Digital Phantom

by ZAFT Convoy

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

32. A Glitch in the Digital World

DarkFoxKit: Hey readers, hope you're all having a wonderful time. Despite 2020 being a crappy year to a lot of people, we should still try to make the most of it. I mean it's not very often we get a double number year after all.

ZAFT: Yeah, it only happens once every 101 years. :3

Andy: A rare year, yet that's when everything goes to hell.

Takuya: Come on, it hasn't been that bad! … Has it?

DarkFoxKit: Don't ask that question.

ZAFT: Don't make me shove you into the chapter Takuya!

Takuya: *flinches* I'll shut up now...

Andy: Erm… anyways, we should get on to the chapter now.

---

Chapter 32: A Glitch in the Digital World

Agunimon was running up the stairs of the giant tree. He knew he was getting closer to the castle, he just hoped that there would be someone there to help them. He knew these Digimon could help humans, but he didn't know how well they would be able to help him with a ghost inside his cousin's body. And if Agunimon's guess was right, they couldn't remove Phantom or they risked killing Danny.

Looking down at his unconscious cousin, Agunimon felt guilt pierce his chest again. This was his fault, but he would do what he could to make it right by getting Danny the help he needed. Looking back up, the Warrior of Flame focused on the task at hand.

He kept running, only to feel his heart lift when he saw Seraphimon's castle coming up before him. Even better, the gates were open.

As soon as the Warrior of Flame ran through the gate, he saw a lot of Digimon around. The Digimon looked surprised to see Agunimon, even more surprised to see the unconscious human boy in his arms.

"Wait… wasn't that human just taken to the medics…?" A confused Gomamon asked.

Agunimon had come to a stop, looking for anyone familiar, but his eyes didn't see his friends or family. He turned to the Gomamon who had spoken. "Do you know if there were other humans here?"

Gomamon smiled at Agunimon. "Hey, I remember you. You were one of those nice human kids who helped us get our home back from that nasty Ranamon monster. Those other humans are friends of yours, I take it? Sure, I know where they are."

Agunimon gave a sigh of relief, glad to be around at least one familiar Digimon now. "Good. Can you take me to them?"

The other Digimon were looking in nervousness, likely not having interacted with Agunimon before and only knew him by stories that were told.

Gomamon, however, knew Agunimon personally, and had no such issues. "Yeah, sure. Follow me!"

The Legendary Warrior followed the Gomamon into the castle, still holding his unconscious cousin in his arms.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to that human you have there?" Gomamon asked as he was leading Agunimon through the castle's corridor.

Here Agunimon sighed a bit. "I was a complete idiot and charged into a battle without thinking first. He got hurt because he had to save me."

"Oh, I see. I saw a human looking just like him, so I was a little confused as to how he got in your arms," Gomamon remarked. "I guess they're twins then."

"Earlier you said that you thought that this human was taken to the medics," Agunimon noted.

"Yeah. He had troubled standing, and looked completely exhausted. He didn't look injured though, but something must've happened to him," Gomamon answered.

Agunimon looked down at Danny's still form again. "He does have a twin brother, so the human you saw must have felt when his twin got hurt." Again, that was because of my idiotic actions...

"That explains it then, I think," Gomamon remarked before he stopped at a door. "Here, this is the medical room for the castle."

Agunimon smiled. "Thanks." However, his own injury acted up, sending searing pain down his side, making him wince. "Ugh…"

Gomamon gave Agunimon a concerned look. "Looks like you got hurt too."

"It's just a burn…" Agunimon admitted, trying to play it down, but it wasn't working so well.

"Uh-huh. You're the Warrior of Flame, you don't get burns that easily," Gomamon muttered before he walked over to the door, using one of his big claws to open it. "Hey, got room for two more in here?"

"Gomamon?" Sorcermon asked before seeing who he brought with him. "Agunimon! It has been a long time, my old friend."

Agunimon looked up, surprised to see Sorcermon. Then, a relieved smile crossed his face. "It has. You don't know how good it is to see you as well, Sorcermon."

"Yes, I was reborn and digivolved like everyone else you were able to save," Sorcermon stated. "Who's that you have with you?"

Sorcermon looked at the unconscious boy in Agunimon's arms. "Oh… this must be… the other boy's twin brother."

Agunimon nodded. "He is. He got hurt trying to save me from a very powerful Digimon."

"I see. Alright, take him to the table," Sorcermon gestured.

Agunimon saw a few tables in the medical room. He already saw Andy sitting on one of them with a Lillymon looking over him. And a familiar small puppy dog-like Digimon lying unconscious on another table, being tended to by a MarineAngemon.

Andy looked over at Agunimon, and gave him a weak looking smile. "Hey… glad to see you're finally here with Danny."

Agunimon walked over and set Danny down on the table next to Andy. He then turned to Andy with a weak smile of his own. "It wasn't exactly easy, you know." Then, his own injury acted up again, sending that searing pain down his side once more. Agunimon actually fell to the ground this time, groaning as his hand went to his side.

"Oh dear, looks like you got hurt too," Lillymon noted before she picked up Agunimon and put him on another table. "You stay there and lay down."

"Agunimon? What happened?" Tucker asked, seeing Agunimon.

"Danny!" Both Jazz and Sam called out when they saw the boy.

"It's okay, just let the medic handle them," Lillymon spoke up before she turned to Sorcermon. "Sorcermon, I can handle Agunimon's wound, but you might want to take a look at the human boy… the one who's awake. He doesn't have any physical wounds that I can heal."

Sorcermon nodded. "That's reasonable." He then made his way over to Andy before sitting down next to him. "Let's check you out, shall we?"

Andy nervously nodded while Lillymon went to attend to Agunimon.

"Who's going to look after my brother?" Andy asked.

"Don't worry, the medic for your brother will be here soon," Sorcermon reassured. "Now, I'm going to need you to hold still and relax. Since what ails you isn't physical, I need to check your spiritual energy."

Jazz looked at Sorcermon. "You can do that?"

Sorcermon nodded and replied without looking at Jazz. "It is possible to do, but it takes a skilled individual trained in the art to do it."

Sorcermon closed his eyes as the snowflake of his wand began to glow. Andy found himself closing his own eyes. Dorumon, who had degenerated back to his Rookie form, was watching in anticipation. He was still worried for his partner.

Then something else caught Dorumon's attention, something that caused his forehead gem to glow. He turned his head for a moment, before seeing something small and white flying over to Danny.

"I'm here!" The small Digimon exclaimed. The Digimon had green eyes, purple edges to its ears, and a red upside down triangle on his forehead while three upright triangles surrounded the red one. His body was otherwise white all over, and he had black claws on his hands. He had little toeless feet with purple at the tip, and a small stubby tail.

"What the?" Lopmon looked surprised to see the Digimon.

"What's wrong?" Jazz asked.

"That Digimon…" Lopmon frowned.

"Calumon, you're late," MarineAngemon spoke up, looking up from Salamon. "You should get to work on that unconscious human boy."

"R-right, sorry about that!" Calumon sheepishly chuckled.

Tucker frowned at seeing Danny's state. "He looks pretty bad."

"Of course he looks bad, that's why he was brought here," Terriermon muttered.

"Are you sure that little Digimon will be able to help him?" Tucker asked.

"Of course. MarineAngemon looks small, but she's one of our best healers," Lillymon spoke up. "Calumon may surprise you."

"That Digimon…" Lopmon frowned. "Isn't he…?"

"That's… something you'll have to bring up with Lady Ophanimon when she wakes up, Lord Cherubimon," Lillymon said with a bow of her head.

"But what happened to make Danny so hurt?" Tucker asked. "That's what I want to know."

"I want to know that too," Sam agreed, putting her hands on her hips.

"And me, he's my little brother," Jazz added.

"I don't know. You'll have to ask Agunimon about that one," Lillymon shrugged.

Feeling the eyes of the others on him, Agunimon sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. "I was the reason. I was reckless and charged right at the enemy without a plan. He had to save me because I could have died as a result of my stupidity and reckless actions."

"Hey… it's okay, don't worry T- Agunimon, I'll heal him right up in no time!" Calumon spoke up, almost slipping something.

Sam perked up upon hearing that. "Huh?"

Calumon floated over Danny before landing beside the boy. Jazz and Sam backed away a bit to give the little Digimon some space. Calumon studied the unconscious boy, seeing the bits of burns on Danny. He then hopped around Danny for a moment, then he stopped when he was near Danny's chest. The red upside down triangle on his forehead glowed slightly. Dorumon's forehead gem glowed as well. Dorumon gave a curious look at the Calumon.

"Ah…" Calumon frowned a little as his ears suddenly retracted, getting smaller.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, worried when the 'doctor' suddenly frowned like that.

"Your friend here…" Calumon hesitated before he turned to them. "May I ask… is he… a ghost?"

Sam froze. "Um…" Oh crap… How do we explain this?!

Jazz was looking just as distressed as Sam was. Agunimon frowned, knowing this was a possible scenario. Tucker bit his lip.

Calumon turned to Danny for a moment before he put one of his little black claws on Danny's chest. "I ask, because I feel he has a ghost core inside him. If he's just human, then there's something really wrong with him, or a ghost has permanently taken up residence in his body."

Sam was unsure of how to respond. "That…" She trailed off, unsure of how to respond. Luckily for her, Agunimon had a passable explanation.

"He does." Agunimon replied. "I saw the ghost revert to this boy."

Everyone, except Sorcermon and Andy, all looked at Agunimon.

"Is that true? There's a real ghost inside that human boy?" Gomamon asked in shock.

"But a ghost can't be here, they would cause all sorts of glitches," Lillymon said worriedly.

Agunimon grunted at the pain in his side. "Well, that's the thing… There is one here… And it fused with a Datamon…"

"We know," MarineAngemon spoke up as she was using her powers to heal Salamon, the heart on her chest glowing. "Lady Ophanimon was in this castle, looking out over the Forest Terminal. She went to go stop him. But… it looks like he got the better of her…"

"Just as he got the better of me…" Agunimon hissed, the pain evident in his voice.

"Don't blame yourself, Agunimon. A Digimon fused with a ghost is a very deadly enemy, they could easily obliterate and delete our data," Lillymon stated.

"That almost happened to Lady Ophanimon…" Terriermon frowned. "If Sam hadn't bonded with her when she did… Lady Ophanimon would have been no more."

Hearing that, Agunimon's head turned to Sam, surprise evident on his face. "What?"

Sam gave a sheepish grin before she showed Agunimon her D-Arc. "Yeah… it… well… Ophanimon said she had been watching me for a while. And… sometimes when I was alone, feeling upset, it did feel like someone was watching me, in a comforting way. Sometimes I pretend it's Danny watching me while invisible."

Agunimon blinked before he looked at the unconscious Salamon again, a small smile crossing his face. "Lady Ophanimon doesn't usually take to observing humans like that. The fact she was interested in you… She must have seen something in you."

"Probably. I didn't get a chance to ask her," Sam sighed, looking at Salamon.

Calumon was studying Danny a bit more. "Okay, this is a bit unusual, but I should be able to heal your friend. His name is Danny, right?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, that's his name."

Agunimon just noticed, Calumon's voice sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where he heard that voice before. He racked his brains trying to remember where he heard the voice before, but nothing came to his mind.

Calumon nodded before he put his two little claws together and the triangle on his forehead started glow. Dorumon lifted up his head, feeling a strange power.

"Culu Prayer, the Prayer of Healing. Ice, ectoplasm, energy, come into this boy named Danny. His core needs you," Calumon prayed.

The room suddenly got colder, so much so that Agunimon could see his breath. There was also that feeling of a ghost being near, but not quite, and he could sense the energy in the air.

The Warrior of Flame watched this going on with worry on his face. Please… please be okay, Danny...

Meanwhile, Sorcermon was looking into Andy's soul. He was a bit surprised to see the boy's soul looked different from how his body did. Human souls normally looked like how their bodies did. The soul did look like its body, but the hair was white, and his eyes were purple.

"How unusual…" Sorcermon noted.

Sorcermon did notice a ring of data around the soul, he could see how it moved around protectively. "That must be Dorumon's data…"

Sorcermon waved his wand a bit, before noticing a glowing silver string attached to the soul's chest. The string was connected to the code that circled around the soul.

Sorcermon frowned at seeing that. "Hmmm… Interesting… I've never seen code connected to a soul like that before…"

The Digimon looked to see where the string was connected to. He did notice that a part of it looked stronger and brighter. "He said that he felt a loss of connection when he felt his brother almost died. Perhaps that lost connection damaged this link, but they reforged it to become stronger somehow."

Sorcermon could see the string lead to another soul. But that soul was too powerful for Sorcermon to get too close. The soul was emitting such power, such coldness, and such ectoplasm that it hurt Sorcermon to get any closer than 20 feet from it.

Sorcermon was forced to back away due to the sheer cold, and he was a Digimon who was used to the cold. Of course, the ectoplasm was the real reason he had to back away though, lest he get badly hurt from it. Deciding to observe the soul from his current distance, he watched to see what would happen next. It seemed the soul this boy's soul was bonded to was somehow protecting the soul. "Interesting…"

Andy was watching curiously. When Sorcermon used his wand earlier, he ended up closing his eyes, and he suddenly found himself here, with Sorcermon studying him curiously and the ring of data around him. Andy noticed that Sorcermon was now looking at something else. Andy turned to look, though he noticed a silver string that was attached to his chest.

When Andy looked at what Sorcermon was looking at, he could see it was Danny, but also Phantom. It was half and half. Danny's hair was white like his Phantom form, but it turned black at random. His eyes would change from green to blue as well. His clothes would go from his hazmat suit to his normal clothes. His soul was both Danny and Phantom. His soul was also strong, very strong. But it was weakened. Something was healing it, however, Andy could tell somehow.

Sorcermon watched the healing connection with interest in his eyes. "Interesting… I've never seen such a thing before in my life…"

"He's not human, that other soul…" Sorcermon noted. "That kind of power and ectoplasm… he's a ghost. Or at least… he has the powers of a ghost. How did such a thing happen?"

Andy frowned, he didn't know how it was possible either, and he still wondered what this would do to Danny in the future.

Sorcermon was clearly intrigued, but not in a bad way. "That boy's soul… the other soul… He is quite special."

Sorcermon then turned back to Andy before waving his wand. "Do not worry, you will heal soon. Just rest now."

Andy closed his eyes again.

---

By the time Andy woke up again, the room was quieter now. He sat up, blinking. He felt fine again. Dorumon looked up at his table and smiled.

"You're awake!" Dorumon jumped onto Andy.

"Wah! Dorumon, you're a lot heavier when you're a Rookie then when you are In-Training!" Andy groaned, having his partner pinning him down to nuzzle him.

Jazz chuckled at seeing Dorumon nuzzling Andy. "He's like a happy dog the way he is nuzzling you."

"Jazz?" Andy looked at his sister.

"Yeah, it's me," Jazz chuckled.

"Did I fall asleep? How long was I out?" Andy frowned.

"Long enough for me to recover," Someone said.

Andy turned to the voice, and saw a Digimon he didn't recognize. The Digimon had tan skin, the symbol of flame on his belt, and fire-like designs on his skin as well. His hair was tan like his skin, and he wore a vest and pants. A fire-orange tail was seen, and he had green eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Andy answered, pushing Dorumon off him. "Um… who are you?"

"I'm Flamemon." The Digimon introduced. "I guess you could say I'm the Rookie form of Agunimon."

Andy stared at Flamemon, his jaw nearly dropping at hearing that. "W-what? What happened to you!?"

"The Digital World has strange properties that could change a digital being's body according to what the world would believe is the best accommodation for the being's body," Calumon spoke up.

Flamemon looked sheepish at that. "Ehehe… Yeah. Imagine my surprise when I found out I was like this." Again, I might add...

"Okay…" Andy frowned, still finding it strange that Flamemon was his cousin, before he turned to the other table. "How's Danny?"

"Still asleep I'm afraid," Calumon answered. "He and Salamon will be out for a little while. Danny exhausted his core while trying to help Agunimon. Salamon's data came close to being deleted."

Flamemon looked back at Danny. "I was such an idiot. I charged in without a plan, and Danny had to save me." He clenched his fists as he said that, feeling the frustration at his own recklessness getting his cousin hurt. "He overshadowed me to get me out of harm's way when I couldn't move. But… my Spirits attacked him…"

Andy frowned. "Danny… overshadowed you… and succeeded?"

"Yeah… barely… but…" Flamemon hissed at himself. "I hurt him pretty bad…"

"Hey…" Calumon spoke up. "Flamemon, right? Why don't you come with me for a moment? There's something I need to talk to you about in private."

Flamemon looked back before nodding. 'Sure…?" He was confused, but followed Calumon out of the room.

Andy noticed that the other medical Digimon weren't around anymore. Sorcermon was sleeping at a corner, looking exhausted. Tucker, Sam, and Jazz were sitting on some chairs. Lopmon and Terriermon were sitting on their partner's lap, though neither one would look at each other. There was still some tension between the two rabbit Digimon.

"Hey, Andy, glad to have you back in the land of the living," Tucker joked.

Dorumon helped Andy down from the table before he nuzzled against Andy's side. Andy sheepishly chuckled. "So… how about that investigation?"

"You want to start now?" Jazz asked.

"Well, we might as well. Danny and Salamon may not wake up for a while, but they're in good hands here. We shouldn't waste too much time," Andy answered.

Jazz looked at Andy before smiling. "Sure. I think we can have Sam remain here to let us know when they wake up, and Tucker and Terriermon can join us."

"Yeah, I rather stay here anyways. I want to make sure Danny and Salamon are okay when they wake up," Sam agreed.

"That's fine," Andy replied. "It's better someone they're familiar with is here when they wake up."

Jazz nodded. "Okay, Tucker, you coming with us?"

Tucker stood up with a grin. "Sure."

Meanwhile, Calumon walked out into the corridor with Flamemon following him. Calumon stopped after a little bit before turning around to look at Flamemon.

"Hey, so…" Calumon hesitated. "After hearing about how your Spirits burned your friend… I wanted to give you some advice."

"What kind of advice?" Flamemon asked, raising an eyebrow.

Calumon extended his ears again before he floated up to Flamemon. "You need to communicate with your Spirits. You have to let them know the difference between a friend or foe whenever they go into your body. Being friends with someone who has a ghost living inside them, it was only a matter of time before they tried to go into your body to protect you. You don't want to burn them if such a scenario were to happen again, right?"

Flamemon gave a wince at that. "Yeah… I guess I should do that…" He admitted. When we get back to the human world I will make sure to do that. Then a frown crossed his face. "Wait… How did you know about my Spirits since I never met you before?"

Calumon gave a thoughtful look, seeming to be contemplating about something, before he flew closer to Flamemon's face. Flamemon blinked, wondering what the little Digimon was doing. Calumon suddenly tapped Flamemon's chest.

"First… tell me… do you know how to turn human here?" Calumon questioned.

Flamemon raised an eyebrow. "No… Not like this. I normally just let my evolutions go and then…" He trailed off, wondering why he was explaining this to an unknown Digimon. "Wait… Why do you want to know?"

Calumon gave a chuckle. "Because I'm a doctor, I wanted to know if you figured it out yet, Takuya."

Flamemon's eyes widened, he never told this Digimon his human name.

"In this form, your Spirits fused in a way. But instead of turning you into Aldamon, they made it so your human body will turn into a Digimon instead," Calumon explained. "Have you tried unfusing your Spirits while in that form?"

Flamemon shook his head. "No."

"Then go ahead and try it now," Calumon replied as he flew back a bit.

Closing his eyes, Flamemon focused hard on his connection to his Spirits. He could sense his Human Spirit, followed by his Beast Spirit. Flamemon focused in on the connection shared between the two, and found the link. Like with his real fusion form of Aldamon, he focused on that link, and breaking it. The link broke, allowing fractal code to surround him before he reverted back to his human form.

Opening his eyes, Flamemon was surprised to see he was back as Takuya. "Holy… Wow! It worked!" He had a grin on his face as he looked at his now human hands.

"Glad I could 'cure' you, Takuya." Calumon grinned. "Now if there's nothing else, you should get back with the others-"

"Hold it," Takuya spoke up, looking at the little Digimon. "While I'm grateful for your help, how the heck did you know all of that?"

Calumon frowned a little. "Lots of research on Spirits and the Legendary Warriors."

Takuya frowned. "Okay…" He wasn't sure he bought it, but that explanation seemed plausible to explain how that was known. But wait, that doesn't explain one thing. "How did you know my name? Not a lot of Digimon knew my human name."

"I likely heard it from someone else who did know your human name," Calumon answered before he flew around Takuya.

Takuya frowned again. But only the Celestials, Bokomon, and Neemon know my human name… "Okay…"

"Heh, you know, you are more famous than you realize, Takuya. Your human name was spread among the Digital World just as much as your Legendary Warrior's name," Calumon chuckled. "Didn't Bokomon tell you before you all left? That he planned to document your adventures in a book? Well, that book has been published and is one of the best selling books in the Digital World."

Takuya did remember that, although he hadn't really heard the whole thing, just that Bokomon had planned to document the adventures. "Yeah… As we left, I heard him shout something like that, but I didn't hear it fully."

Calumon had a far away look in his green eyes. "Yeah… Well, anyways… do you have any more questions for me, Takuya?"

"Um… No, I don't." Takuya replied. But something niggled at him for some reason, like his Spirits were trying to tell him something, but what that was, he didn't know. I guess Calumon is right, I do need to communicate with my Spirits…

"Okay. Then we should get back with the others before they worry," Calumon suggested.

"Oh? Are you coming with me? Don't you have other patients to take care of or something?" Takuya asked.

"Nah. They usually only call me for the strange or severe cases. My Culu Prayer is very powerful, but it also exhausts me when I use it," Calumon explained.

Takuya nodded. "Okay, then come on. You can ride on my head." He smiled when he said that.

Calumon blinked, looking surprised at the suggestion, though he did blush a little. "Really? A-are you sure?"

Takuya shrugged. "It's fine. I mean, my cousin Andy has his partner so that in his In-Training form, so why not?"

That was when Takuya became curious, he had never seen this Digimon before. He gave a quick scan at the Calumon, before the voice in his head spoke up.

"Calumon is an Animal Digimon. This is "digi-entelecheia" (the power of digivolution) given Digimon form. It is said to have the power to help other Digimon digivolve. Not much else is known about this Digimon. Its level and type is unknown."

Takuya frowned at the explanation that most likely came from his Spirits. Huh… So this Digimon is unknown save for its name and what it is capable of. Err… well, at least, some of its capabilities.

"You can make other Digimon digivolve?" Takuya asked, intrigued.

"Kind of, in a sense. I can trigger someone's digivolution, but it leaves me completely exhausted and vulnerable," Calumon answered.

Takuya frowned. "So it's a help, but at the cost of you being left vulnerable. Sounds like a double-edged sword…"

"Heh, you see… my Shining Digivolution is powerful, I don't have a lot of control over it. It makes any Digimon I choose to use it digivolve straight into their Mega forms," Calumon explained. "You remember that MarineAngemon who was healing Salamon? Err… Lady Ophanimon?

Takuya nodded. "I do."

"She used to be a Pichimon," Calumon explained.

Takuya's eyes went wide. A Pichimon was a fresh, newly hatched Digimon, lower than even In-Training level. MarineAngemon was a Mega level, the highest level of the digivolution chart.

"Wow…" Takuya murmured, not sure of what else to say. His mind was almost blown, literally, with that revelation.

"I can't fight on my own though," Calumon sighed. "I mean… I have… uh… ways to defend myself if necessary, but I'm strictly a healer and supporter."

Takuya shook his head as he snapped out of his staring. "Well, whatever you use to defend yourself, I'm sure it's pretty effective."

Calumon sheepishly grinned before he flew over onto Takuya's head. "You sure you're okay with this? I'm not too heavy, am I?"

Takuya shook his head gently, so as to not throw Calumon off. "Nope. You're fine." But I definitely feel like I have heard this Calumon's voice before...

Just before Takuya could make the connection, he heard footsteps running his way. Turning, Takuya saw Andy and Dorumon.

"Takuya? Well… huh, I'm glad to see you're not stuck as Flamemon anymore," Andy said before he slowed down to a stop, Dorumon doing the same. "Oh, I see, you're now picking up your own Digimon partner, is that it?"

Dorumon was snickering.

"No. He's not my Digimon partner!" Takuya huffed. "He's just the one who helped you guys out. Besides, I have my Spirits, which are like my partners in a sense."

"I know, but it's just kind of… amusing to see Calumon on your head like that. It reminds me of Dorimon when he gets on my head," Andy chuckled.

"Though Calumon looks fitting on you," Dorumon added.

Calumon blushed, though he was grinning a little. "You really think so?"

Takuya gave a fake glare at Dorumon. "Okay, I get it. Calumon is fitting when he sits on my head. Now, why did you come down here?"

"Right. Well, we've decided to go investigate around the castle, since we're here and all. Jazz, Lopmon, Tucker, and Terriermon are looking around the castle as well. We decided to split up to cover more ground. Though if we have to call each other, we have our D-Arcs with us," Andy explained. "Sam is staying with Danny and Salamon."

Takuya nodded. "Okay. So, where are we going to start our search?"

"I don't really know. Dorumon and I are new to this place, we don't know where much of anything is," Andy answered.

"And there's too many Digimon here for me to pick up any suspicious scents," Dorumon sighed.

"Oh, are you trying to find out what happened to Seraphimon?" Calumon asked.

Takuya looked up at Calumon. "Yeah. He apparently appeared in the human world, but as a corrupted Digimon. We actually had to fight him at one point, and he is also the reason Cherubimon appeared in the human world as well."

"I see…" Calumon frowned. "Well, if you're going to find any clues about that, it would be in the room Seraphimon usually resided in. O… erm… Lady Ophanimon was investigating there herself for a while."

Takuya frowned. "Well, it seems as good as any place to start. Do you know where that room is?"

"Yeah. I guess it has been a while since you've been there, Takuya," Calumon noted. "Just follow me."

Calumon floated off of Takuya's head and flew in front of the group.

"You know…" Dorumon spoke up as they were walking. "I couldn't help but feel an odd… yet familiar power from Calumon when he was healing Danny."

Takuya looked back. "Familiar how?"

"I'm not really sure… but… I guess in a way, he felt a little bit similar to you, Takuya," Dorumon answered. "Except colder… much colder."

Takuya frowned when he heard that. "Is… that so? That's odd…"

"It's also odd that there seems to be little to no data on the little guy," Andy muttered, looking at the hologram of Calumon on his D-Arc. "Although, Sorcermon claims to not know about Dorumon either, so, I guess it's not impossible for there to be Digimon that not everyone had seen before."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. The Digital World is a big place, and when I was here last time with my friends, we didn't explore the whole thing either."

"The Digital World is always expanding, new data, and thus, new Digimon are always being made," Calumon spoke up. "And these ears aren't just for flying you know."

Takuya flinched when he realized that their conversation had been overheard. Crap… Not what I expected...

"We're sorry, we didn't mean to talk about you behind your back," Andy apologized.

"No, it's okay. I'd be curious about me too if I were in your shoes," Calumon sighed. "I guess you could say… I'm somewhat of an anomaly."

Takuya frowned. "I see…"

Not the first anomaly we've dealt with. Andy silently mused.

Calumon led the three of them into a large room. It was the same room Takuya was in four years ago, when he and the others unfroze Seraphimon from his crystal prison, and again when they were trying to defend the fractal code from the royal knights. It looked almost untouched, only cleaner and more decorative.

"I see we had the same idea," A familiar voice spoke up.

Takuya looked over, only to see the speaker. It was Lopmon. "Lopmon! Jazz!"

"Hey Takuya, glad to see you could join us for the investigation," Jazz greeted before she walked over to the boy with an innocent smile on her face. "Now then…"

Jazz suddenly grabbed Takuya and shook him. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN WE DIDN'T SEE YOU WITH US IN THE DIGITAL WORLD!?"

Takuya winced at the loudness of Jazz's voice. "Jazz, calm down! I just got separated from the others before I found my way here!"

"You couldn't have used your D-Arc or whatever to call us!? I know you have one, Takuya Kanbara!" Jazz snapped.

Takuya froze at her words. She saw my D-Tector?! Shit…

"Jazz, calm down. He's here and he's safe, that's all that matters now," Lopmon spoke up, calming the overprotective girl down.

Jazz sighed before letting Takuya go. "You're right… I'm sorry, after both of my brothers were brought in unconscious, and my cousin was missing… I sort of lost my head there."

Takuya shrugged off Jazz's hands. "It happens. I know I would lose my own cool if any one of you guys were in the same situation or something similar."

Andy couldn't help but wince in guilt. Although it wasn't his fault that he fainted back there, he still couldn't help but feel guilty for worrying Jazz and the others as much as he did. I really need to look into this whole soul link thing before something else happens again.

"Cherubimon…? Is that you?" Calumon asked, looking at Lopmon as though it was the first time he saw the rabbit.

Lopmon looked at Calumon. "Yes… and you're…"

Calumon frowned awkwardly. "I'm… Calumon, nice to meet you, Cherubimon."

"... Please… just call me Lopmon," Lopmon sighed.

Takuya coughed a bit. "So… where do we start the search? This room could hold anything from traps to clues."

Dorumon began to sniff around the place. Andy let his partner do so, Dorumon always seemed to have a reliable nose.

"I heard that Ophanimon was here earlier, investigating herself, is that right?" Lopmon asked, looking at Calumon.

"Yes, that's right," Calumon answered. "Though she had been really busy maintaining the Digital World lately, she hardly had time to really investigate herself."

Takuya looked around. "Well, even if that is the case, I would think she might have found something."

"Isn't there anything here that could help us find a clue to something?" Andy asked.

"We could look around the statues," Lopmon said, pointing at the statue of the three Celestial Digimon in their Mega forms. "It holds this area's fractal code."

Takuya nodded. "Okay. Let's start looking." He made his way over to the statue, hoping to find anything that could be a clue.

Everyone in the area was spread out, hoping to find something, anything. Dorumon and Andy were in one section of the room, Jazz and Lopmon were on the other. Takuya and Calumon were in the center.

"Takuya, can I ask you something?" Calumon suddenly spoke up, and for a split second, Takuya felt like one of his old friends was there, talking to him.

"Uh… Sure. What's on your mind?" Takuya asked, confused now.

"What caused that boy with the ghost inside him to be so injured like that? You said how it was your fault, that he had to overshadow you. But why? What were you fighting?" Calumon asked.

Takuya sighed as he looked down, a hand on the statue. "I was fighting a ghost fused with a Digimon. I charged at him without a plan, and got hurt. If not for my cousin doing what he did, I would have died."

"A ghost fused with a Digimon…" Calumon frowned. "Is that ghost still here?"

"Yeah… he is…" Takuya sighed. "I had to get my cousin to safety because he was hurt. Fighting that ghost-Digimon hybrid would have only put him in more danger."

"That's… not good. The fact that ghost-Digimon hybrid is still out there…" Calumon hesitated. "If a ghost fuses with a Digimon in the Digital World, they'll get stronger. They'll keep eating the Digital World. There's a reason why they're known as glitches in the Digital World. A glitch that will eventually turn into a deadly virus."

"That is why we came here, to stop him." Takuya admitted. "But… at his rate of power… I don't know if we can."

"Then if you do plan on going after this ghost-Digimon hybrid again, allow me to go with you. With my healing powers, I should be able to keep you all from becoming too injured to fight," Calumon suggested. "But if that's still not enough… there is an ace in a hole I can use."

"What kind of ace-in-the-hole?" Takuya asked, intrigued a bit.

"Remember what I said? About my Shining Digivolution ability?" Calumon asked. "I should be able to use it on you, and you might become… strong enough to take the hybrid down. I could use it on the others, but I can only use it one at a time, and only once per half day. I would need a 12 hour recharge once I use it. And the others might not be as experienced to take it down. Lopmon, maybe, but… well… I sort of trust you more than Cherubimon to be honest."

Takuya blinked. Calumon could help me reach EmperorGreymon? Or is that the level he is talking about? I mean, I can reach my Fusion form on my own so… "If… that's what it takes, we may have to."

Calumon nodded.

"Hmm?" Dorumon seemed to have noticed something.

"What is it, Dorumon?" Andy asked, walking over to his partner.

"Look at this," Dorumon reached down and picked up what looked like a golden feather. "Either there was a golden bird here not too long ago, or this might be…"

"Hang on…" Andy looked at his D-Arc, bringing up a hologram of Seraphimon, the normal one. "I see… normal, non-shadow Seraphimon had about 10 golden wings. So this could be a feather from one of his wings then, before he was corrupted."

Takuya looked over. "Did you guys find something?"

"Maybe," Andy said, picking up the golden feather. "Dorumon found this."

Jazz and Lopmon went over to them as well. Lopmon looked at the feather.

"What do you think? Was this one of Seraphimon's feathers?" Andy asked.

Takuya looked at the feather. It definitely looked familiar. "Yeah… It could be. It looks similar enough."

Lopmon gave a nod. "Yes, it is one of his feathers. It may look similar to Ophanimon's golden feathers, but she has different types of feathers than Seraphimon did. That is definitely Seraphimon's feather."

"Okay, so we found a feather of Seraphimon's… but that doesn't really tell us much," Jazz remarked.

"No, it does tell us something," Lopmon spoke up, looking at the feather. "It meant that Seraphimon wasn't corrupted yet when he was last here. He must've gotten corrupted while he was outside. So… none of the Digimon here ever saw him become ShadowSeraphimon."

Takuya gave a bit of a smile. "Well, that's something at least." His grin then faded. "But it doesn't tell us how or when he became corrupted."

Dorumon's forehead gem gave a slight glow. "There's more on the feather."

"What do you mean?" Andy asked.

"It's… really difficult to pinpoint it, but I do sense… some kind of extra… yet familiar… data on that feather. I don't think it's Seraphimon's data either," Dorumon explained.

"W-what kind of data…?" Takuya asked, not really wanting to hear the answer due to a feeling of heat coming from his Spirits, like they were warning him of something.

Andy, who was still holding the feather, frowned. "Is it dangerous? Because I am holding it."

"Uh…" Dorumon looked at the feather before he took it from his partner. "No, it shouldn't be. It's too small to really be of any problem to anyone. Maybe…? I'm not sure exactly."

"Then stop holding it!" Andy groaned. "I need to wash my hands…"

Dorumon chuckled slightly. "I will admit, it does feel familiar somehow, like… I don't know… like I sensed it before, I guess?"

"We need to take that feather somewhere and have someone analyze it so we can tell what kind of data is on that feather." Lopmon frowned.

"But where can we do that?" Takuya asked. As far as he knew, there was no place like that in the Digital World, and in the human world, it would be almost impossible to identify the data.

"Tucker… he might be able to…" Jazz realized.

"Oh, he probably can, knowing him," Andy agreed. "Where is he and Terriermon now?"

"Last I checked, they were going upstairs to check the balcony," Jazz answered.

Takuya looked at the group. "Well, let's go find him. He may be our best bet and finding out what this data on Seraphimon's feather is."

Calumon flew over to Takuya before landing on his head. "I'm ready when you are!"

The others tried not to laugh at how adorable Calumon and Takuya looked right now.

Takuya groaned at their looks. "Okay… I get it. Calumon looks cute on me! I don't need to be reminded of it!"

---

Tucker and Terriermon were looking out on the balcony, and they were both frowning.

"How long is he going to keep this up?" Tucker asked.

"He might keep going until he consumed the whole Digital World… power like that is… hard to resist, and makes you crave more. I've seen it happen with Cherubimon after all," Terriermon answered back.

They could see holes in the lands ahead. Techatamon was getting bigger and stronger as he continued to consume the fractal codes in the land.

"To make matters worse, because he's a ghost, he doesn't even need to find where the fractal codes are hidden. Just being here causes the entire code to glitch out, and he could consume them wherever and whenever he wants," Terriermon hissed.

Tucker nodded. "Yeah. But what can we do? I mean, you saw what happened to Danny, Ophanimon and Agunimon. Techatamon wiped the floor with all of them. And Ophanimon is a Mega-level Digimon, not to mention one of the rulers of your world. And Agunimon is one of the protectors, so if he lost, that is saying something about Techatamon's strength."

"The 10 Legendary Warriors, if they combined their strength, their powers, their minds, their souls into one... they should be able to take him out. The problem is… only one of them is here…" Terriermon frowned. "He can't face something like this alone. And… that's what almost got him killed…"

Tucker blinked. "Wait… The Legendary Warriors can do that? That's amazing!"

"Yeah, it was how they took out Lucemon, who was the ultimate Digimon," Terriermon answered. "But… with the Legendary Warriors scattered… I'm not sure what we can do…"

"We can still fight," Someone spoke up from behind them.

Tucker and Terriermon turned around, surprised to see Takuya. "Takuya! You're here! I was getting worried man, and… uh… dude, you know you have a cute Digimon on your head, right?"

Takuya pouted. "Yes… I know…" Maybe asking Calumon to ride on my head was a bad idea after all...

"Nothing wrong with that," Calumon remarked.

"Hey, Tuck, good to see you're here," Andy greeted, coming up from behind Takuya.

"Yeah…" Tucker sighed.

"But we may not be here for much longer if Techatamon decides to come over here," Terriermon warned. "He's already eaten a good portion of the land out there. He's gotten pretty strong."

Takuya looked out at the land and frowned. My Fusion form won't be enough it looks like… "I can see that."

"Do you think we still stand a chance against him? Look at what's done to Ophanimon, to Danny!" Jazz paled.

"Not by ourselves…" Lopmon frowned before he looked at Calumon for a moment. "But… we might still have a chance."

Jazz looked at Lopmon. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know… I guess we will see soon," Lopmon muttered. "Andy, for now, you and Dorumon keep that feather safe. I don't know what kind of data is on that feather, but it doesn't seem to be affecting you two, so it might be safe to keep it with you for now."

"Uh… are you sure? It might just be a thing that would affect us later. Like it might affect me when I'm sleeping or something," Andy remarked with an uneasy frown.

"We don't have much of a choice." Lopmon pointed out. "And we have a rampaging ghost-Digimon to deal with first."

"Fine…" Andy sighed before he put the feather into his backpack, that he still had with him.

"But how are we going to fight? Danny, our local ghost hunter, is still unconscious," Dorumon pointed out.

Takuya gripped his D-Tector, knowing that if anyone was to fight, it would most likely be him. I won't let Jazz, Andy, or Tucker fight. This isn't something they can handle, especially since only two of them can reach Champion level, and they have no experience at the Mega-level.

"Takuya, don't be stupid," Calumon suddenly spoke up, surprising Takuya.

"Huh?" Takuya looked up at Calumon.

"I know how you think. You're planning to take on Techatamon by yourself," Calumon stated.

"What else can we do?" Takuya countered. "I mean… How else can we beat him? Using strategy? Techatamon might see through our plans. Can't you just use your Shining Digivolution on me and I go take care of him right now?"

"No, I can't," Calumon answered.

"Why?" Takuya asked.

"Because I used Culu Prayer earlier on Danny. I am drained, I can't use it right now," Calumon replied.

Takuya groaned. "Great…" So much for that plan...

"I technically can use it still," Calumon sighed. "But… if I were to use it now…"

"You would not be Calumon anymore, right?" Lopmon finished.

Takuya perked up at hearing that. "What do you mean, Lopmon?"

"The Shining Digivolution is something of an ancient artifact the Digital World used to have would use on Digimon in desperate times. It used to be here to keep regulation on digivolution. Basically it allowed Digimon to hatch, grow, become stronger, then are reborn again and the cycle continues," Lopmon explained. "But without it… no Digimon can ever grow, they can't be reborn either. Calumon is… sort of… our… I guess you could say, replacement for that artifact."

Takuya blinked before looking up at Calumon again. "No wonder you said you were a bit of an anomaly."

"But that still doesn't quite answer what you meant," Andy pointed out. "About Calumon not being Calumon anymore."

"If Calumon uses the Shining Digivolution while he's already tired, his digital form will… have to cease for a while," Lopmon answered.

Takuya frowned. "So we won't use it then, it looks like. But if that's the case, then how will we beat Techatamon?"

"There's always a way to defeat a strong opponent," Andy said. "If power isn't the way to go, then we need another way. A weakness maybe, some way to weaken him, whatever it takes."

"Is it possible to reverse the consumption of the data he's been eating?" Jazz asked.

Lopmon winced a little, likely getting bad memories from Jazz's suggestion.

Takuya frowned at that suggestion. "There should be… but…" He trailed off, remembering his ability to purify Digimon and restore fractal codes when he was evolved as Agunimon. I don't know how to explain it without giving myself away...

"One way to do it is to try to knock the fractal code out of them," Lopmon answered, not looking at anyone in the eyes. "Another way is to cut their bodies to get the codes out. Or aim directly at where they've consumed the code, and hope they spit it out."

Lopmon shivered, looking pretty guilty and disgusted, mostly at himself.

Jazz frowned and put a hand on Lopmon's head. "Don't worry about what you did in the past, Lopmon. Right now, we need to focus on the present issue."

"I'm trying not to… but my past always seems to haunt me one way or another…" Lopmon said softly.

Terriermon looked down at that.

"The Digi-Core…" Dorumon spoke up.

"What?" Andy asked.

Perking up, Takuya recalled that from when he fought DexDorugamon. "A Digi-Core… Wait! If Techatamon is a Digimon, he should have a Digi-Core, right?"

"He might have a Digi-Core mixed with a ghost core," Calumon answered. "I would say it's kind of like with that boy, Danny, only his core was more ghost than digital."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "Even if that is the case, we still have another option."

"What option is that?" Tucker asked.

Takuya looked down. "I'm not sure… but if he has a Digi-Core, then we could somehow use that to beat him."

"A Digi-Core is basically a Digimon's heart," Dorumon explained. "I've… always had the ability to sense where a Digimon's Digi-Core is. Though it was never something I usually paid much attention to. But usually when a Digimon consumed the fractal code, they would fuse it into their Digi-Core to make it a part of them, and become stronger. If we could, somehow, reach Techatamon's Digi-Core, and disrupt it, we might be able to either free the fractal code he had consumed, or at the very least, weaken him enough for us to be able to fight him."

Takuya looked at Dorumon. "That may be our best bet to beat him." I was almost on the receiving end of that myself with DexDorugamon...

"Be warned though, if you mess with the Digi-Core too much, there's a chance you might accidentally absorb it yourself," Dorumon warned. "You do not want to do that, especially with a ghost Digi-Core, that could damage or mess you up entirely."

"I'll keep that in mind." Takuya said absent-mindedly. If we are to have a chance, my Fusion form may be our best bet to give us the greatest fighting chance since it is my strongest form aside from EmperorGreymon...

"Are we going into battle without Danny though?" Tucker asked. "I mean… he is our best bet to taking on Techatamon."

"Well, maybe. He may not be able to help much…" Terriermon frowned.

"No… he would be an immense help…" Andy sighed. "Danny could go into Techatamon's body and get to the Digi-Core directly. Without that, we'll have to try to get to it by going through his armored body ourselves."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "Yeah… That is a good point…"

"Perhaps we should wait then, until Danny wakes up," Jazz suggested.

"That is wise. Even if you are worried about the land being consumed, don't be. He has a long way to go before he comes anywhere close to consuming the entire Digital World," Lopmon assured them.

"Besides, we do have Digimon out there who are trained to battle against Digimon trying to consume the world again, after that incident with the royal knights, nobody is taking any chances," Calumon added.

Takuya frowned a bit more, but he didn't argue with Calumon and Lopmon's reasoning. He let out a sigh. "Fine, we'll wait."

"In the meantime, maybe we can keep trying to investigate the castle, find more clues and whatnot," Jazz suggested.

Tucker nodded. "Sure. That's a good idea to pass the time."

However, as everyone was starting to head back, a sudden image came to Andy's mind. He suddenly saw the castle being attacked by MegaTechatamon, and he was laughing as the castle was turning into code.

"Wha?" Andy blinked, coming out of whatever it was he saw.

"What's wrong?" Dorumon asked, sensing the sudden worry in his partner.

Andy quickly turned around from the balcony to look out. He hurried over to the edge of it, and to his horror, he saw the now colossal MegaTechatamon was making his way over to them.

"That castle looks yummy!" Techatamon noted.

Andy quickly ran back to the others. "Techatamon is on his way here! And he's HUGE!"

Takuya turned pale at hearing that. "Oh crap…" He's coming here, now?!

"Hurry, get to the entrance! We need to get everyone in battle mode, now!" Lopmon commanded with the authority of a Celestial Digimon.

With Seraphimon gone, and Ophanimon unconscious, Lopmon would have to step up and take over as the castle's leader to defend it from an incoming powerful entity.

Takuya looked down at his D-Tector, hoping he would be able to do his part and aid in the defense of the castle. He gripped the device tightly. Please… wake up soon, Danny… We need you...

Andy was thinking the same thing, if they ever really needed Danny Phantom, it was now. But he's out cold. We'll have to try to hold Techatamon without him.

"Don't worry, I know we can do it," Dorumon assured.

"I'm with you all the way," Calumon agreed.

Jazz, still holding Lopmon, began hurrying down the corridor. Tucker held out his D-Arc and ran after her. Everyone else quickly followed.

---

The castle was shaking. All the Digimon in the castle were ready for battle. Sorcermon, Jazz, and Lopmon were in the front.

"Are you sure we'll be able to handle someone who took down Lady Ophanimon and Agunimon, Cherubimon?" Sorcermon questioned.

"I have faith that we can defend this castle, and Lady Ophanimon," Lopmon answered. "But we have to be careful. This Digimon is a ghost hybrid. Do not let his attacks hit you directly, or you'll never be reborn again."

Sorcermon frowned. "That does sound bad…"

Jazz looked at Sorcermon. "We have an idea on how to beat him, but it is tricky with how it has to be pulled off."

"Can you not digivolve into your Mega form, Cherubimon?" Sorcermon asked.

"I'm afraid not," Lopmon answered.

Jazz frowned. "It is hard to explain, but it has to do with how Lopmon came to the human world."

The castle shook again.

"We'll have to explain later," Lopmon said. "We need to prepare ourselves."

"Right," Jazz held up the D-Arc.

"Lopmon, digivolve to…" Lopmon began to lose his own skin, on his face, and then his legs lost their skin as well. His ears also lost their skin before his skin began to come back, but on his legs and feet first. Lopmon's legs gained shoes and yellow pants with a belt and yellow top that matched, two blades appeared as his hands regained their skin and red gloves, grasping the blades in both hands. The skin on Lopmon's head and face came back, just as a blue bandanna appeared around his neck as well. "Turuiemon!"

The Digimon around them were surprised to see Lopmon had digivolved, though it wasn't Cherubimon, they were still surprised to see he was at Champion at the very least.

Tucker was in the back with Terriermon. He was more on support and analysis, to try to find a weak spot in Techatamon's armor so they could get to his Digi-Core.

"Terriermon…" Tucker said.

"Yeah…" Terriermon hopped down from Tucker's shoulder. "Do it."

Tucker smiled before holding up his D-Arc to Terriermon.

"Terriermon, digivolve to…" Terriermon began to lose his own skin, on his face, and then his legs lost their skin as well. His ears also lost their skin before his skin began to come back, but on his legs and feet first. Terriermon's legs gained green pants with a belt and bullets around his chest. Two large gauntlets that were guns appeared on his hands. The skin on Terriermon's head and face came back, just as a green mask appeared around his upper face as well. "Gargomon!"

"It's good to have you back, Gargomon." Tucker smiled.

"It feels good to be back." Gargomon grinned.

Andy, Dorumon, and Takuya were a little further away from everyone else.

"Well, Takuya, if you're going to spirit evolve now, you better do it. Techatamon is getting closer," Andy stated.

Takuya looked down at his D-Tector.

"While you do that, Dorumon and I will get into position," Andy said. "We… want to protect Danny, as well as Sam and Salamon. Don't get too reckless out there… I'd rather not have a ghost cousin as well."

Takuya winced a little, what Andy said made him realize that he was still taking the accident that happened to Danny pretty hard. Andy looked at Dorumon. "Ready?"

Dorumon nodded. "Of course I am."

"Dorumon, digivolve to…" 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. "Dorugamon!"

As soon as Dorugamon had digivolved, Andy hopped onto his back. Dorugamon flew up to the higher level of the castle and waited.

"Hey, Takuya…" Calumon spoke up, who was floating beside Takuya.

"What is it, Calumon?" Takuya asked as he looked up.

"Are you… going to…" Calumon hesitated. "Of course… you can't access EmperorGreymon right now… so I'm guessing you'll go for Aldamon?"

Takuya looked down. "That's my strongest form right now." He replied.

"Okay. I'll try my best to back you up," Calumon stated. "Just… please, don't… don't get yourself killed, okay?"

Takuya frowned a bit. Why is it that Calumon sounds so familiar? I can't place it, but the voice is so… it just sounds familiar to me...

The castle was trembling heavily now, it was hard to stay standing. Takuya could hear Techatamon's voice just outside.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?~" Techatamon purred. "So much data, so much power! I want it all!"

Takuya gripped his D-Tector before he looked up. He knew what he had to do. Takuya grabbed his D-Tector and held it up, forming the familiar ball of fractal code around his left hand. He scanned it through the D-Tector's light, swiping his hand up as he did so. "EXECUTE NOW! FUSION EVOLUTION!" he cried. The fractal code surrounded him, transforming into a blue-white cocoon of light. Within it, he felt the familiar transformation sweep over him. His body grew in height and became more muscular as a tugging sensation near the bottom of his spine transformed into a tail. A slight pain accompanied the growth of his wings and a sharp pain filled his mouth as his teeth elongated. Armor formed on his body and his hair turned yellow, becoming long and wild as his eyes turned a sharp, icy blue color. The light finally shattered and he flared his wings, landing and shouting out his name as he did so. "ALDAMON!"

Now in his Fusion form of Aldamon, Takuya was at his strongest. Aldamon flexed his wings before heading out himself.

Andy and Dorugamon were surprised when they saw an unfamiliar Digimon, yet he was familiar at the same time. They were the only ones to have witnessed the evolution, aside from Calumon.

"Huh… so Takuya could do that…" Andy noted. "But that evolution looked… painful."

"Yeah… whenever a human turns into a beast, or fuses with a beast spirit, it's likely painful to them because it changes their bodies completely. Human spirits are more controllable, less primal, and it's more similar to their original bodies," Dorugamon explained.

Andy frowned. "Does Takuya feel that pain whenever he becomes BurningGreymon?"

Unfortunately, now wasn't the time for questions. The castle was shaking again, and the roof suddenly came off. Techatamon grinned as he looked down at all the Digimon.

"Crap…" Dorugamon swore as he looked up at Techatamon.

Techatamon's grin grew bigger. "This castle's power will be mine!"

"We will stop you before then!" Sorcermon shouted.

With that, everyone attacked. Dorugamon and Aldamon flew up from their positions, going up to Techatamon's chest and face. The Digimon down below were supposed to keep Techatamon distracted while they tried to find a weak spot or the area of his Digi-Core. Tucker was keeping track of them with his D-Arc. Surprisingly, his PDA functions were still in his D-Arc.

"Okay… let's see if either of them can find Techatamon's Digi-Core…" Tucker muttered.

Aldamon flew around, keeping his distance for the time being. He was looking for any weak spots on Techatamon's chest armor, but his efforts were yielding little so far. He frowned to himself. "Where could it be…?"

There were other flying Digimon as well, they didn't want Techatamon to get suspicious after all. There were Birdramon, Saberdramon, Snimon, Kabuterimon, Kuwagamon, Airdramon, Unimon and more surrounding Techatamon.

"You are all such annoying pests!" Techatamon snapped before he began to create several balls of energy with nano-tech. "Nano Energy Ball! You like it? I just named it myself!"

Aldamon saw the attack, but he knew how to counter it. "You think you're the only one who can do that?!" He then cupped his hands together, gathering energy into his hands. The fireball began to grow larger with the energy still gathering. "RAAAAH! Solar Wind Destroyer!" The fireball now complete, Aldamon then threw it right at Techatamon's energy balls.

The fireball destroyed several of the Nano Energy Balls, but there were still more. The other Digimon then used their own attacks to try to cancel out as many of the Nano Energy Balls as possible. Dorugamon used his Cannonball attack as well. Only about three Nano Energy Balls hit the ground. Thankfully, none of the Digimon were hit, but the shockwave caused several of them to fall down. The Rookie levels were already showing their fractal code from the shockwave alone.

Seeing that, Aldamon looked back at Techatamon with a glare. "You want a fight, you'll get one!" He then flew at Techatamon again, weaving around any Nano Energy Balls that were still in the air and firing at him.

Techatamon, getting frustrated with Aldamon's attacks, turned himself intangible, making Aldamon's attacks go through him.

"He turned intangible!"

"That wasn't even a Digimon move!"

"No… it's a ghost move." Andy frowned.

Aldamon wound up going right through Techatamon's intangible form, turning around in shock and surprise. "Okay… that was not what I expected…"

"Of course not, you could never hope to defeat MegaTechatamon!" Techatamon laughed before he swiped at Aldamon, making him fall several feet.

"Aldamon!" A very, very familiar voice shouted in concern.

As he fell, Aldamon was sure he knew whose voice that was. T-Tommy?

When Aldamon opened his eyes, however, he didn't see Tommy, or Kumamon, or Korikkakumon, instead, he just saw Calumon frantically flying towards him. "Get up! Fly up! He's coming!"

Realizing he was in danger, Aldamon flared his wings and managed to right himself before adjusting his body so he glided away from the area, narrowly avoiding a sharp mechanical spider leg from piercing through his back.

Looking back, Aldamon felt his face pale at seeing how close he came to getting seriously hurt if not worse. Thank you, Calumon… That could have ended me… Though I could've sworn I heard Tommy's voice.

"Cannonball!" Dorugamon shot out a large iron ball at Techatamon's container brain, hoping to break the glass, unfortunately his Cannonball bounced right off, not even leaving a crack.

"He's too powerful!" Andy hissed. "If only we could get to the Digi-Core…"

Dorugamon frowned. "Yes, but finding it is the hard part. I can sense it, but I can't pinpoint its exact location. I think his ghost core might be shielding it from my senses."

"Even if we knew where it was, how are we going to get to it? His body is too tough, our attacks are bouncing right off his armor." Andy frowned. "We need another ghost, we need Danny."

"But he's unconscious, remember?" Dorugamon pointed out.

"I know that," Andy hissed. "I… just don't know how long we can keep this up. Someone's going to get hit from those Nano Energy Balls if this keeps up."

Tucker was working frantically on his D-Arc, Gargomon was joining in the fight, but he was mostly there to keep Tucker safe. "Come on, come on, where are you…"

Aldamon looked down, wondering what was taking Tucker so long. He couldn't blame Tucker for taking a while though. The stress would no doubt make anyone nervous enough to panic and take a long while. Turuiemon jumped up from the crowd, using his gauntlets to try to beat back Techatamon's legs. Techatamon moved his giant mechanical leg before kicking Turuiemon away.

Andy tried using his notepads to make Dorugamon's Cannonball explode, he even tried making them into liquid to try to slow Techatamon down. But Techatamon was too powerful, he was able to withstand the Meta Explosions like they were nothing, and he easily broke out of the hardened metal liquid. Aldamon flew back into action, he was currently their strongest Digimon powerhouse, he had to do something.

An idea came to Aldamon's mind as he realized Techatamon had not yet been attacked from behind. Maybe… He had a plan racing through his mind as he flew up as high as he could before circling around behind Techatamon. He flew down in a glide, hoping to get the jump on Techatamon. Techatamon wasn't even paying him any attention, he was too busy having fun with the other Digimon trying desperately to push him back.

Seeing that he was completely ignored, Aldamon couldn't help but smirk. Let's see if he can counter this! The Fusion-evolved Warrior of Flame flew in and came to a hover as his arm cannons turned and opened to firing mode. The charge built up before Aldamon then unleashed his attack "Atomic Inferno!" His cannons let loose a barrage of fiery bullets, impacting Techatamon's back directly.

Techatamon let out an annoyed hissed. "Hey! What are you doing!? Don't you know it's rude to attack your opponent from behind? I guess I should have to teach you a lesson."

Before Aldamon could move, he was suddenly wrapped up by wires that came out of Techatamon's back. Aldamon let out a scream as he was being electrocuted by the wires. He felt his energy and Spirit draining and glitching out since the electricity had ghostly properties.

"Aldamon! No!" Andy yelled, seeing his cousin turned Digimon being electrocuted.

As Aldamon was screaming in pain, a part of him wondered if this was how Danny felt when he accidentally turned on the portal.

"That will teach you, you annoying little gnat!" Techatamon gloated. "For I, Techatamon, am too strong for even you! I will wipe your data, and claim this world's fractal code to take over the world!"

Having had enough, and determined to save his cousin from the same fate as Danny, Andy grabbed out his cards. "Dorugamon, fly in close to those wires, hurry!"

Dorugamon didn't even answer, he just started flying to where Andy wanted him to. Andy swiped a card on his D-Arc. "Digi-Modify! Etemon's Dark Network activate!"

Dorugamon summoned black wires around Techatamon's wires around Aldamon. Andy quickly got out another card. "Digi-Modify! Phantomon's Shadow Scythe activate!"

A large dark purple and black scythe appeared in Dorugamon's claws. Etemon's Dark Network was weakening the wires that held Aldamon. Dorugamon was coming in to try to cut the wires with the Shadow Scythe. Techatamon made another wire that grabbed Dorugamon's arms. Andy didn't hesitate to swipe another card in his D-Arc.

"Digi-Modify! Devimon's Laser Wings activate!" Andy was panting, and he was starting to feel a little dizzy.

Dorugamon's wings turned sharp before it blasted out lasers at the wires on Dorugamon's arms. Now free, Dorugamon swung his Shadow Scythe at the wires around Aldamon, freeing him. But Aldamon was weakened and hurt from the ecto electricity. Dorguamon grabbed onto him before he floated down away from Techatamon.

Aldamon groaned as he regained his senses after that 'shocking' experience. Burns covered his armor here and there, and while he did feel a bit disoriented from the experience, he was still relatively uninjured, mostly due to his higher level. "Ugh… That was quite the experience…"

Dorugamon put Aldamon down after they landed. "Are you okay?"

Andy was breathing a little heavily and was sweating. "Hey… don't… go doing… that again… okay?"

Aldamon looked back at Andy, noticing how the boy looked quite tired. "I… Are you okay?" Worry was in his voice as he slowly made his way to Andy's side.

Andy was still on Dorugamon's back, and although it could be a bit taxing to have to hold on while Dorugamon was in a battle, Andy should not be this wiped out.

"I'm fine… just…" Andy panted.

"He did a lot of Digi-Modifies, that takes energy from him," Dorugamon explained.

Aldamon frowned when he heard that. "Andy…" He then felt a pang of guilt rush through him. Is it because I attacked Techatamon from behind? Was that why Andy had to save me…?

"Heh… sorry… I should have… tried to conserve… those modify cards… but you know… I didn't… want you to end up… like Danny…" Andy said, still panting.

Dorugamon looked back at Andy in worry. "Don't use anymore modify cards for this battle, Andy. We should focus on finding a weakness in Techatamon's armor, or where his Digi-Core is located."

Aldamon frowned. "But where would we find his Digi-Core? His ghost core is most likely masking it, making it difficult to find."

"There are two likely spots right now," Dorugamon spoke up. "The Digi-Core is either that brain in that glass jar in his head. Or it's in his chest somewhere. Ghosts usually need their core to be somewhere where it can distribute their ectoplasmic energy through their body quickly. And a Digi-Core is like a Digimon's heart and brain. They need it to think, to feel, to use their attacks."

Hearing that, Aldamon looked back at Techatamon. "So we have two possible locations…" It wouldn't be the brain… too obvious.

Techatamon grinned as he suddenly summoned hundreds of the Nano Energy Balls. Everyone's eyes widened in horror. "Let's see you dodge all of this!"

"Move!" Andy yelled.

Dorugamon and Aldamon quickly flew in different directions just as Techatamon had his Nano Energy Balls scatter at the Digimon and the castle. Turuiemon and Gargomon grabbed their human partners and moved away quickly. The other Digimon that were unfortunate enough to be hit were quickly deleted or dispersed into data.

Seeing this, Aldamon felt anger rising in his chest as he gritted his teeth. This wasn't how this was supposed to go! When did such a simple mission to track down Technus become this battle for survival?!

Aldamon was so focused on dodging the Nano Energy Balls and his anger on how they were losing Digimon that he didn't notice Techatamon's leg until it was too late. Aldamon heard a sickening crunch, and felt unbelievable pain. Looking down, he saw his torso was pierced through by the leg. It wasn't in very deep, but it definitely went through his armor. Thankfully, it was more on his left side than in his gut, but it was still hurting like hell.

"Shouldn't have left your guard down," Techatamon sneered before kicking Aldamon away. "Now, who's next? That is, if you think you can handle me, MegaTechatamon!"

Aldamon laid there on the ground, dizzy, weakened. He began to close his eyes, his memories starting to go back to when he was in the Digital World with his old friends.

"Listen Takuya…" A familiar voice spoke to him, or it could just be someone from his memories. "Remember that feeling when you and Koji fought with Cherubimon? Everyone's Spirit united into you two. And now… they're going to do it again."

Am I… hearing things…? Aldamon thought in the mental haze that clouded his mind. Is it… because I'm… dying…?

"Wind into Flame!" Aldamon remembered hearing Zoey's voice shout.

"Ice into Flame!" Aldamon could hear Tommy's voice announce.

"Shining Digivolution!"

Suddenly, Aldamon felt it, the Spirits were uniting with him again.

Aldamon groaned as he got to his feet, feeling energy surging through his weakened body, restoring his strength. Fractal code surrounded his form before he felt the familiar words slip from his mouth. "Unity Execute! Unified Spirit Evolution!" As soon as he said those words, the Warrior of Flame felt the Spirits granting him their power, and a new form began to take shape. It was one he was familiar with. His body gained red and gold armor, and his wings came data that then became more armor. His tail disappeared into his spine as his head became more like BurningGreymon's but with orange armor on it and a white lower mouth guard. His hands wound up grabbing a familiar sword as blue eyes opened, swinging the sword twice before announcing his name. "EmperorGreymon!"

Now as EmperorGreymon, the Warrior of Flame was ready to take on Techatamon again. His blue eyes flashed as he glared, pointing his sword at the ghost-Digimon Hybrid. "Techatamon! Your reign of terror in this world is over!"

"Who's that?" Jazz asked when she saw the sudden 'new' Digimon.

"It's EmperorGreymon!" Turuiemon recognized immediately. "But how? There needed to be at least 4 other Legendary Warriors around to be able to summon him." Did Calumon do this?

"Oh please, no matter how many times you come back, you're still no match for me," Techatamon gloated.

EmperorGreymon twirled his sword twice in his left hand before the blade began to glow and he shoved the tip into the ground. "This is for Lady Ophanimon! Pyro Dragons!" As soon as he said that, the ground began to glow with nine lines that then lanced up in the form of dragon heads that were made of flame. The flaming dragon heads launched towards Techatamon, making direct contact.

To Techatamon's shock, it actually hurt, and pushed him back. "Waaah!? How did you damage me!?"

"What happened?" Andy asked, seeing EmperorGreymon able to damage and push back Techatamon.

"Takuya got buff!" Dorugamon answered, looking in admiration.

Seeing he now had the advantage, EmperorGreymon was prepared to pull off the final blow. He aimed his sword and the blade began to glow again, but the edges of the sword opened up, making it look more like a launcher for a ranged attack than a blade. EmperorGreymon narrowed his eyes as he locked on target. I only have a 50% chance to get this right. If I hit the wrong area, we may never hit his Digi-Core. It's either that brain jar, or his chest. I have to aim right… He adjusted his aim, trying to find the right area. After a few seconds of indecision, the Warrior of Flame decided to just wing it and hope for the best. He aimed at Techatamon's chest. "Time to end this! Dragonfire Crossbow!"

"Wait! Stop!" Someone shouted, it was Tucker. "His Digi-Core isn't in his chest!"

But it was too late. The sword became the projectile and launched, streaking towards Techatamon's chest. It wound up hitting, but it didn't pierce through. It did however, leave a large impact dent. While Techatamon's Digi-Core wasn't in his chest, the attack did hurt him quite a bit, enough that it caused some fractal code to leave his chest and shrink him down a little.

"Wait… that's it!" Andy realized. "Keep hitting him! That'll weaken Techatamon and make it easier to locate his Digi-Core!"

EmperorGreymon heard that and gave a bit of a mental smirk. "That should be no problem." Then his smirk faded from his voice. "But that attack takes time to charge. I can't spam it over and over again instantly."

"That's fine, he now has a gaping weak spot for us to aim now!" Jazz called out.

Techatamon gulped. "Oh… this is going to hurt…"

"Cannonball!"

"Gargo Pellets!"

"Gauntlet Claw!"

The three partnered Digimon, as well as the Digimon who were still left to fight, all used their attacks at Techatamon's hole. Techatamon did summon an ecto shield around the hole in an attempt to hold off the attacks, but the stronger ones were able to break through the shield. Techatamon let out a cry of pain as more fractal code came out of his body and he began to shrink some more.

"You are all forgetting that I am a ghost!" Techatamon shouted before turning himself invisible.

"Oh crap! Can anyone see or sense him at all!?" Andy called out.

EmperorGreymon remained absolutely still. He was focusing on something. Then, he whirled around, swinging his sword at seemingly empty air. The blade made contact with something metal. "You can't hide from a Digimon's senses!"

Techatamon returned to visibility, revealing that EmperorGreymon just sliced off one of Techatamon's legs.

"How did you find me?!" Techatamon demanded.

"A Digimon's senses allow us to sense other Digimon and/or ghosts. Since you are fused with a Datamon, that means you are now a Digimon too." EmperorGreymon replied with malice in his voice.

Dorugamon flew next to EmperorGreymon, while Turuiemon and Gargomon jumped on some of the platforms left of the castle to stand closer to the two of them. Techatamon frowned, seeing that the Digimon were starting to overwhelm him now. He hissed before he grinned, turning himself intangible.

"I should warn you that by taking me out, you're also hurting that poor, innocent Datamon who had nothing to do with any of this," Techatamon stated.

EmperorGreymon remained impassive at hearing that. "Innocent or not, there will be casualties. That Datamon will be reborn once purged of your ectoplasmic influence, but that will only happen if you are defeated!"

"You can't be serious! Aren't you always one of those do-gooders who would never hurt someone innocent in battle?" Techatamon snapped.

"Maybe if it wasn't a Digimon, I would be more hesitant," EmperorGreymon admitted, he may not be perfect, but he wasn't heartless by any means. "Too bad for you, I don't use ecto energy that would glitch and erase a Digimon's data."

Techatamon seemed to become fearful at hearing that. EmperorGreymon meant business it sounded like. "You're bluffing!"

"I found it!" Tucker called out, running over to Gargomon and climbing onto the gun bunny's shoulders. "His Digi-Core is in his head! Not the brain, but his forehead!"

EmperorGreymon, upon hearing that, knew what to do. He hefted his sword and aimed it again, the sides of the blade opening to launcher mode again. "I can take it out with one shot, but it will take time to charge the attack."

"Which will be time I won't give you," Techatamon announced before the sky suddenly became dark. "This is my ultimate attack. You might survive it, but can you say the same for your friends?"

The clouds began to rain down ectoplasmic water filled with nano technology. It was easily eating away the castle's walls like powerful acid. Dorugamon let out a scream of pain as some of the rain hit him. Gargomon and Turuiemon were in pain as well, their bodies starting to glitch out.

"Dorugamon! Get to a shelter and degenerate, hurry! I suggest the rest of you do the same!" Andy quickly instructed.

"Hurry, Turuiemon!" Jazz held up her D-Arc, degenerating Turuiemon before his body could glitch out anymore.

Tucker did the same with Gargomon.

Once Lopmon and Terriermon were in their Rookie forms, Jazz and Tucker carried them in their arms, attempting to shield them from the rain. Dorugamon degenerated into Dorumon as he fell.

"You're going to be okay, Dorumon, just hang on!" Andy frowned, trying to push the weakened Rookie out of the dangerous rain.

EmperorGreymon could feel the rain trying to eat away at his armor, but his higher level was holding it off for the time being. His blade glowed brightly, signaling it was fully charged. However, he could not attack, due to Techatamon being intangible. Instead, he let the attack dissipate before putting his sword on his back and rushing to help get the other Digimon to safety. Many of them were too injured to be able to run away from the ecto rain.

"Heh, your attack would've worked on a normal Digimon, but not one who is also a ghost!" Techatamon laughed before he turned to Andy and Dorumon. They were currently the ones closest to Techatamon since Dorumon was too big for Andy to carry away with him, and Dorumon was too weakened to move much. "I'm going to need some of my strength back. Looks like you two are the perfect sacrifices!"

Andy and Dorumon gasped, seeing that Techatamon was now reaching down for them. "Stay away!"

"Metal-" Dorumon coughed, unable to get his attack through.

Seeing Andy was in trouble, EmperorGreymon ran for Andy and Dorumon. "ANDY! DORUMON!"

"Puppy Howling!" A sudden sound wave of what sounded like small dogs howling, hit Techatamon's arm. It wasn't enough to cause damage, but it did take Techatamon off guard.

Techatamon stopped, caught by surprise. "What was that?!"

"Heads up!" A familiar voice suddenly spoke up before a black and white blur flew by Andy, taking Andy with it.

"Whoa!" Andy yelped when he was suddenly in the air. "Waaah!? What's happening!?"

"Whoa, easy there, calm down! You okay, bro?" That familiar voice asked Andy.

Andy stopped flailing around, recognizing that voice, before he looked up to see who grabbed him. "Danny? You're awake?"

"Heh… Sorry I worried you, bro." Danny said with a sheepish grin on his face.

It wasn't just Danny either, Sam and Salamon came running over to Dorumon. Sam was checking on Dorumon. "Are you okay? Sorry we're late. It took a while for Danny and Salamon to wake up."

"Everyone has been fighting hard," Salamon said as she looked over at EmperorGreymon. "But now it's time to finish this."

Danny looked over at the 'new' Digimon. "Whoa… What Digimon is that?"

"It's still Techatamon, Danny, he just… evolved," Andy answered. "Listen, he's intangible so we can't hit him. But since you're a ghost, you can go intangible too, and get into his forehead!"

"His forehead!? Why would I want to do that?" Danny asked, shocked and disgusted by the idea.

"To get his Digi-Core! If we can take that out, then Techatamon should either revert to normal or… I don't know, just be defeated or something," Andy answered. "Look, you're the only here who's able to go through Techatamon's armor and intangibility. So suck it up and go through his forehead!"

Danny gave a wince before sighing. "Okay… I'll give it a shot." He then gave a bit of a mischievous grin before he flew at Techatamon, still holding onto Andy. "Let's go!"

As soon as he said that, Danny turned intangible as he flew at Techatamon, Andy still in his grasp.

"Whoa, wait a second! Aren't you going to put me down first!?" Andy yelled.

"Nope. If I gotta do this, you gotta do this too!" Danny answered.

The ghost boy then entered Techatamon's forehead while intangible. As soon as Danny entered Techatamon's forehead, he began to look for anything that looked like a Digi-Core, but he had no idea what one looked like, so Danny was just winging it.

"What's this Digi-Core supposed to look like?" Danny asked as he was flying around.

The inside of Techatamon's head was different than both brothers were expecting. It was green, that was no shocker, but it was also black, there was electricity flowing through like they were inside some kind of machine rather than a living being. It was also a maze, there were too many different paths to take.

Andy looked into his D-Arc, having pulled it out from his pocket. "Seems you pulling me in here was a blessing in disguise. Dorumon should be able to sense it, even if he isn't with me right now. I think we weakened Techatamon to the point that his Digi-Core is more exposed."

Danny gave a blink of surprise. "Well… I just brought you with as a bit of revenge, but I guess it did work out, since I have no idea on where this Digi-Core is or what it looks like."

"Dorumon, can you hear me? Can you help us look for the Digi-Core?" Andy requested.

Dorumon, who was outside, closed his eyes and his forehead gem gave a glow. "You're near it, Andy."

A holographic compass appeared in Andy's D-Arc, a red arrow pointing in a certain direction. The boy smiled. "Go left from here, Danny!"

Danny nodded as he flew in that direction. "Okay, how far do I have to fly?"

"Just keep going until I tell you to change direction," The younger twin answered, looking at his compass.

Danny yelped as a mini ghost tried to tackle them, he moved out of the way. "Okay, we also gotta watch out for those… ghost… blood cells…?"

"Don't… don't think too hard on that," Andy groaned. "Turn right, and go north!"

Danny kept following Andy's instructions while also avoiding the small ghosts that were trying to latch onto them. Danny had to use his ghost rays on a few because they were trying to surround them.

Then, Danny stopped in front of what looked like a green, blue, and purple meld of colors in the form of a sphere. It was huge, and it looked to be made of both data and ectoplasm. The data looked to be corrupted, however, like it couldn't properly meld with the ectoplasm. Andy could see the compas's arrow was pointing at it.

"That's it… I see… Techatamon isn't a true Digimon, he's more ghost than Digimon," Andy noted. "I have a feeling that he wouldn't exist for very long until the data gets completely eroded from the poor Datamon that was caught up in all of this."

Danny frowned. "So… what do we do now? We found his Digi-Core, but now how do we get rid of it? I don't think I could handle taking a Digimon's life."

"You won't have to bro." Andy gave a small smile. "I think… I know someone who can purify this Digi-Core. But we have to get it out first. Do you think you can do that?"

Danny blinked, but nodded. "Yeah, I believe I can. But not while I'm holding you. I would need my two hands for this."

"If that's the case, then the way I see it, you have two options. I doubt you'll be able to find this again on your own, so… you either leave me behind…" Andy started. "Or you overshadow me and use my body to take the Digi-Core out."

Danny blinked before shaking his head. "Option one is out, bro. So that means option two is our best bet." He then paused. "I… uh… are you okay with me using your body like that?"

"It's not like it would be the first time I've been overshadowed," Andy sighed. "But at least I trust you to not turn me or Dorumon into murdering machines. I know you're hesitant, bro, but there's not much time. That rain Techatamon summoned is going to eat away the castle and the Digimon soon. Please, just hurry and do it."

Danny sighed and nodded. "Okay, bro. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it before I did so." He then turned himself intangible before he flew into Andy's body.

Andy didn't put up much of a fight as he let his brother take him over. When Andy's eyes opened, they were glowing neon green rather than their normal green color. With Danny Phantom now in control, he made Andy's body fly over to the Digi-Core. "Alright, you big sucker, let's get you out of here!"

The ectoplasm was dense and strong. Danny had to put his own ghost ray around his brother's hands to keep them protected like gloves as he grabbed onto the giant Digi-Core and ripped it out from the area. He then struggled a bit as he turned himself and the Digi-Core intangible in order to phase it out of Techatamon's head.

The Digi-Core turned intangible, allowing Danny, in Andy's body, to move it out of Techatamon's forehead. Because Danny was stronger as a ghost, moving the Digi-Core was somewhat easier, and he got it out of Techatamon's forehead with almost no difficulty once it was moving.

Still in Andy's body, Danny looked around, wondering who this person Andy was talking about purifying the Digi-Core.

"Over there. That big one. EmperorGreymon," Andy's voice said in Danny's head, which surprised the older twin.

"Andy? You can talk to me in my head?" Danny thought back to Andy.

"I'm just glad you can hear me. I was worried you wouldn't have been able to," Andy chuckled.

"Wait, how are you conscious?" Danny questioned.

"I'm not really sure. It might have something to do with our souls being linked the way they are…" Andy muttered.

"What?" Danny blinked.

"I'll explain later, just get EmperorGreymon's attention!" Andy spoke up.

Danny looked down at EmperorGreymon, who was currently trying to get the Digimon to safety. "HEY! EMPERORGREYMON! I have something for you!"

EmperorGreymon stopped and looked up at 'Andy', but he could sense that there was a familiar ghost currently in Andy's body.

"This is Techatamon's Digi-Core! You can purify it, right!?" Danny called out.

EmperorGreymon was surprised to see the Digi-Core, but he figured things could be explained regarding that later. He knew what needed to be done upon seeing the state of the Digi-Core.

"Yes, I believe I can, toss it over here!" EmperorGreymon instructed.

"W-what? NO! NOOOOO! I need that!" Techatamon shouted, seeing that the Digimon he fused with was taken out of him. He attempted to reach out at Danny to grab him.

Danny shot Techatamon's face with his ghost ray, which did more damage to Techatamon due to his Digimon's body. Then Danny threw the Digi-Core at EmperorGreymon. "HERE YOU GO BIG GUY!"

EmperorGreymon reached up and caught the Digi-Core in his hand before he then let it go and let it hover in front of him. He then reached and took out his red and black D-Tector. "Time to send this ghost to the flames!" He pressed the button on the side as the screen lit up with the symbol of Flame before swinging his arm and running the scanner along the fractal code that showed itself. "Fractal code, Digitize!"

The Digi-Core, now purified of the ectoplasm corroding it, turned into the Datamon that Technus had fused with. Datamon gave a peaceful smile at EmperorGreymon. "Th-thank you…"

With that said, the Datamon turned into a Digi-Egg and floated into the sky, heading for Primary Village likely to be reborn.

"NOOOOOO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Techatamon cried as he shrunk down, all the fractal code he had in his body dispersing and spreading out, going back to where they came from before he had consumed them.

Techatamon was now back to being Technus once more. Technus was incredibly weak as he was now. Danny, still in his brother's body, floated down until he landed. Then Danny came out of Andy's body. He expected Andy's body to fall to the ground, so he was prepared to catch him, but Andy only stumbled a little bit before regaining his composure.

"That was a weird experience, but it was cool to fly like that," Andy commented.

Danny looked at Andy with a sheepish chuckle. "Heh… Sorry about that, bro."

Andy shook his head. "It was the best way to go about things."

The two brothers then looked at the pitiful state Technus was in. The ghost could hardly move.

"Hey, listen here, you… young hipsters, this isn't over yet! I can still fight!" Technus said, trying to look intimidating.

EmperorGreymon stood over them, towering over the troublesome ghost.

"You won't last long in that state." EmperorGreymon pointed out. "And against a Digimon of my level, what does that say? I can easily wipe the floor with you without wasting any of my attacks on you at this point."

Technus shrunk down in fear. "Ah… heh… so you can… even I, Technus, know when to back down!"

Technus was about to make a break for it when Danny pulled out his Fenton Thermos and sucked the ghost right into it. "What a troublesome ghost…"

"Finally…" Andy groaned, relaxing now that the ghost was captured.

Someone who was watching them from not so far away gave a small sigh of relief, before holding up a green and blue D-Tector. EmperorGreymon felt the other Spirits leave him all of a sudden, fractal codes surrounded him, changing him back to Flamemon again.

Looking himself over, Flamemon panicked. "WHAAA?! NOT AGAIN!"

---

Titanic X: DarkFoxKit: The new outfits came with the idea of the Digimon 02 anime, whenever the characters went through the Digi-Port, they got a change of clothes, so we decided to go with that idea. With Takuya, we decided he'll become Flamemon again. XD

ZAFT: That was a riot to write out! XD

GirlFish: ZAFT: Don't worry, we have a plan on what to do with Patamon. ;3

DarkFoxKit: Flamon? Oh, you're using the Japanese name for Flamemon I see. I always thought 'Flamon' sounded a bit dumb though in Digimon Rumble Arena 2, it sounded like you're filaing him. So I usually prefer to call him Flamemon myself. As for if we'll do it again, it's gonna happen every time he goes into the Digital World via Digi-Portal instead of a Trailmon, so yeah, we'll be doing it again.

ZAFT: It will be fun! I love doing that. XD

DarkFoxKit: As for Koji being Starbimon, he does actually become Starbimon if he goes through the Digi-Port himself, but it's usually off screen as we're not following Koji. But we'll see if we could one day show it.

Mystery889: ZAFT: Tamers is one of my favorites too. :3

DarkFoxKit: Tamers is probably a lot of Digimon's fans favorite season of the anime, and it's what inspired the Digimon partner system in the story. Originally, we weren't going to have Digimon partners in the story.

ZAFT: But I think it worked out well to include the Digimon partners. :3 Dorimon seems to be a fan favorite here. XD

Lunal Lillyth: DarkFoxKit: Well, Andy has a lot of self esteem issues. He's also terrified of the idea of having the ability to see into the future. It would mean he's not normal, despite his family not being very normal to begin with.

ZAFT: And the idea of Andy rejecting being a seer is kinda ironic. :3 But it makes for some good humor at the moment. :3

DarkFoxKit: As for Dorimon… yeah, he could be seen as a 13 year old, but I like to think since he's pretty much linked to Andy due to becoming his partner, he's about the same mental age as Andy is, which is 14, so you're pretty close.