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?

42. Choosing Your Own Destiny

ZAFT: Another update, another week. :3

Takuya: And getting closer to Christmas. :)

DarkFoxKit: Whew, felt like we had been working pretty hard last week. I think we deserve a bit of a break.

Andy: *Is on the floor, panting* You've been running me ragged…

Takuya: *Hugs Andy* It's okay…

Andy: How can you still be standing, Takuya? You were run almost as ragged as I was!

Takuya: *Shrugs* I'm more energetic I guess.

ZAFT: Oh~? Well, we will have to change that next week… :)

Takuya: *Pales* Uh… oh...

DarkFoxKit: Hehehe. :3 Anyways, we'll let you readers get to the chapter.

---

(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 42: Choosing Your Own Destiny

Sorcermon and Gabumon stumbled onto Agumon, the crying Calumon, and Biyomon not too long after the Legendary Warriors had left.

"Agumon! I thought I sensed you were here!" Gabumon smiled, happy to see his adoptive brother.

Agumon turned and saw Gabumon. He seemed to be alright, which was a relief, even if it was a small one. "Gabumon!" He let go of Calumon and ran over to his adopted brother, hugging him tightly.

"You had me worried, Agumon. I thought you would've fallen victim to Dreammon's Nightmare Syndrome!" Gabumon said in relief.

"No, everyone in the Flame Terminal is alright… but…" Agumon frowned as he turned back to Calumon.

Biyomon was currently hugging Calumon herself, seeing that he needed comfort right now. Calumon was still crying, completely heartbroken.

"We… lost all the Legendary Warriors except for…" Biyomon slowly said as she looked down at Calumon before looking back up at the two Digimon.. "It was… hard for Calumon to watch."

Sorcermon frowned. "Oh, this is not good. With the majority of the Legendary Warriors under the control of Dreammon, we have a very difficult fight ahead of us."

"Is there any hope left?" Biyomon asked. "I know we still have one Legendary Warrior left… but he's going up against 6 of them. The Celestial Digimon aren't here anymore. We don't know what happened to the Royal Knights either…"

"Surely there's still something we can do." Agumon frowned.

Sorcermon closed his eyes for a moment, trying to think, before he remembered the other kids who were here before that had helped them with the battle against Techatamon. "I hate to say it… but we may need to get a few more kids involved with this…"

Agumon blinked. "You know of other children who could help us?"

Sorcermon nodded. "Yes, but getting them involved carries great risk." He said gravely. "They could end up caught in the Nightmare Syndrome as well." But his mind drifted towards the one he had seen before, the half-ghost kid. "But… One of them could be our key to victory here…"

"Why do you figure that? Do you know something that we don't?" Gabumon questioned.

"To an extent, yes." Sorcermon replied. "But it is better left unsaid for now so Dreammon doesn't figure it out."

Calumon sniffled, finally calming down enough to stop blubbering, but he was still having trouble thinking straight. His emotions were all over the place. "Those kids… how can they help us…? They have Digimon helping them… but they're not Legendary Warriors themselves… they're likely to put themselves in more danger… like Katsuharu and his friends did…"

Sorcermon frowned. "Yes, but it is a chance we have to take. If anyone could save the Legendary Warriors, and the Digital World, it is them."

"It's at least worth a shot… right?" Biyomon said, looking down at Calumon, who was still clinging to her.

"Y-yeah… I guess so…" Calumon sniffled. "I just… hope that we can… save Takuya and… the others as well…"

Sorcermon reached out towards Calumon and patted his head. "We will find a way. But we need those kids to come here in order for that to happen."

"I take it you know how to contact them?" Gabumon asked, looking at Sorcermon.

"I do. Lady Ophanimon showed me how to do that in case anything happened to her and the other Celestial Digimon." Sorcermon replied before he held up his staff, the tip of it glowing. "We will need their help more than ever now if we are to beat Dreammon."

"Let's hope they'll be able to do it." Agumon frowned.

---

Meanwhile, back in Amity Park, everyone was starting to settle down for the night. After a long and hectic day with Walker, and the public confused more than ever on Danny Phantom, everyone decided to just stay home for a while until things died down a little.

Jazz, Lopmon, Andy, Dorimon, and Danny, however, noticed something was off about Takuya 2 when they were home, however.

"What's wrong? You look pale." Danny frowned in concern at his copy-cousin.

Takuya 2 looked back at Danny, a bit of fear in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Danny…" His body began to flicker, before it began to break down into data in front of Danny's eyes. "But I lost my connection to the original… I can't stay stable anymore…"

"What!? What do you mean by that!?" Danny yelled, now very worried for his cousin.

"What's going on!?" Andy and Jazz ran in, holding their Digimon, and gasped at seeing Takuya 2 turning into small bits of data.

"Takuya? What's happening to you?" Jazz asked in concern.

"He's unstable… something happened to the real Takuya that made him lose his connection," Danny answered, looking worried.

Takuya 2 just gave them a weak, apologetic smile as his body was now nothing but data.

"What's going to happen to him now?" Andy asked.

"Since he's been broken down to data, he'll either be assimilated into the nearest technology, or be consumed by another Digimon… either way… he's gone." Lopmon frowned as the data started to float away.

Danny looked down, his eyes hidden by his hair. He clenched his fists. "We… we need to go back… back to the Digital World…" He had tears running down his cheeks.

Andy was pale. He was sad for Takuya 2 fading away as he did, but he was also very scared for the real Takuya. If Takuya 2 lost connection with his real self, then that likely meant that something happened to Takuya, or he was dead.

Suddenly, there was a beeping noise coming from Andy and Jazz's D-Arcs. As soon as they looked into the screen, Sorcermon's face appeared.

"Ah, I finally got through. Can all of you hear me?" Sorcermon asked as his image flickered slightly. "This is a distress call. We need the remaining DigiDestined's help, please come to the Digital World as fast as possible! Please, be wary of any Legendary Warriors you see! They have been-"

There was static after that.

Jazz frowned. "We are being called to the Digital World? I thought the Legendary Warriors were supposed to be the good guys and protect it. Why did Sorcermon tell us to be wary of them?"

"It likely has something to do with whatever happened to Takuya," Dorimon spoke up in a serious tone. "Something bad must be going on in the Digital World if we're being called after the Legendary Warriors were."

"I knew it, I knew I should've gone and checked on the Digital World when Takuya was called!" Lopmon growled.

Jazz looked down. "Lopmon, calm down. We'll go and see what is going on." Deep down though, she was worried for her Digimon partner and her cousin.

Danny clenched his fists again. "Whatever is threatening the Digital World will pay for this!" He hissed as he looked up, his eyes flashing that glowing green color he had when he was in his ghost form.

Andy tried not to flinch from Danny's sudden green eyes glowing in his human form, somehow the unnatural glowing green eyes in Danny's human form made it far more disturbing.

Jazz shivered as well. "Danny, calm down… Your eyes are glowing green…"

Danny blinked. "Huh? They are?"

Andy sighed as he walked past Danny. "Come on, let's use this computer to get to the Digital World. I'm sure Sorcermon also called Tucker and Sam as well. Let's go meet them there, and find out what the hell is going on."

Jazz nodded as she held up her D-Arc and walked past Danny as well, holding the device up to the computer screen. "Let's go. I'm sure we will find out more when we get there."

The computer and Jazz's D-Arc glowed brightly as she and Lopmon were sucked in. Andy held out his hand to Danny. Danny nodded before he took Andy's hand. Dorimon jumped onto Andy's head. Andy held out his D-Arc with his other hand, letting the computer and the D-Arc's screen to glow brightly as the portal to the Digital World opened up, sucking them in.

As they were going through the digital portal, they met up with Tucker, Sam, Terriermon, and Salamon as well.

"Hey, seems you got the call as well," Tucker noted, seeing them.

"Yeah, Takuya 2 suddenly faded away, and we're going to find out why," Andy answered.

Sam frowned. "That isn't good, it sounds like. But why would we be needed? I mean, we are not these Legendary Warriors."

"No, but we can help the Digital World." Danny said seriously. "If anything, we may not have much of a choice to do so in this case."

"We always have a choice," Salamon spoke up. "We're choosing to go and help those in the Digital World. I have to admit, this is surprising even me."

"Considering how when you called the Legendary Warriors, they had to be chosen, but this time… the kids chose us, we chose them, and we're now choosing to help the Digital World," Lopmon noted.

Terriermon grinned. "So let's stop yapping and choose to focus on getting there already!"

"Let's do it!" Dorimon grinned, looking quite eager.

Tucker chuckled. "So let's go then!"

Danny gained a black T-shirt that had white ends for the sleeves, and his pants became black with white bottoms while his shoes turned white.

Tucker wound up gaining a new outfit, one that was a yellow jacket that had a red scarf, and his pants were now khaki with black boots. He had on his red beret still, and his glasses were still the same. Terriermon was flying through the vortex beside him.

Sam gained a purple shirt that had a black vest over it, and her skirt became pants that were black with a green line running down the sides, and her combat boots remained the same black color they were in the real world.

As they went through the vortex, Jazz gained a light blue jacket with a grey shirt under it, and dark grey pants while she also gained black shoes on her feet. Lopmon was at her side.

Andy's clothes changed to a dark blue T-shirt that had white on the sleeves and his pants turned a matching dark blue color with white bottoms and white sneakers. Dorimon had become Dorumon while they were going through the portal and was at Andy's side.

The group all came out at the same time, pretty much dogpiling on a poor Bokomon and each other.

"Why… does it always end up… like this?" Andy groaned.

"This is painful…" Jazz grumbled.

Danny grumbled. "Why do I have to be on the bottom this time…?"

"Excuse me!? I'M the one who's at the bottom here!" An unfamiliar voice shouted from under the dogpile of kids and Digimon.

"Huh? Who said that?" Sam asked as she slid off of the pile of kids and Digimon, Salamon in her arms.

Danny felt movement underneath him and looked down. "Uh… I think it was this Digimon who said that…" He noted as he watched the squirming white Digimon.

Danny used his intangibility to get everyone off of the poor Digimon they had just crushed by accident.

"Danny, maybe you should do that from now on whenever we go through those digital portals…" Tucker groaned, rubbing his sore arm.

"What in the name of all that is good and holy!? Are you a ghost!?" The Digimon shouted when he managed to get back to his feet, which was surprisingly quickly.

Danny groaned. "I am part ghost… It's… a long story…"

"Bokomon," Salamon spoke up as she and Lopmon came to the front. "It's been a while, old friend."

Bokomon saw the two Celestial Rookies and smiled. "Yes, yes it has, Lady Ophanimon." He walked over and gave her a hug, as well as Lopmon.

"We were just called here by Sorcermon," Lopmon informed. "Could you tell us what's been going on here?"

Bokomon frowned. "Yes, I believe I can. It's a bit of a long story though."

"Please tell us, we need to know what's going on before we go headfirst into danger," Andy stated.

"Um… wait… but first… who are all of you? I didn't expect to see more humans here," Bokomon said in surprise at seeing the other human children.

"Seems we've got a lot to unpack…" Tucker sighed.

---

Takuya and the other 5 Legendary Warriors had landed at the Rose Morning Star's castle. It was Cherubimon's castle, it had been redecorated when Cherubimon was no longer corrupted. It resembled more of a beautiful garden than a scary, shadowy, evil overlord castle that it was before. Not that the 6 children particularly cared at the moment. They only cared about presenting themselves to their master, who was sitting on the throne, smiling at them.

"We have returned, Master." Takuya said as he and the other Legendary Warriors knelt down in front of Dreammon. "All of the Legendary Warriors are now at your service."

Dreammon stood up, obviously very pleased. "Yes, yes, this is a happy moment indeed. Since you are now all mine, you know by now what my real end goal was. I don't actually have the power to plunge this whole world into a nightmare. That was just a ruse to get you Legendary Warriors to become afraid of me, making it easier for me to sense your fearful minds. It became easy to take all of you from there. I needed all of you Legendary Warriors to complete my plan. My creator, the one who created me alongside his splendid partner, will have to acknowledge me now! I was deemed as a failure, but not anymore. I can show them that I don't need to be powerful in order to have the power they wanted me to have."

Dreammon then turned to the 6 children, who were still bowing their heads to him. "Once you all become the ancient spirit of legend, I will fuse myself into the Nightmare Syndrome I had put into each of your minds. They hold pieces of my essence after all, and once I do, we will become one. I will become strong, and the Digimon my creator wanted me to be."

Takuya gave a smile. "We would be honored if you did that, Master."

"We are yours to command as you see fit," Koji added.

Dreammon smiled evilly, almost purring. "Yes, yes you are, children."

Dreammon then floated over them. "Stand up, children of the Legendary Warriors, and fuse your souls together. Turn into the ancient spirit of legend!"'

The six stood up and held up their D-Tectors into the air. The symbols of their respective elements appeared on the screens, just as fractal code surrounded them in a ring formation. "EXECUTE!" The six called out. As soon as the light appeared from their D-Tectors, the Spirits showed up all around them before a glowing form began to emerge. "Ancient Spirit Evolution!" The light from their D-Tectors grew brighter and brighter and then there was a flash of light before… nothing. Dreammon blinked. There was nothing before him. The kids all stood there, looking just as confused.

"What? Why haven't you all become the ancient warrior of legend!?" Dreammon shouted.

Takuya looked at his D-Tector. "I don't understand it. We have all the Legendary Warriors with us, so why didn't it work?"

"The story said there were 6 kids who held all 10 of the Legendary Warriors spirits, and you were all able to fuse into the ancient spirit of legend, Susasnoomon. And yet…" Dreammon frowned. "I see 6 of you, but no Susanoomon."

"I think we missed something," Koichi spoke up. "There were 6 of us… but one of us joined up recently, not when we fought with Lucemon 4 years ago."

"Yes. We have to be missing something." Koji agreed. "But what? What are we missing?"

"Let's think back. How many Legendary Warriors do we have right now?" Zoe asked.

"We have six." JP said. "Wind, Thunder, Light, Darkness, Wood, and Flame."

"We also still hold the essence of the others, even if they were reborn somewhere in the Digital World," Koji spoke up. "I still have Water and Steel, so that makes 8."

"And I have Earth." Takuya said. "I gave Wood to Dash. So… that's only 9."

"We're missing one!" Everyone realized.

Dreammon was enraged. "We're missing an element?! I was under the assumption we had all ten elements! What element could we be missing?!"

Takuya frowned as he finally realized who was missing; the youngest one of their group. "We're missing Tommy, the Warrior of Ice."

Dreammon was not pleased. "Well, if that is the case, then you need to go out and find him! I will not rest until all Legendary Warriors are under my command!"

"Yes, Master Dreammon!" All 6 of them said quickly before they hurried out of the castle.

"FIND THE LEGENDARY WARRIOR OF ICE!" Dreammon shouted as hundreds of Tapirmon flew out of the castle. "I won't let my plan fail now, not when I'm so close!"

When the 6 children were outside of the castle, they grumbled.

"I can't believe we overlooked Tommy." Koji frowned. "I thought he had already been taken by Master Dreammon's Nightmare Syndrome back at Seraphimon's castle."

"I thought so too." Takuya admitted. "But that was my fault because of my own assumptions. I will make it up to Master and find him and bring him back myself."

"No way, we're all supposed to find him, Taky, not just you," JP spoke up.

"He could be anywhere right now, we don't even know where to start looking." Zoe frowned.

"Maybe it might work better if we split up then," Koji suggested. "Each one can look in a different direction of the Digital World."

"We should be able to sense Tommy if he's using his Spirit," Dash remarked.

Takuya gave a sinister grin. "Then let's go and hunt down our last comrade for Master. And I will start at the Flame Terminal."

"I'll take the Forest Terminal then," Koji decided.

"Primary Village for me. I may be Master's to command, but I am still a girl, and I still like seeing cute Digimon." Zoe smiled.

"I will get the TV Forest then," Dash replied.

"And I will get the Darkness Terminal," Koichi said. "It's unlikely Tommy will go there, but he might hide in the most unexpected places."

"Then that leaves me with the old Wind Factory," JP noted. "He may hide there as well."

With their respective places to search chosen, it was time to get to work.

---

"Are you… sure they're… in the… Flame Terminal?" Biyomon panted, carrying Agumon with her talons again.

Calumon was carrying Gabumon by the head, though Calumon was stronger than he looked, he too was panting having to carry the bigger Digimon. Sorcermon was using magic to fly.

"Yes, I'm quite positive. I sensed them opening a digital portal at the Flame Terminal," Sorcermon answered.

Agumon looked down, trying to spot a group of humans and Digimon. Then, he saw the ones they were looking for. "Down there!" He pointed with a claw. "With Uncle Bokomon!"

"Oh thank goodness…" Calumon panted as he started to descend... a little too fast.

"Whoa, whoa! You're falling too fast!" Gabumon yelped.

"-so that's about all I know for-" Bokomon started before a shadow was over him. "Oh-no, not again…"

Gabumon and Calumon fell on top of Bokomon.

Danny blinked. "Hey! It's Calumon! But… Wait… Is that a Gabumon?"

Jazz remembered that Digimon name. "Hey… It is a Gabumon! But why is it with Calumon and not back with the Garurumon or Gururumon tribe?"

"That's probably not a Gabumon from one of the tribes," Dorumon stated.

"S-sorry, Uncle Bokomon! It was an accident!" Gabumon quickly apologized as he jumped off of Bokomon.

"My back is going to break at this point…" Bokomon groaned as Gabumon helped him up.

"Did that Gabumon just call Bokomon 'Uncle'?" Danny asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Are you guys related…?" Sam asked, not sure how relatives worked with Digimon biology.

"Not in a digital sense, no," Bokomon sighed. "I raised Gabumon here from a young Tsunomon. I also raised an Agumon from a young Koromon-"

"Heads up!" Someone from the sky called.

Biyomon tiredly dropped Agumon, who also landed on Bokomon. Everyone sweatdropped at the poor Digimon's misfortune at being everyone's landing cushion today.

"This is just not my day…" Bokomon groaned as Agumon chuckled sheepishly.

"Sorry, Uncle Bokomon." Agumon apologized before he got off of Bokomon as well. Thankfully, Sorcermon and Biyomon landed just a small distance away from Bokomon so as to not squish him again.

Jazz looked over and saw Sorcermon. "Sorcermon! Am I glad to see you!"

"I'm glad to see all of you." Sorcermon smiled.

"We heard from Bokomon about what's been going on, about this Dreammon, and how he's been trying to turn all of the Digital World into a void of nightmares." Tucker frowned. "Now that's scary."

"And what's worse is that we don't know how to stop it or wake up any of the Digimon, or at least, that is what Bokomon told us." Sam added.

Sorcermon gave a contemplative glance at Danny. "And yet, there may be a way to do so."

"You think so?" Danny asked in concern.

"I hope so." Calumon frowned. "That was why Sorcermon decided to call you all in… that and… we desperately needed the help."

"Why? What's wrong? Where are the Legendary Warriors?" Andy asked.

Calumon shook his head, tears welling up in his eyes again. "They were all taken by Dreammon…"

"All but one," Sorcermon spoke up quickly. "He's safe, for now, but we have to keep him hidden from Dreammon. From what we've gathered so far… Dreammon isn't actually capable of plunging the Digital World into nightmares, he only wanted to make us think he was."

"Fear creates chaos, it also made Dreammon seem more powerful than he really is," Gabumon added.

"But it turns out, he was mainly after the Legendary Warriors," Biyomon stated.

"Why was he after the Legendary Warriors?" Jazz asked. "What could he want with them?"

"We don't know yet." Agumon frowned.

"We can only guess he wanted their powers for something, since they are probably the strongest Digimon known in the Digital World right now. With the Celestial Digimon away, and the Royal Knights' whereabouts being unknown…" Calumon sighed.

"Wait, Royal Knights?" Danny asked. "Who are they?"

"They were very powerful knight Digimon, who used to govern our world alongside the Celestial Digimon. Their role was to keep the Celestial Digimon safe, and fight off evil," Bokomon answered. "But they had all mysteriously disappeared for almost a decade now, and nobody knows what happened to them. 2 of them had showed up 4 years ago, but they were completely brainwashed by Lucemon, who I'm sure you've heard about already."

"Oh, trust me, we've heard." Danny said as he rolled his eyes. "Kinda hard to not hear about him when talking about the Legendary Warriors."

Bokomon nodded. "Anyway, with the Royal Knights missing as well, we had no choice but to call upon you children to help us in our time of distress. I'm surprised though, I didn't know there were more DigiDestined outside of the Legendary Warriors."

"We're not DigiDestined." Andy rolled his eyes. "It wasn't some great destiny that led us here. We're here because we chose to be here."

Bokomon blinked. "Well… either way, whether by destiny or by choice, you are here and we could really use your help."

"Yeah, we kinda figured that after you told us what happened to the Legendary Warriors." Sam frowned.

"But… this is a dangerous game. If we were to fall, then nobody can stop Dreammon." Salamon frowned.

"That's why we're not going to fall," Danny said, looking more determined than ever to put a stop to Dreammon.

Tucker then looked at Sorcermon. "Do you guys have any information that could be of use to us?"

"I believe Calumon might," Sorcermon said. "And it will lead to why I think we may have the key to waking up the victims of the Nightmare Syndrome."

Calumon nodded before he began telling them about what he knew from studying the notes of the Nightmare Syndrome, about how it was a mix between digital data and ectoplasm, just like Techatamon was.

Upon hearing that, Danny's eyes went wide. "So that's why you asked for me to come as well?"

Sorcermon nodded. "Yes. You, Danny, are our ace-in-the-hole. Your ghostly status may be the one thing we can use to help us in this case."

"But won't Danny just put himself at risk of the Nightmare Syndrome if he tried to wake them up?" Andy asked. "It's made up of both digital data and ectoplasm, meaning the digital data may be too much for him."

"Excuse me… I couldn't help but overhear what you're planning to do… and I was wondering if I could be of some help…?" A shy sounding feminine voice spoke up.

Danny jumped and whirled around, only for his eyes to land on a lone Tapirmon floating in front of them a ways away. "Whoa!"

Sorcermon, upon seeing the Tapirmon, got ready to attack if the need arose. "What is your reason for seeking us out?" He asked in a stern tone.

Everyone was on guard at seeing this Tapirmon. Though this Tapirmon had her holy ring on her arm, unlike the rest of them. Tapirmon shrunk back a little. "D-don't attack, please! I'm not with the others or Dreammon, I promise!"

"How do we know that for sure? That you're not trying to trick us into a false sense of security?" Both Andy and Calumon asked, before they looked at each other for a moment.

"Whoa, and I thought Danny or I were in sync with Andy," Dorumon chuckled.

Sorcermon narrowed his eyes a bit before he caught sight of the holy ring on Tapirmon. "Ah, you have a holy ring, unlike the other Tapirmon that have been attacking." He then lowered his staff. "Forgive me and my companions. We did not think a Tapirmon remained free from Dreammon's hivemind."

The others were still skeptical.

"I apologize… I've kept myself hidden because I was afraid everyone would attack me because of what Dreammon had done to the other Tapirmon…" Tapirmon bowed her head.

"Wait… if you're not a part of the hivemind… how did you escape it?" Jazz questioned.

"Well… you see… I was accidentally brought to the real world when Dreammon came into the Digital World. So because of that, I was able to escape the hivemind that Dreammon put out with the rest of the Tapirmon. I managed to find my way down to the subway where the Trailmon were who took me back to this world… but I was constantly being attacked or shouted at by others when I got back… I only found out later as to why." Tapirmon frowned.

Jazz looked unsure, but it seemed to her that this Tapirmon was telling the truth. "I see…"

"We didn't even know you were in the real world." Dorumon noted.

"I didn't think you would. A lot of small Digimon like myself had ended up in the real world, but we're usually capable of finding our way back on our own," Tapirmon informed. "It's only the crazy ones you have to look out for."

Sam chuckled at that. "The same goes for humans too."

"If you're really willing to help us…" Andy began before relaxing a little. "Then we'll give you a chance to prove yourself."

Tapirmon smiled. "That's all I ask. I want to make up for what my fellow Tapirmon are doing as well."

Danny smiled a bit.

"I'll keep an eye on you though…" Calumon frowned. "No offense, but I lost too many friends to a lot of Tapirmon already."

"I understand…" Tapirmon sighed.

"But this could work. A Tapirmon specializing in digital dreams, while Danny can counteract the ectoplasm, if this isn't the key to the cure, I don't know what is!" Sorcermon announced, hope coming back to his tired eyes.

Tucker looked at Sorcermon. "You think it will work?"

"I'm sure it will, but we need to test it first," Sorcermon said.

"But who could we test it on?" Agumon asked.

Suddenly, all the Digimon began to shiver as they felt a strong presence nearby. A red mist came out of Danny's mouth at the same time. A large shadow towered over the group.

The form came in and landed before the orange wings folded behind his back. Danny and Andy both froze, or rather, Andy did more so because he knew that form. The figure looked like a mix of BurningGreymon and Agunimon, which was a form that was quite menacing on its own. The Digimon looked up, glazed blue eyes meeting the gazes of the group before him, and a sinister grin crossed his face, revealing his sharp teeth. "Well, what do we have here?~"

"Well… I think I have the answer to that question, Agumon." Bokomon gulped.

Calumon paled, as he had never wanted to see Takuya looking all so sinister like that,and it frightened him. Andy and Dorumon, being the only other people who knew who this actually was, were equally as pale and frightened.

Danny paled as well. "Um… Who is that Digimon? He looks like a fusion of BurningGreymon and Agunimon…"

"That's because… he is…" Andy whispered in horror, Danny was surprised he even heard Andy with how quiet he said it.

"No…" Dorumon backed away in fear, seeing the powerful fusion looking down at them.

Danny gulped. If this was indeed a fusion then that meant this had to be… Takuya!?

"So, the Digital World called in new protectors? How sad to see Digimon becoming so desperate as to rely on others that were not picked by destiny." The Fusion Digimon said in an almost mocking tone.

"Stand your ground, Dorumon, Calumon! You must not be afraid!" Lopmon called, seeing how shaken up those two were.

"But…" Calumon shook, he couldn't stand the thought of facing Takuya like this.

Dorumon forced himself to look at the Digimon, his eyes and forehead gem glowed. Andy looked at his D-Arc as the Digimon's hologram appeared.

"His name is Aldamon… Aldamon is a Wizard Digimon. It possesses power over Flame that has transcended legend by inheriting all the might of AncientGreymon and acquiring unknown abilities. It is a variable type, and its level is Hybrid…" Andy frowned. "That's it…"

Jazz looked at Andy. "There's nothing else?! We're facing a new Digimon?!"

"It's an evolution that, by all means, shouldn't exist." Bokomon frowned. "He's the fusion of Agunimon and BurningGreymon, so if I had to compare it by levels, I'd say he's an Ultimate level, one who can rival a Mega level."

Danny literally looked like a ghost with how pale he was. "That's… a strong Digimon…"

"That's an understatement…" Terriermon shivered at the sheer pressure Aldamon was giving off.

"I'm not here to pick on you weaklings, unless you decide to get in my way," Aldamon stated. "I'm only here for one thing; the Warrior of Ice, Kumamon or Korikakumon."

Calumon paled at that. "W-why? You already have all the other Legendary Warriors, why does one even matter at this point!?"

Aldamon just ignored Calumon. "Where is the Warrior of Ice?" He demanded, flaring his wings to look more menacing. It worked, as everyone else cringed away from him.

"How should we know? We just got here!" Terriermon yelled out.

Aldamon narrowed his eyes and growled. "That is the wrong thing to say…" He hissed.

Danny gulped at seeing how terrifying the Legendary Warrior looked. "Oh boy…"

Danny was sure if he hadn't felt so afraid for his life, or the fact that he was facing down this monster that was his cousin, he would have said something along the lines of 'and even if we did know where he was, we wouldn't tell you!', but the words were stuck in the halfa's throat. Whenever Takuya appeared as a Digimon, there had always been a subconscious fear Danny felt for him, but it was never a big deal until that day when BurningGreymon attacked him. And it was far more prominent now. It also reminded Danny how humans likely felt around ghosts.

"Even if you decide to barbecue us, what good is that going to do?" Andy suddenly spoke up. "That wouldn't lead you any closer to the Warrior of Ice you're looking for. All you'll be doing is wasting time."

Aldamon frowned a little. It was true, he could just hurt them to get what he wanted, but in the long run, it wouldn't do him any good. The Master wanted the Warrior of Ice, and whatever means it took to get said Warrior would have to be used, even if it wasn't violent.

Danny looked at Andy, worry on his face. "Um… Bro? Are you sure that's a good idea? He's not exactly… 'friendly' right now…"

"If talking our way out of this will leave us with fewer bruises and burns, then I'm willing to give it a try," Andy said before he looked at Danny. "Besides… do you really want to fight him? Not only is he strong, and a Digimon, he's also…"

Andy let the word hang there so the others wouldn't hear it, but Danny got the gist of it, this beast before him was also Takuya, their cousin.

Danny looked back at the Fusion Evolved Legendary Warrior. "No… I don't want to fight him…" Danny admitted.

Aldamon was looking at each of them. There were enough of them to form quite a group.. Four humans, one halfa, ten Digimon. They would be better used as helpers to find the Warrior of Ice rather than wasting his fire power. A part of him also didn't really want to hurt a few of them, particularly the humans and the halfa.

Deep down, that same part of him was screaming to stop this, but the Master's will won out. A sinister smirk crossed his face. "You know what? You're right. I could just be rid of you, but there are enough of you to reconsider that. Instead, you will help me search out the Warrior of Ice. Considering your numbers, it would be better to put you to use to find the missing Warrior."

"What makes you think we'll help-" Lopmon began to say before Jazz quickly shut his mouth.

"We'll do it," Jazz quickly said instead. "Forgive my partner here, he's a bit on edge right now."

Aldamon frowned. "Make sure he doesn't speak out like that again."

Danny, having seen this exchange, began to feel some hope. It seemed their cousin, despite being 'evil', was still reasonable.

Tucker and Sam looked at Andy for a moment, Andy nodded to them, silently telling them to go along with it.

"What can we do to help you find this Warrior of Ice?" Sam asked.

"We don't know much about the Warrior of Ice, what does he or she look like?" Tucker questioned.

"Check your D-Arc, the information on the Warrior of Ice will be on there," Salamon informed. "Since we know who he is, you should have his data in there."

Sam took out her D-Arc and brought up the image of the Warrior of Ice, specifically, Kumamon. "So this is the Warrior of Ice? I was expecting something a bit more… intimidating."

Calumon was pouting at that.

"Kumamon is a Beast Man Digimon. It possesses power over Ice which bears the might of AncientMegatheriummon. It styles itself as holding rank as a member of a polar army's polar region defense force," Tucker read. "It's a Variable type, and it's level is… well… surprise, surprise, Hybrid."

"Check the secondary category of the Warrior of Ice," Terriermon suggested. "We're seeing his Human Spirit, he also has a Beast Spirit."

Tucker brought up the image of the Legendary Warrior of Ice's Beast Spirit form.

"Oh, now that's more like it." Sam smiled, seeing Korikakumon. "He's also pretty cute too in a way."

Now Calumon was blushing a bit.

"Korikakumon is a Beast Digimon. It possesses power over Ice which bears the might of AncientMegatheriummon. It's closer to recklessness than dauntless courage, but in any case, it's a ruffian overflowing with desire and ambition. Variable type, and… well, Hybrid level. I'm going to go on a limb here and say all the Legendary Warriors are Hybrid levels," Tucker remarked.

"They tend to be." Terriermon noted. "At least, from what I have heard anyway."

Danny looked back at his friends. "So we are looking for those two Digimon? It shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"Well, we're looking for one Digimon who can turn into either one of those two," Andy corrected. "Considering it's the same situation with Agunimon and BurningGreymon."

"Not so fast," Aldamon suddenly spoke up. "There's one other form you need to look for as well. This Legendary Warrior is also human."

Calumon frowned.

Danny paused. "Huh?" This Legendary Warrior is like Takuya?

"He's a 12 year old boy, wears a white shirt, khaki shorts, and a big orange hat. His name is Tommy Himi," Aldamon informed. "Make sure you keep a look out for him."

Calumon hid his face with his claws, wishing he could just disappear.

"Is there anything else we must know, uh… Great Warrior of Flame?" Dorumon asked, trying to be careful to not insult Aldamon and have him decide to attack them all instead.

"No, there is nothing else." The 'evil' Legendary Warrior replied. "Now get searching."

"Yes, Warrior of Flame!" Several of them said before they started moving out.

"Don't go too far, otherwise I will assume you decided to run away like cowards and hunt you down!" Aldamon warned before they could go too far.

They decided to split into groups, hoping that they would be able to do some planning without seeming like they were conspiring against Aldamon.

Andy and Dorumon were with Sorcermon, Bokomon, and Gabumon. Danny was with Sam, Salamon, Agumon, and Biyomon. Tucker was with Terriermon, Jazz, Lopmon, and Calumon. The Tapirmon floated between the groups, a little unsure on what to do, though Aldamon seemed to be ignoring her.

"So, what do we do?" Gabumon asked as he looked at Andy. "We need a plan to free the Warrior of Flame."

Andy turned on his D-Arc, he had told the others with their own D-Arcs to keep communication between them on so they could talk about their plans without needing to be near each other. Andy and his group were looking around the village of the Flame Terminal.

"Yes, I agree. It's hard seeing Takuya like this." Bokomon frowned.

"I know." Andy frowned as well. "But we can't fight him head on, he's too powerful for even all of us combined."

Sorcermon was thinking. "Did you guys notice how he seemed to ignore Tapirmon?"

"I noticed that too. It might be because Aldamon thinks Tapirmon is working for Dreammon too, I mean we all did when we first saw her," Dorumon whispered.

"Exactly." Sorcermon said, a plan coming together in his mind. "We can use that to our advantage."

"Perhaps, but we can't get too careless, we'll only have one shot at this after all," Andy agreed.

Meanwhile, Danny's group were checking around the train station of the Flame Terminal. All the other Digimon had run off when Aldamon came, so they were the only ones around there.

Danny looked down, feeling anger coursing through his body. "Is there any way we can free Aldamon?!" He hissed lowly so only his friends could hear.

"Calm down, Danny, you'll scare the other Digimon," Sam hissed.

Agumon and Biyomon were shivering as they looked at Danny. Danny's eyes were glowing green again.

Danny looked back at the two shivering Digimon before his face softened and he sighed. His eyes stopped glowing. "Yeah… I know. And I'm sorry. It's just… It's so hard to see such a powerful Digimon who was once on the side of good turn against what he was supposed to protect."

"It happens more often than you would think around here." Salamon sighed. "It happened with Cherubimon, it can happen to many others if such powers were left unchecked."

"We're sorry, we're just not used to having a real ghost be so near us," Biyomon apologized. "The ghosts have the ability to wipe us out entirely, as well as glitch up our world."

"But I have to say… I didn't expect something digital to be able to co-exist with ectoplasm. I thought ectoplasm would consume digital things pretty easily, not fuse with it," Agumon remarked.

Danny looked back. "You mean about that Techatamon? Or something else?"

"Well, I wasn't there when this Techatamon was around," Agumon reminded. "But I was mostly talking about that Nightmare Syndrome as well as Dreammon since he's apparently got ectoplasm in his system instead of just fractal codes and data."

Danny perked up on hearing that. "Wait… This Dreammon has data and ectoplasm?" He was surprised, but not as surprised as he should have been.

"Yeah, we learned about that when I was studying the notes of his Nightmare Syndrome. He also said he was created by someone," Calumon's voice said over Sam's D-Arc.

Danny looked down in thought. "Hmm… then that means Dreammon is a false Digimon. He is not from the world originally, so he possibly doesn't know of some of its legends and lore."

Tucker's group was looking around the border between the village and the train station.

"That seems pretty obvious considering Calumon did just say Dreammon was created by someone," Terriermon noted.

"But the question is… who created Dreammon and why?" Lopmon frowned.

Jazz looked up at Lopmon, who was resting on her head. "That will have to wait until after we free Aldamon from Dreammon's control."

"No, actually…" Calumon spoke up. "I think maybe if we had an idea who created Dreammon, it might help us wake up the others, as well as putting a stop to this nightmare."

"Well, we know that Dreammon is apparently made of data and ectoplasm…" Tucker said as he put his hand under his chin while he was thinking. "So… does that make him half Digimon and half ghost…? Would that be considered a halfa like Danny is or what?"

"Halfa? What is that?" Sorcermon's voice asked through Tucker and Jazz's D-Arcs.

"A halfa is a human that has ghost powers." Tucker explained. "Uh… we… don't know much else other than that."

"Well… that's the friendly version of what a halfa is anyways…" Andy's voice quietly said. "There are… darker implications to it, but that's pretty much the basic idea."

Jazz was thinking again. "Well, if Dreammon is part data, part ectoplasm… That is quite an odd combination if you ask me. But… maybe we can use that ectoplasmic part against him somehow, or we could… Hmmm…"

"I don't get how a Digimon or a human was able to get their hands on ectoplasm in the first place to even make Dreammon," Calumon muttered. "So either a ghost or some kind of ghost scientist enthusiasm likely made Dreammon."

Jazz's eyes widened a bit. "It could have been a ghost. Who else would know of Digimon besides us humans?"

"If a ghost made Dreammon, then perhaps Sorcermon had the right idea on using Danny's ghost powers as part of the cure," Lopmon remarked.

Jazz looked at Tucker. "Do you think we have a chance of defeating Dreammon with this revelation?"

"It's worth a shot. Though… the Tapirmon could help us too, since none of us, not even Danny, know that much about dreams," Tucker stated.

Jazz nodded. "That's true. So maybe… I think I have an idea. What if we fake finding the Warrior of Ice and have Danny and Tapirmon hiding so that when Aldamon comes to investigate our claims, Tapirmon can use her dream powers and Danny can overshadow him at the same time?"

"There's only one problem with that…" Calumon frowned.

Jazz blinked. "What kind of problem?"

"First off…" Calumon pointed at the sky, where Aldamon was flying over. "He can see us from here. Second, Legendary Warriors can sense each other nearby. So if we don't have the real thing or we don't fake one really well, then that plan will go down the toilet faster than your dead goldfish…"

Jazz frowned. She hadn't taken that into account. "So much for that then…" She muttered as she looked up at the form of Aldamon flying above them.

Back with Andy's group, Sorcermon and Gabumon heard Jazz's plan, and seemed to be contemplating something.

"Is there something on your mind?" Andy asked them.

"And mind sharing it with the rest of us?" Dorumon added.

"Any ideas would help, my boy." Bokomon said, looking at Gabumon.

"It's just… let's say we did find the Warrior of Ice… wouldn't it be too dangerous to use him as bait?" Gabumon asked. "After all, he is the last Legendary Warrior… if Dreammon wants all of them, then we'd be giving him exactly what he wants if we fail to wake Takuya up…"

Sorcermon seemed to still be thinking though. "But… not if we plan things just right."

"You guys did say that the Warrior of Ice was safe… implying you know where he is right now," Andy remembered. "Are you sure you want to use him though?"

Sorcermon looked up. "As much as we don't want to, we don't have many other options. Not many can take on a Legendary Warrior and win, so we need to plan things out instead."

"Well, any plan is better than no plan," Dorumon agreed.

"Exactly," Sorcermon nodded. "If we're going to do this, we may need a way to paralyze or, at the very least, slow Aldamon down so we could give Danny and Tapirmon the opportunity they need to try to purify him of Dreammon's Nightmare Syndrome."

"Dorumon and I have something that might be able to help with that," Andy said, digging into his pocket, relieved to see all his cards were there, including the Devidramon's Red Eyes.

Sorcermon's eye went wide at seeing the cards. "I did not know your D-Arc had the ability to scan a Digimon's code for cards like that! This changes everything!"

"Wait, really?" Bokomon was shocked as well. "This wasn't anywhere in the book. I need to add this information!"

Bokomon took out a notepad and a pen and began to fiercely write something down, making the others sweatdrop.

"Heh… that's my uncle." Gabumon chuckled sheepishly.

Sorcermon looked at Andy. "What cards do you have, Andy?"

"Let's see… I have Frigimon's Icy Breath, Devidramon's Red Eyes, Phantomon's Shadow Scythe, Devimon's Laser Wing, and Etemon's Dark Network," Andy listed as he looked at each of his cards.

Sorcermon nodded before he pointed at the Devidramon card. "This one will be our biggest advantage. I remember Devidramon is a powerful Champion with the ability to paralyze opponents with his Red-Eyes attack."

"I kind of already figured that," Andy chuckled slightly.

"But we'll have to catch him by surprise, otherwise Aldamon would attack me before I even get a chance to look into his eyes," Dorumon warned.

With Danny's group, they heard the planning Sorcermon intended to do.

"Perhaps we can help provide a slight distraction then," Salamon offered.

"What kind of distraction are you proposing, Salamon?" Sorcermon's voice asked from Sam's D-Arc.

"If we are indeed using the Warrior of Ice to bait Aldamon close, then perhaps we can do something more to keep his attention on us and Kumamon while Andy and Dorumon get into position to paralyze him," Salamon suggested. "After all, if we wait too long, then Aldamon will take Kumamon away. If we go too early, he'll slap Dorumon and Andy away and be onto us."

"Yes, that is a good idea." Bokomon's voice agreed over Sam's D-Arc. "But we need to get the timing of the plan just right or it will be for nought."

"Terriermon, Lopmon, and I can help be the distractions," Salamon stated. "We will also be there to try to keep him from taking Kumamon in case he decides to just grab him."

"Are you sure about that, Salamon? You could get hurt." Sam frowned.

"Hey, if you're going to do something risky like that, then you should count me in too," Agumon spoke up.

"And me too," Biyomon added.

"Hey, I'm capable of helping too," Gabumon's voice said. "With more of us, Aldamon would have less of a chance to steal Kumamon away after all."

"Okay… but…" Danny hesitated.

"What's wrong, Danny?" Andy asked.

"How exactly am I supposed to wake Aldamon up from this nightmare? It's not like I can just go into his mind. His Spirits will burn me like they did before," Danny pointed out.

Sam's eyes widened. "What?! Danny, that's too risky!"

Tucker's group frowned at this, especially Tucker, he was the only other one to have experienced the Spirit's brutality hands on. "Sam's got a point… Aldamon's Spirits are a firewall of a defense from a ghost entering their bodies."

"Wait…" Calumon spoke up. "Maybe not this time. If I know Aldamon, he likely talked to his Spirits about not attacking Danny the next time he needed to overshadow him to protect him. While Aldamon may be trapped in the Nightmare Syndrome, I don't think his Spirits are. They may know Danny is there to help him rather than hurt him."

Back with Danny's group, Danny looked at Sam. "Sam, it's a risk we have to take. I know you don't like it, and I don't like it either, but in this case, we have to take that chance. Besides, even if I get hurt again, at least it would be because of my efforts to save Aldamon. I would rather risk my life for that than see him take the Warrior of Ice away to Dreammon."

Sam frowned. "But Danny… what if you…"

"What if you… don't come out of this as a halfa this time?" Andy's voice finished for Sam.

At that, everyone was silent. Jazz, Tucker, Sam, and Andy didn't want to have to watch Danny, someone they had watched literally dying before them before, risk getting himself killed again, this time by his own cousin in Andy's case.

Danny sighed. "Guys, I don't want to think of it like that. I would rather just do it and have faith that Aldamon's Spirits sense I am there for help rather than to hurt."

"I understand how you feel, Sam," Salamon spoke up. "But we must trust in Danny. He is the only one among us who can wake Aldamon up from Dreammon's Nightmare Syndrome."

Sam frowned, but she had to admit, Salamon had a point. "Okay… I don't like it, but if we have to do this, then I will accept it."

"I agree with Salamon, we need to put our faith in Danny and Aldamon," Lopmon's voice stated.

"I'm sure Danny will be able to do it," Terriermon's voice agreed.

"I still don't like it… but you are right… Danny is the only one who can do this…" Tucker sighed.

"You better not go getting yourself killed, little brother, or I will find you in the Ghost Zone and force you to come back!" Jazz threatened with a caring tone.

With Andy's group, Dorumon looked at Andy. "Are you… okay with this, Andy?"

Andy sighed. "Not really… but…" If I want to save our cousin… "Danny, if for a fraction of a second, you feel you're in danger, get the hell out of there, got it?"

"You got it, bro." Danny assured his twin.

"Right then… Calumon… are you okay with this plan?" Sorcermon asked.

With Tucker's group, the others blinked as they looked at Calumon. Tucker and Jazz were wondering why Sorcermon was singling him out.

Calumon looked to be hesitant, but he nodded. "If it will bring Aldamon back… I'm willing to do it."

"Good. That is what I was hoping you would say." Sorcermon's voice said from Jazz's D-Arc. "I wasn't going to ask you if you were not willing to go along with it."

"What does he mean by that?" Tucker asked. "It's not like we're using Calumon as bait or something."

Terriermon and Lopmon looked at each other.

"The reason I asked Calumon is because he knows the location of the Warrior of Ice." Sorcermon's voice explained.

"Meaning he'll have to try to sneak away from Aldamon so he wouldn't see the location of the Warrior of Ice," Terriermon added.

"Before we do all that though, we better let Tapirmon know our plan so she can help out when the time is right," Lopmon suggested.

Tucker nodded. "Good idea."

Tapirmon was floating over Tucker's group as they quickly began waving to her. Seeing that they wanted her, Tapirmon quickly flew over to them.

"Yes? Is there something I can do?" Tapirmon questioned.

"Do you think you can use some of your dream power on Aldamon when we have our ghost boy fly into him?" Lopmon asked.

"What? A-are you sure? I mean… my 'dream power' is the Nightmare Syndrome attack. I can convert it to make it give good dreams instead of bad, but… I… well, I haven't used it since I came back here with Dreammon running around. I don't know if that affected my own Nightmare Syndrome as well." Tapirmon frowned.

"It's a risk we have to take." Jazz said somberly. "Although, since you are not a part of the hivemind, I would assume your Nightmare Syndrome is still unaffected by Dreammon's power. But that is a big assumption on my part."

"I think you'll be fine. The Nightmare Syndrome was connected to Dreammon because the Tapirmon were connected to his mind, but you're not, you're in control of your own Nightmare Syndrome," Calumon assured. "And we're about to have a test run. It's either all or nothing…"

Tapirmon nodded. "Okay… I'll use my Nightmare Syndrome on Aldamon to aid the ghost boy in counteracting Dreammon's Nightmare Syndrome then. I can only hope that it works."

"Okay, we have our plan, now we just need to execute it," Sorcermon stated.

"And if we should fail?" Dorumon asked.

"Let's not think about that," Calumon sighed.

"Calumon is correct. If we think about failure, then the plan will have a higher chance of not succeeding." Sorcermon said. "We just need to act without thinking about failure."

"Okay, since Aldamon likely thinks you're working with Dreammon, perhaps you can keep him distracted while Calumon goes to get the Warrior of Ice," Tucker suggested as he looked at Tapirmon.

"M-me!?" Tapirmon squeaked. "C-c-could I r-really d-do that though? A-Aldamon is pretty scary… w-what if he f-finds out I-I'm not with Dreammon?"

"Don't worry…" Danny's voice chuckled from Tucker's D-Arc. "Aldamon's actually a very friendly guy when you get to know him. He just looks scary as a way of intimidating his foes."

"Said the person who said he wasn't very friendly right now…" Andy's voice cut in.

"Not helping! Besides, he really isn't a bad guy," Danny grumbled.

Tucker chuckled at the banter between the twins. "Okay, enough. We have a plan to put into motion!"

"Right then…" Calumon looked at Tapirmon. "I don't need you to distract him for long, just enough until I can get out of sight, okay?"

Tapirmon nodded, though she was still very nervous. "I-I… I will t-try my b-best."

Jazz gave Tapirmon a reassuring smile. "You'll do just fine."

"Just act all tough and stuff, you'll be fine!" Terriermon encouraged.

"We're counting on you," Lopmon added.

Tapirmon nodded as some determination came into her eyes. "Okay, here I go."

Tapirmon looked up to see Aldamon floating around, then she flew up towards him. "Uh… let's see… Legendary Warrior… no… more demanding…? Okay… Aldamon! I have a message for you from Master Dreammon!"

At her words, Aldamon looked back and flew over to Tapirmon. "What is the news you have from Master?"

While Tapirmon had Aldamon's attention, Calumon quickly began running to the trees and bushes. He was worried flying would catch Aldamon's attention, so he was running as fast as his little feet could carry him. Everyone else was trying to look as busy as possible.

"The other Legendary Warriors had no luck in finding the Legendary Warrior of Ice in the other locations. So it is very likely that he is either here or elsewhere in the Digital World," Tapirmon stated, doing a surprisingly good job at acting like she was a part of the hivemind. I can't believe I'm actually pulling this off! My Digi-Core feels like it's about to jump out of my chest!

Aldamon frowned at this news. "I see. It seems I was right in picking the Flame Terminal to check out then." He smirked evilly. "This is great news indeed."

"He is likely close here, but in hiding," Tapirmon continued. "But considering you have most of his other friends here, it's only a matter of time before he tries to rescue them. It appears you made a good choice in keeping them around, Aldamon."

Aldamon smirked even more. "Yes, it appears I did. It seems they had their use after all. Maybe we can get Master to take them in once we have the Warrior of Ice with us as well."

Tapirmon glanced down at Calumon while Aldamon was speaking, and she was relieved to see Calumon finally disappearing into the trees and bushes. Looks like I bided enough time. "I'm sure Master would be pleased to do so once you get the Warrior of Ice. I will be taking my leave now, the Master will await the good news of the Warrior of Ice's capture."

Aldamon nodded. "Good. See that you do. You are free to go and report to Master now."

Tapirmon nodded. "I will do so."

Tapirmon then floated away from Aldamon, making it look like she was heading to the horizon while Aldamon looked down, grinning to himself. While he was distracted by his thoughts, Tapirmon quickly flew down to Danny's group.

"Great job out there, you did well in acting like you were a part of the hivemind," Biyomon complemented.

"Yup! Didn't even break a sweat!" Tapirmon smiled before she fell over to the ground, sweating.

"Are you okay?" Agumon asked as he walked over to her.

"... I-I thought I was g-gonna b-be found out a-at any s-second there… never b-been so a-afraid in my l-life!" Tapirmon shivered.

"You were very brave with what you did," Salamon acknowledged. "Don't worry, we can take it from here until we need your Nightmare Syndrome."

Tapirmon nodded. "O-okay… I c-could use t-the chance t-to r-recover my n-nerves…"

Danny had to admire what the Tapirmon did. Not only did she approach them despite her worries of them attacking her on sight, but she was able to distract Aldamon while Calumon went to go get the Warrior of Ice.

"You did great out there." Danny said in a reassuring tone.

"Now let's hope that the Warrior of Ice is still here…" Sam remarked quietly.

Meanwhile, Calumon was waiting for a bit, he didn't want to show up as Kumamon right away or it would be too suspicious. He also needed a minute to calm his own nerves. I just hope that Takuya doesn't take me to Dreammon too quickly, otherwise the plan will fall apart and Dreammon will have what he wants. Oh well… nothing to do but to do it.

Fractal code surrounded Calumon as he dispelled his little Digimon form, returning to his human form. Tommy looked down at his D-Tector, seeing his Kumamon Spirit ready to go. The light green digital form of his first Spirit appeared on the screen of his D-Tector and he formed the familiar ring of fractal coding around 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. He lost his hair and his body became white as snow. His fingers became like paws almost and he gained a more cub-like appearance to his body. Green chest armor formed on his body and his feet gained green and red boots. A headband that had the image of a bear on it formed on his head, and he gained a shoulder pad on each side, but one was red while the other was grey in color. He slid down and landed as a mushy pile before he reformed and grinned, calling out his name. "Kumamon!"

As soon as Tommy had become Kumamon, Aldamon immediately sensed him. The other Digimon sensed him as well.

"This is it…" Dorumon whispered.

Andy nodded. "Better get into position then."

Danny, upon seeing the other Digimon sensing something, realized the Warrior of Ice had to have been found. He gulped before he looked to Sam and the rest of his group. "Well, I think that's my cue. I will go get ready to take action."

"Be careful…" Sam said in concern.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Danny smiled, hoping to reassure her.

Aldamon turned in the direction he sensed Kumamon in. "Well, well, well, it's about time you showed up…"

The white little bear walked out of the bushes and trees.

"Kumamon." Aldamon grinned as he finished his statement.

"Aldamon…" Kumamon said. "I heard you were looking for me."

"Yes, I was." Aldamon confirmed as he began to hover down towards the Warrior of Ice. "Master is awaiting your return."

Kumamon frowned a bit. Aldamon sighed, realizing that Tommy was likely going to be difficult.

"Listen, Tommy, I'd rather not have to get rough with you if I don't have to, but I will need to take you to Master with me. If I have to knock you out and have a Tapirmon put a Nightmare Syndrome into you, I will," Aldamon stated.

"Hold on!" Aldamon heard someone shouting.

Aldamon looked back, seeing most of the other Digimon there. Salamon, Lopmon, Terriermon, Agumon, Gabumon, and Biyomon, all the Rookie Digimon minus Bokomon.

The Warrior of Flame frowned at this new development. "So you decided to turn against me anyway…" He sighed. "And I was hoping you would have the common sense to not do so…"

"We're not here to fight, we just want to talk," Salamon spoke up.

"We know we are no match for you, even if all 6 of us combined our strength, but we at least want to know something," Lopmon stated.

Aldamon raised an eyebrow. "What is it you wish to know? Because I have important tasks ahead that need to be completed."

"I want to know this too," Kumamon spoke up. "Why is Dreammon taking all the Legendary Warriors?"

Aldamon contemplated for a moment.

"Please tell us, we would like to know," Terriermon stated.

"We were once friends, weren't we?" Agumon pointed out.

"And our Uncle was someone close to you at the time as well," Gabumon added.

"I know we're not very strong, but we can be useful in our own ways too," Biyomon remarked.

"And if not for them, then out of respect for our past battles then?" Lopmon brought up.

Aldamon looked back up, but it was clear he was still considering their words.

"Since you want me, I think I should have the right to know. After all, he already had all 9 Legendary Warriors, right? So why would he want little old me for? What good would I be to him that the rest of you couldn't be?" Kumamon questioned.

Upon hearing those words, for some reason, a part of Aldamon felt the sting of guilt in his heart. He sighed, finally making up his mind to tell them, but mostly to tell Kumamon.

"Fine, I will tell you. You're more important to Master's plan than you realize, Kumamon," Aldamon stated. "I'm sure you remember Susanoomon, don't you?"

Upon hearing that, Kumamon froze. "Um… Yeah… I do. Why?"

Salamon and Lopmon both paled at this, they were there, they had witnessed firsthand what Susanoomon was capable of.

"The Master wants all 10 Legendary Warriors to unite and become Susannoomon again. He will then use the pieces of himself he put into each of our Nightmare Syndromes in order to fuse with us, truly becoming one with us and Susanoomon," Aldamon informed before he gave a grin. "It would be a big honor to have Master become a part of us, Tommy. Not only that, but Master's creator will have to acknowledge him then!"

Kumamon, as well as the other Digimon who had heard this, all paled at that.

"Takuya, do you even know what you're saying!? You're willing to give up your own sense of self in order to permanently become Susanoomon and have Dreammon take you all completely over! That's a fate worse than death!" Kumamon shouted in horror.

Aldamon frowned at hearing Kumamon's objection. "Why won't you understand what Master wants? All he wants is to be acknowledged by his creator."

"Has the Nightmare Syndrome been embedded into your mind that far, Takuya?" Salamon frowned.

"If he wants to be acknowledged, he can find some other way to do it!" Terriermon snapped.

Lopmon smacked Terriermon upside the head with his ears. "Don't antagonize him!"

Off in the distance, Danny was waiting for the right time to take action. He was in his ghost form, invisible and out of sight.

Andy and Dorumon were close by as well. Danny needed to wait for them to paralyze Aldamon before he made his move. He could see Tapirmon drifting a little closer, getting ready for her own cue as well. She had recovered from her little minor heart- or rather, Digi-Core attack earlier from just talking to Aldamon.

The other Rookie Digimon had another reason to be near Aldamon, it was so he wouldn't pick up on Dorumon.

"If that was all of Dreammon's goals, then why put other Digimon to sleep and torment them in nightmares?" Agumon questioned.

"It was to draw out the Legendary Warriors." Aldamon replied as he grinned that sinister grin. "And it worked wonderfully, I might add~"

"That was quite a dirty trick." Biyomon frowned.

"But it is a good one…" Gabumon admitted. "I was right when I said Dreammon wanted them to think he was a much bigger threat than he actually was…"

"Yes, it would appear so." Lopmon agreed. But why? Isn't Dreammon strong enough? Why would he want acknowledgement from his creator?

Then, Lopmon had an idea to stall for more time. "Speaking of… do you know who Dreammon's creator is?"

Aladmon grinned as he pointed at his head. "Dreammon gave a part of himself inside my mind when he used one of his Tapirmon to use their Nightmare Syndrome on me. I know everything there is to know about Dreammon. I share my knowledge with him just as he does with me and the others."

"So you're kind of like a hivemind too," Kumamon noted.

For some reason, hearing that made Aldamon freeze up momentarily. His body was not moving, much to his surprise. It was like something was telling him to not grab Kumamon, but Master's will was still strong. But this force was stronger by just a bit, enough to freeze him in place for a few seconds.

"Hey, what's happening?" Agumon asked in surprise at seeing this.

"I'm not sure," Biyomon replied.

Kumamon frowned before he heard a voice in his head.

"Tommy! Act now! We can't keep this up forever!" It was Agunimon's Spirit.

Realizing this, Kumamon knew he had to activate the signal for Andy and Dorumon to act. "Do it now! Crystal Breeze!"

Kumamon shot out a mini-blizzard from his mouth at Aldamon, freezing his wings and feet.

Dorumon saw the attack on the Warrior of Flame and looked at Andy. "I think that was the signal, Andy!"

"Right, go for it!" Andy quickly said.

Dorumon rushed out and jumped in, using his little wings to get him up to Aldamon's face, making sure they were looking at each other eye-to-eye. Andy took out the card and the D-Arc.

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. "Devidramon's Red Eyes, activate!"

Dorumon's eyes glowed crimson red, and Aldamon felt his body going numb as he stared into Dorumon's eyes.

"Hurry, Danny! I don't know how long this will hold someone as powerful as Aldamon!" Andy called out.

Danny heard Andy's voice and flew out, turning intangible and flying right into the Fusion-Evolved Legendary Warrior's body. Aldamon gasped as he felt the chill of Danny Phantom entering his body.

Danny braced himself in case Aldamon's Spirits tried to attack him again, but as he went deeper into Aldamon's mind, he was surprised that he didn't feel any burns. He did gasp when he went through a wall of fire though, but he didn't get burned. The wall of fire was warm, but it wasn't burning him.

"Hurry, Danny, Takuya is just up ahead, you need to go into him to get to the Nightmare Syndrome!" Agunimon spoke up to the ghost boy.

Danny was shocked when he heard the Spirit actually talking to him, but he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Okay! Thanks, for not burning me this time."

"Just go, boy!" BurningGreymon's gruff voice snapped.

Danny gulped, but did as the Spirits of Flame asked, flying deeper into Aldamon's mind. Danny soon found Takuya inside a red sphere, similarly to when he, Andy, and Dorumon found Jazz inside Cherubimon's body. Though Takuya was naked. Danny decided now wasn't the time to focus on that, and fly through the orb and into Takuya.

Meanwhile, outside, Aldamon was yelling as the paralysis didn't last very long, and he was quite angry. Flames burst on his body as he melted Kumamon's ice that was on him. Tapirmon squeaked, she was too afraid to get any closer, but Danny needed her Nightmare Syndrome.

Tapirmon gulped before she flew in, deciding now was the time to act. She flew up just behind the Warrior of Flame and unleashed her attack. "N-Nightmare Syndrome!"

Unlike the other Tapirmon's Nightmare Syndrome, her's was a cloud of pink and had a sense of peacefulness to it. In fact, one would hesitate to call it a Nightmare Syndrome. Aldamon didn't notice it, however, his focus was on Kumamon and the other Digimon. The pink cloud went into Aldamon's head, but this didn't stop him. While Tapirmon managed to get her Nightmare Syndrome into Aldamon, Danny still needed to be the one to wake up Takuya, her Nightmare Syndrome could only help Danny not get affected by Dreammon's Nightmare Syndrome.

Andy and Dorumon were beside Kumamon.

"Aldamon, stop this!" Andy called out.

"This isn't you!" Dorumon added.

However, their pleas fell on deaf ears. Aldamon just growled as he made his way towards them, intent on getting his hands on the Warrior of Ice, no matter who stood in his way now.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz ran over to them.

"We have to digivolve our partners now! They may not be able to beat him, but they can slow him down!" Tucker spoke up.

Sam frowned. "Well, you guys digivolve them. Salamon and I will… do our best."

Kumamon glared, trying to get Andy and Dorumon back. "Please, don't hurt them!"

"No, Kumamon, we will protect you! It's you he wants after all!" Andy quickly said as he and Dorumon got in front. "Dorumon, it's time to digivolve!"

"Right!" Dorumon nodded.

"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!"

"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!"

"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 mechanical guns over his hands as they regained their skin. The skin on Terriermon's head and face came back, just as a green head covering appeared around his head as well. Bullet belts appeared around his chest as well. "Gargomon!"

"I hope you feel you've increased your odds," Aldamon stated. "Because I'm not going easy on you traitors."

"We were never with Dreammon to begin with," Andy admitted before he looked at Kumamon. "Get on Dorugamon's back, it's better if we stay mobile with you, so Aldamon can't get to you easily."

Kumamon nodded. "Just be careful."

Dorugamon got down to let Andy and Kumamon climb onto his back. Andy sat in front while Kumamon was behind him.

"Don't think you'll be able to escape this, Tommy, Master will have you!" Aldamon growled.

Dorugamon flew up into the air.

Aldamon was about to jump after them when suddenly…

"Puppy Howling!"

"Blue Blaster!"

"Pepper Breath!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Gargo Pellets!"

"Gauntlet Claw!"

All of these attacks came right up at Aldamon and hit him with an explosion.

"Did we get him?" Tucker asked.

The smoke soon cleared, revealing Aldamon was barely scratched.

Tucker gulped. "Maybe not…"

Jazz frowned. "Well, he is a very powerful Digimon…"

"Everyone, stand your ground!" Turuiemon called out, seeing that the others were starting to get a little more fearful when they realized their attacks barely did anything.

To their credit, the group did indeed stand their ground. "You need to stop this!" Gargomon snapped. "You aren't a Digimon who fights for evil, you fight against evil!"

But in response, Aldamon didn't even take the time to reason with them. Instead, his arm cannons opened to firing mode and began to charge energy. "You will not keep me from getting to the Warrior of Ice! Atomic Inferno!" A slew of fireballs was fired at the group, the intent of attacking now clear.

"Get down!" Salamon shouted as she tackled Sam away from harm.

Turuiemon grabbed Jazz and moved her away too, while Gargomone pushed Tucker since he didn't exactly have hands to grab Tucker with.

As for the others, Biyomon, Gabumon, and Agumon each ran away from the incoming attack, barely missing getting hit. The attack was strong enough to cause the ground to show its fractal code.

"Look at that! One hit from that and we'll be instant fried Digi-Eggs!" Biyomon gulped.

"Maybe you three should get back to where Sorcermon and Bokomon are, this battle is too much for you!" Sam called out to the three Rookies.

Biyomon looked unsure. "But we want to help…"

Gabumon shook his head. "No, she's right. We have to get out of here. We did our part, so now it is up to the rest of them."

Agumon looked down, gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes.

"But we can't just stand by and let them take care of everything! Aldamon helped save this world, now it's our turn to return the favor!" Agumon growled.

Sam blinked before she sighed. "Look, I know you want to help, but how do you think Aldamon would feel if he woke up and found out he took your lives while under the influence of the Nightmare Syndrome?"

Aldamon was flying after Dorugamon, not caring about the other group since they were distracting themselves. He wanted Kumamon, and to get back to his Master.

"He's coming!" Kumamon shouted in alarm.

"I see him!" Andy said. "Dorugamon, time for some evasive maneuvers!"

Dorugamon nodded. "Evasive maneuvers, coming up!" He then dove down in a dive, making Aldamon follow. However, Dorugamon then flew up in a slight climb before weaving through some trees, which actually did slow down the trailing Legendary Warrior as he had to maneuver through the trees. However, after a while of this, Aldamon began to feel like this was intentional and growled. He gritted his teeth before he cupped his hands together and began to gather his fire energy into a fireball. It grew in size before it reached maximum strength. "Solar Wind Destroyer!"

"Oh nooooo! Fly up, quick!" Kumamon warned.

Dorugamon didn't need to be told twice, he flew up above the trees and into the sky just as Aldamon set the entire forest ablaze. The trees began to turn into fractal code due to the damage.

"Shit… there's not going to be a Digital World left if he keeps this up!" Andy hissed.

"Then we had better hope Danny can wake him up!" Dorugamon hissed in agreement.

"GOTCHA!" Out of the burning forest came the fire monster himself.

Dorugamon screamed when Aldamon grabbed his tail and began to burn him. Kumamon turned back, seeing this.

"Crystal Breeze!" In a desperate attempt to cool Dorugamon down and have Aldamon let go, Kumamon shot out his best mini-blizzard as he could from his mouth.

The attack did work in its intent, as Aldamon was forced to let go in order to not get frozen again.

It seems that fire is weak to ice, but the same is likely true vice versa… Andy noted. "Dorugamon, are you okay?"

"A little burnt from behind… but good to keep going," Dorugamon answered.

Kumamon nodded. "Then get going already!"

Dorugumon didn't need to be told twice, as he took off again, trying to leave Aldamon behind in the figurative dust.

Unfortunately, Aldamon was not so easy to lose. Dorugamon was a fast flyer, but Aldamon was still more powerful, and thus, was also faster. Aldamon quickly caught up to them.

Now that he was just above them, the Warrior of Flame was finally able to grab his target. His hand shot out and grabbed Kumamon from Dorugamon's back, who gave a surprised yelp. "Now I got you, Tommy!" Aldamon smirked evilly.

Dorugamon turned at Aldamon and bit down on his armored arm.

"No you don't!" Andy shouted, trying to hit Aldamon's hand with his Fenton Rod.

Biyomon was flying in while holding onto Agumon. They weren't giving up either.

"Spiral Twister!" Biyomon shot out green fire in the form of a spiral.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon shot out a fire ball from his mouth.

Both attacks hit Aldamon right in the face.

Aldamon was forced to let go of Kumamon as he was hit by the attacks due to the pain he felt.

As Kumamon was falling, Dorugamon let go of Aldamon just as Andy jumped back onto his back before he dived to get Kumamon.

Aldamon growled as he planned to finish off the two pests who made him drop Kumamon. However, just as he was about to fire his attack at Biyomon and Agumon, Turuiemon and Gargomon, being the big rabbits that they were, jumped from the highest point of the trees that were spared from Aldamon's flames, and pounced on him.

"Ninja Fist!" Turuiemon shouted as he punched Aldamon's face, or tried to, he ended up hitting his shoulder instead.

"Bunny Pummel!" Gargomon delivered an uppercut with his gun hands.

The two blows sent Aldamon back a few yards in the air. He was beginning to pant now, which was not a good sign for him, but it was a good sign for the others.

"Alright, that's it! I only wanted the Warrior of Ice, but you all leave me no choice!" Aldamon shouted angrily as his body began to burst into flames. "I'm taking you all out!"

As soon as he shouted that, Aldamon began to gather more fiery energy into his strongest attack. The fireball grew larger and larger before it reached maximum size. "You won't interfere again! Solar Wind Destroyer!"

Seeing this, Turueimon and Gargomon tried their best to contain the attack themselves while Biyomon tried to fly away with Agumon. Dorugamon was also trying to fly away, but he was weakened from Aldamon's grab earlier.

"No!" Kumamon shouted.

"Oh… crap…" Andy gulped.

Turuiemon and Gargomon were, unfortunately, unable to completely contain the attack, and were soon consumed by it. Biyomon and Agumon were consumed as well.

Kumamon melted his body and got on top of Andy in an effort to protect him from the incoming attack. Andy tried to ask what Kumamon was doing, but Kumamon had already buried him.

Dorugamon was then consumed by the attack as well, crying out as he faded into the light of the fireball. The fireball enveloped the whole area before it faded, revealing smoke that slowly began to clear.

Aldamon landed, seeing how Turuiemon and Gargomon were back to being Lopmon and Terriermon, both unconscious. He walked past them. Aldamon walked past the unconscious Biyomon and Agumon as well.

Sam, Salamon, and Gabumon were too far away to help, since none of them could fly, so Aldamon didn't need to worry about them.

Soon, the Fusion Digimon came up to his target. He saw that Dorugamon was unconscious, and currently Dorumon again. Kumamon reformed his body, revealing Andy under it. Andy wasn't hurt, but he was pretty shaken up. Kumamon, however, was burnt pretty badly.

Aldamon didn't give any sympathy to the human boy, nor to his target. He growled as his hand reached out and grabbed Kumamon, who gave a yelp of pain. "You made this harder than it needed to be, you know." Aldamon hissed in anger.

"You won't take me…" Kumamon weakly hissed.

Here, Aldamon sneered. "Too bad, because I am. You are the last piece of the puzzle that Master needs, and now you are finally within his grasp."

Aldamon then felt something on his foot. He looked down, seeing Andy had grabbed his foot. "Please don't do it, Takuya… I know somewhere deep inside, you don't want to do this."

Growling, Aldamon merely, but gently, kicked Andy away. But because the kick was gentle, Andy didn't get hurt, just merely knocked away.

"I don't have time to deal with you, you don't even have a Spirit. You're not even a ghost," Aldamon stated to the boy.

Andy frowned, but he knew there was nothing he could do now but hope Danny would be able to come through. Aldamon spread out his wings and flew up into the sky, holding onto the weakened Kumamon.

"Let go of me!" Kumamon struggled. "Crystal Breeze!"

Kumamon shot out his attack at Aldamon, but it was weak now, all it did was make Aldamon a little cooler, and had some snow form on his cheek, which easily melted.

Aldamon didn't even care anymore. He just wanted to get the Warrior of Ice back to his Master. "It matters not if you attack me. Master will finally have what he desires, and it will be up to us to make it happen."

"Takuya…" Kumamon frowned before he gave a determined look. No, it's still not too late. I just have to buy enough time for Danny to wake him up!

Although he was weakened, Kumamon could still melt his body into liquid. Aldamon gasped when he suddenly felt the bear in his arms melt and slip through, falling to the ground below.

"What?! NO!" Aldamon shouted in rage. After all that, he had lost the target, again!

Aldamon quickly flew down into the forest. Kumamon quickly moved his body under a hollow tree before he reverted back to his human form, this way Aldamon wouldn't be able to sense his presence so easily. He was also too weak to keep holding onto his Kumamon form.

"Where are you, Tommy?!" Aldamon demanded, now looking around for the Warrior of Ice. "You can't hide from me and Master forever you know!"

Aldamon wished he could just burn down the forest, but he knew if he did that, he would risk killing Tommy. Not only was that bad for the Master's plan, but he also didn't want to kill Tommy either. Instead, he decided to call for backup. "Tapirmon! I need you!"

Groups of Tapirmon appeared before Aldamon.

"What is it that you want, Aldamon?" One of the Tapirmon asked.

"I need your help to search out the Warrior of Ice in this forest!" Aldamon snapped. "He is hiding somewhere here and I do not wish to risk killing him because the Master needs him for his plan!"

"Very well, we will look for the Warrior of Ice," The Tapirmon said before they spread out.

Tommy saw a few Tapirmon getting close to the tree he was hiding in. Thinking fast, the boy picked up a rock and threw it a little bit away, though it hurt his arm since he was still a bit injured. The Tapirmon heard the rock hit something and quickly flew in that direction. Tommy kept doing this whenever some Tapirmon was getting close to him.

However, now Tommy could hear Aldamon's footsteps, he was close by. Aldamon was not going to be easily fooled by the rock trick. Tommy gulped, feeling his heart beating against his chest. Please don't look under here… please don't look under here...

Suddenly, Aldamon's footsteps stopped. The Fusion-Evolved Warrior went still, focusing in on his Digimon senses before he looked up and back. The Warrior of Flame made his way to the tree, and proceeded to look under it. His eyes glimmered evilly as he sneered. "Well, well… very clever, Tommy, but you failed to escape my superior senses."

"No…" Tommy curled under the tree, but Aldamon reached out and grabbed him.

Tommy cried out in pain. Unlike most of the other Legendary Warriors, he didn't have a lot of armor with his Spirit, so most of the injuries usually passed on to his human self too.

Aldamon frowned at the scream of pain, which made him relax his grip and instead hold Tommy by his shirt. "I didn't want to have to get so rough, but you left me no choice, Tommy."

Tommy gritted his teeth, but didn't say anything.

"Listen, if you don't put up a fight, I'll wait until we get to Master before having the Tapirmon use their Nightmare Syndrome on you," Aldamon said.

Tommy didn't answer, as he instead just kept glaring at the Digimon holding him by his shirt.

Aldamon began to fly up again. "Come on, Tommy, don't give me that look… after all, don't you miss me?"

Tommy remembered all too well what happened to Aldamon… to Takuya when he bravely fought to the bitter end before he was captured. "I do… I miss Takuya… the one who bravely fought against Dreammon, before you took his place."

Aldamon looked at Tommy. "What do you mean? I am still Takuya."

"No you're not! The Takuya I knew wouldn't ever help someone like Dreammon! He wouldn't attack his friends and family like you did!" Tommy snapped. "You… I don't even know who you are."

Aldamon frowned. "You will see the Master's side of things soon enough, Tommy, whether you want to admit it or not."

Please hurry, Danny… Tommy inwardly begged.

---

The pink mist that the good Tapirmon shot into Aldamon earlier was protecting Danny from the dark abyss that was Takuya's mind, or rather the Nightmare Syndrome that took over Takuya's mind.

"Great… what am I supposed to do now?" Danny asked to nobody in particular. "I'm still new to the whole dream thing."

"Find Takuya," Tapirmon's voice said to Danny.

"What the? How am I hearing you?" Danny asked, surprised.

"I put some of my essence into my Nightmare Syndrome to try to help guide you," Tapirmon's voice informed. "To wake someone up, you need to shock them out of the dream. Or in this case, you'll have to pull them out of the darkness."

"What does that mean?" Danny questioned.

"It means you will have to do just that. Imagine like Takuya is drowning and you need to pull him to the surface." Tapirmon replied. "My Nightmare Syndrome is like a bubble, it's allowing you to breathe in here. But it won't last forever, so you better find Takuya quick."

"Right…" Danny looked around, the darkness just seemed to stretch on forever.

"Calm down, you can sense him, I've seen you do it before. Just relax and focus on your senses," Tapirmon instructed.

Danny took in a deep breath before he let it out and nodded. "Okay… Just focus on Takuya…" He closed his eyes and let his senses wander before he felt something, something that was familiar… His eyes opened and Danny knew which direction the feeling was coming from.

Danny flew as quickly as he could, hoping to find Takuya. He had a visor over his eyes, helping him see better in this unnatural darkness. Then the visor pointed to a sign of life in this lonely darkness. That must be him!

Danny quickly flew to the figure, only to see a nasty surprise. Danny gasped, seeing what looked like a giant, sheep-like figure covering up Takuya, who appeared to be sleeping. Takuya's head and chest were the only things sticking out of the sheep's body.

"Oh no…" Danny murmured. "NO! TAKUYA!" He flew towards the sheep-like figure as quickly as he could.

"Don't even bother," A deep voice said. "He can't hear you. He can only hear me~"

Danny's eyes flashed green beneath his visor. "Not for long, he won't, you big ugly sheep thing!"

Danny noticed that this sheep was giving off ghostly energy as well. It was indeed half digital and half ghost.

"And how do you plan on doing that? If you hurt me, you hurt poor little Takuya as well~ We are connected after all," The sheep purred.

Danny growled. "Well then, we'll just have to shear that connection away!"

"You sound so confident for someone who has entered into my domain. This child is mine, and I won't give him up," The sheep stated.

Danny growled again as he looked around. There was no way he could get to his cousin as long as that sheep thing had him in its grasp. "I won't let you keep him! He is not yours, and he never will be!" With that, Danny decided to just wing it and fired off a ghost ray at the sheep, trying to aim for its head. If I just charge in, maybe I can get an idea of its abilities...

The ghost ray hit the sheep's head. Takuya suddenly let out a cry of pain, his forehead having a wound there instead of the sheep.

Danny gasped as he saw that and backed off right away. Ah shit! What can I do now?!

"Didn't I warn you, ghost boy? You hurt me, you hurt Takuya," The sheep laughed.

"Don't be so reckless! Remember where you are; you are in Takuya's mind. Instead of attacking, try something else," Tapirmon's voice spoke up.

"Like what!? I can't attack, I can't talk to Takuya, what the hell am I supposed to do then?" Danny snapped, losing his patience and getting stressed out.

"If you can't get through to him the way you normally would, think Danny. This is a nightmare. If you want to wake him up, go directly to the source. The source in front of you." Tapirmon's voice said.

Danny frowned as he looked at the sheep and Takuya. "You mean… go into the sheep…?"

"Yes."

"But if I do that… even with your protection, I'm very likely to get drowned by the nightmare," Danny pointed out worriedly.

"Not necessarily. I can keep you safe from the data part, it's the ectoplasm part of the nightmare you have to watch out for. That's why Sorcermon said you were the key to the cure. I know it's risky, but you have to at least try," Tapirmon stated.

Danny looked at Takuya, who was groaning a bit in his sleep, being tormented by this nightmare of a sheep.

Sighing, Danny decided to give it a try. "Okay… I'll give it a shot." He steeled himself for what he was about to do. I hope this works… Because if it doesn't, then everything is for nought.

Steeling his courage, Danny flew straight into the sheep's wool. As soon as his body touched it, the wool immediately engulfed him. It was like being wrapped up in a cotton blanket, but despite the physical comfort, it was anything but. Danny definitely felt the sting of the hostile ectoplasm, as well as the digital data. They weren't as unstable as Techatamon was, but they weren't in perfect harmony either. Danny's head and chest was popped out of the wool, and he was right next to Takuya. Danny started to feel incredibly drowsy.

Looking at Takuya, Danny hoped this would work. He felt himself fall into sleep, which was what made him feel afraid. I hope this works…!

When Danny opened his eyes again, he was back in human form, wearing his usual clothes outside of the Digital World. Danny saw he was in some sort of castle, but it was a bit too dark to make out what kind of castle it was, though there was something familiar about it. This must be Takuya's nightmare. Now I just have to find Takuya…

Danny began to walk what appeared to be a dark corridor. I just hope Takuya's nightmare isn't an endless corridor that literally goes on forever...

Danny walked past a few doors, only to hear what sounded like soft knocking on one of the doors next to him. "Huh?" He walked over, unsure of what was going to happen if he opened the door.

Danny didn't even have to open the door, because as soon as he was near it, the door flung open, and a clown with razor sharp teeth and glowing red eyes suddenly screamed in Danny's face. Danny let out a scream of his own and punched the clown in the face right back into the door it came out of.

The clown flew back into the door, which shut with a slam. Danny panted as he backed up away from the door. "Okay… Gotta remember this is Takuya's nightmare, so of course it would involve killer clowns…"

Deciding to move on, Danny left the door behind, making his way down the corridor still. But now he was on edge, looking for more clowns or something that lurked in the dark...

There was a sudden whooshing sound that immediately put Danny on high alert. Danny looked around, wishing he had a flashlight, or at least able to use his ghost eyes to see in the dark. Danny was completely powerless, he couldn't even feel the core that was his ghost half here.

"St… cused… mare… go… uya…" Danny heard Tapirmon's voice, but it was so faded and full of static that he could barely make out her words.

Danny cursed his cousin's nightmare for a moment, but he kept going, keeping his mind on the goal of finding Takuya. He kept himself on high alert for any sign of his cousin.

A few doors opened, showing rooms instead of a jump scare clown. Though Danny would've preferred the jump scares, because the rooms were likely to give him his own nightmares tonight. He saw his mother, Maddie, making out with Vlad on the bed while a clown stood beside them, looking ready to cut into their flesh with the rusty knife it was holding. Another room showed Jack, his dad, but his head was cut off and being hung by a rope. Strangely enough, the head was smiling and talking like nothing was wrong.

Another door showed Jazz laughing, but she was wearing a clown outfit and the face make-up as well, holding a sword and swinging it as she sliced through the walls of the room.

Danny shivered. "Takuya really needs to get help for his clown fear…"

It wasn't just clowns though, the further Danny went into the corridor, the more he could see just how much Takuya's adventure in the Digital World 4 years ago had affected his psyche. He began seeing what looked like Digimon, but they were warped disturbingly so. Lopmon looked like a much more monstrous version of when he and Jazz bio-merged, even Cherubimon didn't look that scary. He had bloody claws on his hands, his teeth were as long as swords. He had saws sticking out of his body. And the inside of his mouth looked like it led into a hellish world. There were also 4 other kids that Danny didn't recognize, but he figured were Takuya's friends in the Digital World, they looked bloodied, beaten, and dying on the floor.

The next door flew open, revealing what looked like ShadowSeraphimon, but he was more sinister looking, and had claws that were the size of daggers. Red blood dripped from the hellish wings, and Danny swore he saw Jazz's body in a coffin against the wall, but he could not be sure. Strangely enough, he hadn't seen himself or Andy in the nightmare yet, but he also didn't want to see Andy here. Even though it was a nightmare, Danny didn't think he could stand to see Andy all bloodied, dying, or just a talking head like his dad was.

Danny kept going before he came to another door, but one that looked more… sinister than the others. Danny gulped before he reached for the door handle. He slowly opened it, only to freeze when he saw his twin brother on a chair, bloodied and lifeless. Before Andy's limp form was Vlad in his ghost form, laughing evilly as Devidramon hovered overhead, flying around to prevent any intrusions.

Danny almost stopped breathing when he saw that. His vision started to go black, the nightmare was starting to take him.

There was a sudden small twinkle of light that appeared in front of Danny. Danny blinked as he looked at the light, seeing it chasing away the darkness that almost claimed him. The light then disappeared shortly after.

"Wait…" Danny frowned. Was that… Andy…? I thought I felt him for a second there… is he… somehow using that link he told me about to try to help me?

Danny stood up and kept walking down the corridor, trying to stay strong in this nightmare. He couldn't afford to have it take him.

Danny finally came up to double doors. They were huge, black, red, and full of spikes. Danny slowly reached out to the handles, and slowly opened the door. As soon as he did, he was quickly overwhelmed by thick black fog. Inside the fog, he could see ShadowSeraphimon standing before a helpless Takuya. ShadowSeraphimon was holding up Andy, who appeared to be dead. There was blood on Andy's forehead that went down his left eye.

"Don't you see yet? I wasn't the one who killed him. It was you, Takuya," ShadowSeraphimon said to Takuya, who was shaking in despair.

"No… I wasn't… I… I didn't mean to…" Takuya was shaking so hard, he looked more like a scared child than a Legendary Warrior. "I… I wasn't… I… I couldn't have…"

Takuya was currently dull in color, he looked more dark purple and white, and was getting duller by the second.

"This was all your fault, you monster!" Danny heard his own voice shouting.

Danny gasped at seeing himself as Danny Phantom, crying, and glaring at Takuya hatefully.

Takuya gasped as he saw that. "No… Danny! I didn't mean to! I… I'm not a monster!" Tears were running down his cheeks as he said that.

The Nightmare Danny shot a ghost ray at Takuya. Takuya suddenly shot out a fireball at Nightmare Danny's ghost ray. The fireball suddenly became much bigger, darker, and more powerful, it consumed Nightmare Danny's form and burned Nightmare Danny's body. Takuya shook his hand, he didn't do that, he knew he didn't do that… yet he did.

"No… I can't be… I can't be a murderer! I can't be! I'm a Legendary Warrior! I am sworn to help others! I can't be their killer! I just can't!" Takuya cried out as he then curled into a ball. "I just can't…"

Danny had seen enough, he ran over to the crying Takuya and put his hand on his cousin's shoulder. Danny gasped as he felt the nightmare trying to spread itself onto him. He hissed, but tried to remain strong.

"Takuya… Takuya, can you hear me?" Danny called out desperately, hoping that his voice was getting through to Takuya and that the nightmare hadn't taken him yet.

Takuya tensed up at hearing Danny's voice. "No… Not again… I can't… Not again…"

"Takuya! Listen to me! You're not a monster, you never hurt anyone! You're having a nightmare!" Danny shouted.

But Takuya didn't appear to be listening to him.

Danny growled as he moved in front of his cousin and knelt down, lifting the older boy's head so they were face to face. "Takuya… You were never a monster. You haven't hurt anyone. This is nothing but a nightmare."

"Just… go away… leave me alone to rot…" Takuya whimpered.

Danny glared. "I hate to do this to you, but…"

Danny slapped Takuya's cheek hard. Takuya gasped, looking shocked, he had never actually been hurt during this torment. Nobody could hurt him, they always ended up dead before they could do anything.

Takuya's hand went to his cheek, feeling the slapped area. "W-wha…?" He was trying to process what had happened. Then, he gained a bit of a pout on his face. "What was that for?"

"What do you think? It was to snap you out of your trance!" Danny said loudly. "You keep calling yourself a monster, but what proof do you have?"

Takuya started to look at the corpses of his loved ones.

"No, those aren't proof, those are just illusions! Illusions to scare you!" Danny spoke up, grabbing Takuya's shirt and forcing the older boy to look at him. "When did you ever actually hurt someone? Yes you came close a few times, but you always stopped yourself before you did any real harm. That already shows you are anything but a monster, Takuya! A monster would kill without regret or conscience. You are someone who truly cares for the people he loves! Get that through your thick skull, cuz, or am I going to have to punch you instead of slapping you to get it through your head?"

Takuya blinked. "That's… true…" He seemed to be getting a bit calmer now. "I could never hurt people willingly… Not even my friends and family…"

"Maybe not physically…" A voice suddenly spoke up, getting Danny and Takuya's attention.

It was Andy, still having that bloody forehead, but he was standing, quite clearly alive. He was giving Danny and Takuya a cold glare that sent chills down both of their spines. "But mentally? You're destroying me. Both of you."

Takuya seemed to shiver at that, but Danny knew it wasn't real, despite feeling the same way Takuya was. "It's not real, Takuya. It's just another illusion."

"Even if I am, Danny, deep down, you know it's the truth," Nightmare Andy stated coldly. "You've seen the signs. How I looked at you, how you scare me, how even a hint of your ghostly energy makes me jump. And you, Takuya, sometimes I wonder if you're a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off. The feral eyes, the endangerment you put Danny through before… I don't know how I could trust either of you two."

Takuya seemed to curl up into himself again, which was worrisome to Danny. He had begun to make progress, but now thanks to this Nightmare Andy, that progress had gone down the drain. Danny shivered himself, feeling like this was truly a terrible idea.

There was that small light again. Danny hadn't noticed, but his arms had been slowly turning dull and purple. The light had likely sensed it and reappeared once more. The light floated near Takuya, bathing him in a warm light. The Nightmare Andy rippled out of existence. And in his place was a more normal looking Andy.

"Hey… what's wrong? You haven't woken up yet? Jeez, Takuya, I knew you could be a late sleeper, but come on. Everyone's waiting for you," Andy chuckled light heartedly. "If you don't wake up soon, I'm going to have Dorumon eat your computer."

Hearing that, Takuya looked up. "Andy…?" He seemed to be calmer again, thanks to the light that was floating near him. "You…" Then, the image's words made him frown. "Hey! I need my computer you know!"

Danny couldn't help but laugh, and laugh. The sudden appearance of Andy acting all casual was such a relief to him in this hellish nightmare that he couldn't help but laugh.

"Obviously you don't if all you're going to do is sleep in all day," Andy remarked. "Come on now, both of you get out of bed, we have things to do."

Andy held out his hand.

Takuya hesitated though. He didn't want to, but something in him was urging him to. Then, a symbol appeared on Takuya's hand. It was the symbol of fire. Danny realized his cousin's Spirits' power must have found a way into the nightmare somehow. Takuya blinked as he looked at the symbol for a moment before he looked back at the outstretched hand. Then, his hand grasped the hand of Andy.

Andy smiled before he looked at Danny. "Come on, bro, you too."

The small light glowed brighter, showing it was a familiar heart symbol that seemed to represent Andy whenever he used his D-Arc to talk to someone.

Danny reached out and grasped the form's hand too, the light growing ever brighter as he did.

Andy then disappeared, and so did the light. Leaving Danny and Takuya together. Both of them had regained their color, Danny just noticed.

"You're free from the nightmare! Now hurry, pull Takuya out!" Tapirmon's voice suddenly spoke up with clarity.

Taking the chance, Danny grabbed Takuya and then ran. "Let's go, cuz! Time to ditch this nightmare!"

"A nightmare? This was a nightmare?" Takuya asked, surprised as he ran with Danny.

"Yeah, and a nasty one too." Danny confirmed. "We have to get out of here before things get bad again."

"How do we get out?" Takuya asaked.

Danny frowned, that was a good question. "If only I had my ghost powers-"

A sudden burst of light appeared on Danny's torso, splitting horizontally, changing him into Danny Phantom.

Seeing that he now had his ghost powers again, Danny couldn't help but grin. He looked at his cousin. "C'mon, cuz! Time to fly Phantom Air!" He quipped as he grabbed Takuya around the waist and then took off like a rocket, his legs fusing into their ghostly tail.

Takuya yelped as Danny flew them through the dark castle, and into the bright sky, finally freeing them both from the nightmare.

Danny and Takuya suddenly woke up in the sheep's wool. The sheep let out a scream. "NOOOOOO! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MINE!"

Danny gave a smirk. "Never underestimate a Fenton, wooly!" As soon as he said that, Danny fired a ghost ray, which blasted both him and Takuya out of the wool.

The sheep let out a screech as it looked at Takuya, as if it was trying to eat him.

Takuya glared at the sheep. "I'm not afraid of you anymore, Dreammon. Not get out of my head and don't come back."

The sheep let out another scream as he faded away out of existence. The darkness in Takuya's head started to change and shift. Like the sun rising that took away the darkness. The area around them started to resemble a fusion between the Digital World, Japan, and Amity Park.

"Hey… looks like it worked." Danny smiled.

Takuya looked back at Danny. "Danny… Thanks for that… For… saving me."

"Yeah… but I get the feeling it wasn't just me who saved you back there," Danny admitted. "I think Andy somehow used our link to help us too."

Takuya looked down before he smiled as he looked back up. "When you get out of here, tell Andy thanks as well."

Danny nodded. "Now you better wake up and help us get the others back too."

"Will do. Oh, and Danny… Air Phantom… really? How cheesy can you get?" Takuya remarked.

"Me? I hear you spout fire puns all the time!" Danny pointed out.

"I do not!" Takuya pouted back.

The two of them then just laughed.

"I better go now. See you on the other side, cuz," Danny said as he started to fly out of Takuya's mind.

Takuya gave a wave goodbye, even though he knew he would see Danny again shortly.

Danny flew out of Takuya's mind, exiting his cousin's body and winding up back in the red orb. Now that he was out, Danny could see Takuya looked more peaceful before he began to stir. Taking that as his cue, Danny continued on his way out, flying through the flaming area that held the Spirits of Flame.

Jeez… I wonder if this is considered an inception… I had to go into Aldamon, to go into Takuya, to go into Takuya's dreams… Danny mused to himself as he finally flew out of Aldamon's body.

"Takuya…? Why'd you stop?" Tommy asked in concern, seeing how Aldamon had stopped flying and was hovering in the air, his eyes hidden by the shadows.

"Ugh… Gah… Wow… That was… weird…" Aldamon muttered as he shook his head. He looked up, revealing his eyes were now clear again and no longer glazed over. Now no longer in the nightmare, the Warrior of Flame had a confused look cross his features. "What happened though? Last I remember was fighting and…" He then gasped. "The other Legendary Warriors! Where are they?!"

"Ow! Don't move so much…" Tommy groaned.

Aldamon gasped when he realized he was holding Tommy under his arm, an injured Tommy.

"Tommy?! Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Aldamon exclaimed as he gently adjusted his grip on Tommy so he was held gently in his arms instead of held under one arm.

Tommy looked up at Aldamon's eyes. "... Takuya…? Are you… are you back?"

"Tommy… what happened? How did you get this injured?" Aldamon asked, worry clearly in his voice.

Tommy's emotions quickly overwhelmed him. He knew Aldamon was worried about him, but the fact that he was, and freaking out, showed he was Takuya again. Danny had succeeded in waking him up. Tommy had lost almost all hope, he thought nobody would wake up from this nightmare. But Takuya did, he was Takuya again, and no longer under Dreammon's control. The happiness, joy, and relief overwhelmed him so much he started tearing up again. Despite his injuries, Tommy planted his face and one of his arms into Aldamon's chest armor. "You're back, Takuya!"

Danny floated near Aldamon, seeing the younger kid's reaction. "We… have a lot to catch you up on, cuz…"

Aldamon looked back at Danny, who was in his Phantom form. He then sighed as he looked down at Tommy's crying form. "I guess you do…" Aldamon admitted, frowning to himself.

---

Titanic X: ZAFT: You will see how the Legendary Warriors get freed. :3

DarkFoxKit: It's gonna be a fun ride.

Luna Lillyth: DarkFoxKit: Since Koichi was there and already hit by the Nightmare Syndrome, Dreammon was able to track them there. It's dangerous to keep someone who had been hit by the Nightmare Syndrome nearby. So your third idea pretty much hit the mark.

ZAFT: Those ideas were very good deductions and guesses though. :3