DarkFoxKit: *Is currently stuck in bed* This is boring! Why am I stuck in bed again?

Andy: Because you were just released from the emergency room a few days ago.

ZAFT: Andy's right. You need rest. :P

DarkFoxKit: But there's so much to do. I don't have time to rest!

Andy: Do I need to tie you down? Again?

DarkFoxKit: *Pouts*

ZAFT: XD Andy is worried about you~ :3

Andy: Of course I am. As much as she likes to torture me, I wouldn't exist without her.

ZAFT: Well, that explains why the chapter is a bit late. Also we forgot to update yesterday too. ^^'

DarkFoxKit: You don't need to tell them that!

Andy: ZAFT and I will take care of the reviews today, you just rest up, okay? I'll bring you your favorite food if you behave.

DarkFoxKit: Fine, I'll behave.

ZAFT: That's a good fox~ *Pats head*

Chapter 25: A Huntress's Folly

Danny, who was currently in human form, was in Jazz's room along with Andy and Dorimon. Lopmon was sitting on Jazz's bed. Dorimon was lying on Jazz's desk. Jazz was sitting on her computer chair. Andy and Danny were sitting on some extra chairs Jazz brought in.

The reason why they were talking in Jazz's room was because it was the safest place to discuss a topic without their parents or Takuya walking in on them.

"So, what's the problem, Danny?" Jazz asked as she looked at her brother. "You seemed somewhat freaked out earlier when you got back from… whatever you were doing."

"I was checking in on Valerie," Danny admitted. "No, I wasn't spying or peeking at her, I just wanted to make sure she was okay after everything that happened."

"I did tell him to check up on her since he could do it the easiest due to… you know, being able to turn invisible at will while also being able to fly," Andy admitted.

"Right," Jazz sighed. "So what happened?"

Danny took a deep breath and let it out. "Well… while I was checking on Valerie and her dad, I suddenly sensed a much more powerful ghost coming my way. It was a ghost that I knew I didn't stand a chance against, so I quickly did the best thing I could do other than flee. I made myself unnoticeable. I got on the ground while staying invisible. Ghosts can see or sense each other even while invisible, but it's harder for them to, and as long as the ghost didn't have a reason to look for me, I knew I would be safe."

"Who was the ghost?" Jazz asked.

Andy frowned, seeming to already have a few guesses as to what kind of ghost would be stronger than Danny.

"Well…" Danny hesitated. "I haven't told you this yet, Jazz, but… do you remember Vlad Masters?"

Jazz frowned. "Yeah… I do. Why? Is this related to him?"

"Well… you weren't there when it happened, but Vlad attacked our family during the reunion," Danny explained. "He also has a Digimon partner, and… he's also… half ghost."

Jazz blinked in surprise. "Wait… What did you just say?" She knew what she had heard, but she wanted to be sure she was not hearing things wrong.

"Vlad is half ghost like Danny," Andy repeated. "And he also has a Digimon partner. Oh, and if you thought that was shocking, wait until you hear this; Vlad can fuse with his Digimon partner."

"What? How is that possible?" Lopmon spoke up, sounding surprised himself. "A human fusing with a Digimon Spirit is one thing, because the Digimon themselves no longer have a physical body. But a human… a halfa, fusing with a Digimon?"

"As unbelievable as that sounds, it's true. Danny and I saw it happen with our own eyes," Andy stated.

"Yeah…" Dorimon agreed. "It was really scary. I didn't think we would get out of it alive."

Jazz was stunned. "Okay… Let me repeat that so I can understand. Vlad has a Digimon partner, in addition to being half ghost like Danny, and he can fuse with his Digimon partner. Is that right?"

"Yeah, that about sums it up," Danny answered.

"Who is this other halfa's partner?" Lopmon questioned.

"He said his name is Tsukaimon," Andy replied. "But Takuya said he thought he was another Digimon called Patamon."

Jazz frowned. "So certain Digimon can look alike?"

"Yeah. There's a Digimon called Terriermon who looks similar to me, but we are different Digimon," Lopmon explained. "There are many Digimon who share the same physicality but have different colors, and are different Digimon. Tsukaimon definitely resembles Patamon… but I wonder…"

Jazz looked at her partner Digimon. "Is something on your mind?"

"I shouldn't jump to conclusions… but I am worried if Tsukaimon could possibly be… an old friend of mine. Sometimes Digimon can change themselves if something causes them to change. Like… how I… told you about my change in form," Lopmon said quietly.

Jazz frowned slightly. She remembered that well. "Well, if you are worried about that possibility, it doesn't hurt to do some observation. But for now, we won't worry about the issue, because we have more pressing things to worry about."

"Yeah, like what the heck Vlad was doing here," Danny remarked.

"Before that… if Vlad attacked our family, how did everyone survive?" Jazz asked in concern.

"We used blackmail and negotiation," Andy said. "Danny threatened to expose both of them to our parents, and Vlad just couldn't accept the fact Mom would hate him forever for what he is."

Jazz looked at Danny, feeling both a bit of pride, but also worry. "Danny, while I will say that I am proud of you for getting both you and your brother out of that alive, you have possibly made a very dangerous enemy."

"What else was I supposed to do, Jazz?" Danny asked. "At the rate we were going, Vlad was going to kidnap and possibly brainwash Mom, then he might've done the same thing to me next, and either kill everyone else, or brainwash everyone else. Either way, it was the lesser of the two evil."

"If anything, I think Vlad was more impressed with what Danny did rather than angry," Andy sighed. "Meaning he may want Danny more than ever now."

"The guy is creepy, and there's something very twisted about him that I could sense, him and Tsukaimon," Dorimon shivered.

Jazz then looked at Danny again. "Well, anyway, why was Vlad here?"

"I don't really know, that's why I came to talk to you and Andy about it," Danny sighed. "I saw him looking in Valerie's window, smirking about something before he disappeared. I think he teleported."

"Vlad can teleport?" Andy frowned. "I think the question is what can't Vlad do?"

"Don't remind me," Danny groaned. "Anyways, he apparently sent Valerie a package full of ghost weapons. I saw her accidentally firing an ecto gun. There were other things in the box, like a red suit of some kind, and other gadgets that I'm sure are meant for ghost hunting."

Andy furrowed his eyebrows, feeling like the description his brother gave sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

"Wait… Vlad gave Valerie ghost weapons?" Jazz asked in shock. "Isn't that dangerous? I mean, Mom and Dad I can understand having such things, but that's because they are qualified for it. Valerie has no experience with ghost weapons!"

"That's the same thing I thought," Danny agreed. "But Vlad must have some kind of plan as to why he gave Valerie those weapons. I'm not sure how to find out without spying on Vlad, and… considering he can teleport, and he and Tsukaimon would likely sense me, I don't think that's an option."

Jazz had to agree with Danny. "Yeah, that would be best to not spy on him." She then put a hand to her chin in thought. "But I wonder what Valerie could do with ghost weapons. She has no reason to hunt ghosts, does she?"

"You would think," Andy sighed. "But since ghosts were the reason why her dad lost his job, and they ended up broke because of what happened… yeah, I can see why she has it out for ghosts now."

"Oh… let's hope she doesn't have it out for Digimon too. I mean Digimon weren't the ones destroying the lab, but still, Doggymon did let Cujo out in the first place." Dorimon frowned.

"Well, other than you talking that one time in front of her, Valerie has never met a Digimon before, so I doubt she'll go after them unless she thinks they're a ghost too," Andy remarked.

Jazz looked at Andy. "Could Digimon be mistaken as ghosts?"

"There are a few Digimon that resemble ghosts, mostly the Undead type, like Soulmon and Phantomon, you remember them, don't you?" Andy reminded.

"Yeah, I do." Jazz confirmed. "But I mean the other types, not the Undead ones."

"It's possible. To Valerie, Cujo just looked like a big green dog that can go through stuff and have unnatural strength," Dorimon spoke up. "She didn't even know he was a ghost until you told her."

"I hate to agree with Dorimon about this, but he does have a point. Valerie may not discriminate, any creature that looks unnatural could be a ghost to her with the way her mindset is and her very limited knowledge on the difference between ghosts and Digimon are." Lopmon frowned.

Jazz nodded. "Yeah, I can see the problem there. Even if she did know the difference, it may not be enough to change her mind so easily."

"To make it worse, even if she did know, she would claim Digimon would be just as dangerous as ghosts and go after them anyways," Andy sighed. "If only there was some way I could talk her out of this…"

"And there's still the matter of Vlad sending a 14 year old girl ghost weapons," Danny added.

Jazz frowned in thought. "Maybe Vlad is expecting her to go after ghosts and Digimon. We don't know what those weapons are capable of, you know."

"But still, why her? Why give her ghost weapons at all?" Danny questioned. "If he wanted to test those weapons, he could've easily tested them himself, he has a Ghost Portal in his lab."

"Right now, none of us know why Vlad gave Valerie ghost weapons, all we can do is speculate. I think the best thing we can do, for now, is to keep an eye on Valerie to make sure she doesn't get herself hurt trying to go after a ghost, especially a dangerous one like Skulker or Technus," Andy informed. "I think that she's mostly focused on two ghosts right now though… Cujo, and… Danny Phantom. She most certainly blames Danny Phantom and Cujo for messing up her life, so they will be her first target."

Jazz nodded. "Right. That sounds like a good idea." She then looked at Danny. "I would be careful if Valerie is out to hunt your ghost half."

Danny sighed. "I know, but… that's not what I'm worried about. I'm more worried about Valerie herself. She's never hunted ghost herself, she could get herself seriously hurt. I doubt she'll listen to Danny Phantom if he tried to talk to her though."

"We'll try to see if we can get her to listen to reason before she simmers in her hatred for too long," Andy said. "The sooner we do that, the better off we'll be."

Jazz nodded. "Good call, Andy. The sooner we nip this in the bud, the better."

Lopmon frowned. "I must warn you, hatred, fear, and bias are very dangerous to any sentient being. It will be difficult to reason with someone like that, especially when they blame a certain person for their current predicament."

Jazz looked at Lopmon. "We'll keep that in mind. But we have to at least try to change her mind. If we can't, then all we can do is try to keep her from hurting herself."

"So what's the plan?" Danny asked. "What about Vlad?"

"We'll have to deal with Vlad later, for now our focus should be on Valerie," Andy said. "We'll each take turns keeping an eye on her and see when is the best time to approach her. Dorimon and I can keep an eye on her during school hours. She is on pretty good terms with me, so she wouldn't mind if I decide to hang out with her since she's having a hard time adjusting at school right now."

Jazz gave Andy a nod of approval. "Okay. That seems to be our best bet for now."

"Danny, you can keep a better eye on Valerie after school hours, since you can follow her easier in ghost form," Andy instructed. "But if she has any of her ghost weapons with her, or knows how to use a ghost tracker, then keep your distance. Only get in close if you feel she's in danger."

Danny gave a nod. "Okay, I can do that."

"But don't stick with her all day. Just stay with her until she goes home, where she will hopefully stay until school the next day," Andy said. "I rather you didn't feel like you had to tail her all day. You do have a life of your own too."

Danny chuckled. "Don't worry, bro. I wouldn't do it to that extent."

"Lopmon and I will see if we can do any research on Vlad Masters, see what we can find out," Jazz volunteered. "Everyone has their dark secrets leaked somewhere online, especially the more well-known ones."

Danny gave a grin. "Never pegged you for a paparazzi, Jazz."

"This is different. Nobody threatens my family and gets away with it," Jazz stated with determination in her teal eyes.

Danny chuckled. "Okay, Jazz. We'll let you do your investigative work."

"It would help if you can get Tucker to help me out, he is the more tech savvy one," Jazz requested. "And Sam too, with her family status, they're bound to know a few secrets about Vlad Masters that the public knows nothing about. Every bit of information helps."

Danny nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

"I'll be sticking with Valerie, so I'm counting on you to tell Tucker and Sam about this," Andy said.

"Then we're all in agreement then?" Danny replied, and both of his siblings nodded.

After the siblings finished their discussion, Danny, Andy, and Dorimon walked out of Jazz's room. Andy waited as he watched his brother going down into the kitchen to get something to eat. When Andy was sure they were alone, he sighed.

"This is getting a bit more hectic than I thought it would be…" Andy sighed. "How am I going to tell Takuya about this? Knowing him, he'll want to try to keep Valerie safe himself. But that'll make Danny and Jazz suspicious."

Dorimon frowned. "Yeah, that is a bit of a problem… I mean, could we even keep him out of this?"

"I would rather not. We should all be in this together, yet we're not." Andy frowned as well. "Everyone is trying to keep their secrets from each other, and we're caught in the middle of it all… meaning we have to decide whether or not we have to keep certain things quiet from the other, but that could just become a detriment later on."

Dorimon sighed. "Maybe we should tell Danny about the fact the Legendary Warriors have hidden human identities at least."

"Do you think that might be a good idea?" Andy asked.

"Well, it was just a thought." Dorimon frowned. "I mean, we can't exactly tell Danny Takuya is Agunimon directly, can we?"

"No…" Andy agreed before smiling. "But… that doesn't mean we can't drop possible hints."

Dorimon grinned back. "That was what I was trying to say!"

"Right, but we have to be careful with how we say it. Danny will want to know how we know that these Digimon have human identities, so I need to make it sound like I'm speculating rather than stating it as a fact," Andy remarked.

"Well, you do make that seem easy." Dorimon chuckled. "The speculating thing I mean."

Andy blushed a little. "Heh… well, it's fun to speculate things. Now I just need a good opportunity to bring it up. Perhaps the next time Agunimon or BurningGreymon shows up, or any of the other Legendary Warriors."

Dorimon nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."

"Did you seriously have to follow Jazz around just to make sure that there was a Digimon with her?" Takuya grumbled, talking to Koji on his D-Tector in his room.

"I wasn't sure if the 'plushy' she had was a Digimon. What else could I have done, just walked up and asked if that was a Digimon?" Koji retorted.

"You could've asked me, I live with her after all," Takuya sighed.

Koji grumbled, although most of it was lost over the airwaves, so it came out as just mumbling.

"Ah, sorry, Koji's in a bit of a bad mood right now, Takuya," Koichi's voice spoke up. "I think that he's a bit hesitant to admit that he didn't think of such a simple solution."

"Koichi!" Koji's voice blurted out. "Don't tell him that!"

Takuya just laughed at the reaction of the Yin-Yang twins. "I see Koichi got under your skin, Koji~"

"Be quiet!" Koji snapped.

"Um… so anyways, I think Dash said he sees where Doggymon is, but Doggymon doesn't stay in one place for very long. So it'll be a while before we can go chasing after him without causing a ruckus in the city. It would be easier if we could go directly to Doggymon in our Beast forms, but… yeah, that wouldn't work out so well in a city full of people," Koichi sighed.

Takuya groaned. "Good point… The only place we could face down Doggymon would be in the woods outside of Amity Park. But I doubt Doggymon would head out there because we would have the advantage of not being around humans so we could go into our Beast forms."

"I do have a suggestion though. Since both of your cousins have Digimon of their own, they might be able to track down Doggymon themselves, and not cause a public wide panic over giant 'mysterious animal monsters' running around the city," Koichi suggested.

Takuya gained a thoughtful look. "Hmmm… That may be a good idea."

"What do you mean you don't have time?" Takuya frowned as he was talking to Andy and Dorimon in the living room. "This is a Digimon, we're supposed to take them back to the Digital World if they end up here."

"I want to help, I really do, but there's something important I have to do and I need to stay in school for it," Andy answered back. "Maybe Dorimon and I can try looking for Doggymon after school, but not before then."

Takuya frowned again. "And what is it that is more important than looking for Doggymon?"

Andy grumbled to himself. I am really starting to hate these secrets my family are keeping from each other! "I promised Valerie I would stick with her during school while she's trying to… adjust to not being a popular kid anymore. She needs a real friend more than ever right now."

Takuya's face turned from a frown to something more akin to sympathy at hearing that. "Oh… I didn't know that happened." He then sighed. "Okay. If Valerie needs that help, I can accept that."

"Thanks. But maybe Dorimon and Lopmon can go out and look for Doggymon themselves if they want to," Andy suggested.

"I can?" Dorimon asked.

"I'm sure you and Lopmon can handle one Champion Digimon without our help," Andy said. "And you two are small enough to not cause people to run away screaming. Though I do think I should digivolve you before you go Doggymon hunting."

Dorimon gave a grin. "That would be a good idea. And Lopmon and I can hide more easily if someone tries to find us."

Takuya blinked, while he agreed it was a good idea, he knew Andy well enough to know the boy wouldn't just send his partner Digimon off without him without a good reason. Finding Doggymon was important, but not so important that Andy would feel like he should send his partner off to find him.

"Are you sure, Andy? I mean, sure finding Doggymon is important, but surely you don't have to send Dorimon out after him as well." Takuya pointed out.

Andy sheepishly scratched his cheek. "Well… I guess you can say this is also a test run for a few things. I want to see how well Digimon partners can perform without needing their human partners with them. It would be important in case something happens and we get separated from them. I have also heard from Jazz that Lopmon was being hunted by some of his former friends, so I think Dorumon should go with him to protect him in case one of Lopmon's so-called friends finds him."

Takuya blinked. "That… makes sense." Huh… I never thought about what may happen if Andy and Dorimon got separated. I guess Andy has a good point.

"Though… will you be okay without me? You might get attacked by ghosts or other Digimon," Dorimon said in concern.

"I can take care of myself if I need to, Dorimon, this is also training for me too," Andy answered. "There might be times I can't purely rely on you. You could be unconscious or something, so it's better we train ourselves for that situation now than be put into it later."

Dorimon nodded. "That makes sense." He remembered all the times he had come around either during or after a fight. "It would be a good idea, actually…"

Takuya had a frown on his face, but he didn't protest the idea, since it made sense to him as well. "As long as you're careful, both of you, I can't really object to it."

"Thanks, and I know you'll be nearby, so I feel well protected already," Andy chuckled. "Don't worry too much about Doggymon. If he's not causing any major problems or harming anyone right now, we can afford to wait until after school to go after him ourselves."

Takuya nodded, as did Dorimon.

Andy smiled. "Great, glad to see we're on the same page."

Takuya still couldn't believe it. Even though he had been back for almost three weeks now, he had been through and seen things that no normal human being had ever experienced, and yet Andy always somehow manages to surprise him.

Andy, if you were with us in the Digital World, that would have been a big help. Takuya thought. You still seem to surprise me with your ideas, no matter what I seem to think.

"Hmm? Something on my face?" Andy asked, noticing his cousin was staring at him.

"Oh, uh… No." Takuya replied. "I was just thinking about how you could have been a big help in the Digital World when I was there with my friends."

"You think I would've been?" Andy asked. "From what I've heard, you and your friends did fine without me, despite getting your butts handed to you by Lucemon's knights over and over."

Takuya cringed at that last comment. "Yeah… But I mean, you have some very valid ideas, and that could have been useful to us."

"Wait, you got destroyed by Lucemon's knights?" Dorimon asked.

"They were very strong, okay? And it wasn't like we lost in battle over and over, we lost because those knights kept sucking away the data before we could stop them, and then they fled," Takuya explained.

Dorimon gave a bit of a smug smirk. "You still got your butts kicked though~"

Takuya groaned. "Don't remind me…"

"Well… if you'd like, I could try coming up with hypothetical ideas for what you and your friends could've done about those knights right now," Andy offered. "I actually would like to think of ways of how you could've handled them, especially just in case we might end up facing a similar situation in the future."

Takuya put a hand to his chin in thought. Yeah, that would be a smart idea. It's possible we may indeed come across that down the road. He then looked at Andy. "That would be great."

Andy smiled before he gave Takuya a notepad and a pen. "In that case, write down what you remember of how each of your encounters with the knights went here, and I'll see if I can think of a possible solution to those encounters."

Takuya nodded. "Sure."

The next day at Casper High, during lunch

Takuya was sitting with Koji and Koichi, he opened his notepad and was telling them about what they could've done differently against Dynasmon and Crusadermon with Andy's theoretical plans.

"So our first encounter, probably wouldn't have been any different since Andy would likely be taken off guard just as much as the rest of us were, and he told me it was important we got blasted to the moon anyways," Takuya said as he flipped the notepad's pages. "But in our later encounters, like when we were planning to fight them to defend what was left of the Digital World, Andy suggested that it might've been better had we not unified our spirits. It would've been better if Koji and I used our fusion evolution instead, me becoming Aldamon, and Koji becoming Beowulfmon. The reason is because while EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon are much more powerful, there were still only just two of us, we also left the others powerless and vulnerable, which is what caused us to lose most of the time because we also had to protect them whenever Dynasmon and Crusadermon decided to attack them to try to distract us. And it's true, that has happened a lot. If we fusion evolved though, the others would still be able to use their Spirits to defend themselves, or help out with strategy. Our biggest issue was trying to match them power for power."

Koichi nodded, taking in the information. "That makes sense. It also would mean we would be able to overpower the two with numbers."

"But numbers don't mean much when it comes to Digimon like them." Koji pointed out. "But that is a fair point. Just two Mega-level Digimon can't stand up to much for long if planned for in the right way." Koji gained a grimace on his face, remembering how he had almost lost Koichi once because he had been MagnaGarurumon. Koichi had nearly fallen into a massive hole in the ground if not for Koji's quick reaction to grab him and pull him to safety.

"Yeah… Andy did point out that while it's true Dynasmon and Crusadermon are too powerful for all of us combined, it's why we would've been better off if we tried fighting them with strategy rather than power for power. Considering how often the two knights were playing dirty every time we encountered them, our ideal situation would've been to set up traps first, then all of us become the last line of defense for that part of the world's fractal code instead of just trying to fight them ourselves directly," Takuya continued. "And Andy did prove his point a few times, using strategy with Dorumon against higher level Digimon, and coming out on top through brains rather than brawns."

Koji smirked. "I take it that was used against you too?"

"Ah… At least once…" Takuya admitted. "While we were training…"

Koichi snickered before he returned to the topic at hand. "So, if we had used strategy, we would have won more often, or at least had better success than we did."

"That's Andy's theory anyways, he will admit to not knowing the full capabilities of all of us yet, so there's only so much he can suggest, but he is giving us general tips about how we could've improved our chances of stopping the royal knights," Takuya remarked.

"Any advice we can get is better than none." Koji noted with some approval. "I say we keep this information on hand for if we come across one of those knights again."

"Let's hope we don't. The royal knights are supposed to be protectors of the Digital World, but Lucemon brainwashed and corrupted Dynasmon and Crusadermon," Koichi pointed out.

Koji frowned, but had to admit his twin had a point. "True. But we have to keep in mind, Seraphimon was corrupted, so maybe he would've done the same thing to another royal knight. We have to be cautious."

"Yeah…" Takuya frowned. "Speaking of Seraphimon, what did corrupt him? It wasn't Cherubimon, I can attest to that. Lucemon is gone. So what had happened to Seraphimon?"

"None of us knows, Takuya, in fact, you were the one who told us that Seraphimon was corrupted," Koji pointed out.

Takuya groaned. "Yeah, I was…" He then sighed. "But it's just odd. There has to be a way Seraphimon became corrupted, but we don't know how."

"Didn't you say that you can attest that Cherubimon didn't corrupt Seraphimon? How could you possibly know that?" Koichi asked.

Takuya then sighed. "Ah… Well… Do you remember Jazz having a Digimon partner, Koji?"

Koji nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"That's… Cherubimon." Takuya pointed out. "He… devolved into his Rookie form when coming to the real world."

"Wait… that little Digimon is Cherubimon!?" Koji spoke up in alarm. "How do you know he's not just pretending to be innocent to get near you and possibly corrupt you or your family, Takuya?"

"I overheard Jazz talking to Cherubimon, or Lopmon, in his Rookie form." Takuya replied. "It sounded like Cherubimon was investigating why Seraphimon was acting strange, and then the two wound up fighting before Seraphimon came here."

Koichi frowned, out of everyone in their group, he had the worst memories of Cherubimon. Cherubimon not only brainwashed him, but he turned him against Koji. "Are you sure Cherubimon didn't corrupt Seraphimon and was just trying to play innocent? Cherubimon… can be very tricky…"

"I don't know…" Takuya sighed. "But we have little information. All we know is that Seraphimon was corrupted, and Cherubimon was involved in trying to stop him somehow. He could have corrupted Seraphimon, but if that is the case, why would he come to the real world? Something doesn't add up."

Koichi sighed. "Okay… let's say you're right then, and Cherubimon had nothing to do with it. Did Lopmon say anything at all that could hint to what could've possibly corrupted Seraphimon?"

Takuya ran a hand through his hair. "I did hear Lopmon mention something about Seraphimon investigating the crater where Lucemon emerged from, which they have taken to calling Death Crater. It was after that that Seraphimon began to act strange."

"I see…" Koichi noted. "It's possible… unlikely, but possible that there might have been some remnant of Lucemon's corrupted data around Death Crater… or some other Digimon was formed by the remnant, and they infected Seraphimon when he went to go investigate. This is assuming we can trust what Lopmon said though."

"Yeah, as unlikely as it sounds, it makes the most sense." Takuya admitted. "I can understand not trusting Lopmon, but it's the only thing we have to go on right now."

Koji groaned. "But if this is indeed true, then that means even now, after all this time, Lucemon is still haunting us to this very day, and out here in the real world!"

Takuya nodded. "I know. But we can't help it. If Lucemon is still indeed around, we need to be ready to fight back." He then sighed. "I was hoping to forget about Lucemon once and for all, but apparently that isn't happening now…"

"Let's just focus on one problem at a time," Koichi spoke up. "We'll have to find a way to purify Seraphimon, but from what I heard, you said he's partners with someone?"

Takuya nodded. "Yeah… He is…" Takuya trailed off here, unsure of how to explain the situation with Seraphimon's human partner.

Meanwhile Dorumon, having digivolved into his rookie form to help out Lopmon, was travelling through Amity Park with Lopmon. Lopmon had seen quite a bit of Amity Park already on his first time here.

"Trying to find a Doggymon in this city is like trying to find a needle in a haystack…" Dorumon grumbled.

"Don't remind me…" Lopmon agreed. "It doesn't help Doggymon can hide almost anywhere due to his rubbery body either."

"As pure Digimon, we do have better ways to track other Digimon, but with how big this place is, it's really hard to pick up his scent anywhere," Dorumon sighed. "Is he even in Amity Park anymore?"

"Maybe Doggymon is laying low in one place for a while on the outskirts." Lopmon suggested.

"Then… I guess we should try to think like Doggymon," Dorumon decided. "Now, if I was a Doggymon, where would I go to hide for a while?"

Lopmon furrowed his eyes slightly. "Maybe a dumpster? Or some kind of old building? I'm just throwing ideas out here."

"From what I've seen, Doggymon is a snickering troublemaker who likes to run away a lot," Dorumon remarked, and he tried to stretch out his body like it was made of rubber. "Hmmm… ah, I know of a possible place."

Dorumon started running in one direction and Lopmon quickly ran after him.

"Slow down a little, would you? My legs are really short in this form!" Lopmon called out.

"Sorry!" Dorumon apologized as he slowed down a bit for Lopmon to catch up.

The two of them began approaching the Nasty Burger restaurant.

"You… really think he would be here? Or are you just hungry?" Lopmon deadpanned.

"Well, if I was a mischievous, rubbery dog Digimon, I'd like to come here and hang out in hopes that humans would leave some scraps for me, or I'd try to steal some of their food in the kitchen," Dorumon pointed out.

Lopmon had to admit, that did sound like something a Doggymon would do. "That does make sense when I think about it…"

Dorumon and Lopmon began walking closer to the Nasty Burger, when suddenly both of them stopped. Dorumon's fur bristled and Lopmon's ears went up. They sensed another Digimon nearby.

"Do you sense that?" Lopmon asked as he looked around. "Is it Doggymon?"

"No, it feels stronger," Dorumon hissed.

Then a strange looking human came walking out of the Nasty Burger. The 'human' appeared to be quite chubby, and wore blue pants, they had oversized shoes on their feet, a thick coat covering their body, and really big, and thick gloves covering their hands. They also wore sunglasses, and a big hat over their head.

"Is that a human?" Lopmon frowned. "Normally we can't sense humans… Uh… Can we?"

"I… don't think that's a human, Lopmon," Dorumon stated. "It's definitely a Digimon. Can't you feel the data?"

Dorumon's forehead gem glowed slightly.

Lopmon did feel the data. It also felt familiar… His facial fur went slightly pale. "Oh no…"

The 'human' stopped when they saw the two Digimon. "You!"

Lopmon backed away as Dorumon frowned.

The 'human' started running towards them. Lopmon yelped as he turned and ran, Dorumon, seeing this, turned to Lopmon before running after him, then he picked up the little rabbit and started moving quickly. The Digimon ran after them, holding out his huge gloves for some reason.

"Come back here!" The Digimon demanded.

"What's with that Digimon?" Dorumon asked as he looked at Lopmon. "Why are they chasing you?"

"It's Gargomon! He was one of my soldiers when I was Cherubimon, and he's been hunting me since I got here for some reason!" Lopmon answered.

Dorumon frowned at hearing that. "That isn't good. I think we need to lose Gargomon before we get the attention of the humans. I think a few are getting curious now."

"Head for the outskirts!" Lopmon quickly said.

Dorumon ran and kept running, trying to get out of the city.

"Why isn't he shooting at us? He's usually trigger happy with his hand guns," Lopmon questioned, seeing how Gargomon had been chasing them, but not shooting at them. "Surely those gloves aren't somehow holding his bullets back."

"I don't know, but I have a theory that he doesn't want to expose himself to the humans here." Dorumon pointed out.

"But why…? Why does he care if he exposes himself?" Lopmon wondered.

"Ask him when we get to the outskirts," Dorumon replied.

The Digimon finally made it to the outskirts of the city. Dorumon stopped running and turned to face Gargomon, who yanked off all his clothing, including his gloves, revealing his true self, though he kept his pants on.

"Finally…" Gargomon panted.

Lopmon frowned when he noticed a few wounds on Gargomon's body.

"What's going on? Why are you chasing Lopmon?" Dorumon asked, only to pause when he noticed the wounds himself.

"You may not know this, young Digimon, but that Lopmon is one of the three Celestial Digimon from the Digital World, and he is corrupted. He came here to try to rule or destroy the human world, and I'm here to stop him," Gargomon announced.

"What?" Dorumon frowned. "Lopmon isn't corrupted!"

"He speaks the truth!" Lopmon added. "I haven't been corrupted since I was reborn from my Digi-Egg!"

"Lies! You are just trying to trick me!" Gargomon snapped before holding out his hand guns.

"Stop! Calm down, we can talk this out," Dorumon quickly said. "Why are you so sure that Lopmon is corrupted?"

Lopmon looked at Gargomon, trying to not show any fear.

"Because from my perspective, you're just chasing after a friend of mine," Dorumon added.

"You shouldn't fall for Cherubimon's tricks." Gargomon frowned. "As for how I know, that's classified."

Dorumon just got into a fighting stance in case things went south. "Well, as far as I know, Lopmon has been nothing but helpful to me, my partner, and his partner."

"What? A partner? Your partner, what? What do you mean by 'partner?" Gargomon asked, confused.

Dorumon blinked. "I have a human partner. We work together and help each other. I can even digivolve with the help of my partner."

"Not every Digimon know about human partners, in fact, it's a very rare knowledge. I only knew about it because I'm a Celestial Digimon, and I saw you and your partner," Lopmon explained.

Dorumon frowned, but did nod in understanding.

"A human partner…? You can have a human partner?" Gargomon looked surprised before shaking his head. "No, I can't let myself get swept up by Cherubimon's brainwashing."

"Would I even be capable of brainwashing as how I am now, Gargomon?" Lopmon questioned. "What happened to you, Gargomon? Why do I see bits of wounds on you?"

Dorumon frowned again. I noticed that too. "Did someone attack you?"

Gargomon flinched away. "That's none of your business!"

Gargomon held out his hand guns. Dorumon and Lopmon braced themselves for a fight. Gargomon stared at them for a moment. Gargomon shook his head before he began firing laser bullets at the two Digimon.

Dorumon and Lopmon jumped away from the attack. Dorumon shot out his Metal Cannon at Gargomon's face, but the bullets destroyed the Metal Cannon. Dorumon frowned before he jumped again, using his little wings to hover over Gargomon.

Lopmon drifted behind Gargomon using his ears for lift, keeping him in sight. He took a deep breath and let out his Blazing Ice at Gargomon's back. With the two Rookies working together, the one Champion was having difficulty keeping up with them, and his old wounds weren't helping. Gargomon then began to fire around wildly, his laser bullets hitting the trees, bushes, and whatever else was around him.

Dorumon dropped himself from the sky and landed on Gargomon's head, blinding his eyes with his claws. Gargomon began to flail around, using up more of his bullets. Lopmon spun himself around, using Tiny Twister to try to redirect as many bullets as he could away from them, though Lopmon did get hit by a few bullets and hissed in pain as he fell to the ground. Gargomon's hand guns finally stopped firing bullets, he had run out of ammo.

When Dorumon saw that Gargomon ran out of bullets, he jumped off of Gargomon. "Did you get that out of your system?"

Lopmon landed as well, panting slightly. "I hope you aren't willing to fight anymore."

"I'm not done yet! I can still refill my ammo!" Gargomon snapped. "I can't stop until I either destroy Lopmon or take him into custody!"

Dorumon growled at hearing that. "So much for simply talking it out…"

Lopmon didn't like the sound of what he heard either. "I don't know if we can talk him out of this…"

Dorumon shook his head. "Gargomon, you need to stop and think. Even if Lopmon was at one point corrupted, you have no right to judge him as he is now and say he's corrupted. He's done no such thing to confirm what you think. If someone else is telling you he's corrupted, and if they're the ones giving you those wounds we saw, then maybe you should stop and consider who is truly the one lying to you."

Lopmon didn't say anything this time, but he hoped Gargomon would consider Dorumon's words.

Gargomon frowned, but he glared. "I have no reason to believe you either, Digimon."

"I'm Dorumon," Dorumon informed. "And I ask that you at least consider what I said before you attack us again."

Gargomon stood there for a moment before he backed away. "I'll watch and see what happens. If Lopmon gives me any reason to attack him, then I will."

Dorumon sighed. I guess that's the best we'll get from this situation… "Fine. That's acceptable at least."

Later, outside of school, during lunch

Dorumon and Lopmon decided to go back to Casper High to get something to eat. Lopmon wisely told Dorumon they wouldn't be able to fight much if they were running on empty. Dorumon full heartedly agreed, and the two Digimon went back. Lopmon easily slipped into the school to find Jazz, but Dorumon had to wait outside since he was too big, and other people would easily see him and freak out.

When Andy, Danny, and Sam came outside, Andy degenerated Dorumon back into Dorimon before carrying him with them. Andy did bring out some food from the cafeteria to feed Dorimon while he was talking to Danny and Sam.

"What do you mean you lost Valerie?" Sam asked.

"I mean she went to the girl's bathroom and never came back out," Andy grumbled. "That's why I asked you to check if she was still there, and you told me she wasn't!"

Sam held up her hands. "Calm down, Andy! I had no idea she would give any of us the slip either. She can't have gotten too far."

Danny was groaning as he landed beside Sam and Andy on the small hill they were on, he was currently in ghost form. "Guess what? Cujo got out of the Ghost Zone again! This is one bad dog, no matter how many times I toss him into the Ghost Zone, he digs his way out and he comes back to me!"

Sam groaned. "Great… We lost Valerie, and we have a ghost dog that won't stay away from the only other ghost in the area…"

Andy groaned, rubbing the side of his head for a moment. "Okay, let's take this one step at a time. We don't know where Valerie is, but we might be able to do something about Cujo."

"But how? Train him?" Danny grumbled. "He's a ghost dog!"

"Ghost dog or not, he's still a dog, right?" Sam asked. "I mean from what you told me, he acts very much like any other dog."

"He might already be trained," Andy spoke up. "Remember that collar we saw on him? He likely belonged to somebody in life, and that A symbol on his tag looked familiar, didn't it?"

Danny frowned here. "Now that I think about it, yeah, it does look familiar." Danny's eyes then widened a bit. "Like the A for Axion Labs…"

Danny remembered hearing Damon's boss talking about how they got rid of guard dogs before due to their new security system.

"So maybe it's possible whatever Cujo's looking for might be at Axion Labs," Andy theorized. "But before we can find out what it is, we'll have to call for him to come to us. Once we find the thing Cujo's looking for, he'll probably finally leave us alone."

"Yeah, probably." Danny agreed. He then looked at Sam. "Do you have anything that could help us with getting Cujo to obey us, like a book for dog obedience?"

"I doubt I have anything that'll have that dog obey us, but…" Sam dug out a book from her bookbag. "I was looking into dog obedience in case it might help us with your dog problems. I wasn't sure how well it would work on ghost or Digimon dogs though."

Danny smiled. "Well, anything would be a big help, even if it is a long shot."

Sam tossed Danny the book, but instead of catching it, the book went through Danny's torso, which startled Andy.

"What the heck!?" Andy flinched.

Danny looked at Andy. "What, bro? I'm half ghost, what did you expect?"

Andy touched Danny's torso for a moment, which startled Danny himself. "You're freaking solid! How did that book go through you?"

"I… don't know myself…" Danny said with a sweat-drop running down the side of his head. Danny then picked up the book and began to look through it. "Now let's see what this book says."

"While you're doing that, I'm going to go over there and watch from afar," Sam spoke up.

"Why?" Dorimon asked, who was lying comfortably on Andy's head.

Sam gestured to Danny. "For one, I can't be seen hanging out with a ghost kid. And another, I would rather not get caught up in a dog fight without proper equipment."

"Oh, but it's absolutely alright for people to see me hanging out with a ghost kid?" Andy raised an eyebrow.

"Well, one, you're a Fenton." Sam pointed out. "And two, I am not."

Dorimon giggled at Sam's remark.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Andy pouted.

"Hello? You come from a family of ghost hunters, maybe you could pull a 'How To Train Your Dragon' and say you're trying to befriend a ghost instead of fighting it," Sam shrugged.

Danny snickered a little as Andy just stared.

"So what? Am I supposed to pet Danny now?" Andy sarcastically remarked.

Dorimon just lost it and fell off of Andy's head, laughing like a hyena now and rolling around on the ground.

"Yeah, you know what? I'm leaving you guys alone now," Sam rolled her eyes, though she was trying hard not to snicker as she walked off of the hill.

Andy looked down at Dorimon while Danny, trying hard not to blush from Andy's petting comment, was studying the book. Andy bent down and picked up the laughing Digimon.

"Okay, that's enough out of you," Andy grumbled.

Dorimon calmed down, but he still grinned at Andy, although his slight shaking said he still wanted to laugh but was trying to be respectful to Andy and not laugh.

"You have to admit, that was pretty funny bro, though did you have to make that pet comment?" Danny asked, looking up from the book.

"Enough about that already," Andy huffed. "What does the book say?"

Danny flipped back to the beginning chapter. "Well, to start, it says a dog's hearing is much more acute than a human's, not that it's that much of an unknown."

"I think my ears are more acute than a human's," Dorimon remarked. "So I guess if I was far away, you could whistle and I would hear you."

Danny gave a chuckle. "Are you sure it's not because you look like a puppy?"

"I'm not a puppy!" Dorimon huffed.

"You know, you still haven't told us what you and Lopmon found while you were out in the city," Andy spoke up.

"Well… I wanted to wait until Lopmon and Jazz are with us before we say anything," Dorimon explained. "It seems to mostly involve Lopmon anyways."

Danny nodded. "Okay, we can talk after school about it."

"For now, perhaps you could try whistling and see if that gets Cujo running," Andy suggested.

Dorimon quickly curled up and used his little stubs to try to cover his ears.

Danny then whistled loudly, and as he had hoped, barking from in the distance was heard as Cujo came running towards them, in his small puppy form of course.

"Now listen carefully, Dorimon, do not, and I repeat, do not scare off Cujo, we need him with us if we're going to find out what Cujo is looking for," Andy warned his partner.

Dorimon frowned, but nodded. "I will not scare him off… much."

Andy rolled his eyes and flicked the little Digimon's forehead. Then he frowned as he suddenly had the feeling like someone was watching them.

"Do you… think we're being watched? By someone other than Sam, I mean?" Andy asked Danny quietly as he cautiously looked around.

Danny looked back. "I'm not getting that feeling. Why? Are you?"

"Maybe I'm just paranoid." Andy frowned. "By the way, you should probably find a way to get Cujo to stop before he pounces on you."

Danny nodded. "Right." He looked at the book. "Hand signals and vocal commands are a powerful combination." Danny then looked up and held out a hand in the 'stop' command. "STOP!"

As if on cue, Cujo came to a stop, panting as he looked up at Danny.

Danny blinked. "So you might be right, Cujo is likely already trained."

"Yeah, we should take a closer look at the collar. It might be Axion Labs, but I want to make sure before we go barging into a government facility," Andy said.

Cujo was smiling as he wagged his tail, and looked like he was about to jump at one of the brothers, but he stopped when he saw Dorimon looking at him from Andy's head, as if saying 'I'd like to see you try, pup.'

Cujo backed down from his attempt to jump on one of the twins, but he continued to look at Danny happily, wagging his small tail. Since Danny didn't have a protective Digimon on him, however, he decided to jump on Danny. Danny let out a small yelp as Cujo pushed him down the hill.

"Danny? Are you okay?" Andy called when Danny was at the base of the hill.

Danny looked up with a chuckle. "Yeah. I'm fine. Cujo's just excitable it seems."

Then, as if something was waiting for Danny to have moved away from Andy, a red and silver missile went flying past Andy and Dorimon, and was going straight for Danny and Cujo.

"What the!?" Andy yelped in shock at the missile that suddenly went past him.

Danny looked up, only to see the missile and his eyes went wide before he grabbed Cujo and jumped away, landing on the ground away from the missile's explosion.

As soon as the missile had exploded, it left a rather large crater on the ground. Alarmed, Andy looked back to see who shot that missile.

"Look! Above you!" Dorimon warned.

Andy looked up, and was surprised to see a… disturbingly familiar figure. A person wearing a red suit with a full mask over their head, concealing their identity, riding on a metallic hoverboard, flew down. Whoever was in the suit, however, did have a small problem keeping their balance on the hoverboard.

"What the? Who are you?" Andy demanded. This… red suit person… didn't I daydream about them the other day? I didn't think they were real!

The red suited person looked down at Andy and Dorimon, but then seemingly ignored the duo to focus on Danny instead. Danny, who had put Cujo down after the missile explosion, floated closer to the crater, but stopped when he saw the red suited person.

"Hey, what the heck was that for!?" Danny demanded.

"For ruining my life, ghost! You and your ghost mutt!" The red suited person growled back.

Andy blinked, recognizing that voice. No way… is that Valerie?

Danny likely recognized the voice too, and frowned. Oh-no… I knew she would try to use those weapons Vlad sent her, but I didn't think it would be so soon. I thought she'd at least try to get some practice in, preferably after Cujo stopped coming here!

The red suited person, Valerie, let loose another missile at Danny, who flew away to dodge the explosion. Andy frowned as he tried to run after them, but there was no way in all of the Infinite Realms that he would be able to keep up with them on foot, and he couldn't just turn Dorimon into a giant fox dragon in public.

Dorimon looked down at Andy. "What do we do?"

"Who was that?" Sam spoke up, running over to Andy and Dorimon.

"I think it's Valerie." Andy frowned. "I knew I should've kept a closer eye on her!"

Sam blinked. "Hold on, that was Valerie?! How did she get ghost hunting weapons?!"

"Danny said that Vlad likely sent her those weapons, he saw Vlad looking through Valerie's window when he went to see if Valerie was doing alright. But we don't know why Vlad would send Valerie ghost weapons," Andy explained.

Sam frowned. "Wow. Vlad is definitely nuts if he sends a teenager ghost hunting weapons."

"He is nuts, in more ways than one," Andy groaned.

"What are we supposed to do?" Dorimon spoke up. "Just stand here and watch?"

Andy noticed Cujo was still there, looking confused and worried at Danny.

"I've got an idea," Andy quickly slid down the hill and went over to Cujo. "Hey Cujo, you see that ghost boy?"

Cujo blinked before smiling at Andy.

"Fetch him," Andy commanded.

Cujo looked at Danny, only to see someone attacking him. Cujo began to growl as he then turned into his large dog form and ran over towards Danny and his attacker, barking all the while.

Cujo grabbed onto Danny's leg, dragging him away from Valerie, who gave chase on her hoverboard. Though Valerie came close to falling off of her hoverboard.

"Bring him back here, boy!" Andy called to Cujo, whose ears perked up, and started running in their direction.

Andy then grabbed Sam's arm and began running towards some bushes. "Hurry, hide! We have to make sure Cujo and Danny get out of sight!"

Sam gave a yelp when Andy grabbed her arm, but nodded when she heard his comment. "Okay."

Cujo raced towards Andy, Sam, and Dorimon with Danny in tow. Danny was yelping along the way, he was not enjoying being dragged around everywhere by a giant ghost dog, with a hunter who might be his classmate shooting at him the entire way.

When this is over, I am so getting back at you, bro! Danny thought as he bumped his head on the ground a few times due to being pulled along like a chew toy.

When Andy and Sam jumped into the biggest bush they could find, Cujo jumped in after them, finally letting go of the ghost boy, who looked a little worse for wear after being dragged through the ground, and several smaller bushes.

"We need to get Cujo out of here, or shrink him down and hide him! We have about twelve seconds before Valerie gets here!" Andy hissed.

Cujo shrank down into his puppy form, happy he had done a good deed for the boy, only for Danny to grab Cujo and turn invisible with Cujo in his arms.

"No, don't turn invisible!" Andy suddenly spoke up in alarm. "Change back!"

"There's no time!" Sam yelped before she tackled Danny.

Dorimon tackled Cujo around the same time in a panic, pushing them both a little further away.

Valerie came flying in, holding out her bazooka, only to see Sam was on top of Danny Fenton, kissing him, and a very surprised and confused Andy watching them.

"Ugh… Loser love! I did not need to see that!" Valerie exclaimed before flying off, leaving behind some heavy winds as she did so, completely missing Cujo and Dorimon, who were in another bush.

With Valerie gone, Andy stared at his brother and Sam, as if trying to decide whether or not this was a dream, because he really couldn't tell at that moment.

"What?" Sam asked as she looked back at Andy. "It was the only thing I could think of!" However, she was blushing slightly at what she had just done.

Danny looked like he was smiling dreamily however.

Sam noticed Danny's look. "Um… Danny? Danny!"

Danny looked over at Sam. "What?"

"You didn't think that was a real kiss, did you?" Sam asked, nervous now.

Danny tried to hide his blushing. "What? No!" He looked unsure himself. "Why? Did you, Sam?"

Sam bit her bottom lip, looking very sheepish.

Andy still hadn't quite snapped out of his shocked trance.

Sam looked back at Andy. "Um… Andy? Are you okay?"

Andy blinked, and then started to laugh a little hysterically. "I knew it! I'm dreaming!"

"What? Dreaming about what?" Danny asked his brother, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey!" Dorimon shouted, getting everyone's attention, he was dragging puppy Cujo with his teeth. "What are we going to do with this dog?"

Andy groaned as he wiped his face, still trying to come to terms with what just happened. "Valerie became a ghost huntress, Danny and Sam kissed, and I'm hiding in a bush with a talking creature carrying a ghost dog in its mouth."

"Don't mind him, Dorimon, I think he's in shock right now," Sam assured the little Digimon.

Danny looked at Andy. "Bro, that wasn't a real kiss. Just calm down."

"Oh sure it wasn't a real kiss, because when two people smack their lips together willingly, then it totally isn't a real kiss," Andy sarcastically replied.

"I had to think fast to get Danny to change back!" Sam defended.

"And I wasn't really enjoying that!" Danny added.

"Oh yeah, your dreamy smile earlier totally screamed you not enjoying that," Andy pointed out.

Danny went redder than a tomato at that comment. "ANDY!"

"Hey! I know you three are having a bit of a lover's quarrel, but can we please focus on this dog?! Its ectoplasm is nasty," Dorimon grumbled.

Danny looked down at Dorimon. "Sorry, Dorimon. We should get Cujo out of here." Danny reached down and picked up Cujo.

"We don't have a lot of time before lunch break is over," Sam spoke up. "We'll have to hide Cujo until school is out for the day, then we can figure out what Cujo is looking for."

"Toy!" Cujo barked, and only Danny heard the word.

"Did you just say 'toy'?" Danny asked as he eyed Cujo.

"That's right, you did say you could understand Cujo's barks," Andy remembered.

"Yeah, but I can't really have a conversation with him," Danny reminded. "All I know is that he's apparently looking for a toy, which doesn't really narrow it down."

Sam sighed. "Well, we can get to the bottom of this after school."

"Yeah, but where are we going to hide Cujo?" Danny asked as he held up Cujo.

Andy looked at Danny's purple backpack. "Put Cujo in there. As long as Cujo doesn't try to get out or turn big, he should be fine hiding in there until school lets out. Dorimon always seemed pretty snug in my backpack."

Danny nodded. "Sure, bro." He opened up the backpack and set Cujo inside it. Cujo barked happily before snuggling up in the backpack, looking quite content.

"Now we just gotta hope Valerie's ghost gadgets doesn't detect him," Andy muttered.

"I think as long as Cujo remains small and far away from Valerie, whatever ghost tracking device Valerie may have won't alert her to him," Danny said. "After all, I had to be really close to Cujo when he's a puppy for me to sense him."

Sam nodded. "I think that makes sense." She then gave a smile at the now sleepy-looking Cujo. "And I think we won't have a problem with Cujo for now. He looks like he wants to sleep in your backpack, Danny."

"What? Do ghosts sleep?" Dorimon asked, confused.

"I… have no idea…" Danny admitted. "I mean I sleep, but I'm half human too, so I wasn't really sure if full ghosts could sleep."

"Maybe they go into stasis, which is a type of sleep for ghosts, helps them recharge themselves," Andy theorized. "We can look into it later, we better get back to school before the late bell rings."

Danny and Sam nodded as Danny picked up his backpack. "Okay, let's go then." Danny said.

Andy picked up Dorimon and put him back into his own backpack and followed Danny and Sam back towards Casper High.

Danny, Sam, and Andy just told Tucker about the incident, and why Danny currently had a ghost puppy in his backpack.

"Wait, you two actually kissed?" Tucker asked in surprise.

"Oh yes, they definitely kissed," Andy confirmed.

"No!" Danny and Sam countered at the same time. "It was a Fake-Out Make-Out!"

Tucker snickered at their reaction.

"A fake out make out where you two were literally smacking lips with each other," Andy replied. "Maybe we should make it official~"

"Oh yeah, I always knew this day would come!" Tucker smirked.

Danny blushed. "ANDY!"

"It's not funny!" Sam added. "It was the only plan I had!"

"Really? Why was your only plan to save Danny was to tackle him down and kiss him?" Andy questioned.

"I couldn't think of anything else!" Sam exclaimed, feeling embarrassed now. "We had only seconds to come up with something!"

"And the first thing that came to your mind was to kiss him," Andy concluded. "You know, that alone already speaks volumes of what you think when it comes to my brother."

Danny and Sam were blushing so hard that their faces resembled tomatoes.

However, before Tucker could add on to that, Danny and Sam were saved from further humiliation when Tucker ran into Valerie, who dropped a few books when Tucker ran into her.

"Uh… Hi." Tucker said as he turned around to face Valerie. "Um… Let me help you with those." He knelt down and began to help her pick up her books.

Danny, seeing Valerie, decided to walk away since he didn't want to risk her picking up on Cujo. Sam followed him since she wasn't in the mood to deal with Valerie herself.

Andy, seeing Valerie was a friend, even if she wasn't a close one, decided to help pick up the books too, he doubted her ghost hunting equipment would pick up on Digimon.

"Ghost Hunter's Almanac?" Tucker read one of the titles of the books he picked up.

"Ghost Killing for Dimwits?" Andy read the other he picked up. "I didn't even know they had a book like that for ghosts… Also, killing? Seems a bit odd to use for ghosts."

"Um… I can explain…" Valerie stammered out.

"When did you get so interested in ghosts?" Tucker asked.

Valerie frowned before she took her books back. "Oh, let me think… when they ruined my life."

"Valerie, I'm worried about you," Andy said. "I know you're going through some hard times, but trying to… um… find satisfaction in how to 'kill' ghosts isn't going to help make your situation any better."

"Why shouldn't it?" Valerie shot back. "I lost a lot because of those two ghosts! My dad lost his job, we're living pretty much with the rats, and I've been kicked out of my circle!"

"Like I said, those people weren't your friends in the first place. You can have real friends who actually care about you, and will try to support you through these hard times," Andy stated. "It really sucks that your dad lost his job, but life happens, even if ghosts were responsible, that doesn't mean he couldn't have gotten fired some other way if his boss was being that unreasonable about it! Besides, you might start getting the idea in your head to actually try to go after those ghosts yourself if you keep reading books like that, and keep thinking the ghosts ruined your life. That's dangerous, Valerie, it's a dangerous mindset to have, and it's not healthy."

"Dude, you sounded way too much like your sister there," Tucker said to Andy, and Andy elbowed him in the side, indicating that now was not the time for such comments.

"Even so, I still want to get back at those ghosts." Valerie said. "And your parents, being ghost hunters, might have the right idea on how to handle ghosts."

"My parents really aren't the best sources for this." Andy frowned. "I understand that you're angry, and you feel it's justice for destroying those ghosts, but think about it for a moment. The dog ghost was able to destroy the security system your dad made for Axion Labs, meaning they are powerful and dangerous, meaning even experienced ghost hunters would not take them lightly. And even if you did somehow manage to destroy the ghosts, what's that going to do for you? It's not going to get your dad's job back."

"Maybe not…" Valerie frowned. "But it will definitely feel good to get some justice."

Andy frowned himself, he wasn't sure if he could reason with Valerie about this since she seemed pretty dead set on getting vengeance on his brother for something that wasn't even his fault.

Tucker looked between his friend and Valerie nervously. He had to diffuse the tension somehow, but nothing was on his mind at the moment. What can I use to diffuse this tension?

Looking down, he saw the last book. "Myths and Ghosts? What's that one about?"

Valerie looked down at the book. "Oh… That one… It's about myths involving ghosts and other supposed ghostly beings. It looked interesting. I read it and realized I never knew there were other types of ghosts out there."

"Just the other day she didn't even know a ghost when she saw one…" Dorimon whispered.

"Studying ghosts is fine, I guess," Andy remarked hesitantly. "But don't do anything stupid, like actually trying to hunt them yourself. I don't want you to get hurt out there."

"I appreciate the worry, Andy, but I can take care of myself," Valerie argued back.

"If you can take care of yourself, then actually do that instead of obsessively trying to find ways to 'kill' ghosts," Andy said back.

Tucker looked between the two again before he grinned a bit. "If I didn't know any better, Andy, I would say you were concerned for Valerie~"

"Of course I'm concerned for Valerie," Andy grumbled. "I'd be a horrible person if I wasn't!"

"Well don't be concerned about me! I don't need you acting like a mother hen!" Valerie snapped.

"You obviously need a mother hen since you're thinking about putting your own life in danger because of some stupid grudge!" Andy snapped back.

"Will you two stop it and kiss already!?" Tucker spoke up.

That actually got the two to stop and stare at the African-American boy.

"W-what did you just say?" Valerie asked, feeling her face heating up for some reason.

"Look at the way you two are arguing, you sounded like a couple," Tucker replied.

Valerie wasn't sure how to respond to that at first. "A-Andy and I are not a couple!"

"Could've fooled me~" Tucker grinned, glad to see his tactic worked, they stopped yelling at each other in favor of defending themselves.

Or at least, that was what Tucker was hoping for. Andy, not appreciating getting the 'kiss' tease brought back to him, picked up Valerie's books, who blinked at him. Then Andy dropped the books on top of Tucker.

"Here, why don't you carry this for Valerie? You have quite a bit of a conversation to catch up on," Andy said before he started to walk away. "Have fun you two."

Dorimon, in Andy's backpack, was trying hard to keep his laughter contained. Andy has a crush~

Titanic X: ZAFT: You will have to see. Things will improve, but it won't be so easy.

Luna Lillyth: Andy: Yes, the dogs are quite annoying. Thanks for that pun, I'm sure someone enjoys it quite well.

ZAFT: But the pun fits, so no need to apologize. :3