Digital Phantom

by ZAFT Convoy

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

23. Damage Control

ZAFT: I wonder where Andy is hiding…

Takuya: No clue, but he may be hiding with Dorimon.

DarkFoxKit: Why would Andy be hiding? … Did you two do something to him?

Takuya: *Sweats a bit* Um… no?"

ZAFT: No, I didn't… But Takuya may have, based on his reaction.

DarkFoxKit: Takuya… what did you do to my boy?

Takuya: Hey! I just put Bearbert in his room! I didn't know he would freak out like that!

DarkFoxKit: Oh boy… I better go find Andy before he decides to burn his room down with a flamethrower.

Takuya: I'm sorry! It was just a prank!

DarkFoxKit: You're the Warrior of Fire, go make sure Andy doesn't blow up his room.

Takuya: Fine… *Grumbles as he leaves*

Andy: *Passes by with a lit up lighter* That Bearbert won't be bothering anyone anymore ever again~

ZAFT: Um… Okay…? I think I need to keep a tighter leash on Takuya…

DarkFoxKit: *Sigh* I'm going to go get the fire extinguisher. Meanwhile, you get everyone onto the chapter.

ZAFT: Okay.

---

Chapter 23: Damage Control

Danny was getting quite tired as he had been overshadowing every student, and Mr. Lancer, in the gym. Because it was night, the other school staff didn't witness this, so Danny was thankful he didn't have to overshadow them as well. The ghost boy remembered why he was doing this in the first place.

"Can you erase or block someone's memories? Or implant thoughts into their heads when you overshadow their bodies?" Andy had asked Danny.

Danny had flinched from the question. "Yeah… But I don't like to do that. It feels wrong when I do."

"It is wrong," Jazz had agreed. "You shouldn't manipulate people like that."

"Well, it may be morally wrong, but we need it now. Unless you want everyone here to suffer from PTSD from getting their souls pulled out, watching their fellow students 'die' right in front of them, need years of therapy that may be too expensive for their parents, and poor Mr. Lancer may end up in the nuthouse after all this. Which do you think is kinder right now?" Andy had pointed out.

Danny had sighed. "You do have a point there, bro."

"I don't like it… but I also can't argue with you there, Andy," Jazz had groaned.

"Don't worry, you're doing this for their own good, I'm sure whatever higher up beings you believe in will understand," Turuiemon had reassured.

Dorugamon had frowned but agreed as well. "As long as it's only for this reason only…"

"I trust Danny will only block their memories of this event, or if you can't do that, at least implant the idea it was only a dream and to never mention it to anyone," Andy had stated.

Dorugamon had agreed with that statement with a nod of his head. "And I believe you have a Legendary Warrior to worry about now."

"And what about all those eggs?" Jazz had questioned.

"You and I will have to clean up the eggs, Jazz. We can convert the eggs into data, and bring them into our D-Arc until we can get in contact with a Trailmon to put all the eggs on board, and bring them back to the Digital World," Andy had explained.

Jazz had blinked but nodded. "Sounds easy enough." But then she had realized there were a lot of eggs. "Or not…"

"Yeah… well, after Danny overshadows everyone, and we clean up all the eggs, Dorugamon can take Agunimon… somewhere safe and hidden. We do need to convince Mr. Lancer to have everyone go home or call their parents before we leave though, and make sure Danny's overshadowing worked," Andy had informed. "After that, then we can all go home. Any questions?"

Jazz had shaken her head, along with Danny and the two Digimon.

"Then let's get to work," Andy had announced.

That was over an hour ago. Danny had already been exhausted from the battle, especially with having both Phantomon and Spectra draining him earlier, but he was determined to make sure everyone thought it was a dream and to never mention it and forget about it. Danny had no idea how to block memories that were already there, so he did the next best thing and implanted the dream thought as Andy requested. Each individual he overshadowed, and left would fall unconscious to the ground, so that would give them time to rest and plan out their speech later when they woke up, and give merit to the 'it was a dream' thought.

Meanwhile, Andy and Jazz were converting over 50 or so eggs into their D-Arc, they were surprised at how many their D-Arcs could hold. Dorugamon and Turuiemon were looking at Agunimon, assessing his wounds.

"Wow! Who knew we could hold so many eggs in these things?" Jazz remarked as she loaded her 20th egg into her D-Arc.

"Yeah, I guess the D-Arcs have a really large storage despite their small sizes," Andy chuckled as he just loaded his 25th egg. "How are you holding up over there, Danny?"

"Fine…" Danny panted. "But this is exhausting! Do you know how many students I have had to overshadow right now?"

"How many?" Andy asked as Jazz loaded another egg.

"At least 50!" Danny groaned before he landed. "I don't think I can do any more…"

Andy looked over at the rest of the students. There were about 6 more and Mr. Lancer who were still watching in silence.

"I'd like to know what is going on. Why are two of my students in contact with these… monsters? And why are they talking with a ghost? Aren't ghosts evil?" Mr. Lancer asked.

Danny saw where Andy was looking and groaned. "Fine… I will see if I can handle the remainder…"

Andy gave a thoughtful look as he watched his exhausted brother flying into Mr. Lancer next. I wonder if there's a way to revitalize a ghost when they're feeling low on energy… I'm going to have to try some tests… but how? I wouldn't want to put my brother in danger with these tests… maybe Mom and Dad might be able to help with something.

Jazz then noticed Andy was thinking. "Andy? You're thinking again…" She knew her brother well enough to know his mannerisms when he was in a thinking mood.

"What? Is that a bad thing? You're the one who's always going on about how using one's brain is good for them," Andy pointed out.

"That's true." Jazz admitted. "But I've never seen you this deep in thought before. I just finished loading up my last egg and couldn't get your attention."

"Ah… sorry Jazz, I was just thinking of a way to help our brother when he's low on energy, he's used up quite a bit with the overshadowing, not to mentioned he got drained a few times during battle… honestly it's a miracle he's still conscious right now, let alone in ghost form," Andy admitted. "Oh… did he tell you about his identity yet?"

Jazz sighed before she smiled. "He did. And I can't say how proud I am of him enough." She then rubbed Andy's hair with a hand. "It was a good thing Danny listened to you about telling me about his identity, considering you're younger by 2 hours~" It was of course all in good teasing.

"Heh, well, considering how everyone confides to me about their secret, I just felt that it would be best if Danny came clean about his identity to you. I didn't want to have to keep it hidden from him that you knew, and one day I might accidentally slip up. I… really don't want our family keeping secrets from each other either," Andy admitted before he looked over at Agunimon for a second. "I know how secrets can push people you care about away."

Jazz followed Andy's line of sight to the unconscious Warrior of Flame and frowned to herself. Why was Andy looking at him like that?

"I'm also glad I don't have to keep Dorimon a secret from you anymore. You had me worried with how crazy you were being before," Andy remarked.

"Yeah… I guess I was being a bit too paranoid and overprotective," Jazz admitted.

"But it did surprise me when I saw you had a D-Arc of your own. Did you and Lopmon choose each other?" Andy asked.

Jazz looked at Andy. "Yeah, we kind of did. I wasn't about to let you fight that Phantomon alone with Danny and Dorimon."

Andy smirked. "Heh, so it would seem that getting partner Digimon is a choice rather than destiny. Which means… it's possible more people could have Digimon partners in the future." And… even people like Vlad...

Jazz smiled a bit. "I guess it does." She then looked over at where Agunimon was. "I think we should go and see if he is alright."

"Yeah. Danny should be done soon, and… if he passes out, one of us will have to take him home," Andy stated.

Jazz gave a nod. "Good idea." She then turned and made her way to where Agunimon lay on the ground. As she got closer, she could see where there was blood on the wall and from the Digimon's head. "That… doesn't look good…"

Andy walked over as well. "Dorugamon, can you tell what kind of damages he has?"

"He's got a nasty blow to the head, his hair and helmet saved him from brain damage though, but he likely has a minor concussion," Dorugamon analyzed. "It also appears he was struck hard on the back from where that Soulmon penetrated through his armor, as I can smell some slight blood from that area as well. His Digi-Core is stable though, so he'll be able to recover after a good night sleep once he… uh… degenerates to a weaker form."

"Digi-Core?" Andy asked, his first time hearing about that.

"It's kind of like a Digimon's version of a soul, it goes in deeper than the fractal code. You can scan and eat fractal codes, and the Digimon would just revert back to an egg and start their life over. But if their Digi-Core is damaged or taken, then that Digimon is destroyed or messed up for good," Dorugamon explained.

"I am surprised you can sense Digi-Cores, not many Digimon have the ability to," Turuiemon acknowledged.

"I'm not really sure why myself, I guess it's just something my species can do," Dorugamon replied, giving a shrug.

Just then, a slight groan came from Agunimon as he finally began to regain consciousness.

"Ah, he's waking up," Jazz noticed.

As Agunimon's eyes began to focus, he could see two of his cousins looking at him in concern, as well as two bigger Digimon that looked familiar standing behind them.

"Hey… Agunimon… how are you feeling?" Andy asked gently.

"My head hurts…" Agunimon admitted as he rolled over onto his back, wincing as he did so.

"Careful, you may have a minor concussion," Andy warned. "You hit your head pretty hard, hard enough to cause some blood to leak out."

Agunimon raised a hand to his head, feeling that was indeed the case, as his fingers felt the red liquid that gave life. He pulled his hand away, not that surprised to see it covered in blood somewhat. "That would explain it then…"

"Dorugamon can take you somewhere safe to recover," Andy offered. "He digivolved from Dorumon during the battle. Oh, don't worry, we defeated all the Soulmon and retrieved their eggs, so all that's left is just cleaning up the damages."

Agunimon hadn't even noticed the Soulmon were gone until Andy mentioned it, most likely due to the fact he had indeed sustained a minor concussion. "Good." He made to stand up, but dizziness enveloped his senses and he almost fell back down.

Dorugamon caught him with his back. Agunimon, for a moment, remembered DexDorugamon, and was a little worried about Dorugamon suddenly attacking him, but Dorugamon just gently helped him get on his back, and he didn't have any of those weird cybernetic parts on his body.

"I'll take him somewhere safe," Dorugamon promised as he looked at Andy and Jazz. "I'll meet you back home later, okay?"

"Okay, but…" Andy looked at Dorugamon. "Try to stay hidden until I get home, you are pretty big right now."

Dorugamon nodded. "I think I will manage… Somehow…"

With that said, Dorugamon made sure Agunimon was secured on his back before he began to fly out through one of the gym's windows. Thankfully the gym's windows were big enough to let a dragon fox fly out.

"Ugh…" Andy and Jazz heard a thud before a white flash.

Both of them turned around, seeing Danny Fenton lying tiredly on the floor. Both siblings rushed to their brother in worry. Turuiemon jumped over and checked Danny himself.

"It's okay, he had merely exhausted himself," Turuiemon assured.

Jazz sighed with relief. "Good… I don't want to have another person get hurt…"

"It looks like he was able to get everyone," Andy acknowledged, seeing how everyone, including Mr. Lancer, were unconscious right now.

It was then Jazz suddenly remembered Takuya. "Oh no! Takuya!"

"Easy Jazz… it's fine, Takuya's fine," Andy quickly reassured. "Look, why don't you take Danny home? Someone has to stay here to make sure Danny's overshadowing worked, and that everyone gets home safely."

Jazz frowned, but nodded. "Okay… And if you see Takuya, tell him to come home. I don't know if he got out or not."

Andy nodded. "I will, you just focus on getting Danny and yourself home. Turuiemon, I count that you'll keep them safe, won't you?"

Turuiemon nodded. "I will."

Jazz then turned and made her way over to where Danny was, picking him up so she was holding him in her arms. "He's… surprisingly really light… either he's not eating much, or it comes with being half ghost. Let's go. Mom and Dad will panic if I don't get Danny home." She made sure to direct that last comment towards her partner Digimon.

Turuiemon smiled. "Heh, don't worry."

Turuiemon folded in the metal spikes on his hands before he picked Jazz and Danny up with ease. "I'll get you two home quickly and safely."

Jazz smiled at Turuiemon. "Thanks."

The trio left, leaving Andy behind to deal with the students and Mr. Lancer.

Not long after Turuiemon left, the doors opened. Andy blinked when he saw Koji and Koichi rushing into the gym.

"What happened here?" Koichi asked, seeing the stage where Jazz had been speaking as a smoking mess, and all the students and Mr. Lancer lying unconscious on the floor.

"Is that blood on the wall?" Koji frowned, seeing Agunimon's blood on the wall.

"Hey, you guys missed all the fun," Andy called out.

The twins looked back at Andy.

"Can you tell us what happened here?" Koji asked as he folded his arms.

"Well, a lot of Soulmon, like 50 or so, attacked, they put up some kind of soundproof barrier around the gym so nobody could escape or call for help, then they knocked Agunimon out by slamming him into the wall really hard, may have caused a minor concussion, then they fused, becoming this really big Phantomon. Danny Phantom somehow found us and made a hole in the barrier to come in and help. Two Digimon who were helping us digivolved into their Champion forms to fight back as well. Long story short, we defeated Phantomon and scanned its and the Soulmon's data," Andy summarized.

Koji blinked, as if stunned. "W-what?"

"I did also ask Danny Phantom a favor, to overshadow everyone here and make them believe everything they saw was a dream and not to mention it, that way rumors won't spread," Andy added. "So that's why they're unconscious right now."

Koichi blinked as well. "I… Okay, I think Takuya was right then, Koji. Maybe we should have come here first…"

Koji gave a huff. "How was I supposed to know the skittish kid was right in his assumption?"

"Skittish kid can hear you," Andy grumbled.

Koichi just gave a nervous chuckle. "Okay… I think he gets it, Koji."

Andy gave a sigh. "I know I didn't give the best first impression when the Soulmon attacked the hallway earlier this week, but I let what a malicious ghost said get to me, so I lost a lot of confidence in myself. I know I'm not the strongest person ever, and I can't turn into a Digimon, but I do have my own uses. I always try to watch out for anything that seems suspicious, and I try to theorize what could happen before testing it out to prove or disprove it. I am able to manipulate Dorumon's iron balls a little with re-writing its code and data, so I could make his iron balls into a grenade, or a deadly liquified acid. We may not be the strongest, but we can get pretty creative."

Koji frowned, but from what he was hearing, he decided to give the kid a chance. "Hn. Make sure it doesn't happen again. If what you say is true, that is impressive and could come in handy for us."

"Oh, no, I'm just one of those people who lie and exaggerate things to sound impressive and strong," Andy nonchalantly said, before giving a mischievous smirk at Koji. "Or am I?"

Koji blinked, unsure of what to make of that, and his disbelief was showing on his face. "Was that a lie… or no…" He then sighed. "Great… I don't know if this kid is lying or not!"

Koichi couldn't help but laugh at this, he didn't expect Andy to mess with his brother like that. "I guess we'll see eventually if he's lying or not, Koji. After all, action speaks louder than words, right?"

Koji grumbled. "Yeah yeah… whatever…"

"By the way, why are you still here? Shouldn't you be heading home? No offense, but you do look like a mess, and exhausted," Koichi pointed out.

Andy looked down at himself, seeing his clothes were a bit torn up, likely from the claws the Soulmon used to grab him, and almost getting cut by Phantomon's scythe earlier, his hair was a mess as well. Andy couldn't see it, but he did have some bags under his eyes due to not being able to sleep as well throughout the week, his sleep had mostly been restless, especially last night after discussing his theory on Spectra to his brother, and then trying to convince said brother to tell Jazz about his ghost powers.

"I can't go home yet, not until I see that everyone wakes up, and gets home safely," Andy answered. "I also want to make sure Danny Phantom managed to successfully implant the 'it was a dream' thought as well."

Koichi nodded. "I see. Well, we'll see you later in that case."

"That's it? We're just going to leave?" Koji asked. "After all that time spent looking for those Soulmon?"

"Well, if you want, you could get in contact with a Trailmon so Jazz and I could release their eggs on it," Andy suggested.

Koji blinked when he looked at Andy. "Wait… what did you say?"

"Um…" Andy paused for a moment before remembering he hadn't mentioned Jazz having a partner Digimon to them yet. "Right… well, Jazz now has a partner Digimon, and she helped out in that battle."

Koichi blinked. "Really? Who is her partner Digimon?"

Andy hesitated. "I'm not sure if they would want me to tell you."

Koji frowned at that. "I see…" He didn't like not knowing who this new Digimon partner was, but if it was Andy's decision, he would respect it, after all when he didn't listen to Andy last time, he and Koichi completely missed the battle.

"You can talk to Jazz about them though if you really want to know," Andy offered. "Anyways, you two go ahead and head on home. I'm just going to finish up here."

Koji nodded. "Okay." He turned and walked off, Koichi following him, but not before the Warrior of Darkness gave Andy a friendly wave good-bye who returned it with his own wave.

---

Takuya woke up in his very comfortable bed, the morning sun's rays were coming through his blinds, which was what woke him up. He had a bit of a headache though, and he didn't want to get up from his cozy bed.

He groaned as he sat up, feeling like his back was aching slightly too. "Ugh…" His hand was on his head as he rubbed it. "That was a hard blow…"

Takuya remembered Dorugamon dropping him off at the front doorsteps of Fenton Works. He didn't remember how exactly, but Dorugamon used his claws to tap something on his chest, and he had reverted back to human. Then Dorugamon used his nose to ring the doorbell before he quickly flew away. Maddie answered the door and gasped when she saw an unconscious Takuya on her doorsteps.

Takuya managed to get out of bed, his head spinning a bit before the dizzy spell faded. Okay… I think that battle really did a number on me...

Takuya sat back down on his bed in fear of falling back down due to how dizzy he felt. He laid his head back down on the pillow and tried to think, to remember what happened exactly last night. He knew that Maddie and Jack likely took him into his room, despite the injuries he had as Agunimon, it thankfully didn't transfer to his human form, so he likely didn't have any physical injuries, but his head was still killing him.

Takuya also thought back to the battle with the Soulmon in the gym and how he got knocked out. He remembered acting rash when he saw one of the Soulmon pulling something out of Andy.

What was that I saw being pulled out of Andy? Was that Phantom? Or was it something else? Takuya wondered to himself.

From what Takuya could tell, it certainly looked like Phantom, he had the same white hair, the same face and facial structure, and a very similar feel to Phantom. The only noticeable difference he could make out was the fact that the Phantom kid wasn't wearing anything, and his eyes were purple, though his eyes were half closed when he was being pulled out of Andy's body, so Takuya couldn't be too sure about the eye color, or it could've looked purple due to the Dark Claw that was gripping the ghost kid's neck.

It was so similar to Phantom, the feeling I was getting, and yet… I can't tell if that is Phantom or not because it looked so weak… Takuya mused as he recalled how weak the entity being pulled from Andy's chest looked. Should I talk to Andy about this?

After another moment of thinking, Takuya shook his head. No… that would just freak him out. Andy likely doesn't know about this himself, and considering how heavily focused and worried he was about Phantom living in his brother… Yeah, no, I really can't tell him.

Having made up his mind, Takuya sat up again, feeling a bit better and no longer as dizzy. But maybe I can talk to Jazz about it. I think it would be best, since she likes the psychological aspect of the brain. She may not be a tactician like Andy, but she's the next best thing. Oh… but would she believe me? Sure she may believe in Digimon and ghosts now, but… she doesn't know about one of her brothers being Phantom's host, does she?

Takuya groaned, now feeling a headache for a different reason. He hated it when he didn't know what to do or who to turn to. He was worried for both of his cousins now, and he wasn't sure if he could talk to Jazz about it yet.

Wait… Takuya then perked up as he recalled something he had seen when he had regained consciousness. Didn't Andy and Jazz have Champion level Digimon behind them? How is that possible? I know Andy had Dorumon evolve, but who was that last one?

Takuya remembered it looked like a rabbit Digimon, the face kind of reminded him of Lopmon. Was that… Lopmon's Champion form? It certainly had some similar features as Lopmon...

Realizing that just thinking about it wouldn't give him any answers, Takuya decided it was time to get out of his room and talk to his cousins.

Standing up, Takuya was glad when his head didn't give a stab of pain, nor was there any dizziness. He carefully made his way to the door, making sure he didn't feel any dizziness before taking another step each time. He didn't want to fall down again.

When Takuya managed to open his door, he was surprised to see Lopmon himself carrying a tray of food with his ears. Lopmon stopped and looked at Takuya, very surprised.

Takuya's surprise on his face certainly made it look like he was seeing a Digimon aside from Dorimon for the first time. "Um…"

Lopmon looked like he was going to bolt for a moment, but he swallowed down his fear before he spoke up. "Um… I… didn't expect you to wake up so soon."

"I… didn't expect to either…" Takuya replied, still unsure of what to make of this. Way to go, Takuya! You're sounding like an idiot right now...

"... You had… quite a nasty blow to the head, we didn't expect you to wake up until tonight at the least," Lopmon added. "Danny still hasn't woken up yet. I was just taking breakfast to your room by Jazz's request in case you woke up and felt hungry."

Takuya's stomach growled at that point, making him blush. "Um… Thanks. I guess I am a bit hungry…" 'A bit' is more of an understatement...

"Well, here, I suppose this was better than just leaving it in front of your door," Lopmon remarked, carefully lifting up the tray of food with his ears.

"Thanks." Takuya said as he took the tray. "I'll be sure to thank Jazz later."

"She's in her room right now, her body is sore from last night's… event, so she's taking time to recover today. Danny is still asleep," Lopmon listed.

Takuya noticed that Lopmon hadn't said anything about Andy or Dorimon. "What about Andy and his Digimon partner? Are they doing okay?" At least, I hope they are...

"They're… well, I hadn't seen them since last night since after I got Jazz and Danny home, I degenerated and fell asleep pretty quickly. When I woke up in the morning, I didn't see either of them," Lopmon admitted.

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "I see… I will see if I can find them… After I eat of course…" He felt his stomach growling again.

"Okay, well… enjoy your morning," Lopmon said. "It's currently 10:24 AM."

With that said, Lopmon walked away, heading towards Jazz's door.

Takuya entered his room and shut the door before sitting down on the bed to eat the breakfast he was brought. Maybe some food will help me get my thoughts in order...

---

Meanwhile, at the outskirts of Amity Park…

Andy was wearing his practice hazmat suit, it was just him and Dorugamon. Andy was riding on Dorugamon's back while Dorugamon was costing in the air, not too far from the ground, he was just flying a little above the trees.

"Okay buddy, we're going to take this nice and slow," Andy said to Dorugamon. "If we're to work together while you're in your Champion form, I need to be able to get used to riding on you."

Dorugamon chuckled. "Then let's see how you handle my flying~"

Andy looked around for a moment, seeing how they were starting to head towards the pier. There weren't a lot of people around at this time.

"Okay, fly up more, then we'll try diving down," Andy instructed.

Dorugamon began to fly higher, but still went slow since this was Andy's first time riding on him, and his first time flying. After getting decently high, Dorugamon started to coast again. "You ready, Andy?"

Andy looked back for a moment, seeing Dorugamon's tail being blown back by the wind, Andy's own hair was getting blown as well. "Okay, here we go… let's do it, Dorugamon."

Dorugamon began to move down, pulling back the front of his wings, but he made sure to keep some parts of his wings open so he wouldn't go too fast. Andy was holding onto his furry back. As Dorugamon got close to the large body of water, Dorugamon opened up his wings to glide, moving around more, letting the tip of his wing touch the water.

Andy looked up as they were passing under a rock formation. "Wow… this is amazing. I can see why Danny loves flying so much in his ghost form."

Dorugamon looked back and chuckled again. "It sure is. Believe me, it gets even more amazing if you can fly yourself." He then turned and flew in a spiral up towards the sky.

Andy yelped as he held on tightly to Dorugamon's fur, not wanting to fall off. He remembered riding on Takuya when he was BurningGreymon in the Ghost Zone, but flying around in a strange world where everything was floating was different from being able to fly on Earth, where gravity was stable, and non-flying creatures were always grounded. The view in the sky was amazing, the city looked small yet big, Andy could see the cars moving on the streets, and how tall yet short the buildings were. Dorugamon flew up higher and higher, starting to get past the clouds. Andy began to feel a little more confident.

"This truly is amazing! I never thought I'd get this close to the clouds!" Andy smiled, his eyes twinkling with excitement and wonder.

"Reach up and touch one~" Dorugamon sang. "You could then claim to be the first human to actually touch a cloud."

Andy reached out to touch one of the clouds. "Cold and wet… heh, guess I should've expected that since clouds are made of water, but still… that's amazing! I wonder if Danny touched a cloud when he flew up here."

However, Andy hadn't been holding on tight enough since he got a little carried away with touching the clouds, the gravity began to set in when Dorugamon was flying higher in a more vertical way, and Andy began to fall.

"Dorugamon! I'm falling!" Andy shouted in alarm when he found himself getting further away from Dorugamon and closer towards Amity Park below.

Dorugamon felt something fall off and Andy's weight vanished, making him look down. Seeing Andy falling, he flew back down and underneath his partner, catching Andy on his back between his wings.

"Sorry about that! You okay?" Dorugamon asked, worried that he might have shaken up his partner.

"Yeah, that was… really exhilarating," Andy answered, a little shaken up, but none worse for wear. "We'll probably need a better way to signal each other in case I fall off of you or get blown off of you by an attack."

Dorugamon nodded. "Yeah, we probably will." He then turned and flew back towards Amity Park, keeping his distance above the clouds though.

"Okay, now let's work on attacks next. Try to aim for that rock formation," Andy instructed, pointing at a rock formation that was in the middle of the water, so nobody would see or care about what would happen to it.

"Alright," Dorugamon began to fly towards the rock formation. "Cannonball!"

Like a real cannonball being shot from a cannon, the iron ball moved fast through the air, and pretty much destroyed the small rock formation. Seeing this, the two of them kept going, looking for more rock formations to hit, that is until Dorugamon got a little too close to the water, and there was a lot of rock formations ahead of them.

"... Time to work on your agility!" Andy yelped before he moved Dorugamon's back a little, as if he was guiding him which direction to go.

Dorugamon felt Andy leaning on him and moved in that direction, keeping his course on target. Somehow, Dorugamon managed to zigzag, flip, spiral, and avoid every rock formation that was in their way, there were quite a few tight squeezes, but they somehow made it through and into the open waters.

"YEAH! Did you see that!? That was awesome!" Andy cheered.

Dorugamon chuckled. "It sure was!"

Andy looked up at the sun for a moment. "I guess we should head back now, Danny and Takuya might wake up soon."

Dorugamon nodded. "Good idea. I am wondering how they are doing myself." He then turned back towards Amity Park and Fenton Works, making sure his flight path was on target.

---

With Jazz in her room with Lopmon taking care of her, Danny still sleeping, and Andy and Dorumon nowhere in the house, Takuya felt that the morning was a bit too quiet and lonely. His aunt and uncle were currently working on something in the lab, so he was just sitting alone at the kitchen table, munching on some cereal.

Takuya was thinking about what he had seen with Andy and that 'Phantom' that had come from his chest during the attack. I know I shouldn't be worrying about this so much, and Jazz would say it is not healthy for me, but I can't help but keep thinking about that… thing I saw that was pulled from Andy. Why did he have that? And was it really Phantom?

The Soulmon were pulling out the other students' souls, so Takuya wondered if it was possible that what Soulmon pulled was Andy's soul, or ghost, or… perhaps, there is another Phantom that they didn't know about. When Danny got caught up in the portal accident, that Phantom kid formed inside him. Andy may not have been directly caught up into it, but Andy did admit being mentally affected by it. When Poindexter did something to Danny, Andy felt it too. Is it possible that another Phantom formed in Andy during the accident, but it wasn't fully formed due to Andy not being exposed to the power and ectoplasm in the portal…? That would explain why that other Phantom looked so weak when it was being pulled out of Andy's body.

However, Takuya also felt like he was missing something to this puzzle. But even if he was missing something vital, his own theory did make sense too in a way; no matter now Takuya looked at it, it seemed more likely that a ghost had formed inside Andy and was now resting there, waiting to gain its own strength.

And that made Takuya worried. He still didn't know what Danny's relationship was with Phantom, and he didn't know what would happen to Andy if the Phantom inside him begins to gain its own strength. Takuya also wondered if the Phantom in Andy would be leeching off of his energy or emotions or whatever it was Andy said ghosts ate in order to get stronger.

I wonder if I can do something to get that 'Phantom' out of Andy… Takuya mused as he continued to munch on his cereal. Of course, it would have to be more discreet… And I'm not the best at that… Maybe I could try the Fenton Ghost Catcher, Andy did tell me that was how Danny got Tucker out of him when he was possessing Andy at the time. Andy didn't want to try it on Danny, because we were worried that Phantom and Danny were too closely connected that removing Phantom now could kill them both… but perhaps it's not too late to try to get the Phantom out of Andy since they're not as connected yet.

The living room's door suddenly opened. "I'm home! … If anyone's awake yet!"

Takuya perked up when he heard the voice and turned to face Andy's location. That's Andy! "Andy! Where were you?!"

Dorugamon was back to his little In-Training form, and was relaxing on top of Andy's head, it almost amazed Takuya how that little Dorimon could turn into a big fox dragon, and back to that tiny form.

"Ah, sorry if I worried you, Takuya. I didn't think you'd wake up so soon," Andy chuckled sheepishly as he took his shoes off. "Dorimon and I just went out for a test flight."

"Wait… You went flying with Dorugamon?!" Takuya gaped. Is the Phantom inside Andy taking over quicker than I thought?!

Andy raised an eyebrow. "No, we took the bus, of course I went flying with Dorugamon. Okay, maybe it was pretty dangerous to try that without you there as BurningGreymon in case something went wrong, but we didn't want to wake you up since you needed your sleep."

"You're letting Phantom take you over?!" Takuya exclaimed. Crap, crap, crap! This is worse than I thought!

At that, Andy and Dorimon started at Takuya in confusion.

"What? What the heck are you talking about? Phantom wasn't even with us," Andy replied, confusion written all over his face.

"I didn't sense him nearby either," Dorimon agreed, sounding just as confused. "Where did you get the idea Phantom was 'taking over'?"

"Uh…." Takuya blushed as he realized he had probably sounded crazy there, his face hot from his blush. "Um… never mind…"

Andy frowned a little before he walked over to Takuya and sat down next to him on the kitchen table. "Are you worried about Phantom trying to possess me or something? When I said I was flying with Dorugamon, I meant I was riding on him, not actually flying myself, I mean… I thought that was obvious, clearly I should've been more specific though."

Takuya went even redder. "Um… Yeah. I was kinda worried about that…" Aw man! Way to make yourself seem insane Takuya!

Andy and Dorimon couldn't help but chuckle at how red the Warrior of Flame was at the moment.

"I understand that you're worried about me getting overshadowed again though, I should try to find a way to resist a ghost's control if one tries that again," Andy remarked. I wonder if Danny could help me out with that… maybe I could convince him to try to overshadow me so I could have a better idea on how to mentally defend myself.

"Ah… So, did you have a good time flying with Dorugamon?" Takuya asked, trying to change the subject here away from his outburst from earlier.

"Oh yeah, it was fun! It was my first time seeing what it was like to fly!" Andy smiled as his eyes sparkled with wonder. "I got to see past the clouds, I even got to touch a cloud! Did you know they're cold and wet? We even flew near the water, and dodged a lot of rock formations."

"I even got to destroy a few rocks with my Cannonball~" Dorimon smirked.

Takuya smiled despite his embarrassment from earlier. "Sounds like I missed something awesome."

"Well, you missed my reactions, but you could fly as BurningGreymon, right? You ever tried flying higher than the clouds before?" Andy asked.

"I never really tried flying above the clouds before." Takuya admitted. "Although that was because I was more involved with fighting at the time…"

"Then perhaps we should take a flight one day, just for the heck of it," Andy suggested. "Flying's no fun if you're focused on battling after all. I also rode on Dorugamon so I could get used to it, he's likely going to be flying a lot in battle, and I didn't want to be left behind on the ground."

Takuya had to admit, that was a good reason. "That's true…"

"By the way… where is everyone else? They still asleep?" Andy asked when he noticed how empty the house appeared to be.

"Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack are working in the lab on some new invention, Jazz is upstairs with her Digimon partner, and Danny is still asleep." Takuya listed off.

"Okay… seems it's just cold cereal for breakfast then, Dorimon," Andy remarked as he stood up from his chair to get a box of sugary cereal.

"You have any good metal stuff I could eat?" Dorimon asked.

"You ate our last metal spoon, I just hope we still have some plastic ones," Andy pointed out.

Takuya groaned. "And you had better not eat my bowl…"

"Why would I want your bowl?" Dorimon made a disgusted face. "It's made of plastic."

"You eat metal." Takuya pointed out. "I've seen Digimon eat just about anything."

"That mostly depends on their type and species," Dorimon replied. "If you were Agunimon or BurningGreymon, you could eat actual fire. I don't nor can I eat fire."

"Um… Okay… Anyway, I wonder how everyone is doing after Spectra's defeat." Takuya muttered, trying to keep the topic on something sensible.

Andy was actually thinking about Takuya eating fire for a moment, before hearing the question. "They should be fine. After Phantom implanted the thought of everything they saw as just a dream, and to never mention it again, everyone seemed to be okay. Whatever Spectra did just seemed to have vanished, they looked much healthier, enough to complain that they wanted to go home, and didn't know why they were 'sleeping' on the gym's floor. Mr. Lancer did seem pretty suspicious though, I guess trying to change an adult's mind while you're low on energy wouldn't be very easy. I did tell Mr. Lancer to make sure everyone called their parents and that they would get home safely."

"That's good to hear." Takuya said with obvious relief in his voice. "I was concerned that someone would try to report what they saw."

"Yeah, we're getting lucky so far, but one of these days something is going to happen that we wouldn't be able to cover up so easily," Andy sighed before he poured his cereal into a plastic bowl. "Perhaps we should try to work on some battle tactics as well. The whole thing with Spectra really messed up our teamwork, and you got hurt in the process."

Takuya grimaced as he felt his head aching slightly. "Yeah… That was not fun. We probably should work on teamwork more…"

Andy poured some milk into his cereal, and managed to dig out a plastic fork before he walked over to the table and set his bowl of cereal down.

"Um… Andy, that's a fork," Takuya pointed out.

"I know. We're out of spoons. This is better than eating with my hands," Andy answered back before using his plastic fork to try to pick up the cereal, though most of the milk fell through the holes. "I may have to slurp up the milk though."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense." Takuya said as he felt a sweat-drop run down the side of his head. I guess Andy isn't being taken over by his Phantom yet. But should I try to remove his Phantom anyway? Hmm… first I'm going to see if he's even aware of it.

While Andy gave some cereal to Dorimon, Takuya cleared his throat. "So, uh… Andy… what was it like when the Soulmon was trying to take your soul? Did you… experience anything strange?"

Andy blinked before he thought for a moment. "It's… not really easy to put it into words… it feels like someone trying to rip you out of something you were really… comfortable in… like say you're wrapped up in a nice warm house on a cold, snowy day, then suddenly someone opens up the roof and grabs onto you before dragging you out of your bed and into the cold. It also felt… surreal, like I was there, yet wasn't. I felt dazed and weak, and I kept feeling like my energy was being constantly drained the longer I was being pulled."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. That sounds a lot like when I got my Spirits removed unwillingly by Cherubimon when he stole my D-Tector. "That… sounds painful and… unwelcome to experience."

"Yeah, it was," Andy agreed.

"I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have my soul, or I guess, Digi-Core removed like that," Dorimon shivered. "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to help you…"

Andy put a comforting hand on Dorimon's head. "Hey, it's okay, buddy, don't blame yourself for that. At least it wasn't permanent."

Takuya looked down. "I sure made a mistake as well, not paying attention to that Soulmon that knocked me out. I was just so worried when I saw your soul being removed I just acted rashly." And I was too caught up in seeing that you have a Phantom inside you. But it looks like you're not aware of it. If you were, you would've said something, or if you were trying to hide it, I would've noticed you becoming nervous.

"Yeah… I think most of us would act rashly when seeing a loved one being attacked. When… when I saw Danny being attacked, I just reacted, I didn't have time to think. That was what triggered Dorumon's digivolution, and… Lopmon's," Andy recalled.

Takuya looked back at Andy. "That seems to be how digivolution is triggered."

"We feel emotionally and mentally connected to our partners," Dorimon explained. "When I felt your courage and determination, as well as your love for Danny, that was when I was finally able to digivolve."

"So it's not just strength… it's an emotional need as well," Andy noted. "That would explain why you weren't able to digivolve before, despite the dangers we've been through, there hadn't been enough of an emotional push from me."

Takuya smiled. "Well, now you can reach Champion level, and that will come in handy down the road." I just hope I don't have to bust out my Fusion form. That form is a last resort only...

"Hey, maybe later we can check in on Dash to see how he's doing," Andy suggested. "I'd love to see how we could handle our spar now that Dorumon can reach Champion level~"

"Me too~" Dorimon smirked.

Takuya gave a grin. "It will get interesting, that's for sure~"

---

Throughout the morning and noon, when Maddie and Jack left their lab to do something else, or go out to get some groceries, mostly silverware since Dorimon had been snacking, Takuya led Andy down in the lab.

"What is it you wanted me to see?" Andy asked.

Takuya looked around before he saw what looked like silver and green ovaloids. "What are those?"

Andy blinked as he looked at what Takuya was pointing at on the table. Andy raised an eyebrow. "You… brought me down here to ask me what Mom and Dad made? How should I know? They usually…"

Andy stopped as he noticed something about the ovaloids. "Wait… I think these are made to be grenades, except they explode ectoplasm instead of explosives… I wonder if I could tweak these for some future battles? It would save me the trouble of needing to write an explosion code on Dorumon's iron balls…"

While Andy was focusing on the ovaloids, Takuya had crept over to the Fenton Ghost Catcher and was now preparing to tip it over so Andy would go through the glowing green part. He gave it a nudge, hoping this would work. I'm sorry Andy… But this is for your own good...

Andy noticed a shadow over him, he looked up at the last second to see something glowing green and a net over his head. The boy gave a surprised yelp when Takuya lowered it, making it phase through Andy's head. However, Takuya had the Ghost Catcher go all the way down to Andy's feet, and there was no Phantom. It was just Andy, standing there, giving a confused look at Takuya, before he scowled.

"That wasn't funny, Takuya!" Andy snapped.

Takuya blinked, unsure of what to make of the lack of a Phantom before he responded. "Oh! Sorry, Andy. I guess that was a bad prank…"

Andy stepped out of the Fenton Ghost Catcher before Takuya picked it back up. "What were you thinking? Were you trying to make sure I didn't have a ghost in me or something? Was I acting weird to you?"

"Um… Not exactly. I…" Takuya trailed off, unsure of how to explain this one. Crap… I'm not that good a liar anyway...

Andy picked up the ovaloids from the table. "Well, whatever, at least I got something interesting out of this weird prank of yours. I'm going to test these."

Takuya blinked as he realized Andy was too interested in the ovaloids to keep scolding him. Wow, saved by the odd ovaloids… Never thought that would happen.

Andy walked out of the lab, and Takuya could hear him call to Dorimon. "Dorimon! Let's head outside and test these ecto grenades! … No, I'm not going to use them on you, stop worrying!"

Takuya sighed to himself. It looks like Andy's Phantom isn't strong enough to remove… Then a thought he never imagined crossed his mind. Wait… Does Andy have a Phantom inside him? He shook his head. No, I know what I saw. But if that is the case, then why didn't Andy's Phantom come out when I used the Ghost Catcher on him?

Takuya looked at the Ghost Catcher for a moment. "Maybe Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack hadn't quite figured out how to make something that could remove a weaker ghost from someone, weak ghosts could be seen as 'lesser ectoplasm' which the net doesn't react to. I should know, this entire family has been exposed to ectoplasm a lot, if this thing could remove all of that, there would be ectoplasm everywhere."

Sighing, Takuya looked away from the Ghost Catcher. I shouldn't worry right now. Andy seems to be fine, so I don't think his Phantom will be a problem yet. But maybe I should go with to see how those grenades work, just to keep an eye on Andy in case.

---

The ecto grenades seemed to work like a charm, when Andy detonated the grenades, purple, sticky ectoplasm was everywhere. Andy smiled as he believed it could be useful for trapping ghosts and Digimon, saying how sometimes less destructive explosions could have much better results.

Despite what Takuya thought about Andy's Phantom may not be a problem yet, he still wanted to try to find ways to get Phantom out. So Takuya looked up online how someone could try to drive a ghost out without using a exorcist. There was 'holy water' as an option, it would drive a ghost out of their host. Saying certain words using religion was another thing Takuya could try. While Takuya didn't normally believe this mumbo jumbo, he was willing to try anything at this point.

I gotta find a way to get that ghost out of Andy… Takuya thought to himself. But these options would make me look crazy. I can't just start chanting religious stuff in hopes of getting the ghost out. And where can I get holy water anyway if I am not a priest?

Takuya then groaned as he realized what he needed to do. "I'm going to hate myself for this…"

Takuya found himself standing in Amity's Church. Since it was Saturday and not Sunday, he didn't have to wait for a long sermon before he could talk to the local priest, he just hoped the priest wouldn't do something that would freak him out, or worse, the priest somehow sees his Spirits and declares him the devil.

"Maybe I should back out…" Takuya mumbled to himself. He was having second thoughts about this.

The priest was, surprisingly, not an old, bald looking man like Takuya was expecting, instead, it was a young looking lady, with brown-red hair tied in a ponytail, she wore normal clothings instead of a formal dress or suit like most priests wore. The lady smiled when she saw Takuya.

"Hello there, young one, I take it you came here for something?" The lady asked with a friendly smile.

"Um… Yeah… I did…" Takuya muttered, feeling embarrassed about this. How the heck will I ask her for the holy water? Is she even a priest? She doesn't look like one.

"Oh, sorry, where are my manners? My name is Kaitlyn Sweetwaters, but you can just call me Kate," The lady introduced.

"I'm Takuya…" Takuya mumbled. Yeah… I really should back out… However, memories of Andy's Phantom kept him rooted to the spot.

"So, Takuya, what can I help you with?" Kate asked with a patient smile.

"Um…" Takuya finally decided to just get on with it. "I am wondering if you have any holy water. I think a close relative of mine is host to a ghost."

"Oh? You're worried that someone you know may be possessed?" Kate inquired.

Takuya gave a nod. His face was burning red from embarrassment. I should have done some more research...

Kate let out a small chuckle. "Well, normally I'd tell you to use the Word of the Divine to try to drive the ghost away, but I don't think you're looking for that answer. So…"

Kate walked to the back of the church, she grabbed onto a glass cup before she dunked it into a tank of crystal clear water. She then walked back to Takuya.

"Here, you can use this. It's blessed water, though the term you're probably used to is 'holy water'. Touched by the great Divine Himself, if you pour it on someone, they say their life will be blessed, or at least their day will be really good. But if you use it on a ghost…" Kate hesitated for a moment. "Well, I doubt the ghost will stick around in your relative."

Takuya nodded, taking the glass. "Thanks…" I will look crazy to Andy for sure...

"You can try having the relative drink it if you don't want to pour it on them, it would be just as if not more so effective," Kate chuckled at seeing Takuya's expression.

"I will do that," Takuya said, feeling a bit better now.

"I will see you later, Takuya." Kate smiled as Takuya began walking away. "You can keep the glass cup, it's better than metal~"

Takuya walked out, feeling odd when she said that. What did she mean by that?

---

When Takuya was back in Fenton Works, he saw that Jazz was already up. She was in the kitchen, reading something while Lopmon was standing by the microwave, waiting for some food to get done.

"Jazz, you have to take a break from studying once in a while and eat, you're already unhealthily thin, you need to put on some healthy weight," Lopmon remarked.

Jazz didn't look up. "I know, but I want to get this paper done before it's due."

"And your parents are busy with their own work? How did you survive 16 years of living here?" Lopmon frowned.

"Mom and Dad weren't always so busy with their inventions. Only after they opened the portal did things start to pick up with that because of ghosts." Jazz replied.

"Well, if they're going to be too busy to make sure their daughter gets fed, I'll have to do that for them. I'm not letting my partner starve herself because she was too into work," Lopmon grumbled.

Jazz sighed when she realized Lopmon wasn't going to drop the subject. "Okay, I guess a break wouldn't hurt."

Lopmon smiled. "That's better."

Takuya couldn't help but snicker a little, he'd never thought he would see the day Cherubimon of all Digimon would be the mother hen to a human.

He then realized he still had to get Andy to drink the holy water. "Uh, hey Jazz." Takuya gave a wave. "So you know where Andy is?"

Jazz looked up at Takuya and smiled. "So Lopmon and Andy were right, you are awake. I'm glad you woke up, I was getting worried, how do you feel? Does your head hurt at all?"

"Um… No, my head is feeling fine and I feel great," Takuya replied. "Thanks for asking."

The microwave beeped, and Lopmon put some oven mitts on his ears before he opened the microwave and picked up a plate of leftover waffles and bacon with his oven mitted ears, then hopped down from the counter and headed towards the table. Takuya couldn't help but wonder if Lopmon was more like Jazz's assistant.

"Jazz, I believe you've neglected to inform him of the whereabouts of Andy," Lopmon spoke up after he hopped onto the table and placed the plate down in front of Jazz.

"Oh, right!" Jazz remembered. "Last I heard, Andy said he wanted to check on Danny."

Takuya nodded. "Thanks, Jazz!" He turned and ran for the stairs before heading up to where Danny and Andy's room was. I hope this works… Maybe I'll just tell Andy I got him some water from the water dispenser on the fridge. That should be a good cover story.

Takuya opened up the door, and saw Andy was playing on a handheld game on his bed with Dorimon curled up on his pillow. Danny was still sleeping on his bed.

"Hey, Andy." Takuya said in a lower voice so as to not wake Danny as he walked over to Andy. "How is Danny doing?"

"He's still sleeping, I'm not sure when he'll wake up," Andy answered. "He likely didn't get a good night sleep during the week, and his exhaustion made him collapse, so he's likely to be out for a while."

Takuya nodded. "Okay, that makes sense." He then looked down at the glass and mentally steeled himself for what he was about to do. "Hey, I got you a drink of water." He held out the cup.

Andy looked at the glass cup of water before pausing his game. "Where did you get that glass cup? It looks too fancy for something we have in the kitchen."

"Uh…" Takuya trailed off. "I… found it?"

"And why did you get me water? I didn't ask for water," Andy added to his questions.

"I just thought you would want a drink…" Takuya muttered.

"So… you poured water into a glass you just… found?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow. "If you thought I wanted a drink, why water? Why not soda?"

"Uh…" Takuya was lost for once. Crap… I knew I was a bad liar, but this is awkward...

Andy noticed how Takuya was squirming, scrambling for an answer. "... Takuya… is there something I should know?"

In a panic, Takuya did the last thing he expected to do: he threw the water on Andy. Andy just stared in shock, his brain not quite comprehending what the heck just happened, he just knew that his head was soaked, and his hair was now dripping with water, and it was his cousin's fault.

After getting over his panic, Takuya realized that nothing was happening, no ghost was coming out of Andy, Andy wasn't violently compulsing as the ghost struggled to get away from the holy water, the only thing that was happening was that Andy was staring at Takuya like a puppy who just got dumped in water for no reason.

"... Takuya…" Andy finally said after taking a deep breath. "... Is there something you want to tell me?"

"I… No… I… just…" Takuya finally turned and just ran. Dang it! Why do I keep doing this?! Why won't that Phantom just leave Andy's body?!

After leaving Andy and Danny's room, only stopping when down near the front entrance of the house, Takuya finally managed to get his mental faculties under control. Okay… I just need to calm down… He then began to think. Okay… If I remember correctly, the Soulmon pulled out Andy's Phantom. So maybe… only another ghost can do that? Yeah, that makes sense.

After Takuya ran, Andy touched his wet hair for a moment and tasted the water on his finger. "... This certainly isn't normal water. What was he trying to do? Melt me? What, does he think I'm some kind of witch who took over his cousin? … Why would he even think that? What is going on with him?"

Dorimon blinked before giving a shrug. "I don't know. Maybe he saw something during that Soulmon fight that freaked him out?"

"Like what?" Andy asked. "It wasn't like it was any different from our other Digimon battles, except he was unconscious throughout most of it."

"What about the Soulmon attacking humans? Maybe he saw something during that time before he was knocked out?" Dorimon replied.

"If he saw something, why won't he tell me?" Andy frowned. "I'm going to go dry off and change my shirt. Then I'll go see if I can talk to Takuya and find out what the heck he's trying to do."

Dorimon nodded. "Good idea." He then looked back at the direction where Takuya had run with concern.

---

After Andy dried off and changed his shirt, he and Dorimon left the bedroom to look for Takuya. However, Takuya snuck back into the bedroom after Andy and Dorimon walked off.

Takuya made his way over to Danny's bed, gently nudging his other cousin. "Danny, hey, please wake up!"

Thankfully, Danny didn't appear to be in a deep sleep, he just let out a groggy groan at someone trying to wake him up. "Five… more… minutes…"

"Danny, wake up!" Takuya pleaded more urgently. "I think your brother might be in trouble."

That got Danny up quickly. "What? What's wrong? What happened to Andy?"

Takuya looked quite freaked out. "I think a ghost may be inside Andy. When those Soulmon things were attacking and stealing human souls, I saw something that looked like a ghost being pulled out of him."

Danny blinked before rubbing his eyes, still feeling a bit groggy. "What…? Are you sure it wasn't just Andy's soul they were pulling out?"

Though Danny bristled at that, and he shivered. "... I felt that, you know…"

"What? You did?" Takuya asked, surprised.

"Yeah… I suddenly felt like half of me got really weak and cold," Danny admitted. "And somehow, I knew that Andy was in trouble. So I hurried to the gym after I ca- uh… talked with Bertrand."

"I know what I saw." Takuya replied with determination.

Danny frowned. "Okay… would it help if I checked to see if there is a ghost in Andy? Would that solve this problem?"

Takuya nodded. "Yes, please!" Then he remembered that he wasn't supposed to know about Danny's supposed relationship with Phantom. "Uh… how?"

Danny shrugged. "I have my ways. Mom and Dad's ghost detection invention or whatever."

Takuya nodded. "Just check for a ghost inside Andy please. This has been driving me crazy!"

Danny noticed how one of Takuya's eyes was twitching, and how messed up his hair was. "... Yeah, I can see that…"

The older boy sighed, realizing how ironic it was that he was coming to Danny for help with Andy now.

"I look like a mess, don't I?" Takuya sighed.

"No… you… just might want to take a shower… and comb your hair… and maybe take a nap." Danny grinned sheepishly.

Takuya ran a hand through his hair, feeling how unkempt it was. "Yeah… I probably should do all that…" After I find out if Andy does have a ghost in him.

---

"Okay, where the crap is Takuya!?" Andy groaned after having searched the whole house for him, and there weren't any signs of his cousin anywhere. "Dorimon, can't you sniff him out?"

"Sorry, unless he evolves into one of his Digimon forms, I can't really tell his human scent from others," Dorimon apologized.

"Great… did Takuya leave the house?" Andy grumbled. "I need to find out what's bothering him, and I'm going to find out even if it kills me!"

Dorimon shivered at that. With how unstable he had seen the older boy looking, he hated to admit that was quite the possibility. "Um… That is probably not the best thing to say, but I can agree with the sentiment behind that comment."

"Sorry, I think the fact that when someone close to me is hiding a secret, it drives me crazy because of what happened with Danny. I mean… when he hid a secret from me, he, Tucker, and Sam all pushed me away for a month… it was a very lonely month for me, you and Takuya weren't around yet…" Andy admitted with a sad sigh. "I don't want that to happen again, not when things are finally starting to get better."

Dorimon nodded. "Okay. I will back you up on this, Andy." Although I hope I don't have to attack Takuya if he decides to evolve for some reason.

"Thanks, buddy. I just need to get Takuya to talk, he looked like he was panicking earlier, so maybe once he calms down, he'll come back, and I can try to get him to talk," Andy finally decided before picking Dorimon up. "For now, let's go wait in my room. I'm a bit tired after that test flight and the test grenades. Not to mention I didn't get much sleep last night."

Dorimon frowned, but nodded. "Alright." I will keep watch to see what happens. I don't want to not trust Takuya, but with how he has been acting, I have to be on guard for whatever he has planned, if he has anything planned at all.

Andy began carrying Dorimon back upstairs, however, when he opened the door to his room, he was surprised to see Danny wasn't in bed anymore, in fact, he didn't see Danny at all.

"Huh… I guess Danny woke up," Andy noted. "I wonder where he went though… I didn't see him walk out…"

Dorimon then looked up. "Andy, there's a ghost here, and… I think it's your brother."

"What?" Andy looked up, seeing the familiar ghost boy turning visible all of a sudden. "Jeez, Danny! You trying to turn me into a half ghost as well!?"

"No, but I want to talk to you about Takuya's behavior." Danny replied.

"... I'm surprised you know about it since you likely just woke up 1 to 10 minutes ago," Andy remarked. "But… wait, you know about Takuya's behavior?"

"He was the one who woke me up." Danny said as he landed on the floor. "Said something about seeing your soul being taken by the Soulmon that were attacking and taking human souls. I believe seeing that freaked him out."

"Okay, I get that seeing a loved one's soul being pulled out of their body can be a traumatic experience, but that doesn't really explain his actions lately." Andy frowned. "He tried to use the Ghost Catcher on me earlier, then he dumped water on me, which I'm 90% sure was supposed to be holy water."

"Well… Takuya mentioned seeing what looked like a 'Phantom' being taken out of you during that time." Danny explained. "I think that would explain the two incidents from earlier today."

Andy blinked as he took that information in. Dorimon was blinking as well, although he was close to Andy when a Soulmon tried to rip Andy's soul out, he didn't see Andy's soul since he was being pinned to the floor.

"Wait… what? What do you mean Takuya saw a 'Phantom' being taken out of me?" Andy questioned in confusion. "My soul? How would he mistake my soul for a Phantom? For your current ghost form?"

"That's just what he said." Danny replied with a shrug.

Andy furrowed his eyebrows. "... So why are you in ghost form right now, bro?"

"Takuya wanted me to check and make sure you're not actually being overshadowed by a ghost," Danny explained. "I don't exactly believe that you are being overshadowed, since if you were, I'm like… 95% sure I would sense it, but I'm also doing this so I could see just what Takuya is talking about. You don't mind, do you, bro? I know that you're… uncomfortable with a ghost overshadowing you, especially after what happened with Tucker, but I promise I'm not going to take over your body or anything, I'm just going to check your soul to make sure everything's alright."

"Check my soul? You can do that?" Andy asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Each person has a unique soul, and from what I have observed during the few times I have overshadowed people, I have been able to see their souls." Danny replied. "I don't usually mess with a person's soul though, it just feels… wrong. Their souls usually just go into dormancy when I take over until I leave."

Andy was definitely fascinated by this. "So each human soul is unique, is there anything else about that that you discov-"

"Andy, check-up, remember?" Dorimon spoke up, trying to keep Andy from going off the trail.

"Right… right…" Andy sighed. "... It… really is an uncomfortable thought, but… I suppose that you are probably the only ghost I would trust with checking my soul. I mean I don't know if the Soulmon left any kind of damage or something when it grabbed it, so… I guess better safe than sorry, and to find out what Takuya saw."

Danny gave a nod. "Okay, bro. Get ready. I will only do it when you say it's okay to." He then turned intangible and waited for Andy's response.

Andy put Dorimon down on his bed. "Okay, bro, do it."

Danny flew into Andy's body, trying to keep his ghost powers in check so he didn't overwhelm his brother's body. When Andy felt his brother go into his body, he felt cold, like some kind of cold water just splashed into his body somehow. But it wasn't unbearable. Andy had to suppress the urge to try to force Danny out, he didn't want to accidentally hurt his brother, or hurt himself in the process. Danny wasn't being forceful like Tucker was, he was a lot more gentle and calm. It made it easier for Andy to relax.

Danny looked around when he was inside his brother, and stopped when he came up on his soul. Danny had never tried to overshadow his brother before, he never had a reason to, nor did he want to, so it surprised him when he saw what looked like another version of himself staring back at him. The only difference was that the white hair 'ghost child' before him had purple eyes, and he was wearing Andy's clothes. The soul blinked, looking at Danny curiously.

Danny wasn't sure of what to make of this. Okay… This is unusual. Is this Andy's soul? I can see why Takuya would be freaked out if this is what he saw.

Andy's soul suddenly floated closer to Danny, which surprised Danny. The souls he usually saw were either unconscious or they shrunk away from him. Not sure what to do, Danny just floated there as Andy's soul reached out and touched his face for a moment, as if studying him. Then Andy's soul suddenly wrapped his arms around Danny and began to cry into Danny's chest.

Danny blinked, but hugged the soul back. It was odd to comfort a soul, but he wasn't about to deny his brother's soul comfort it probably needed. The soul felt surprisingly warm, not that Danny had ever touched a soul before, but he didn't expect it to feel warm. The soul didn't seem to have a voice, despite it crying, there was no sound coming from it.

Danny wasn't sure how long he had been hugging the crying soul, but he didn't feel impatient at all, he felt… like he needed to do this. He felt worried and sad for Andy's soul. And then, he heard a voice in his head, or rather, it was more like a whisper. "I miss you…"

Danny felt the urge to hug the soul grow even more, and he didn't want to let go for some reason.

---

Andy couldn't explain what he was feeling, but he felt oddly comforted, happy, and relaxed, like he was just reunited with a long lost loved one that he didn't even know he lost. He felt like he was snuggled in that loved one's arms and didn't want to let go. He wanted to tell them how much he missed them, and how he wished he could be with them.

Andy ended up laying in bed, wrapping his arms around a pillow. The feeling was almost overwhelming, and he didn't want it to stop. It was like he just got over his grief despite not going through it. Dorimon was watching, but he didn't question it, he could feel what Andy was feeling through their D-Arc link, and he stayed quiet, wanting Andy to stay in that blissful moment for as long as he could.

The door then opened, and Takuya blinked when he saw Andy on the bed, looking somewhat blissful and it was beginning to freak him out. "A-Andy?!" Uh oh...

Takuya wasn't sure what was happening, but Andy almost looked like he was high on catnip.

"Andy?!" Takuya exclaimed as he ran in, concerned for Andy now.

"Hmm?" Andy slowly looked up at Takuya with a sleepy, content looking grin on his face. "Hiya cuz~"

"Andy? Are you… okay?" Takuya asked, his hand slowly creeping towards his D-Tector, not that he was going to evolve. It was more of a security comfort thing since he liked to know he still had his Spirits in case things went downhill.

"He's feeling very blissful right now," Dorimon spoke up for his partner. "Perhaps it would be best to leave him alone for a while?"

Takuya looked at Dorimon in confusion, but withdrew his hand from his D-Tector.

"I'm feeling fine, more than fine." Andy smiled.

"Uh… Okay…? I'll just… let you enjoy that then…" Takuya said as he slowly backed away.

"Aww, Takuya, why don't we hug? It's good to hug family members," Andy spoke up, getting up from his bed.

Takuya looked uneasy. "Um… No, that's okay… I… have some homework to do…" He kept moving towards the door.

Dorimon suddenly jumped onto Takuya's head, which stopped Takuya in surprise before Andy grabbed him in a hug.

"You're so warm, Takuya~" Andy blissfully smiled, leaning against his cousin like a lazy cat.

"Andy… please get off…" Takuya pleaded, feeling freaked out now. Is this the result of Andy's Phantom waking up slowly?!

"Noooo, I like this…" Andy softly whined.

Dorimon didn't seem to want to get off of Takuya's head either.

Takuya was seriously panicking now, only to feel a flash of heat through him. But it wasn't like when he felt a ghost or a Digimon. No, this heat was...comforting…? For crying out loud! Even my Spirits are against me with this?!

Andy snuggled on Takuya when he felt the comforting heat, and Dorimon was very content. Takuay grumbled, feeling stuck now.

---

Andy's soul finally calmed down enough to let go of Danny. He gave a smile to Danny before Danny heard a whisper in his mind. "Thank you."

Danny gave a smile before he flew back and out of Andy's body. He had done what he needed to do. Now it's time to tell Takuya things are fine with Andy's soul.

As soon as Danny left Andy's body, however, he saw an awkward scene. Andy was leaning against Takuya with a satisfied looking grin while Dorimon was relaxing on Takuya's head. Takuya looked up at Danny in surprise. Danny blinked back at Takuya, trying to register as to what was happening. Not long after Danny left Andy's body, Andy blinked as he started to sober up from his strange blissful experience, and realized what he was doing, before he quickly let go of Takuya and moved away, his face blushing.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Takuya! I don't know what came over me!" Andy apologized, completely mortified.

"Forget it… It's fine." Takuya grumbled. " But two certain somethings certainly weren't helping much either… Not you Dorimon. I meant other 'somethings'."

Dorimon chuckled sheepishly before hopping off of Takuya's head. Andy was so embarrassed that he just wanted to hide now.

Danny blinked, trying to process what Takuya had just said. 'Two somethings'? What does that mean?

"What are, or what were you doing, Phantom?" Takuya asked while Andy slowly slipped himself into his bed and went under the covers.

"Oh, I was… checking out Andy's soul. Your cousin Danny asked me to." Danny lied. "Just to check to see if that Soulmon thing did any damage to it. I did the check, and his soul is fine. A bit needy for comfort, but it's doing fine."

"Really…? You didn't see anything… unusual about the soul?" Takuya asked.

Danny frowned a little. "I… did see something I thought was unusual, but it shouldn't harm Andy in the long run… uh… I gotta go."

Danny turned intangible and flew through the window.

After Danny left, Andy popped his head out from the blanket. "Takuya… would you mind telling me why you told Danny to have Phantom look at my soul? And made me act all weird?"

Takuya sighed. "When that Soulmon pulled your soul out, it wasn't what I expected. I saw what looked like another 'Phantom', and I just… acted on impulse. I freaked out and thought a ghost was inside of you, just like with Danny." He then looked up at Andy. "I'm so sorry for the way I was acting!"

Andy blinked before sighing. "Oh… I didn't know…" My soul looks like Phantom? … That might explain why Danny took so long to come out of my body, and… why I felt the way I did, he must've been hugging it or something. That… is such a weird experience. "Takuya… I… I think I know why my soul looks like Phantom."

Takuya blinked as he looked up. "You… You do? Why?"

"Because of the accident," Andy sighed. "While I wasn't in it directly, I definitely felt it in my soul. I felt Danny being torn apart by the portal. I… guess when his Phantom formed, it affected my soul's appearance as well."

Takuya blinked, taking in this information. "That… actually makes sense." He then rubbed the back of his head. "Wow… I sure made a fool of myself today, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes you did," Andy replied. "But I also made a fool myself just now, so I guess we're even. But next time you see something like that, please talk to me? I'd rather know if I might have a ghost inside me or something."

"You also had us scared with the way you were acting," Dorimon lightly scolded at Takuya.

"Yeah, I guess I did. Sorry. And I promise I will tell you next time if something like that is bothering me." Takuya promised.

"Thank you. Because I would rather you didn't splash me again with holy water for no apparent reason," Andy grumbled.

"I'm surprised 'holy water' exists…" Dorimon mumbled. "What's it taste like?"

"I don't know, and you probably don't want to know either," Takuya mumbled. "Besides, I don't want to consider the possibility of another one of my cousins gaining a Phantom inside them."

Andy blinked, before frowning. "Oh… right… that theory I had…"

Andy mumbled something under his breath.

Takuya looked at Andy. "Did you say something?"

"He's considering something," Dorimon spoke up.

"Oh, I definitely am," Andy sighed. "But for now… could you go get some lunch or something? I need a few minutes to recover from my… embarrassing experience."

Takuya nodded. "Sure." He then turned and left to go get some lunch since he was feeling a bit hungry, and relieved, knowing that Andy wasn't going to have a Phantom inside him.

When Takuya left his room, Andy grumbled.

"You can come back now, Danny," Andy sighed.

Danny regained visibility, he had been floating on the ceiling, waiting for Takuya to leave.

"Good." Danny said as he landed. "That was close."

"You really, and I stress this, really need to talk to Takuya about your half ghost status," Andy grumbled. "Before I knew you were half ghost, I came up with a theory that you had Phantom living inside you, who takes you over from time to time when you're in danger from ghosts or Digimon. Since Takuya doesn't know the truth, that's the best thing he could believe in since you would disappear whenever Phantom appears, and vice versa."

Danny blinked. "Oh… Wow. Okay… So that explains the behavior and the assumption then." Danny then sighed. "But yeah… I guess you're right. I should tell him, unless we want to go through this whole thing again."

"Yeah, considering that both Takuya and I were accepting yet worried about you when we thought you and Phantom were living like symbiotic beings. Of course, we didn't know what Phantom would do to you, so we were worried about that… but if Takuya knew the truth, I think that would just make things a lot easier. He kind of already knows some of the truth anyways, that you and Phantom are pretty much the same person," Andy remarked. Though we do still worry about what being a half ghost would do to you. It is a lot less worrying than having a ghost just living inside you.

Danny nodded. "Yeah. I think I will tell him, if not because he deserves to know the truth, then because we want to prevent this incident from happening again."

"Heh, just be glad he didn't use the Ghost Catcher on you, or splashed you with holy water, I don't even want to know what holy water would do to you," Andy chuckled.

Danny gave a nervous chuckle himself. "Yeah… That would be the last thing I want to have happen to me."

"Perhaps you can discuss it with Takuya over lunch," Andy suggested. "And… what did you do while you were checking my soul? I was acting so… weird! I mean it felt good, but I wasn't really in control of myself."

"It was your soul. It was needy for comfort as it latched onto me in a hug, so I hugged it back." Danny replied. "It was weird, hugging a soul."

Andy blushed at that. "Ugh… great…"

Dorimon chuckled. "It makes sense why your soul would be all huggy with Danny. I mean how have you felt since Danny became half ghost?"

That question got both brothers thinking, and realization hit them hard. Danny was half ghost, Andy was all human. They were still brothers, but there was a gap between them now.

"Wow… I guess I never thought about it like that before…" Danny muttered, feeling a bit awkward now.

Dorimon's got a point. With Danny being half ghost, what does that mean for us? I can no longer truly understand what Danny is going through anymore. I can't fly on my own, I can't turn invisible or intangible, I can't shoot ghost rays from my hand, and who knows what else Danny is capable of. We may be twins, but… we're not the same… Andy frowned. Other ghosts might understand a little of what Danny's going through, but they wouldn't understand how his human half works, nor would they understand how both halves would work simultaneously. The only one who could possibly understand is Vlad. Now I'm starting to see why Vlad wanted Danny to join him.

Danny gave a small frown when he noticed Andy appeared to be deep in thought about something.

"Hey, bro? What's on your mind?" Danny asked.

Andy gave a sigh before he waved it off. "It's… nothing important, don't worry about it, okay?"

Andy didn't want to worry Danny about these thoughts, he also didn't want Danny to worry about how his halfa status may or may not affect him in the future. That's a bridge we'll have to cross when we come to it, there's no point in worrying about that right now.

Danny frowned, but decided to let it go for now. "Okay, bro… If you insist."

"Hey, why don't you go and see if Takuya needs any help with that lunch?" Andy suggested. "I'll be down in a minute after cooling off from my… experience."

Danny gave a nod. "Sure." He then gave a grin. "You looked like you were enjoying it though~"

"Never bring it up!" Andy huffed, his cheeks blushing as Danny reminded him just how much he was enjoying it. "You realize I'm going to get back at you for this one day, right?"

Danny just gave a chuckle. "We'll see, bro~" He then made his way out of their shared room with a grin on his face.

As soon as Danny was out of the room, Andy sighed as he fell back onto his bed, Dorimon rolling off of his head and onto the pillow.

"I can tell that this is bothering you more than you're letting on…" Dorimon stated.

"Of course it does. I mean… Danny is a ghost… half ghost. I guess when he first told me, I didn't want to think too much about it. Danny was still Danny, regardless of being ghost, human, or something in-between. But I guess it's just now hitting me how… different he really is now," Andy sighed.

"Is that… really a bad thing?" The In-Training asked.

"No… I mean… it's not. He's unique, he's got great powers, and he's using them to try to help people," Andy said. "And that's good. Takuya, Koji, Koichi, and Dash are similar, they have great powers, and they're using it to help people. While I may not have great powers myself, I have you, just as Jazz has Lopmon, and we're trying to help people as well. But…"

"There's something else that's worrying you," Dorimon finished.

"It's not about the powers, or the forms," Andy sighed. "It's about how this will affect Danny in the future. For now, he seems fine. He's still new to being half ghost. To him, it's just the same as having some kind of super power, like Superman, or Spiderman. That's all well and good, but what will happen when things start to become too much? Ghosts will keep attacking, eventually Danny will have more trouble balancing out his regular life and his ghost hero life. And that's not all… it's possible that with his body being half ghost, he might start to exhibit strange behavior, things that none of us really know much about, nor would we be able to explain if it's normal or not."

Andy sat up from his bed. "I've seen stories about how that could happen. When a kid who was born half fairy, but was raised with humans. The kid kept exhibiting weird behavior, it scared the other humans because it wasn't… human behavior. It got to the point that they started treating the kid like an unknown animal. The kid became scared and violent towards the humans who raised him because they were treating him like he was dangerous. And for all we know, Danny's ghostly behavior could become dangerous to humans. Spectra feasted on misery emotions, who's to say Danny may not one day start eating emotions as well? Or something else? It's all… speculation, but it's impossible to say whether or not it may happen one day."

Dorimon frowned. "We can't assume that though. Those are just stories. This is real-life. And besides, wouldn't the same be said for Takuya and his friends, not to mention Dash?"

"I'm not as unsure about Takuya and the others, because Takuya had his Spirits for four years now. He also knew a lot about Digimon, travelled in their world for a while, even saved it. He knows how his biology works, and he's not always half Digimon, he just triggers the Spirit to transform him when he needs it, same goes for the others who inherited the Legendary Warriors. With Danny, he can't just turn off his ghost side and be pure human again, even in his human form, he still has his ghost side there. He can still turn invisible or intangible as a human," Andy explained. "While it's true there could still be something unexpected that could happen with the Legendary Warriors, they at least do have the option to turn off their Digimon side. And even then… at least I trust Digimon more than I trust ghosts. Ghosts have been used as scary stories for a long time for a reason."

Dorimon nodded, taking in that explanation. "Okay. I think I understand why you are so worried for Danny now."

"Yeah… let's just hope most of my fears become unfound though," Andy sighed.

---

Titanic X: ZAFT: That was epic, wasn't it? :3

Unknown user: DarkFoxKit: We already did. Now posting them takes weekly. XP

ZAFT: Just for the weekly updates. They come every Monday, sometimes on a Tuesday if we forget to update on Mondays, but the schedule is pretty consistent.

Luna Lillyth: DarkFoxKit: Well, Andy had a more elaborate scheme in mind since he needed to ensure nobody remembered the incident, lest they have a panic attack.

ZAFT: This chapter will reveal what it is, but you will like it just as much as this one, I'm sure. :)