Digital Phantom

by ZAFT Convoy

Three worlds coexist side by side yet never interacting; one of life, one of death, and one artificial. Twins Andy and Danny are roped in when an accident occurs and a relative returns from Japan. But the twins are on opposite sides; Danny on the world of death, Andy on the artificial. Can they find out how the three worlds rely on each other? Or will they fall to an enemy in wait?

61. Strategic Consideration

ZAFT: You seem awfully excited, DarkFoxKit~ :3

DarkFoxKit: Do I now?

ZAFT: Maybe because of what we will work on after this? XD

DarkFoxKit: Shhhhh! We're not supposed to talk about it yet.

ZAFT: Ooops… ^^'

Takuya: Talk about what?

Andy: FOX! WHY DO I SEE MORE TORTURE IN MY FUTURE!? *Holds out a script*

DarkFoxKit: Uh… that's not mine. *Snatches the script from Andy and starts running*

Andy: GET BACK HERE YOU SADISTIC FOX!

ZAFT: Uh… okay? ^^'

Takuya: *Sighs* I'll get Andy before he hurts Fox…

---

(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 61: Strategic Consideration

Aldamon was surprised to see the other ghost hunters, the Groovy Gang and Extreme Ghostbreakers, were at the park too when he got back. They were scattered around right now, probably looking for Andy. But that made Aldamon frown when he realized he didn't see Andy anywhere.

The Legendary Warrior looked around again before deciding to focus on his Digimon senses. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to use his sharper senses to his advantage, listening for anything that sounded like Andy. Then, he sensed a powerful force, a ghostly force he knew well. Vlad! Aldamon thought as he opened his eyes. He's here! Then a horrifying thought crossed his mind. Did he kidnap Andy?!

Looking down at the ghost hunters again, Aldamon frowned a bit more before he decided to focus on the other ghost instead. I can't worry about those idiots right now. Right now, I need to find Andy! He flew off in the direction he had sensed Vlad from.

Meanwhile, Andy, Dorumon, and Tommy were running back to the park. They had gotten into an alleyway when Vlad was chasing them, and they needed to get back to finish their plan. Andy had been explaining why he was dressed up as Danny Phantom to Dorumon and Tommy on their way back.

"Are you sure the plan will work? If what you say is true, their ecto weapons can hurt humans too!" Tommy said as they were running.

"I have to try. If I don't, Danny will get hunted and captured. The Guys in White especially are aggressive, and are clearly sadists who enjoy torturing ghosts," Andy replied back. "I don't want to take that chance."

"Speaking of taking chances, what should we do with Dreammon's egg?" Dorumon asked, still carrying the egg.

Tommy tried to suck the egg into his D-Tector, but the D-Tector wouldn't scan it for some reason. "Ah… I guess because Dreammon is an artificially made Digimon, it can't be scanned by the D-Tector."

"Just hide it somewhere for now, we're going to need your claws to be free for this," Andy said to Dorumon.

Dorumon nodded as Patamon spoke up. "Maybe you should hide it under a box or something for now." Patamon suggested. "That way it won't be found and people will think the box is just on some trash."

"Patamon?" Andy looked at the little Digimon that was peeking from under Tommy's hat in surprise.

"Wow, you really do look like Danny Phantom, all that's missing are the actual ghost powers," Patamon noted.

"Yes, I've been getting that a lot tonight," Andy sighed.

Patamon chuckled. "Well, you are Danny's twin, so it makes sense you would look a lot like him, even in a fake outfit like that."

Dorumon snickered, but didn't make any snarky quips. Nope! Not going to make Andy feel worse tonight about this.

They were finally coming up to the park, and Aldamon was flying over them. Aldamon stopped when he noticed not-Danny Phantom was running back towards the park, but he had Dorumon, and… someone else with him.

Aldamon frowned to himself before he flew down, landing not too far away from 'Danny Phantom', Dorumon, and the other person with them. "What's going on?" He asked, confused and concerned as heck now. "You have me go off with the hologram before, now you call me back and I find out Vlad is here and… Just what is going on?" Aldamon's wings twitched with anxiety and agitation; he wanted answers and badly.

Tommy quickly brought up his hood when Aldamon landed near them, not wanting Takuya to see his face.

"Sorry big guy, a lot was happening at once," Andy apologized sheepishly. "Vlad is currently paralyzed at some dark alley. He might snap out of it soon though, so I'd rather we pick up the pace and get this plan on the road."

Aldamon sighed. "Sorry… I was just worried about you, you know? It's… quite stressful with what is going on lately."

Then Aldamon looked at the hooded Tommy, blinking. "Who's this?"

"That's-"

"It's not important," Tommy quickly said in a deep voice. "This… boy just saved me from Vlad's wrath, that's all."

Aldamon frowned, feeling something was familiar about this person with Andy, but he brushed it aside for the moment, turning his attention back to Andy. "So, what do we do now? Do we get set for the 'cosplay' or is there something else you wanted to do?"

"Since all the ghost hunters are here, it's time to put our original plan back into action, so set up for the cosplay. We need to make sure they're all paying attention to us before we 'reveal' ourselves," Andy answered. "T… uh… you there, you go hide somewhere, okay?"

Tommy nodded. "Thank you, I will."

Andy realized he should've had Dorumon give Tommy the egg to look after, but he couldn't do that without blowing Tommy's secret in front of Aldamon. Everybody always has to have secrets from each other.

"Dorumon, hide that egg, and I'll tell you what to do," Andy quickly instructed.

Dorumon nodded. "Okay, I will." He turned and ran off with the egg, making Aldamon blink before looking at Andy.

"Dorumon has Dreammon's egg?" Aldamon asked in surprise.

"Apparently. I don't know why else he'd be holding a Digi-Egg," Andy answered back. "Okay, go get the ghost hunter's attention with your flares. We also don't want Danny to come out and reveal himself because he got too worried for us."

Aldamon sighed. "Very well." He took to the sky once more and flared his fire as brightly as he could. He was hoping this would end soon, as this was getting annoying, not to mention making him anxious and stressed.

Dorumon came running back to them after Aldamon sent out the flare. "What… exactly is the plan here?"

---

Danny had been this close to going ghost and fly out to find Andy. He couldn't see where his brother went, and he was getting increasingly worried. The Danny hologram could only do so much to keep the ghost hunter's busy, it was only a matter of time before one of them notice that-

"Wait! There's no ecto signature from that ghost boy!" The orange haired lady from the Groovy Gang called out.

"Like, no wonder all of our ecto weapons keep going through him! He's not going intangible, that's just a projection!" The lanky man pointed out.

"You mean we were duped?!" The male Extreme Ghostbreaker realized. "Aw man! That is totally not radical!"

His female companion grinned. "But it was a crazy awesome chase!"

"We were wasting our time with a projection!?" The Guys in White agents growled.

"What's going on out there?" Sam frowned, looking at Tucker frantically.

Tucker frowned as well. "It looks like the ghost hunters realized they were following a projection. That's going to cause us some trouble…"

"So… uh… anyone got a plan B?" Terriermon questioned.

"Our only 'plan B' is missing right now." Gatomon frowned.

Danny squeezed his fist, he couldn't sit by any longer. If they waited too long, then his friends could be in danger. The Guys in White didn't seem to care if they put someone innocent in danger, they will do whatever it took to catch him. It was also his fault that his brother was in danger right now, he was the one to come up with this stupid plan.

Danny was about to go ghost when a bright flare lit up the sky above the group of ghost hunters. He looked up, as did the ghost hunters, seeing the source easily; it was not hard to miss Aldamon's flames.

The other ghost hunters' attention was immediately on Aldamon's flames, surprised and shocked.

"It's the familiar! That is so extreme, it's like the sun!" The Extreme Ghostbreaker girl shouted.

"We head towards that light!" The Guys in White agent stated sternly. "We will get that ghost first!"

Aldamon quickly landed back to where Andy was.

"Okay… I got their attention." Aldamon reported as he looked at Andy. "Now what?"

Andy took off the upper half of the hazmat suit in order to grab the Fenton Grappling Hook from his pocket. "Here, you're gonna need this on you."

Aldamon took it despite the confusion on his face. "Okay…?"

Andy quickly brought the hazmat suit back up on his body. "And now for a little trick of my own~ Are you ready, my new 'high tech Fenton gear'?"

Andy looked at Dorumon specifically when he said this.

Dorumon blinked. "Uh… why are you looking at me like that?"

---

The ghost hunters soon found where Aldamon was, but he wasn't there anymore, instead, there was the 'million dollar ghost' standing there, holding some kind of gadget in his hand. Beside the 'ghost boy', was another strange looking creature that appeared to be some kind of lavender fox, standing on two feet, and had a red gem on its forehead.

"What is that thing?" One of the agents questioned.

"It's likely another familiar the ghost boy conjured up," The groovy girl answered. "It doesn't appear as menacing as the demon one though."

"It looks not as extreme." The Extreme Ghostbreaker man pouted. "I wanted the demon one!"

"Forget the familiar! We can get the million dollar ghost! That is so radical!" The Ghostbreaker girl exclaimed as she aimed her ecto-gun at 'Invisobill'. The other ghost hunters followed suit, hoping to get the million dollar reward.

"You're not getting that ghost, we need to take it back for experimentations, after claiming the reward of course," One of the agents from the GiW stated.

"Like, as if we'd let you take the million dollars!" The Groovy woman snapped.

The shivering white tiger just watched, hoping that nothing scary would pop up.

"Okay, okay, jeez! You are all insane!" Andy suddenly shouted. "I think this joke has gone on far enough!"

Hearing that, the ghost hunters all stopped arguing amongst themselves and turned to face the 'ghost boy' in confusion.

"Look, I'm not actually a ghost, okay? I just used a lot of my parents' gears and a bunch of special effects to play the superhero of this city," Andy 'admitted'. "I thought it was a good idea at the time, but then people started hiring actual ghost hunters to come after me, which isn't very fun."

"You're a ghost, of course you would say anything to save your own ectoplasm!" The agent snapped, still aiming his ecto gun at the boy.

"You want proof? Alright. This little creature beside me? He's one of my parents's latest inventions. They're inventors, they make a lot of high tech stuff," Andy explained. "Watch."

Andy slid a card through his D-Arc, which he made sure to show to the ghost hunters. The D-Arc's screen glowed before Dorumon summoned a shadowy looking scythe in his claws.

"You see? I can use whatever cards I want with this device here," Andy pointed out. "And I can make things appear. Making it look all ghostly. Though I make sure to keep my furry contraption hidden during the 'hero work'."

"That doesn't explain how you're able to fly, go through walls, and shoot ecto blasts from your hands," The lanky man pointed out.

"And it certainly doesn't explain your demon friend! I doubt even your little… robot animal could turn into that!" The Ghostbreaker woman argued as well.

It was then a flash of bright light came from nearby, revealing Aldamon's form briefly before fire surrounded him. In the flames, Takuya reverted back to human before he fired off the grappling line and hooked onto a street light, then when the flames faded, he was revealed in his human form, complete with the demon mask and fake wings Tucker had given him, on his body. "Whoops!" The boy exclaimed. "I didn't mean to fall!"

"Dude, really? We've went over this in practice like a hundred times!" Andy sighed, sounding annoyed. "And you've been going overkill with the portable flamethrower."

Takuya groaned. "Sorry! You know I'm a pyromaniac!" He countered back. "I can't help it if I like fire!"

The Groovy woman walked over to Takuya, frowning, before she took the demon mask off of him, revealing just a normal looking boy underneath. "You were… just a kid!?"

"Duh!" Takuya countered. "It was all a joke! I was never a demon! Geez! You guys are nuts!"

"B-but… the flying! The fire! The big scary looking demon! It was all so extreme!" The Ghostbreaker man shouted in despair.

"Sorry dude, just a lot of holograms and special effects," Takuya shrugged. "I was using a grappling hook to look like I was flying. But my stupid hologram device shorted out."

"Aw man! It was not real?! Totally not radical!" The Ghostbreaker girl exclaimed. "We wasted our time on a prank!" But then she grinned. "And that was totally awesome!"

"No, this has to be a trick!" Agent K suddenly shouted. "If these kids really aren't… if this kid really isn't the ghost boy, then what have we been chasing all this time!? He had an ecto signature! He was using real ecto blasts! Perhaps the intangibility, invisibility, and flight could be explained by a hologram, but not the ecto blasts!"

Andy was speaking quietly into his D-Arc. "Sam, get Danny to flare up his ghost energy for a split second. Not enough to locate where he is, but enough to get their ecto scans to alarm them."

"Okay…" Sam muttered back before she looked to Danny. "Andy wants you to flare your ghost energy for a split second. Just not too much to give away your location."

Danny nodded and began to gather ecto energy into his hands briefly. "I hope Andy knows what he's doing…"

All at once, the ghost hunters' ecto scanners started beeping about there being an ecto entity nearby, but it went off too fast for them to locate where it came from. So their only assumption was the 'ghost boy' in front of them.

"How-" The lanky man started to ask.

"I just used this," Andy shrugged, holding up the D-Arc. "My parents made this device to let out an ecto signature output, it's so the other ghosts would think I was one of them. It would attract them to me, or have them leave me alone, depending on the situation and the ghosts themselves."

"Your parents?" One of the agents asked.

"Oh, yeah, my parents are the local ghost hunters around here. You probably met them before at the Nasty Burger," Andy remarked.

"The Fentons. I heard they were incompetent, but are brilliant ghost inventors," The Groovy woman acknowledged.

"And as for the ecto blasts themselves…" Andy tapped on Dorumon's head, as if pushing a 'button' on his gem.

Dorumon made his gem light up for a second, as if Andy really did push a 'button', before releasing two hand size iron balls from his mouth, putting them on the ground. Andy put two sticky notes on the balls, making them glow green. Once they were glowing green, Andy picked up the iron balls in each of his hands, making it look like his hands were glowing with ghost energy. And, to finish up his show, Andy threw one of the iron balls, making it look like he just did a ghost ray attack.

"There, you see?" Andy pointed out. "All special effects. Though the 'ecto blasts' are kinda real, I mean I am throwing actual iron balls, so it's gonna hurt when it hits something."

"This was just a prank using their gadgets? This was just a wild goose chase!" Agent K exclaimed at last.

"Sorry, I didn't mean for this to get this far. My friend and I only wanted some attention, and maybe follow in my parents' footsteps of being great ghost hunters," Andy apologized. "We just thought it'd be cooler if we… you know, had 'superpowers'. Since my parents made ghost inventions, I thought 'why not be a ghost superhero?'"

Takuya groaned as if he had been found out as well. "I thought it would be fun to throw in some flamethrowers too, but I guess I went overboard…"

"So all of this… our time, resources, and money was put into chasing… something that never existed!?" Agent K boomed. "The scientists at the lab aren't gonna be interested in just some kid!"

Then Agent K suddenly stormed up to Andy, making him frown. "Just to be absolutely sure you're telling the truth, I am going to scan you for any ectoplasm in your system!"

Andy didn't even get a chance to say anything before Agent K scanned his entire body with some kind of device in his hand.

As soon as the device scanned the boy, it came up with a negative reading, which made Agent K scowl. "You're completely human!"

"So it really was just a joke then…" The lanky man frowned, sounding disheartened, though the white tiger looked to be relieved.

"Again, sorry about that. But we did have good intentions in doing what we were doing," Andy apologized.

"Right on, despite the disappointment, you two are just so extreme! Now that is a way to hunt ghosts! Don't you think so, dude?" The Ghostbreaker man said to his partner.

"I'm a girl! But yes, I do have to agree with you there," The Ghostbreaker girl replied back.

The lanky man gave a grin to his partner as well. "Like, I'm glad it wasn't a real ghost, although the money would have been nice."

"Yeah, it would, but it just goes to show you can't believe everything you hear, not even from the news," The orange haired woman remarked. "At least that's one mystery solved in this town."

"Oh, hey, I'd appreciate it if you guys kept quiet about this," Andy spoke up. "Amity Park needs a hero to keep their morality up in times like this. It would just upset everyone if they knew 'Invisobill' wasn't real. And my parents… well, they'd probably kill me and I really would become a ghost."

Agent K frowned at this. "You wasted our time, resources, and money with a prank. You should be punished for this."

That was when Takuya saw that glint in Andy's eyes. He was now scared, not for Andy, but for Agent K.

"Oh, really?" Andy spoke up, looking at Agent K. "In that case, you wouldn't mind revealing how you and your organization all ganged up on an impressionable, innocent, teenager, accusing him of being a dangerous ghost, and almost hurting, if not, killing him with your dangerous weapons, which, by the way, are very deadly to humans. I'm sure that won't get the Guys in White shut down almost immediately after you tell them. By all means, go ahead and tell them the truth about the ghost boy you hunted down mercilessly."

Agent K scowled. "This… incident… is off the records."

"Good~" Andy grinned before looking at the ghost hunters.

"We promise we won't say anything," The lanky man quickly said.

"Yea, of course, some mysteries are better left unsolved," The groovy woman agreed.

"We just had an extreme chase, nothing more," The Ghostbreaker man quickly stated.

Takuya blinked in surprise before he felt relief flood his body and he sighed. Good… it seems things worked out…

Danny blinked before he felt a grin cross his face. Way to go, Andy! Danny couldn't help but be impressed at what Andy had just done. Jeez, I'm the one who's half ghost, yet Andy is the scary one out of the two of us.

Sam and Tucker felt shuddered run down their spines at Andy's tactic.

"Is it just me… or is Andy the scary one?" Sam asked Tucker.

"Andy is the scarier one…" Tucker agreed.

"He'd make a good lawyer one day," Gatomon chuckled.

"Or a prosecutor," Terriermon added.

The ghost hunters all began to pack up their things and started leaving. They decided they were going to leave Amity Park tomorrow morning since none of them were going to capture and turn in a kid. The million dollar donor was likely to not pay them when they realize that the 'ghost boy' they caught was just a regular kid anyways.

---

With the ghost hunters all leaving, everyone could relax now. Danny, Sam, Tucker, Gatomon, and Terriermon all came out of hiding once they were sure the ghost hunters were all gone.

"Wow, I can't believe you actually pulled it off!" Tucker spoke up. "That thing you did with Dorumon was genius!"

Dorumon grinned as he looked at Andy. "That's my partner for you~"

"Honestly I wasn't sure if it would work, but I'm glad it did. I was a little worried they would try to catch me anyways because they would want the million dollar reward, but I was glad to see they have enough common sense to know that they would likely not get paid even if they had turned me in," Andy chuckled sheepishly.

Takuya dropped down from the grappling line and huffed as he took off the fake wings. "I don't even want to think about what would have happened had those ghost hunters not had common sense." He grumbled as he walked over.

Danny looked at Andy. "How is it that I am half ghost and yet you are the scarier one of us, bro?"

"I'm not scary." Andy frowned. "What are you talking about? Between you, Jazz, who kicked a living mutated turkey dinner's butt when we were 4, not to mention how she used Bearbert to scare the living daylights out of me, Mom, and Dad, I'm probably the least scariest Fenton in the family."

"Um… you just got the Guys in White to agree that the ghost boy is a 'hoax'." Danny pointed out. "If that doesn't say you're scary, then I don't know what is."

"All I did was use what could be plausible to make me the ghost boy," Andy shrugged. "That's not scary, that's just being smart. You wanna know what's really scary? Teddy bears. They are the embodiment of evil."

Dorumon shivered at the mention. "Teddy bears are evil…"

"How is it that you can face down having guns pointed at your face just fun, yet become a pile of fear when you see a teddy bear?" Sam deadpanned.

"Guns don't torture us slowly while the teddy bears slowly ripe your body parts piece by piece, while laughing in your ear," Andy argued.

"Did… that ever happen…?" Danny frowned.

"... That could've just been a nightmare I had, but it was still horrible," Andy shivered.

"They would totally do that," Dorumon grumbled.

Takuya chuckled nervously. "You and Dorumon need help with that fear, Andy…"

"Wait a minute, we're getting distracted," Andy spoke up. "Dorumon, you better go get that egg before someone else finds it."

Dorumon nodded. "Right. I will get the egg." He turned and ran to get the egg from its hiding spot.

Patamon came flying over, frowning. "It's too late."

Dorumon frowned. "What do you mean it's too late?"

"T… Calumon and I saw Impmon running to Vlad Plasmius with the egg. We tried to go after them, but Vlad disappeared with them. We have no idea where they went," Patamon informed grimly.

"Wait… Vlad…?" Danny frowned. "Are you saying… Vlad made Dreammon?"

Patamon nodded sadly. "He did."

Hearing that, Takuya felt a flash of heat from his Spirits, and he could tell they were angry. He felt the rage of his Spirits flowing through his body. "Vlad is the one who did that?!" Takuya growled angrily. "He is so getting a beatdown the next time we meet! I will not show him any mercy for what he put the Digital World through!"

"But why…? Why would Vlad make Dreammon in the first place?" Gatomon questioned. "What could he gain with creating this Digimon?"

Calumon came walking over, glad to have finally gotten rid of that ridiculous coat he was wearing earlier as Tommy. "Dreammon mentioned about being made for a purpose, but whatever he was made for, he didn't please his creator for one reason or another, so he was abandoned. That was why Dreammon went after the Legendary Warriors as he did. He was hoping if he fused and became Susanoomon, his creator would take him back. But I couldn't tell you why Vlad himself made Dreammon, and for what reason."

Danny looked at Calumon and frowned. "I see… So it appears Vlad's reasons are going to remain a mystery for a while."

"But this is bad, isn't it? Now he's got Dreammon back, and he could use him for who knows what!" Tucker spoke up. "What if he makes Dreammon stronger where he could plunge the entire Digital World into a nightmare?"

"Or what if he actually succeeds in getting all of the Legendary Warriors? We cut it pretty close last time." Terriermon frowned.

Takuya and Calumon both paled at that.

"Now let's not jump to conclusions," Andy spoke up. "Assuming the worst and getting ourselves all riled up isn't going to help us."

Danny frowned. "But Vlad has Dreammon's egg! We can't just let him have it!"

"There isn't anything we can do now. Unless you want to storm into Vlad's house, which I highly recommend we don't do, then that egg is lost to us," Patamon warned. "The best we can do is prepare ourselves for Dreammon if or when he returns."

Takuya clenched his fists. "I hate to say it, but Vlad has won this battle. He got what he wanted from this little ploy."

"Was that why he was here in Amity Park in the first place?" Terriermon asked. "I mean if he wanted that Digi-Egg, then why not go to the Digital World? Or if he can't, why not have that Impmon go to his house in the first place with the egg?"

Patamon frowned. "I don't think that was the reason why Vlad came here in the first place, but we may never know why he came here."

Takuya frowned as well. "So much for that…" He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "But if Dreammon's egg wasn't Vlad's goal… well… he still got something he wanted…"

Sam frowned when her cell phone was beeping, her parents were demanding to know where she was, especially since it was late. "We should discuss this later. I really need to get home before my parents call the SWAT team or something."

Takuya grimaced. "Wow… your parents are strict…"

Sam sighed. "You have no idea…"

"Sam's got a point, we should all get back home, it's been a long night for all of us," Tucker remarked.

Andy yawned. "No kidding. I just hope I can get to my room and change before Mom and Dad sees me like this. They would have a heart attack. … Sam, this hair dye is easily washable, right?"

Sam looked like she was hesitant to answer. "Um…"

"Sam! You better not tell me this is permanent hair dye!" Andy frowned.

Sam gave a sheepish grin. "Don't worry, it's temporary." She reassured Andy before he panicked.

"And you called me mischievous…" Andy grumbled.

"You do pull off the white hair pretty well though," Dorumon noted.

"It could give my own white fur a run for its money~" Gatomon grinned.

"I do not! Danny's white hair glows!" Andy pointed out.

Danny grinned. "Well, it's because I'm half ghost. If you were half ghost, you would be an almost match for me."

"... That would be really creepy…" Takuya muttered.

"What was that!?" Both twins snapped at Takuya, making him flinch back.

"Nothing!" Takuya exclaimed, trying to cover his tracks. "I never said anything!"

Patamon and Dorumon were snickering at the twins' response to Takuya's muttering.

---

Everyone had gone home for the night. Back at Fenton Works, after Andy got changed, and took a long shower to get rid of the hair dye, he and Danny had all but collapsed in bed. They were both exhausted. Dorumon and Patamon were sleeping with their partners as well, they too were quite exhausted after today's events.

However, Takuya was talking to Calumon privately in his room.

"I'm sorry we weren't able to retrieve Dreammon's egg." Takuya apologized as he looked at Calumon. "But… with those ghost hunters and all… well… things didn't go as planned…"

"It wasn't your fault, Takuya. There was a lot going on. Patamon and I should've kept a better eye on Dreammon's egg while you and Andy were trying to get the ghost hunters out of Amity Park." Calumon frowned.

"It…" Takuya sighed. "It's no one's fault really. We all could have done better. But what's done is done. We can't change the past. All we can do is move forward and prepare ourselves."

Calumon frowned as he remembered what happened the last time Dreammon was in the Digital World. How close Dreammon came to getting all the Legendary Warriors and summoning Susanoomon. If it weren't for the fact that Dreammon didn't know Calumon was Tommy, he would've likely succeeded. Now Calumon didn't have that anymore, if Dreammon remembered everything when he hatched. I never should've revealed myself to Dreammon...

Takuya noticed Calumon was frowning. "Hey, is everything okay, Calumon? You look bothered by something."

"I'm… just worried about what would happen if Dreammon tries to get all of the Legendary Warriors again…" Calumon admitted. "He came dangerously close to summoning Susanoomon… who's to say he won't succeed a second time?"

Takuya sighed. "We will have to prepare as best we can. I mean, Dreammon was beaten and turned back into an egg, so there's a good chance he won't remember anything. But now that Vlad has his egg… we can only assume Vlad has a reason for taking back the egg." He reached up and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not going to lie. I am only assuming this, so I pray I am wrong, but Vlad could, and this is only my assumption, have a way to retrieve memories from Dreammon. That said, I may be wrong, and he may not have such a method."

Calumon shook his head and let out a sigh of his own. "I guess I better get back home… uh… to the Digital World. I need to tell Sorcermon about what happened so he can get the Digimon ready in case Vlad decides to have Dreammon attack the Digital World."

Takuya nodded. "Okay. That sounds like a good idea, at least, letting Sorcermon know about this." He then sighed. "Just… please be careful, Calumon…"

"You be careful too, Takuya," Calumon replied. "Have a good night."

---

The next morning, Andy was on the phone with Valerie. "Are you sure you're okay, Valerie? I just heard that you were in the hospital yesterday!"

"I'm fine Andy. I was checked over by the doctors and they said aside from some bruising, I was alright." Valerie assured Andy. "My suit took the brunt of the blow."

"Next time maybe don't go after Digimon or ghosts on your own? Especially Digimon, your suit isn't built to battle with Digimon." Andy frowned.

"Don't worry. I don't plan to go after a Digimon alone again." Valerie told Andy. "Once was bad enough, and twice was worse. I don't want to test my luck against a Digimon in my suit a third time. Gomamon promises to protect me if a Digimon does try to attack me though, so I'll be fine. Dad may keep me under house arrest for a few weeks though."

"Can't say that I blame him," Andy remarked. "Well, make sure you take care of yourself, Val. I'll hopefully see you in school again soon."

"You take care of yourself too, Andy." Valerie said sincerely. "I don't want to have to hear about you getting hurt yourself."

"Heh… no promises, but I'll do the best I can," Andy chuckled before hanging up.

"Hey Andy!" Dorumon called out from the living room.

"Hmm?" Andy turned to his partner, who had Patamon on his head.

"Look! Look! They say a circus is coming to Amity Park soon!" Dorumon bounced excitedly.

"I wouldn't say it's a circus exactly… not a traditional one anyways." Patamon frowned.

Andy blinked, looking at the two Digimon. "Uh… Patamon… why are you on Dorumon's head?"

"Uh… I thought it would be fun to ride on his head?" Patamon chuckled sheepishly. "I do it with Danny so…"

"Where is Danny?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow. "Wasn't he watching TV with you two?"

"He wanted to train a bit in the lab, and he didn't want me getting hurt, so I decided to stick with Dorumon," Patamon answered.

"Come on!" Dorumon took Andy's hand and all but pulled him to the TV. "Look at this commercial!"

Patamon chuckled at Dorumon's excitement before he looked back at the commercial and frowned to himself. I don't know why, but I am getting a bad feeling about this circus...

"Look! See!" Dorumon exclaimed excitedly to Andy.

The TV showed a pale looking bald man, he looked unnaturally pale, almost white. His eyes appeared to be red, which was also unnatural for a human. His nose was quite long and pointy too. He wore a black coat, black buttoned shirt, red pants, and black boots, he also wore black gloves. He was holding some kind of red scepter, with a bat shape. On top of the bat was a big, glowing, red crystal ball. Inside the crystal ball appeared to be some kind of swirling mist.

"I am Freakshow," The man introduced himself. "The ringmaster of Circus Gothica! Where your nightmares come to life."

The man showed a skeleton juggling three skeleton heads.

"Circus Gothica, where the clowns never smile!" The man called 'Freakshow' continued, showing a very angry looking clown before it opened its mouth, roaring, showing very sharp teeth. Not unlike the clown from that horror movie 'It'.

"Circus Gothica, come and get your freak on!" Freakshow stated, now showing a masked person, wearing nothing but their black underwear, showing off skeleton and snake tattoos on their body, as well as piercings on their everywhere. "With real freaks."

Freakshow grinned, showing himself again, holding the crystal ball closely to the TV. "Circus Gothica, coming to Amity Park! Cross over to the dark side~"

Dorumon blinked. "Wow… Those were… that was… creepy…" He muttered. "But I kinda like it. It looks interesting, in a creepy way. Sam would definitely like it, this seems right up her alley."

"Cross over to the dark side," Andy spoke up, sounding to be in a trance.

"What?" Patamon frowned.

Andy chuckled. "Just kidding. I'm sure Sam's parents would say something like that circus would just be some evil brainwashing mind pollution."

Dorumon chuckled as well. "I don't doubt it. They sound strict."

"Wait until you actually meet them," Andy sighed.

"Well, I will have to agree with Sam's parents on this one." Patamon frowned. "This 'Circus Gothica' sounds evil. Just looking at it gives me evil vibes."

"Well of course you would think that. You are a literal angel," Andy pointed out. "But some people are into this stuff. And I don't see anything wrong with it, it's just harmless fun. Now if the people watching do actually get brainwashed and start shooting people, then yeah, we have a problem. But that usually only happens in movies and stuff."

Dorumon snickered. "That would be ironic if it happened in real life. But I wanna see this circus! It looks interesting."

"Why?" Patamon frowned.

"Why not? Look at those creepy things that ringmaster Freakshow showed. I'd like to see that up close and personal. Maybe we'll even find some Digimon there," Dorumon stated. "I mean what human could literally be a skeleton, or have teeth as sharp as that clown's, right?"

Patamon frowned. "Sometimes you can't believe everything you see, Dorumon. Some of that could have been special effects for all we know."

Dorumon pouted. "I can still want to go see it, Patamon!" He pointed out. "There's no harm in it."

"But you can't go see it yourself, you'd need Andy to take you, remember?" Patamon spoke up. "I don't think Andy would be interested in this Circus Gothica."

Dorumon looked to Andy and gave the most pathetic puppy-dog eyes he could muster up. "Please, Andy?" He whined pathetically. "Can you take me to the circus?"

Andy frowned, looking at Dorumon's puppy-dog eyes. He hadn't really wanted to go to Circus Gothica, because he wasn't into that kind of stuff, but Dorumon's puppy-dog eyes were really hard for him to say 'no'.

"... I'll… call Sam and see if she would get an extra ticket…" Andy gave in.

Dorumon grinned and jumped on Andy in gratitude. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Patamon sighed. "You spoil him too much…"

"You try saying no to those puppy-dog eyes," Andy grumbled.

Patamon chuckled at Andy's remark. "I will admit, Dorumon can pull off some pretty effective puppy-dog eyes."

---

Sam was grinning. She was happy- no, she was ecstatic. Ever since she saw that commercial on her big screen TV in her room, that wonderful commercial about Circus Gothica, it was all she could think about. She didn't hesitate to order herself a ticket, and she promised herself she would be there when Freakshow's train showed up on Monday. It was Saturday today, so she had about roughly 72 hours left until Freakshow showed up to Amity Park.

Gatomon could see Sam was very excited about this circus coming to town. "You sure seem excited about this, Sam."

"Of course I am. It's everything I'm into and more!" Sam grinned. "I'm not missing out on it."

"You do realize your parents would never let you go, right?" Gatomon reminded.

Sam frowned before sighing. "They will not let me go if they know I was going." She then grinned with a smirk. "But I'm not going to tell them about this. If they don't know, then they can't stop me from going."

Gatomon frowned. "I'm all for trying to be your own person, and not doing everything your parents tell you to, but I don't feel comfortable with you sneaking out like that, especially on a school day. There's a reason why people warn their kids to not skip school after all. It becomes easier the more they do it."

Sam sighed. "It's just this once, Gatomon. I mean, how often does a circus like this come to town? This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me! I don't want to miss out on this!"

Gatomon sighed herself. "I… doubt I can stop you, Sam… just… be careful, okay? I just… there's something about Circus Gothica that bothers me. And my instincts are usually never wrong."

Sam smiled at Gatomon. "I will be careful, I promise." Sam then held up her D-Arc. "And if there's any trouble, I can contact any one of the others, or even you, for help."

Gatomon liked seeing Sam looking happy, for a change, instead of annoyed, or just wanting to get out of the house and away from her parents. She just hoped that, for once, her instincts were wrong and Circus Gothica was just harmless entertainment, for Sam, and her friends' sakes. But… I still can't shake this feeling that Circus Gothica… may not be as harmless as we hope it would be…

---

Andy looked around the house, before running into Jazz. "Hey, Jazz, where's Takuya? I haven't seen him since last night."

"I don't know, I haven't seen him either," Jazz replied with a frown.

"Maybe he just went out for a flight to clear his head," Lopmon suggested. "I mean Danny sometimes does that."

"Yeah, but… all night long?" Andy frowned.

"Well, Takuya can take care of himself. If you're that worried, you can always call him, right?" Lopmon pointed out.

"Why do you want to find him right now anyways?" Jazz questioned.

"I just wanted to know if he and Danny would be interested in going to Circus Gothica when it comes to town. I'd rather not be the only non-goth kid there," Andy sighed.

Jazz blinked before she smiled a bit. "That's nice of you. Maybe this can get the three of you to bond again. I mean, sure, you three are hanging out again, but there is still a distance between you boys, so I think this would be a great way to get that bond back."

Andy frowned a little. "... You haven't been all that close with them either, you know? And I know why. We can bond with Danny and Takuya all we want, but I don't think we'll ever be as close as we once were when we were kids. The fact of the matter is we have all become… too different from each other… I just… don't know how close a human could be to someone who can turn into a ghost or a Digimon without being able to turn themselves. I would never be able to fly on my own without Dorugamon. I would never be able to go through objects, I would never be able to create my own fire, I would never be able to shoot out ghost rays from my hands. Or manipulate my body into impossible shapes."

"Did… Danny and Takuya ever do that last one?" Jazz blinked.

"... Danny would kill it at yoga class in his ghost form…" Andy replied.

Jazz frowned before sighing. "I'm sorry I brought that up, Andy. I was just trying to be supportive." She then looked back up. "But it would still be a fun activity for you guys, so I'm not going to say 'no' to the idea. Though I am surprised you're going to a place like Circus Gothica. It just doesn't seem like your kind of thing."

"It isn't," Andy grumbled. "Dorumon really wants to go, and he gave me his puppy-dog eyes."

Jazz chuckled at hearing that. "Sounds like Dorumon is taking after you in a way. You can be quite manipulative when you want to be."

"What do you mean? I don't manipulate people." Andy frowned.

Jazz raised an eyebrow at that, and Lopmon was snickering.

"... Okay, maybe I do a little bit," Andy relented.

Jazz grinned as she placed a hand on Andy's head and ruffled his hair. "I'm just teasing you, Andy." She then smiled warmly at him. "If you go, I want you to enjoy yourselves."

"... Would you like to go to Circus Gothica?" Andy asked Jazz.

"What is this Circus Gothica anyways? It sounds pretty interesting," Lopmon asked.

"It's… basically a dark, edgy, scary, freaky version of a circus," Jazz replied.

"Huh… maybe we should go see it." Lopmon grinned.

Jazz looked down in thought. "It would be interesting from a psychological standpoint…" She mused with intrigue. "I could try to understand why goths like Sam are attracted to the dark and macabre." She then looked at Andy. "Err… at least, only to understand goths more on a personal level. Not that I intend to become goth myself, it's just a bit of an experimental thing for me."

"I'll… make that another extra ticket then for Sam," Andy chuckled.

Andy went down into the lab to talk to Danny. He saw Danny going through a few walls the lab put up, before firing at a few cardboard ghost cutouts.

"Hey, Danny!" Andy called out. "Mind taking a break from training for a bit? I'd like to ask you something."

Danny hovered down at his brother's words. "Sure, bro!" He replied. "What is it you want to ask?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to go to the Circus Gothica that's coming to Amity Park this Monday," Andy stated. "Dorumon really wants to go, and I'm like… 100% sure Sam is going to be there. Her parents may not approve, but I'm pretty sure if Sam had pneumonia, that wouldn't stop her from going to see Circus Gothica, so I doubt her parents would be able to."

Danny chuckled. "I don't see why not." He replied with a grin. "It sounds interesting. And I don't doubt Sam will be there either. This is her thing." He then paused. "Um… this isn't like a date between me and Sam or anything!"

Andy grinned. "Not unless you want it to be. I'm afraid I might be a third wheel though."

Danny blushed, his cheeks turning green. "N-no! It's not! I'm just going with to support her interest!"

"I'm sure that's all~" Andy chuckled. "You can continue with your ghost training. I need to go find Takuya."

Danny grumbled a little. "Have you checked the Digital World? Takuya could've been called to the Digital World last night."

"Hmm… good point. I'll go see if he's there," Andy agreed.

Danny sighed. "I haven't seen Takuya at all today so far, so it seems likely he was called there for some reason."

"Yeah, I was thinking that." Andy nodded.

Andy walked back upstairs, and headed to the living room. "Dorumon, we're going to the Digital World. Takuya might be there, and I rather not go without my Digimon partner by my side."

Dorumon looked up, the TV remote in his mouth. "Okay."

"Hey! Get that remote out of your mouth!" Andy snapped, grabbing the TV remote from Dorumon's mouth.

"Awww… I'm hungry…" Dorumon whined.

"You just ate!" Andy groaned.

"Sometimes he has a black hole in his stomach," Patamon sighed. "Do you not have any impulse control, or do you just choose not to control yourself?"

"It looked tasty…" Dorumon muttered.

"Come on," Andy groaned, wiping the remote with his pants. "Let's go before you decide to eat the TV."

Dorumon nodded and followed after Andy.

Patamon hopped off of Dorumon's head. "I'll stay here and… keep watch on the TV."

"Great, you do that," Andy chuckled, knowing Patamon likely just wanted to keep watching TV.

As Andy was about to head upstairs, he was stopped by Jazz.

"Oh, Andy, I was wondering if I should bring along a notepad if I go to the circus with you and Danny," Jazz said. "Don't worry, it's not to take notes on the circus itself, but of what our brother would do when sitting with Sam in the audience."

Dorumon snickered. "You taking notes on Danny's feelings for Sam?"

"It's a great way to see how much his hormones still affect him even as a half ghost," Jazz answered.

"She's now interested in ghost psychology and how it could differ from humans. Danny being a mix of both is… well… a gold mine of new information," Lopmon chuckled.

"... If I ever become half ghost, remind me to stay away from you," Andy groaned.

Dorumon nudged Andy. "You know that won't happen, Andy. Jazz will find a way to psychoanalyze you as well."

"Are you going to be doing that to Takuya too?" Andy raised an eyebrow.

"Uh… maybe?" Jazz chuckled sheepishly.

"Right… well, speaking of Takuya, I'm about to go look for him in the Digital World," Andy stated.

Jazz blinked. "He's in the Digital World? That would explain why I haven't seen him." She then frowned. "But why is he there? Was he called back or something? Hmm…"

"I didn't sense anything going on in the Digital World," Lopmon remarked. "But… I guess something does feel a little off, but I can't tell what it is."

"Hmm… you know what? Lopmon and I will join you!" Jazz smiled. "I didn't get a chance to really look around the Digital World. The last few times we were there, something bad was going on. This will be a good chance to just see what the Digital World has to offer."

Dorumon smiled. "That would be awesome if you could!"

Lopmon nodded. "It would be nice to just see the Digital World without any trouble going on. I mean, sure I have seen it at peace, but the recent times we were there with trouble going on hit a bit too close to home for me, so it would be a nice change of pace to see it when there is peace again."

Andy smiled. "Alright, then let's go to the Digital World together. It'll also be a… heh, nice bonding experience between us~"

Andy pretty much threw Jazz's words right back at her, and he was not sorry for it.

Jazz grumbled. "Way to throw my own words back at me, little bro…"

The two of them, along with their Digimon partners, went into Jazz's room. Andy and Dorumon eyed the suspicious Bearbert, who was sitting oh so innocently on Jazz's bed. Waiting for the teddy bear to make any sudden movements.

Jazz sighed. "Bearbert won't hurt you. Just ignore the bear and focus on the Digital gate please."

"I'm still watching you, bub," Andy hissed at Bearbert, before looking over at Jazz, seeing how she had booted up her laptop.

Jazz then took out her D-Arc. "Okay, Andy. You, Lopmon and Dorumon ready to go to the Digital World?"

"Ready as always," Lopmon stated.

"Let's get going!" Dorumon nodded.

Andy held up his own D-Arc as well.

---

As they went through the vortex, Jazz gained a light blue jacket with a grey shirt under it, and dark grey pants while she also gained black shoes on her feet. Lopmon was at her side. Andy's clothes changed to a dark blue T-shirt that had white on the sleeves and his pants turned a matching dark blue color with white bottoms and white sneakers. Dorumon was at Andy's side.

Andy, Jazz, Dorumon, and Lopmon were shocked at what they saw the second they came through the Digi-Port. Instead of a lush forest of the Forest Terminal, they were seeing cold, and utter darkness. Not only was the sky dark, but the trees looked to be dying and rotting. There was hardly a soul anywhere.

"Uh… did we… take a wrong turn…?" Andy asked in concern.

"No… we went through the Digi-Port just fine…" Jazz said, looking around worriedly. "But… where are we? This isn't the Forest Terminal…"

Lopmon frowned. "This is… the Continent of Darkness…" He said at last.

"What are we doing here? I thought we were heading to the Forest Terminal or Seraphimon's castle," Jazz questioned.

"Something doesn't feel right," Dorumon stated, looking around.

Lopmon looked around as well, feeling the same thing Dorumon was. "It's like… something is different here…"

"I don't like this… this place is creepy," Andy remarked, looking around. "And I live in the most haunted city in America."

"Does anything really dangerous live here?" Jazz cautiously asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't remember the Digital World very well," Dorumon admitted.

Lopmon frowned as he looked around. "Ever since I was purified and reborn, the most dangerous Digimon here would be the Devimon variants that would sometimes make their homes here. But they're usually not that difficult to deal with if you know what you're doing. But… I can't help but sense a very powerful, dark power nearby. It shivers me to the core, but… it's also… familiar somehow."

Jazz blinked as she looked at Lopmon. "I don't want to ask because it might be too much for you to remember, but do you know the source of this dark power?"

"It's a bit unclear right now… but I get the feeling if we get closer, I might be able to tell… but it might be too dangerous to get too close. They're strong, whoever they are," Lopmon warned.

"Should we even be here? We're only looking for Takuya, not trouble," Andy questioned.

"We need to find Takuya, so I think we should leave this area for now." Jazz agreed.

Dorumon began sniffing the air. "Wait… there's someone else here."

"Who?" Andy asked.

Dorumon looked around before he rushed forward, prompting the others to hurry after him.

"Dorumon, wait up!" Andy yelled, before he tripped over something. "Wah!?"

Andy fell on his face.

Jazz winced as she saw Andy's face planter onto the ground.

"Oww…" A familiar voice groaned from near Andy.

Dorumon looked back, as well as Andy to see what he just tripped over. It was a white thing that appeared to be stuck in the ground. Its feet and body were sticking up, while its face and hands appeared to be buried.

"What the…?" Andy blinked.

Jazz and Lopmon looked at the white thing before Lopmon grabbed onto the feet and pulled out the white creature from the dirt.

"Calumon?!" Lopmon exclaimed, recognizing the small white Digimon. "What are you doing here?"

Calumon shook his head a few times, getting the dirt off of his fur, before blinking. "Lopmon?"

Calumon then noticed the others. "Jazz? Andy? Dorumon? You're… what are you guys doing here?"

"We pretty much asked you the same question," Dorumon stated.

Calumon frowned. "Do you… even know where you are?"

"Just some place called the Continent of Darkness." Jazz replied. "And… we're looking for Takuya. He was missing from our home and well… we figured he would have come here."

"Oh… you… huh… you must've came at the same time I had Sorcermon cast that spell…" Calumon muttered.

"What spell?" Andy asked.

"It… wasn't just Takuya who disappeared. The other Legendary Warriors were starting to go missing as well," Calumon explained.

"Missing? What do you mean 'missing'? What could've happened to them?" Andy asked in worry.

"At first, nobody knew what was happening. I just started to notice that the Digital World was starting to change, and… it wasn't for the better. Buildings were collapsed, forests were burned down, darkness from the Continent of Darkness was spreading like wildfire. Digimon turning evil or crazy. The Legendary Warriors disappearing. I almost disappeared myself. Luckily, a Clockmon found us before it was too late. He said that something happened in the past that's causing this sudden strange shift in the Digital World. It will start to affect the real world once it's finished with the Digital World. Which I guess is why you four were still unaffected. Clockmon and Sorcermon used their powers to send me back in time to find out what's happening and try to fix it," Calumon explained. "I guess you four must've came through the Digi-Port when that was happening, so it sent you guys back in time as well."

Jazz then had a chilling realization. "Wait… What if that is why Takiya was missing? He somehow disappeared!" She exclaimed.

"When you say 'disappeared', do you mean they're gone because something happened to them in the past?" Lopmon asked, wanting to make sure they had their information right.

"Yeah," Calumon confirmed.

"Did… did they die?" Andy asked in worry.

"I don't know. That's just one possibility, but anything could've happened," Calumon answered. "Since I was there when it happened, it was decided I was the best choice to be sent back here…"

"What do you mean you were there when it happened?" Jazz asked.

"... It's… complicated…" Calumon hesitated. "But just know that I know what's supposed to happen."

Jazz frowned, but nodded, accepting the explanation for now. "Okay. So… what happens now? I mean… I have no idea about this whole thing, time travel, and all that."

"Did we actually go back in time?" Andy asked, still skeptical of the situation. "I mean how can you tell if we're in the past right now? How far back in the past are we?"

Jazz paused. "Oh… That's a good question…" She looked down in thought. "Hmmm…"

"For starters, the Continent of Darkness doesn't look like this in the present," Calumon gestured around. "It might be dark, but it's actually full of life in the present time. At least it was supposed to be. And as for how far back we are, if Clockmon and Sorcermon did the spell right, we should be about 4 years, 2 months, and 4 days in the past right now."

Jazz looked up at Calumon's words. She looked around, seeing how there was no life, and how it was barren almost save for the vegetation all around them. "It does feel a bit… lifeless around here…"

"A bit?" Dorumon asked. "This feels like something out of a horror movie. I wouldn't be surprised if we suddenly ran into a big haunted house with headless ghosts chasing after us."

"No more movies for you for a while…" Andy sighed.

Lopmon paled a little. "4 years…? We're 4 years in the past!?"

Jazz looked at Lopmon in concern. "Lopmon? Is everything…" Jazz trailed off as she remembered Lopmon's story he had told her, about how he was once corrupted by Lucemon 4 years ago. "Oh… Oh! Oh no… This is when… you were…"

Lopmon frowned.

"Hey… this may not be such a bad thing," Calumon spoke up. "I wasn't sure if I would be able to fix this on my own. Having you here might help with that. You know things from a different perspective after all, Lopmon. If something went wrong here, you might have a better idea about it than I would."

Jazz perked up before she put a reassuring hand on Lopmon's head. "Yeah, don't worry about it. And remember, this is not the current you. You are past this stage of your life. You are a better Digimon now."

"Yeah, whatever your past self did here, doesn't affect who you are now," Andy agreed.

"And we will stay by your side no matter what," Dorumon added.

"Thanks," Lopmon said, feeling a little better. "Though… I do hope we don't have to confront my past self, not only is he cruel and cold hearted, but he's very powerful and dangerous. There was a reason why it took the combined efforts of EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon to take me down back then."

Jazz paled. "Oh… Yikes… Yeah… I hope we don't confront your past self either…"

"Well, hopefully we won't have to," Calumon spoke up. "Whatever happened that changed the timeline happens somewhere here. Likely with the Legendary Warriors themselves. If we can find them, we can find the source of the change."

Jazz nodded. "Then we should do that." She looked at Lopmon. "Weren't you sensing a powerful Digimon somewhere around here?"

"Yeah, it's coming from northeast from here," Lopmon answered.

"It's a bit dark to see out here though," Andy noted.

"That's not a problem." Dorumon grinned before the gem on his forehead glowed like a red flashlight.

Jazz looked at Dorumon's glowing head gem. "This reminds me of something Andy was obsessed with as a kid, some kind of game where creatures were captured in balls and could teach them moves."

"What do you mean 'obsessed with as a kid'? … It's still a great game," Andy muttered.

"We should get going, we can't waste too much time here," Calumon spoke up.

Dorumon nudged Jazz to get her moving. "No musing on anything, just move please."

Jazz frowned but did as Dorumon pushed her to do.

Lopmon hopped onto Jazz's head, he wanted to be close to her in case he would need to protect her from any sudden hostile attacks.

As the group were moving through the forest, they saw a few Digimon that left them alone. There was some glowing moss they passed by. Things were mostly quiet though.

"Do you think… if we manage to fix whatever happened here in the past, we'll be able to return to our present?" Andy asked as they were walking.

Jazz looked down. "I'm… not sure…" She admitted. "This is the first time I've dealt with time travel, so I know next to nothing about it."

"Clockmon told me to find him again once this is all over, and he'll take us back to the present," Calumon answered. "He said he will be waiting at the big clock tower. I'm not sure if I remember seeing any big clock towers in the Digital World."

Jazz frowned. "Maybe he will show up with the clock tower once this is fixed."

"What, you think Clockmon is going to teleport himself and an entire clock tower in the Digital World somehow?" Dorumon asked.

"I was just thinking!" Jazz exclaimed. "I'm no expert on Digimon, so I can only guess here."

"We'll figure it out after we figure out this mess," Lopmon sighed.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, and a giant fire tornado in the distance.

Jazz looked up. "I know that fiery move! That's from Agunimon!" She exclaimed.

"Either that BurningGreymon," Andy noted.

"Come on, we better hurry!" Calumon spoke up before flying ahead.

Everyone rushed to where they saw the big fiery tornado, though the tornado had already dissipated, they knew they were close.

Calumon, being the furthest one ahead of the group, saw something ahead that made him gasp and fly back quickly. "Stop! Don't run any closer!"

Everyone came to a halt, looking confused.

"Why?" Jazz asked as she looked at Calumon in confusion.

"Is there something dangerous up ahead?" Andy asked.

"Y-yeah…" Calumon frowned. "There's… Duskmon. He's the Legendary Warrior of Darkness, but corrupted, and enhanced by Cherubimon himself. He made all the other Legendary Warriors look like a bunch of weaklings."

Jazz paled at hearing that. "H-how… I mean, I know the Legendary Warriors are strong, but… for one of them to be of that level of strength…? Even if it is enhanced strength by Cherubimon…" She shivered to herself. Is this what Takuya had to go through?

"The Warrior of Darkness is said to be the strongest of the Legendary Warriors in terms of power and strength," Lopmon explained. "When I first saw Ko- the human who was to wield the Spirit of Darkness, I could already tell he held a lot of potential. As Cherubimon, I infused my own darkness and power into him when I gave him the Duskmon spirit."

Jazz was shaking now, more out of fear for Takuya than for herself, but it was still scary for her as well. "No wonder Takuya is so messed up… he was literally fighting for his life…"

"Jazz, calm down, you're about to hyperventilate," Andy spoke up.

"How can you be so calm, Andy?" Jazz frowned.

"Getting worked up right now is the last thing we should be doing," Andy answered. "We need to keep a calm head if we want to fix whatever went wrong here."

Andy then looked at Calumon. "Is it possible for us to go back in time again if we missed the opportunity to fix it? Because until we see what went wrong, we're not going to know how to fix it."

Calumon frowned. "Well… Clockmon did tell me something… if we need to reset time again, I will have to activate a bit of my power to do so. I can take us back to 5 minutes at max. But I can't use it forever, if I use it too much, I'll eventually… need to rest. And that means I won't be around to reset whatever happens after that."

Lopmon looked down. "Then we have to use it wisely."

Dorumon looked at the group. "Well, what are we waiting for? We need to see what is going on!" He exclaimed, his tail twitching in agitation.

Dorumon was about to run forward when Andy grabbed his tail and pulled him back. "Are you crazy? Calumon just said that Duskmon is ahead! We are not going to waste a reset because we got destroyed by him!"

Dorumon looked back and groaned. "Okay…"

"So what do we do now?" Jazz asked.

"That's a good question." Lopmon frowned.

"If I remember right, the other Legendary Warriors should be looking for a safe spot to plan out their attack on Duskmon," Calumon informed. "Which… is supposed to end poorly."

Jazz chuckled a bit here. "Well, Takuya does tend to think more with his heart than his head…"

"Do you know where they are right now, Calumon?" Andy asked.

"Maybe… I mean it's been 4 years… but I'll try my best," Calumon answered before his own forehead triangle glowed like a flashlight. "This way, we need to go around if we want to avoid Duskmon."

The group followed Calumon closely, trying to avoid Duskmon's location.

---

Thankfully, Calumon seemed to remember where the Legendary Warriors were staying at; there was an old looking warehouse in the middle of the forest. It looked like a good place to hide and camp out for a while, it keeps campfires hidden from view at the very least.

"Mmm… I smell roasted nuts…" Dorumon drooled.

"Don't go charging in, Dorumon, if we want to keep the timeline from collapsing, we don't want to be seen by any of the Legendary Warriors," Andy warned.

Dorumon frowned, but backed off. "Aww…"

Jazz looked at Andy. "That's a good point you brought up. Even if we have to help, we can't be seen."

"Which could be a problem." Andy frowned. "How are we supposed to help them if we're not allowed to be seen?"

"Just remember why we're here," Lopmon spoke up.

"Yeah," Calumon agreed. "We're not here to help them, we're here to make sure nothing in this timeline has changed."

Jazz nodded. "Okay." But then a thought crossed her mind. "But what if the changes in our present were because something has changed?"

"That's why we're here in the first place; to see what changed, and find a way to undo it," Calumon replied. "Without being seen."

The group walked closer to the abandoned warehouse, they could see a campfire being used. They saw two human children who looked to be a bit younger than them. One of them was a blonde girl, and the other was a chubby boy. Andy remembered seeing them before, though they were older when he saw them. Here, they looked younger, which made sense since this was 4 years in the past.

"Human kids…" Jazz noted quietly. "Are they Legendary Warriors?"

"Yes. Like with Takuya, they too hold the spirits of the Legendary Warriors," Lopmon answered. "The girl is Zoey Orimoto, she holds the Spirit of Wind; Kazemon and Zephrymon. The boy is J.P. Shibayama, he holds the Spirit of Thunder; Beetlemon and MetalKabuterimon."

Calumon was watching them, nostalgia hitting him pretty hard. He was currently the same age as Zoey was now. It was almost hard to believe since he was so used to his friends always being older than him.

Jazz was a bit surprised at this, but not as surprised as she would have been had she not known Takuya's own secret about becoming a Digimon. "I guess… this means there are others like Takuya then…"

Zoey and J.P. were talking about something, though they were too far to hear what they were talking about. Eventually, however, another human kid came walking over, carrying a bucket of water. Andy and Jazz knew this kid, though he looked younger than they remembered.

"Isn't that Koji?" Jazz whispered.

"Yes," Lopmon confirmed. "He holds the Spirits of Light; Lobomon and KendoGarurumon."

Jazz blinked. "Huh… I didn't think he would be a Legendary Warrior. He gave off a sort of aloof and distant air around him the last time I met him."

"If he's a Legendary Warrior, doesn't that mean his twin brother Koichi is one too?" Andy asked, though he remembered meeting them, he was asking for Jazz's sake.

Lopmon hesitated. "Well… I'm… not sure if I should share that information right now…"

Jazz frowned before sighing. "You don't have to right now, but it would be helpful in the future if we need it."

Then two Digimon came walking over, carrying more buckets of water. A tall yellow Digimon with red pants, and a short, white Digimon with a pink fabric around his waist. Noticeably, the short, white Digimon had a familiar blue egg in his fabric belt.

"Who are those Digimon?" Jazz asked.

"The white one is Bokomon, he's pretty smart, though he doesn't fight on his own. He's currently caring for Seraphimon's egg after Seraphimon was… taken down by a strong and crafty Legendary Warrior named Mercurymon," Lopmon explained. "The tall, yellow one is Neemon. He's… not so good with words, though sometimes I feel like he's smarter than he lets on."

Jazz remembered Bokomon from her last time in the Digital World, when she, Andy, and the others had been called to help fight against Dreammon and free the Legendary Warriors.

"Even back then, Seraphimon had to be taken care of?" Dorumon chuckled.

"He was… quite the cute member of the group for a while," Calumon snickered. "At least I- uh… their youngest group was no longer the baby of the group."

"Okay… so we have Koji, Zoey, and J.P., that's three… how many Legendary Warriors were here at this time?" Andy asked.

"About 5 right now," Calumon answered.

"Then the other two must be out right now. One of them has to be Takuya," Dorumon noted. "Should we go look for him? Maybe he went missing here."

"No, just give it a minute…" Calumon said.

Before long, a younger looking Takuya, and a much younger looking boy were walking to the group. The younger boy had some kind of fruit in his big orange hat.

"Whoa… I'm surprised a little kid was a part of this group… this couldn't be good for his psyche though." Jazz frowned.

"I'm sure he'll turn out fine…" Calumon said, blushing a little.

"I'm sure you're already familiar with Takuya, the Warrior of Flame," Lopmon chuckled. "The youngest boy in their group is named Tommy Himi, he holds the Spirit of Ice; Kumamon and Korikakumon."

"So these children were the Legendary Warriors in the past?" Jazz asked, surprised.

"They still are to this day, aren't they?" Andy frowned.

"You could say that…" Calumon replied.

The group stayed quiet as they watched the younger Takuya talking about the plan he had for Duskmon. Tommy held out figurines he made of the others, which admittedly looked pretty good for a little kid's handiwork. Calumon was blushing when Jazz complimented it. Takuya's plan was that he was going to Spirit Evolve into Agunimon to try to keep Duskmon busy in a one-on-one battle. While Agunimon was doing that, the others were to Spirit Evolve into their Beast forms. MetalKabuterimon and Korikakumon were to move in on Duskmon, then Zephrymon and KendoGarurumon were to sneak up behind Duskmon, then when Takuya gave the signal, they were to all attack Dusmon at once. Takuya proudly represented this by knocking over the Duskmon figurine. He looked really confident in this plan.

Jazz seemed to be impressed, but at the same time, she was a bit unsure of the plan she had heard about. "It seems Takuya's plan was sound, but he greatly overestimated the abilities of himself and his friends while underestimating Duskmon. Shouldn't he try using Aldamon instead of Agunimon?"

"He can't use Aldamon yet," Calumon explained. "He… gets that later."

Jazz blinked in surprise. "Huh? But… he's had that ability the whole time he's been back at Amity Park! I didn't know he didn't have it at the time here!"

"Remember, Jazz, this is 4 years in the past. Takuya is much younger here, and we don't know exactly how he was able to fuse his two spirits to become Aldamon in the first place. It wouldn't have been an easy thing to do," Andy stated.

Jazz looked down in thought. "I guess that's a good point. Maybe we should ask him how he got that ability to fuse his Spirits when we get back to our time."

"If we get back…" Dorumon frowned.

Andy looked back at Takuya's plan. While it wasn't a bad plan, Jazz was right; Takuya was underestimating Duskmon, and overestimating himself and his friends' powers. Andy knew the current Takuya could easily take on Duskmon, but this Takuya, most likely wouldn't stand a chance.

"I don't like it!" Koji suddenly spoke up.

"Why not? It's a good plan! … What's the matter? Not enough running away from you?" Takuya huffed.

The two boys were arguing about how to handle Duskmon. Andy listened to their argument. He had to admit that Koji had the right idea; they were facing down an opponent they hardly knew anything about, just that he was much stronger then they were. It was usually wise to stay away from such an opponent, until they could figure out how to beat him. But Takuya didn't want to run away, he wanted to take down Duskmon as quickly as possible.

Jazz frowned. "I know Takuya is a bit of a hot-head who likes to have a good spar, but this… wow, he really was in over his head here."

"Takuya had to learn this lesson the hard way," Lopmon sighed.

Koji then got up and walked past them, telling Takuya he wanted to talk to him in private. The other Legendary Warriors looked at them in worry as Takuya followed Koji somewhere.

"Has anything changed yet, Calumon?" Dorumon asked.

"No, everything is happening like it should so far," Calumon answered.

Jazz frowned. "If what you're saying is correct, then the changes happened after this point in time."

"Maybe…" Calumon crossed his arms, looking worried.

"So… Andy… out of curiosity, how would you have gone on with Takuya's plan?" Jazz asked her brother.

"Why would you care what plan I would make?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jazz shrugged. "Because you're quite the tactician. And I was just curious."

"Well, that depends. I didn't see how Duskmon fought, so… I would just say analyze what he does, study his movements, try to survive, and then flee if you realize you're outmatched, and only confront him if it's necessary," Andy answered. "I mean Dorumon and I had to fly away from Aldamon when he was being controlled by Dreammon, because we knew we were outmatched. I'm glad the Takuya we know today realizes that sometimes you have to run from a battle if you want to win it. Otherwise… well, if you're dead, you can't exactly win."

"Unless he comes back as a ghost," Dorumon added.

Andy rolled his eyes. "That's a whole other can of worms, Dorumon."

Jazz smiled at her brother and Dorumon. "Well, that's a good plan. It's much better than Takuya's plan."

"Well, Takuya is a lot younger here. If I remember right, he changes for the better after what happens with Duskmon here," Calumon remarked.

Jazz looked at Calumon. "What did happen to change Takuya's mindset here?"

"He never really went into full details about it, just that he realized that he needed to be here, and what it meant to be a Legendary Warrior," Calumon replied.

"I'm still curious to know how you know all this, Calumon," Andy stated. "You make it sound like you were actually a part of the group yourself."

Jazz frowned. She had noticed that too. "How do you know of this?"

Lopmon looked at Calumon, and Calumon frowned.

"Um…" Calumon hesitated.

Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted when a red blade of energy went through the warehouse, tearing it down easily. Thankfully, nobody was hit by it. There stood Duskmon, holding out a sword.

Immediately, the other three of the group, Zoey, JP, and Tommy, activated their D-Tectors, Spirit Evolving into their Beast forms. While they were doing that, Dorumon's eyes flashed at Duskmon, and Duskmon's hologram appeared on Andy's D-Arc.

"Duskmon is a Demon Man Digimon. It possesses power over Darkness which bears the might of AncientSphinxmon. The regret of various extinct species of Digimon and the "Forbidden Data" on the Net transformed into intense dark energy, and coalesced into Duskmon. Of course, he's a Hybrid level, and a variable type," Andy read.

Jazz blinked. "But isn't the Warrior of Darkness a good Digimon? This… Duskmon doesn't look like a good guy…"

"He isn't, he's been corrupted and brainwashed by me… the past me," Lopmon warned. "I… pretty much programmed him to show no mercy."

Jazz frowned, but sighed. "I understand, but remember, in our time, he is free from that, and you don't have to worry about it anymore."

"Maybe he doesn't now, but we have to worry about it," Andy spoke up. "We need to move, we're too close to the battlefield."

Jazz paled and looked back. "Oh… let's move! We can't be seen, and we have to get some distance between us and the battle!"

"No need to shout," Dorumon grumbled. "You'll just draw more attention to us."

Jazz blushed. "Right… Sorry…"

Thankfully, Duskmon's attention was on the three Beast Legendary Warriors to pay any attention to Andy's group. Takuya and Koji were running to the battlefield themselves.

"I guess we couldn't run away from this guy even if we could, Koji!" Takuya said to Koji.

Koji didn't say anything back.

"Whether you like it or not, we need to stick with the plan. Now you better Spirit Evolve!" Takuya instructed, getting out his own D-Tector.

Koji just got out his D-Tector and Spirit Evolved into KendoGarurumon. At the same time, Takuya Spirit Evolved into Agunimon.

"At least we know their Digimon forms hadn't changed over the years… except maybe Koichi's…" Dorumon muttered as they were hurrying to get further away from the battlefield.

Jazz looked back, concerned about their cousin, despite not being from the same timeline. However, she knew she and Andy were there to only make sure the timeline was followed, so helping was out of the question. She had to remember this was part of the timeline that had to occur.

When the group were far enough away to see the battle without getting caught up in it, they watched as Agunimon ran towards Duskmon. The other Legendary Warriors were waiting for their cue. Everything Agunimon threw at Duskmon was easily dodged. Then Agunimon tried a Pyro Tornado, and this time, Duskmon stood there, and easily blocked Agunimon's attack. Agunimon, looking shocked at this, jumped back. Agunimon was looking at Duskmon, his body shivering now, likely just realizing how powerful Duskmon really was.

In a desperate attempt to knock Duskmon out, Agunimon then threw several punches at Duskmon's face, but it did no good. The evil Warrior of Darkness was not even phased by the blows. The last blow didn't even knock Duskmon out at all. He just looked back at Agunimon with a single red eye and a bored look in his eyes.

Seeing what he was up against, Agunimon decided now was the best time to have everyone attack at once. Agunimon lunged at Duskmon before he quickly jumped behind the Warrior of Darkness and grabbed onto his arms, holding them tight. Agunimon gave a shout. "ATTACK GUYS! NOW!"

The other Legendary Warriors attacked with their strongest attacks, and Agunimon jumped away before he could be hit by the attacks as well. It seemed to work at first, but Duskmon only took the attacks calmly before the energy of the combined attacks faded from his form, revealing the Warrior of Darkness as unharmed.

"Did he just… absorb their attacks?" Andy asked in shock.

"Yeah, that's one Digimon I wouldn't ever want to tangle with," Dorumon shivered.

Jazz looked as pale as a ghost. "That… shouldn't have happened… That was four Beast Spirits attacking at once…" No wonder Takuya had a hard time against Duskmon...

Duskmon looked back at Agunimon. Agunimon let out a gasp when Duskmon suddenly appeared in front of him, and raised up his crimson red sword. And then, Duskmon brought the sword down on Agunimon. Agunimon let out a cry of pain as fractal code surrounded his body, reverting him back to his human form.

Calumon's eyes went wide when he saw this happening.

"Okay… I think we found the divergent point…" Jazz said, horrified at what she was seeing, and also the implications of what she was witnessing as well. "Right? That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?"

"No… it wasn't." Calumon frowned. "What was supposed to happen was that KendoGarurumon jumped in front of Agunimon, taking the attack himself. Because Duskmon is Koichi, he sees that he hurt his twin brother and starts to freak out. Which ended up getting all of us separated from each other. If he hits Takuya as he intended… he could easily finish him off."

Jazz looked at Calumon as he explained this, noting he had said 'us' instead of 'them'. However, with the timeline now diverging, it wasn't time to worry about what looked to be a speech slip-up. She instead looked back at Duskmon and the battle between him and the Legendary Warriors. "What do we do? We can't let the timeline diverge…"

"Perhaps now we should reset the timeline and see why Koji didn't jump to save Takuya?" Dorumon suggested.

Duskmon picked up the unconscious Takuya, and looked at the other Legendary Warriors. "While I could easily finish him off, I have a better idea. Why let the Spirit of the Legendary Warrior of Flame go to waste when Master Cherubimon could put him to much better use?"

Jazz panicked at hearing that. "Oh no… No, no, no, no! This can't be happening…!" She was looking like she was having one of her usual freakouts when she was wrong about something. She was trying to keep her voice down as well though, showing she knew how serious it was that they remained hidden from Duskmon.

Jazz noticed Andy was just watching, and she began to shake him. "Why aren't you more worried about our cousin!?"

Andy yelped as he grabbed onto Jazz's hands to pull them off of his shoulder. "Jazz, calm down! Just breathe, okay? This is why we're here; we're going to fix this, alright?" This might explain why Takuya suddenly disappeared, he's likely either dead or the past Cherubimon's soldier.

Jazz realized Andy was right and took a breath before letting it out to calm down. "You're right… I need to remain calm and logical if we are to fix this. Freaking out will not help Takuya in this situation."

"It'll be alright… I'm sure we'll fix whatever's going on, Jazz," Lopmon reassured her partner. Because if we don't… I'll likely return to being evil again…

Calumon turned to the group. "Okay, I'm going to activate the reset. Perhaps we should follow Takuya and Koji when they have their little talk, maybe something happened there that kept Koji from coming to Takuya's rescue."

Jazz nodded. "Okay, please, do it. We need to fix this as soon as possible!"

"We're ready too," Dorumon spoke up.

"Okay… here we go," Calumon's triangle glowed white. "Crystal Matrix; Time Revolution!"

Suddenly, Andy found himself, Dorumon, Jazz, Lopmon, and Calumon falling through some kind of white, blank place, with nothing but clocks surrounding them as they fell. The clocks were ticking counterclockwise, and seemed to be moving faster as they were falling.

And suddenly, when Andy opened his eyes, they were back at the abandoned looking warehouse, where Takuya just finished explaining his plan to the other Legendary Warriors.

Jazz opened her own eyes and saw the same thing Andy was seeing. "It… it worked…" She breathed, relieved to see things were back to what they should be so far.

Calumon let out a sigh of relief. "Good… I was worried that it wouldn't."

"How many resets did you say you have in you?" Andy asked Calumon.

"I should have enough as long as I don't use any of my other powers that would exhaust me," Calumon answered. "I don't know exactly how many times I can use Time Revolution, but as long as I'm not exhausted, I can use it."

Lopmon nodded as he took in this information. "That's good news, but we will need to use it only when it's necessary." He then looked around. "Now, where are Takuya and Koji?"

"Looks like they're already going to talk in private," Dorumon pointed out, seeing Takuya and Koji walking away from the other Legendary Warriors.

"We better follow them," Jazz said.

"Wait," Andy took Jazz's hand. "We shouldn't all follow them. While they are younger here, they are still Legendary Warriors, if too many of us follow them, they're bound to notice us. Besides, it might be best if we split up anyways. One group stays here in case something else goes wrong, while the other group follows Takuya and Koji."

"But who will be in which group?" Lopmon asked in confusion. "I would assume Calumon remains here in case something goes down, but after that… who remains with Calumon and who goes after Takuya and Koji?"

"I'll go after Takuya and Koji," Andy volunteered. "Dorumon and I have improved our stealth skills with training. And Jazz… no offense, but you… haven't quite improved on your stealth skills."

Jazz gave Andy a deadpan look. "Way to make me feel better about it, little brother…"

Lopmon had to cover his mouth with one of his large ears.

"Do you remember the last time you tried to sneak up on Danny? You slipped and fell on your face. Remember when you tried to help take out some ghosts by sneaking up on them? You ended up getting your face splattered by mud. I don't even know how you did that!" Andy pointed out.

Jazz sighed. "Okay, you've made your point. I will remain here with Calumon."

Calumon and Lopmon looked like they were trying not to laugh.

"We better get going before Takuya and Koji get too far ahead of us," Dorumon pointed out.

Andy nodded. "We'll let you guys know how the talk went."

Jazz nodded. "Just be careful, Andy. I don't you or Dorumon want to mess up the timestream by getting spotted."

"The same goes for you," Andy chuckled.

Andy and Dorumon began to hurry after Koji and Takuya. Koji was leading Takuya down somewhere in one of the abandoned buildings of the warehouse. It was dark and messy. Andy and Dorumon had to avoid a lot of the rocks, or else they would alert Koji and Takuya to their presence. Before long, Koji finally stopped when he and Takuya reached a corner. Andy and Dorumon quickly ducked under some bigger rocks of the rubble to watch in hiding.

Takuya finally spoke up. "Alright, so start talking."

Koji, facing away from Takuya, didn't say anything for a moment. Surprisingly, Takuya waited for Koji to speak.

Finally, Koji asked Takuya a question. "Why do you think you're here, Takuya?"

"Huh?" Takuya looked confused at the question.

"Answer me, I wanna know why you're here," Koji repeated, still not facing Takuya.

"Well, you know, we're here to save the world." Takuya replied as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Takuya sounded so innocent when he said that, that it made Andy wonder if Takuya saw this as some kind of game or destiny.

"You say that like you don't know what it means, what's at stake, this isn't just some video game you can just walk away from if things don't work out," Koji stated in a serious tone.

"I'm not supid, you know!" Takuya snapped back. "I know that!"

Koji then finally turned to face Takuya. "Sometimes I don't really think you do."

For a moment, both boys were silent as they looked at each other. The tension was so thick, that Andy could swear he could cut through it with Dorumon's claws.

"There's no second chances for us, get it? If we mess up here, it's over!" Koji continued, still looking at Takuya.

Well, no second chances unless you know Calumon. Andy couldn't help but muse to himself despite the serious situation.

"Y-yeah, I know!" Takuya exclaimed, but he had a bit of a stammer that time when he spoke.

"Then how could you stake our lives on some plan that you only assume is going to work? You don't even know anything about this guy!" Koji snapped.

"So, what? We'll all be safe if we just run away?!" Takuya countered. He seemed like he wanted to fight still, despite Koji's words.

"I didn't say that!" Koji spoke up loudly, starting to lose his patience with Takuya.

"Then what are you saying?!" Takuya demanded, losing his own patience.

Koji then grabbed Takuya's collar, turned him around towards the wall, and pinned Takuya against the wall. Andy and Dorumon were surprised at seeing this. Koji had always kept his cool whenever they had seen him, so to see him going this far with Takuya was shocking.

"Listen to me, Takuya! You weren't there when I crossed swords with him, okay?" Koji hissed, still holding onto Takuya's collar. "I doubt he was using even half his strength against me! That whole fight, all he was doing was playing with us!"

Takuya looked a bit unsure now, but he kept his face resolute otherwise. "Uh… yeah… okay, maybe…" He admitted at last. "But… we're the good guys here! There must be a way to win!"

Being the good guys doesn't always mean you'll win… Andy sighed to himself. If it were that easy, we wouldn't have to worry about guys like Vlad completely overpowering us.

"He's too strong!" Koji yelled.

"I know he's strong! But every time we've fought someone more powerful than us, we've worked together and

Everything has turned out fine! I really believe that if we just attack as one we can't lose!" Takuya countered, trying to convince Koji he was in the right.

Well, Takuya certainly has a lot of heart, even back then. Andy noted.

Koji's angry face morphed to disbelief. "Takuya… open your eyes."

"Open your own eyes! We're more powerful together than you think!" Takuya exclaimed in anger.

For a long moment, neither boys said anything to each other. They kept looking at each other, Koji with a tense anger, and Takuya with determined anger. Finally, Koji, seeing how nothing he would say would convince Takuya otherwise, just let go of Takuya, sighing.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Koji sighed before turning away from Takuya. "Tell me something, it's obvious that you don't care about yourself, but can you promise me that the others won't get hurt? Because if you can't… then you better just go home now. Because I won't let you risk their lives."

Takuya was looking at Koji in disbelief.

Dang… I didn't realize there was such drama between Koji and Takuya back then… Andy noted.

Things seemed to be over as Koji began to leave, only for the building to shake suddenly. Takuya was surprised and startled. "Is it an earthquake?!"

"No, it's him!" Koji hissed.

"Come on! The others may need us!" Takuya yelled, running ahead.

"Takuya!" Koji frowned.

Andy and Dorumon were prepared to follow them, but noticed something was off about Koji. Koji was running after Takuya, when suddenly, he stopped. Frowning, Andy saw Koji was clutching the side of his head for a moment.

What's going on? Andy blinked. Is this… supposed to happen?

Dorumon's ears and tail lifted up in alarm, the gem on his forehead glowing slightly.

"What's wrong, Dorumon?" Andy asked.

"I… I sense a powerful presence…" Dorumon frowned. "It's… near Koji…"

Andy frowned, before seeing Koji frowning more, and glaring at Takuya in a way that made Andy fear for Takuya. Still, despite the intense glare, Koji hurried after Takuya.

Andy furrowed his eyebrows. "Something tells me that last part with Koji wasn't supposed to happen… We better get back to the others, quickly."

Dorumon nodded. "Yeah… Calumon should know what we saw."

---

Andy and Dorumon hurried back to where the others were waiting. They were relieved to see Jazz, Lopmon, and Calumon were safe despite Duskmon attacking the other Legendary Warriors, who were in their beast forms right now. Jazz was clutching to Lopmon tightly against her chest.

"Guys!" Andy called out, trying to get their attention.

Jazz looked back, as did Lopmon. "Andy! Dorumon! Did you guys find anything out?"

"We think so, but we're not sure," Dorumon answered. "There was an intense conversation between Takuya and Koji, but… when they were running back out here because of Duskmon, we noticed a dark presence was near or in Koji. He stopped for a moment, clutching his head, before he suddenly had an intense glare at Takuya."

"We're not sure if that was supposed to happen, but if it wasn't, then it might explain why Koji didn't try to save Takuya when Duskmon struck him down," Andy added.

Lopmon frowned. "Did you sense anything that wasn't supposed to be there? Like a presence or something?"

"Like I said, there was a dark presence," Dorumon repeated.

"What kind of dark presence? Could you make anything out?" Calumon questioned.

"It was… kind of difficult, but it did feel familiar," Dorumon answered. "It sort of felt like… corruption, and… well, kinda like Lopmon when he and Jazz accidentally became Cherubimon that one time after the whole Johnny 13 incident."

At that, Lopmon paled. "Wh-what!?"

Jazz looked down at Lopmon in concern. Calumon on the other hand, looked downright horrified. "Oh… Oh no… That's not supposed to happen… Cherubimon is not supposed to go after Koji!"

"But… why is he then? What made Cherubimon of the past decide to… communicate with Koji?" Andy asked. "Because I'm assuming that's what he did when Koji clutched onto his head."

Lopmon frowned as he crossed his arms, seeming to be deep in thought about something. "Well… back then, I didn't have a reason to talk to Koji… I mean I knew he was Koichi's twin brother, but I didn't think much about it at the time, since Koichi proved to be way stronger than Koji was at the time. However… I suppose if I knew Koji would become such a threat to my plans with Duskmon, I likely would've communicated with him to try to manipulate him in some way. But it would depend on what I would know would happen. It seems to be very specific that I would suddenly talk to Koji just after his and Takuya's argument about Duskmon. If I knew that Koji would take the strike from Duskmon, and that would lead to Duskmon freaking out, then I would've told Koji to let Takuya get struck down, since he's become a danger to others, and needed to learn the hard way just how powerful Duskmon really was."

Calumon looked down in thought as well before he paled. "Wait… could someone else be behind the changes here? Because I don't think Cherubimon would have made that decision on his own here. At least, not without help in some way…"

"You mean… someone else came back in time and that's what started this whole mess with the timeline?" Jazz frowned.

"It's a strong possibility. A change in the timeline doesn't just happen by itself, something or someone had to be manipulating it in order to cause such a change," Calumon explained.

Lopmon looked down in thought some more. "Time travel is tricky, even for us Digimon. For someone to come back here and change this very specific event, they would have to know what they were doing."

"Is there anyway we could convince Koji to save Takuya without exposing ourselves?" Dorumon questioned.

"That doesn't seem possible…" Andy frowned. "We can't directly talk to them or we'd be the ones inferring with the timeline."

"So our next best thing is to find out who came back in time as well and how they convinced Cherubimon to tell Koji to let Takuya fall?" Jazz questioned.

"That… seems to be the best way to go about it, if we can stop them, we stop Cherubimon from manipulating Koji," Calumon answered.

"Great… how the heck are we supposed to do that?" Dorumon groaned.

Andy looked at Lopmon. "Wait… since you're the future of Cherubimon… maybe… do you have any different sets of memories of what happened here on this day? Do you have any memories of someone telling you about the future events at all?"

Lopmon looked down, trying to think back to that day. "Not… that I know of… I don't remember anyone telling me about future events… At least, not right now at any rate."

"Since we're all back in time, we're time travellers, so long as we exist here, our present selves aren't affected by what's going on here in the past," Calumon explained. "At least that's what Clockmon told me."

"So what do we do now?" Jazz questioned. "By the time we even get to Cherubimon, it'll be too late. 5 minutes isn't enough time."

Lopmon frowned. "It may be we have to find a way to go back in time more than 5 minutes then."

"Is that possible? Could we go back further than 5 minutes?" Andy asked Calumon.

Calumon hesitated as they all looked at him. Meanwhile, the battle raged on with the Legendary Warriors. Agunimon was just now realizing how strong Duskmon truly was.

"It… should be possible," Calumon hesitated. "Though I haven't thought to try it… I could potentially combine all my energy and power into the Time Revolution in order to back much further… though I wouldn't know how much further we would go back… and there's no telling if I'll still be able to use Time Revolution once I run out of power. So that means… we're very likely to only get one shot at this if I do it."

"Then we have to be careful about how, and when, we use it." Jazz noted with concern. "That's going to be tricky because we have so little room for messing up. If we use it at the wrong time, we could throw the entire timeline out of whack."

"We can't let the 'what ifs' hold us back now. If we don't get rid of this other time traveler, we'll likely be stuck here forever, or we'll be brought back to our changed futures… and I'd rather not be the evil Cherubimon anymore," Lopmon stated.

"I just… have a bad feeling that if we don't stop them… I won't be… me anymore…" Dorumon frowned worriedly.

Lopmon shivered at the implications of Dorumon's words. "Let's find the one behind this then. The sooner we get on it, the better."

"Okay…" Andy turned to Calumon. "We're ready, let's do this."

"Alright then… once I do this, we'll need to make a beeline for Cherubimon's castle. And… I might… not appear as myself, depending on how much power I'll be putting into this," Calumon admitted. "Try… uh… not to be… too surprised if that happens."

Seeing how the Legendary Warriors had all struck at Duskmon at once, they knew they were out of time. Calumon expanded his ears, seeing there was no more time for explanations. The triangle on his forehead began to glow blue and white as he began to focus as much as his energy and power into it as possible.

"Crystal Matrix: Time Revolution Maximum!" Calumon called out.

A blinding barrier surrounded them. Andy suddenly found himself falling through that white void with the clocks, only this time it felt much longer. The others fell with him in complete silence, nobody could talk, nobody could scream, it was just a silent fall all the way through.

---

Titanic X: ZAFT: I'm glad you liked it! :3

Ed: ZAFT: No problem! And thank you! :3

Guest: DarkFoxKit: There was a lot of fun chaos going on in the chapter, so many different perspectives, so many different things going on at the same time. It was fun, but not something we'll do too often. But glad that you enjoyed the ride.

ZAFT: If we do something like that again, it will be enjoyable. :3

Luna Lillyth: ZAFT: You will have to see if we have someone exposed or not! :3

Red Reporter: DarkFoxKit: Heh… hehehehehehe… :3

ZAFT: We like to torment poor Andy~! :3