over my shirt!"
Dorimon frowned. "I can't help it! I'm at the In-Training level! I need to eat!"
Andy then looked ahead, seeing Johnny and Kitty, as well as Danny holding onto a dazed Paulina. Patamon came up from Danny's backpack and flew up.
"Uh… what's going on here?" Andy questioned.
Kitty noticed Paulina was waking up. "Uh… whoops!" She then flew back into Paulina's body as Dorimon forgot about the chili dog and began to growl as he saw that.
"That ghost is overshadowing Paulina it looks like…" Dorimon hissed.
'Paulina' smirked as she opened her eyes again, only this time her irises were red. "Now… where were we?~"
'Paulina' puckered up her lips at Danny. Danny gulped, now that he knew this wasn't Paulina, he felt incredibly awkward.
"Um… This is all a big mistake." Danny said awkwardly. "I had no idea it was Kitty!"
"Well, this will be your last mistake, kid," Johnny growled before he whistled.
Seconds later, Johnny's Shadow came out from the bowling alley, and growled as he looked at Danny. Andy glared, however, before he could get Dorimon to go after the Shadow, Patamon reacted first.
"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shot out a large air bubble at Shadow's stomach, forcing him back several feet into the air.
Danny looked back at Patamon with gratitude. "Thanks, Patamon!" He then faced Johnny. "I'm going ghost!" The white rings appeared around Danny's torso before they split horizontally, revealing his ghost form.
Patamon and Danny both flew up to meet up with Shadow. Shadow tried to wrap his tail around Danny's torso, but Patamon quickly bit down on Shadow's tail hard, forcing Shadow to yell out and let go.
"I think Danny and Patamon's got the Shadow handled," Andy said. "But we have two other ghosts to deal with."
Dorimon nodded as Andy put him on the ground. With Andy's D-Arc pointed at him, Dorimon digivolved into his Rookie form, Dorumon.
"Now let's see what we can do about these ghosts." Dorumon said as he glared at Johnny and Kitty, who was in Paulina's body still.
"Come on, Kitty, quit wigging out and come back to me," Johnny begged.
"Forget it, low life!" 'Paulina' snapped.
"Okay, what is going on here?" Andy spoke up, looking at the two.
Dorumon had his tail swishing behind him, indicating he was not in a good mood.
Kitty looked at the Digimon with the human and back at Johnny. "It's… I'm not happy with Johnny, okay?! He's been ignoring me for some time!"
"Come on, Kitten… look, it took a lot of work for me to finally swipe that gadget that let me open the Ghost Portal anywhere and anytime I want to finally bring you out here into the living world," Johnny groaned. "I thought you'd be more appreciative of it."
"I was, until you started looking at every girl that came your way!" 'Paulina' growled.
Dorumon blinked. "So… you took over Paulina because…?"
"Why else? So I could find a new boyfriend~" 'Paulina' grinned and looked at Johnny when she said that.
"Come on, Kitten, we really should talk about this in private." Johnny frowned.
Meanwhile, Danny and Patamon were still duking it out with the Shadow. Patamon was proving to be quite an asset in battle, Whenever the Shadow was trying to do something sneaky, Patamon quickly caught it and attacked Shadow to stop him from being able to grab or claw at Danny. Though Patamon still couldn't fly as fast as Danny.
Danny flew back to the Shadow and gave him a good punch in the face to prevent him from grabbing Patamon. "Leave my partner alone, you shapeless blob!"
The Shadow was getting quite angry. He tried to claw at Danny and Patamon again, but this time he was trying to aim for Patamon, since the Digimon was weaker. Danny blasted the Shadow with his ghost ray, to keep him from trying to grab Patamon. Patamon twirled a bit in the air before he rushed down at the Shadow.
The Shadow managed to grab onto Danny's foot, and was about to toss him, when Patamon bumped into the Shadow's stomach and smirked. "Boom Bubble!"
The Shadow let out a yell as the air bubble formed halfway inside his stomach area before it popped, causing a hole to appear and the Shadow to fall down. The Shadow, of course, could reform itself, but it still took a pretty big hit from that.
Danny smirked at Patamon. "Nice one! He might be feeling a bit holey from that for a while."
"Wait, it's not over yet." Patamon frowned.
Indeed, Shadow still wouldn't give up. He flew up towards Danny and Patamon again. The duo were about to attack, when suddenly a bright light shined on the Shadow, causing it to scream in agony.
The Shadow faded away in the light, which caused Danny and Patamon to look down. There, on the roof of the bowling alley, was Tucker aiming a spotlight at the combatants. "You know I got your back, Danny!" Tucker said with a smile.
Tucker didn't have Terriermon with him because he was with Niki. Tucker had seen Shadow earlier when Johnny had called him and figured Danny could use the assistance.
"Thanks, Tuck!" Danny smiled.
"Now if you'll excuse me, my girlfriend and partner are waiting." Tucker grinned.
Danny nodded, glad Tucker had come through. "Go on. Patamon and I have this under control now."
Tucker gave them a thumbs up before going back into the bowling alley.
Meanwhile, Andy frowned. "Where are you planning to take her?"
"Back to the Ghost Zone, in our lair specifically, so we can talk," Johnny answered. "Not that it's any of your business, kid."
"Wait, you can't take her while she's in Paulina's body! A human can't survive in the Ghost Zone for long!" Andy argued.
Johnny paused. He hadn't thought about that. "I didn't think about that…"
Of course, Andy had no way of knowing if a human could survive in the Ghost Zone or not, but if this would keep Johnny from taking Paulina away, he was willing to take it.
"Besides, I'm not going back with you, Johnny," 'Paulina' stubbornly said.
"I think we all should have a talk about this." Dorumon frowned. "This doesn't just involve the two of you anymore, not since Kitty got Paulina and Danny involved."
Johnny frowned. "I suppose you're right… Why waste energy fighting if it can be solved peacefully? I don't want to get any Digimon angry at me anyway… Not after that last encounter…"
Andy sighed. "First you and Jazz, and now Kitty and Danny. Is there a third person among you that I should know about in case they decide to go after me next?"
Dorumon had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.
Johnny rolled his eyes. "No, there isn't a third person you need to worry about, kid."
"Unless it's your shadow," Dorumon actually laughed.
Andy slapped Dorumon upside the head. "I don't need that mental image, thank you."
Danny came flying in, with Patamon on his head. "Alright, I need to talk to you two right now."
"We were just about to, Danny," Andy spoke up. "But maybe we should talk somewhere a little more private. Maybe at Amity Park's… central park? It's pretty empty at this time of night."
Johnny looked at Andy. "That's not a bad idea, kid. Out of the way, it's a good spot."
"Fine, but I'll stick with you to make sure you don't go somewhere else," Danny stated.
"Whatever." Johnny rolled his eyes before taking 'Paulina's' hand and put her on the motorcycle seat behind him. "What about your brother? You think he'll be able to keep up?"
"Maybe not myself, no," Andy said before holding up his D-Arc.
Johnny hadn't expected Danny to be able to keep up with him so easily, his motorcycle defied the human laws of physics after all, and it was far faster than any human motorcycle could possibly go. What surprised him more was the fact Andy's big dragon fox Digimon was able to keep up with him as well.
"You always seem to have new surprises, kid." Johnny noted with a bit of a smirk. "First you have a Digimon hanging around you, and now he can keep pace with my motorcycle."
"I want to fly that fast one day…" Patamon enviously muttered, still on top of Danny's head.
"Don't worry, buddy, you will," Danny chuckled.
"I've had a lot of training." Dorugamon smiled proudly.
Johnny chuckled. "Well, it certainly shows."
It didn't take long for them to reach central park. True to Andy's words, it was pretty empty, save for a few squirrels and stray cats roaming around. The ghosts and Dorugamon landed.
"Okay, now that we're here, could you two tell us exactly what is going on?" Danny started when they landed.
'Paulina' sighed. "Ever since Johnny stole a device from your parents' lab to install on his motorcycle so he could come back here at will, I've been nagging him to take me with him. It was nice at first, and I was enjoying the city sights. But I wasn't the only one, as Johnny was getting his share of the 'sights' too, if you get what I mean. He was ogling every pretty girl that passed by him."
"Come on, Kitten, I said I was sorry. Besides, I was only looking at them, it's been a long time since we had seen living people after all. You know you're the only girl for me," Johnny explained.
"But the way you looked at them, I could see how you were giving an interested flirtatious look whenever you saw a girl!" 'Paulina' snapped before she continued with her story. "After I flew away from Johnny, having about all I could stand from him at this point," 'Paulina' made a point to glare at Johnny. "I flew to the water park, where I sensed your energy… and all the Digimon energy as well. I remembered how much Johnny couldn't stand you, so you were the perfect person to make him jealous."
"You… were trying to make me jealous?" Johnny asked, surprised.
"Well, yeah!" 'Paulina' snapped back before turning back to Danny. "Anyway, I was going to overshadow your friend, the chick in black, but I ended up in this body instead."
"Wait… you were going to overshadow Sam?" Danny asked, surprised. "Why?"
Andy and Dorumon were trying not to snicker at the implication.
"Why wouldn't I?" 'Paulina' giggled. "You like her, don't you?"
"What? N-no! Why would you think that!?" Danny blushed.
"So you don't like her in that way?" Patamon asked. "Odd, I kept getting a sense that you liked her more than a friend whenever you smiled dreamily at her. Even Gatomon would sometimes comment on-"
Danny glared up at Patamon before he shoved a hand over his partner's mouth. "No, I do not like Sam like that!" But the blush on his cheeks gave away he was feeling something.
"Ahem…" Andy spoke up, deciding to save his brother's butt from more embarrassment. "As entertaining as it is to speculate Danny's lovelife, we're getting off topic here. Kitty, you've been in Paulina's body since the water park, correct?"
'Paulina' nodded. "I have. Why?"
"So does that mean you were the one who saw Danny transform that day and not Paulina?" Andy asked for clarification.
'Paulina' frowned. "Of course it was. I was in this body for a while by then."
"Oof… Paulina's lost quite a few days," Dorugamon cringed.
"Kitty, I know you wanted to make Johnny jealous, but perhaps you should stop overshadowing Paulina. If you stay in her body any longer, you'll be possessing her," Andy pointed out.
'Paulina' sighed. "I know that. It's just… I was so mad at Johnny. I guess I wasn't thinking this through clearly."
"And Johnny," Andy spoke up, looking at the biker. "You do have to be more careful with how you look at other people. Sometimes the girl you love needs to be reminded that you do still love her, even if you two had been together for… however long it's been for you two. If you're not careful, you could lose the person you love."
Andy looked at Danny when he said that too. There were multiple meanings to what he just said, after all, it was way too easy to lose the people one loved. Andy came close to losing Danny in the accident. And Sam may end up losing Danny if she waited too long to confess her feelings to him.
Danny blinked as he tilted his head in confusion at Andy's words to him. On his head, Patamon was trying hard not to laugh. Danny was quite dense at times, after all, at least when it came to if a girl liked him.
Johnny looked at Kitty, who was still in Paulina's body, biting his lower lip. Andy's words had some merit. The biker ghost then sighed. "You're right, kid… I should be more careful. I mean, I lost Kitty once in life, and I don't want to lose her in death either."
Johnny then got off of his bike and took 'Paulina's' hand. "Kitten, please forgive me. I didn't mean to upset you when I was looking at the other girls. I'm just happy that we can be together again, whether it's here or at home in the Ghost Zone."
'Paulina' finally melted her jealousy and pride wall and gave Johnny a dreamy smile. "Oh, Johnny… I'm sorry too, for overreacting. I'm glad we were able to be together again when you opened the Ghost Portal. But maybe we can use it to go back home for a bit? I kinda do miss our comfortable lair."
Johnny smiled at Kitty's apology and her words. "Sure thing, babe. We can go anywhere you want." He then gave her a kiss on her cheek in apology.
"Uh… don't forget to give Paulina back her body," Danny spoke up.
"Right, I won't be needing this anymore," 'Paulina' realized before she exited the girl's body.
Because Andy was closer when Paulina fell, he ended up catching her. He groaned, wishing he could just drop her, but even he wasn't that heartless.
Dorugamon gave a grin to Andy. "You don't seem too happy there, Andy~"
"Don't say another word," Andy grumbled.
Johnny and Kitty got back on the motorcycle before Johnny pushed a button on the little Fenton gadget that was hooked to the handle of his bike. A Ghost Portal opened up in front of Johnny.
Andy frowned at seeing that. When did Mom and Dad make something like that? Opening up a ghost portal at any time could make the barrier between the worlds weaker faster. "Danny, could you do me a quick favor?"
Johnny drove the motorcycle through the Ghost Portal. Danny nodded to Andy after Andy told him what to do. The ghost boy quickly flew through the portal himself while it was still there.
"Hey, I'm sorry for this, but we can't have you opening up portals at your own whim," Danny apologized before he shot a ghost ray at the gadget on Johnny's bike, frying it completely.
Johnny didn't really pay attention to the ghost boy's action, even if he sensed the device getting destroyed. He had Kitty back, and that was all that mattered to him.
"Enjoy yourselves, you two!" Danny chuckled.
"Have a nice afterlife together!" Patamon added just before Danny flew back through the portal just before it closed.
Andy sighed in relief to see Danny and Patamon made it back just before the portal closed. "Well, looks like that's taken care of."
Dorugamon smirked. "Looks like you're still holding Paulina."
"It was either that or put her on the ground," Andy grumbled. "I doubt she would've wanted to wake up to being held by a dragon fox."
Danny hovered down with a grin as he heard Andy's words. "No, I doubt she would have." He agreed. "But for someone who hates her guts, you sure are taking your time holding the princess."
"You want to hold her? Here, take her! You need to take her back home anyways," Andy grumbled.
"Heh, too bad. She won't remember 'being in love' with you, so your status as an A-List will get revoked soon," Patamon noted.
Danny frowned before he sighed. "Yeah… I guess that's over with… It was nice while it lasted… but I was such an idiot! I didn't think anything of it when she saw, and now I find out it was all a trick to make Johnny jealous! Talk about a bummer…"
"Would you have loved her if she really was herself at the time?" Andy asked.
"I don't know, maybe? I mean she is the hottest girl in school," Danny answered as he picked Paulina up.
"If you only like her for her looks, that's not real love…" Andy frowned.
Danny blushed a bit at that. "I know that! It's called a crush!"
Paulina groaned a bit.
"Maybe we should talk about this later, you should get her home soon," Dorugamon spoke up. "I would rather she didn't wake up right now."
"With me holding her!" Andy added, growling a bit.
Danny sighed. "Okay, I'll take her home." He looked at Andy. "I'll be back to Fenton Works once I drop Paulina off at her house."
"Just come home when you're done. I'm gonna ride on Dorugamon back home," Andy spoke up.
Danny nodded. "Okay. Just be careful. You never know what can go down in this town of ours." With that said, and Paulina in his grasp, Danny then took off for Paulina's house.
Unbeknownst to the group, however, was a shadow who had been watching them. "Looks like the pretty girl is free for the taking~ I just need a little more data before I can fully recover."
A female Gomamon was looking out into the ocean. She loved living with her fellow Gomamon on their island, and they had been living peacefully since the Legendary Warriors helped them get across the whirlpool and Ranamon 4 years or so ago. However, this particular Gomamon wanted a little more out of life. She decided to explore the ocean. And there was a mystery that nobody knew about yet, and it had gotten her adventure side tingling with excitement.
Gomamon wore a necklace with a red shell around her neck. The red shell, she believed, was good luck. She always wore it since she found it on the beach a while ago. She was excited to get back out into the sea to look at the mystery she had found a few days ago.
Just as Gomamon was about to jump into the sea, a Betamon stopped her. "Wait! Gomamon, you're not seriously going back out there, are you?"
"Yes, I am, Betamon," Gomamon answered. "I need to get a closer look at the place!"
Betamon frowned. "But it's not of this world, it can't be. It felt too unnatural to be a part of this world. If you get any closer, you might end up… somewhere else."
"Maybe. But no discovery gets discovered without some risk involved," Gomamon stated. "I'll be back soon, Betamon, don't worry! I'm just going to look around."
Betamon frowned again before sighing. "She will get lost, I know she will…"
"Did you say something?" Gomamon frowned.
Betamon shook his head. "No. Go and enjoy yourself."
Gomamon smiled. "Thanks, I will!"
Gomamon jumped into the sea and began swimming. She swam pretty far from the island she lived on. It's just around here, if I remember right…
Gomamon then went underwater, going down deeper and deeper. She squinted her eyes a bit, trying to see what she wanted to see. She then smiled when she saw what she was looking for; a large city that was completely submerged in water. No other aquatic Digimon would dare come close to this abandoned looking city. There was something off about the city, an odd and ominous feeling that terrified the other Digimon. But this just made Gomamon even more curious. She swam closer, seeing the buildings didn't look old enough to be falling apart, but they did look abandoned and empty.
It gave Gomamon an odd feeling as she looked around. She had never expected the buildings to be so empty and abandoned, especially since the city didn't look that old to her. Gomamon swam to one of the buildings and peered inside, but she saw nothing that indicated the place was once inhabited. She couldn't help but wondered who lived here, or if anyone lived here at all. If people did live here, then she wondered what happened to them. These buildings didn't look like they were built by aquatic Digimon, however, so it was likely that when the city somehow got submerged, the civilians had all drowned. But if the town wasn't old, then there should've been bodies floating around, except there wasn't.
There was a strange ripple around a particularly large building, one that looked a bit like a castle. Curious, Gomamon swam toward the ripple.
As she swam to the ripple, Gomamon was curious about what the ripple was. Where did it lead? Did it lead to where the inhabitants were? She was about to get her answer, and it made her so excited. As soon as she swam through the ripple, Gomamon found she was no longer in the Digital World, as she could sense no Digimon nearby.
The city around Gomamon seemed to have vanished as well. Panicking, Gomamon quickly swam up to the surface of the water. As soon as she did, she saw a harbor in front of her, leading into a completely different city. There was a big sign that said 'Welcome to Amity Park! A nice place to live!' And to Gomamon's surprise, there were humans here, humans everywhere.
Gomamon's eyes went wide as she realized she was no longer in the Digital World but in the human world. Did that ripple take me from the Digital World to the human world?!
This was certainly the discovery of a lifetime, but now Gomamon was stuck in the human world.
"Well, well, well, I was just looking for some data~" A feminine voice spoke up with a giggle.
Gomamon turned around, facing who just spoke. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was. "R-R-Ranamon!?"
"Who else could it be, sugah?~" The Warrior of Water teased as she gave a wink.
Gomamon paled, she knew she was in trouble now.
Gomamon was running through the streets of Amity Park. She couldn't have stayed in the water since that was where Ranamon was at her strongest. Gomamon knew she wouldn't stand a chance against a Legendary Warrior, so she was trying to find a place to hide. The people who saw her were surprised, but most thought of her as a very weird looking dog or something.
I have to hide, I have to hide, I have to hide! Gomamon thought over and over again as she tried to find a place to hide away from the Warrior of Water. But where? Where can I hide?! Oh, Celestials above, someone help me!
"You can't escape from me forever!" Ranamon called out.
Ranamon grinned as she began to summon a cloud. "Maybe this will slow you down. Draining Rain!"
Gomamon tried to outrun the cloud, but it was on top of her faster than she could blink. She let out a whine as her running started to slow into a crawl, the rain draining her energy away.
"Your data is mine now~" Ranamon grinned hungrily as she began to approach the weakened Gomamon.
Suddenly, Ranamon was shot by a purple-pink ecto blast. She let out a scream as she was shot back a few feet. The Draining Rain cloud dissipated after Ranamon was shot back.
Gomamon looked up, vision fuzzy and blurry. Huh…? Who… saved me?
Someone in the air started coming down. It looked red… they looked red… they were wearing some kind of red suit, and was riding on something.
"I can't stand it when people think they could just hurt those weaker than them," The person growled at Ranamon, holding a big bazooka. "My sensors don't indicate you're a ghost, but you're acting just as bad as an evil one!"
"Oh, don't go comparing me to those evil spooks, hon, 'cause I ain't one of them!" Ranamon huffed.
"Why are you hurting this poor creature?" The suited up person demanded before she landed beside the weakened Gomamon, and carefully picked her up.
"I need a little something called data, hon. And that creature is made of the stuff." The Warrior of Water smirked.
"I don't know the full story of that, but I'm not going to let you hurt this creature anymore," The suited person growled before she fired at Ranamon again before she had the hoverboard fly away quickly. "Don't worry, little guy, I'll get you somewhere safe."
Gomamon managed to open her eyes a bit. "Thank… you…"
The suited person nodded, but there was surprise on their unseen face, even if Gomamon didn't know it. You can talk?
Takuya's Nightmare
I was strapped to the lab table still, with the shadowed form that looked like my uncle approaching me. I could feel my Digi-Core racing with fear, but at the same time, I was trying to figure out how to confront this fear of mine. I was sure the form of my uncle in shadow represented my family and the scalpel was the fear of rejection. But I was at a loss of how to confront the fear.
I decided to just go for it and see what would happen. I knew I would have to confront the fear sooner or later, so going for it now was the best time. But the question was how. I had tried just about everything I could think of… except… just… talking. But surely it couldn't be that easy, right?
Once the shadowed form of my uncle approached me and held up the scalpel again, I swallowed nervously, realizing it was now or never. I steeled myself for what I was about to say, and potential consequences. "Wait… don't do it!"
The scalpel stopped, much to my surprise. The shadowed man then looked at me, and, for the first time ever, I heard him speak. "Why should I stop?"
I swallowed again, forcing down the lump that was forming in my throat. "It's… It's me…" I stammered out. "It's me… Takuya…"
"Takuya? Impossible. You don't look anything like him. You're clearly not human at all," The man pointed out.
"That's because…" I steeled myself for the next sentence. "I am Agunimon!" I said it as firmly as I could, trying to emphasize the fact I was the Legendary Warrior, all while trying to hide my nervousness.
"... I don't understand. How could you be Agunimon?" The man asked, sounding less ominous, and more like a confused person.
"I hold the Spirits of a Legendary Warrior." I said firmly, feeling less nervous now and a bit more hopeful. "That is how…"
"You're really Takuya?" The man asked.
Suddenly, for the first time ever, I was able to revert back to my human form. I hadn't felt safe enough to do so since this nightmare started. I could only hope that would help rather than make me more vulnerable. "Yes, it's me…"
The scalpel suddenly dropped to the floor with a clang. The shadow shrouding the man dissipated, showing Uncle Jack looking at me in shock and regret. "Takuya… I'm… so sorry…"
I felt relief coming over me and I fell to my knees, unable to believe it had worked. I had begun to overcome the fear… I was shaking in relief. "It… It's over…?" I muttered to myself.
Jack suddenly turned into mist and dissipated around Takuya.
Takuya suddenly jolted up from the bed he was laying on. He panted as he looked around, seeing he was back in the Digital World. "W...what? What happened?"
"Takuya?!" Tommy's, or maybe Calumon's, voice spoke up in surprise.
Takuya turned to see who spoke up his name, but there was a sudden door slam, and the person who called his name was nowhere to be seen.
"Uh… did someone call my name?" Takuya wondered as he looked around.
There was a sudden bright flash coming from the otherside of the door that had closed seconds ago, before the door opened again, revealing Calumon.
"Hey! Takuya, you finally woke up I see. You had us worried," Calumon said in relief.
Takuya looked back and saw Calumon. "Calumon? What happened? I remember being brought here and then I fell asleep and had this odd dream."
"Yeah, I… kinda figured," Calumon said a little nervously. "Um… how do you feel after that… dream you had?"
Takuya looked down at his hands. "It was odd… I was dreaming I was in my Human Spirit form and being dissected by my uncle. I tried escaping and attacking, but nothing worked. Then… when I revealed who I was… it… ended." He murmured. "After that… I… feel… somewhat better…"
"So… how do you feel about being around your uncle now?" Calumon questioned, looking a bit more hopeful.
"I… while I am wary, I think… I can be around him. At least, without going into a full-blown panic attack." Takuya admitted.
"That's good. I'm glad that worked out. You've… been asleep for a while… at least a few days had passed in the real world," Calumon informed, looking a little guilty.
"Huh?! I was asleep for that long?!" Takuya gasped.
"Y-yeah…" Calumon sighed. "I… may have… requested a Tapirmon to use their Nightmare Syndrome on you… in hopes of helping you try to confront your fear a bit…"
Takuya wasn't sure how to feel about that, but he did have to admit, it worked to an extent. "While I may not agree with the method, it appears to have helped somewhat… Even if I didn't like it…"
"I'm sorry, Takuya… I know you wouldn't like it, but I couldn't think of a better way to help you," Calumon sighed tiredly. "But… I don't regret it. If it helped you, I'd say it was worth it. Maybe you wouldn't want to talk to me for a while, but… I'm still glad I was able to help you."
Takuya sighed. "I can't hate you for what you did, Calumon. You did what you felt was best." He then looked up with a bit of a smile. "And I can't thank you enough."
Calumon perked up at that. "Really? Despite what you had to go through with the nightmare, you're still thanking me for it?"
Takuya chuckled here. "I wasn't going to do it on my own, that's for sure. I would have found a way to avoid the issue if left to handle it on my own."
Calumon gave a shy smile. "Well… I'm glad that I could help you, Takuya. Now, you better get back to the real world soon. Sorcermon's clone of you is running low on magic, and might disappear soon."
Takuya nodded. "Sure thing. I'm sure Andy and Danny are wondering where I am." However, he then paused. "Wait… Your voice sounds like a friend of mine's. It sounds like Tommy's."
Calumon started to sweat a little when Takuya pointed that out. "O-oh? That's… kind of a funny coincidence."
Takuya frowned a bit at how nervous Calumon was acting. "And why is it that when I saw you before, Tommy was nowhere to be found?"
"I don't know, just unlucky I guess?" Calumon shrugged. "Shouldn't you be more worried about getting back home then whether or not Tommy and I have issues with being in the same place at the same time?"
Takuya wanted to pursue the matter a bit more, but Calumon had a point. He frowned a bit, but decided to head back to the real world for now. Maybe later I can try and pursue this. Takuya thought to himself. At least, when I have time.
"Yeah, I guess I do have more important things to worry about." Takuya admitted as he stood up from the bed.
"Good luck with whatever's going on at Amity Park." Calumon waved to Takuya, though inwardly, he was sighing in relief.
Takuya smiled and nodded. "Thanks! I'll see ya again soon, hopefully under better circumstances!" He gave a wave goodbye before he turned and ran out of the room.
It was dark by the time Takuya arrived back in his room in Fenton Works. He blinked for a moment, looking at his digital clock on the nightstand, seeing it was 12:34 AM. The Fentons must be asleep by now.
"Ah… looks like you're finally back," Takuya heard his own voice saying.
Takuya turned, only to see his clone, Takuya 2, behind him. "Ah… Yeah… I'm back." Wow, it's odd talking to myself...
"That's good. I'm going to just leave now," Takuya 2 said before lazily yawning. "Have fun with your life. You got some popular cousins now."
With that said, Takuya 2's body disappeared in a sparkle of magic.
Takuya blinked as he heard that. "Popular cousins?" Takuya asked himself. Did something happen with Andy and Danny? Oh man… This is gonna be interesting...
The next morning, Takuya sat at the kitchen table. He saw Jazz and Lopmon eating together as usual. Andy and Dorimon came down a little late. But Danny and Patamon hadn't come down yet.
"Hey guys, did you miss me?" Takuya asked.
"Hmm? Takuya?" Andy looked at his cousin. "Is that actually you?"
Takuya gave a chuckle. "Yeah, it's me." He confirmed as he held out his D-Tector. "I got back last night."
"It's good that you're back. Did you have a long business at the Digital World?" Jazz asked. "I was starting to get worried."
Takuya sighed. "You could say that." He ran a hand through his hair. "It was… rough because of my injuries, but I'm better now."
"It sounds like you had quite a trial to go through," Lopmon noted.
"Yeah… hey, where are Aunt Maddie and… Uncle Jack?" Takuya asked.
"They're busy with a new invention in the lab," Dorimon answered. "And I might get some yummy scrap metal from it, Maddie promised~"
"Ever since they found out about Digimon, they've been taking small samples of their fur and shed claws or teeth to study them too," Andy explained. "They said it helps them make more effective weapons against ghosts since ghosts are weak to Digimon attacks. And it also helps them make some gadgets to fight back against the evil or wild Digimon."
Takuya felt his body tense at hearing that, but he managed to force it aside. Panicking now would do no good, since he had pretty much forced himself to confront his fear in that nightmare. Sure, he was aware his uncle meant no harm to him, but he was still wary.
"I see…" Takuya said flatly. "I guess that makes sense…"
"Are you okay, Takuya? This… isn't going to be a problem for you, is it?" Jazz asked in concern.
"I…" Takuya sighed here. "What happened… It will take time to get over. I think I can be around uncle Jack without panicking, but… it will take time for me to begin to trust him again."
"It's only natural you'd be wary," Lopmon agreed. "But just know that neither he nor Maddie are being invasive with their research on us Digimon. They always ask us for permission before taking our fur or whatever."
Danny finally came into the kitchen. He looked almost half asleep though. "Hey… morning…"
Takuya turned to Danny. "Hey, Danny!" He greeted back with a grin.
Danny slowly blinked at Takuya. Patamon flew over and gave a sheepish grin. "You're the real Takuya, aren't you?"
Takuya held up his D-Tector in response. "Yep. I got back last night."
"Hey, glad to see you're back," Danny greeted, though he couldn't fight off a yawn.
"Danny, have you been out on patrol all night again?" Andy frowned.
"Not all night… just at around 1 AM, because Skulker set off my ghost sense… then Technus decided to invade the computer store… then the Lunch Lady decided to try to get rid of the new vegetarian restaurant… and don't even get me started on the Box Ghost," Danny grumbled.
"I told you that you could've gotten some help." Patamon frowned. "You can't keep pulling all these all-nighters."
Takuya frowned. "Danny, Patamon's right. Andy, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz can help too, you know."
"It was late… I didn't want to wake you guys up," Danny admitted.
"I know you care about us, Danny, but look at yourself!" Jazz gestured to her brother. "You look like you're about to fall over! Can you even get through the school day without falling asleep?"
Takuya gave Danny a deadpan look. "You need to stay home. You can't stay awake long enough to get through school with how little sleep you got last night."
"I'll be fine… just gonna get some energy drinks to keep me awake," Danny grumbled.
"This really isn't healthy for you," Andy said in concern.
"Forget it, when he gets like this, he doesn't listen to anyone," Patamon sighed.
Takuya sighed. "Danny really needs to take better care of himself…"
"Look who's talking," Danny pointed at Takuya. "You go off on late partols just as much as I do. You even disappeared into the Digital World for the past several days. You have no room to talk."
Takuya frowned. "That was different. As a Legendary Warrior, I had duties in the Digital World."
"Well, as the superhero of Amity Park, it's my duty to make sure this town is safe," Danny retorted as he guzzled down the energy drink.
While the two were arguing, Andy and Jazz decided to pick up their breakfast and started to walk towards the living room. Lopmon and Dorimon quickly followed after their partners.
"If you two superpowered heroes need us, we'll be in the living room," Andy stated.
"Doing the 'glad I don't have super powers' dance," Jazz added.
Takuya looked at Andy and Jazz in confusion. "Was that sarcasm?"
"They've been getting a bit flustered with your and Danny's disappearances lately," Patamon explained as he landed on the table. "Danny going off at random to take care of ghost threats on his own, only getting the others if he really couldn't handle it on his own or there are Digimon attacking the town as well. And you going off on your own sometimes, or disappearing to the Digital World for a while."
Takuya sighed. "I guess that would make anyone nervous…" He admitted. Then he remembered what his clone had said before disappearing. "Hey, Danny? I heard from my clone that my cousins were 'popular'. What happened while I was gone to cause that?"
"Oh that? Paulina and I were dating," Danny answered bluntly. "It shook the entire school, and it brought me up into the A-List."
Takuya felt his jaw drop at hearing that. He wondered for a moment if he was in another reality. "Wh… WHAT?!"
"Hey, that was pretty much everyone else's reaction," Danny chuckled in amusement. "Well, you don't have to worry, because it wasn't real. Paulina was overshadowed by Kitty, trying to make Johnny jealous. We got everything worked out though, so Paulina isn't overshadowed anymore, but I don't think she remembered dating me, or that I'm half ghost."
Takuya felt relief at hearing that. "Good… I don't think I could trust Paulina to keep that secret."
"Well, it's a bit sad that my popularity is going to go down the drain, but it was nice while it lasted," Danny sighed. "Although… I'm not sure about Andy's popularity."
Danny grabbed a box of Fruit Loop cereal and began to pour it into a bowl.
"How did Andy become popular?" Takuya asked as he sat down.
Danny went to the fridge to take out some milk before pouring it into the bowl of cereal. "It got out that he and Dash are friends. Because Dash is so high on the popularity list, that made Andy's cred suddenly go up to A-List as well."
Takuya frowned. "That… sounds a bit worrisome… I mean it's complicated too. Dash is Andy's friend, but I don't think Andy wanted the popularity."
"I think Andy's already thought of several different ways to get out of being popular," Danny chuckled as he began eating his cereal. "He just hadn't put the plan into motion yet."
Takuya chuckled as well. "I don't doubt it." He then paused. "What was Andy's reaction when you and 'Paulina' began dating?"
"He… well… I wasn't looking at him at the time," Danny sheepishly admitted. "I was too busy being shocked myself."
"Andy broke," Patamon answered instead as Danny gave him his own bowl of cereal.
Takuya blinked. "Andy broke? How is that possible?"
"He temporarily went insane with hysteria," Patamon clarified, munching on his cereal. "Thankfully he snapped out of it fairly quickly."
Takuya couldn't help bust out laughing. "Andy lost his mind?! That sounds like something he would do at something he can't comprehend!"
"I CAN HEAR YOU!" Andy's voice shouted from the living room.
Takuya gave a wince at that. "Sorry, Andy!" He called back.
"Regardless, school is going to be a boring day now," Danny sighed. "Too bad, I was just a few stamps away from that free yogurt…"
"Wait… what?" Takuya blinked.
When Danny, Andy, and Takuya got to school, they were a bit surprised. Paulina walked up to Danny as soon as she saw him. At first, Danny thought Paulina was going to dump him, since she likely heard from everyone else in school that they were supposedly dating, but she was smiling seductively at him.
"Hey there, boyfriend~ Where have you been?" Paulina asked Danny, grinning.
As soon as Paulina said that, Danny, Andy, and Takuya were suspicious of Kitty overshadowing Paulina again.
"I thought you said Kitty and Johnny had their issue resolved…" Takuya muttered to Danny.
"They did, or we thought they did," Danny whispered back.
"What do you mean 'boyfriend', Paulina? The jocks are far away," Andy asked, looking at Paulina.
Paulina rolled her eyes. "Danny is my boyfriend, of course. I mean we are dating, aren't we?"
Danny frowned. "I… err… we were dating." He felt awkward. Wow… This is weird. I was sure we had things wrapped up here.
Danny tried to feel for a ghost in Paulina's body, he had gotten better with sensing a ghost in a person's body, but he didn't feel anything unusual, at least not in a ghost sense. There was something, but it wasn't ghostly whatever it was.
"I thought you didn't like Danny," Andy spoke up, looking confused.
"Why would you think that?" Paulina asked. "I mean I have been dating him the past few days, haven't I?"
"Wait… so you remember…?" Danny asked in worry.
"Remember that we're dating? Yes I do~" Paulina grinned.
"... Do you remember anything else? Like… maybe why we're dating in the first place?" Danny questioned, trying to see if Paulina remembered him transforming.
"Hmm… no, not really. That's kind of a blur, but I do know that I like you enough to keep dating you~ I never realized how cute you were," Paulina giggled, which made Andy want to gag.
Danny frowned, but he didn't press the issue before he smiled a bit. As long as she didn't remember why they had been dating, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. This just meant he got to keep dating the hottest girl in school, and this time she wasn't being overshadowed by some jealous ghost.
"That's great!" Danny smiled.
"Let's have lunch together, oh, and let's walk together to class~" Paulina grinned, holding onto Danny's arm.
"Wha? But-but-why- you don't like Danny in that way!" Andy frowned in shock, unsure of what to make this situation.
Danny and Paulina ignored the confused and flustered Andy before they started walking off in the hallway.
"What-but-this wasn't supposed to end this way! Takuya, what the hell just happened!?" Andy yelled, shaking his cousin.
"A-Andy! Let go!" Takuya yelped as he was shaken hard by Andy.
"Is she still overshadowed!? She has to be, there's no way Paulina would ever go on a date with Danny willingly! Not without some kind of ulterior motive!" Andy continued shaking Takuya.
"Andy! Let go!" Takuya exclaimed, feeling his Spirits sending a slight heat into his body to force Andy to let go of him.
Andy did let go, which caused Takuya to fall to the floor.
"Ouch!" Takuya groaned.
"S-sorry, Takuya… I kinda… lost it for a second there," Andy frowned guiltily.
"No… It's fine…" Takuya said as he got back to his feet. "At least you didn't have your brain break again."
"Maybe not, but he might as well have," Dorimon snickered from Andy's backpack. "I thought he was going to shake you until you fainted."
Takuya gave a slight glare at Dorimon, but he didn't hold any malice in it. He then sighed. "Well, this makes things awkward… Paulina dating Danny I mean."
"Sam isn't going to be too happy either." Andy frowned. "She's already getting jealous… well, no she is jealous of Danny dating Paulina. We haven't been able to really hang out together as much lately."
Takuya frowned as well. "Sam is jealous?" If it weren't for the situation being so awkward, Takuya would have been grinning like a loon at hearing Sam was jealous, because it proved she liked Danny.
"You've got a lot of catching up to do," Dorimon snickered.
Takuya sighed. "I guess I do…"
Takuya did indeed realize how much he needed to catch up on. With both Danny and Andy being on the A-List, they were usually dragged away by the other popular kids, wanting to talk to them about the latest fad, which Andy usually ignored and put his own two cents in about 'fads', which confused a lot of the popular kids. Danny was spending more time with Paulina, but he seemed a bit more strained about it than before.
Paulina seemed to like taking advantage of Danny's gentleman generosity. She kept having him carry her stuff down the hallway, sometimes she would even drag him to go shopping with her outside of school and have him carry her stuff. She would ask Danny to do her favors like get her, her napkin, or drink, or dessert or whatever. She would sometimes start to get angry or impatient if Danny had to leave to go fight a ghost he sensed. It was clear this Paulina didn't have a clue that Danny was half ghost. He also didn't like seeing her be mean to those who weren't popular.
This was going on for a few days. Sam had been trying to talk to Danny, but he had been so wrapped up with Paulina that by the time she could get Danny alone, it was midnight, and she had to turn in. Sneaking out didn't do much, because by the time she got to Fenton Works, Danny was out on patrol.
Takuya couldn't help but notice there was something different about the school. The popular kids seemed to start caring less about fashion. Some of them just wore something simple and casual, and said that if Andy thought they should wear what they like instead of what was the latest fashion, then they should. Ironically, this caused another fad among the popular kids; casual clothing.
Takuya wasn't sure if he was in another dimension or if he was still in the Digital World, dreaming. He even pinched his arm a few times to see if he was indeed awake, and when he felt the pain of that pinch, he knew he was not dreaming. "Ow…"
"You okay, dude?" Tucker asked, seeing Takuya rubbing the place he pinched.
"Yeah… But I'm wondering if I am in some kind of parallel dimension at this point, since the popular kids are less interested in fashion, and Danny and Andy are popular." Takuya admitted.
"Heh… you're not the only one who thinks that," Tucker chuckled sheepishly.
As if on cue, Andy was walking down the hallway, looking at his textbooks, and looking tired. However, before Takuya could call him over, a tall girl with braces, and was blonde with a ponytail, suddenly latched onto him with a hug.
"You were right, Andy! I managed to get a B on the test today because of that study method you showed me! Maybe now I don't need to keep asking Mikey to do my homework." The girl smiled.
"Really, it was nothing. And I'm glad to hear you're not going to keep asking Mikey to do your homework," Andy said politely.
Takuya blinked. "I think I may need to pinch myself again…"
"Wait for it," Terriermon spoke up, grinning.
Suddenly, more girls began to surround Andy, asking him to help them with their own study methods for their upcoming tests. At the same time, Terriermon tapped Takuya's shoulder with his ear and pointed at the other side of the hallway. Takuya could see the other twin, Danny, there, looking rather tired himself. Paulina was fondling over him, and there were popular guys, not jocks, but still popular, good looking guys, asking Danny for love advice.
Takuya blinked again before he looked at his own arm. "Now I think I should punch myself instead…"
"Yeah, don't do that," Tucker quickly said. "I still have a bruise when I did that to myself. Niki had to put some water on it."
"Duly noted." Takuya murmured as he looked back up. "I have to be in another dimension at this point. There's no way this is really happening."
"It is happening…" Takuya suddenly felt a killing intent that made him want to shiver and hide. "And we have to live through it."
Sam was standing in a bit of a distance. There was a dark fire surrounding her body. Takuya was shocked that the locker she was touching hadn't disintegrated into ash by now.
Takuya felt faint when he saw that. Yep… brain breaking… He felt himself fall out of conscious thought as he stared with wide eyes.
Gatomon then came up from Sam's backpack, then she grinned at Takuya. "Hey, Takuya, did you know that darkness is a peaceful place to just be alone and meditate to reflect on your life? If you're lucky, you might get a spider or two to listen to your woes. No wonder Digimon like Devimon or LadyDevimon prefer to stay in the darkness, it's less irritating than the light, where all could see you."
Takuya blanked out at hearing those words from the Celestial Digimon. Brain… broke… down… fall… Takuya fell to the floor, stunned and unable to process what he had just heard and seen.
"Takuya?" Tucker frowned in concern.
"Is he alright?" Terriermon asked.
"Do you think he didn't like my dark poetry?" Gatomon asked in concern.
"You… might need to work on the poetry part," Sam sighed.
Takuya began to giggle like a child, a sign his brain wasn't working right.
"We… should get him to the nurse…" Sam frowned.
"That's twice in one week someone's brain broke due to this… unusual circumstances," Tucker noted.
"Heh, yeah, unusual, and we fight with ghosts and Digimon on a daily basis," Terriermon snickered.
Takuya continued to giggle, not even paying attention to the words of his friends. Sam and Tucker had to drag the giggling Takuya away while the people that were passing by were staring.
"Too much sugar, not good for the mind," Sam quickly said as they were dragging Takuya.
Some of the kids that were eating sugary things, like cookies, or a small ice cream sundae, quickly put those away, or threw them into the nearest trash can.
Titanic X: ZAFT: I'm glad you liked the chapter. ;3
Sesshoru: DarkFoxKit: We honestly don't plan to give anyone the Spirit of Water right now, or any time soon. Dash was someone we decided because we wanted to make him a little more important to the story. But we've reached our character limit, we have way too much to work with to bring in new Legendary Warriors.
ZAFT: If we were not at our limit, we would certainly bring them in, but sadly, that is not possible. Those were good ideas though. :3
CT7567Rules: DarkFoxKit: It's a bit unusual for us to answer someone's reviews from different chapters at once, but I'm going to try.
Yes, I actually had 'Here We Go' playing in the background whenever they go through the digital portal to get to the Digital World. It was actually one of the main reasons why we decided to use the computers as the digital portal in the first place.
Dash is more like the Joey from Yu-Gi-Oh in this series, though with how many characters we have, it's been difficult to use Dash outside of his canon appearances.
ZAFT: As for the Fright Knight, it could be taken as a warning if you want it to be. And as for Angemon, you will love how he comes in later on. XD
DarkFoxKit: Although, just putting in my opinion, while I don't dislike the Angemon line, I was just never a fan of human-like monsters. It just feels weird to see this cute little mammal with bat-like wings suddenly become an angel. I could say the same for the Gatomon and Angewomon line too. But that's just me, and I don't really have a problem with Angemon himself.
Yeah, since Dash is now a friend, we needed Calvin to take his place as the main school bully, and of course, Star and Paulina are still the popular girl bullies. Sorry about how you got bullied, it's never fun getting bullied and nobody would really help you, yet you get in trouble if you tried to retaliate.
ZAFT: I dealt with a bully in high school once, but it wasn't as bad as it can get for others. I guess I just got lucky. ^^' As for your idea about Kwan, as mentioned in the review response above, we are at the limit of characters we can use. It is a good idea we would use if we could though. :3
GirlFish: ZAFT: Oh, you will get some Celestial action later on, but maybe not until season 3… ^^'
DarkFoxKit: We are more focused on the Danny Phantom side of things than we are on Digimon since this is supposed to be a Danny Phantom fanfiction. We normally try to keep the Digimon stuff to a minimum rather than taking over. We've only done a few arcs involving the Digital World, so we'd like to keep it a rarity. But as for the Celestial Digimon, they can't quite reach their Mega forms yet, but they are strong in their own right without those Mega forms. And they're likely chosen to be Celestial Digimon for political reasons rather than for their power. I mean look at what happened to Lucemon when he was the big Digimon leader.
ZAFT: And as for Takuya being Flamemon, we plan to keep that as a running gag for when we do involve the Digital World. XD We already have the Freakshow episode done and planned out, so I have to say sorry for your idea, but it would be funny if we could do it. XD
DarkFoxKit: Not really funny, more dramatic. And Freakshow's orb isn't really meant to control Digimon, just ghosts. But I guess it could control Digimon if they give in.