DarkFoxKit: You ever played Pokemon Snap?
ZAFT: Nope, but I have seen a few play-throughs of the new version. :3
Andy: I remember when I played the original N64 version, I was a little kid back then. But I was so fascinated by all the Pokemon and wished I could catch them. I wasn't very good at playing the main games at the time, but seeing these Pokemon so lively just made we wish I could-
DarkFoxKit: Andy… that's my memory. You didn't even exist back in the 90s.
Andy: Well, hey, if I'm the same age as Danny, and we were both 14 years old back in 2004, then I'd say I was at least almost a year older than you. So technically, I did exist in the 90s, and I am actually older than you. Even if you did keep me perpetually 14 years old.
DarkFoxKit: Stop breaking the fourth wall, it's already in shambles!
Takuya: Um… let's keep this in perspective, Andy. Don't ruin the fourth wall please. We kinda need that to keep the audience and us separate. ^^'
Andy: But it's fun breaking the fourth wall~
DarkFoxKit: That's it, no more game topics for you.
Andy: I'll always gave game topics~ Anyways, you should let the readers move on to the chapter.
(Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title)
Digital Phantom!
(Shows three forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley)
Three worlds, connected side by side
(A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that)
Connections, with many secrets to hide
(Andy Fenton is shown with a small purple fox-like creature, Dorimon, in his arms as Takuya Kanbara appears behind him, a form in shadow behind Takuya himself)
Is one always chosen by fate?
(Danny is shown transforming into his ghost form, Danny Phantom, flying towards a vampiric looking ghost, Vlad Plasmius)
Or can one make their own destiny?
(Andy is shown looking on as his cell-phone transforms into a Digivice, the D-Arc)
Digital Phantom!
(Andy holds up his D-Arc as a heart symbol appears on the screen)
The power is deep inside!
(Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire just as Dorimon glows and becomes Dorumon, firing off a metal ball into the distance)
Digital Phantom!
(The metal ball blasts past Vlad Plasmius as he fires off a ghost ray at Andy, who blocks it with his Fenton Rod)
Destiny is unbound!
(The Fenton Rod is smacked away by Vlad, going spinning before Sam, with a small puppy-like creature next to her, reaches up and catches it, a shadowed form with wings appearing behind her, transparent in appearance)
Digital Phantom!
(Sam throws the Fenton Rod to Tucker, who spins it before throwing it at Plasmius, a big bunny-like being with gun-hands appearing behind Tucker, transparent in appearance)
Fight on, without regret
(Shows Takuya looking up from his D-Tector as he makes eye contact with his Human Spirit of Agunimon, who give a smile back and reaches out a hand as Takuya takes it)
Two sides never rest
(Danny is shown reaching for a glowing Digi-Egg, before the light glows to reveal Patamon in front of Danny, green eyes meeting Danny's baby blue ones.)
Digital Phantom!
(Jazz is shown with the form of Lopmon beside her, a larger, shadowed form behind them both)
Never regret or look back
(Takuya is shown looking up as a ball of fractal code covers his hand, surrounding him before it dissipates to reveal his Fusion form of Aldamon)
Fight on, with victory
(Aldamon fires off a slew of fiery bullets from his cannons, each of those bullets hitting Plasmius before the ghost teleports away, revealing a shadowed form behind him)
Nothing will stand in our way!
(Andy, Dorimon, Danny, Patamon, Tucker, Terriermon, Sam, Salamon, Jazz, Lopmon, and Takuya all appear with Vlad above them, sneering evilly as all ten look on defiantly)
Digital Phantom!
Chapter 63: A New Circus is in Town
"Yo, Andy? Dorumon? How long are you two going to be sleeping on the couch? Come on, I wanted to watch something on TV today," A familiar voice complained.
"H-huh…?" Andy blinked his eyes open, the last thing he remembered was getting flipped upside down inside a Dark Trailmon while going through some kind of wormhole.
Now when Andy opened his eyes, he could see he was laying with Dorumon on the living room couch back at Fenton Works. Not only that, but the older Takuya was there, looking at them in annoyance.
"How long have you been sleeping there?" Takuya asked with a frown. "I was hoping to watch TV, but if you're going to be taking up the whole couch, I guess I can't."
Andy quickly got up, nearly knocking Dorumon off the couch. "Wah!? Wait, we're not dead?"
"Why would you be dead?" Takuya asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Dorumon blinked, also just as surprised as Andy was. "We're… not lying in a Dark Trailmon somewhere right now…? How'd we get back here?"
Takuya raised an eyebrow again. "Are you two alright? Because you're not making any sense right now…"
Andy and Dorumon looked up at Takuya for a moment, then both of them jumped and glomped the older boy down. "Takuya! You're alright!"
"Wah!" Takuya yelped as he was knocked to the floor. "Hey! What's gotten into you two?!"
"If you're here, that means the timeline is restored!" Dorumon smiled.
"Wait! What about Jazz and Lopmon!?" Andy asked in worry.
Both Andy and Dorumon ran upstairs before Takuya could even realize what was going on.
Dorumon was first to reach Jazz's room, only to see the door open as Jazz came out of her room with Lopmon perched on her head.
"Jazz! Lopmon! You're alright!" Dorumon said in relief.
Andy sighed in relief as well when he saw them. "I thought we were goners for sure when the Dark Trailmon suddenly flipped us over."
"Yeah… That was unnerving…" Jazz admitted. "But… did you see Takuya, Andy? Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's downstairs now, the older, 15 year old Takuya, like nothing ever happened," Andy chuckled.
"What about Calumon? Is he okay?" Dorumon asked, remembering the smallest Digimon of their group.
"He's fine, I heard from him through Jazz's D-Arc," Lopmon assured. "He returned to his timeline and his house just as we did."
Jazz sighed with relief on both reports. "Good… I hope we don't have to go through time like that again." She held a hand to her head. "My brain may just overload if we do that again."
"You should take a break, you and Lopmon have done a lot, especially when you took on Cherubimon," Andy suggested.
"Yeah, I plan on doing that, Lopmon and I have a lot we need to take in from that little adventure," Jazz agreed tiredly.
"Digivolving into the next level can take a lot out of you too," Lopmon agreed.
Jazz smiled. "Well, I think we earned the chance to reach Ultimate level. But a rest will do us good."
"I'll go check up on everyone to make sure the timeline is really back to normal," Andy volunteered.
"I'll check too, it's better to have two heads instead of one after all," Dorumon chuckled.
"You two do that… we'll be here if you need us," Lopmon remarked.
Andy and Dorumon went to the lab to see if Danny was still down there, but Maddie and Jack were currently there as well. Realizing that it was likely late, it made sense for Maddie and Jack to be home at this time to work on whatever they gathered on their patrol. So Andy decided to go upstairs to his room to see if Danny or Patamon were there.
When Andy opened the door to his and Danny's room, Danny was sitting at his computer playing Doomed, Patamon sitting on his head.
Andy and Dorumon sighed in relief to see nothing had changed here either.
"Bro?" Danny turned his head to Andy when he heard them sighing. "Is everything alright? I heard from Takuya that you two were acting weird."
"We're just glad everything's alright," Andy answered. "I tell you, bro, Dorumon, Jazz, Lopmon, and I had an adventure and a half."
Danny blinked. "You did? And you didn't even invite me and Patamon? Talk about a bummer!" Danny groaned.
"It wasn't our fault, we were dragged into it unexpectedly!" Dorumon spoke up in their defense. "We were just going to find Takuya, and we ended up going back in time instead, so it wasn't like we could've just reached out and grabbed you to come with us."
Danny blinked in confusion. "You went back in time?" He asked. "That… sounds like one of those sci-fi movies Tucker seems to like."
"But… did it actually happen?" Patamon asked curiously.
"Yeah…" Andy sat down on his bed. "I'll tell you what happened…"
Andy spent the next hour or so telling Danny and Patamon what happened when they went to find Takuya in the Digital World, and how they ended up going back in time, meeting up with Calumon, and having to face with Cherubimon, Lopmon's evil past self, as well as this Glitchmon who wanted to bring Lucemon back by whatever means necessary. This had put Patamon in a deep, troubling thought.
"Wow… That is quite the adventure you went on for sure, bro." Danny whistled. "No wonder Takuya thought you were acting a bit weird. You just went through time!"
"Yeah, he probably thought we had a nightmare or something though, since he found us napping in the living room," Dorumon remarked.
"I still can't believe there was a Digimon who wanted to bring Lucemon back." Patamon frowned. "If there was one who would do that, there could be more…"
"Let's not worry about that for now…" Dorumon sighed. "I don't want to remember this time travel trip. It makes my head hurt…"
"But it did help us learn a few things, about the Legendary Warriors, and our own fears," Andy said, remembering how he managed to get through the nightmare Danny. "And Jazz can now digivolve Lopmon into his Ultimate form, which will come in handy to us in the future."
Danny gave a bit of a grin. "Are you seeing visions of that or are you just saying it?"
"I don't need to see into the future to know having an Ultimate Digimon working with us would be beneficial, Danny, and I don't get visions of the future!" Andy pouted.
Patamon chuckled a little at their antics, but he was worried. Not only were there Digimon wanting to bring Lucemon back, but he hadn't been able to digivolve into even his Champion form yet, while others, like Lopmon, were already reaching their Ultimate forms.
Danny looked over at Patamon and frowned. "Is everything okay, Patamon?" He asked. He could tell something was bothering the little guy.
"I'm just… wondering if… or when I'll be able to digivolve into my Champion form," Patamon sighed. "I don't feel like I'm much help to you at all while I'm stuck as a Rookie Digimon…"
Danny sighed. "You will digivolve soon. It sometimes takes time for other Digimon to reach their stronger forms. I mean, Dorumon didn't reach his Champion form until some time after he and Andy met."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple either," Andy spoke up. "Since you two are partners, it also depends on you, Danny. Dorumon and I had to be in complete sync in order for him to finally digivolve into his proper Champion form. Just as Sam and Salamon needed to be in sync for something to get her to digivolve, and so on. You're used to fighting alone as a ghost, Danny, so it's been difficult for you to get in sync with Patamon."
Danny frowned. "I didn't think of it that way before…" He had to admit, it was hard to change from fighting alone as a ghost to fighting with a Digimon partner at his side. "I guess I've been part of the problem with Patamon not getting stronger…"
"I guess I didn't help. When I was partnered up with Vlad, we didn't really need to be in sync with each other, we could already use our stronger forms ourselves," Patamon admitted. "But this is different. Our link is different from the one I had with Vlad. This is a new learning experience for me as well."
"Well, then from now on, you two will need to start training with each other so you can better feel how to work together instead of separate," Dorumon suggested.
Danny sighed. "I guess we do." He then looked at Patamon. "And I think we should do that as soon as we can."
"Oh… I should probably tell Takuya about what happened… man is he going to freak out…" Andy chuckled.
Danny chuckled as well. "He might think it was a dream for you, bro. But I guess it would be kinda funny to see his reaction."
Takuya was sitting on the couch, when Andy and Dorumon decided to tell him about their little time travelling adventure.
"So that's why we reacted the way we did when you woke us up," Andy finished.
Takuya stared for a moment before he seemed to connect the dots as to what Andy had just told him. "Wait… you… went back in time?!" He exclaimed. "Are you sure that wasn't just a dream?"
"Hmm… you know, you never told me how your talk with Koji went when you were about to face Duskmon, did you?" Andy grinned before he cleared his throat. "'Why do you think you're here, Takuya? Answer me, I want to know why you're here!'"
Takuya paled at hearing that. "You…" He groaned. "Aw man… And I thought I had gotten past that talk…"
"It was the only way to prove to you what we experienced was real and not a dream," Dorumon stated.
Takuya groaned again before he ran a hand through his hair. "Wow… That's… a lot to take in. The fact you two, Jazz, and Lopmon went back in time… Wow… That's some seriously crazy stuff to have experienced…"
"We were just lucky none of you noticed us, or we would've done more damage to the time stream," Andy said. "I'm just hoping that all of that is over now. To think, I just wanted to talk to you about a circus coming to town when that whole thing happened…"
Takuya perked up. "Wait, a circus is coming to Amity Park?" He looked a bit unsure. "Will there be clowns there?"
Andy paused for a moment. "Uh… sort of? It's a different kind of circus called Circus Gothica. It's kind of like the… anti-circus, I guess? It's all black and darkness with edge to it instead of all bright and colorful. I think Sam is definitely going to be seeing it, it sounds right up her alley. I was just wondering if you and Danny might be interested in going."
Takuya blinked before he looked down in thought. "Hmm… It sounds interesting… and if it's supposed to be the opposite of the regular circus, I guess I could give it a try."
"It sounds like it would be an interesting experience," Dorumon agreed. "I'd like to see it myself."
"He's mainly the reason why I'm going at all." Andy rolled his eyes.
Takuya chuckled at hearing that response from Andy. "Of course he is." The older boy then paused for a moment. "Wait… If Danny is going, and Sam is going, would that mean it would be like a date for the two of them?"
"Oh, I'm hoping~" Andy grinned. "It's about time they got together."
"I wonder if Patamon and Gatomon would like to get together too?~" Dorumon smiled.
Takuya laughed. "You two are so evil~"
"Nah, but you can say we do ship them~" Andy laughed. "And I think a circus will do us some good after that whole time travelling thing. Things could've easily screwed up."
Takuya shuddered at the thought of that happening. "Yeah… Let's just focus on the circus for now. Please…"
"Ooh! I'm going to ask if Maddie's got any scrap metal for me to eat! I'm starving!" Dorumon perked up before he rushed towards the kitchen, likely seeing Maddie and Jack coming up.
"He deserves it, we didn't get to eat much after coming back from the past," Andy chuckled.
Takuya laughed again. "I think you certainly deserve something yourself, Andy."
"Yeah, maybe. Though Jazz and Lopmon will be resting for a while, they did a lot today, digivolving into Antylamon while facing against his evil past self, I can imagine that taking its toll on the two of them," Andy chuckled.
"Yeah…" Takuya sighed. "That would take a toll on anyone."
"Oh, and… I'm glad you've learned a lot after your confrontation with Koji," Andy remarked, looking at Takuya. "Although… you could still learn more these days~"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Takuya asked with a frown.
"Oh, nothing to get worked up over, just something to think about," Andy chuckled before he went to the kitchen.
Takuya sighed at his cousin's antics. Well, I'm just glad he got back safely from that time travel thing. I hope I don't have to go through that myself… again at least...
The next morning, Sam was sleeping peacefully in her bedroom as usual. Gatomon was curled up on her bed next to her. Then suddenly, the serenity of the room had vanished when someone decided to open the curtain blinds, letting sunlight right into Sam's face.
Sam groaned as she rolled over in her bed. Oh no… not now… She thought in dismay as she heard her mother's peppy voice.
"Good morning, sunshine! And how do we greet the brand new day?" Pamela Manson asked chiperly.
"With a smile on your face and an attitude of gratitude!" Jeremy Manson finished as he smiled cheerily as well.
The two opened up the window's curtain all the way, letting in all the sunlight, which was Sam's current bane. Gatomon didn't appreciate having sunlight in her face as well, and moved herself under the blanket while Sam rolled herself to the otherside while pushing a pillow over her head. I'm a creature of the night doomed to a family of morning people...
Pamela and Jeremy made their way over to Sam's bed. "Um, Sam? Sweetie?" Pamela began as she sat down on Sam's bed. "I thought we'd try to mix it up a little with the wardrobe today." She pulled out this gaudy pink dress with yellow flowers on it.
Sam stared at the dress in disbelief.
"Nothing says 'hey world, look at me!' Like floral prints!" Jeremy grinned.
Gatomon grumpily looked out from the blanket to see what all the commotion was about, and wasn't too happy that the parents decided to wake them over a stupid, gaudy dress.
"Okay, but I just need to add one, little, personal touch~" Sam said as she reached under her pillow and pulled out a can of black clothing dye before spraying the dress with it and then she took out a pair of large looking scissors and cut the skirt so it was shorter.
Does… this happen so often that Sam kept a bottle of spray paint and huge scissors under her pillow for this occasion? Gatomon couldn't help but question as she watched the entire exchange.
Pamela was looking at the now cut up, black dress in shock, evidently despite it happening multiple times, it still surprised her whenever Sam did that.
Sam was quite proud of what she did to the dress, as now it didn't look so ugly.
Sam brought Gatomon down to breakfast after wearing her usual clothing, she was not wearing anything her parents got her, even if she did fix it up. Breakfast was pancakes and sausages this time. Jeremy was reading the newspaper, Pamela was eating beside Jeremy and Sam. Ida Manson, Sam's grandmother, was sitting on her scooter while watching TV, eating her own sausages.
The TV was showing a program about trying to help a moody teenage daughter, and some of the comments by the host made Pamela and Jeremy narrow their eyes at Sam in suspicion.
"Take an active interest in your child's life, learn who her friends are, and recognize a bad influence or two when it walks into your front door!" The host on the TV warned.
Sam was looking at the TV when the door opened and Danny and Andy came in.
"Hey Sam! I got that mor-" Danny started to say when Andy suddenly elbowed him.
"We got that CD you wanted," Andy spoke up. "But we should probably get going to school soon before we're late."
Danny was rubbing his side from Andy's elbow jabbing him there. "Yeah… I don't want detention again for being late."
Andy wanted to slap Danny upside the head for making that comment in front of Sam's overprotective parents. Pamela and Jeremy both glared at Danny, hearing that he, one of Sam's friends, was apparently getting detention more than once.
Sam groaned before the TV changed to commercials, one of which was for Circus Gothica. Andy ignored it since he had already seen the commercial before.
"We really should get going-" Andy began to say before noticing something odd was going on with Danny.
Danny was staring at the TV, grinning, his eyes almost glowing even. "Cross over to the dark side…"
However, no one noticed Danny's behavior save for Andy. But thankfully, Pamela shut off the TV. "Now there's some evil mind pollution we won't be seeing any time soon, sweetie." She said to Sam.
"But we already bought our tickets," Sam argued.
Andy was waving a hand in Danny's face, wondering why he looked like he was in a trance-like state.
"We'll be fine." Sam reassured her parents after they gave her skeptical looks. "After all, it's just harmless entertainment, right Danny, Andy?"
"Cross over to the dark side," Danny repeated.
"Y-yes! It's just harmless entertainment!" Andy quickly said, stepping in front of his brother, smiling nervously at the Mansons. What the heck is going on with Danny!?
Sam noticed Danny's response. "Okay, are we leaving or do you want to stay and corrupt my grandma?" Sam said as she grabbed Danny's arm and began to pull him away from her parents, picking up Gatomon in her other arm as she left.
Andy helped push Danny out the door himself, just giving a nervous wave at Pamela and Jeremy as they watched them go.
As soon as they were outside of the house, Andy sighed in relief. "Your parents scare me, Sam…"
"Sorry, Andy…" Sam sighed. "That's not something I can help." She then looked at Danny. "And would you, Danny, quit messing with my parents?! That's my job!"
Danny blinked, seeming to have finally snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "W-what? Oh, sorry Sam, I… think I got a little spacey. I was up late last night, hunting ghosts and trying to work better with Patamon."
Patamon's wings stuck out of Danny's backpack when he heard his name. "It wasn't easy… I can't fly as fast as Danny in his ghost form."
Andy looked at Danny for a moment. "I don't know, it looked like you were in a trance of some kind, not just spacing out."
Danny blinked as he looked at Andy. "Are you sure, bro? I'm pretty sure I was spaced out."
"I wasn't sure what was going on, but you did look like you were in a trance," Gatomon spoke up. "Could've had something to do with the TV. Maybe TV can affect ghosts in a certain way?"
"That's never happened before." Danny frowned.
"Look, whatever happened, just… watch what you say around my parents, okay?" Sam sighed. "They already think I'm on the road to troubled teenhood."
"They think that no matter what we do or say, though that detention comment didn't help, thank you very much, Danny," Andy grumbled.
Danny, to his credit, did give a bit of a wince. "Yeah… that was probably not the best thing to say now that I think about it…"
"You almost gave away what the CD was too," Andy grumbled. "I think staying up late did melt your common sense a little bit."
Danny gave a sheepish chuckle. "Yeah… it probably did mess with me since I had little sleep."
"Well, try to get better sleep, we don't need to sacrifice sleep for training," Patamon grumbled, curling up in Danny's backpack.
Sam rolled her eyes before she began to walk in a direction.
"Hey, where are you going? School is in the other direction," Danny asked.
Sam grinned. "Circus Gothica's train pulled into town last night. I'm cutting first period to watch the opening ceremonies at the train station."
"Sam…" Danny frowned.
Gatomon looked up at her partner. "Is that a wise idea?"
Sam gave her friends and partner a reassuring smile. "Take it easy. Tucker's got first period free, so he is covering for me during that time."
"Wait… Tucker is going to cover for you how exactly?" Andy questioned.
"Just… use your imagination," Sam replied. "But I'm going to go now, I am not missing this for anything!"
Sam then ran off, too excited to stop. Gatomon quickly went after her, knowing she needed to stay with her partner, even if Sam didn't feel like listening to her 'angel side' right now.
Danny sighed. "Well, don't blame us if you get caught!" Danny called back.
"You know this will likely end badly for her…" Andy sighed.
"Why's that?" Dorimon asked from Andy's backpack. "You sure we can't just go see the train ourselves?"
"I'm not going to be labelled as a 'bad influence' or 'troubled teen' just because you wanted to see the train come in, Dorimon," Andy grumbled.
Danny was about to say something to that before he gasped as that blue mist escaped from his mouth. "Uh oh…"
"Wait, are you serious? There are ghosts out here, right now, in broad daylight?" Andy asked in surprise.
"I think so." Danny said as he looked around for the ghosts, only for a small ghost to run between his legs, carrying something on its back. "Whoa!"
"Okay, never seen that ghost before," Andy remarked,
Above them, there were three more ghosts; one big buff looking one with neon green skin, another one that looked like a thin woman ghost, wearing a red dress, and the last one was thin looking, covered in a red cloak. They were all carrying money bags.
"Or those ghosts," Andy added after seeing them fly by.
"I wonder where they came from." Danny wondered. Patamon poked his head out of Danny's backpack in confusion, only to tense up upon seeing the ghosts flying by.
"Those ghosts have something off about them…" Patamon said softly, crouching back into Danny's backpack slightly.
"It looks like they're stealing money," Andy noted as they began to run after the ghosts on foot. "But what would ghosts steal money for? Do they need them in the Ghost Zone or something?"
"No… Ghosts don't use human money…" Patamon explained. "I know that because I was with Vlad for a time and he explained that to me."
"Then why would they?" Dorimon questioned.
"Only one way to find out," Danny said as he began to hop on top of a trash can, and then hopping on top of a parked truck. "Going ghost!"
Danny transformed into his ghost form at the top of the truck and flew off after the ghosts.
Andy stopped when he saw his brother flying after the four ghosts after the shorter one joined them in the air. "... You show off…"
Dorimon looked at Andy. "Should we follow him?"
"Digivolving you here would cause unwanted attention," Andy answered, seeing a cop car going on by the road. "But I'll see if I can keep up with him on foot."
Dorimon nodded, before jumping on Andy's head. "I can guide you if you get lost."
"Good idea," Andy began running as he saw Danny firing his ghost ray at the four ghosts.
The ghost ray ended up hitting the short ghosts's hands, making him drop the money bag he was carrying right on top of the cop's car, making the car go out of control before smashing into a fire hydrant, making a geyser of water come gushing out.
The cop was not too happy, as he was cursing out Danny's ghost form. Danny groaned at seeing that. "Great… more fans…"
The four ghosts flew around to avoid Danny before turning intangible and going through a sign that had the image of the ringmaster of Circus Gothica on it. Danny stared at the bulletin board for a moment, specifically at the crystal ball itself. For some reason, this put Danny in a minor trance.
"What's wrong? You're letting them get away," Patamon asked, noticing Danny had stopped in midair.
This snapped Danny out of whatever trance he was in, before realizing that he was just floating there while the ghosts were getting away.
"Darn it…" Danny cursed under his breath before he turned intangible himself and flew through the bulletin board as well. When he emerged on the other side, he stared at the sight of many goths gathered around a train and the circus tent that read 'Circus Gothica' on it.
"Oh great… the crooks got away, I'm late for school, and… I"ve never seen so many goths out in broad daylight," Danny muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, Andy was panted as he was trying to find where the heck Danny went. Dorimon was sniffing out for the ghost boy.
"Where… is… that… ghostly… brother… of mine…?" Andy panted.
Dorimon sniffed the air and pointed in a certain direction. "He's that way. I can smell him close by."
"I swear, if he wasn't already half dead, I'd half kill him myself for this…" Andy groaned as he was running to where Dorimon was pointing.
Dorimon looked down at Andy. "Well, you may get your chance soon enough. This is the place." Dorimon paused and looked up, seeing what looked like a sea of goths gathering around them. "Whoa… How many goths are there in this city?"
"Apparently a lot… what are these parents teaching their kids these days?" Andy questioned, trying to catch his breath.
Dorimon deadpanned. "You sounded way older than you actually are with that comment…"
Andy was about to say something to that when he tripped over a leg and fell almost right next to Sam, who looked down at him in surprise, while Danny was floating above her in his ghost form. Gatomon was looking quite surprised herself.
Sam then grinned at the sight of her two friends. "Well, look who decided to slum it with the 'troubled teens'." She remarked as she looked at Andy and Danny.
"What? We're not in trouble," Danny said as he landed in front of Sam, crossing his arms. "We didn't come here for fun."
Andy grumbled as he pushed himself up to his feet. "Don't… go… flying off… all willy nilly… without me. Do you know… how hard it is… to digivolve a dragon in the city!? Not to mention… trying to run… after your flight battles… is not fun!"
Danny looked back at Andy with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, bro…"
"Is that… all you… have to say?" Andy groaned.
Then there was the sound of sirens, catching all of their attention.
"I guess someone did get in trouble," Gatomon muttered.
Sam grinned at Danny. "Need to hide from the law I see."
"I do not!" Danny pouted but he turned invisible and quickly flew behind some crates, there was a white flash of light before Danny Fenton came out and started whistling innocently.
Andy watched as the cops started running past them, shouting after 'Invisobill', running completely past the ghost boy himself. I can't tell if they're just careless or a bunch of idiots...
Danny grinned once the cops ran past him, Andy, and Sam. "Wow. Being able to turn into a human from a ghost really throws people off."
"Just be glad you can do that," Patamon whispered.
"Well, you and Andy are here now, you might as well stick around and enjoy the show, right?" Sam decided, seeing how the twins were here already.
"That wasn't part of the plan…" Andy muttered. "Mom and Dad might lock us up in the Fenton Stockades if they knew we were here."
Danny cringed at the thought of being locked in that medieval torture device. "No thanks… That thing scares me, and I'm half ghost!"
"Don't shout that to the heavens now…" Patamon said.
"Perhaps we all should leave here," Gatomon said in a worried tone. "I'm getting some pretty dark vibes around here, and not in a good way."
However, before the group could do anything, one of the train car doors opened and out came a man that had a very pale complexion, had a pointed nose, and no hair on his head. He wore a black top hat, a black shirt, red pants, and black boots with a black trenchcoat and back gloves. And his eyes were a red color, but that had to be the work of contact lenses as no human had red eyes.
Dorimon, Patamon, and Gatomon immediately felt something was wrong. They could sense some kind of dark entity that they, nor could anyone else, see. It made their fur bristle.
"What's wrong?" Andy asked Dorimon, noticing that the little Digimon was shivering a bit.
"I'm not sure… but something about that human feels really off…" Dorimon frowned.
As the man walked out of the train, there was a bat-like creature on his hat. It had a blue mask with blue wings coming from the top of the head and a skull on the center of its forehead. The eyes were golden, and its lower face was a pale blue. It had black fur on its lower body and had matching pale blue feet with three talons on them, two in front and one in back. The bat-like creature also had fangs coming from its mouth.
"Is that… a real creature on his head?" Danny asked.
Patamon frowned as he looked out from Danny's backpack. "Yeah… that's a DemiDevimon…"
Danny blinked at that before Andy pulled out his D-Arc, showing him a hologram of DemiDevimon. "DemiDevimon is an Evil Digimon. It is a tiny familiar Digimon which has an appearance like a bat. Its personality is the epitome of a Dark Side Digimon, so although its offensive ability and the like are not strong, it is cunning and makes mischief all over, but it seldom voluntarily takes part in anything like direct combat. It's a Virus type and a Rookie level Digimon."
"It's unusual to see a DemiDevimon out in broad daylight," Gatomon whispered. "I wonder if it's partnered up with that human ringmaster?"
"That is so cool!" Sam smiled, seeing her favorite ringmaster also had a Digimon partner, and a cool gothic one at that.
Gatomon frowned at hearing Sam's admiration to the human's DemiDevimon partner. It was not usually a good thing to be partnered up with a DemiDevimon.
Patamon also frowned. He, as a Holy Digimon, could sense the dark power around the human, and the DemiDevimon seemed to be attracted to said power. "I'm not getting a good feeling about this human…"
"Greetings fellow outcasts!" The man spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "I am Freakshow, the master of ceremonies. So… are you ready to smile, relax, and forget all your troubles in the pleasant divergence of the circus?"
"NO!" The goths all shouted.
Freakshow grinned. "Then you've come to the right place! Prepare to be disturbed and appalled by a small sample of the bizarre and abnormal world of Circus Gothica!"
While Freakshow was making gestures as he was talking, DemiDevimon was following his gestures with his wings, until both of them were gesturing to the train itself.
Out from the train car's open door came an arrow with a rope attached to it, and the tip of the arrow embedded itself into a pole. Then, out from the shadows of the car's interior came a woman who was pale with blue eyes and greyish hair. She wore a black skintight suit and black gloves that went up to almost her shoulders. She crawled out on the rope while another member of the circus came out, standing on a rolling ball while juggling skulls. A third member of the circus staff came out, in a wheel that had spikes on the exterior. A fourth member emerged, ducking down to emerge without bumping their head on the train car's roof. This member looked like they were wearing a skeleton-like outfit, including a mask that obscured their face.
All the goths in the area were staring at these four in awe, before they began to cheer. Danny and Andy were more disturbed than anything. Andy was especially looking at the girl who was chained up to a spiked wheel, that couldn't be very comfortable for anyone. Dorimon, however, looked very fascinated, and so did Sam.
"That is so cool. Maybe I should be one of the performers," Dorimon whispered, getting a bit too into it.
"Are you goth and I just didn't know it?" Andy questioned his partner.
"Maybe…~" Dorimon teased Andy cheekily.
"Danny?" Patamon frowned when he noticed Danny was staring at Freakshow and wasn't looking away for anything. "Are you okay? … Hello? Danny?"
"Hmm?" Andy looked over at Danny, hearing Patamon's worried calls.
Danny was staring at Freakshow, more specifically, he was staring at the crystal orb Freakshow was holding. Danny, for some reason, couldn't look away from it. Andy frowned, seeing that Danny appeared to be in a trance like he was at the Manson's house earlier.
"Is Danny okay?" Dorimon asked, seeing Danny just staring.
Andy waved a hand in front of Danny's face, but didn't get a reaction out of his brother. Frowning, Andy looked over at the crystal ball, wondering why it seemed to have Danny captive on it.
"Is there something going on with that crystal ball?" Andy asked.
"I'm not sure… but there is… something coming from it…" Dorimon answered, glaring at the crystal ball.
The DemiDevimon looked over at them for a moment, and gave a sinister grin. Patamon stuck his head out from Danny's backpack, and glared at the DemiDevimon, knowing that Digimon was up to no good.
"Danny, please snap out of it," Patamon hissed, rubbing the back of Danny's head.
Gatomon looked over at Danny, having heard Patamon, Andy, and Dorimon's concerns. She gave a frown, seeing Danny appeared to be in a trance. Sam, however, still hadn't noticed something was wrong with Danny.
"This is the greatest moment ever! Nothing could ruin this for me!" Sam exclaimed excitedly.
Andy sighed. "And you jinxed it."
"What do you me-" Sam began to ask before she heard a very familiar voice speaking out to the crowd.
"PARENTS OF AMITY PARK! WE URGE YOU TO BOYCOTT THIS MORBID ASSAULT ON THE MORALS OF OUR CHILDREN!" Pamela spoke through a megaphone.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just Pamela or Jeremy there, there was a whole mob of parents. They had signs that said things like 'No Goths!' or 'Save the Children!'.
The goths all began to boo the words of Pamela Manson.
Sam looked back, shocked at what she had heard. "Oh no… what are they doing here? Why couldn't they have day jobs like regular parents?"
"For one, they're not regular parents," Andy pointed out. "And neither are mine now that I think about it… And another, they probably didn't want you watching Circus Gothica, and you outright told them you already bought tickets. You probably shouldn't have told them that."
Sam was about to say something, but Andy kept going. "And more importantly, something is going on with Danny right now, and I'm not liking it."
Sam looked at Danny, only to see Andy was right. Danny did look a bit out of it, like he was in a trance. "Oh… That doesn't appear to be good… What's wrong with him? Danny?"
Sam waved an arm in front of her friend, but was still receiving no response.
"We don't know, we've been trying to get him to snap out of it for the past few minutes," Andy answered with a frown.
"Danny, please, snap out of it!" Patamon tried shaking Danny's head.
"Stop that, Patamon, you're going to have people notice you," Gatomon hissed.
However, Danny remained in the trance. Patamon's efforts were not enough to snap Danny out of his trance.
"We think it has something to do with-" Andy began to say before Freakshow got on top of a large crate and started saying something.
"Don't let the rantings of the closed minded norms bring you down." Freakshow smirked before he and DemiDevimon spread out their arms and wings. "Show them your true colors! And when I say colors, I mean all black!" Then Freakshow held out the crystal ball to the crowd. "Make them see you for who you are!"
"Make them see us for who we are…" Danny murmured before he seemed to snap out of his trance, but something was off about the boy. His eyes were not the normal blue they normally were. Instead, they were a sinister red color.
Andy, Dorimon, Sam, and Gatomon noticed the strange change in color of Danny's pupils. Patamon was behind Danny, so he couldn't see Danny's eyes, but he could tell something happened to Danny that wasn't normal.
Suddenly, Danny smiled as he held out his arms and called out to the crowd. "Hey, everyone! Over here! We're Danny Fenton, his twin brother Andy Fenton, and Sam Manson! We cut school and we're proud of it!" Danny exclaimed with pride while Sam and Andy looked around nervously at the crowd.
The goths all cheered at hearing what Danny, Andy, and Sam did. Though they were more proud of the two brothers since they weren't obviously goths themselves.
One of the goths walked up to Danny and spray painted his white shirt to black, even covering the red oval he had in the middle. "You're one of us now."
The goth looked at Andy's shirt. "Huh… you're already wearing black. Though maybe I could cover that blue triangle on your shirt so it's pure black."
Andy shook his head before pulling Dorimon up on his chest. "No thanks! I like my triangle."
Sam didn't know what to make of the situation. It was obvious Danny was under a spell, but now they had all the attention on them. That meant her parents were bound to see her and her friends here.
Jeremy and Pamela Manson were shocked at hearing their daughter's name called out. "Sam?!" Both Manson adults exclaimed in surprise.
Sam put a hand to her head in disbelief. Yep… things got worse...
"What are you doing here, Sam? You should be in school!" Pamela scolded, using her megaphone to speak, which made it easy for everyone to hear what she was saying.
"It must be those two, I knew they were bad influences." Jeremy frowned, looking at the twin Fentons.
Danny was still smiling, his irises were still red. He had no idea how much trouble they were in, or rather, he likely didn't care as he was now. Andy was trying to keep it together; his brother was under some kind of spell, they had goths around them wanting to spray paint his shirt, Patamon looked like he wanted to jump out of the backpack just to Boom Bubble Freakshow or DemiDevimon, and Sam was freaking out that her parents caught her here.
"Is it just me, or did things get worse?" Dorimon whispered to Andy.
"Noooo, really?" Andy sarcastically replied back.
"We better call their parents and let them know what their kids are doing," Jeremy suggested to Pamela.
"Yes, we'll do that. And Sam, come over here, we have a lot we need to discuss." Pamela frowned, looking at Sam.
"Go on, Sam, I'll see if I can snap Danny out of this trance he's in," Andy whispered to Sam.
Sam sighed, but nodded. "Just don't take too long… I don't know if I could handle the scolding by myself…"
"Oh trust me, when our parents get here, we'll be getting quite the scolding ourselves," Andy sighed. "I just want to make sure Danny's not in a trance when they do get here. You better go, I don't want your parents thinking I'm trying to hold you up."
Sam nodded and trudged over to her parents, mostly hoping her mother would stop using the megaphone to talk to her. Unfortunately, Sam accidentally left Gatomon behind. Gatomon frowned, not sure if she should move while in a crowded area, she was just supposed to be a stuffed animal after all.
"Danny… bro… snap out of it!" Andy tried to shake Danny's shoulder.
Gatomon looked over at Freakshow, then at the open train. Maybe I could use this as an opportunity to investigate this Circus Gothica...
Not even looking back at Sam, Gatomon made her way, walking on all fours like a real cat, to the train that was open and then jumped inside.
Gatomon began to look around, already smelling the stench of ghosts in the train. She hissed, not liking how much this train reeked of ghosts. The holy ring on her tail began to glow, lighting up the area. Gatomon's eyes widened, seeing a lot of props that looked like something out of a torture room.
She crept closer to some of the props, not getting a good feeling just from the sights before her. Gatomon made to poke one of the props, only for it to nearly fall down if she didn't push it back to its original position.
Gatomon backed away, wondering if she should leave before she got caught. However, as she turned around, she gasped when she saw DemiDevimon standing there.
"What do you think you're doing here, sugar cube?" The DemiDevimon questioned.
"I was just… looking around," Gatomon replied, trying to find a way around the DemiDevimon in front of her.
"Oh, I'm sure that's what you were doing. What's a pretty Digimon like you doing here anyways? Were you really that interested in joining Circus Gothica?" DemiDevimon grinned. "You know, sugar cube, I don't blame you for wanting to join, it is a lot of fun after all~ Oh, but wait… weren't you hanging out with a goth girl earlier?"
"So? She is my partner." Gatomon replied, trying to sound sure of herself.
"Oh, she's your partner, is she? Seems kind of odd for a goth to have such a white, bright, beautiful, cheerful Digimon like you as her partner," DemiDevimon stated as he looked at Gatomon. "Now I'm not saying that she couldn't be your partner, I'm sure she likes having you around. Though it must hurt her eyes to always have to look at how bright your fur is, considering she's in all black or darker colors herself, don't you think?"
Gatomon felt her fur stand on end, puffing out like a real cat's. "You watch your tongue!" She snapped, yet she was hesitating. Was it true, what this DemiDevimon was saying? Did Sam really want her to have darker fur? Was their partnership just a convenience for Sam?
"Hey, I'm only stating what I'm seeing, sugar cube. I've been around lots of goths since I am Freakshow's partner," DemiDevimon replied. "So if you already have a partner, then why are you here? Did you want to run away with the circus because you felt your partner didn't want you anymore?"
"Of course not!" Gatomon exclaimed. "I was investigating the area because I was getting a weird feeling!"
The DemiDevimon grinned. "A weird feeling, you say? You know, you really should be more careful when investigating, sugar cube."
Someone walked up behind DemiDevimon. Gatomon's eyes widened as she saw it was Freakshow, not only that, but he had four other ghosts with him surrounding her.
"Well, well, what have we here?" Freakshow grinned. "A lost kitten? It's a little too bright for my taste… we should fix that."
Gatomon glared. "Don't think you can keep me trapped here, Freakshow!"
Freakshow just laughed. "Oh really? I think you will fit right in with Circus Gothica."
Gatomon ran forward at DemiDevimon. "Lightning Paw!"
But as Gatomon went to punch the Rookie Digimon, she was suddenly surrounded by little ecto creatures. Gatomon yelped as her Lighting Paw only bounced off of these creatures. The ghost that wore a red robe smirked, she had bare skin, but she was controlling the ecto creatures. They wrapped themselves around Gatomon, binding her up.
"You were a bit hasty there, sugar cube," DemiDevimon remarked. "Did you forget that ghosts are strong against Digimon? While the same could be said vice versa, you are clearly outnumbered here. Freakshow also trained these ghosts, they know how to fight back against a Digimon, even a Champion level."
Gatomon felt fear flood her body. Uh oh… I bit off more than I could chew…
"You know…" Freakshow smirked. "For generations, my family used this staff to control ghosts."
Freakshow began, holding up his crystal ball.
"That crystal ball… can control ghosts?" Gatomon frowned.
"Of course it can." Freakshow replied. "How else could I control the ghosts here? They are my minions. All this untold power, and all my ancestors could think to do was entertain the masses!"
"Isn't that what you're doing though? With Circus Gothica?" Gatomon questioned.
"Oh yes, but I have also found a much more 'profitable' use for my minions as well." Freakshow said as the big muscle ghost came up with a treasure chest. It opened, revealing the loot that was inside.
There was gold, bags of money, and precious jewelry and accessories inside the treasure chest. Gatomon frowned when she saw that. "I guess you don't make a lot of money just by entertaining the masses then… otherwise you wouldn't have to resort to stealing."
"Maybe so, but it's a lot easier to just take what you want than having to earn it," DemiDevimon stated.
"It's not just about making money, but a holy Digimon like you wouldn't understand… well, not yet anyways," Freakshow remarked. "I was going to have my newest cast join us first before I deal with the Digimon in the area, but since you're here, perhaps I should focus on you first~"
Gatomon felt her fur bristle at the comment. "What do you plan to do to me?" She hissed.
DemiDevimon flew up and landed on top of the crystal ball. "You know, sugar cube, this crystal ball can do more than just control ghosts. Digimon can be affected as well. Though it is much harder to control Digimon than ghosts, it's possible."
DemiDevimon then lifted up one of his clawed feet, and a big needle began to form. "But for now, say goodnight, sugar cube~"
Gatomon's eyes widened before she began to struggle against her ecto bindings.
"Demi Dart!"
Danny felt like he was missing a huge chunk of what happened. The last thing he remembered was standing in the crowd of goths with Sam and Andy, and the next thing he knew, he was riding in the Fenton RV, with his mother driving, and his Dad in the passenger seat. Andy was sitting beside him with Dorimon on his lap, and Patamon was very quiet in his backpack.
"So… what happened exactly, bro?" Danny asked as he looked at his brother.
Andy looked over at Danny, seeming to be surprised about something. "Danny?"
"Have you snapped out of it now?" Dorimon asked.
"Out of what?" Danny asked. "My brain feels like mush, so I can't recall what happened."
"Oh thank goodness you're back…" Patamon spoke up, popping out of the backpack. "You had us worried."
"Have you looked down at your shirt yet?" Dorimon snickered.
Danny looked down, only to gape at the fact his shirt was now black. "What happened?!" He exclaimed, but he kept his voice down so as to not shout.
"We're not really sure…" Andy frowned. "You… um…"
Danny frowned, seeing Andy was hesitant to tell him. Dorimon and Patamon both frowned, seeming hesitant to say anything themselves.
"What?" Danny asked, confused now. "What is it?"
"You and your brother decided to sneak out, cut classes, and watch the Circus Gothica opening," Maddie spoke up, hearing Danny's confused voice. "I'm shocked really… I thought you two were better than that, especially after that Ember incident…"
"Bad judgement is what I say, or maybe it was that spooky ooky bat girl you hang out with," Jack remarked.
"You mean Sam? Come on, Dad, you know Sam. Besides, it's not like we went there to watch Circus Gothica, it's not our thing. We had a bit of a ghost attack that led us over there," Andy explained.
"Are you telling us the truth or are you just using that as an excuse? See, we're not sure if you're lying or not," Maddie said. "It's too convenient for you to be there on opening day for Circus Gothica."
Danny frowned, not sure what to make of this, not that he could remember anything after Freakshow had come out of the train car anyway.
"We're going to sort this out with Principal Ishiyama, along with Mr. and Mrs. Manson," Maddie continued.
"Mom, they're… a bit overprotective…" Andy frowned.
"They're crazy, that's what they are," Dorimon pouted.
"Are they that bad?" Jack asked.
"Jack!" Maddie hissed. "Don't encourage them! And you should watch what you say, Dorimon. You can't go around saying people are crazy."
Dorimon pouted at the scolding.
Danny looked at Andy and whispered. "So what happened to me?"
Andy looked at Danny then looked away, not seeming to want to tell him.
Danny frowned, before looking back at Patamon. "Maybe you could tell me then?"
Patamon hesitated though, sligrimacing at some unknown memory.
"Patamon?" Danny frowned.
"We're here," Maddie spoke up as the Fenton RV was coming to a stop.
Danny, Andy, Sam, and their parents were now all sitting together in Principal Ishiyama's room. Andy couldn't help but notice how Ishiyama's name plate misspelled her name, as it was missing an 'i'. But Andy decided not to comment on that since the tension in the room was pretty high right now.
Principal Ishiyama was speaking. "Now, some might call this little act of rebellion a cry for attention, but I call it a cry for de-tention. Isn't that clever?"
"Is this really the time for puns, Principal Ishiyama?" Maddie asked.
"Are you doing okay, Danny?" Sam asked in concern, remembering that he looked like he was under a spell earlier.
"Uh… yeah… but nobody's telling me what happened. I can't remember what happened, I just know we're in trouble." Danny frowned.
"You announced to everyone you cut class and were proud of it, at least that's what we heard anyways," Jack explained. "You really need to think before you act, son!"
However, as Jack was saying that, he had held out his arm, and this caused an ecto gun from his wrist to activate, and it shot out ecto goop. Danny, Andy, and Sam dodged by bending down, though it ended up hitting the adult Mansons instead.
Jack looked horrified by what had just occurred. This, of course, angered the Mansons.
"Obviously, the apples don't fall far from the overbearing orange jumpsuited tree!" Pamela snapped.
Look at the pot calling the kettle black. She's way more overbearing than Dad ever was… Andy grumbled to himself.
"Do you have a problem with jumpsuits?!" Jack snapped at the Mansons.
Maddie gave a calm smile as she put a hand on Jack's arm. "Jack, let me handle this. YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM WITH JUMPSUITS!?"
"Can we please stop yelling?" Andy begged, knowing this would just make the situation worse.
Poor Danny was confused as to what was going on, and he looked a bit freaked out by what was transpiring.
"Samantha," Pamela spoke up, using Sam's full first name. "I forbid you from seeing these two and any other of your troubled friends."
"What? Mom, that's not fair! I've been friends with them since the 2nd grade, you can't just forbid me from seeing them just because of a few misunderstandings!" Sam argued, wanting to squeeze Gatomon a bit, she had started feeling more comfort and braver to stand up to her parents lately thanks to Gatomon, but then she realized that Gatomon wasn't there. Wait… where's Gatomon?
Sam wanted to run off and find her partner, but with her parents there, she was not going to be able to do that any time soon she realized. She could only hope Gatomon would be able to take care of herself until she found her way back to Sam. Sam was in a corner right now.
"We can, and we will, Sam," Jeremy stated firmly, he and Pamela still covered in ecto goop. "It's obvious that you've been rebelling and going down this goth path because of your friends being such bad influences on you."
Both Danny and Andy glared at that, they were angry at the accusation. They had nothing to do with Sam's choice of going goth or rebelling against her parents. Her parents were pushing her to rebel with their overprotectiveness.
Danny looked ready to argue, but Andy put a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head. Arguing would only make things worse.
Danny looked down, feeling frustrated. How was it their fault Sam was goth? How were he and Andy responsible for Sam rebelling against her parents? It made no sense to him.
"You shouldn't blame our kids for what your daughter chose to do," Maddie spoke up, seeing how the Mansons had placed blame on her own children she knew wouldn't have done what they said.
"Yeah, just because you don't like us doesn't mean that our kids are bad influences! If anything, your daughter could've been the bad influence - not saying that she is though!" Jack quickly said.
Before Pamela or Jeremy could answer back, Mr. Lancer opened the door, showing Tucker wearing a Sam wig and outfit walking in. Not only that, but Takuya walked in, wearing a Danny or maybe an Andy's hair wig, while also wearing a white shirt with an oval, and red pants, a mix between the twins' clothing.
Everyone stared at Tucker and Takuya in shock.
Danny blinked before he groaned. "Don't tell me this is what Tucker and Takuya were doing…"
"I didn't even ask Takuya to cover for us…" Andy whispered. Oh gosh, Takuya looks like an older, mismatched version of the two of us...
That image is so wrong… Danny thought in dismay.
Principal Ishiyama facepalmed. "This is so wrong…"
You know what? Maybe detention wouldn't be so bad. Just get everyone out of here, please… Andy begged.
So now, Andy, Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Takuya were currently in the school library for detention. Mr. Lancer was supposed to be watching them, however he was a bit busy cutting his own toenails. Andy frowned at this. This has to be breaking some kind of rule…
"What were you and Tucker doing, Takuya?" Danny questioned since they were now alone, well, mostly alone.
"Tucker somehow roped me into covering for you two since you hadn't arrived at school this morning." Takuya replied. "I do not know where he got a wig that was the same as your hair style, or your clothes…"
"Uh… internet," Tucker answered awkwardly.
"I don't want to know…" Andy muttered.
Sam was looking at her Circus Gothica ticket with a longing look. "I wanted to experience something horrific and unimaginable… watching Mr. Lancer cut his toenails wasn't what I had in mind." Not to mention I need to go look for Gatomon… maybe she'll come to Casper High soon, she knows this is where I needed to go anyways...
Takuya frowned as he looked at Mr. Lancer cutting his toenails. "Mr. Lancer isn't really the best choice to watch over us… I mean, he's cutting toenails…" A look of disgust crossed the boy's face. I really think he is not supposed to do that here...
"Besides, you experience horrific and unimaginable things on a daily basis, Sam, I'm not sure if there's anything at Circus Gothica that could really top what we experience in Amity Park," Andy remarked.
"Yeah, but it'd be nice to not have to run or fight for my life while experiencing it," Sam retorted.
"Well, at least we can watch the live web-cast of opening night." Tucker replied as he held his PDA behind a book, so they could watch the opening night ceremonies online.
"It hasn't started yet, looks like they're still preparing," Tucker noted.
"Besides, we can always go to the circus tomorrow… that is if we're not all grounded and your parents let us within 200 feet of you…" Danny groaned as he looked at Sam.
"Hey…" Patamon whispered. "Where's Gatomon?"
Danny looked around, noticing they were indeed missing Gatomon. "Huh… I thought for sure Gatomon would be here by now…"
Takuya too noticed Gatomon was missing. "Did she not feel well or something? She never leaves your side, Sam."
Sam frowned. "I might've accidentally left her in the crowd of goths earlier… but my parents were there, they saw me, and I was getting the scolding of my life. Then they started blaming my friends, and that infuriated me. I just thought Gatomon would make her way over here eventually though… But I'm getting worried…"
"Maybe someone picked up Gatomon and thought she was a lost stuffed animal?" Tucker suggested.
Terriermon looked at Patamon and Dorimon, he could tell they were worried too, but they seemed to be worried about something else than just Gatomon.
"Oh, looks like Circus Gothica is about to start," Tucker spoke up, seeing how the ringmaster was about to make his announcements.
While they were supposed to be doing homework, Mr. Lancer was a bit too preoccupied to notice the kids were all bunching up behind a big book to look at something.
Up came an image of Freakshow. "Creatures of the night, unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica!" Freakshow held his crystal ball very close to the camera.
As Danny watched the opening ceremonies, he began to fall into another trance. "Unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica…" Danny murmured.
Andy, Dorimon, Patamon, and Sam were immediately alarmed when they noticed Danny was in another trance.
"Wait… what? No, Danny, wait!" Andy spoke up as Danny began walking towards the door.
Takuya blinked. "Okay… what's wrong with Danny?"
Tucker was just as confused. "Danny? You okay, dude?"
"Stop him!" Andy yelled as he grabbed onto Danny's arm and tried to pull back, but Danny was still walking like Andy wasn't there.
"Where do you think you're going, Mr. Fenton?" Mr. Lancer questioned as he stood in front of Danny.
Danny seemed to snap out of his trance, but there was a smirk that was totally unlike Danny on his face. He then turned intangible, making Andy phase through his arm and fall to the ground, then Danny went into Mr. Lancer's body, overshadowing him.
This alarmed Takuya as he stood up. "What the?!"
"Unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica," Mr. Lancer said in Danny's voice, the eyes of the teacher glowing totally red. Danny then made Mr. Lancer walk into the janitor's closet before shutting the door and then Danny, in his Phantom form, phased out and locked the door.
Takuya was staring. "Danny! What is wrong with you?!" The boy exclaimed.
Danny looked at Takuya, his irises were blood red, and he was smirking that sent chills up Takuya's spine. Andy looked up at Danny just as Patamon yelped and came flying out from Danny's backpack that suddenly disappeared as soon as he was out.
"What's going on?" Terriermon asked.
"I… think Danny's lost it…" Dorimon frowned.
"Danny… maybe you should sit down before we get in more trouble," Tucker tried to calmly reason.
"There's no such thing as too much trouble," Danny replied with a sneer.
The tone of voice sent shivers down Takuya's back. The voice didn't sound like the Danny Phantom he knew at all.
"Unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica." Danny said before he turned intangible and flew through the ceiling.
And as soon as Danny was gone, all chaos broke loose between the group. Tucker and Takuya demanding to know what happened, Sam and Dorimon trying frantically to explain, but were still not sure what was going on themselves. Patamon looked shocked at what just happened. Terriermon was asking where Gatomon was and if Danny just turned evil on them or something.
Andy, meanwhile, was still trying to figure out what the hell just happened. He just saw Danny doing malicious things, smirking while doing them, then flying away to join the circus. Okay, I'm dreaming, right? I'm totally dreaming. Danny didn't just look like he went evil there, no, he totally didn't just lock Mr. Lancer up while overshadowing him… and having those spinning red eyes that look like Freakshow's weird crystal… ball...
Then Andy looked at Tucker's PDA that was still playing the Circus Gothica live. Almost immediately, Andy nearly tackled Tucker down to grab onto his PDA and looked into it.
"Dude! You could've just asked!" Tucker groaned.
"Ball! Crystal Ball! This!" Andy shouted, pointing at Freakshow's crystal ball without any context whatsoever.
"Uh… what about the crystal ball?" Takuya asked as he ran a hand through his hair, scratching at his head at the same time.
"Do I need to spell it out!?" Andy yelled, clearly freaking out. "That crystal ball! It's controlling Danny!"
"That's right, I thought I felt something off and dark about that crystal ball! It must have some kind of power that can control ghosts when they look at it!" Dorimon realized.
Takuya felt a chill run down his spine. What?! "Danny is being controlled?!" Takuya could feel the anger of his spirits at the same time as his own anger rose.
"We need to do something!" Tucker spoke up.
"Duh, we go down there and find Danny, it's not like we don't know where he's going. I mean he did say 'unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica' a few million times," Terriermon sarcastically replied.
Patamon frowned, looking shaken up. "Danny's… gone?"
"Yeah… He flew off…" Takuya replied, his tone somewhat wistful and angry at the same time. "To that Circus Gothica…"
Andy could tell Patamon didn't look so good. He walked over to Patamon and picked him up. "Don't worry, we'll find him and bring him back, okay?"
"First we need to get to Circus Gothica," Dorimon spoke up.
"Wow, talk about irony. Guess this ticket's getting some use after all." Sam couldn't help but grin a little.
Takuya clenched his fists. "Then let's go. We need to get Danny back before anything happens to him." He then paused. "Um… what about Mr. Lancer?"
"The last person to leave gets to release Mr. Lancer," Andy spoke up before he quickly ran out of the library while still carrying Patamon. Dorimon hopped after him.
Takuya sprinted after Andy, not wishing to remain behind either. Sam quickly ran out too, leaving Tucker and Terriermon to be the last ones.
"Aww man! You've gotta be kidding me!" Tucker whined.
"Better get it over now," Terriermon chuckled.
Tucker sighed.
"Here's an idea, as soon as you unlock the door, you make a run for it so you don't have to deal with Mr. Lancer," Terriermon suggested.
Tucker grinned. "And the exit is next to the closet." He grabbed the key before he walked over to the door to the closet and unlocked the closet door. As soon as that was done, Tucker bolted from the room, not even waiting to see if Mr. Lancer did indeed leave the closet.
Sam was in awe when they arrived at Circus Gothica. They, of course, took the shortcut there, by shortcut, they rode on Dorugamon. Dorugamon was currently Dorumon again when they landed. Sam and Dorumon were looking at the Circus Gothica tent. The tent was black with the words 'Circus Gothica' on it in red. There was a large fake skeleton's upper body on the top of the tent and there were smaller umbrellas on the front and back of the tent's top, each with smaller skulls dangling from the ends of the umbrellas.
"This is what I would call a really cool tent," Dorumon complimented.
"I agree, it really is cool." Sam smiled.
"Focus, you two, we're here to look for Danny," Andy spoke up.
"But where do we look?" Takuya asked as he looked around the area.
"Inside the big tent, where else?" Terriermon pointed out as if it was obvious.
"But what about the train?" Takuya retorted. "Danny could be in there."
"During a performance?" Terriermon asked.
"Wait, why would Freakshow have Danny perform?" Tucker asked.
Takuya smacked his face with his open hand. "Ugh… Danny is currently in his ghost form…"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Sam asked.
"Did you know that Danny could move his body in impossible ways as a ghost? He can even stretch them out to impossible length, at least for a human," Andy nonchalantly stated. "I don't know, sounds like circus material, hmm?"
Takuya looked at Andy with a surprised look. "How are you not disturbed by Danny being able to contort his body in ways like that?" The older boy then grimaced. "I know I am disturbed by that thought…"
"I've watched him train…" Andy answered, frowning. "You get used to it after a while."
"In other words; numb," Dorumon added. "But it is still disturbing."
Takuya sighed. "Okay… Let's just search the place. I don't want to let Danny remain here under some freaky ringmaster's control."
"We should probably split up from here," Andy suggested. "Some of us should look at the train in case we find anything over there."
Tucker looked at Andy. "Who will search the train and who will look in the tent?"
"I'm definitely looking in the tent," Sam spoke up.
"You don't have Gatomon with you, Sam, it'll be too dangerous to let you go alone," Andy stated. "Maybe Patamon should go with you at least. He might be able to sense where Danny is."
Patamon looked up as if just realizing where he was. "Danny… Danny should be nearby…"
Sam frowned, but nodded. "Okay. I can do that." She reached out and took Patamon from Andy.
Tucker looked at Sam. "I'll come with you, Sam. It would be better if we looked together."
Patamon began flying over to the tent.
"Then let's go," Sam said before she hurried after Patamon.
Tucker ran behind Sam.
"I guess that just leaves us then," Andy said, looking at Takuya and Dorumon.
"Then that leaves us the train." Takuya said as he looked back at the train behind them. "I wonder what we will find in there."
"Only one way to find out." Dorumon smiled as he started heading for the train.
When Sam entered the tent, she wasn't quite sure what she was expecting, but it looked like Freakshow was introducing a new cast to the big top. The spotlight shown on Freakshow as he began to make his announcement.
"And now, please welcome a performer who puts the 'death' in death-defying acts, the Grim Reaper himself!" Freakshow announced as he gestured upwards towards a cloaked form that was standing before a tightrope.
The audience gasped in anxiety as the 'Grim Reaper' began to walk on the tightrope. The cloaked figure was holding onto a scythe that looked really sharp. Then, when the 'Grim Reaper' got in the middle of the tightrope, he set down his scythe, somehow perfectly balancing the stick that kept the scythe from wobbling or falling. Then the performer put his hand on the scythe before pulling himself over the blade of the scythe, striking a pose while still having his hand on the blade.
The audience then went nuts at the act of balancing on the scythe.
Sam was in awe. "Wow… That is some stunt…"
Patamon was staring at the 'Grim Reaper', his green eyes almost glowing as he stared. Then something else caught his attention. He looked to the side before he started flying somewhere. Sam, noticing Patamon was flying, quickly went after him. Terriermon's ears lifted up.
"Something's weird…" Terriermon whispered to Tucker.
"What's wrong, Terriermon?" Tucker asked his partner.
"They're selling popcorn… without butter here? That's a crime!" Terriermon hissed, which made Tucker facepalm.
"Ugh… And here I thought you meant something else…" Tucker groaned to his partner.
"Oh yeah, Sam is gone," Terriermon added.
Tucker looked up, seeing Terriermon was right. "Hey… where did she go?" He looked around for any sign of Sam, or Patamon, who was missing as well. "And where did Patamon go as well?"
"Don't ask me, you're the one with the GPS," Terriermon grumbled.
Meanwhile, Sam was following Patamon, and she saw him going to the 'Cast Only' area. "Patamon, are you sure we should go in there? … What the heck am I talking about? Of course we're not, but I'm going in anyways."
Sam looked around as soon as she entered the 'Cast Only' area. "Wow… talk about disturbing…" She murmured as she eyed some of the props before she grinned. "This is my kind of circus."
Patamon frowned as he landed on the floor, his wings were currently pointed up. "There's someone else here…"
Sam paused at his words, just as a voice spoke up from behind her. "Sam, glad to see you could make it after all."
"What the?" Sam turned around, seeing a very familiar cat walking towards her. The cat looked a lot like Gatomon, but its fur was completely black, it had no holy ring on its tail, and its gloves were purple instead of yellow. Its eyes were yellow instead of blue.
"Well, Sam, how do I look? Do I look a lot more appealing to you?" The black looking Gatomon questioned.
Sam was in shock. "W-wha… Gatomon?!" She hadn't expected to see her partner with black fur. On one hand, it was cool to see Gatomon with black fur, but on the other hand, something seemed wrong about it as well.
Patamon gasped at seeing Gatomon. "O-Ophanimon? What happened to you!?"
"I've had some improvements, of course. And by the way, it's BlackGatomon now, little Patamon," BlackGatomon corrected.
"No! How could you? You've let yourself be corrupted?" Patamon frowned, horrified by what had happened to Gatomon.
Sam felt like her world was turned upside down. Gatomon had become corrupted?! "Gatomon…" She wasn't sure how to take this new revelation.
BlackGatomon approached Sam. "Isn't this better, Sam? Now you won't have to worry about making the wrong decision. You don't have to worry about another goodie-two-shoes trying to tell you what to do. And I won't be such an eyesore to you anymore."
Sam shook her head. "No… Gatomon… This… This isn't…" She was torn. She had a partner she wanted now, but was it really her partner in there? She didn't think it was right, but at the same time, she felt she had a perfect partner for her gothic lifestyle. What do I do? This isn't what I wanted! Is it…? Do I really want a BlackGatomon as my partner in place of Gatomon? What do I do?!
"Sam, don't let her fool you!" Patamon spoke up suddenly. "A BlackGatomon is no more than a fallen angel Digimon. She's no better than a Devimon right now. She's trying to take you down the wrong path!"
Sam froze at hearing Patamon's words. Of course Patamon would know what he was talking about, because he had been corrupted before too. "Gatomon is…" Sam looked up, horror crossing her face. Her own partner… had become corrupted...
"Aww, what's wrong, Sam? Isn't this what you wanted?" BlackGatomon asked in an almost teasing voice.
Sam shook her head slowly, unaware of what she was doing.
BlackGatomon frowned before she turned around and walked away, then she stopped and turned back to Sam. "It's a shame. But I guess I wouldn't want a wishy washy to be my partner."
Then a tall figure walked up from behind BlackGatomon. Sam's eyes widened when she saw who it was.
"What are you doing back here?" Freakshow questioned.
Sam seemed to snap out of her horrified state. "F-Freakshow… Uh… I'm looking for a friend of mine… who was acting kind of weird…" However, her mind was not in awe at Freakshow's presence. No, Sam was more kind of in a stunned state of mind, so she wasn't as in awe as she should have been.
Patamon narrowed his eyes at Freakshow.
Freakshow grinned. "Oh that about narrows it down to just about everyone in this tent!" Freakshow then laughed.
Patamon then felt someone coming into the 'Cast Only' area, and his eyes went wide as he saw the 'Grim Reaper' had walked in.
Freakshow looked back at the 'Grim Reaper' and frowned. "What are you doing, dolt? Get back out there and do your encore!"
The 'Grim Reaper' reached up and removed the hood, revealing the glowing green eyes of Danny Phantom. "Sam?" Danny asked, surprised to see his friend there. "And Patamon?"
Patamon smiled, happy to see Danny and he wasn't under some weird spell. "Danny!"
Sam smiled with relief upon seeing Danny was back to his normal self. "You're okay!"
This however, did not please Freakshow. "What's that? Is that… Free will? Obey me, minion!" Freakshow said as he held up his crystal ball to Danny's line of sight. Danny seemed to fall into that trance again, making Sam gape.
"Danny! No!" Sam exclaimed. "Don't look at the staff!"
"It's already too late, sweetheart," DemiDevimon, who was on Freakshow's hat, sneered. "He's long gone."
BlackGatomon frowned, seeing Sam in distress. This bothered her. However, the crystal ball was glowing. The dark entity demanded control.
Patamon had enough. He flew up in front of Freakshow and expanded his body. "Boom Bubble!"
The Boom Bubble flew at Freakshow, or more specifically, his staff. The dark entity commanded BlackGatomon to defend. Quicker than anyone could see, BlackGatomon swiped a claw at the Boom Bubble, easily destroying it.
Freakshow grinned. "Another Digimon, eh? Perhaps I should teach this one to obey me."
Sam froze. "Oh no… Patamon, get out of there!" She exclaimed.
Freakshow already had the crystal ball glowing brightly in front of Patamon. Patamon, who was already broken from his experience with Vlad, from hurting Danny and Andy before, from losing Danny to this madman, and seeing Gatomon becoming corrupted, was now at the dark entity's mercy. Patamon grabbed onto his head, crying out.
"Patamon!" Sam screamed, but it was too late. Fractal code surrounded Patamon as he slide-evolved into his darker form of Tsukaimon. "Oh no…"
"Hehe, looks like this little Digimon is mine~" Freakshow grinned.
However, something was different with this Tsukaimon from the one that was with Vlad. Tsukaimon looked up in worry, before he suddenly let out a yell. He flew up and shot out a purple haze in Freakshow's direction, covering Freakshow, BlackGatomon, and DemiDevimon before he suddenly flew away. Tsukaimon was gone.
Freakshow blinked before he frowned. "That shouldn't have happened. I was sure I had that Digimon under my command…"
Freakshow looked at Sam, who was still here. And Danny was still under his control. "No matter, I shall deal with that Digimon later. For now, I have to deal with you, little girl. You've seen too much. Minion, get her."
Danny obeyed, raising up his scythe with both hands, only his glowing red eyes visible beneath the hood of his cloak. For once, Sam was actually afraid of Danny. She let out a scream as Danny raised up his scythe. Then, the blade came down towards Sam…
Titanic X: DarkFoxKit: It was an interesting decision on our part. We didn't plan on the partners going to their Ultimate forms until season 2. We need to keep them a little more balanced with the enemies they'll run into. As Rookies only, it was easier. As Champions, it's becoming more difficult especially when there's more of them. Ultimates, we would have to nerf for a while.
ZAFT: But soon we will get stronger enemies in, especially with Season 3. :3
Ed: ZAFT: We have yet to determine what to do with the clones in this, but it will be answered as time goes on. :3
DarkFoxKit: We're nowhere near that close to the clones anyways, so yeah, we haven't thought of what to do with them yet.
Red reporter: DarkFoxKit: Even Clockwork has his limits. Taking inspiration from Doctor Who, once you screw up something in the timeline, that's it, you can't go back to it anymore. You only get one shot. It would be way too easy if they could just 'hit the reset button' every time they mess up something. Plus, at this point in time, they don't know Clockwork.
ZAFT: We kinda want to keep things more realistic, and time travel is tricky to make realistic, so we have to have Clockwork have limits to make it more… level or even you could say. XP