DarkFoxKit: Hey! Hey, ZAFT! Have you heard? Have you heard about the Super Mario 3D All Stars coming out this month!?
ZAFT: No, not until you told me! XD
Andy: You haven't heard about that? It's the three Mario 3D games put into one game for the Switch. Kit here hasn't stopped shouting about it since she found out.
ZAFT: Blame me for not paying attention to gaming news. ^^' But that sounds fun! I should try to pick up a copy when I can before they get sold out!
Takuya: You guys get excited over the silliest of things.
Andy: You wouldn't understand, you're not much of a gamer, you're more of a sports guy.
Takuya: *pouts* Why couldn't any of you be more of a sports person?
DarkFoxKit: Because video games are actually fun?
ZAFT: Okay, no need to tease the hot-head here… ^^' Let's move onto the chapter please… Last thing we need is the A/Ns being set on fire… ^^'
Andy: Right… well don't worry, we've had plenty of experience with the ANs getting caught on fire.
ZAFT: I don't think I want to know… ^^'
Chapter 30: An Addicting Game
Andy and Danny had been on their computers all day. Ever since they bought the new version of Doomed, they couldn't put the game down. Takuya couldn't blame them though, he remembered how his twin cousins were big gamers even when they were kids. Tucker was a bigger gamer, but they could become just as addicted like he would when a new quality game would come out. There hadn't been any Digimon or ghost attacks in Amity Park lately either, and after everyone but Tucker pretty much failed that big test the other day, not to mention how exhausted they were after getting the Garurumon and Gururumon pack back home to the Digital World, Takuya figured they pretty much earned it.
Dorimon didn't mind it either. He loved watching Andy playing the game, and was rooting for him whenever he had to battle with another player. And as long as Andy remembered to feed him, Dorimon was content. Andy did make sure he remembered, since he didn't want to risk Dorimon snacking on his computer.
Takuya couldn't help but chuckle at remembering Dorimon munching on that lunch tray from school. Being a metal muncher seems to have Andy on his toes. He looked over at Andy and Danny playing Doomed. He wasn't much of a gamer himself, although he did play a few with his brother Shinya back home a few times.
Takuya saw another player getting shot from behind by a huge guy with black armor and a purple face with red eyes. He also had a black hair ponytail. The player was eliminated quite quickly. Though what surprised Takuya was the fact that the boys' avatars looked exactly like them, just in cyber armor. The customization was highly advanced it would seem.
Huh… I never knew Doomed had such advanced customization. Takuya noted. I wonder what else that game has.
"Who's that player? He seems good," Takuya asked.
"They call themselves Chaos," Andy answered. "They're probably one of the best players in the game."
"They've eliminated a lot of players, over 43 and counting by now, and the game came out just yesterday!" Danny added.
"Wow. I wouldn't want to mess with them." Takuya said as he eyed the image. "They sound like a very skilled player."
"Oh they are, and if we were going against her, we'd have our butts kicked too," Andy remarked.
"'Her'?" Takuya asked.
"Heh, you don't recognize Chaos, do you?" Danny chuckled.
Looking at Chaos's image again, Takuya blinked as he saw the familiar ponytail. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me… That's Sam?!"
"Yup. Sam is a really good gamer," Andy laughed. "She took Tucker by surprise when she kicked his butt in Mario Kart."
Takuya had to laugh at that. "Well, that should show him to never underestimate a girl!"
"I'd say girls are more dangerous than guys," Danny shivered. "I mean look at Jazz when she kicked that living turkey's butt when Mom and Dad brought it to life that one Christmas. And look at Ember, she technically got her goal in the end."
Andy then smirked. "Thankfully, I knew Chaos had to be Sam. The colors, the ponytail, the spiked armor, that screamed Sam. I recruited her into our party since I feel like it would be smarter to have a skilled player on our side than against us to try to gather all 7 keys. The keys are the big goal that every player is striving for."
"Oh? What are the keys for?" Takuya curiously questioned.
"The big goal in the game is to reach level 13, and collect the 7 silver keys to the Apocalypse," Danny informed. "Once you do that, you gain ultimate power and access to the world wide web! … In other words, likely cheats for the next installment of Doomed pretty much."
Takuya grinned. "Sounds tough. I can see why you asked Sam to help you."
"Yup," Andy agreed.
Chaos just threw a grenade into a building, causing it to explode. Wiping out a lot of players that chose to hide there. Chaos smirked before she walked over to Danny, Andy, and Tucker's avatar.
"Come on, I just cleared the area. The key should be close by," Chaos said in Sam's voice.
Danny grinned. "Thanks, Sam."
"Yeah, a job well done. You go ahead and get the key, I'll scout around for more players or loot," Andy typed.
"Tucker, you also make sure we don't get jumped. Try to gather up parts that were left in the carnage for upgrade purposes," Danny added, which Takuya assumed meant Danny was likely the leader of their group while Andy was the tactician. Tucker was likely the techie of the group, to upgrade weapons and armor while Sam was their powerhouse.
Takyua couldn't help but notice how well balanced the team was and it rather scared him how easily the boys were able to make such a fortified team with a game that was just released yesterday.
Wow… Danny and Andy really created a good team. I would hate to be on the receiving end of their power. It would probably be worse if they went rogue. That would be scary to see… Takuya thought with a bit of a shiver. Seeing them looting, checking for parts, and 'killing' other players so easily is unnerving to say the least...
"Got it," Sam answered.
"I read you loud and clear!" Tucker replied.
"I think they'll be the first players to get all 7 keys~" Dorimon smiled.
"If you add in that C-24 to the gun, you can give it more ammo," Terriermon said to Tucker, sitting on his desk.
"Who would have pegged you as a gamer?" Tucker chuckled as he looked at Terriermon.
When Tucker had brought Terriermon home with him the other day, Terriermon woke up shortly after, who seemed confused. Tucker explained to him what had happened, and the D-Arc. Tucker was worried that Terriermon would not like that he was now Tucker's partner, but Terriermon seemed fine with it, in fact, he never seemed happier. Terriermon acted like a plush toy whenever someone else, like his parents, came into his room. He didn't need to be in his In-Training form like Dorimon since he was already small enough to pass off as a plush toy. Terriermon was also into a lot of things Tucker was, which made it even better in Tucker's eyes. Terriermon watched Tucker playing Doomed and already figured out how the game worked.
"Well, there aren't these kinds of games in the Digital World, but we did have contests like these games. But this game is really advanced, I mean the customization is insane! But I like it, it looks fun to experiment with the parts you gathered and see what kinds of weapons or armor you could make. I noticed that the C-24 gives you more ammo, while C-39 gives you more power, but less ammo. You have to think about these things before putting it together. You're going to want more ammo than power in most cases though," Terriermon informed.
"You're more of a gaming geek than I am!" Tucker joked back.
Terriermon gave a smile. "I'm glad you think so!"
Sam liked playing with her friends. At first, she thought she was going to have to kick their butts a few times before they realized it was her, it would've been funny to see their reaction, but Andy already figured out who she was before she had a chance, and walked up to her, asking if she would join their party. Sam shrugged, she thought it would be more fun and efficient to work with them instead of alone. Though she was glad she did, the boys got things done. While she could take on players, she lacked tactics, and a way to track down the keys. A player could get the jump on her easily, it was only due to her heavy armor that her avatar didn't die so easily to these ambushes.
Ever since Sam joined the party, however, Andy pointed her in the right direction on how to handle the players, especially when there was a large group of them. It was his idea to throw a grenade into the big empty building that these players so foolishly gathered inside, thinking it would keep them safe. It definitely gave them a lot of loot and parts to collect though.
Unfortunately for Sam, her escapism into the virtual world with her friends was cut short when someone opened the door and walked into her room. It was a woman with poofy orange hair, teal eyes, and wore a rather poofy yet fancy pink dress, she also wore fancy gloves, as if she wanted people to know she was a 'princess'. Next to her was a man with bright blond hair, casmier shirt and khaki pants.
"Sam, how long are you going to be on that computer, young lady?" The woman, Pamela, asked.
"And what are you even playing? That game will not only rot your brain, but it will give you bad influences. You know how video games can make one violent, and that will not be tolerated in this family," The man, Jeremy, scolded.
"I think it would be for the best if we unplugged this computer until we can get you away from the addiction of that horrible game," Pamela stated.
Sam glared at her parents, feeling seething rage. But she didn't lash out, because yelling and protesting could only get her so far, and it would prove her parents 'right'. If only I had my own Digimon partner! Then I would have someone to complain to, and someone who could help me remain sane! My parents are just too overbearing! I can't stand it!
"Despite what you might think, Mom, Dad, video games don't make you violent, if anything it helps release stress so people wouldn't get as violent," Sam stated as calmly as possible.
"Well, if you need to release stress, it certainly wouldn't be through this violent game," Pamela responded before she pulled the plug from Sam's computer, shutting it down.
"Mom! I was in the middle of something with my friends!" Sam snapped, unable to stop the anger this time.
"You will be off this game until further notice, young lady." Pamela stated firmly as she gave Sam a glare.
"Listen to your mother, Sam. We've been trying to be patient with you, but not only did you fail the North Westeren Nine Testing, you skipped school and curfew to see that Ember concert. I thought we raised you better than that, young lady," Jeremy scolded.
Sam shook her head. "You two don't understand. You never do."
"Perhaps we should have you transfer to a more proper setting in a private school." Pamela thought. "Maybe that would break your rebellious streak you are having."
"Not to mention how your friends have been a bad influence on you, especially those Fenton kids," Jeremy added.
Sam's parents were lucky that Sam wasn't a ghost herself right now, because she would burn her parents with how much her eyes were on fire at this point. "My friends are my friends, Mom, Dad, they aren't a bad influence on me. Just because you don't agree with or like the Fentons, it doesn't mean they're bad for me. They don't hang out in gangs, they don't smoke or drink alcohol, they're not trying to tempt others to do something illegal. They're honest to goodness good people despite what you may think."
"For how long?" Pamela questioned.
"I can't believe you two! You're judging them without really getting to know them!" Sam snapped.
"Well, we certainly know bad influences when we see them." Pamela snorted.
"Or you imagine it," Sam hissed.
"No more of that tone, young lady, or you're going to be grounded," Jeremy threatened.
Any time I'm talking to you people, I already feel like I've been grounded! Sam inwardly growled.
"You better be studying, young lady, you have a lot of extra credit to do to make up for the test you failed," Pamela stated firmly.
"And we expect you to come down for a proper family dinner this time," Jeremy added before they left Sam's room.
Sam groaned before she threw herself to her bed, wanting to scream into her pillow. She used her cell phone to text Danny what happened before she actually did scream into her pillow. I wish I could vent to someone other than my Grandma. I wish I had someone to keep me company when my parents get like this… I wonder what it would've been like if I had my own Digimon partner… like how Andy has Dorimon, how Jazz has Lopmon, and… how Tucker has Terriermon now… is it possible for me to even get a Digimon partner though?
Sam felt like crying. Is it too much for my parents to treat me like a person…?
What Sam didn't notice was that her computer, despite being unplugged, went static for a moment. A silhouette was looking at her before the computer turned off again.
While it sucked that they lost their powerhouse due to Sam's parents being their overbearing selves, the boys continued on for a little while longer.
"Brutal that Sam's parents did that," Tucker commented.
"Yeah, well, I guess we should've expected that since we did fail the big test the other day, not to mention being taken home by the SWAT team didn't help any," Andy sighed.
"Well, you guys failed. I got a perfect score~" Tucker bragged.
Takuya grumbled, having heard Tucker's comment even though he was reading a book and not on the computer himself. He remembered that very well. And it doesn't help I failed it either...
"They really should've just postponed the test if everyone was going to fail because nobody could do the preparations they needed due to the… uh… 'big concert'," Danny grumbled.
"Hey, no one knew they would all fail." Takuya pointed out as he looked up from his book.
"Yes they did, considering Mr. Lancer had to bring in the SWAT team, and the parents called the school when their kids went 'missing' later that night," Danny groaned, remembering how their parents took it when they came back home that night after taking care of all the Digimon. It wasn't pretty.
"If they were smart, they should've realized none of their kids were ready for the North Westeren Nine test," Andy added with a grumble of his own.
"Are all humans always that dumb?" Dorimon asked.
Danny sighed. "No, not all the time, Dorimon."
"Though when it comes to parents and school… they can get pretty dumb," Andy muttered, most likely still bitter about the fact that they not only saved the world from what could've been a permanent mind control concert, but also stopped a war between two tribes, turned a would-be villanious ghost to good, and made sure everyone got home safely, yet in return, they got a lot of scolding and yelling from their parents, and a big fat F on an important test.
Dorimon shook his head, realizing his partner was still a bit bitter about what happened, not that he could blame him. They all worked hard to help people, and getting in trouble was the thanks they got. Granted nobody knew they helped people, but it still felt pretty unjust that they got punished for it.
Takuya sighed. "Well, I hope we don't have any more ghost or Digimon issues for a while. That last one was too intense to even think about now."
"You're telling me. It was just pure chaos," Danny sighed.
Andy looked at the time on the wall. "We should wrap things up. We need to get ready for a literature test tomorrow, and the last thing we need is to fail another test right now."
Takuya looked at Andy and Danny. "I think you should. It's been a long day, and I am not intending on failing that test myself."
"Yeah, you're right, it also isn't the same to go through the game without Sam anyways," Danny admitted. "We'll be wrapping up for the night, Tucker."
"Okay, I'll stay on a little longer. Terriermon and I have some ideas on making a new weapon and armor for later," Tucker commented back.
"You do that, but don't stay up too long," Andy typed. "Just because you passed that big test yesterday doesn't mean you're allowed to sleep through the next one."
"Yeah, you do have a point." Tucker typed back. "I won't stay up too long."
Meanwhile, Jazz and Lopmon were in the lab. Jack and Maddie were exhausted from scolding the boys yesterday for failing the North Western Nine tests, so they decided to go to bed early that night. Not only did one of them fail, but all three of them did. When Maddie questioned them why, their answer was honest; they snuck out to go to Ember's concert. That really didn't help. Though Jazz knew why they said what they said, they were all exhausted after getting the Garurumon and Gururumon pack on all those Trailmon the other night. None of them were thinking straight, not even Andy, who was usually good at coming up with plausible excuses. Even Jazz was feeling too exhausted to back them up. She was surprised none of them had passed out mid lecture.
But now, Jazz found herself in the empty lab, looking at each weapon her parents had made over the years. Lopmon was looking at her questionably.
"What are you looking for?" Lopmon asked.
"A weapon so I can defend myself." Jazz replied. "I mean, sure I have you as my partner, but I figured it would be best to have a weapon in case you get hurt and can't fight back in my defense. Besides, Andy arms himself with his own weapons as well. He's able to fight with Dorumon instead of just hiding while Dorumon does all the work."
"Hmm… well, I'll admit, it would be easier to know you're able to handle yourself in a fight," Lopmon stated. "But do you have any training?"
"Sort of. I am able to use basic karate if I need to," Jazz answered. "Though with ghost weapons… not yet. But if Andy was able to teach himself how to use the Fenton Rod and the Fenton Thermos, surely I can too. But I don't think the Fenton Rod is what I'm looking for."
"What kind of weapon are you looking for then?" Lopmon asked.
"Well, the Fenton Rod is kind of a necessity, so that is one weapon." Jazz admitted. "But something else too." Jazz then picked up what looked like a toy gun. "Like this. It's a long range weapon, apparently."
Jazz placed the gun down and then picked up what looked like a small hilt of some kind. "I wonder what this is." She pressed the button and out came a many tentacled grabber that had Jack Fenton's face in the center of it. The grabber shot out and hit the button on the side of the Ghost Portal, opening the door. Jazz's eyes went wide in shock and horror, Lopmon froze as well.
The Ghost Portal's doors opened, and suddenly a ghost came out of it, laughing. It looked like a middle aged man wearing a white lab coat, though he didn't have any feet, he just had a misty tail where his feet should be. He had that crazy Enstie-like white hair, and he was wearing sunglasses. He looked like a mad scientist now that Jazz looked at him.
"HAHAHA! Finally, I am free to use the technology to take over this world!" The ghost announced in a loud obnoxious voice.
"Wait… were you just waiting behind that portal until someone opened it up?" Jazz asked after getting over her initial shock.
Lopmon frowned. "That's… kind of anticlimactic, and weird…"
The mad scientist ghost frowned. "Do not question what I do in my spare time, human and digital being!"
"Wait…" Jazz frowned. "You're… that loud ghost who specializes in technology, aren't you?"
The mad scientist ghost laughed. "Indeed I am, child! I am Technus, Master of all things Mechanical, Manipulator of all Digital things!"
Lopmon was immediately on guard. "Careful, Jazz, Andy and Dorumon warned us about him! He's got powers that could mess with a Digimon's data!"
Jazz felt her face grow pale. "Uh oh…"
"Ahh, now you see how much of a threat that I, Technus, Master of all Technology, can be!" Technus proudly exclaimed. "Now, I will just-"
Technus was suddenly blasted by a ghost ray. Jazz and Lopmon looked up in surprise before seeing Danny, in his ghost form, floating down into the lab, looking rather peeved as his right gloved hand was glowing green. "Come on, I just got to sleep!"
"Danny!" Jazz exclaimed, glad to see her brother there. "Good timing!"
"Not really. Technus was just shouting so loud it woke me up," Danny grumbled. "But good to see you and Lopmon are okay."
"You are still here, ghost boy?" Technus frowned.
"I live here," Danny pointed out. "Why are you even in my house again?"
"This child released me into your world, ghost boy." Technus declared. "But you will not catch me! I will not let you!" With that, he turned intangible and flew through the ceiling of the lab.
"No, wait!" Danny called out. "Ugh!"
Danny turned intangible before flying through the ceiling to catch the mad scientist. However, when he flew up to his and Andy's room, he saw Technus looking curiously at Andy's computer. Andy had the game still on in case Tucker wanted to talk to them before he went to bed for the night. Andy and Dorimon were staring at Technus, clearly surprised to see the ghost there.
Dorimon was on guard, but he was more surprised at Technus's odd fixation on Doomed than worried about the ghost and what he could do to them.
"That world looks far more entertaining," Technus commented. "And the style is so sleek. Perhaps it should be there I take over!"
"Technus!? Why are you in our room!?" Andy yelled, still shocked to see the ghost.
"Your sister-" Technus began before Danny cleared his throat, interrupting the ghost's rant.
"Technus, we need to talk," Danny stated.
Technus turned to face Danny. "No, we are not, ghost boy. You will never catch me, the Master of all Technology and all things Mechanical!" With that, Technus turned intangible again and flew through the wall, escaping Danny.
"Darn it, Technus!" Danny snapped, frustrated that the ghost decided to run away.
Andy frowned.
"So… does this mean we have to track down Technus?" Dorimon asked.
"I hope not…" Danny groaned. "I was hoping to talk to him like we did Ember, but apparently he is not interested in remaining around for me to try it."
"I mean I guess it didn't help you did kick his butt before," Andy remarked.
Danny grumbled. "I have to go track him down. Last time I let him on the loose, he created a giant, robot death machine from our dad's yardsale junk."
Dorimon shivered. "He also made me feel sick…"
Andy sighed before looking up at the clock. "Well… it's only 10 PM right now. Maybe if we hurry, we can stop or talk to Technus, and get back home to get enough decent sleep to make it through school the next day."
"I hope you're right, Andy." Danny sighed before he yawned once. "I don't want to fail this literature test…"
"Should we get Takuya, Jazz, Tucker, and Sam to help us find him?" Andy asked. "It shouldn't be too hard to find him since he… kinda likes to announce where he is most of the time, whether through his voice or his powers."
Danny put a hand to his chin in thought. "Hmmm…" We could have the others help us, but there is the issue of Tucker and Jazz's Digimon partners, plus Takuya's own evolutions to consider. "We could, but if we do, Takuya can't be evolved, and Jazz and Tucker would have to be careful not to let their Digimon partners get caught up in an attack if Technus lashes out."
Andy frowned at that. "Perhaps we should just bring Sam then. She doesn't have a Digimon partner to worry about, and bringing only one Digimon to the battle is probably better since Technus will have fewer targets to hit. Besides, we'll need Takuya and Jazz to cover for us if Mom and Dad wake up while we're gone, and… I really don't feel like getting lectured again tonight."
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Danny said.
Sam was more than happy to leave her house when Danny and Andy called her to help them find Technus. She couldn't care less what her parents had to say about her leaving the house after 10 PM, she wanted to get away from them for a while, not to mention she needed to help her friends with a dangerous ghost on the loose.
"So where should we start our search for Technus?" Sam asked as she looked at the twins, she was currently on her moped.
"We're not sure yet. But last time Technus was here, he was using our dad's old junk to build a super robot, so logically speaking, we should be on the lookout for old garage sale stuff flying around," Danny answered, who was currently in his ghost form.
"I could also try to smell for him," Dorumon pointed at his nose, who was standing beside Andy.
Sam looked at Dorumon. "That would be better than relying on the garage sale thing, but either one works."
"We could split up while we look for him, we can cover more ground that way, and use the Fenton Earphones to keep in contact with each other," Andy suggested, holding out the Fenton Earphones.
Sam still had hers since the Ember incident.
"Sure." Sam replied. She pointed at her ears. "I kept mine, just in case."
"Smart." Danny smiled, though that made Sam blush a little for some reason.
"Danny and I can look in the skies, you can look around the ground," Andy spoke up, noticing the blush, but wanting them to keep focus on the task at hand.
"Sounds good." Sam agreed. "But what about Dorumon's evolution? Will you be able to keep out of sight while looking for Technus? I mean, Dorumon does become some kind of large dragon, right?"
"I think Amity Park's gotten used to giant flying monsters at this point," Andy chuckled sheepishly. "But don't worry, Dorugamon can blend in with the night sky pretty easily, and we'll be mostly checking around the more rural places, like the park."
Sam gave a nod. "Okay. I think that works out then."
"Besides, we're hoping Dorumon and Andy don't find Technus before we do, because Dorumon's vulnerable to Technus's attacks," Danny added. "Just remember though, no engaging with Technus until you call for us."
"Don't worry, bro, we'll be fine," Andy reassured. "Are you ready to fly, Dorumon?"
Dorumon smiled. "Yup!"
Andy held out his D-Arc, which began to glow on Dorumon.
"DIGIVOLUTION!"
Dorumon was surrounded by fractal code as he felt the energy of Andy's will fill him. His skin began to peel away from his face and head, then his stomach and his tail was last to lose the skin. But as he regained his skin, his claws and legs came back first, then his wings came back with skin, flaring open to reveal their larger size, his tail swung around once as it regained the skin, and then his head and face were last to regain their skin. When that was done, the Digimon landed, crying out his name. "Dorugamon!"
Sam had been watching in awe, while she had seen Dorugamon a few times before, it was her first time seeing the digivolution up close. It made her wonder if it was painful though, since the digivolution itself looked painful. Though Dorugamon didn't seem to be bothered by it now.
Andy got onto Dorugamon's back. "If none of us see Technus after about an hour, let's meet up at the park."
Sam nodded. "Okay. We can do that."
Danny nodded as well. "Okay. Just be careful guys."
With that said, Dorugamon flew up into the air, Danny going up in the air as well, though both of them headed in opposite directions. Sam watched them leave and sighed to herself for a moment. She was not jealous, she was just thinking how nice it would be to be able to fly as well.
Getting onto her moped, Sam headed off in another direction, away from Danny and Andy's directions. Her mind began to wander a bit, wondering what her own Digimon partner would look like, if she had one.
Hmm, maybe it would be a nice, dark bat-like Digimon… no wait, Takuya said that's what Vlad has… okay, maybe a black, goth-like cat then? Yeah, that seems pretty cool and fitting for me. I am a cat person after all. Sam smirked to herself.
"Guys! I can't believe you went on a ghost hunt without me!" Tucker's voice suddenly spoke up in the Fenton Earphones.
"Uh… how did you find out?" Danny's voice asked sheepishly.
"Terriermon said he felt Dorumon digivolving, that and I keep track of you guys with my PDA," Tucker answered.
Sam chuckled. "Well, can you keep us on track then? I don't want either of the twins getting side-tracked."
"When do we get side-tracked?" Andy's voice asked.
Sam was about to answer before Andy cut her off. "Don't answer that."
Sam frowned, but pushed it from her mind. She looked around for any sign of Technus; even a flying garage sale would be a good sign right about then. "I'm not seeing any sign of Technus so far."
"Tucker, you can help us try to find Technus, but don't engage with him, especially with Terriermon. Technus's abilities does something that makes a Digimon really sick," Andy warned.
"Don't worry! Terriermon and I will let the powerhouse handle him. But the objective is to find the big bad guy, then power him down to level 0!" Tucker replied in a nerdy way.
Sam felt a sweat-drop run down the side of her head. "Uh… Could you tone down the nerd talk? I don't want to hear it…"
"What? It helps with the tension while looking for Technus," Tucker grumbled.
"Still can't believe the developers still haven't patched that glitch. I mean if you get knocked into level 0, you're just stuck there. Even if you die and respawn, you can't get out. You'd have to create a new avatar from scratch," Danny grumbled.
Sam gave a cringe at that. "Yeah, that is a pretty bad glitch…"
"It's just one of those infamous glitches that they like hearing the gamers talk about. If they removed it, it would ruin the mystery and experience. Though it does suck if you do get knocked back into it and have to start from scratch," Andy chuckled.
Sam looked up for a moment and chuckled when she saw Danny walking on the side of a building. He was pretty far away, but she could see that white glow of his in the dark. It looked to be fun, being able to give gravity the middle finger.
"I can see your glow from where I am, Danny." Sam said with a bit of a teasing smirk. "You're lit up like a Christmas light."
Sam could see Danny had stopped walking on the side of the building and was standing there. "Uh…"
"I think you made him red now, Sam~" Tucker teased.
Sam went red herself. "I didn't need to hear that, Tuck!"
"Would you like to join Danny, Sam?~" Andy teased as well. "Maybe the reason why you can see him so easily is because his ghostly aura is a beacon for you."
"ANDY! Shut it!" Danny snapped.
Sam grumbled to herself, hearing the laughter of Tucker and Andy, before she stopped. "Hold it! I see a flying garage sale, heading towards the park."
"Seriously? The park?" Andy groaned. "Oh… I see it now too. Dorugamon and I are just above the park."
"Give me a minute, I'll be there soon," Danny spoke up.
Sam looked up from her moped, seeing the glowing green appliances moving into the park. She also saw something else moving in the sky. Sam had to squeeze her eyes to see it was Dorugamon. Andy wasn't kidding when he saw Dorugamon can blend in with the night sky pretty well.
Sam saw Dorugamon landing in some bushes and trees, likely to hide and observe until Danny got there. Sam parked her moped near the entrance before she hurried over to the bushes where she saw Dorugamon landing. She saw Andy there as well.
"Hey, glad you could make it," Andy chuckled.
Sam looked at Andy. "You weren't kidding when you said Dorugamon can blend in with the night sky. I could barely see him."
"It comes with being a naturally dark Digimon," Dorugamon whispered proudly.
Andy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, it comes in handy sometimes. Though in day time, not so much. Anyways, how long do you think it would take for Danny to get here-"
"I'm here," The boy himself spoke up as he landed between them.
Sam almost jumped. "Danny! Don't startle me like that!"
Danny sheepishly grinned. "Sorry about that, Sam, I didn't mean to startle you like that."
"Alright you two, we need to think of a plan on how we want to handle Technus," Andy spoke up.
They all looked over at Technus, seeing he was surrounding himself with the appliances he took from the town. "YES! Come to me, beautiful technology! And together, we shall build a new body worthy of my greatness!"
The three kids and Dorugamon watched in disbelief as Technus had the appliances turn into a giant mecha suit, though this mecha suit looked familiar.
The body of the suit was black with purple accents, spikes coming from the shoulder guards, spiked bands on the wrists, spiked bands around the knees, and the head had a ponytail sticking up from it. The face was that of Technus himself, but the body was definitely of Sam's avatar in Doomed, Chaos.
"Something sleek, stylish, and total modern. YEAH BABY!" Technus shouted.
"Hey! Did he rip off my avatar?!" Sam exclaimed.
"It's… kind of sad that he sounds like an old man trying desperately to be hip," Andy groaned.
Danny smacked his face with his hand. "Great… We have a ghost that wants to be 'hip', as he calls it."
"So what is the plan?" Dorugamon asked. "We could easily destroy that mech suit. It… looks really tasty actually…"
"No, Dorugamon, no eating a ghostly powered up mecha suit, that's probably bad for you," Andy scolded.
Dorugamon pouted. "Aww…"
Sam snickered. "You sounded like a pet owner just then, Andy."
"Dorugamon isn't a pet… but he is young," Andy remarked.
Danny rolled his eyes. "I'm going to try to talk to him, see if I can get him to stop trying to 'take over the world' and see if maybe he could do something productive with his powers instead of destructive."
Sam gave a thoughtful nod. "That sounds like a good idea." She then frowned a bit. "But what if he doesn't go for it? Not every ghost may be able to be reasoned with."
"Then we'll fight," Danny answered. "If he won't listen to reason, then he'll be too dangerous to keep around out here. You have the Fenton Thermos, bro?"
"Yeah," Andy answered, taking the Fenton Thermos out of his backpack. "And the Fenton Rod."
Sam nodded. "Okay, we have a plan, so let's put it into action."
"Wait, we need a backup plan in case Technus decides to fight," Andy spoke up. "Hmm, if he's going to play Doomed in real life, then so will we. Let's show him why the other players don't like running into us."
Sam gave a smirk here. "You mean trying a game strategy in real life? This should be good."
"You guys are going to do that without me!?" Tucker whined.
"We'll bring you back some of Technus's parts if you want to make a new ghost weapon or something, would that make you feel better?" Danny sighed.
Tucker's face wasn't seen, but he lit up like a Christmas tree at hearing that. "Yes! But make sure it has no ectoplasm on it this time please. I do not fancy having my stuff become his new body."
"Terriermon should be able to sense if there's any ectoplasm on the parts anyways," Dorugamon stated.
Andy nodded. "Alright, so if Technus does decide to fight back… and since Sam isn't as big of a powerhouse as her avatar, we'll have to change up how we'll approach the battle. Here's what we'll do…"
Technus was enjoying his new body. "Now, I shall start taking over the wor-"
"Hey!" Danny spoke up, flying up to the mecha Technus.
"You dare to interrupt me, ghost child?" Technus growled. "I will not let you stop me again!"
Technus took a tire out from his 'belt', and threw it at Danny. Danny quickly went intangible, making the tire go through him before he returned to solid matter. "Whoa there! I'm not here to fight, I just want to talk."
"Talk? Talk about what, ghost child?" Technus asked, a bit confused now. "What could you possibly want to talk to me, Technus, Master of all Technology, about?"
"I would like to ask you some questions actually, like… why do you want to take over the world?" Danny asked.
"Why wouldn't I? It's an every man's dream to take over the world, especially with technology!" Technus responded loudly.
"Is it?" Danny asked. "If that is the case, then why am I not trying to take over the world? I don't want to do that. I just want to help people."
"Well, I did say every MAN, you are only a child," Technus waved off. "Besides, with this style, I can do just about anything!"
"Is… this some kind of habit or game of yours?" Danny asked. "You could really hurt people with what you're doing."
"Hurt people? Please, all I'm doing is upgrading myself and using their technology for a greater purpose!" Technus announced. "They should be thanking me! And I will soon show them how hip and cool their new ruler will be!"
Danny frowned at hearing that. "But people won't be thanking you if you keep hurting them. They will instead fear you, not respect you."
Technus frowned and actually paused at that. Then he looked at Danny. "Wait, you're just trying to talk me out of this so you could win again. Well not this time, ghost boy! This time, I will be the winner!"
Danny backed up. "Whoa! Just settle down, Technus! I'm not trying to trick you out of your- OOF!"
Danny was interrupted by a smack by Technus's giant metal hand. This caused Danny to fall into a tree before falling down in front of Sam and Andy.
"Looks like he decided to make the first hit," Sam stated. "Do you want to keep talking to him or should we strike now?"
Danny frowned, he wasn't too happy with being hit like that. "We'll fight him for now. Then we'll talk to him when he's in a controlled environment. He won't listen as he is now, he's too hyped up on power."
Sam frowned before she sighed. "So much for trying to reason with him."
"As you said, not every ghost can be reasoned with. Technus we might be able to, but he needs to be knocked down a peg or two first," Andy said. "Alright, let's go with Plan B then. Dorugamon?"
"Yup," Dorugamon lowered himself before Andy got onto his back.
"Advanced Battle Mode with an Intangibility Bonus," Danny smiled. "Ready Sam?"
Sam smirked. "You know I am, Danny."
Sam got on her moped and started it up like a motorcycle, then she floored it towards Technus.
Danny flew down and grabbed Sam's shoulders, turning her and her moped intangible as soon as he did the same for himself. Technus, seeing them, tried to shoot them with his ghost ray, which went through them.
"Now this is more thrilling than the Gauntlet of Doom at level 9…" Sam then frowned. "Oh jeez, Tucker's nerd talk is rubbing off on me."
Danny couldn't help but laugh as he accidentally let go of their intangibility, which was enough for Technus to fire another ghost ray at them, but it ended up hitting Sam's back wheel.
"Crap!" Sam exclaimed as she saw the back tire blow out. "My back tire is gone!"
The moped was now useless, Danny frowned, before looking back and seeing Technus firing his eye lasers at them. Danny gasped, realizing the purple hue on it was likely going to hit them even if they were intangible. A strong instinct to protect Sam overcame him, and Danny's hands glowed green before he raised them up, creating an ecto shield in front of him and Sam.
The eye lasers bounced off the shield and away from the two of them, back towards Technus. Technus tried to go intangible, but as Danny suspected, the lasers hit Technus anyways. Technus hissed at that, but his suit was still fine.
"Whoa! How'd I do that?" Danny asked, looking at his glowing gloved hands.
"Nice try, ghost child, but it's going to take more than that to stop me!" Technus shouted.
Above Technus, there was a whistling noise. Dorugamon was diving towards him from the sky, though he appeared to have something in his mouth already.
Technus looked up upon hearing the whistling noise, but he couldn't see where it was coming from very well, even with his ghostly eyesight. Though he did see something red and yellow glowing that was rapidly coming at him.
"Eh? What's that?" Technus questioned.
"Fire!" Andy yelled.
Dorugamon shot out what appeared to be a smaller than usual Cannonball attack, however, Danny noticed, just barely, there was a small piece of paper stuck to it. As soon as the small Cannonball hit Technus in the chest, Dorugamon's forehead gem flashed for a split second just before the Cannonball exploded, sending out a purple shockwave.
Pieces of Technus's body were thrown apart by the explosion and they fell to the ground, some parts landing in trees, a few crushing benches, and one part even landed in the fountain, throwing water everywhere with the resulting splash. Last, but not least, was Technus's head, or what was left of it, landing near Danny and Sam. The head had holes and wires sticking out of it, Technus was clearly not in it anymore.
Sam looked at the head. "Wow. That was some explosion."
"Bro, I think you have a problem. I mean that explosion was quite violent, I thought we were going to capture Technus, not blow him up," Danny pointed out when Dorugamon landed.
"Ah… well…" Andy sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, maybe I got a little carried away. I think my mindset is used to going in for the kill rather than trying to capture a player alive."
Sam rolled her eyes. "Does every guy like to blow stuff up?"
"You have to admit that it was effective at least," Dorugamon stated before he started taking a bite out of Technus's head.
"Dorugamon! I said no eating ghostly metal!" Andy spoke up.
"Aww come on, Andy, he's not in there anymore!" Dorugamon whined.
Sam chuckled. "You had best do as Andy says, Dorugamon. It could still make you sick."
"Fine," Dorugamon grumbled, stepping away from the head.
"So now what?" Danny asked. "We should probably try to track Technus down again-"
Danny's ghost sense went off again, but it was small, hardly noticeable. "Hmm? Is he nearby?"
"I thought I sensed a chill, but it disappeared pretty quickly," Dorugamon replied.
Sam frowned. "If it was not that noticeable, it's probably due to the head. It still has bits of ectoplasm on it after all."
"We'll try to find him then, but if we don't see him after a while, we should call it a night. Maybe if we're lucky, Technus will just hide out for the night and we can try to find him again after school," Andy suggested.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea." A yawn escaped her. "We need to get some sleep so we don't fail that test tomorrow."
"I don't think I can afford another failed test anyways," Danny groaned.
"Come on, let's start looking," Andy said. "The sooner we start, the sooner we can stop."
"I don't smell him nearby though." Dorugamon frowned.
"Doesn't mean he can't still be around. Be sure to check every nook and cranny, Technus could hide anywhere that has technology," Andy sighed.
"So… anywhere in the city then," Sam groaned.
Danny groaned as well. "We'll be here all night…"
"Come on, Technus is a big loud ghost, how bad could it be?" Dorugamon smiled.
The foursome ended up not getting to bed until 5 AM that night, having seen no signs of Technus anywhere. The only reason they decided to go home was because Sam almost passed out on them, and Dorugamon degenerated to Dorumon after a while.
When the sun came up and it was time for school, Takuya and Jazz were frowning at the twins when they saw how sleepy they were in the kitchen, they couldn't even eat their breakfast.
"What happened to you two last night?" Takuya asked as he gave them a look that said how disappointed he was at their lack of sleep.
"Did you two play that game all night?" Jazz frowned.
Danny and Andy wanted to defend themselves, they had a good reason for staying up all night, but Maddie and Jack were there, so they couldn't say the truth. Dorimon was completely conked out in Andy's arms, which made Andy quite envious right now.
"We… uh… had to face with a really… tricky player," Danny answered, yawning in between his words.
"Danny, Andy! Look at you two!" Maddie frowned. "How are you going to pass Mr. Lancer's test tomorrow with the state you're in? I knew we shouldn't have let you two stay on the computer for more than an hour."
Takuya had to agree with his aunt. "I can't believe I am saying this, but I have to agree with Aunt Maddie, and I'm only one year older than you two."
"You two have been quite irresponsible with how you handled your gaming time. You should've been studying for the test anyways," Jazz scolded as well.
"And get this, Fentons get As, or in your father's case, B minuses," Maddie added.
"Solid B minuses," Jack stated proudly.
I haven't brought home an A or a B in a long time, I mostly got Cs these days. Why bring this up now? Danny grumbled.
Andy just stopped caring at some point, he was far too tired for this crap.
Takuya frowned at seeing Andy's tired state. "Maybe you two should stay home…"
"We can't, we have a test to do," Andy said, grabbing a piece of toast, stuffing it in his mouth, and grabbed his backpack, putting the still sleeping Dorimon inside it. "We thee you afer cwass."
Takuya frowned. "Okay…" I hope they don't fall asleep in class...
"If we hear that you two fell asleep in school, we're grounding you off of the computer for two weeks," Maddie warned as Danny picked up his own backpack, and ate a piece of bacon, he didn't like toast.
Takuya finished his own breakfast and grabbed his own backpack. "I'll see you after school, Aunt Maddie!" He then stood up and ran out after his cousins.
"I better get to school as well," Jazz sighed, holding Lopmon.
"Have a good day at school, Jazzypants!" Jack waved.
Maddie nodded before Jazz walked out of the house. Maddie then sighed. "I know we don't have to worry about Jazz, she's always been a straight A student. Takuya isn't bad with his grades either. Jazz, Andy, and Danny had been helping him with the subjects he struggled with when he first moved back. But… I'm worried about Danny and Andy, they haven't been doing well in school lately. Do you think we might not be doing our job as parents, Jack?"
Jack frowned. "I'm not sure, Mads. I mean, I thought we were, but I can't help but feel we are missing out on something."
"I was worried about Jazz when the SWAT team brought her back home, and then Takuya when he failed that North Western Nine test, but they both seem to still be doing okay," Maddie remarked. "Well… I suppose if Mr. Lancer calls and tells us that they failed their test or fell asleep in class… then… I'm not sure what to do..."
"Hey, don't worry Maddie, I'm sure whatever phase the boys are going through, they'll get over it. They're Fentons after all," Jack said, hoping to reassure his wife.
Maddie smiled at that. "You're right Jack. I'm sure the boys will be fine."
"By the way… have you noticed that Jazz now has her own stuffed animal? I wonder where they're getting these things," Jack mumbled. "Maybe I could get a ghost plush!"
Maddie couldn't help but laugh at her husband's comments. He always seemed to find a way to help cheer her up, though she was still worried for her precious twin boys.
Jack smiled at seeing his wife laughing. "And who knows? Maybe I could find you a ghost plush too!"
"That's sweet, Jack," Maddie chuckled.
By the time Danny and Andy got to school, they looked ready to pass out.
"Stupid Technus… I can't believe we couldn't find a normally loud, easy to find ghost all night!" Danny grumbled, clearly in a bad mood.
"Guess he's not so easy when he actually wants to stay hidden…" Andy sighed, putting his forehead against the cool locker door.
Danny sighed. "Well, let's get through school, first. Then we can search for him after classes are over."
Andy yawned. "I suppose. If Technus didn't actually cause any trouble all night, surely he won't do anything while we're at school for… 8… long… grueling hours… we're so getting grounded."
"I hope not…" Danny yawned. "I don't know about you, bro, but I think Sam might be getting grounded too…"
"Sam would be getting grounded if she so much as looked in our direction with her parents," Andy grumbled. "But I doubt we'll be able to stay awake like this. We'll have to try to get some soda or something to keep us going."
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea, bro." Danny said before a yawn escaped him. "Should we get the soda the normal way or the ghostly way?"
Andy rolled his eyes. "There's just one problem, soda isn't allowed in class."
"Great… My brain is so sleepy I forgot that rule…" Danny groaned as he placed his forehead against his own locker.
"We're going to fail," Andy sighed as he started his death march towards Mr. Lancer's classroom. "Wait… I think I may know of a way to keep us awake."
"What?" Danny asked as he looked at his twin.
Andy was looking at Dash, who was walking past Danny to get into the classroom himself. Dash stopped when he saw Andy giving him a mischievous look, a look that quite frankly, terrified Dash these days. Danny blinked, before looking back, seeing Dash just quietly going into the classroom.
"Oh… don't worry about it, bro~" Andy smiled.
Danny looked at Andy. "You scare me, bro, and I am the half-dead kid."
"Not half dead, just a kid with ghost powers," Andy corrected before he walked into the classroom.
Danny followed his twin into the classroom, hoping things would not get as bad as he feared they would.
Danny hadn't expected Andy to be whispering something to Dash, heck, he didn't expect Andy to even get that close to Dash without getting socked in the face. What was even more surprising was the fact that Dash looked pale before nodding at something.
Looking at Andy, Danny blinked. "Wow… What did you say to Dash that had him pale like that?"
"Let's just say he kinda owes me a favor," Andy answered. "He'll be helping keep us awake for this class today."
Danny blinked. "Okay…?" When did Dash Baxter owe anybody anything? Andy almost sounds like he's the godfather of a mob or something.
Danny gave Andy a bit of a freaked out glance before turning his attention back to the front of the classroom. Note to self, never mess with Andy when he is tired...
This was one of the few classes Danny and Andy didn't share with Tucker or Sam, so they only had Dash to count on to keep them awake. The bell soon rang, and Mr. Lancer walked into the classroom. He already had a stack of papers ready for the test. Danny wanted to groan, though he did actually study some literature with Andy yesterday. Andy was pretty good with literature since he often wrote in his journal, and he could be almost as big as a bookworm as their sister, though, Danny thought guiltily, the latter was more his fault since him, Tucker, and Sam pushing Andy away led to Andy just reading books.
Danny put his head on his desk. Great… Here comes the test… And I certainly think this is my death warrant…
Throughout the test, Danny had to keep fighting with the nodding off sensation, but then a piece of paper would hit him from behind. Or a pencil would thump him in the back. Sometimes a paper airplane or two would wake him up. Danny knew Dash was doing this because Andy 'told him to', but he couldn't help but feel like Dash may just be doing this to get on his nerves like he usually did. Dash was doing the same to Andy whenever he was starting to nod off as well though, so if nothing else, Dash was doing good on keeping his promise. But then some sort of red leaf would touch Danny every now and then, energizing him a little bit.
Danny was confused as to how these leaves came onto him, but he was not going to complain since the leaves seemed to keep him more awake. With his brain more awake, Danny had an easier time focusing on the test. Andy's bookworminess, not that he would ever say that to Andy, especially now when he was tired, seemed to have paid off. Danny found the questions to be pretty easy to answer, they asked grammar questions, and questions involving how a correct sequence of words would be in a sentence. Though some of the questions were pretty difficult to answer as they involved old English stuff that not many would bother with these days, guess it came with having a teacher who was a huge fan of the old classics.
Meanwhile, Andy would have been able to focus better, if not for one little, itty, bitty problem… he had fallen asleep and wasn't able to wake up. Dash had tried putting more leaves on him, but it wasn't waking Andy up. Andy didn't know how or why this happened, but when he fell asleep, he dreamed something odd.
-Dream Vision-
I was surprised to find myself in the lab, with what looked like a young man with a shadow-like form behind him, and off to the side was Jazz, but she looked like she was in a daze, wearing a red jacket of some kind. Lopmon was off to the side, unconscious.
Looking to my right, I saw Danny, in his human form, on the floor with Agunimon in front of him, but something seemed off about him. It was like… he wasn't himself. The Legendary Warrior was standing in front of Danny protectively, but the look in his eyes was not human-like at all.
I was surprised at this reaction, but I couldn't go to see what was going on, because I was unable to move. I could hear them speaking, but I couldn't understand them. It was like they were speaking, but their voices were silent.
Andy suddenly woke up to Mr. Lancer holding up his test paper, looking rather annoyed. Andy blinked sleepily, lifting up his head, before realizing with horror that he had fallen asleep, and likely failed the test.
"Well, Andrew, I hope that nap was worth it." Mr. Lancer said as he placed Andy's test down, marked with a big fat 'F'.
Andy felt his heart drop to his stomach. It was his first 'F', not counting the North Western Nine test, everyone but Tucker failed that one. While he didn't get super stellar grades like Jazz did, he usually did well enough. Seeing the big, red, fat 'F' on his paper like an ugly battle scar made his blood run cold.
The bell rang and the students all quickly left. Dash looked at Andy in concern, but he had to leave. Danny looked over at Andy as well, worried. Andy started getting up, but Mr. Lancer shook his head. "Andrew, I'd like for you to stay. Daniel, you go on to your next class."
Danny gave a nod, but not before he gave his twin a concerned look one last time before leaving.
Mr. Lancer cleared his throat. "Andrew, when a teacher looks at a student, he hopes to see a reflection of his own abilities. When I look at you, I see my own 'F'. I don't like to fail. Do you?"
"No, of course not," Andy answered with a frown. "I apologize, Mr. Lancer, I really didn't mean to fall asleep like that. You know I'm good with literature. I promise, I can do a lot better."
Mr. Lancer frowned. "Yes, yes, you can, Andrew. And that is why I am going to give you the opportunity to retake the test. You will have three days to study for the make-up test, and I want to see you do better this time."
Andy nodded. "Yes, Mr. Lancer, I promise I won't let you down this time. This was a one time thing, I'll make sure of it."
Mr. Lancer nodded. "Very well. Now, you had better get to your next class. I will write you a late pass so you don't get detention for being tardy."
"Thank you, Mr. Lancer," Andy said gratefully.
Later, after school, Tucker had Terriermon in his backpack. Like with Jazz and Andy's Digimon partners, Terriermon found the backpack to be comfortable, and he even had his own PDA for entertainment. Tucker did make sure Terriermon had it on mute if he was going to play games or watch videos on it though.
"Hey, Danny, Andy!" Tucker greeted when he saw the twins walking out of the school. "I found some hidden secrets in Doomed last night that would lead us to the next key. Rumor has it that it's in a safe at the Mega Market, and that there's an extra life there as well. We can totally stop by the Internet Cafe if you want me to show you."
Danny looked at Tucker. "That's great Tuck, but I'm worried about Andy. He fell asleep during the test today, and I can't help but get the feeling he didn't do so well."
Andy grumbled. "That's because I didn't do so well. I flunked it!"
"You actually flunked a literature test!?" Tucker asked in shock.
"That's like if Tucker flunked techno science," Terriermon remarked from Tucker's backpack.
"I fell asleep. Being up all night looking for Technus really made it difficult to concentrate," Andy groaned. "Though… I'm surprised Dash wasn't able to wake me up. I didn't think I was a heavy sleeper…"
Danny fornwed. "Yeah… But anyway… We need to see if we can find Technus again. Um… Well, maybe Tucker can join us this time while you try to study for the make-up test, bro."
"Wait, what about Doomed?" Tucker whined.
"Later, Tuck, looking for Technus is more important," Danny stated.
"But… what if Technus is in the game?" Tucker said smoothly.
Danny paused. "Wait… Is that even possible?" He looked at Tucker.
"Hey, he's the ghost of technology, right? So why shouldn't he be able to go into a video game?" Tucker pointed out.
Danny sighed. "That is a good point, Tuck. I guess we can check Doomed for Technus, but only for a short time. Andy needs to study."
"I'll help you guys look, but only for an hour. After that, I'm heading straight home to study… and maybe get a nap in," Andy yawned.
"Yeah, you'd better, bro. You look like a ghost." Danny teased his brother.
"Said the half ghost, who also looked like a full ghost during school," Andy grumbled.
Danny blushed at that comment. "Uh… Never mind…"
"How are you not tired?" Andy asked, rubbing his groggy eyes.
Danny shrugged. "I don't know, to be honest. I just felt more energetic and awake since Mr. Lancer's class."
"I envy you sometimes, bro," Andy grumbled.
"Come on, maybe some hot chocolate at the Internet Cafe will help wake you up," Tucker chuckled.
When the boys were at the Internet Cafe, Andy had a mug of hot chocolate beside him as he was on a computer beside Danny. They were currently on Doomed, trying to find any clues of if Technus was in the game somehow.
"Okay, I cracked open the safe. I found the key, and the extra life, but no Technus," Tucker spoke up not too far away.
"I don't think he's on this level." Danny noted. "He may be on a different level."
"That is even assuming he's in the game at all," Andy yawned a little. "Wouldn't we have noticed by now if Technus was in the game? He would likely standout."
Danny frowned when he considered Andy's words. "Actually, I think Andy may have a point. Technus would stand out if he was in the game."
"Maybe you should head on home, Andy, I can help Danny and Tucker look for Technus if he is in the game," Sam spoke up from behind them, likely just arriving at the cafe herself.
Andy nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Besides, it's almost been an hour anyways, and I need to take that nap before I start studying for my make-up test."
"Wait, what's Sam doing here?" Mikey spoke up, a nerd who was also on the computer. "She can't be here to play Doomed as well, is she?"
Danny gave Mikey a bit of a sheepish grin. "Um… About that…"
Sam glared at Mikey. "Oh? Why do you think that? Because I'm a girl? And us girls are lacking in what, opposable thumbs, one track minds, stupid berets?"
"Sam, I wear a beret," Tucker grumbled.
"What Sam means is that she can be a skilled gamer too. It doesn't matter if she's a girl or a boy, a game is meant for people to play," Danny spoke up quickly.
Tucker gave a nod to Mikey. "Yeah. Sam actually is quite the skilled gamer. But if you were game savvy, you'd know that."
Mikey rolled his eyes, clearly not believing them, but decided not to argue any further and turned back to his computer. Andy noticed Mikey was also playing Doomed, and saw what his avatar looked like. Mikey had his own party of big, strong looking warriors.
"Tomorrow night, we'll be coming after them if you'd like, Sam, show them a thing or two," Andy offered.
"As tempting as that sounds, petty revenge is not my style." Sam admitted. "Although if they do come across our party, we could have a bit of fun with them."
"I'll also see if I can get more ammo for the stronger players, we're going to need more firepower for them if we hope to get all the keys," Tucker remarked. "And… for Technus too, yeah."
Sam rolled her eyes. "Okay, Andy, you get on home. I'll take over for you."
Andy nodded as he stood up from his chair, however, as he did, a shadow towered over him.
"So, Andy, you came here to play games, huh?" Mr. Lancer asked with a frown.
Andy froze at hearing his teacher's voice from behind him.
"I'm disappointed, Andy, I thought you would be more responsible, but I find you here, on the computer, playing an internet game," Mr. Lancer sighed. "That must've been what kept you up last night as well."
Andy turned around to face Mr. Lancer. What is he doing here?! Does he have a radar on me or something? "Mr. Lancer, with all due respect, while you may be my teacher, school hours are over. While I understand I should be studying, it isn't any of your business what I do when I'm out of school."
Mr. Lancer still frowned. "That may be, but I do not wish to see you fail that exam again. It's bad enough the North Western Nine test was failed by almost the entire school, but to see you fail the literature test as well would not be good for either you or me, because it would be a bad reflection of my teaching skills and say that I was not doing my job."
"I…" Andy sighed, while he wasn't actually goofing off, he couldn't exactly tell Mr. Lancer what he was actually doing, and in Mr. Lancer's point of view, he was just goofing off. Andy couldn't blame the teacher for being concerned. "I know… I'm sorry. I'll head straight home and study."
"Come into my car, Andy. I'll be personally driving you home myself. I need to be sure you won't get distracted by other things," Mr. Lancer stated.
Andy frowned, but he didn't argue. He looked back at Danny, Sam, and Tucker. Terriermon was still acting as a plush, while Dorimon was still sleeping in his backpack. They gave concerned looks as well, but none of them could say anything either. Danny just gave an encouraging nod to Andy.
"Go on, bro. We will be fine." Danny said, trying to sound reassuring to Andy.
Andy let out a sigh, but he followed Mr. Lancer to his car, where he was going to hear a lecture for sure. Of course, while everyone was distracted, nobody saw a green mist coming out from Danny's pocket, where he kept the Fenton Earphones. The green mist went into the computer, though the computer went static, and showed a strange symbol. When Danny turned around, he blinked, seeing the weird, staticy symbol on the monitor. The symbol looked like a circle with a smaller circle inside it, with two half segments of circles around the outside, that had one spoke per segment coming out, one on top, one on the bottom, one to the left, and one to the right. The ones to the right and left were furthest outside, with those two sides having the shorter spokes. The symbol, however, soon disappeared, and so did the static, and the normal game of Doomed was back.
What was that? Danny questioned.
Tucker looked over at Danny. "Is something wrong, Danny? You're staring at the computer."
Danny blinked, before looking at Tucker, who was giving him a concerned look. "I'm fine… but…" That symbol, I think… I saw it once before.
Danny remembered spying on Takuya a few times while invisible, at the time he was trying to figure out what his cousin was hiding. He remembered seeing Takuya pull out that device of his, and on the screen, he would sometimes see a symbol that matched the one he just saw on the monitor. Though Danny could never stick around for long, because Takuya would suddenly start to shiver a little and start looking around. Danny wasn't sure how, but Takuya appeared to be able to sense him. Danny, of course, now knew it was likely due to him having those Digimon Spirits.
"Okay, Danny. Let's get back to looking for Technus on Doomed." Tucker said as he turned back to his computer monitor himself.
Danny sighed, but he did the same thing Tucker did. Maybe some Doomed will get my mind off of that symbol… whatever it is… But… I should ask Takuya about it at the very least, just in case it might be important.
Sam sat down on the chair Andy was in earlier and started up the game.
Sam then looked over at Tucker, who had Terriermon on his desk. Then she leaned over to Danny and whispered. "Hey, Danny… you ever think about getting your own Digimon partner?"
Danny blinked. "Huh? Oh! Um… well, sometimes. I mean, it would be nice, but then again, having a Digimon partner is probably a lot like having a pet, and I never had a pet before so I'm not sure how I would do with that."
"You seem to get along with Dorimon alright," Sam pointed out.
Danny sighed a little. "Yeah… I suppose sometimes I do wonder what it would be like if I had my own Digimon partner. But, well, I am dealing with my own… uh… issues right now. So I'm not sure how well I'd be able to handle a Digimon partner… Why do you ask?"
Sam smiled a little. "I was just wondering. I think it would be nice to have a Digimon partner of my own, you know?"
"Oh? Didn't you ever get your own pet though? I'm sure you could've easily afforded a few," Danny asked.
Sam flushed red a bit. "My parents said no to a pet… I wanted a black cat, but they think it's too dirty, or a 'young lady' shouldn't deal with mongrels. They're just grating on my last nerves, and it would just be nice to have someone to talk to when I'm in my room, alone, dealing with my overbearing parents."
Danny frowned a little. "If you want, Sam, I could visit you while invisible at night if your parents give you a hard time again."
Sam, for some reason, went red. "Um… No, Danny… That is not necessary…"
Danny blinked for a moment, wondering why Sam went red. He thought the offer was nice.
"Yeesh, get a room, you two," Someone commented as they walked past them, which caused both Danny and Sam to go red.
Sam coughed to force the issue from her mind. "Okay… Let's return to the task at hand, shall we?"
"Y-yeah," Danny quickly agreed.
Tucker innocently whistled as he was moving his avatar on the computer.
Meanwhile, Andy was sitting in the passenger seat of Mr. Lancer's magenta car. Mr. Lancer was driving the boy home and giving him a bit of a lecture.
"Playing an internet video game is hardly what a student who failed should be doing when they need to be studying." Mr. Lander said. "When I see a student pass through the portal of Casper High for the last time, brimming with the knowledge it takes to make it in the outside world, that is what I like to see."
I'm not entirely sure if that's what school is doing. It's not teaching me how to cook, how to actually be social without getting my face pounded, how to actually survive in the harsh world outside the school walls. All it does is teach us how to memorize for a test that we would forget the next day. Andy sighed to himself, but decided not to tell Mr. Lancer about that.
"And I do want to do well, it's just… sometimes things just come up, and… well, to be honest, sometimes I feel they're more important than school," Andy admitted.
"Sometimes life doesn't go the way we want it to, Andrew. That I get. But blowing off studying for your make-up test is inexcusable, even if things that are more important to you come up. Not everyone will see the things you do as more important than school, and the same goes for when you are older," Mr. Lancer said sternly.
As much as Andy didn't like to admit it, Mr. Lancer did have a point. While stopping Technus from taking over the world using technology that could not just hurt people, but cause a potential worldwide problem was important to Andy, it wasn't important to Mr. Lancer. Not because Mr. Lancer didn't think stopping Technus was important, but because he didn't even know about the danger. To him, Andy was just being an irresponsible teenager who thought playing an internet game was more important than school or grades. Andy understood that, but it was no less annoying to him. It was like being told what you thought was important wasn't actually important at all.
And piling that with the lack of sleep, and Andy was one grumpy teenager. He ended up muttering something he hadn't meant for Mr. Lancer to hear. "Maybe you should pay attention to what's going on then."
"And you should pay more attention in class, Andrew." Mr. Lancer scolded as he pulled up to the Fenton Works building. "And here are the people to make you do just that."
Andy frowned and straightened up when he saw Maddie, Jack, and even Takuya standing there, hands either on their hips, or folded around their chest, with scolding looks on their faces. Oh crap!
Though it wouldn't really help him, Andy quickly rolled up the window he had down next to him. I never explained what was going on with Takuya… I'm so freaking dead.
Titanic X: DarkFoxKit: Glad you liked it. Terriermon was something I thought of for Tucker later one in the story, and thought it'd be kinda cool to give Tucker a gun bunny.
ZAFT: Glad you loved the AN too~ X3
ChloeTheKitsune: ZAFT: Well, we wanted to change things up with Ember, and show she wasn't all just about mind-controlling others. We wanted to give her more development and well, it seems it was well accepted so far. :3
Luna Lillyth: DarkFoxKit: Well, I wouldn't say Ember would be an ally, but yeah, the possibility is there. We did make her more 'human' despite her being a ghost. I kinda feel like Ember is one of those characters where if Danny had stopped and talked to her instead of sabotaging her concert, he may have been able to convince her to stop her mind control scheme, and become a proper rock star.