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?

40. A Small Ray of Hope

DarkFoxKit: I am freeeeee! Well… for now. Hopefully I won't have to go back for treatment anymore.

ZAFT: Yay! :D That's great!

DarkFoxKit: Yup! Now I just have to readjust my sleeping time back to being a night owl so it won't be such a struggle planning out the schedule. Most of my co-writers are night owls, so the whole morning bird thing was just not working out for me.

Andy: I can tell. *Yawns* I am tied to-

DarkFoxKit: Shhhhhhhhhhhhh! The audience doesn't need to know about that!

ZAFT: I am sort of a night owl myself, but I tend to go to sleep around 11-midnight. XD

DarkFoxKit: Yeah, though we still need to figure out a better writing time ourselves. But anyways, let's get to the story.

---

(Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title)

Digital Phantom!

(Shows three forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley)

Three worlds, connected side by side

(A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that)

Connections, with many secrets to hide

(Andy Fenton is shown with a small purple fox-like creature, Dorimon, in his arms as Takuya Kanbara appears behind him, a form in shadow behind Takuya himself)

Is one always chosen by fate?

(Danny is shown transforming into his ghost form, Danny Phantom, flying towards a vampiric looking ghost, Vlad Plasmius)

Or can one make their own destiny?

(Andy is shown looking on as his cell-phone transforms into a Digivice, the D-Arc)

Digital Phantom!

(Andy holds up his D-Arc as a heart symbol appears on the screen)

The power is deep inside!

(Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire just as Dorimon glows and becomes Dorumon, firing off a metal ball into the distance)

Digital Phantom!

(The metal ball blasts past Vlad Plasmius as he fires off a ghost ray at Andy, who blocks it with his Fenton Rod)

Destiny is unbound!

(The Fenton Rod is smacked away by Vlad, going spinning before Sam, with a small puppy-like creature next to her, reaches up and catches it, a shadowed form with wings appearing behind her, transparent in appearance)

Digital Phantom!

(Sam throws the Fenton Rod to Tucker, who spins it before throwing it at Plasmius, a big bunny-like being with gun-hands appearing behind Tucker, transparent in appearance)

Fight on, without regret

(Shows Takuya looking up from his D-Tector as he makes eye contact with his Human Spirit of Agunimon, who give a smile back and reaches out a hand as Takuya takes it)

Two sides never rest

(Danny is shown reaching for a glowing Digi-Egg, with a shadowed form above it just as an evil version of the shadowed form appears beside Vlad, both transparent in appearance)

Digital Phantom!

(Jazz is shown with the form of Lopmon beside her, a larger, shadowed form behind them both)

Never regret or look back

(Takuya is shown looking up as a ball of fractal code covers his hand, surrounding him before it dissipates to reveal his Fusion form of Aldamon)

Fight on, with victory

(Aldamon fires off a slew of fiery bullets from his cannons, each of those bullets hitting Plasmius before the ghost teleports away, revealing a shadowed form behind him)

Nothing will stand in our way!

(Andy, Dorimon, Danny, Tucker, Terriermon, Sam, Salamon, Jazz, Lopmon, and Takuya all appear with Vlad above them, sneering evilly as all ten look on defiantly)

Digital Phantom!

---

Chapter 40: A Small Ray of Hope

It had been almost a full day since Takuya, Koji, and Tommy brought in the Tapirmon, as well as Dash and Koichi, who were currently asleep on hospital beds in the private medical room along with JP and Zoe. They too had magical barriers around them.

Tommy had been pacing around, looking a little agitated about something. Koji was looking at Koichi, feeling angry at himself for letting this happen, and sadness that Koichi had to suffer again. Koichi had suffered far too much in his book. Takuya was on a chair, trying to remain patient, but his worry was building. He still hadn't gotten a call from anyone in the real world, and now four of his friends were trapped in an endless nightmare. Nobody had heard anything from the doctors about the Tapirmon or her Nightmare Syndrome yet.

He gripped his D-Tector before deciding to at least attempt to call Andy, Jazz, Sam, or Tucker. Takuya began to mess with his D-Tector, pressing the 'call' function. "Andy? Can you hear me?"

But there was no response. After failures with contacting the other three, Takuya groaned as he stuffed the device back into his pocket. "Ugh… This is so nerve-wracking!"

"You're telling me?" Koji hissed. "If I could, I would trade places with Koichi in a heartbeat."

"What is going on? I need to see what they're doing…" Tommy muttered, still pacing. "I wish Sorcermon didn't ban me from the examination room. I could help out too… he doesn't need to keep protecting me."

Takuya sighed. "Sorry… It's just… this is getting to be too much! This Dreammon is unlike anything we have ever faced before!" He groaned as he put his head in his hands. "Now I'm beginning to have doubts about beating this Dreammon… This is nothing like our fight with Lucemon…"

"This is no time to be talking like we've already lost, Takuya!" Koji snapped. "Our friends need our help more than ever, and you're saying we might not be able to defeat Dreammon!?"

"Cool it you two!" Tommy spoke up. "We're all a little stressed out right now. But fighting each other isn't going to help anyone, certainly not Koichi."

Takuya and Koji each huffed, but stopped arguing, much to Tommy's relief. Takuya sighed. "I guess I shouldn't be such a downer, but this guy is much smarter than Lucemon was. We have to find a way to beat him, but it has to be in a way he won't expect."

"I know that! Why do you think we spent so much time trying to bring back a Tapirmon here? It's so we could have something to counter Dreammon," Koji grumbled.

Tommy sighed. "I'm going to go for a walk. Staying here is just going to stress me out more." I don't care what Sorcermon said, I need to check that Tapirmon's Nightmare Syndrome. The doctors are taking way too long.

As Tommy left, Takuya sighed. "Maybe a small walk will do us all some good. I feel like I need to let out some stress as well."

"You go on ahead, I'll stay here," Koji said, refusing to leave his twin brother for even a second without a damn good reason.

Takuya gave a nod to Koji. "Okay. Let me know if his condition changes or improves." With that said, he turned and walked into the hall, closing the door behind him and sighing.

Takuya just let his mind wander and his body walk, no destination set in mind. Maybe we can try to… No… Dreammon is too strong for that. Could we… No, we need all the Spirits for that. And… it might be a bit overkill...

However, Takuya was interrupted out of his thoughts when he saw Calumon flying down the hallway quickly, almost flying right into him.

"Wah!" Calumon flew around Takuya when he almost crashed into him. "S-sorry, Takuya!"

Calumon kept flying on though, not even stopping to hear Takuya's response.

Curious now, Takuya decided to follow Calumon. I wonder what's got him in such a hurry… He ran after the small Digimon, wondering what was making Calumon so worried.

Calumon didn't notice Takuya was following him, or didn't care. The little Digimon didn't slow down. He suddenly had a bad feeling that something wasn't right. When Calumon finally made it to the door that would lead to the examination room, he opened up the door and let out a shocked gasp.

Inside the examination room, all the medical Digimon were on the floor, each of them under the influence of the Nightmare Syndrome. Even MarineAngemon and Lillymon were on the floor, writhing around in their sleep. Calumon looked at where they were supposed to be keeping the Tapirmon. She was still in a magical barrier, but she was grinning.

"Did you really think that I'm alone?" Tapirmon asked when she saw Calumon. "Thanks for bringing me here by the way. Now Master and my comrades know where you are hiding."

"No…" Calumon frowned in horror.

"My Nightmare Syndrome can get past barriers. I only had to bide my time. These doctors wanted my Nightmare Syndrome, they got it~" Tapirmon grinned. "As for you… well… how do you know you're not already trapped in a nightmare yourself?"

Calumon backed away, starting to wonder if he was even awake anymore, and he bumped into someone behind him.

"Oof!" Takuya grunted as he stepped back, only to see Calumon. "Calumon?" The little guy looked shaken up for some reason, and it made Takuya frown to himself. Why does this feel like I am seeing Tommy all freaked out for some reason?

Calumon looked back at Takuya and grabbed onto his shirt, shivering. It definitely reminded Takuya how Tommy would react when he was feeling scared.

"Calumon? Are you okay?" Takuya asked, feeling like he was with Tommy now, even though Tommy was nowhere to be seen around him.

"The doctors… they're all trapped in the Nightmare Syndrome!" Calumon stated, still clutching onto Takuya's clothes.

Takuya looked inside the medical room, and his eyes widened at the sight before him. The way Tapirmon was grinning at both him and Calumon was actually terrifying now that he thought about it, and the fact she was in the middle of all the passed out medical Digimon while grinning like that only made things worse.

"Master wanted me to deliver a message; 'I'll be coming for all of you soon, don't think you can escape from me forever'. And as a welcome gift…" Tapirmon took a deep breath. "Void Nightmare Syndrome!"

Tapirmon shot out a rather large Nightmare Syndrome, this one was taking the form of Dreammon though instead of looking like a shapeless dark cloud of energy.

Takuya felt his heart rate pick up at the sight of the shape of Dreammon. Crap... Without even thinking, he stood up and began to run from the medical room, still holding onto Calumon.

As Takuya was running, Calumon was trying to gather his head and try to control his emotions. Calumon hated it when the little kid inside him took over, he was better than that, and right now, Takuya needed the brave, strategic Tommy, not this scared little kid Tommy when they first arrived in the Digital World.

"T-Takuya… we… we need to issue an evacuation…" Calumon said, trying to stop himself from crying.

Takuya looked down at Calumon. "If we do, then where can and will we go? It's obvious that Dreammon will just keep tracking us down, so we need a place where we can go that he won't find us at."

"Not for us… for the other Digimon here," Calumon said. "We need to save as many as we can."

Takuya frowned. "Good point…" He frowned. "Okay. We issue the evacuation order. Perhaps if everyone else leaves, it will distract Dreammon so we can find a new place to hide as well. Um… how do we issue the evacuation?"

"Take me to the top of the castle, hurry. I'll handle it from there," Calumon instructed, rubbing his eyes a bit, getting back his determination.

Takuya frowned, but nodded. "Sure." It was a bit hard for him to find the way since it had been a while since he was back at the castle, but once he found his way, Takuya was able to take Calumon to the top of the castle.

Calumon then jumped off of Takuya's arms and flew up to the ceiling before he put his claws together like he was praying. The upside down triangle on his forehead then started to glow. Takuya watched, wondering what Calumon was going to do. Then he heard Calumon's voice in his head.

"Everyone in this area, this is an emergency evacuation! A dangerous Digimon is on the loose! You must evacuate the castle and find a place to hide immediately! This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill!" Calumon's voice stated loudly.

Takuya suddenly felt the entire castle shaking. All the Digimon that were awake began a bit of a stampede as they were rushing to get out. The doctors that were still awake were also rushing the sleeping patients out.

Calumon then floated down to Takuya. "We need to hurry and leave. Koji likely would've heard that as well."

Takuya blinked. "What about Tommy?"

Calumon frowned. "Yes, I'm sure he heard it too. Now let's go, that Nightmare Syndrome is likely going to swallow this castle whole soon!"

Takuya nodded. "Okay, let's go then." He grabbed Calumon and held him close as he began to run down the stairs to the main entrance. "Do you know where we could go?"

"Let's just focus on getting away from here fi- LOOK OUT!" Calumon suddenly shouted.

Takuya quickly stopped and jumped back, narrowly avoiding a dark cloud that was the Nightmare Syndrome. It was still expanding, and it had blocked the main entrance. Any Digimon that were unfortunate enough to run into the Nightmare Syndrome were quickly put to sleep and locked in a nightmare.

Takuya continued to run, avoiding the cloud where he could. "Geez! That Nightmare Syndrome is everywhere! Can we even get out of here?!"

"If you have to, Spirit Evolve and break through a wall and fly!" Calumon replied.

"R-right!" Takuya would've slapped himself if he could right now for not thinking that. He began to reach into his pocket for his D-Tector when he heard some kind of muffling under some rubble that the stampede of Digimon left.

Calumon looked in that direction too. "Someone's stuck under there!"

Looking over, Takuya frowned and groaned a bit. "I guess we have to help them then…" He sighed before he held out his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"

Calumon was blinking. Takuya had been holding onto him while he was Spirit Evolving. "That… was… a very strange… experience…" So that's what it's like to be on someone when they Spirit Evolve.

Ignoring Calumon's remark, Agunimon let the little guy go as he ran over to where the rubble was. He quickly dug the rubble out with ease while Calumon looked back, seeing the black cloud starting to make its way towards them.

Agunimon managed to pull someone out. It was Sorcermon, he looked a little beat up, but was otherwise fine.

"Sorcermon? What happened?" Agunimon asked as soon as he got the other Digimon out from the rubble.

"We were… taken by surprise… the Tapirmon… had the other Digimon attack… Kyuubimon saved me… but…" Sorcermon shook his head. "We have to leave… hurry. The emergency exit… should still be there."

Agunimon frowned. "Okay… If you think you're able to move..." He stood up, making sure to keep Sorcermon steady just in case the smaller Digimon felt too exhausted to move.

Calumon quickly floated over to Sorcermon. The triangle on his forehead glowed slightly and Calumon closed his eyes. Sorcermon's wounds all began to heal up. It was then Agunimon remembered that Calumon was also a doctor himself.

"Thanks… Calumon…" Sorcermon said as he stood up straight again. "That was quite helpful."

The shadows of the Nightmare Syndrome began to cover the room they were in. Sorcermon grabbed onto Agunimon and Calumon. "Let's get out!"

Using his wand, Sorcermon teleported them before the Nightmare Syndrome could get to them. Sorcermon didn't teleport them out of the castle, however, instead, he had taken them to Seraphimon's room. Sorcermon then hurried over to a wall, pushing a button. A door on the wall suddenly slid open.

"Hurry, this will take us to the escape Trailmon!" Sorcermon urged.

Agunimon remembered this exact same scenario from four years ago and shook his head. "We're not leaving you behind like last time." Agunimon said.

"Don't worry, I have no intentions of staying behind this time," Sorcermon reassured.

Agunimon ran after Sorcermon down the long tunnel, Calumon flew behind them, keeping an eye on what was behind them. His eyes widened when he saw the Nightmare Syndrome was quickly going through the tunnel as well.

Daring a glance back, Agunimon saw the Nightmare Syndrome was closing and swore under his breath. "Damn it… That thing is still following us!"

"We're almost there! Don't look back, it'll only slow you down!" Sorcermon warned.

Calumon quickly latched onto Agunimon's shoulder, not wanting to get left behind while they were running.

They soon came up to the Trailmon that was waiting for them. There were also a few Digimon on board already, having likely believed the Trailmon would take them somewhere safely instead of leaving the castle and running aimlessly on their own. To Agunimon's surprise and relief, he saw Koji there as well. Koji was also carrying Koichi with him.

Agunimon noticed that Koichi was the only one that Koji had brought with him out of their group. Part of him wanted to run back and get the others, but the appearance of the Nightmare Syndrome only sealed the fate of the other Legendary Warriors. Realizing there was no time left, Agunimon turned away one last time, jumping onto the Trailmon just as it began to leave. He didn't see Tommy on the Trailmon, and horror began to settle into his being when he realized that Tommy was likely still in the castle when the Nightmare Syndrome hit.

The Warrior of Flame looked back as the Trailmon sped away from the castle, only to lower his head in realization at the fact that he, Koji, and a few other Digimon were the only ones remaining free of Dreammon's rule. He could see the castle was being overtaken by the Nightmare Syndrome, which had grown into the giant shape of Dreammon, which seemed to almost match the real thing.

Agunimon sat down as he reverted back to his human form. Calumon hopped off his shoulder, giving Takuya a look of concern.

Takuya groaned as he put his head into his hands before reaching up and wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. "I shouldn't have left him alone…"

Koji carefully put Koichi down on the floor and looked over at Takuya. "What do you mean? Where's Tommy?"

"He… He was in the castle when we left…" Takuya said, his voice a bit raspy from his emotions. "I couldn't go and find him before we had to leave…"

Koji frowned at that. Not only did they lose another Legendary Warrior, but losing Tommy also hurt him, and now Takuya was an emotional wreck. With them being the only Legendary Warriors left, Koji wasn't sure if there was anything they could do at this point.

"Do not fret, Takuya," Sorcermon spoke up. "There is still some hope."

Takuya looked back at Sorcermon, his face full of doubt now. "What hope would that be? In case you don't know, with five Legendary Warriors down and only two left, we don't stand much of a chance against Dreammon."

"Who said there's only two of you left?" Sorcermon asked, glancing at Calumon for a second, who was torn about telling Takuya who he really was.

"What? Who else could there be?" Takuya asked.

Sorcermon sighed. "Listen… I have the notes the doctors were able to take when they examined the Tapirmon and her Nightmare Syndrome before Dreammon took it over. We might still be able to develop a cure."

Takuya blinked. "Wait… we can?" A smile crossed his face. "That's great!"

"Finally there's a small sliver of hope out of all this," Koji sighed.

Sorcermon held up his wand as he manifested the papers of notes. "Unfortunately, most of our best doctors were caught up in the Nightmare Syndrome. It might take a little while before we can develop a cure, but we at least have a way to make one now."

"May I read it, Sorcermon? I might be able to help, I am a doctor too, and we need all the doctors that we have left," Calumon requested.

Takuya looked at Calumon. "Do you think you are up to the task? You did mention you were still in training to be a doctor."

"I might still be in training, but that's better than nothing. Besides, I feel like I need to make it up to you since you saved me instead of Tommy," Calumon said softly.

Takuya put a hand on Calumon's head. "You don't need to make anything up to me. It was my fault for not going back for Tommy when I should have."

"But I'll admit, it's a heavy loss to have lost Tommy as well." Koji frowned.

Sorcermon gave Calumon the notes. "I wish you the best of luck, Calumon."

Calumon nodded as he took the notes. If any good came out of this, it was that he now didn't have to keep splitting himself as Tommy and Calumon anymore. As long as Takuya and Koji thought he was a victim of the Nightmare Syndrome, Calumon could focus on being the doctor that he was to help cure the Nightmare Syndrome.

It was a long night as the Trailmon kept moving on the tracks. The other Digimon had fallen asleep, though most of them were too afraid to sleep. Koji stayed by Koichi's side as he closed his eyes. Takuya laid down as well, but his mind was plagued by thoughts on how Tommy was trapped in the castle. The boy likely had nowhere to go, and was terrified and alone as the Nightmare Syndrome got to him. Takuya felt responsible for Tommy, and he felt horrible for escaping without him. He rolled over, seeing Calumon was using a candle as a light source to keep studying the notes.

Takuya sat up. "Calumon? Aren't you going to get any rest? You've been studying those notes for a while now."

Calumon sighed. "A part of me wondered if I had already been a victim of the Nightmare Syndrome and I just didn't realize it. This entire thing feels like a nightmare… How can you tell if you're truly awake or not? How do you know this whole thing isn't a dream?"

Takuya frowned. "To be honest, I feel that way a bit myself, but I know I'm not in a dream." However, now he was beginning to think it was all a dream himself, which, considering what they were up against, was ironic.

"Sorry, I suppose I'm just being a bit depressing right now," Calumon sighed. "These notes along with what that Tapirmon said to me makes me question my reality right now."

"What are the notes saying anyways?" Takuya asked, knowing he wouldn't be able to get any sleep tonight.

"To put it in simple terms… they seem to be talking about how the Nightmare Syndrome is mixed with not just data, but another substance called ectoplasm. The data is condense, and almost alive. It's enough to almost be considered sentient. If it was anymore complex, I would even say it was a Digimon itself," Calumon explained.

Takuya frowned upon hearing that. "That sounds a bit like Techatamon…" He murmured to himself.

"Yeah… data and ectoplasm mixing together to create something… unnatural," Calumon agreed. "And powerful. Dreammon likely has ectoplasm in his being, that might explain why he's unnaturally powerful. I still can't tell you who created Dreammon, but the Nightmare Syndrome is definitely not normal."

Takuya sighed. "Great… Another ghost-Digimon hybrid… What else could go wrong?"

"Don't ever say that, please," Calumon groaned.

Takuya sighed, but didn't say anything. Calumon looked at Takuya.

"You… seem pretty pale…" Calumon noted in concern. "Are you unable to sleep? Are you feeling sick?"

"I'm fine…" Takuya sighed. "I just… I guess I need to get over what happened to Tommy. It kinda shook me up a bit…"

Calumon frowned.

"Tommy was… someone I saw like a little brother. He's the same age as my actual younger brother actually, though Tommy is a lot less bratty, that's for sure. I always felt like I needed to watch over the little guy, you know? He was the youngest of our group… and even though he's older now, I still can't help but see him as that 8 year old boy," Takuya reminisced. "And now… I can't stop thinking about how scared and alone Tommy was in that castle when the Nightmare Syndrome took over. And how I wasn't there for him…"

Calumon wished Takuya would stop. The more Takuya went on, the more the feeling of heavy guilt weighed on Calumon's heart, so much so that it was starting to sink into his stomach.

Takuya sighed again. "I just hope that we can beat Dreammon. This guy is way worse than Lucemon ever was…"

Calumon put his claws on Takuya's hand. "I'm sorry, Takuya…"

Takuya blinked, he could have sworn that, for just a second, Tommy was the one apologizing to him.

"I promise I'll do everything in my power to find a cure for this," Calumon said softly.

Takuya shook his head to rid himself of the feeling that he was with Tommy. "Just do what you can, Calumon. I don't want you to overexert yourself if you can help it."

Calumon just gave Takuya a small nod. Maybe I should tell him… but it would be hard to tell him now… he'll be so mad…

Though Calumon also felt guilty and worried at how heartbroken Takuya was over 'losing' him to the Nightmare Syndrome.

Master… what would you have done if you were in my position…? Calumon questioned as he looked back at his notes.

---

Takuya didn't know how, but he had somehow fallen asleep. Though he wasn't hit by a Nightmare Syndrome, his dreams were anything but peaceful. He had dreams of Andy, Danny, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker being heavily injured somewhere, all their Digimon partners were turned back into Digi-Eggs and couldn't help them anymore. They began to fall to the ground, unable to move. Andy reached up an arm, calling out for Takuya before he fell to the ground as well. Then Takuya's dream shifted to Seraphimon's castle, seeing Tommy running as fast as he could from the Nightmare Syndrome, only to end up hitting a dead end. Tommy would then turn around, looking back in fear and horror, calling out for Takuya.

Takuya jolted awake when the dream was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of flames, which startled him, but it also calmed his nerves. The flames meant his Spirits were trying to calm him down.

"Takuya…?" Takuya heard Tommy's voice again, but this time Tommy didn't sound like he was in trouble trying to call out for him, he sounded concerned. "Hey… Takuya, wake up."

Takuya opened his eyes and groaned. "Aw man… That was an odd dream… Or more like a nightmare…" He sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"You were groaning in your sleep. For a moment there, I thought you were hit by a Nightmare Syndrome too," Tommy's voice said.

Takuya looked over, only to see Calumon there. Guilt hit him full force as he remembered Tommy wasn't with them anymore. "Oh… Hey, Calumon…"

Calumon gave a saddened expression. "It's morning now. The Trailmon will stop at a station soon."

Takuya groaned as he looked out at the scenery going by. "I hope it's away from Dreammon's influence. We've had more than enough of that going around already…"

Calumon gave a tired yawn. "Yeah…"

"Did you even sleep?" Takuya asked in concern.

"Maybe for an hour or two," Calumon said as he walked over to Koji, who was currently sleeping. "This is no time for me to be sleeping anyways."

Takuya frowned. "I know you don't want to, but you need to. You'll be of no use to anyone if you aren't rested enough."

Before Takuya could say anymore, his D-Tector suddenly started beeping. His heart leaped as he hadn't heard a call from anyone on his D-Tector in a long while.

He reached down and took out his D-Tector, hoping it was Andy, Jazz, Sam, or Tucker. "Hello?"

A heart appeared on the D-Tector's screen. "Hey…" Andy's voice said before what sounded like a yawn followed. "How're you doing?"

Takuya groaned. "Ugh… All I can say is that this mission for the Legendary Warriors has proven to be much harder than anticipated…" He put his head in his hands.

"What's been happening? You sound pretty tired," Andy asked.

"First off, what's been going on with you? I haven't been able to get a hold of any of you!" Takuya spoke up.

"Oh… right, sorry. Been a bit distracted by the…" Andy stopped. "It's just been a bit busy here lately."

Takuya frowned. "What is going on, Andy? You sound tired yourself."

"Just didn't get a very good night sleep is all. School stuff, you know?" Andy said. "Don't worry about me. It sounds like you've been dealing with some crap though."

"Don't go there, Andy…" Takuya sighed. "We've just been dealing with a difficult opponent. Nothing we can't handle of course." He said this last line with a strained grin, not that Andy could see it anyway.

"Are you sure? We could come and help you out if you need it. You and Dash have been gone for 3 days now," Andy inquired in a bit of a worried tone. "Lopmon, Salamon, and Terriermon are getting restless about what's been going on in the Digital World."

"It's fine. We can handle it. But if we need you, we will ask for your help." Takuya said. I don't want Andy to come here with this Dreammon running around. Not to mention the Celestial Digimon are not at full strength so they would be easy to take down.

"Okay… well, we'll be on standby if you need us then. Good luck with whatever it is you're facing," Andy sighed before hanging up.

Takuya groaned as he put his D-Tector back into his pocket. "Great… Now my cousin wants to come and help if we need it. I don't want them to get hurt because of this Dreammon!"

Takuya frowned as he looked at Koichi. Koji was already awake. Calumon was looking pretty tired himself. We've already suffered enough losses because of this Dreammon.

The Trailmon was starting to slow down as it started to enter a train station.

---

Meanwhile, back at Amity Park in Fenton Works.

Andy put his D-Arc back into his pocket. He was in the living room, and turned on the TV. There were cameras and reporters all gathering around City Hall. The Mayor was making some kind of important announcement. But they were still preparing for it.

"You think we should go to the Digital World to check on Takuya?" Dorumon asked, who was sitting on the couch.

"Yeah. I doubt Takuya was telling me the whole truth, knowing him, he didn't want to worry me. Something big is going down in the Digital World. But… something big is about to go down here too," Andy sighed. "We'll have to wait until we get Walker and his stupid ghosts out of here before we can even go to the Digital World."

Dorumon looked down. "That will be easier said than done. We need to find a way to get Walker out of here, but he is after your brother and won't stop until he does whatever he needs to do."

"I know, that's why I have the TV on," Andy said. "Whatever's Walker up to, it's likely going to be revealed here."

Andy then picked up his D-Arc again and started to call for Tucker. On the screen came an odd symbol, one that looked like the yin-yang symbol, but with two curves, one per side, the left one facing down and the right one facing up. "Hello?"

Andy didn't know what these symbols meant, he figured they likely had something to do with each of them, though he didn't know why his was a freaking heart. "Tucker, I need you to either turn on the TV and turn it to the live Amity news broadcast, or come over here as quickly as possible."

"Okay, I'll turn on the TV." Tucker replied. "Why do you ask?"

"I think the next stage of Walker's plan has something to do with the Mayor or City Hall. Keep an eye out for anything strange," Andy informed.

"I will see what I can spot." Tucker replied. "But what could Walker want with the mayor? That doesn't sound good for any of us."

"Just keep an eye on things. I'm going to call Sam now," Andy sighed before he hung up, then he called for Sam.

On Andy's D-Arc screen, the symbol of a teardrop with a smaller circle inserted near the bottom showed up. "Andy? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. No, I don't know why my symbol is a heart," Andy grumbled. "If I could change it, I would. But that's not important right now. I need you to turn on the TV and make sure it's on the Amity news. I think Walker's next stage of his plan involves the mayor or City Hall."

"I can do that." Sam said. "But with Walker planning something with City Hall…? I don't think we should take this lightly."

"No, we shouldn't," Andy agreed before he yawned. "Just keep an eye on things, see if anything weird happens. I'll let you know if there's something we can do."

"Okay, Andy. I'll let you know what I find out." Sam promised Andy.

"Thanks," Andy said before he hung up.

"You suspect something, don't you?" Dorumon asked.

"Yeah…" Andy frowned. "I have a theory on what Walker's trying to do… and I don't like it."

"What is it?" Dorumon asked. "Um… Your theory anyway…"

Before Andy could answer, Danny and Jazz came downstairs, both of them yawning. Lopmon was on Jazz's head.

"Hey, about time you guys are up," Andy chuckled.

Lopmon looked down at Jazz. "Jazz was out like a light. I had to push her alarm clock near her head to get her to wake up since she wouldn't wake up when it went off."

"And that hurt my ears, you know…" Jazz replied with a bit of a scowl before she yawned again.

"I can't believe I woke up so late," Danny grumbled. "If you were already up, why didn't you wake me, bro?"

"Didn't want to disturb your slumber. You looked like you needed it," Andy shrugged.

Danny sighed. "Well, I certainly feel better now that I actually got some sleep."

"Too bad Andy didn't sleep much," Dorumon muttered.

Andy threw a pillow at Dorumon's face. "And you don't need to make comments like that."

Danny frowned. "Why couldn't you sleep, Andy? Is it because of what's been going on? Or… maybe you didn't… feel safe sleeping…?"

Andy shook his head. "I was trying to figure out what Walker's trying to do."

Danny frowned. "So you have a theory on what Walker has planned?"

"I think… it's likely he's trying to turn the town against you, or at least Danny Phantom," Andy answered.

Danny frowned again. "Are you sure that's the case?"

"It makes the most sense," Jazz spoke up. "Considering that Walker's been overshadowing everyone around you, and he even said he's planning to turn this world into a prison for you."

"What better way to do that than by making the entire town against you?" Andy added.

Danny paled at hearing that. "Then… Oh gosh…"

Suddenly, the mayor of Amity Park stood on the podium with several microphones pointed at him.

"It's starting," Andy noted.

"We only have one piece of business today; defeating the ghosts that had infested our town. And to do that, I'm calling for a vote to cede all ghost policing and security decisions to Maddie Fenton!" The mayor stated as he held up a photo of Maddie, though she had her hood and goggles on her face in the photo.

"I suppose that makes sense… nobody else is a known ghost hunter in this town, and Mom is… well, definitely better at what she does on the field," Jazz remarked.

Danny gave a nod. "Yeah, I suppose it does."

However, Lopmon shivered as his fur bristled. "Something's wrong…"

Dorumon narrowed his own eyes. "I feel it too."

The mayor, for a second, suddenly turned away from the cameras, then he suddenly smiled. He put down the photo of Maddie then brought up a photo of Jack. "I mean Jack! Jack Fenton! The completely competent Jack Fenton!"

"Okay… Now that is weird…" Jazz noted. "First he says security is deferred to Mom, and now he says to refer to Dad for such decisions?"

"He turned away from the camera for a moment as well," Andy pointed out. "Why do you think that is?"

Danny frowned. "I don't know… But did you see anything odd with his eyes? I thought I saw his eyes turn red for a moment."

"Really? I didn't see anything wrong with his eyes," Jazz said, surprised.

Andy narrowed his eyes. "Neither did I…"

Lopmon frowned. "I saw it too… The mayor's eyes were red for just a split second, but it was there." He then gasped. "I think Walker or one of his goons overshadowed the mayor!"

"Shh, he's saying something," Dorumon shushed.

"And we've located the ghost responsible for all the terror inflicted on our town," The 'mayor' continued, now giving a much more sinister smirk before he held up a picture of Danny Phantom. "This one."

Lopmon felt his fur bristle as he growled lowly in his throat. "So that's his plan! He is trying to frame Danny as the one behind this invasion!"

"I had a feeling that was the case." Andy frowned. I also saw this in my head the other night. I was hoping I was wrong though.

Danny grabbed the remote just as the camera showed the shocked people's faces, including their parents, when they saw the photo of Danny Phantom, and shut off the TV. Danny couldn't stand to see anymore.

Jazz looked at Danny. "Danny, are you okay?"

Danny sat down on the couch, and buried his head with his hands. "No! No, I'm not okay! I'm getting my butt kicked all over the place. At school, at home, and now this!? I'll be public ghost enemy number 1!"

Jazz looked down at the floor, feeling bad for Danny. "Danny… We'll find a way to stop this and get Walker out of here. We'll find a way to clear your name."

Andy picked up a Fenton Thermos in Danny's backpack. "You'll be needing this."

"What? Bro! Are you kidding? If I leave this house, I'm dead! I don't mean half dead, but fully, no-coming-back-from dead!" Danny emphasized.

Jazz looked back up at Danny. "Danny, if you don't stop this, then who will? You have to do this. But you won't be doing it alone; Andy, Sam, Tucker, and I will be backing you up."

"But what can I do?" Danny asked. "Who's going to listen to me? They all think I'm just a bad ghost who brought all this trouble to this town!"

"Then stay here if you want," Andy said. "The rest of us will go to City Hall and take down Walker once and for all."

Jazz nodded. "That's our mission, Danny. Whether you are involved or not, we will be doing so. But…" She gave him one more look of sympathy. "I know it is hard to do, but if we don't have your help, we may not be successful."

Danny sighed, rubbing his head. "Fine, I rather you guys didn't go without me."

Andy smiled. "Good. Jazz, you call Sam and tell her to meet us at City Hall, I'll do the same with Tucker."

"You got it!" Jazz grinned.

---

Jazz was driving her brothers towards City Hall. Lopmon was on the passenger seat while Dorumon was sitting in the middle of the backseat between the twins. They couldn't have Danny flying right now, especially with all the panic that was going on.

"I think I liked flying better…" Danny grumbled, only for Jazz to look back at him in the rearview mirror.

"And risk you causing a panic? No thanks, Danny. We have enough to worry about, and you being out there in your ghost form is not one of them." Jazz replied. "Besides, it's safer for you right now to be with us, and even if you can turn invisible, Mom and Dad's inventions will go off around you. They could have a device that can see if ghosts are invisible for all we know."

"And we need to approach this cautiously, one wrong move and everyone will be instantly against you," Andy warned. "What were you going to do? Go into City Hall as a ghost and try to tell everyone you're not a bad ghost?"

Danny looked down. "Um… Maybe I was…?" He rubbed his head sheepishly.

"... You are… hopeless sometimes…" Andy groaned.

Jazz felt like slapping Danny upside the head for that. "Danny, you can be so clueless sometimes…"

"Hey! It was the best I've got, okay?" Danny huffed.

"Try to remember that you are a ghost, you are scary to humans, and as far as they know about you, you're just another ghost causing trouble," Lopmon spoke up.

"It's why Walker's plan is so brilliant, he's overshadowing humans in order to convince them to be afraid of you rather than trying to get you himself." Dorumon frowned.

Jazz frowned. "If that's the case, then what can we do? It's not like we can have Danny overshadow everyone in town to make them respect him. That is wrong and an abuse of his powers, not to mention Danny would never agree to it anyway. And it would make him the ghost Walker wants the town to think he is. We have to find a way to stop Walker without resorting to such tactics."

"Danny wouldn't be capable of doing that anyways, it takes a lot out of him just to overshadow an entire school, let alone an entire town by himself," Andy remarked. "I wasn't planning on him doing that anyways. If we want to clear Danny's name, then the best thing we can do is expose Walker. If he's overshadowing the mayor, then if we can expose him to the public, they'll realize they've been fooled. They may not take too warmly to Danny still, sure, but at least they won't be after his head."

Jazz looked ahead at the road again. "But the question is… how can we expose him?"

"Danny… you have a way to take a ghost out of a person's body, don't you?" Andy asked his brother.

Danny looked at his twin. "I can go into their body while intangible and push them out of the host's body. I did that with Vlad when he overshadowed Dad. I can also shoot a ghost ray at someone with the intention of only aiming at the ghost in their body."

Andy crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "Probably not a good idea to shoot at the mayor, especially if he dodges. It'll just make you look bad. So maybe let's go for the intangible, and preferably invisible, tackle."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a better idea anyway."

"We're almost at City Hall. I'll have to stop the car here since I doubt I'm allowed to get too close while there's an emergency meeting going on," Jazz spoke up.

After Jazz parked her car near City Hall, everyone started coming out.

"Hey, glad to see you guys can make it!" Tucker greeted.

"Traveling by car was safer." Jazz said as she shut the driver's side door. "And it got Danny here unnoticed."

"That was a good idea," Sam approved.

Andy noticed that Salamon and Terriermon's fur looked a little burnt. "Uh… what happened to Terriermon and Salamon?"

"They… uh… helped me get the collar off of Wulf while it was shocking him," Tucker sheepishly answered.

"Remind me to never touch a shock collar ever again," Terriermon grumbled.

"I agree." Salamon frowned.

"Wulf was being shocked by it, so we had to get it off," Sam explained. "And Terriermon and Salamon helped, but not without being shocked themselves."

"Using their digital data and my D-Arc, we were able to override the collar and have it deactivated and released from Wulf's neck," Tucker informed. "Of course, Wulf ran off to who knows where after that."

Danny looked surprised and impressed. "Wow… That D-Arc and the Digimon sound really handy."

"Speak for yourself, at least you didn't get zapped," Terriermon grumbled.

"Let's never speak of this again," Salamon remarked.

"Heh… right…" Danny sheepishly chuckled.

"So what's the plan here? I doubt waltzing in on City Hall is going to do us any favors," Sam asked.

Jazz frowned. "I… don't know. It's not like we can sneak in. Mom and Dad have no doubt set up some kind of invention to detect ghosts, so Danny can't sneak us in via his intangibility."

"Well he could actually," Tucker said.

"Really? How?" Danny questioned.

"Their inventions may be spot on, but that doesn't mean they're perfect. With a little bit of digital interference, their devices won't be able to detect you at all." Tucker grinned.

Danny blinked. "You mean you can mess with their inventions? How? Hacking them or what?"

"With Digimon," Tucker said. "I discovered something surprising with Terriermon."

"What's that?" Andy asked.

"Digimon can convert their body into pure data, and slip into electronic devices," Tucker explained.

"Meaning if the device has data or electricity, I can go into it. Computers are probably the easiest though," Terriermon informed.

Danny blinked before a grin crossed his face. "That's awesome!"

"How many do you need for this?" Dorumon asked.

"Hmm, let's see…" Tucker frowned. "I'm not sure how many devices they put up."

"Is there a smart computer that's monitoring the scanners?" Andy asked.

Jazz frowned. "I'm not sure, but I think they might have one set up somewhere."

"I'll go look for it," Tucker said.

"Meanwhile, we'll see if there's another way in. Danny shouldn't go in alone after all," Sam stated.

"There might be other ways for us to get in too," Andy agreed.

Jazz nodded. "Okay, I think that will work. Tucker will look for the computer while the rest of us look for a back way in."

"Wait, someone should stay with me," Danny spoke up as the others were about to scatter. "I mean do you really want to leave me alone with this?"

Jazz sighed. "Okay… I think I will stay with Danny. Andy, you and Sam can go look for the back way in while Tucker does his thing."

Tucker had a better idea though. "Actually, why not have Sam and Salamon stay with Danny?"

Upon hearing that, both of said teens blushed red in the cheeks.

"What!?" Sam all but shouted, only keeping her voice low due to the nature of the plan.

"Dude, that was not cool, Tuck!" Danny hissed, but Jazz had other ideas.

After considering things, Jazz had to agree with Tucker. "Actually, Tucker's plan had more merit. Andy and I have the ability to defend ourselves more effectively due to these cards that can modify our Digimon's attacks, not to mention Salamon hasn't been able to digivolve to her Champion form yet. We would be better able to scout out the area."

Andy gave a smirk at Danny. "Besides, bro, I would think you'd like to spend some time with Sam~"

Danny blushed beet red at that. "Andy!" He squeaked out. "That's not funny!"

"It totally is~" Dorumon smirked.

"You children and your human hormones," Salamon remarked, though she was inwardly giggling.

"Can we please focus!?" Sam growled. "The more time we waste, the more time Walker has to enact his plan!"

Jazz giggled a bit, but was able to calm herself down. "Okay. Enough teasing. We have a mission to complete." She then looked at Sam. "You stay here. The rest of us will get in contact with you and Danny when we get inside and jam the sensors."

"Just be careful, don't do anything stupid," Andy warned before everyone but Sam, Salamon, and Danny scattered around the City Hall.

Andy and Dorumon were looking around the City Hall carefully. Though it was difficult for them to get too close, there were too many people around. Reporters and cameras especially were a problem. Andy and Dorumon managed to find a way behind City Hall. They did have to squeeze through some tight spots to avoid most of the crowd. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be anyone behind City Hall, most of them were paying more attention to what was going on at the entrance or inside.

Dorumon sniffed the wall as Andy noticed a small device that was clinging to the wall. "What is that?"

"I don't know…" Dorumon replied, still sniffing it. "But I'm sensing a digital presence from it, like it's sending data."

Andy studied the device for a moment. "Hmmm…"

Andy then pulled out his D-Arc and called Tucker. "Hey, Tucker, can you hear me?"

The symbol that had appeared when Andy had first called Tucker on his D-Arc appeared. "What is it, Andy? Have you found anything?"

"Dorumon and I found some kind of device behind City Hall. I think it might be a computer of some kind," Andy answered.

"You did? I will be right over!" Tucker exclaimed.

Just as Tucker hung up, Jazz and Lopmon found their way to the back of City Hall as well.

"Oh, well it looks like we had the same idea in mind," Jazz noted, seeing one of her brothers here.

"We figured there might be a back entrance somewhere," Lopmon stated. "Though there doesn't seem to be anything noteworthy…"

"Except for maybe this device," Dorumon pointed.

"Tucker's coming over to check it out," Andy added.

Jazz looked at the device. "Yeah, we'll need Tucker to identify this. It looks like a computer link-up, but I'm not sure."

"If it is a computer though, who put it back here and why?" Andy wondered.

Tucker finally made it to them, though he was panting quite a bit. Terriermon was on his shoulder.

"Sorry we're a bit late, it was difficult for Tucker to squeeze himself back here," Terriermon chuckled.

"Maybe you should lay off the meat snacks for a little while," Jazz suggested.

"Yeah… very funny Jazz…" Tucker panted, but he didn't give her a glare or anything. "So… Where is this device…?"

"Right here," Andy gestured to the device.

Tucker stumbled over to it. He began to study it for a bit. "Yeah… it's definitely a computer."

"A computer to what though?" Dorumon asked. "And why is it behind City Hall?"

Jazz frowned. "I don't know…" She then looked at Tucker. "Can you trace back its signal or something to find out what it is linked to?"

"Yeah, I was about to do that," Tucker answered as he held up his D-Arc to the computer.

Meanwhile, Danny, Sam, and Salamon were waiting. They weren't sure what they were waiting for, but they hoped someone would call them when it was safe for them to go in.

"So… how have things been with you and your parents lately, Sam?" Danny asked, wanting to make some small talk.

"About as well as you would expect…" Sam sighed. "As usual, they try to make me be the model child they want without respecting me as a person."

"They seem to have their own way of thinking, and they believe their way is the correct way," Salamon remarked. "It is a foolish, arrogant, and selfish way of thinking. They fail to realize every individual sees the world differently, and it's important to keep an open mind, lest they will bring conflict upon themselves."

Danny frowned. "Yeah… That's kind of how they are, Salamon." He admitted. "No matter what, nothing seems to change their mind."

"Something can make them open their eyes. Unfortunately it would take something big to do that," Salamon sighed.

"Yeah… but it does help to have Salamon to talk to whenever I'm feeling frustrated," Sam admitted.

Danny gave a curious look. "Do you think I could get a partner Digimon even though I'm half ghost?"

Sam blinked. "Well, I don't see why not. I mean, from what you mentioned, Vlad has a Digimon partner as well so it could be possible."

"But… that Digimon with Vlad isn't all… stable. Neither is Vlad. There's a reason why I called him Fruit Loop. Besides, it seems that fusing Digimon with ghosts usually end up creating a monster… like ShadowSeraphimon and Techatamon…" Danny frowned. "Maybe I shouldn't have a Digimon partner."

Sam frowned. "That may be true, but each Digimon is an individual. I mean, not all of them may be stable, but that doesn't mean it is normal for them." She then put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Look at Lopmon. He was a Celestial Digimon who was corrupted. He is a nice Digimon, like he was before then."

"Wasn't Seraphimon the same? Maybe fusing with Vlad corrupted him," Danny pointed out.

"I'll admit, most of us don't know what happened to Seraphimon that corrupted him, but I assure you, Danny, he was corrupted before he even went to the real world," Salamon informed. "And while we don't understand the nature of ectoplasm and data mixing together, that doesn't mean they shouldn't mix. They just haven't mixed well yet, that's why Techatamon was so unstable even if he was powerful. As for Vlad and Seraphimon, they seem to be able to stabilize their ghostly nature enough to not have it hinder them, at least from what I've heard from you, Andy, and Takuya."

"In other words just because we had a few bad experiences with Digimon and ghost hybrids doesn't mean they're all bad," Sam said, hoping to reassure the boy.

Danny sighed. "I guess… I just have doubts about having a Digimon partner because of those experiences I suppose."

"Let's not worry about that right now, you have other problems to deal with before you can even think about having to take care of a Digimon partner," Sam remarked.

Meanwhile, behind City Hall, Tucker just finished analyzing the computer. "Okay… I don't know who planted this device back here, but it's convenient for us."

"What do you mean?" Jazz asked.

"This little device is connected to cameras inside the City Hall, likely hidden cameras. A spy or something likely put this here to spy on the mayor for whatever reason," Tucker explained. "But this makes it convenient for us because we can use this computer to send our Digimon in, and shut down the sensors that detect ghosts."

"Do you think that will work?" Andy questioned.

Tucker looked back at Andy. "It should. If what I found out about Digimon being able to mess with electronic devices is correct, we will have the sensors shut down in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. It all depends on how secure the firewall is."

"Do you think you can do it, Lopmon?" Jazz inquired, looking at her partner.

"It's worth a shot," Lopmon answered.

"Dorumon?" Andy looked at his partner.

Dorumon nodded. "You can count on me."

"Don't worry, we'll be able to do this no problem!" Terriermon encouraged.

"So what do we have to do to send our Digimon through?" Andy asked Tucker.

"Hold your D-Arc up to the computer, just like you would to a monitor to open the gate to the Digital World," Tucker instructed.

Tucker held up his D-Arc to the small computer to show Andy and Jazz what to do. The D-Arc glowed a green light, and Terriermon's body was suddenly sucked into the computer.

"He's inside it now," Tucker said as Andy and Jazz gasped in surprise.

"Wow…" Andy held up his D-Arc to the device and so did Jazz.

Andy's D-Arc's screen glowed purple while Jazz's glowed pink. Both Dorumon and Lopmon were suddenly sucked into the device themselves.

"Good luck, guys!" Jazz called.

---

Inside the computer device, Dorumon and Lopmon were surprised that they were floating in what appeared to be electronic wireframes around them. There were complex wires connected to the walls, as well as bursts of electrical pulses that were sending information between the device and the cameras. The device was acting like the camera's brains.

"Whoa… so this is what it's like to be digitized inside a human's technology…" Dorumon whistled.

"This is so different from the Digital World." Lopmon noted. "There we have trees, rocks, water, you name it. But this is wireframe and other things we would never see in our world."

"That's because this isn't meant to be a world, Lopmon," Terriermon explained. "It's the inside of a computer. It's like being inside a Digimon, I guess, in a way."

"That's… kind of creepy when you put it that way," Dorumon shivered.

"Whatever the case may be, we should get a move on, the others are waiting for us," Lopmon spoke up. "Terriermon, since you are the tech expert here, you'll have to lead us on where to go."

Terriermon nodded. "I can do that." He began to float down towards where the wires were getting more complex. "The transmission signals seem to be coming from this direction."

Dorumon and Lopmon floated after Terriermon. There didn't appear to be any sort of gravity in this place. It was easy to get lost among all the data and information, but thankfully Terriermon seemed to know where to go. If Dorumon had to guess, he would say they were currently travelling through one of the wires straight into one of the cameras right now. Lopmon mused to himself, wondering if the Legendary Warriors would be capable of being digitized into human technology like this.

"There's the camera," Terriermon pointed out at something ahead.

The three of them floated into a big open area. It had all sorts of machinery and electricity inside it. There was a window that was showing what was going on outside the device they were currently in.

Sure enough, the three Digimon could see everything going on, from the stuff inside City Hall to what was going on outside the camera.

"Okay, we have to find a way to jam the sensors from in here." Terriermon said as he began to look over the transmission location.

"Would we have to jam the signal then? Or perhaps the information data that's controlling the camera's feedback?" Lopmon asked.

Terriermon looked over the signals some more as he responded. "We could jam the signal, but manipulating the information would be better. It would make them think the sensors didn't work in the end. Not to mention the sensors would not go off if we did that. Jamming the signal could possibly trigger the sensors to go off if not done right."

"Then how do we manipulate the information?" Dorumon asked.

Terriermon floated to the back of the camera they were in. "Here, this is where the camera is getting the information, and how it's sending the feedback. We can manipulate the data going back out so they'll receive false feedback."

"Okay, but this would only work for whatever spy or snitch that placed the device here in the first place. Our main goal is to shut off the ghost sensors inside City Hall," Lopmon reminded.

Terriermon nodded. "I'm aware, Lopmon, but this computer is linked to not just the sensors, but the camera as well, and will trigger an alarm if the sensors pick up Danny as well as having these cameras focus in on him or his location when he enters."

"Whoever put this device together was really thorough…" Dorumon frowned. "Alright, let's get started here…"

The three Digimon began to use their own fractal code to manipulate the data. Their fractal code was their being, they could send in whatever they wanted with it, but they had to be careful not to send too much or they would risk losing their body. The camera began to shut off due to the lack of information from the computer.

Once they were done with the camera, Terriermon began to lead Lopmon and Dorumon through the wires again so they could do the same to the other cameras in City Hall, slowly shutting off the cameras, as well as the ghost sensors.

While the others were waiting outside, Andy looked at the crowd outside of City Hall, seeing a lot of cameras. "Should we do something to shut down all the cameras out there too?"

Tucker looked back at the crowd. "I don't think we could just shut down the cameras of the crowd. They're most likely not hooked up like this computer is."

"Besides, it would take too long to have to get our Digimon into those individual cameras one by one," Jazz added. "Not to mention having to sneak up on every single one."

"Yeah…" Andy frowned. "But those cameras are going to be a problem…"

Then suddenly, the computer shot out Dorumon, Lopmon, and Terriermon right on top of the group.

"Wow, that was a fun ride!" Dorumon smiled.

"Get… off of me… you heavy metal eating tank!" Andy groaned from under Dorumon.

Dorumon looked down at Andy. "Now that's just rude." But he moved off of Andy nonetheless.

"Uh… yeah, should've warned you that would happen…" Tucker sheepishly grinned, who had Terriermon in his arms.

Jazz was just glad Lopmon was light, or she'd be squished like Andy was. "Um… so how did it go?"

Lopmon looked up at Jazz, who was holding him in her arms. "We managed to shut down the sensors as well as any cameras inside City Hall."

"That's great. Now Danny can get inside without being detected," Andy said as he stood up and began calling Sam on his D-Arc.

"So what will he do once he gets inside?" Tucker asked.

"Try to push Walker out of the mayor's body," Jazz answered.

As soon as Andy saw the teardrop symbol on his D-Arc, he said, "Sam, it's time. Tell Danny he can go inside City Hall now. The rest of us will find a way in."

"Okay. I will do that." Sam replied from the D-Arc.

---

Sam looked over at Danny. "They said you can go in now."

"Alright," Danny sighed before he, Sam, and Salamon went behind a building. "I'm going ghost!"

Danny tapped into the power of his core, a white ring appeared on his torso before it split horizontally, changing him into his ghost form. Once Danny was now a ghost, he carefully picked up Sam. Sam held onto Salamon in her arms as Danny turned all of them invisible and intangible before he flew into City Hall.

As soon as Danny flew into City Hall, he could see the place was filled with people inside, and the overshadowed mayor was in front, talking about getting rid of Danny Phantom. "All in favor of declaring martial law, and allowing the completely competent Jack Fenton to mobilize a massive ghost hunt, please say 'Aye'."

Danny flew Sam and Salamon down behind the stage. "Are you sure you want to do this? It might be dangerous."

Sam nodded. "I'm sure, Danny. If we don't, then Walker's plan will succeed."

"I will protect her if Walker tries to hurt her," Salamon promised.

"Let's hope it won't come to that," Danny said, knowing if Salamon did move to protect Sam, the public will know she's not a stuffed animal or a normal dog.

The audience were starting to vote when Sam suddenly came out from the curtains of the backstage. "I might be too young to vote, but I'm casting one anyways. And my own speech!"

The audience were shocked to see a teenage girl coming from behind the stage and interrupting an important meeting.

"How did this teenage girl get here?" The mayor asked.

Sam didn't give him a response, but she did glare at him. "How I got in is none of your business!"

Sam turned to the audience. "Everyone, listen up!"

"Sam? What are you doing up there?" Maddie asked, being one of the few who recognized the girl.

"This is important grown up talk!" Jack stated.

"You're going to want to hear this," Sam informed. "This isn't actually the mayor! He's been overshadowed by a ghost!"

The room went silent at that, but it didn't stay silent for long. The people were now talking among each other, some were asking if that were true, others were dismissing Sam's claims, saying that she was lying because she wanted attention. The Fentons seemed to be unsure though.

"How can you be sure, Sam?" Maddie asked. She didn't want to believe it, but something had been off when the mayor had suddenly decided to name Jack as the head of a ghost hunting team, she loved Jack, but even she had to admit he was a better inventor than a ghost fighter.

"Hah! You honestly think this girl's claim is true?" The mayor laughed. "Guards, just get her out of here, she's wasting important voting time."

"Just watch! It'll be proved to you in a minute!" Sam quickly said.

Danny was invisible, and he had been slowly floating towards the overshadowed mayor. He had to keep his movements slow so as to not alert Walker to his presence. He began to gather some energy in his hands to try to push Walker out.

Sam was continuing her speech so as to draw things out now. "If you want to believe this ghost's lies, then you are all foolish!"

Danny was close behind the mayor now, his hands glowing with ecto-energy. He readied to push Walker out, hovering just behind him now.

Unfortunately for Danny, Maddie saw him with her goggles. The goggles were capable of seeing invisible ghosts, and she gasped when she saw the ghost boy about to 'attack' the mayor. She quickly took out a Fenton Gun and shot an ecto blast at Danny. Danny was hit by the ecto blast, causing him to fall a few feet away from the mayor, and also losing his invisibility.

Sam looked back in shock. "Uh oh…" She silently cursed at Maddie for ruining their plan.

The sudden appearance of Danny caused the audience to start panicking. As far as they knew, he was the 'big bad ghost' and in their eyes, he almost got to their mayor.

"No! Wait!" Danny called as he quickly stood up. "I'm on your side! I'm not the bad guy here!"

"You almost hurt the mayor, ecto-scum!" Maddie shouted as she aimed her gun at Danny Phantom again.

"You're not fooling anybody, ghost boy!" Jack accused, taking out the Fenton Fisher before seeing it was tangled. "Oh come on! I just untangled this thing!"

"Wait!" Sam yelled, getting between Danny and Maddie. "He wasn't going to hurt the mayor! He was going to show you the mayor was overshadowed when you shot him!"

Maddie however, didn't believe her. "Sam, get away from that ghost!"

"No!" Sam protested. "I won't!"

During the chaos, Walker, still overshadowing the mayor, had 'run off', but in reality, he was under the stage. While the Fentons were distracted, Walker phased up from the stage, grabbed onto Danny's leg, turned him intangible, and dragged him down.

Sam turned when she heard Danny's yelp and saw he was gone. "No!"

Suddenly, more soldier ghosts started to fly into City Hall. They were grinning sinisterly.

Sam looked up at the ghost soldiers and gulped as her face paled. "Oh crap…"

With the people in a panic, the Fentons busy looking for their own son without realizing it, it was time for Sam and Salamon to do some action.

"Here they come, Sam!" Salamon spoke up as the people were quickly clearing out.

Sam gulped, but held up her D-Arc. "Right… Get ready, Salamon!"

As the soldier ghosts started to close in on them, Salamon jumped to the ground, growling. "Puppy Howling!"

Salamon let out a soundwave of barking that pushed the soldier ghosts back. The ghosts gripped the sides of their heads at the howling attack. A soldier ghost tried to grab Sam from behind.

"Let me go, you big creep!" Sam snapped.

Salamon turned before she jumped at the soldier ghost's face. "Petit Punch!"

Salamon's front paws slammed into the soldier's face, making him let go of Sam.

Sam looked back at Salamon with a look of gratitude. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet! We have to drive these ghosts out first!" Salamon said seriously.

The soldier ghosts had them surrounded however.

"There's too many of them though." Sam frowned.

Salamon tried to make the soldier ghosts back off with her Puppy Howling, but there were too many. They were quickly being surrounded.

Suddenly, they heard some windows breaking. Lopmon and Terriermon were gliding in before they grabbed each other's claws. They began to spin each other around,

"Double Typhoon!" Lopmon and Terriermon shouted as they created a double twister attack that sucked in all the surrounding ghosts.

Sam watched this in awe, surprised that the two were able to use such a move. "Wow… Talk about perfect timing…"

Tucker and Jazz ran over to Sam and Salamon.

"Are you okay?" Jazz asked.

"When we saw people running out of City Hall, we figured this was the best time to come to your rescue." Tucker grinned.

"Thank you for that," Salamon said in relief.

"Hey… where's Andy and Dorumon?" Sam questioned.

"They said they found a way to get here by going under City Hall," Tucker stated.

"They went underground?" Sam asked, surprised.

Salamon looked below them at the ground. "Then that must have been the reason for Danny's yelp! He was pulled under by Walker!"

"He did?" Jazz frowned. "Was that why Andy and Dorumon went underground despite it being faster to just come through the window?"

"Wait, how could Andy possibly know that Danny was underground in the first place? He wasn't even here when that happened!" Tucker pointed out.

"Andy and Danny are twins…" Sam realized. "They would know if the other was in danger because of that."

Terriermon and Lopmon finished their double twister attack and landed back with the group.

"We need to stay focused, more ghosts are showing up," Lopmon warned.

"We'll have to try to fight them off while Danny deals with Walker," Terriermon said.

Sam frowned, but nodded. "Okay. I just hope Danny is doing alright against Walker though…"

---

Andy and Dorumon were running down the stairs. Thanks to Dorumon's nose, they were able to find a hatchet that led under City Hall. Andy wasn't even sure why he wanted to go down under City Hall, something was just telling him to.

When Andy and Dorumon reached a boiler room, Andy soon found out why. Danny was surrounded by overshadowed people, people they actually knew; Principal Ishiyama, Mr. Lancer, Paulina, Kwan, Calvin, and the mayor himself.

Danny was looking a bit nervous, but he was also giving off a confident air. The reason was clear. He was holding a Fenton Thermos in his hand, which made the ghosts, even in their human hosts, nervous.

They split, though 'Paulina' and 'Calvin' stuck around. 'Paulina' slid forward herself at Danny to grab his head, while 'Calvin' was about to grab the Fenton Thermos from him.

"Dorumon! Go!" Andy quickly shouted.

"Metal Cannon!" Dorumon shot out iron balls at 'Calvin', sending him back a few feet while at the same time, Danny's hands glowed and he shoved them through 'Paulina's' torso, forcing the soldier ghost out of her body.

Danny looked back at his brother. "Thanks, Andy!" He then sucked the ghost he had shoved out of Paulina's body into the Fenton Thermos.

Paulina looked rather confused and surprised, though she did see that Danny, the ghost boy, did just save her from that other ghost. "You saved me? So… you're like a friendly ghost!"

Andy and Dorumon came up to them, which surprised Paulina even more.

"What the? What are you doing here?" Paulina questioned, looking at Andy. "And… what is that creature next to you?"

"How about instead of asking pointless questions, you hightail it out of here?" Andy frowned. "We're not out of danger yet!"

Paulina didn't even bother to question the advice as she turned and ran, just as 'Kwan' came down from the ceiling towards Danny.

Kwan' managed to punch Danny in the face, which caused the ghost boy to drop the Fenton Thermos and hit the wall behind him. Before 'Kwan' could pounce Danny again, Andy and Dorumon tackled 'Kwan' and pushed him down.

"Is there a way for me to get the ghost out of his body…?" Andy asked.

"Try Phantomon's scythe," Dorumon spoke up. "If I remember right, that scythe was originally meant to take souls out of someone's body. I should be able to use it to take the ghost out of this kid's body!"

"Right then, let's try it!" Andy agreed.

Andy then held up the device and his card. The card spun before Andy caught it in two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held the device over his head, the card slot facing down towards his head. He stuck the card's edge into the slot and dragged it through, the card being pulled towards the right side of his body and the device towards the left side of his body. "Digi-Modify!" Andy called out. He pulled the device and card apart from each other. "Phantomon's Shadow Scythe activate!"

The dark scythe appeared in Dorumon's claws. 'Kwan' tried to give an intimidating roar, but Dorumon slashed the scythe through the boy's body. Thankfully, much to Andy's relief, the scythe itself didn't cut Kwan's body, instead, it forced the ghost out as Dorumon had guessed.

"Good job, Dorumon!" Andy smiled.

Danny had 'Mr. Lancer' in front of him, ready to attack. Danny acted faster, shoving his ghost ray into Mr. Lancer's body, forcing the soldier ghost out of him as well.

Both Kwan and Mr. Lancer were in a daze as the ghosts left their bodies. They gave a yelp, before Mr. Lancer saw Danny, and Kwan saw a weird fox creature holding some kind of large scythe in its paws. That caused both of them to let out a fearful scream before they ran away.

"... With any luck, they will think this was all a dream later…" Andy sighed.

Dorumon blinked. "Did they run from me?"

Danny looked back at Dorumon. "No, they ran because they were scared of what is going on."

"Probably doesn't help that you're holding a giant scythe…" Andy muttered. And they would naturally be afraid of Danny, who's currently a ghost right now.

Danny was looking around. "Where's the Thermos?" He didn't see it anywhere nearby. But before he could go look for it, a small portal opened up behind one of the soldier ghosts and sucked one in, followed by the same thing happening to the second ghost soldier a moment later.

Danny looked back, somewhat pleased at the development, only for his heart to sink as he saw who was responsible. "Oh… crud…" It was Maddie Fenton.

"Oh double crud." Andy gulped.

Both brothers were in trouble for different reasons.

Maddie frowned when she saw Andy with the ghost kid, and some weird fox creature holding a scythe.

"Andy? What-"

"Now Mom, no need to freak out, I can explain!" Andy quickly said.

Before Andy could even get a word in, Danny was grabbed by 'Ishiyama' and dragged somewhere. Andy groaned. Why can't we ever get a break!?

'Ishiyama' and 'Calvin' were standing over Danny. 'Ishiyama' grinned as she held up the Fenton Thermos with a sinister sneer. "Looking for this?!" She taunted as she then aimed it at Danny.

Andy gasped when he saw that and tried to run over to Danny, but Maddie grabbed his arm.

"Where do you think you're going, mister!?" Maddie frowned.

Before 'Ishiyama' could suck in the ghost boy, Wulf came down from the ceiling and knocked the overshadowed principal away from Danny.

"What are you doing!?" 'Calvin' snapped.

Wulf looked at Danny, he said some words that Danny didn't understand, but there was one word Wulf said that was in English. "Friend."

With that said, Wulf lunged forwards, his claws glowing blue, he reached into 'Ishiyama's' body, which his claws phased through. He missed 'Calvin' however, who jumped away from Wulf's claws. Wulf was able to tear the soldier ghost out of Ishiyama, and threw him up.

"Mom, let me go! I can handle myself!" Andy argued.

"No, Andy! These are real ghosts, you aren't trained to deal with them!" Maddie retorted before she pulled Andy behind her. "Now stay behind me while I get these ghosts back where they came from!"

Maddie then aimed at the ghost soldier and fired the ghost portal gun again, sucking in the one soldier ghost with another portal.

'Calvin' hissed as he tried to sneak around Maddie to go after the normal kid. He smirked as he jumped to pounce Andy. Andy turned to look at him, and narrowed his eyes. Dorumon came up in front of Andy, making 'Calvin' gasp before Dorumon swung the shadow scythe into his body, forcing the ghost, the one Wulf had called 'Bullet', out of Calvin's body. Dorumon then dissipated the scythe and moved away.

"Mom, there's a ghost behind us!" Andy spoke up.

Maddie heard Andy's warning and turned, firing at Bullet. She hit him in the stomach area with a portal ray, only for the thing to open up inside Bullet's gut, sucking him in that way, with only his head sticking out before that was sucked in too.

Andy sighed in relief, and turned to look at Danny when suddenly, the 'mayor', Walker, grabbed Danny and began to fly him up. Oh-no! Walker is likely going to put the final phase of his plan into action!

"Andy, when we get home, we're going to have a serious talk about this," Maddie said to Andy. "For now, you better hurry back home. I still need to take care of the ghost boy before he does something horrible."

"Mom, please listen. That ghost boy isn't bad, he's only trying to help!" Andy argued, hoping to get his mother to listen to reason.

Maddie frowned. "Andy, we have told you, ghosts do not feel real emotions. They are merely a metaphysical afterimage of what used to be alive."

"Says who!? Have you even talked with one of these ghosts?" Andy snapped. "If that were true, then why would the ghost boy go through the trouble of fighting his own supposed 'comrades'?"

At hearing Andy's words, Maddie paused. She looked down as if in thought. Why was the ghost boy fighting his own kind? Is it perhaps some sort of power play? To assume the ghost boy is a dominant ghost in its territory?

There was a lot of commotion above them. Maddie frowned. "We will discuss this later, Andy, for now you need to get out of here."

Andy frowned, but he knew Maddie wasn't likely to listen to him as long as there were ghosts nearby. She was on too high alert to really listen right now. "Fine."

Andy went over to Dorumon. Maddie looked at the creature for a moment. She knew Dorumon wasn't a ghost, he wasn't exhibiting any ghostly aura, nor were her goggles picking up anything ghostly about the strange creature. The creature didn't seem to be hostile, and it did help her child a minute ago. Maddie watched as Andy and the creature ran off, likely to the stairs. Maddie sighed, she knew she would need to figure all this out later. For now, protecting the mayor and City Hall should be her top priority.

As Maddie made her way back to the City Hall, she gripped her weapon tightly. I will not let any ghosts harm our town, let alone my children and nephew!

---

Walker flew up into City Hall again, he had Danny by the hands to keep him from doing anything. Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and their Digimon partners were surprised to see the 'mayor' kicking open the entrance door while still holding Danny.

"I'm making sure your prison is the town you live," Walker whispered to Danny before he shouted to the group of people, mostly reporters and cameramen, outside the City Hall. "Help! Help me! Help!"

Walker floated back, forcing Danny back as well, before he used telekinesis to shut the door. He gave Danny an evil grin. "Now they'll never trust you."

Danny was mad. He flew up and out of Walker's grasp. Walker turned to counter Danny's attack, only to be met with Wulf standing there in front of him. Wulf shoved his glowing claws into the body of the mayor, only to wind up pulling Walker out of the mayor's body and pushing the mayor away from Walker.

Danny caught the unconscious mayor, just as Maddie came running up and saw that. I knew it, the ghost boy IS evil! "Get your hands off of our elected leader, you odd manifestation of post-human consciousness!"

"Wait! It's not what you think, Mom!" Jazz shouted, having seen what happened.

But Maddie already fired the bazooka. Wulf ran in front of Danny with Walker to block the portable portal from hitting him, but now Wulf and Walker were being sucked into the portal. Andy and Dorumon ran in just in time to see this.

"We're too late!" Andy gasped.

"Wulf! NO!" Danny shouted.

"Friend!" Wulf cried out. He then said his next sentence in English. "We will meet again."

Walker growled. "So will we, punk! Feared on Earth, wanted in the Ghost Zone, you've lost, ghost kid! LOST!" Then, Walker and Wulf were sucked into the Ghost Zone.

There wasn't much time for Danny to grieve for Wulf, however, because Maddie was suddenly beside him, pointing the bazooka right at his head.

"Mom! Stop!" Andy shouted.

"You don't have to do this, Mom!" Jazz said at the same time.

"Mrs. Fenton, surely you heard what that ghost said before he and the wolf ghost were sucked into the portal!" Sam spoke up. "It was obvious he had planned for this!"

"Meaning that mayor was overshadowed, and the ghost kid was trying to help him!" Tucker added.

Maddie looked at the assembled kids before her, as well as those strange creatures beside them. Her own son and daughter were obviously taken in by the ghost kid's plot, but at the same time, she could not deny what she had heard from that white ghost. She didn't want to admit it, but something did seem plausible about the ghost kid being a victim of some kind. However, she was not about to just lay down and believe the claims of the children.

"You may have a point about what that ghost said… but I will only believe it with my own eyes when I see it for myself," Maddie said at last before looking at Danny Phantom. "For now, consider yourself lucky, spook. You will be spared this time."

Danny was actually surprised that his mom was letting him go, well the ghost version of him anyways. "Oh… uh, th-thank you, uh… Maddie."

"Just get out of here before I change my mind, ghost," Maddie hissed.

"R-right!" Danny quickly flew up into the ceiling.

Maddie looked at the kids. "As for all of you… you have some explaining to do. What are these creatures you have with you?"

Jazz looked nervous now, as did the others. Tucker rubbed the back of his head while Sam looked down at the ground as she moved one of her feet nervously. Salamon walked forward to Maddie.

"I must apologize for this in advanced, Mrs. Fenton… but you are not yet ready to know about us yet," Salamon said calmly.

Maddie was shocked that the little dog was talking, but before she could say anything, the golden collar around Salamon's neck glowed. Maddie stared at the ring for a few seconds before she fell to the ground. Andy and Jazz, who were closest to Maddie, quickly caught her before her body could hit the floor.

"What did you do, Salamon?" Jazz asked in worry.

"Fear not, I did not hurt her. I simply took away her memories of seeing us," Salamon explained. "She will still remember the events of what happened here, she will just not remember seeing us Digimon with you."

Sam frowned, but nodded. "Yeah, I can see why you would do that. Ghosts are one thing, but explaining Digimon is a whole other can of worms."

"I didn't even know you could do that," Andy said in surprise.

Salamon looked at Andy. "Well, I am a Celestial Digimon, so I can do all sorts of things, but my power right now is limited to smaller things like memory wipes or other small things."

Jazz looked down at Maddie. "I hope this doesn't come back to bite us though…"

"We should leave before the cops start surrounding the place. I don't really want to deal with them or the questionings," Tucker sighed.

"Good idea," Andy agreed. "Let me just degenerate Dorumon first. Can't have his Rookie form caught on camera after all, I doubt even Salamon would be able to fix that."

---

Titanic X: ZAFT: You will see if the group succeeds or not~ :3

DarkFoxKit: The chapters are only going to get crazier from there.