DarkFoxKit: Ah, how the temperature goes out of whack, and creates storms and tornadoes. Isn't that just lovely?
ZAFT: I hate tornadoes… XP Whenever one is sighted, my family has to go into the basement. Storms are fine for me since I can take lightning pictures. :3
DarkFoxKit: You like taking lightning pictures?
ZAFT: Hobby of mine. Whenever a thunderstorm rolls through, lightning flashes, and I take pictures of that. :3
DarkFoxKit: Interesting. I personally don't like thunderstorms, because it always has a chance to knock out the power, rendering me unable to write.
ZAFT: Ah… don't remind me about that. XP Hasn't happened to me yet, but you never know.
Andy: Will you two stop talking about storms and get to the chapter already?
ZAFT: Uh… sure… ^^'
DarkFoxKit: Rude, much?
(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 64: Danny Phantom, a Malicious Ghost?
Andy, Dorumon, and Takuya were checking around the train, looking for anything weird. The train had some props, but they looked to be used for a torture chamber. There were beds with spikes on them, black chains with spikes, a huge wheel with chains and spikes.
"This guy loves spikes…" Andy muttered.
"No kidding…" Takuya agreed. "I wonder what his fascination is with things like spikes…" He grimaced as he eyed an Iron Maiden that was open with, you guessed it, spikes inside.
"And I thought the Fenton Stockade was bad…" Andy said.
"I wonder if his cast actually gets impaled by these spikes…" Dorumon morbidly asked.
"Please don't put images into my mind, Dorumon," Andy groaned.
Takuya shuddered at the images in his mind. "Ugh… I don't think you would like the images that come to mind, Andy."
"Well it's a legitimate question. The cast better be getting hazard pay for this," Dorumon muttered.
Takuya sighed before he looked over at another bed of spikes. "Geez… I think the ringmaster is obsessed with spikes…"
"Well, danger, and death defying does seem to be a thing with goths, so maybe that's why. I mean have you seen some of their accessories?" Andy asked. "Sam is the most tamed goth I've seen so far actually."
Takuya turned away from the bed of spikes. "I can't really see anything unusual, save for an obsession with spikes. What would look out of place in a space like this?"
"That's a good question, we don't even know what we're looking for…" Andy frowned as he tried to open the door to another train car, only to find it locked. "Hmm… locked…"
Dorumon looked out at the open door, frowning. "Did… I just see Patamon… or… maybe Tsukaimon… flying away?"
Takuya perked up as he felt that flash of heat that signaled a Digimon in the area. "Agh… I hate that feeling…" He shivered.
Andy ran over to the door, seeing what looked like Tsukaimon flying away from the area. "What? That's gotta be Patamon… why is he a Tsukaimon again? … Dorumon, go after him. Find out what's going on with him. I'll stay with Takuya."
Dorumon looked at Andy. "Are you sure?" He didn't feel comfortable leaving Andy alone in a creepy place like this.
"Yes, you're the only one who can keep up with him without needing to digivolve. Now hurry before he goes too far," Andy answered quickly.
Dorumon nodded before his wings began to flap and he took off after Tsukaimon.
Andy turned back to Takuya. "There's a locked train car on the other side. There might be something there that could help us find out what's going on."
Takuya looked back at Andy. "If it's locked, how can we get in? Searching for a key would be good, but where can we find one in here? The only other options would be I can spirit evolve and knock the door down, or we ram it down somehow."
"No, that would cause suspicion…" Andy frowned as he walked over to the locked door and kicked it a little. "Too bad we can't just phase through there, right?"
Then Andy noticed a single gold coin slipping under the crack of the door. Blinking, Andy bent down and picked up the gold coin.
Takuya blinked before he spoke. "Andy… are you… envious of Danny's abilities as a ghost?"
Andy looked up, shocked at the question. "What? Of course not! Why would I be? … Though you have to admit his abilities do come with a lot of conveniences…"
"Well… your comment about phasing through the door made me think about that. You seemed to be longing for such an ability." Takuya pointed out.
"Again, it's only because it's convenient," Andy waved off before looking at the gold coin again. I wonder…
Andy looked back at Takuya. "We should leave, I don't think we'll find anything here. Danny is more likely in the big top than on the train."
Takuya sighed, but nodded. "Yeah, we can't find anything of use here. We may as well go see if Sam and Tucker are having better luck than we are."
"Though… if that Tsukaimon we just saw was Patamon… I have a bad feeling something bad is happening right now." Andy frowned as he pocketed the gold coin. "Come on, we better hurry."
When Andy and Takuya ran into the tent, despite not having tickets, they were easily able to enter the tent, and stopped when they saw Tucker and Terriermon staring up.
"Tucker?" Andy asked.
Terriermon turned back to look at them. "Our favorite goth girl is about to keel over."
Takuya panicked. "What?!" He looked around before he glanced up and gasped. "Wha?!"
Above the highwire was Sam, blindfolded, and she was standing right in the middle of the tightrope. Standing on the other side was Danny in his phantom form, wearing a black robe, holding onto a scythe. His irises were still red, and he was giving a very malicious looking smirk. Andy wanted to refuse to think this malicious looking ghost was Danny.
However, on the opposite side, was a black looking Gatomon, standing there, looking at Sam as well. She didn't show any malicious smirks like Danny was, she looked more angry.
"I don't like the look of this…" Takuya muttered, feeling uneasy at seeing the smirk on Danny's face.
"What is that on the other side of the highwire? Is that a Digimon?" Andy asked.
Tucker nodded before holding up his D-Arc. "BlackGatomon is a Demon Beast Digimon. An impressive virus type of Gatomon with a pitch black fur coat, this pure evil child wanders the eerie darkness. It's a Virus type and a Champion level Digimon."
"You don't think…" Andy looked at Takuya, horrified. "That BlackGatomon… was Gatomon, do you?"
"I don't know of any other Gatomon in the area." Takuya replied in a snarky manner, not that he intended his response to be snarky, as he was freaking out at Danny's evil smirk and malicious air around him.
"Maybe I can do something if it's not too late," Terriermon suggested. "My ears can inflate to balloon-like levels, maybe I could catch her if she falls…"
"But then everyone would see you," Tucker protested.
"Wouldn't you rather that then have another one of your friends become a ghost?" Terriermon pointed out.
Tucker went silent at the counterargument. "It will be risky if you do catch her…"
Everyone's stress levels were high, Andy could tell. Sam let out a scream as Danny used the scythe to rip up the blindfold Sam was wearing, somehow not getting any of her hair. Andy would be impressed if he wasn't so horrified. Sam let out a scream, seeing how high she was on a tightrope.
Takuya looked nervous now. "What do we do?! Sam's about to fall if we don't do something!"
Sam looked at Danny and appeared to be saying something to him, but nobody could hear her, or rather, the ones who could hear her were trying not to panic.
"Just throw me, Tucker! This isn't the time to be debating!" Terriermon snapped.
Danny then used the scythe to cut the tightrope Sam was standing on. Sam gasped and screamed as she was falling. Several things happened at once. Takuya grabbed Terriermon and started running towards the falling Sam. Andy and Tucker started running as well. BlackGatomon's eyes widened as she jumped down from the highwire. Danny was still smirking as he watched Sam fall, however, the red in his eyes started to flicker green.
"Save her!" Andy shouted as he looked back at Danny.
Danny's eyes turned green, and he looked horrified. Immediately, the ghost boy flew down from the highwire himself.
Danny grabbed Sam and landed on the ground, the audience cheering for the act. However, Freakshow didn't like that Danny had saved Sam and frowned, approaching closer to the ghost boy. At the same time, BlackGatomon landed on the ground on her feet. The others stopped running.
"Danny, don't scare me like that!" Sam said.
However, Danny's eyes then flashed red again and he leaned in towards Sam. "And how should I scare you?" He hissed in a sinister tone, which sent shivers down Sam's spine. It sounded so wrong for Danny to say something like that in such a sinister voice.
Takuya and the others were close enough to hear it, it sent shivers down their spines. Andy's especially, he just couldn't believe this was his brother. He believed it when Danny saved Sam, but then he went and said that to her face. However, Danny looked to be in a daze as he backed away, allowing Freakshow to walk up to Sam.
"Consider what you went through today a warning, girl…" Freakshow said lowly to Sam. DemiDevimon, who was on Freakshow's hat, gave a wink and a sinister grin to Sam as well. "Come, BlackGatomon."
BlackGatomon, who had been watching, frowned, but she walked past Sam. BlackGatomon took one more look at Sam. "I suggest you take that warning to heart, if you don't want to become a ghost yourself, Sam."
With that said, BlackGatomon followed after Freakshow.
As soon as Freakshow and BlackGatomon were gone, Sam felt everything coming down on her and she fell to her knees, shaking with fright. "That… I can't…" She was so shaken up, it was weird to see Sam so shaken up by something.
Takuya put Terriermon back on Tucker's shoulders before he ran over to Sam to keep her from falling to the floor. He could see how badly shaken up she was.
"Sam… It will be okay. We will get Danny and Gatomon back." Takuya reassured her. "Somehow we will…"
"Are you alright, Sam? You took quite a fall…" Tucker asked in concern for his friend.
"I don't know…" Sam admitted, but despite being shaken up, her eyes were filled with determination. "But… that's not going to stop me from saving Danny and Gatomon. Freakshow is definitely controlling them with that crystal ball. I saw him use it on Patamon earlier."
Takuya looked at Sam. "That ball controls Digimon too?" He was surprised, and worried now, because if he Spirit-Evolved, then what did that mean for him?
"From what I understand, it might be harder to control Digimon, since none of our partners were controlled when they simply looked at the crystal ball," Sam answered.
"I wasn't," Terriermon agreed.
"But… maybe after they get their spirits broken or something, it might affect them… though I don't know what happened to Patamon. He became Tsukaimon again and flew off," Sam explained.
"I saw him earlier. I had Dorumon follow after him," Andy spoke up.
Tucker looked up. "But I thought Tsukaimon was purified. Did Freakshow have any control over Tsukaimon at all or did he just leave after Freakshow turned him back into his evil form?"
"He spat out some purple haze and left. I don't think Freakshow had control over him, he just turned him," Sam answered.
Takuya frowned at that. "Maybe the crystal ball can only control certain Digimon while others are turned into an evil form by it…"
"It doesn't matter right now!" Andy spoke up. "We need to do something! Patamon's gone AWOL, Gatomon is working with Freakshow, and Danny is under that madman's control!"
Takuya took in a deep breath before letting it out. "Okay, let's focus on one thing at a time. First and foremost, Danny is the one we need to focus on, as he is controlled by Freakshow. If we can focus on Danny and find a way to free him, we can also work in Gatomon and freeing her. Tsukaimon we can deal with last, which, while I don't like it, we have no choice with in this case."
Sam looked down. "I… can't help but feel like… maybe the reason why Gatomon turned is because of me…"
Takuya looked at Sam. "And why do you say that, Sam?"
"Because she kept telling me how she, as BlackGatomon, looked so much better to me than when she was Gatomon… and I have to admit, I did like BlackGatomon's appearance… but…" Sam sighed. "I just want my partner back… I don't care what form she's in…"
Takuya frowned before he sighed. "We can worry about it later, Sam. We have to find a way to free her and Danny. Don't worry."
"I should get Jazz and Lopmon, they need to know what's going on," Andy stated.
"Then we better get moving," Terriermon spoke up.
"Right, the more help we have, the better," Tucker agreed.
Takuya gave a nod. "And the more help we have, the greater our chances of success."
The group started running out of the tent, planning their next move, only to run into a mob of parents, including Pamela and Jeremy Manson.
Takuya felt like smacking his face at the sight of the mob of parents there. Oh, come on! Really?!
"Sam? What are you doing here? And why are you with that Fenton boy? He has a restraining order, you know? And why aren't you in detention right now?" Pamela demanded.
Sam looked nervous. She couldn't say Mr. Lancer let them go from detention, because he was right there with the mob of parents. Uh oh...
"They decided it would be funny to lock me in a closet and make a run for it," Mr. Lancer let out.
The four kids gave a nervous smile.
"I knew these friends of yours were bad influences." Jeremy frowned.
Takuya felt like finding a hole to hide in. Can't we ever get a break?!
Tucker smiled nervously again. "Well…" His cover story died on the tip of his tongue. Crud… what would be a good cover story?
"Well? What's your excuse?" Pamela questioned.
"What do you want us to say? We wanted to run away to the circus?" Andy snapped, having lost his patience. "Oh, I'm sure you'd like to hear that, to give more of a reason to take Sam away from us, because we're such 'bad influences', right? It's not like we're the ones who are wearing black eyeliner, and mini-skirts."
"We're not taking such a tone from you, young man." Pamela frowned.
Takuya felt like his own temper was at its end. He wanted so badly to tear into the Manson parents verbally himself. He could feel his Spirits pulsing in time with his anger. "Says the mother who is smothering her daughter and deciding who her friends should be!" Takuya snapped. He couldn't help it. He was under stress at the idea of Danny being controlled and the whole thing with BlackGatomon and Tsukaimon as well.
"Why, I never!" Jeremy snapped. "Don't you talk to my wife like that!"
"Are we late for the protest?" A new voice asked.
Everyone turned to see Maddie and Jack Fenton had arrived on the scene, wearing their jumpsuits, and holding up signs and everything.
Takuya stared, mortified at what he was seeing. Crap… He wasn't sure if he wanted to hide in a hole or just go back to the Digital World at that moment.
"I brought the Fenton Riot gear!" Jack announced, taking out the Fenton Bazooka, which shot out an ecto laser that destroyed the Mansons' signs.
Pamela looked at her husband.
"What? I didn't invite them," Jeremy quickly said.
Andy looked at his parents, while he should feel embarrassed, he was contemplating on if he should tell them the truth. Your son is half ghost, and he's currently being controlled by an evil ringmaster in Circus Gothica. Oh, and by the way, Patamon turned wild and left. Gatomon turned evil as well. And Dorumon is going after the wild Patamon!
Andy could suddenly see that turning sour very fast, and he didn't need to be a seer (not that he was one) to see that.
Sam wanted to protest to her parents, but the whole thing with what was going on with Danny. Gatomon, and Patamon was getting to her now.
Jack then noticed one boy was missing. "Hey, isn't Danny supposed to be with you four?" Patamon and Dorumon are missing too...
"Not according to this restraining order," Pamela spoke up, showing the restraining order paper. "Come to think of it, your other son here shouldn't be either. He's lucky I don't call the police on him right now."
Takuya glared at Pamela Manson; he so wanted to burn that restraining order so it wouldn't be in effect anymore!
Maddie frowned, noticing Danny was indeed missing, but so were Patamon and Dorumon. "Well, if Danny's not here and he's not at school, then where is he?"
"He might be at home!" Andy suddenly spoke up. "I'll go home and see! And I won't be within 200 feet of Sam anymore! Everybody's happy! Okay, bye!"
Andy ran off so fast that nobody had time to argue with the boy. Andy just didn't want to be around anyone anymore, he was about to break down.
Takuya followed Andy. "I'll make sure he gets home!" He quickly said to everyone there. He then chased after Andy, hoping he could help his cousin in some way.
Takuya was standing in front of the door of Andy and Danny's room. As soon as Andy came home, he yelled at Takuya to leave him alone before slamming the door in his face.
"Andy, wait! What's wrong?" Takuya asked, desperate to help his cousin out. "Is it Danny?"
Takuya tried knocking, but there was no answer. However, much to Takuya's surprise, when he tried the doorknob, it opened. While Andy had slammed the door earlier, he evidently forgot to lock it.
Takuya looked inside the room. "Andy?"
Takuya saw Andy curled up on his bed, staring at the empty bed on the other side of the room.
Slowly, Takuya entered the room and shut the door behind him. "Andy? Are you okay?"
"... Why do these things keep happening to us, Takuya? I'm tired of it. Always in danger, someone always getting hurt… and we have parents who think we're just bad influences…" Andy said in a soft voice.
Takuya frowned. He hated to admit it, but Andy had a point. "Andy…" He then walked over and sat down next to Andy on his bed. "I know it's hard, but… we can't change it." He then sighed. "I don't know the answer to why this kind of stuff happens, but we can only deal with it the best we can." He took out his D-Tector and frowned as he looked at it. "I wish I could give an answer…"
"Andy? Takuya?" Jazz asked, walking into the door. "I've heard a lot of noise… is everything okay?"
Lopmon yawned a bit, still a bit drained from their battle with past Cherubimon.
"No…" Andy answered honestly.
"You might want to sit down, Jazz," Takuya warned.
Jazz blinked, but nodded. She sat down on Danny's empty bed. "So? What's going on? Why are you so down, Andy?"
"It's Danny… he's gone," Andy started.
"What? Gone where?" Jazz frowned, startled by this.
Meanwhile, the next night, there was an alarm that went off at the Amity Museum. Four familiar ghosts phased out of the building, holding precious art and other artifacts. Then Danny himself phased out, his eyes still red. He wore a gold crown that had amethyst jewels embedded on it and also perched on top. He wore a golden necklace on his neck that matched the crown, and on his shoulder was BlackGatomon, wearing several jeweled bracelets.
Danny's fists lit up with ecto energy. "Get your butts in gear!"
Danny shot a ghost ray at each of the ghosts before him, hitting their waist down where their tails had forms over their legs. The ghosts all yelped before they flew away.
Danny grinned evilly. "This party's just getting started!" He exclaimed before he flew off after the other ghosts. However, as he was flying off, Danny saw the police coming his way. He scoffed.
"Oh, please." Danny said as he blasted off the tires of one police car before he did the same thing with the other two police cars. This sent all three police cars skidding out of control and away from Danny.
"Congratulations, they'll never question your authority now," BlackGatomon sarcastically said. "Freakshow said to remain discreet."
"No one can track us to the master." Danny said. "As far as these weaklings know, we're just ghosts causing trouble."
"That's true…" BlackGatomon couldn't argue. But I'd still rather not hurt the humans if we can avoid it…
As Danny was flying, BlackGatomon asked. "Doesn't it bother you though? To hurt or cause trouble for the humans?"
"The humans are nothing to a ghost." Danny replied. "Are you getting soft, BlackGatomon?"
BlackGatomon hesitated a little. "... No."
Dorumon was having trouble finding Tsukaimon, it had already been a full day, but he wasn't giving up. Andy was counting on him to find Tsukaimon… no, not Tsukaimon, Patamon.
"I'll find you, Patamon… I won't stop until I do," Dorumon promised as he ran into the outskirts of the night.
Despite it being another night, nobody was able to do anything. Sam, Tucker, Andy, and Takuya were grounded for ditching detention, locking up Mr. Lancer, and going to Circus Gothica. Jazz was the only one not grounded, but she couldn't find where Danny was during the day, and at night… things got complicated back at FentonWorks.
With the TV on in the living room, Jazz and Lopmon could see a young woman announcer on the news.
"In the wake of parental protests, Circus Gothica ringmaster Freakshow had this challenge to his critics." The announcer said before the screen changed to show Freakshow talking from the back of his train.
"I invite you to attend a free show for parents, police, and other concerned authority figures. See the show, and see for yourselves that we're just harmless entertainment." Freakshow invited before the screen changed again to show the news announcer.
"In other news, police got a break in the recent rash of mysterious burglaries as security cameras captured the ghostly culprits." The announcer said as the screen next to her showed the ghosts, and Danny Phantom, with BlackGatomon on his shoulders, robbing a bank before Danny flew up to the camera that recorded the heist and blasted it with an ecto-ray, smirking evilly before the image cut out.
"Oh… no…" Lopmon frowned.
They both heard Andy screaming all the way from upstairs. Jazz quickly turned off the TV before picking up Lopmon and rushed upstairs.
"Andy?!" Jazz exclaimed as she reached Andy's and Danny's room. "What's wrong?!"
Takuya was already there, seeing Andy tossing and turning in his sleep. Takuya was trying to wake Andy up. This had been going on for the past two nights now, which was why Jazz couldn't leave to try to find Danny during the night. She, Lopmon, and Takuya had to keep Andy away from the nightmares.
"Andy, wake up!" Takuya exclaimed. "C'mon, Andy! Wake up!"
Jazz and Lopmon joined with Takuya to try to wake up her little brother. Jazz couldn't help but tear up. One of her little brothers was being forced to rob banks and museums, while the other was suffering terrible nightmares.
"Andy, wake up! It's just a dream!" Jazz said as she shook Andy's shoulder. "Wake up!"
Andy finally opened his eyes, and was sweating. Seeing that Andy was awake, everyone was taking this time to breathe.
"I… saw him… Danny…" Andy said quietly.
Takuya looked at Andy. "You saw Danny? How?" Was it some kind of future vision or was it just a nightmare again?
"Their link, remember?" Lopmon reminded. "That's how he kept seeing Danny whenever he was asleep."
"It's horrible… It's like suffocating while watching yourself doing these horrible things," Andy hissed, shivering.
"Andy… we will get Danny free." Takuya reassured his younger cousin.
"I… I don't know if it's just the crystal ball anymore…" Andy hesitated. "I could hear Danny's thoughts while I was seeing through his eyes. He… he's enjoying it. He wants to keep doing what he's doing…"
Jazz had to admit, that smirk Danny gave before destroying the security camera did look like a 'I'm about to wreck everyone's crap and there's nothing you can do about it' smirk.
Takuya shivered at the implications of Danny enjoying doing what he was doing. Is… Is Danny… is that really Danny? Or… is he more ghostly now…? Is… is he really a ghost now, just with a human skin?
Andy curled up on himself. He hadn't seen Dorumon in two days, he was worried for his partner. According to his D-Arc, Dorumon was alive somewhere, but he still hadn't come back. And now Danny…
"What if… this is natural? What if Danny…what if that crystal ball just unleashed what Danny had been trying to hold back all this time?" Andy questioned. "What if it unleashed his true, malicious, ghostly nature? What if the 'good' ghosts we've been seeing all this time just hadn't unleashed their true nature yet? What if… Mom and Dad were right about ghosts being evil?"
Takuya looked down, his torn feelings showing on his face clearly. "I… I hate to admit it but… that could be the case…" He whispered.
Jazz frowned, then she suddenly slapped Andy while Lopmon used his ears to slap Takuya at the same time.
"That's enough, both of you!" Jazz snapped. "How could you say that about our brother? Andy, I know you're going through some hard times right now, but you should know Danny better than that! He's not evil, whether he's ghost or human or something in-between. He's only like this because of that crystal ball!"
"And according to what you've told me, there's a dark entity, a dark power in that crystal ball. It likely brings out the darkside of anyone it controls. And yes, everyone has a darkside, that includes you, me, Danny, Jazz, Takuya, everyone! Nobody is immune to getting corrupted," Lopmon stated. "That doesn't change just because one is a ghost, or a human, or even a Digimon."
Takuya rubbed his cheek as he looked at the Celestial Digimon. It was true no one was immune to being corrupted, even he himself was not immune. "Sorry…" He murmured as he looked down. "It's just… This is so stressful, and it's getting to me."
"It's my fault," Andy spoke up, rubbing his own cheek. "I've been… having so much doubt about Danny's biology and his mentality that I keep looking for the worst in him… but he's always just been Danny despite that. This is the first time I've seen him act truly malicious, and… I guess it justified that selfish part of me that sees him as a malicious ghost."
However, for Takuya, he was still having doubts about Danny being truly just Danny. He was just making sure to hide his doubts from showing on his face.
"You really should believe in Danny more, Andy, he's your twin brother," Jazz stated.
Andy looked down, gripping onto his blankets. "Maybe… it's about time we stop moping and actually do something about this."
"But we're grounded." Takuya pointed out. "It's not like we can just sneak out to find Danny and save him, is it?"
"Well, I don't know about you, but that's exactly what I'm going to do," Andy replied. "Screw grounding. I think we can make an exception since a family member's life is at risk here. Freakshow isn't going to stay in Amity Park forever you know. Eventually he will leave and take Danny away too." I know… I've seen it happen.
Takuya frowned, but then nodded in agreement. "Count me in." He gripped his D-Tector tightly. "Freakshow will learn the hard way why no one should mess with a Legendary Warrior who is loyal to a Celestial Digimon!"
"You better count us in too!" Lopmon spoke up. "I'm not sure if I can digivolve into Antalyamon again right now, but I'm willing to do anything to bring Danny, Gatomon, and Patamon back too. I still can't believe they got corrupted now."
"You better mean I'll be coming too. This is my little brother we're talking about," Jazz spoke up.
Takuya gave a smirk. "Then what are we waiting for? We have a family member to save!"
"Wait, how are we going to find Danny?" Jazz asked. "I've tried looking where Circus Gothica was before, but they never seem to be in that place you told me about."
"Freakshow hides his train and his tent during the day. They only come out at night when they're performing," Andy answered, having seen it from Danny's eyes. "That's why this is the perfect time to sneak out and get to Circus Gothica before it's too late."
Lopmon nodded. "Let's go then."
"Not yet, we need to prepare. If we're going after Freakshow, he's going to fight back, with ghosts and Digimon," Andy warned. "Takuya… you call Tucker and Sam. I'm going to get a few things."
Jazz and Lopmon followed Andy. Their parents, despite grounding their kids, usually went on patrol around this time. Jazz had been covering for Danny, but they knew they needed to bring him home soon before Maddie and Jack started to get suspicious of Danny's absence.
Takuya nodded and began to mess with his D-Tector, finally getting the call function to work and he got a hold of Sam first. "Sam? Can you hear me?"
A tear drop symbol came onto the screen. "Takuya? What is it? I was just talking to Tucker about what to do with Danny since we just saw him robbing a bank on the news."
Takuya grinned. "We're about to sneak out to help Danny, Gatomon, and Patamon. Are you and Tucker going to join us?"
"Oh heck yeah, you better not be going without us!" Takuya was surprised when he heard Tucker's voice through the D-Tector.
"Okay… then we will head out once Andy gets a few things together." Takuya said.
"We'll just meet you there," Sam spoke up. "I've had enough of staying in my room where my parents can walk in at any time. I'm going to save Danny, and my partner."
Takuya chuckled. "Okay. We'll meet you as soon as we get set."
Meanwhile, Andy, Jazz, and Lopmon had walked down into the lab. With Jack and Maddie out to see Freakshow's free show, they had the whole thing to themselves.
"We could've easily just left at night when our parents went out on patrol," Andy noted. "Heh. I don't think Mom and Dad really grounded us anyways… they're not always as blind as they lead us to believe. They know Dorumon isn't here, they knew something happened. But they continue to act like they're oblivious… I wonder why…"
"Let's not worry about that now," Jazz said. "We have a brother to save, so let's gather what weapons we can."
Andy walked over to a box and took out his hazmat suit, the one that was white and dark blue. "Maybe you should put on a hazmat suit while you're at it, Jazz. It'll help protect us from ecto poisoning, and keep their ghost rays from hurting us too much."
Jazz walked over and took out the blue and black hazmat suit she had worn when she had been fighting ghosts with Jack during the time Andy, Danny, and Maddie had been in the Rockies. "That would be a good idea." She said as she began to slip it on.
Andy put on his own hazmat suit, zipping it up. Jazz looked at Andy, and couldn't help but notice how much Andy looked like Danny when he wore his hazmat suit before he turned into Danny Phantom, before his hazmat suit's colors inverted, before the accident.
Jazz shook her head and snapped out of her staring; she didn't want to freak Andy out with the way she had been looking at him, musing about how much he looked like Danny before his accident.
Andy hadn't seemed to notice Jazz's staring, and he walked to another box, looking for something. It looked like the lab had been cleaned up and organized pretty well recently. Andy then tossed Jazz a Fenton Rod, while he held one for himself. "Take this, you'll be needing a melee weapon."
Jazz caught the Fenton Rod easily. "Thanks, Andy." She then looked through another box herself, finding a few weapons of interest and note. One was a ray gun that could freeze ghosts solid, or so Jack and Maddie had claimed. Another looked like a shield of some kind, and there was even a grappling hook alongside another ray gun of some kind.
"We should pack light, we don't want to be too bogged down when we have to face the ghosts, and… possibly our brother," Andy said, not sugar coating it, they would be facing Danny.
Jazz nodded. "Okay." She grabbed the freeze ray before closing up the box.
Andy had the ray gun, and the grappling hook. Considering that ghosts could fly, they would likely need the grappling hook just to keep up with them.
"Do you think we should get a weapon for Takuya or will he be fine with his Digimon forms?" Jazz asked out of curiosity.
"Takuya will likely be using his Digimon forms, as when he spirit evolves, I don't know where the things he wears goes. It might be better to not give him any weapons," Andy answered.
Jazz nodded. "Okay, that answers my question I guess." She looked back at Andy. "Do you think we're armed enough?"
"You two definitely look like you're ready for war," Lopmon admitted, looking at them. "Except without the bazooka strapped to your back."
"I'd rather not use the bazooka. I don't want to hurt Danny too much," Andy admitted. "Besides, it would be too heavy for us to carry. Leave that stuff to Mom and Dad."
Lopmon nodded, realizing Andy had a point. "Good idea…"
Andy looked at Jazz. "Alright, I think this is it… this… may be all we need for what's to come."
Jazz hesitated, wondering if Andy saw this battle in a vision, and she wondered what was the result of it in his vision. Andy had been talking like an emotionless tactician since he came down to the lab, not letting his emotions show.
Jazz did feel a bit unnerved by Andy's emotionless state, but she decided it was better than Andy acting malicious like Danny had been shown to be on the news.
"Alright, let's go get Takuya and head out to Circus Gothica," Andy said. Dorumon, wherever you are, please come back soon.
Meanwhile, Dorumon had been out for 2 days now, looking for Patamon. He was lucky to find some metal in trash people threw out in a junkyard, it kept him fed, but he missed being with Andy, and eating fresh metal as well as other foods. Dorumon was sniffing around.
"He's close… I know he is…" Dorumon said to himself.
Dorumon moved ahead, he kept going until he saw something blue all curled up.
It was Tsukaimon, and he looked like he was asleep. Looks like he tired himself out.
Dorumon slowly walked towards Tsukaimon. However, Tsukaimon began to uncurl from his position. He sat up, twitching his wings a bit, before turning his head, seeing Dorumon. "What do you want? Hahaha, you just want to kill me, is that? Or just take my data! Hahaha!"
Dorumon frowned at hearing Tsukaimon's remarks. "No… I'm not here to kill you or take your data."
"You think I believe you!?" Tsukaimon shouted, sounding hysterical. "Everyone abandons me eventually. They only want me if they want something from me! I have nothing but data left! Hahahaha! It's funny!"
"No, that's not true." Dorumon replied. "It's not why I'm here. Please, Patamon, listen to me."
Tsukaimon let out an animalistic hiss.
"We need to get you back to Danny," Dorumon said calmly, hoping Tsukaimon would listen.
Danny's name seemed to have rung a familiar bell in Tsukaimon. "Danny?"
"Yes, Danny… He is your partner." Dorumon replied.
"My… partner…" Tsukaimon repeated, then he started crying. "He's gone. Danny's gone, corrupted, evil, controlled! And it's all your fault!"
Tsukaimon let out a cry before shooting out a Friendly Fire attack at Dorumon. Dorumon quickly jumped, dodging the fireball.
"No! It's not my fault! It's Freakshow's fault! He is the one you need to direct your anger at, not me!" Dorumon exclaimed as he landed and looked at Tsukaimon. "Freakshow is the one who is controlling Danny!"
Tsukaimon didn't appear to be listening anymore, he was just going on a rampage. He kept attacking Dorumon, completely out of control. Dorumon decided he would need to try to calm Tsukaimon down before he could even try to talk any sense to him.
Dorumon shot out a Metal Cannon attack, which hit Tsukaimon's stomach, sending him back a few feet. Tsukaimon groaned, but flew up. He took a deep breath before firing out an Evil Spell, which was a bunch of enchanted words made to break the opponent's spirit.
Dorumon jumped up and above the Evil Spell before he shot off another Metal Cannon attack, right at Tsukaimon's left wing/ear. Tsukaimon rolled over, dodging it. Then he jumped at Dorumon's stomach, tackling him. Dorumon grabbed onto Tsukaimon and pinned him down.
"Calm down! Patamon! Please, remember who you are!" Dorumon shouted and pleaded.
After struggling in Dorumon's hold for a few minutes, Tsukaimon tired out. He had been out for 2 days doing who-knows-what, he couldn't have lasted that much longer. Tsukaimon began to cry, fractal code surrounded him.
Dorumon was surprised to see Tsukaimon had degenerated into Tokomon.
Dorumon nudged the crying Tokomon. "Tokomon…?" He was worried now.
Tokomon looked up at Dorumon, still crying. "Don't… leave me alone… please…"
Dorumon smiled softly. "I won't leave you. You're my baby brother, I can't leave you alone."
Dorumon sat there, letting Tokomon cry on him for a while. Dorumon waited patiently, not saying anything while Tokomon cried his little heart out.
Finally, Tokomon was all cried out. "I… I failed Danny… I let him get controlled by Freakshow… I'm a failure as a partner…"
"No, you're not a failure." Dorumon reassured Tokomon. "You didn't know this would happen. No one did. Freakshow is the only one to blame. You never failed Danny."
"I should've told him… I should've told him the second we knew he was being controlled… maybe then Danny wouldn't have looked at the crystal ball and… left us…" Tokomon sobbed.
"Even if you did tell Danny, it wouldn't have made a difference. Danny would have been controlled anyway." Dorumon reasoned. "That crystal ball can control ghosts, even half-ghosts, easily. It wouldn't have made a difference. If anything, Freakshow probably knows how easy it is to control a ghost, so that is why he took control of Danny."
Tokomon sniffled. "If… if only there was a way to protect Danny from that dark entity within the crystal ball… When I looked at it, I could sense a powerful, dark entity within that crystal ball… Freakshow has no idea what kind of power he has in that staff of his…"
Tokomon then paused before looking up at Dorumon. "Did you… follow me? You… came to find me, despite it being… days?"
"You bet I did~!" Dorumon teased. "All for you, Tokomon. As I said, you are my baby brother. It's my job to look out for you."
Tokomon didn't know what he was feeling, but he felt something warm inside him, the same warmth whenever Danny gave him attention or was just being nice to him. Tokomon gave a smile. "Thank you, Dorumon… really, I'm glad you came looking for me."
Dorumon smiled. "Then let's go and save Danny. Together."
"It's… not too late?" Tokomon asked, feeling both hopeful yet worried.
"No. It's not too late. Andy and the others are going to do the same thing we are, so we just have to get back and help them out." Dorumon assured Tokomon.
"I… don't know how much help I can be as an In-Training level Digimon… but for Danny, I'm willing to try," Tokomon replied.
Dorumon smiled again. "Then let's go. We have a half-ghost to save."
Tokomon hopped onto Dorumon's back. Dorumon gave Tokomon a smile before he started hurrying through the outskirts to get back to Amity Park.
By the time Andy, Jazz, Lopmon, and Takuya arrived at Circus Gothica, they saw Tucker, Terriermon, and Sam already there by the train, waiting for them.
"Whoa… you two got decked out," Tucker noted, looking at Andy and Jazz, seeing them in their hazmat suits.
"We needed to prepare for a fight," Andy stated. "Not going to lie; I don't expect us to save Danny or Gatomon without a fight."
Jazz nodded. "This won't be easy, but we needed to be prepared." She lifted up the freeze ray.
Takuya lifted up his D-Tector. "So… should I evolve now? I mean… we are going to fight ghosts…"
"Yes! Do it! I want to see you spirit evolve up close!" Tucker grinned.
"Someone's excited." Terriermon rolled his eyes.
"No, wait, don't spirit evolve just yet," Andy spoke up. "We're trying to be sneaky right now. If we can avoid a fight, we should at least try."
Tucker pouted at Andy's words. "Awww… Way to ruin the moment, Andy…"
Takuya blinked in a stare. "Uh… Okay…? That… was freaky…"
"It's Tucker." Sam rolled her eyes, though she felt empty not hearing a comment from Gatomon.
"Come on, we better check out the train while all the adults are going into the tent," Lopmon spoke up.
"Are… our parents going in too?" Jazz asked. "I know they said they would check it out, but…"
"Yeah," Andy pointed at the big, bright, orange jumpsuited man standing in line, already having a monster size popcorn in his hands.
Takuya groaned as he ran a hand down his face. "Ugh… we have to sneak past Uncle Jack now? Great…"
Andy let out a sigh of his own. "Okay everyone, let's go one at a time please."
The group carefully moved themselves away from the line, heading over to the train. Sam went first, then Andy, since neither of them had a partner Digimon with them at the moment. Next was Takuya, who also didn't have to worry about a partner Digimon. Then it was Tucker, and finally, Jazz. Out of all of them, Jazz was the easiest to spot due to her bright, orange, long hair. Thankfully, however, they all made it to the train without being spotted.
"This train is creepy up close…" Jazz whispered.
"Tell me about it…" Takuya muttered. "This Freakshow guy seems to have an obsession with spiked things."
"That's not unusual, considering what his circus is about," Lopmon remarked quietly.
"It's great… until this whole thing proved my parents were right about Freakshow being evil…" Sam grumbled.
"It's too bad we couldn't stop for snacks or souvenirs. I wouldn't mind one of those Circus Gothica hats," Tucker commented.
"Can we not focus on snacks or anything like that? We have to find and save Danny and Gatomon!" Takuya hissed. He was not really in a good mood considering one of his cousins was being controlled by a freaky ringmaster. Not to mention how this might be affecting Andy mentally… he's trying to hide it, but I can tell this whole thing is hurting him.
Andy had been ignoring the others while they were talking, instead, he was looking around the train for any entrances that weren't locked. He then looked up at the roof of the train.
"Jazz, Tucker, could you maybe toss Lopmon and Terriermon up at the roof of the train?" Andy spoke up, but still quietly.
Tucker blinked as he looked at Andy. "Why? What's the plan?"
"Lopmon and Terriermon are small and light, so they shouldn't alarm anyone inside the train if we toss them up there. I think there might be a few doors on the roof of the train that aren't lockable. I want them to see if they can find one we can all use to get inside," Andy explained.
Tucker nodded. "That's a good idea. And if we can slip in from the roof, no one will be the wiser because the doors up there are not locked."
He looked at Terriermon. "You think you can find a door hatch for us to use?"
"Shouldn't be a problem," Terriermon answered.
"I'm proud of you, little brother, for thinking of that." Jazz smiled before she looked at Lopmon. "Go with Terriermon and find a door hatch, okay?"
"We'll try," Lopmon replied.
The two tossed up the two rabbit-like Digimon. Terriermon and Lopmon used their ears to glide down onto the train's roof tops, making as little noise as possible.
As soon as they were on the roof, Terriermon and Lopmon began to look for any hatches that could be opened. Lopmon found one, but it appeared to be rusted shut, while Terriermon found one that opened without any issues.
"Keep it open, I'll tell the others," Lopmon whispered to Terriermon.
"Sure," Terriermon answered, before looking down. Wow… is this a treasure train? Look at all that gold!
Lopmon peered over the edge of the train's roof. "There is an open hatch!" He said in as soft a voice as he could while still getting the attention of the others.
"Come on, let's get on," Andy said to the others.
Tucker, Sam, Andy, Jazz, and Takuya climbed on top of the train, seeing the hatch Terriermon had opened.
Takuya made his way over, only to see something gleaming below them inside. "Huh?" He peered inside, only to lose his balance and fall inside. "Wah!"
It was not a soft landing as Takuya hit the ground pretty hard. Andy and the others hissed from the loud THUD Takuya made. But then Tucker slipped in and fell on top of Takuya.
"OW!" Takuya's yelp could be heard from inside the train car.
"If there was someone here, they're bound to hear that…" Jazz deadpanned.
The others jumped inside, careful to avoid the two boys on the floor. Terriermon landed on Tucker's head though.
"Why me…?" Takuya groaned from beneath Tucker.
"Come on, get up you two," Sam hissed.
"Wow… look at this place… it's full of gold, paintings, priceless artifacts, and money bags…" Andy whispered as he looked around. This Freakshow is trying to copy the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin or something? I don't think he needs this much treasure...
Takuya got up as soon as Tucker got off of him. "Ugh… Ouch… Okay… I think I will be feeling that for a few days…" He muttered as he rubbed his left shoulder.
"Uh… sorry about that, Takuya-aaaaah… look at this place!" Tucker's eyes were wide, shocked at all the treasure in this one train cart.
"I know, right? Just a handful of this stuff would make us rich." Terriermon grinned.
"Now's not the time!" Jazz hissed in a whisper. "Most of this stuff could be stolen for all we know!"
"They pretty much are… if the TV news was anything to go by," Lopmon muttered.
By Danny… Andy realized, feeling like he had just been kicked in the gut.
Takuya looked at Andy with concern, wondering how Andy was taking this.
The place was a mess. There were gold coins scattered everywhere. Dollar bills stacked upon each other, while a few fell to the floor. Gold bars were all over the gold coins. Pearl necklaces were hanging on the paintings. Big golden cups and sticks were sticking out of chests.
Takuya walked over to a chest and looked inside it. "I don't know why Freakshow is after this stuff, but… using ghosts to get it… that's pretty clever since no one can really catch or stop a ghost from robbing a bank." He hated to admit something like that, but it was pretty ingenious.
"Well, if you want to know why, it's likely just human greed," Sam grumbled.
"How are we going to find anything in this mess?" Jazz frowned.
"What… are we even looking for?" Tucker questioned as he picked up a gold bar. "Wow, this weighs a ton."
"You never did tell us what we were looking for." Takuya noted as he looked at Andy.
"We're not looking for anything. We're trying to find a way to save Danny and Gatomon," Andy reminded.
Then Andy stopped when he saw a familiar red staff with a big, glowing crystal ball on top of it. "... Or I guess the very thing that's controlling them works too."
Takuya looked at the staff and frowned. "I… don't like this… Is Freakshow careless or is he leaving his staff here as bait? Because he doesn't look like the type of person to leave something so valuable out of his sight…"
"Why would Freakshow have any reason to believe he would need to leave his staff here as bait?" Sam questioned.
"But then why leave his staff here? Every time we saw Freakshow, whether in person or on TV, he's holding that thing," Andy pointed out.
"Call it me being cautious." Takuya grumbled. "I've had enough times where I've been attacked by Digimon under some evil entity's control."
Lopmon did flinch a little at that.
"So what are we going to do? Just leave the staff there?" Tucker asked.
"What if we can check if it's a trap?" Jazz suggested. "Maybe throw a gold bar or something at it?"
"Sure, and alert someone to our presence here while we at it? Great idea, Jazz…" Takuya snarked back, but not that anyone could blame him for being so tense and on edge.
"I see you're on edge," Jazz grumbled.
"Look, we either do something soon or-" Andy began to say before something green hit Sam and Takuya, forcing them out of the train. "Uh-oh…"
More green beams aimed at the others appeared. Jazz, Tucker, and Andy yelped as they tried to dodge, but the aim was too precise. Lopmon and Terriermon tried to use their own attacks, but the beams were faster than they could build up their attacks. They were all shot out of the train. Andy ended up landing on Takuya.
"OW!" Takuya yelped before he groaned. "Why does this happen to me…?"
Nobody paid Takuya any mind, because they were all looking at the caboost of the train, seeing Danny Phantom floating there, his legs currently a ghostly tail, and his two hands glowing with ecto energy. Danny's eyes were still red, and he was grinning sinisterly. At the same time, Freakshow came walking out. He had BlackGatomon on his side, while DemiDevimon was clinging onto his hat.
Takuya got to his feet once Andy got off his body. "Okay… what do we do now?" He growled, his hand clenched around his D-Tector.
"Catch that train!" Andy yelled.
Nobody needed to be told twice, they all ran after the train as it was starting to set off.
Takuya was reminded of when he first caught the Trailmon to the Digital World four years ago as he ran after the train. This is deja vu all over again! He thought as he ran after the train.
Freakshow looked like he was saying something, but nobody could hear it due to the loud train's horn. Not that Freakshow cared, he went back inside the train, followed by Danny. BlackGatomon looked back at the group for a second, before she went into the train herself.
"We'll never catch the train in time like this!" Jazz shouted as they were running, but the train was starting to gain speed.
"Yes we will!" Andy spoke up. "Just… Lopmon, Terriermon, you two should digivolve, get Jazz and Tucker on top of the train! Takuya, you spirit evolve too, and get Sam on top of the train. I'll get on using the grappling hook!"
Takuya didn't need to be told twice. "On it!" He held out his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"
Now Spirit-Evolved, Agunimon grabbed onto Sam and held her close to his chest before he picked up speed and made the jump, landing on the top of the train.
Tucker held up his D-Arc as the words "DIGIVOLUTION" appeared on the screen. "Terriermon, digivolve to…" Terriermon began to lose his own skin, on his face, and then his legs lost their skin as well. His ears also lost their skin before his skin began to come back, but on his legs and feet first. Terriermon's legs gained green pants with a belt and bullets around his chest. Two large gauntlets that were guns appeared on his hands. The skin on Terriermon's head and face came back, just as a green mask appeared around his upper face as well. "Gargomon!"
Jazz held up her own D-Arc as the same thing happened with Lopmon. "Lopmon, digivolve to…" Lopmon began to lose his own skin, on his face, and then his legs lost their skin as well. His ears also lost their skin before his skin began to come back, but on his legs and feet first. Lopmon's legs gained shoes and yellow pants with a belt and yellow top that matched, two blades appeared as his hands regained their skin and red gloves, grasping the blades in both hands. The skin on Lopmon's head and face came back, just as a blue bandanna appeared around his neck as well. "Turuiemon!"
Now digivolved, both Turuiemon and Gargomon grabbed Tucker and Sam before joining Agunimon and Sam on the roof of the train.
Andy shot out his grappling hook at an arch the train was going through, and used that to carry him on top of the train. "Whoa!"
Andy ended up landing on his stomach on the roof, he was still not used to the grappling hook.
"Are you okay, Andy?" Jazz asked in concern.
"Yeah… just… had a bit of a rough landing is all," Andy assured as Jazz helped him up to his feet.
Agunimon looked back at Andy with concern on his face before he suddenly felt the chill and heat that flashed through him. He looked back, not sure of where it was coming from.
"Did you sense something?" Turuiemon asked, noticing Agunimon was looking around.
"Yeah… a ghost…" Agunimon replied, trailing off, as there was only one ghost he was trying to find and he wasn't liking the idea of possibly fighting said 'ghost minion'.
"Well of course, we're on a train belonging to a madman who can control ghosts, I'd be surprised if there wasn't any," Gargomon pointed out.
"I'm never going to hear the end of it if my parents ever found out about this…" Sam groaned.
"A bit late for that," Andy remarked. "I mean why is Freakshow leaving if he's supposed to be performing at his free show?"
Agunimon felt dread beginning to creep into his gut at the images running through his mind. "I don't know… but I don't like the implications this is giving me…"
Tucker frowned. "What's Freakshow's plan then? Kill all of his critics because he didn't like them?"
"Let's not talk about 'killing' right now, please!" Jazz begged.
"Don't worry, they'll be fine. If Freakshow did send a ghost to… 'kill off his critics', Mom and Dad are there, they can take care of the ghost," Andy reassured. "Right now, we need to focus on saving Danny and Gatomon."
Agunimon nodded. "Right." He wasn't sure about fighting Danny though, as he felt uneasy, like he was treating his own cousin as an enemy. But can I do this…?
Andy frowned as his head grew fuzzy. He could see images of the ghosts popping up from the train, including Danny.
Andy opened his eyes, and he took out his Fenton Rod from his hazmat suit's pocket, and extended it. "They know we're here!"
Agunimon went tense as he fell into his fighting stance. "So much for sneaking up on them…" He growled.
Everyone got in a battle stance. Jazz brought out her own Fenton Rod and extended it as well. Gargomon and Turuiemon readied the weapons on their hands.
After a few seconds, nothing seemed to be happening.
"Um… Andy, are you sure they-" Sam began to ask just before three ghosts popped up on one side of the train, and Danny came up from the other. "Okay, there it is."
Agunimon looked around, his sharp blue eyes flicking from ghost to ghost before landing on Danny Phantom. He felt a lump form in his throat before he swallowed, forcing it down.
Everyone looked at Danny as he was grinning sinisterly at them.
"Danny, you have to remember us. It's Tucker and Sam, we're your best friends!" Sam called out.
"And we're Jazz and Andy, your siblings, don't you remember us?" Jazz begged.
Agunimon didn't speak up, but he did give Danny a pleading look, as if begging the ghost boy to remember him as well.
Danny frowned for a moment, and closed his eyes, before opening them again, revealing his irises being their normal ghostly green. "Tucker… Sam… Jazz… Andy… you guys… I… I…"
Everyone but Andy began to smile, seeing that Danny was snapping out of it. But Andy knew better than to hope that his brother would come out of it, not as long Freakshow was here. Andy took out his D-Arc. Come on, Dorumon, where are you?
Agunimon felt his heart/Digi-Core leaping into his throat. However, his instincts as a Digimon were warning him to stay back instead of rushing forwards to hug Danny.
"Danny… that's it! Fight it!" Sam said. "You can snap out of it!"
Danny's body shivered before his eyes glowed red again all of a sudden, he shut his eyes and smirked. "I… am a ghost. I have no friends or family."
When Danny opened his eyes, they were red again.
"Don't waste your breath, children," Freakshow spoke up, coming up from the hatch. "He's under my control now."
DemiDevimon and BlackGatomon climbed out of the hatch themselves.
Agunimon froze when he saw Freakshow and the other two Digimon. His eyes flashed with anger. "So you're the one who is behind this…" He hissed.
"Don't you come any closer!" Turuiemon warned. "We will fight, and don't think your crystal ball is going to work on us."
"We have people to protect, that's more than enough of a reason for us not to fall under your control!" Gargomon growled.
Freakshow just grinned. "More Digimon here? This is more than I could have hoped for!"
"They're not going to fall so easily though, Fred," DemiDevimon remarked. "Perhaps it's about time I finally go back to my original form?"
Freakshow looked at DemiDevimon before he smirked. "Why, that would be a good idea. I don't think it would hurt to have the back-up."
DemiDevimon smirked as fractal code surrounded his body. "DemiDevimon warp digivolve to… Myotismon!"
Agunimon felt fear flood his body. Shit… a Myotismon?! We're getting in over our heads here…
The Digimon had a pale grey face with slicked back blonde hair, a red mask that looked like something out of a masquerade ball, and wore a dark blue suit with gold accents on it. He also had black gloves that had a grey bat symbol on the tops of them, and had boots that were black with a grey skull image on the toes. His cape was black with a red interior and went up past his neck with the collar. The ears were pointed and he had fangs as well as blue lips. Agunimon was tense as he bared his sharp fangs at the vampiric Digimon.
"What the heck is that? A vampire!?" Jazz shrieked.
Tucker frowned as he looked down at his D-Arc. "Myotismon is a Ghost Digimon. As the king of Undead Digimon, it was resurrected through the dark arts and obtained mighty powers. It's a Virus type, and… Ultimate level."
Agunimon hissed through his teeth. "Damn… this just got harder…"
Turuiemon frowned before he looked at Jazz. "We may have to try digivolving me again if we're to hope to stand a chance."
Jazz looked unsure. "Yeah, but… are you sure you want to do that?"
Myotismon let out a laugh. "I'm not going to bother with you weaklings. I'm simply here to enjoy the show. But by all means, if you can get past Fred's ghost minions, then you're free to come after me."
Agunimon looked like he wanted to run right at Myotismon, but he held himself back, not sure of what would happen if he did. I have to be careful, unless I make a mistake that could cost us...
Sam was looking at BlackGatomon, she knew that was her partner. BlackGatomon didn't appear to be saying anything, she was just watching.
"Defend ourselves now, we'll worry about Myotismon later!" Andy called out.
"Alright, ghost minions, attack them now! Show them what happens when they decide to stow away on my train," Freakshow demanded, holding up his staff.
"Agunimon, you'll have to handle Danny!" Andy called out as he blocked a ghost ray with his Fenton Rod. "He's too strong for the rest of us!"
Agunimon looked back at Andy, a look of hesitation and uncertainty on his face. It was clear he was worried about fighting his cousin.
Then Agunimon saw a black and white blur flying past him. Agunimon blinked, seeing it was Danny. Andy managed to push away the elastic ghost girl with his Fenton Rod, only to be caught off guard by Danny. Danny grabbed onto Andy's shoulders, grinning. Andy gasped, looking back at Danny, seeing his malicious grin.
Reacting on instinct, Agunimon ran at Danny and grabbed him before he yanked the ghost boy away from Andy and then kicked Danny back away so there would be some distance between them. Damn it… My own hesitation almost cost me!
"That wasn't very nice, cousin!" Danny hissed at Agunimon. "Why would you tear me away from my brother?"
Agunimon stood in front of Andy. "I won't let you hurt him!" He snapped back, but his voice betrayed his own feelings on fighting Danny.
Tucker and Jazz were doing fairly well against the other ghosts, their Digimon doing most of the damages. It was clear that the three ghosts didn't have that much battle experience. The muscular one was probably the strongest one among them, and even he was having trouble fighting against the two Digimon. Gargomon's Gargo Pellets was doing a number on the three ghosts.
"BlackGatomon, perhaps you should step in soon," Freakshow stated to the cat Digimon.
Sam gasped. "No! She's my partner!"
Freakshow looked at Sam with a sinister grin. "Oh, is she? She seemed willing to join me when she snuck in when I first arrived in Amity Park."
Sam frowned, she and Gatomon never got into any fights or arguments. It was only that one time, when she decided not to listen to Gatomon and ditch school, when she commented that a DemiDevimon looked cool, she didn't think Gatomon would take all that to heart.
Meanwhile, Agunimon was struggling to defend against Danny's relentless attacks. Ghost rays were stinging against his armor, Danny's fists packed quite a wallop, he would never call ghosts who took Danny's fists to the face wimps ever again.
"Ugh…" Agunimon grunted as he blocked one of Danny's punches, trying to stay away from Andy so Danny wouldn't head towards him. "Danny, you have to stop this!"
"I'm a ghost. I don't have a name," Danny stated before kicking Agunimon in the stomach, knocking him down.
Agunimon cried out as he landed on the train's roof, holding his stomach with his hand. He sat up before getting back to his feet. "Yes… Yes you do have a name… You're not just a ghost! You're Andy's brother, Jazz's brother, and my cousin!" Agunimon exclaimed as he faced Danny again.
Andy managed to knock out the short ghost, while Gargomon knocked out the big guy. Turuiemon and Jazz managed to knock out the ghost lady with their Gauntlet Claw and wrist ray combo. The group, besides Agunimon who was busy with Danny, faced BlackGatomon and Myotismon.
"Looks like it's our turn, sugar cube." Myotismon grinned, looking at BlackGatomon.
"Stop calling me that," BlackGatomon hissed.
"Oh, I can call you that if I want." Myotismon chuckled evilly.
Myostismon then walked forward, covering himself with his cape.
"What's he doing?" Jazz frowned.
"Grisly Wing!" Myotismon spread out his cape as countless swarms of bats began to fly towards them.
Turuiemon and Gargomon quickly got in front of the kids, knowing the attack would likely kill them.
The Grisly Wing hit the two Champion-level Digimon, surrounding them with countless bats.
"Gargomon! No!" Tucker cried out.
"Turuiemon!" Jazz cried out as well.
"That's enough, Myotismon!" BlackGatomon spoke up. "If you destroy them, then there won't be any fun left for me."
Myotismon chuckled evilly again before he recalled his bats to him. "Very well. I will let you have at them, sugar cube."
Turuiemon and Gargomon fell on their stomachs, extremely weak from the devastating attack. Tucker and Jazz were leaning over them, trying to wake them up. BlackGatomon began to approach them.
"Gatomon, please… you don't want to do this," Sam said quietly.
"Why should I not attack them?" BlackGatomon countered as she looked back at Sam.
"Because they're your friends!" Sam retorted.
Andy frowned, looking at BlackGatomon and Sam, then he suddenly got a bad feeling. Andy turned around, looking at the battle going on behind them. Agunimon normally would be able to hold his own against ghosts, even if it was a powerful one, but Agunimon had only been defending rather than attacking Danny. Danny kicked Agunimon down again.
"Ugh…' Agunimon groaned before he got back up on one knee. "Danny… Please… this isn't like you! You're not an evil ghost!" Agunimon pleaded.
Every time Danny attacked, Agunimon saw flashes of his time with his cousin Danny. The Danny he remembered, the Danny who was always with Andy, and how they always loved playing or hanging out with Takuya.
Freakshow noticed Danny having trouble keeping Agunimon down, so he held up his crystal ball. "What are you waiting for, minion? Say something that will really tear that Digimon apart!"
Danny shot another ghost ray at Agunimon, then he walked over to Agunimon before grabbing him by the arms and bringing the Digimon close to his face. Despite Agunimon being taller than Danny, Agunimon could see straight into Danny's blood red eyes.
"You say you care about me. Yet you hurt me. You burned me when I was trying to help you before. You almost took me to Dreammon and trapped me. You doubted I was really Danny and tried to kill me!" Danny listed off with venom in his tone. "You don't care about me at all! You just pretend that you do, when in reality, I'm nothing more than a ghost to you!"
Agunimon felt like his Digi-Core itself was penetrated by those words. To hear such venomous words from his own cousin pierced his chest like a knife. Something wet ran down his cheeks, making the Legendary Warrior realize he was crying. "Danny…" His voice could only croak out Danny's name weakly. He had never felt so hurt before, not even when he had found out Danny was half-ghost. This… it hurt even more than any physical wound.
Danny's fist glowed with ecto energy. "And you left for 6 years."
Danny punched through Agunimon's chest armor, cracking it. The ecto energy was going through the armor like acid.
Agunimon cried out in agony at the searing pain of the ecto-energy meeting his skin. On sheer instinct, he flared his fire, but it didn't do much good, because the ecto-energy was interfering with his abilities.
Suddenly, the pain stopped. There was a loud CLANG. Agunimon opened his eyes, and was shocked to see Andy had just hit Danny with his Fenton Rod, which is what sent Danny back from Agunimon.
"A-Andy…?" Agunimon rasped, his hand covering the hole in his chest armor.
"Agunimon… go help the others, I'll handle Danny," Andy said to Agunimon without looking back at him. I shouldn't have made him fight with Danny...
Agunimon nodded shakily before he made to get to his feet. He staggered a bit before he looked back at Andy one last time before turning to go and help the others.
"You came to help him?" Danny asked. "I shouldn't have assumed any less of one who thinks of me as a mere ghost."
"I didn't think of you as a 'mere' ghost, Danny," Andy stated. "But I did wonder how being half ghost would affect you in the long term. If anything, I was worried you'd turn into… this. A ghost boy who eventually let his ghost nature take over and become malicious."
"You were always afraid of me." Danny sneered back. "After all, you're just a mere human compared to a ghost like me."
Danny then launched at Andy, who yelped and was tackled down. Danny was about to punch Andy, but Andy managed to roll out of the way, and Danny's fist caused a rather large dent against steel, making Andy sweat. Unlike Agunimon, Andy was just a human, a hit like that could break several of his bones and organs.
Is Danny really willing to hurt me like that? Andy gulped as he managed to get back on his feet. Maybe… maybe Mom and Dad were right… maybe ghosts are naturally malicious...
"You can't hope to stand against me." Danny hissed as he made his way towards Andy slowly, holding up an ecto-energy covered fist as he did so.
Andy slowly backed away from his brother.
Meanwhile, Agunimon was stumbling to Jazz, Tucker, and Sam. He could see that Turuiemon and Gargomon didn't look so good. Jazz gasped in horror when she saw the gaping hole in Agunimon's chest armor.
"T- Agunimon! Are you okay!?" Jazz all but yelled.
"I… I'll be fine…" Agunimon replied, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. "We… can't worry about that right now. We have to… stop these ghosts." He looked back at the ghosts as he said this.
"It's… not the ghosts we need to worry about right now…" Tucker frowned.
BlackGatomon was staring back at Sam and Agunimon. "If any of you can still fight, then step up and fight."
Agunimon wasn't sure if he could fight, but he had to do something. He stood up straight and faced BlackGatomon, the very same Digimon that used to be Ophanimon, the same Digimon who had called him and his friends to the Digital World when she needed help. He knew she was corrupted, but he hoped he could reason with her as well.
As soon as Agunimon stepped forward, BlackGatomon moved quickly. She was in front of him before she flipped around, letting her tail slap Agunimon's face. "Cat Tail!"
Agunimon felt the sting of the Cat Tail attack, but thankfully, he was at the same level as her, or the equivalent anyway. He looked back before he let loose with a kick to BlackGatomon's form.
BlackGatomon was small and quick, she managed to dodge Agunimon's kick. Then she released a kick of her own at his already abused chest. "Lightning Kick!"
Agunimon cried out at the pain as the kick made contact. He stumbled back, panting as he covered the hole in his chest armor with his hand. Damn it….
Sam ran in front of Agunimon before BlackGatomon could do anything else. "Please, stop! That's enough, don't hurt him anymore!"
"There is no stopping," BlackGatomon said coldly. "You either face me or Myotismon. Either way, the dark entity commands your deaths."
"Dark… entity?" Sam frowned in confusion. Does she mean Freakshow?
"Ugh!" Andy fell to the floor of the roof again. Danny was too fast to block.
Danny sneered as he looked at his twin brother. "How does it feel to be beaten by your superior sibling?"
Andy's grip on his Fenton Rod tightened as he remembered all those times Danny comforted him, about their future, about Danny being half ghost, about how they worked together. They may no longer both be human, but that didn't mean Danny was any less of his brother for it. Andy also gripped onto his D-Arc.
Andy slowly pushed himself back onto his feet, facing his brother once more. "Danny… I'm… I'm sorry, for making you feel like you had to walk eggshells around me… for making you feel like you had to earn my trust just for being half ghost."
"You would say that, wouldn't you? You only pretended to care. After all, I am just a ghost." Danny hissed, sounding even more malicious than before. "Even Patamon ran off. What Digimon cares about a ghost?"
Andy squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "No… you're not just a ghost. You're also human. You also care about me, about Takuya, Jazz, Tucker, and Sam, Patamon too… all of us. This crystal ball isn't going to change that. And we want to show that we care for you too, Danny."
The D-Arc in Andy's hands started to glow. The D-Arc hidden in Danny's hazmat suit's pocket started to glow as well.
Dorumon and Tokomon could see what was happening through their link with their partners, they knew they needed to hurry. Agunimon was beaten down, Lopmon and Terriermon were out for the count. There was a dangerous Ultimate level Digimon, and Danny was going to kill Andy at this rate.
"What can I do!? How can I snap Danny out of this horrible spell?" Tokomon cried.
"You just have to try!" Dorumon said sternly. "I know you can do it. You just have to remind him of who he is, what he fights for, why he fights against the ghosts that come to Amity Park."
"What if it's not enough?" Tokomon frowned. "What if he attacks us anyways?"
Dorumon looked down, not sure what to say. He had to think of a plan. Then one came to him. "Even if he attacks us, at least keep trying. If Danny attacks us, fight back, but only in defense."
Tokomon looked up. He remembered when he first saw Danny when he came to the college reunion. Danny was a sweet kid, full of hope and potential. He was like the opposite of Vlad, someone who was very bitter, and hard to get along with. When Tokomon finally joined with Danny, becoming his partner, it felt like every burden that had been on him was lifted. Danny saved Tokomon from himself. Now it was Tokomon's turn to repay the favor.
Tokomon stood up from Dorumon's back. "I still don't know what I can do, but I know I've got to try."
Tokomon jumped off of Dorumon's back as his body glowed and fractal code surrounded him. "Patamon help me fly!"
Now as Patamon again, he began to fly as quickly as he could. Dorumon began to flap his own little wings to fly as well.
Dorumon looked on with pride at Patamon. "You can do this, Patamon. I know you will."
"Let's just hope it's not too late!" Patamon called back, his green eyes now full of determination.
Titanic X: ZAFT: You will have to just wait a bit. ;3
Dp-Marvel94: DarkFoxKit: I may have had some crazy ideas I wanted to use, and giving Andy a fever dream to use it was pretty much the only way we could've realistically put it into the story. Though you're not wrong with your guess.
ZAFT: But it was kinda fun to do the fever dream. XD.
GhostHex: DarkFoxKit: Rebelliousness can cause misbehaviors.
ZAFT: Hehehe~ Naughty Digimon and children await indeed~ X3