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?

49. The Hunt and The Crush

ZAFT: Another update today, but I am going to get hammered with more snow in the next two days where I am. XP

DarkFoxKit: Meanwhile I have no snow whatsoever. We so rarely get snow that I get annoyed when we pass through winter with little to no snow. Of course, that's not to say I want to be buried in snow, just… having some snow would be nice.

ZAFT: Well, I live close to Lake Michigan, so that would explain why I get hammered by it. ^^'

Takuya: And I would enjoy the snow if I wasn't the Warrior of Fire… *Hiding in blankets*

Andy: Wouldn't fire melt snow? So aren't you strong against snow?

Takuya: As a Digimon! As a human, I want to huddle in a warm place...

DarkFoxKit: *Giggles* Well, while Takuya's relaxing, let's get on with the next 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 49: The Hunt and the Crush

Andy frowned a little, feeling like something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Dorimon asked.

"I'm not sure… I just feel uneasy," Andy answered.

Dorimon sighed. "I wouldn't worry about it right now. You have more important, and mundane, things to worry about."

"Maybe I should go home and check on everyone, just to make sure they're okay," Andy said.

Andy started to stand up when Valerie suddenly came back, wearing a red top with a white skirt. It looked casual enough, though it didn't seem like the type of clothes one would wear in their own home.

"Hey. Sorry I took a while. Being sweaty can really make cleaning up hard sometimes." Valerie said as she walked over to Andy.

Andy blinked, noticing that Valerie had some noticeable curves, likely from her working out. He quickly looked away, not wanting to start blushing and give Valerie the wrong idea.

Dorimon didn't even say a word, but he was snickering in his mind.

"So, did the flour sack… err… Junior give you any trouble?" Valerie asked as she sat down beside Andy.

"Not too much, mostly just cranky if I don't rock him back and forth for a while," Andy answered. "He seems to like TV though, he doesn't cry nearly as much when one is playing."

Valerie smiled a bit. "You know, for someone who is 'not fatherly like his brother', you are referring to a sack of flour as 'him'."

"... It… will stay quieter around TV," Andy grumbled, his cheeks becoming red.

Valerie chuckled at Andy's response. "I was just messing with you, Andy."

"Of course you were," Andy grumbled. "By the way, isn't your dad home?"

"No, he's at his job right now." Valerie replied sadly. "I wish he was, but you know how it is. Someone has to pay the bills."

Andy sighed at that. "I suppose."

Andy turned on the TV, letting a random show play. The two of them sat down on an old couch that was a little springy.

"... So…" Valerie spoke up.

"Hmm?" Andy looked at her.

"About… what you said before, back at the Axion Labs," Valerie brought up. "Do you… well… did you really believe that? About ghosts not being that different from people?"

Andy sighed. A lot had happened since the Axion Labs. He had been far more sure about ghosts being like people back then than he did now, after his experience with Vlad and his mutated animal ghosts. But he did recall his nightmare vision, at one point, there were ghosts going on about their business like how any civilization would. Danny learning about his… special biology from possibly another ghost was no different from a child learning about something at school or a museum from their teacher or parent.

"I do believe they're people too… just different kinds of people," Andy finally answered.

"How so?" Valerie asked. "Like how I am dark-skinned and you're light-skinned?"

"Why do I suddenly feel like someone somewhere on the internet is having an aneurysm about that?" Andy frowned.

Valerie raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nevermind," Andy sighed. "And… maybe something like that, but a little more extreme? Think about it like this; ghosts have their own culture that's very different from our own. They live in a different world than we do. But they still have their own civilization. They have their own pets, even if some of those pets are… more dangerous than real life animals. They have children they raise and teach. They have good people, bad people, and crazy people. So when you look at it that way, they really aren't that different from us, other than… well, the ghost powers, and possibly species."

Valerie frowned a bit. "And this is coming from the kid of ghost hunters? I never imagined you would be so knowledgeable about ghosts like that. I thought you would be more about shooting them and getting rid of them like your parents. But, I guess that does make sense… in a weird… supernatural… kind of way…"

Andy raised an eyebrow. "You believe me?"

"I wouldn't say I believe you, but you do raise some points that make sense. How can ghosts exist in another world without some sort of hierarchy? How can they form? How do new ghosts come into existence? What do they do in their world? I thought the ghosts were just mindless creatures, but when I think about it, some ghosts have shown signs of being… human, in a way." Valerie admitted.

So… why do you still hunt them? Andy wanted to ask. "So… what is your opinion on ghosts then?"

Valerie frowned here. "I don't like them. I want to get rid of them, at least, from the human world. If they remain in their world, I could care less. But if any ghost comes into this world, then they are fair game to ghost hunters. That is what I think. If ghosts just remain in their world, I have no problem with them."

"You… ever think about just capturing the ghosts and sending them back to their world?" Andy asked. "I mean what if an innocent ghost ended up in our world and didn't know how to get back home?"

Valerie looked down in thought. "You mean, a ghost with no cruel intentions towards humans, just randomly appearing and being scared, not knowing how to terrorize humans?"

"Well sure, just because a ghost doesn't meet a person's expectations on how scary or malicious a ghost 'should' be doesn't mean it's impossible. I've met with a few like that. I'll admit, some of them do tend to take things to the extreme, but they didn't turn out to be such bad ghosts," Andy said, remembering Poindexter and Ember.

Valerie looked a bit disturbed at the implications of hurting a ghost that was innocent and didn't know how to scare humans. "I… I think in that case, just capturing the ghost and releasing it would be best…"

Andy then chuckled. "Wow, Valerie, no need to take it so seriously. I mean it's not like you hunt ghosts or something, right?"

Valerie tensed up, but she chuckled nervously. "Yeah… Right. I so don't have the time to hunt ghosts, not me!"

"So if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you're doing that's been keeping you busy anyways?" Andy questioned.

Valerie sighed. "I guess I owe you an explanation why I didn't show up after school. But promise me you won't laugh at me or tell anyone else."

"Valerie, you know me better than that," Andy sighed. "But if it'll make you feel better, I promise I won't laugh or tell anyone else."

Valerie smiled a bit. "Thanks Andy." She then sighed. "I had to work after school. You know the Nasty Burger Mascot? Well… that's… kind of my job. I had to wear that thing today, and I have to do it to earn some cash so my Dad doesn't spend all of his paycheck on the bills. I am doing it to help him out with that. That and also raise money for college."

"So that mascot I saw earlier being picked on by little kids… that was you?" Andy frowned.

"Yeah, it was." Valerie confirmed. "But I need to earn money, so I have to put up with it. Although, today wasn't that bad because those kids stopped tormenting me for some reason. Whoever threw those metal beads really saved my bacon back there."

Dorimon was secretly grinning at that, while Andy was trying not to look flustered.

"Oh, yeah, I'm glad that… someone threw those metal beads back there," Andy agreed.

Valerie noticed Andy's slight blush. "Wait… that wasn't you, was it?"

"N-no! Why would you think it was me?" Andy squeaked.

Valerie smirked. "You're a bad liar, Andy. I can see you blushing."

"Oh look, it's Junior's snack time! I should go get some snacks!" Andy quickly said.

Inside Andy's backpack, Dorimon was sure he would lose it, he was shaking from so much suppressed laughter.

"Junior doesn't eat, Andy," Valerie chuckled. "You're such a dork."

Andy pouted. "I am not. Now if you want a dork, you should talk to Takuya."

"Why?" Valerie asked, amused by the sudden change in topic.

"Because he's such a hot head that he overreacts to everything," Andy said. "And not to mention he likes making a lot of fire puns."

Valerie laughed at that. "He certainly sounds like a dork!"

Dorimon had to clamp his teeth on his tongue to keep from laughing.

"Oh, and he also loves his burgers. Remember how I told you we used to call him burger boy?" Andy asked.

"Oh my gosh, yes, I remember that!" Valerie laughed. "That was when you asked me to go to the dance with you."

"Yeah, you were a pretty good dancer by the way," Andy complimented.

Valerie blushed a bit. "You weren't too bad yourself, Andy."

Andy blushed again. Oh gosh, maybe I am a dork. "Um… so… do you still want to eat some snacks at least?"

Valerie nodded. "That would be nice. I am a bit hungry after my workout."

"Great… uh… where is the kitchen?" Andy sheepishly asked.

"I'll go get the snacks, you just relax here," Valerie chuckled as Andy sat back down, blushing.

"Y-yeah, sure," Andy blushed.

"What do you like to eat?" Valerie asked.

"Surprise me," Andy answered.

Valerie smiled. "I'll be sure to do that then. Just keep Junior there happy until I get back~"

Andy sighed in relief when Valerie left the room, before seeing Dorimon hopping up to the flour sack, and moved it to look at Andy.

"... What?" Andy asked.

"You like her~" Dorimon teased Andy.

"The same way you liked that stroller?" Andy grumbled.

Dorimon pouted. "No need to bring that up…"

"We really need to control your appetite," Andy sighed.

"That's like asking a Digimon to diet. It's impossible to make one do that. We need to eat as much as we do because our bodies take that energy and convert it into our attacks and abilities, not to mention our evolutions." Dorimon replied.

"Don't remind me…" Andy groaned. "I swear, between you, Takuya, Lopmon, and Danny, you all have blackholes for stomachs."

Dorimon pouted before he grinned. "Hey, don't go changing the subject. You like Valerie, don't you? Like how Danny likes Sam I mean."

"First of all, we call that 'like, like' or 'you have a crush on them?' since 'you like them' could be interpreted other ways," Andy informed. "Second, I don't like her that way. We're not even close."

"Then why are you still staying here with her, alone, without her dad, with snacks on the way?" Dorimon teased.

"Don't make it sound dirty!" Andy groaned. "I'm just helping her with Junior until she can take care of him- it! Then I'll be going back home."

Dorimon's grin didn't wane. "Sure you are. I think this is like a 'date' as you humans call it~"

"It is not! I'm just helping her with an assignment, that is all!" Andy argued.

"Sure it is…" Dorimon grinned as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Do you want another newspaper bop?" Andy grumbled.

Dorimon shut up after that, clamping his mouth shut.

---

Meanwhile… Agunimon was the first to regain consciousness after the gas knocked him out. He opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was a very green and black sky.

Upon seeing the odd sky, Agunimon gasped as he sat up, realizing that the sky was matching the Ghost Zone's area. His Digimon instincts were also going crazy, making him so alert, he was sure he was going to be paranoid; he was sensing ghost energy everywhere.

"W-what am I doing in the Ghost Zone?" Agunimon wondered to himself.

As Agunimon moved to get on his feet, he felt something tugging against his wrist. Looking down, he saw a white glowing handcuff on his wrist, and the other handcuff was attached to his older cousin, Jazz, who appeared to still be asleep.

Agunimon paled as he realized this was not good. Oh no… He knelt down and shook Jazz's shoulder, but not too hard. "Hey! Wake up!"

Jazz groaned a little as she began to wake up. "Give me 5 more minutes Lopmon…"

Where is Lopmon? "Jazz! Wake up!" Agunimon pleaded. "Jazz!"

"What…?" Jazz groaned, blinking her eyes open more before seeing Agunimon. "WAAAAH!?"

Agunimon winced at the scream hitting his sensitive hearing. "Can you not yell?!"

"Oh gosh… okay…" Jazz was trying to calm her beating heart. "Please don't get up in my face when you're waking me up."

Agunimon sighed. "Sorry… I was just… surprised to see you here."

"You're surprised to see me?" Jazz asked before she looked around, seeing they were definitely not at Fenton Works anymore. "... Where… are we?"

Agunimon looked up at the sky. "We're in the Ghost Zone." His very body was tense, and he was on edge as well.

"This is the Ghost Zone?" Jazz blinked, surprised. "It's… wow… it's greener than I thought. Wait… where's Lopmon?"

Agunimon frowned as he looked around the area. "I don't know. When I woke up, it was just me and you here."

Jazz frowned as she looked around. "Where's Danny? He's not here either?"

Agunimon shook his head. "Like I said, it was just me and you."

"But… why…? Who brought us here?" Jazz questioned.

"Greetings!" A voice spoke up. "I've been watching you, the Digital Being called Agunimon, and I thought you would make an interesting prey for me to hunt."

Upon hearing that, Agunimon's breathing began to pick up and he began to look panicked almost. He also knew that voice, the ghost. "S-Skulker?!" Agunimon snapped, trying to hide the terror that was creeping into his voice.

"Although I had originally intended for you to get cuffed with the ghost child…" Skulker frowned. "But this would still be interesting."

"W-what's going on? Who are you? What is this place?" Jazz questioned, looking quite freaked out, not that Agunimon could blame her. She was without Lopmon, and she had never been to the Ghost Zone before.

"I am Skulker, the greatest hunter in all the Ghost Zone, and you, my dear prey, are on my island, my lair." Skulker said as he grinned at the two of them. "I figured a bit of a sport would be in order, so I picked your companion, human, to be my prey for this hunt. And you will help make this interesting. Oh, and don't even think of trying to reach your higher forms, Digital Being. That cuff, if you try, will not only shock you, but the human as well."

"Wait… ghost boy… what did you do to Danny, you big robotic creep!?" Jazz demanded, most of her fear replaced with anger and concern for her little brother.

"Oh, he is my main target, but for now, I decided you two would be the better prey to have some fun with." Skulker replied as he looked at Jazz. "But if you must know where he is right now…"

Skulker grinned as he pushed a button on his wrist. Suddenly, a large cage came up from the ground. Danny Phantom was floating inside it, appearing to be unconscious.

"Danny!" Jazz yelled. "Danny! Wake up!"

"He won't wake up, that cage will keep him asleep as long as I will it," Skulker stated. "You're in my lair now, you're at my mercy. You two are the appetizers, the real hunt will begin when I release the ghost boy from this cage."

Agunimon looked quite pale now, and his whole body was shaking. "We… need to run…" He said at last.

"But Danny!" Jazz frowned. "I can't leave without my little brother!"

Agunimon pulled Jazz with him, knowing she wouldn't run unless he pulled her with him.

"Hey! Slow down!" Jazz yelped as she tried to keep up. Upon hearing that, Agunimon slowed down, even though he knew he shouldn't. Jazz wasn't able to run at the speeds he could.

Agunimon didn't even look back. He just wanted to find a place to hide, to get away from Skulker and his hunting.

Agunimon ran through the large bushes that were on this island. He was grateful there seemed to be a lot of places to hide here. He kept going until he found a large tree with a hole in it. He hurried into the hole, which was big enough to fit himself and Jazz into it. Once he was inside, he curled in on himself, trying to reassure himself that everything would be okay.

"What's wrong with you!?" Jazz snapped suddenly, snapping Agunimon out of his terrified trance.

Agunimon finally glared at her and gritted his teeth, revealing his sharp fangs to her. "What's wrong?! I'm trapped in the Ghost Zone with a human, being hunted by a ghost!"

"Yeah? So?" Jazz asked.

"So? That's a really bad thing!" Agunimon snapped.

"You've fought with ghosts before, heck, you fought with Skulker before, didn't you? Why are you suddenly so scared of him? You're a Legendary Warrior, aren't you?" Jazz pointed out.

Agunimon didn't answer, just looking down and going quiet suddenly. "He's a hunter… And…" He shivered again, remembering what his uncle and aunt did for a living.

Jazz frowned before she sighed. "Look, I don't have Lopmon with me right now. Nor do I have any Fenton weapons with me either. I'm pretty much useless. But even so, I'm not going to run. My little brother is in Skulker's clutches, and I won't leave until I get him out. You can stay here and cower all you want, but I'm not leaving Danny."

Agunimon looked back up. "Did you even look at your wrist?" As if to prove his point, he lifted up his own wrist, showing the handcuff.

"Then all the more reason to fight back!" Jazz stated loudly. "You're the only one who can fight back right now! Are you really going to leave Danny to that hunter?"

Hearing that made Agunimon freeze up. "Leave him… to…" His breathing began to pick up again and he began to shake even more now, looking quite terrified for some reason.

Jazz frowned, noticing that Agunimon was shaking. She took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm herself down. "... Agunimon, calm down."

Agunimon kept shivering. Then he was snapped out of his thoughts when a small stick hit his armor. He blinked and looked at Jazz.

"Listen to me, Skulker is a ghost, Agunimon. He isn't Jack, he isn't Vlad, he isn't human, he's a ghost who's trying to hurt us," Jazz said slowly.

"I know what he is!" Agunimon snapped back, feeling his temper flare.

"Then why are you hiding? Why are you even here in the first place?" Jazz questioned.

"Why do you think you're here Takuya?" Agunimon remembered Koji asking him. "Answer me! I want to know why you're here!"

Agunimon then sighed. He was still shaking, but it was not as bad as before. "I didn't want you to get hurt… You or Danny…" He admitted quietly.

"Then how is hiding going to help?" Jazz asked quietly.

Agunimon reached up and ran a hand through his wild blonde hair, a gesture that Takuya tended to do when he was distressed or trying to answer a tough question. "It's… complicated."

"I know you're afraid, Agunimon. But you can't let fear rule you. You were able to save the Digital World before because you faced through many dangerous things, and I'm sure it took a lot of courage to do that," Jazz stated. "So why don't you bring back that courage now? Remember what you've done, what you're capable of doing. Remember who you're fighting for."

Agunimon gritted his teeth. He wanted to snap at her, but he knew she was also trying to help. "I…" He knew Jazz had logical points, but it wasn't that simple. An old mental wound had been reopened, and it would not close so easily.

"Are you afraid of the dark? You should be," Agunimon remembered Mercurymon saying. "Let your fear overtake you, until you can't think straight anymore."

Agunimon gritted his teeth again. He knew he shouldn't be afraid, and yet… That one mental wound was reopened. "I can't…"

"Agunimon! Please, you're the only one who can save Danny! Why are you so scared? What are you so afraid of?! I know my Dad shook you up, but surely you faced things far worse than a person with a stupid little scalpel that probably can't even cut through your armor!" Jazz shouted, starting to lose her patience.

Agunimon tried to ignore it, but he was also losing his own patience. "It's none of your business…"

"So you're willing to just abandon Danny because you're too afraid of one ghost?" Jazz frowned.

Finally, Agunimon had had enough. He turned to face Jazz, his blue eyes blazing with years of repressed fear and anger finally showing through. "YOU try being the one strapped to a lab table TWICE!"

After that, both Agunimon and Jazz were quiet. Agunimon just pretty much gave away who he was to Jazz.

"... Twice?" Jazz frowned as her eyes sparkled in recognition. "Dad never strapped you on the table twice… but… he did with someone before."

Agunimon was quiet as he looked away before he finally sighed. "Well, that certainly didn't need to come out like that…"

Jazz frowned more. So… it's true then? All those signs... I wasn't just imagining it, was I? "... Takuya?"

Agunimon sighed, all feelings of tension leaving his body. "Yeah…" He then looked back up at her. "That's me."

Although Jazz had suspected it for a little while now, it was still hard for her to wrap her mind around it now that he had confirmed it was him. Looking into Agunimon's blue eyes, despite the color being different, she could definitely see Takuya in there. This, for some reason, caused a sudden and heavy weight to be put on Jazz's chest. Of course… why not? First one of my little brothers, and now my little cousin… no wonder he's so messed up…

Agunimon noticed tears falling from Jazz's eyes suddenly, and she fell to her knees and started sobbing.

"H-hey… Jazz? Jazz, are you okay?" Agunimon asked, worry in his voice.

"You shouldn't have to deal with this! You're only a child!" Jazz cried. "Danny is only a child… you're only a child… you shouldn't… have to deal with this…"

Agunimon felt guilt coming into his chest. "Jazz… No, it's not…" He then sighed. "I probably should have told you sooner…"

"This isn't something you should've had to go through… it just isn't fair…" Jazz sobbed.

It was then Agunimon realized that Danny's accident had likely affected the siblings on a much deeper level then they had let on. Jazz, while she did accept Danny, was actually scared and worried for her brother being half ghost. And now here he was, revealing he was a Digimon himself. Andy likely was going through the same thing, but was hiding it.

Agunimon sighed. "Nothing in life is ever fair." He then sat down beside Jazz. "I… I know it's hard to accept, but… I can't just… put this on someone else, you know? The Spirits chose me for a reason, and now I am bonded to them. I can't just pass them onto anyone now."

"We could've lost you…" Jazz hiccuped. "4 years ago… we could've lost you… just like we almost lost Danny…"

Jazz then buried her face into Agunimon's armored chest. "We could've lost you and not realized it for a long time!"

Agunimon sighed as he reached up and wrapped an arm around Jazz, rubbing her back gently. "I know… I should have told you sooner, what happened 4 years ago. But… I wasn't sure how to tell you, or if you would accept it."

Agunimon didn't know how long they stayed there, but he kept comforting his cousin, knowing that she needed it. If Jazz was taking it this hard, he wondered how hard Andy was taking it but kept it all buried. He had noticed Andy had been spacing out more than usual lately.

"Jazz… I'm sorry…" Agunimon finally murmured softly. "But… when Uncle Jack had me on that table… I… that old scar reopened. And… It's not something I can get rid of so easily…"

"You're… you're such an idiot sometimes, you know that?" Jazz said, rubbing her eyes.

Agunimon gave a bit of a smile. "Am I? How so?"

"If you had told me you were Agunimon before, I would've told you not to turn into a Digimon while we were fighting ghosts, and this whole mess could've been avoided," Jazz said. "Why didn't you tell me? I had Lopmon, I've been to the Digital World. I was just as involved with Digimon as you were by that point. So why keep it hidden?"

Agunimon sighed here. "I didn't want you to worry about me. If you knew, I was sure you would try to stop me from getting involved."

"You're too late there," Jazz sighed. "I was always worried about you the most whenever a ghost or a Digimon attacked because you were the only one who didn't have a Digimon or ghost powers to defend yourself with. And then I heard you went to the Digital World, alone to face some big threat. Didn't you think that maybe if I had known you had the Spirit of a Legendary Warrior, I wouldn't have to worry myself sick about you?"

Agunimon gave a sheepish chuckle here. "You know thinking isn't really my strong suit."

Jazz wiped her eyes with her sleeves. "No, I guess it's not, you hot head."

Jazz then let out a sigh before she gave Agunimon a small smile. "Another reason why you should've told me you were Takuya earlier… I didn't get the chance to tell you… Dad… wanted to apologize to you for putting you on the lab table like that. He felt pretty awful about what happened. And I get the feeling if you had talked to him, as Agunimon if you prefer, then maybe you would've gotten some closure on that fear."

Agunimon sighed. "Yeah, I guess I should do that. It might help me, and him."

"But… do you think you can face Skulker for now?" Jazz asked. "You don't have to fight him, just… work with me to get Danny out of that cage."

Agunimon frowned here. "Jazz, we have no idea where Danny could be held on this island. Skulker could be keeping him inside some place here for all we know."

"Maybe, but…" Jazz gave a small grin. "That's never stopped us before."

Agunimon felt a smile tug at his own lips. "Heh… That's true."

Suddenly, Jazz noticed a red dot on Agunimon's forehead. She narrowed her eyes before she realized what that red dot meant. "Get down!"

Agunimon didn't really understand why, but he did as she instructed, ducking down as a surge of adrenaline flooded his body. He hit the ground with a grunt, just as something narrowly missed his head. "Oof…"

It was a small missile as it exploded when it went past his head. The tree they were hiding in fell over, exposing them completely. Skulker was grinning. "There you two are~ Don't think you can hide from me forever, especially in my own lair."

Agunimon got to his feet and glared at Skulker, that feral look back in his eyes. He had his fangs bared as he stood in front of Jazz protectively. "Damn it… Any ideas, Jazz?"

"Just one… run!" Jazz shouted.

Agunimon blinked before he felt Jazz tugging against his arm. He quickly began running with her. Skulker was firing ghost rays at them. One of the ghost rays grazed against Agunimon's cheek.

Agunimon hissed at the pain, but he kept running. He couldn't stop, and nor could Jazz, or they both would get hurt if not worse! Then, an idea hit him. Agunimon raced over to Jazz, and scooped her up in his arms in a bridal carry. "Hang on!"

Jazz grabbed onto Agunimon's neck with her arms to hang on before Agunimon began jumping on the tree branches, trying to get away from Skulker so they could take some time to plan. Skulker was using missiles to fire at them. Each tree or plant-life that was destroyed was instantly grown back as if nothing happened. It creeped Agunimon out.

"We have to find a place to hide, but with that ghost after us, where can we go?" Agunimon wondered out loud. "How can we lose him?!"

"If only I had Lopmon with me…" Jazz frowned.

Agunimon wondered what Andy would do in this situation. He remembered Andy telling him how he had to go toe to toe with a bunch of mutated ghost animals as a human, with no Digimon partner, no powers, and no weapons. Andy had to use whatever was around him to defend himself with.

"..." Agunimon looked down, trying to think of a plan. Okay, so Jazz has no weapons nor Lopmon, and I can't slide evolve to my Beast Spirit. But we're not entirely defenseless. He then looked up. "We aren't completely defenseless."

"What do you mean?" Jazz asked.

Agunimon landed near another tree before he gave Jazz a tree branch. "Here, you can use this to defend yourself."

"... A tree branch?" Jazz deadpanned. "What's this going to do against a robot ghost?"

Agunimon looked back at Jazz. "Andy had to fight against mutated ghost animals in a similar situation; no powers, no weapons, and no Digimon partner." He replied. Then, he gave her a bit of a confident grin. "And don't forget, I am a Digimon. I can fight on an even footing with a ghost."

Jazz then became determined. "Right… if my little brother can do it, then so can I."

Agunimon nodded, feeling a bit more confident about things now. "Alright."

"Oh? Decided to fight back now?" Skulker grinned as he approached them, his weapons all pointed at them. "Good, I was waiting to have an actual fight with my prey~"

Agunimon gritted his teeth. "Jazz… get ready. This could get ugly fast." A fireball formed on Agunimon's right hand, which was free of the handcuff.

Jazz nodded. "I'll back you up the best I can."

Skulker was grinning at Agunimon, ready to fire his weapons, however, a small rock clanged against his forehead. Skulker blinked, distracted by that rock. Jazz grinned, holding another rock in her hand. This gave Agunimon the chance to attack.

Agunimon took the chance and punched with his free hand, sending the fireball at Skulker. If only this handcuff could be taken off, then I could go all out, but for now, I will have to just fight the best I can with it on.

Despite the beating, Skulker grinned. Now this is what I'm talking about!

---

Lopmon frowned, he didn't like being in the Ghost Zone in a ghost's territory on his own. But he also had Seraphimon's egg to take care of. "This can't be a good place for a Digi-Egg…"

Lopmon had to move, but it was rather difficult having to carry the egg as well. He didn't have a baby carrier with him after all. "Seraphimon… I'd rather you'd hatch sooner rather than later. I can't guarantee your safety here. Jazz is probably in trouble…"

Lopmon looked at the egg. "What's wrong…? Are you worried about something?"

Lopmon knew Digi-Eggs usually took time to hatch, but something was different with Seraphimon's egg. It felt cold and shaky, like the Digimon inside was too afraid to come out.

Lopmon sighed as he looked up. "Well… let's just hope Skulker doesn't decide to come after us."

---

"This is the start of a beautiful relationship~" Vlad had smiled at me.

At the time, I had trusted him. I was excited to have a real partnership with a human, a human who was also half ghost. I had become a little obsessed with wanting to create the perfect being, and a powerful warrior who could change and unite all the worlds together. I had believed it was the right choice at the time.

But…

"What do you want?" Vlad asked as he was doing something on his laptop.

"It's been hours, Vlad. I thought we could spend some time training together," I suggested.

Vlad just shrugged. "I have work to do. But, maybe when I'm done we can."

"Okay… but what about lunch? I'm getting pretty hungry," I said.

Vlad sighed. "Very well, we can get something to eat. I am getting a bit hungry myself."

At first, it was fine. Vlad and I just agreed to keep things professional between us. But as weeks passed, things started to… change. Vlad became busier, he stopped taking me to places with him. He told me to let the ghost staff make my food. I didn't trust the ghosts to not mess with my food though, so I would sneak some uncooked ingredients instead.

I explored the mansion on my own, jumping whenever I saw ghost maids flying around. I couldn't help but wonder why Vlad didn't just hire normal humans to take care of his mansion. The mansion was big, but lonely.

I decided to try to under my human partner a little more. I pried into Vlad's room, and looked at his things. I found pictures of a human woman by the name of Maddie Fenton. Though 'Fenton' was often crossed out and replaced with 'Masters'. There were pictures of a big, fat man wearing orange named 'Jack Fenton', though Vlad seem to cross out his face a lot.

"You should've kept out of my stuff, Tsukaimon!" Vlad had yelled at me when he found out I had pried into his stuff.

"I apologize. But I wanted to know more about you, and you were hardly around these days," I stated calmly.

Vlad sighed. "Well, I guess it's only natural I suppose, considering we are partners and all." He muttered.

"Could you tell me about this Maddie and Jack Fenton then?" I asked.

It was then Vlad told me the story about how he got ghost powers in the first place, how Jack had essentially killed him with his stunt, then married the love of his life. Vlad had spent years, rotting in a hospital, the doctors not knowing what to do about his ecto acne, though they called it radiation poisoning. His ghost powers started to come in slowly, and he struggled to figure out how to use them. When they eventually deemed him healthy enough to leave the hospital, Vlad realized he had lost several years of his life in that hospital.

I felt pity for Vlad. And this did strengthen our bond for a time.

Then… that was when the reunion happened. It was unexpected to meet with Takuya again, one of the Legendary Warriors. But it was also unexpected to meet with another half ghost, a boy by the age of 14. He caught my interest rather quickly.

And Vlad… He had also been intrigued by the ghost boy, who was so similar to him. It seemed Vlad was more interested in the boy than I was though, mostly because he too was a half ghost. I couldn't blame Vlad for being interested in the boy. But it had become his obsession.

After the Fentons and Takuya left, Vlad dedicated most of his free time trying to make a plan to get not only Maddie, but Danny too by his side. He began making spy bugs to go to Amity Park to see what Danny's doing. He even sent a suit meant for battling ghosts to a 14 year old girl named Valerie when he saw the perfect opportunity to use the suit's hidden cameras to watch Danny's fighting capabilities.

I had to admit, I too had become enamored with Danny as I watched him, but perhaps for different reasons than Vlad. Vlad only saw someone who could be his heir one day. I saw a pure hearted boy fighting for what he was protecting, his loved ones and his hometown. I couldn't help but admire that,even if I told myself that was childish and I had outgrown those ideals.

I didn't realize this would be the start of our downfall.

As the days passed, Vlad started becoming more and more obsessed. He bought out the Axion Labs after making a deal with the boss. I scared away the Legendary Warriors to keep them from interfering. I told my subordinates to get me Cherubimon. I was harsh on Gargomon, since I thought he of all Digimon could get close to Cherubimon and bring him back, but he kept failing me. Vlad's attitude was rubbing off on me. I had become cold and callous. Eventually, Gargomon defected from me and became one of the ghost boy's friends' partner.

It was from that point on I realized the severity of my cruelty. I stopped the hunt for Cherubimon, especially since he was now the ghost boy's sister's partner. I began to try looking for other ways, other beast type Digimon that might have ended up in this world. I told myself the goal is all that matters to me. I shouldn't care about being pampered or babied. It was rather silly when I thought about it.

Vlad began to treat me more like an object than a partner now. He would call for me if he needed me for something, but otherwise he usually just ignored me. He didn't care if I was even being well fed, or if I was feeling sick, or upset about something. Our link was breaking. The D-Arc Vlad held was starting to show cracks. I found myself wishing, dreaming, to be with someone who actually cared about me. Perhaps I had been too hasty when I left the Digital World to pursue this ambition. Sometimes I wonder why I even wanted it in the first place.

Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like had I met with this young halfa Danny rather than Vlad. He was childish, too pure for his own good, but there was also something to admire about his innocence. He was a child. Ophanimon had always regretted getting children involved with our war with Cherubimon and Lucemon, but she was right about one thing; children always have the greatest potential. It was important for them to retain their childlike wonder even in times of war. But I wasn't meant to be Danny's partner. I was too corrupted, just like this lonely halfa man. Maybe Vlad and I were perfect for each other after all. Just a couple of lonely people with too great an ambition that could never be fulfilled. Why would someone like Danny care about something like me? I deserve to just disappear… I hurt children, I hurt those who were helping me, I hurt my friends… I'm no better than Vlad.

I never want to hatch again. They should have just sent my Digi-Egg back to the Digital World. At least there I would have been reborn without my memories and would have had a fresh start again…

There was an image in front of me. What was I looking at? It's green… it's dark… where is this? It was not the Digital World… it was not the living world… Heh… perhaps Danny decided to toss my egg into the Ghost Zone. I deserve it after all…

"Help…"

Huh? Was that Danny's voice?

"Someone… help… wake… me… get me… out…"

I could see an image of a box… no, a box with bars… a cage… and someone in it.

It was that half ghost boy, Danny. But… I couldn't help him, even if I wanted to. I was an egg… I would only hurt him… or he'd see me as an enemy.

Then an image… or perhaps… a memory… came to my head. I remember sitting in Danny's lap, being gently rubbed and cared for. That didn't seem right… why would he do that?

But the memory was still there. It showed that someone did care for me. It brought back a fuzzy feeling I had only felt back in the past, when I had been raised by Bokomon. But I don't understand… why? Why does he care? I hurt him, and his family…

I remembered something he said to me in the egg.

"One day, I hope I can see you in your true form, Seraphimon…" Danny had said to me. "And one day… maybe be partners. You sounded like a Digimon that was formidable, and caring." He smiled a bit at that. "I would like to see that one day, and I will help you get there, if you'll let me…"

He… he does care…

The memory was gone, and replaced with Danny back in the cage, begging for help. I decided it was time for me to stop moping, and help the ghost child for once. Let me out of this egg!

---

Lopmon gasped when the egg suddenly started to move around, and cracks started to show. "S-Seraphimon?"

The egg was moving a little wildly, as if the Digimon inside was desperate to get out. The cracks grew and spread more and more around the shell, until finally, it shattered. An image of a Poyomon glowed in front of Lopmon before it turned into a Patamon.

The Patamon opened his eyes, revealing them to be a green color, the same color as Danny's ghost eyes almost. "Huh?"

"You… you hatched! … In the Ghost Zone… that's unheard of," Lopmon said in surprise.

Patamon shook his head a little, trying to get rid of the dizziness. "Lopmon… we… we need to go save Danny. He's in trouble… I can feel it."

Lopmon blinked. "Patamon… You…" He then shook his head. "Of course, you're a Celestial Digimon, so you can sense if someone is in trouble." Lopmon then looked at Patamon. "Are you sure you want to do that now? You just hatched from your Digi-Egg."

"Yes… we can't wait. I… I think your partner's in danger too… she needs him," Patamon answered before he flew up with his wings before he fell back down, his newly hatched body wasn't quite used to flying yet.

Lopmon frowned. "If you're sure. But I would advise against flying right now. We need to move fast, and we can only do that on the ground."

"Fine…" Patamon sighed, getting down on all fours. "Hurry, follow me."

"Why?" Lopmon asked as Patamon began to move quickly.

"I know where Danny is," Patamon answered.

Lopmon blinked, before running after Patamon. "Do you know where he is for sure? This is a huge island."

"Yes… I can't really explain it, but… I can just tell where he is," Patamon replied. "The same thing happened when I was helping the Legendary Warriors find Koji that time, when he was fighting with Duskmon."

Lopmon looked contemplative. "Then we should be able to use that ability of yours to our advantage." He then nodded. "Just lead the way then. I will be right behind you."

Patamon nodded as he hurried forward with Lopmon right behind him.

---

Agunimon didn't know how, but he and Jazz managed to elude Skulker again. Using his Pyro Darts, Agunimon was able to burn down a tree that landed in front of Skulker, allowing Agunimon to pick up Jazz and get away before the tree fixed itself.

They were now hiding in a cave that happened to be in the shape of a giant skull.

Agunimon sighed as he slumped back against the cool cave wall. "I can't believe we lost him for now." He sighed, glad to have gotten away for the time being.

"You look tired." Jazz frowned. "Are you going to be okay?"

Agunimon nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine. It's not the first time I've had to fight that hard, so I just need a few minutes to recover."

"Wouldn't you recover faster if you were… you know, human?" Jazz asked.

"That's just it…" Agunimon sighed. "I can't. We're in the Ghost Zone. If I reverted to human form here, I would be vulnerable to ghosts overshadowing me. It's… a defensive thing that the Spirits have enacted, you could say, to keep me safe."

"Oh, I feel so much better knowing I'm vulnerable to overshadowing," Jazz shivered.

Agunimon looked down as guilt crept onto his face. "Sorry, Jazz… I…"

Jazz shook her head. "It's fine. I'm just a bit stressed right now. I almost got possessed by a ghost once… not a very fun experience…"

Agunimon nodded. "Tell me about it." He remarked, remembering the time Tucker had tried to do the same thing. "Let's just say Tucker had a run in with a ghost that could grant wishes and he gained ghost powers because of it. When he tried to overshadow Andy once, I took it for him, and well… it was only because of my Spirits that he was pushed out. Still, the experience was not fun."

"Yeah…" Jazz sighed, remembering Tucker telling her that story when Desiree turned him into a ghost. "I can't imagine being a ghost is any funner… well, after a while I mean. Tucker sounded like he had fun with it though."

Agunimon snorted. "Yeah, until he started mutating into a real ghost."

"You… you don't think that… would happen to Danny too, do you?" Jazz asked worriedly.

Agunimon sighed as he ran a hand through his wild hair again. "I can't say for sure… But… I don't think so. Tucker's case was… different. His wish to have ghost powers was messed with by the ghost, so it began to corrupt him. I don't know if that would apply to Danny since he got his powers in an accident."

Jazz winced a little at being reminded of the accident. Sometimes she wondered if Danny had technically died that day, because he was a ghost. Even if he was half ghost, that still meant he half died.

Agunimon noticed her wince. "Jazz? Is something wrong?"

Jazz shook her head. "Sorry, it's just… that accident is still a sore spot for me. I don't think I… ever really got over the fact that I lost… could've lost one of my little brothers that day."

Agunimon looked down. "Before I was told Danny's secret… I thought he was dead. Or at least, had a ghost living inside him. It… finally reached a breaking point when I lost control of my Beast Spirit form. And… I attacked him in a rage. I saw Johnny 13's shadow eat Danny, and then, I saw only red and lost control. The beast literally took over, and I almost…" Agunimon trailed off as he closed his eyes tightly at the memory of that day.

Jazz looked at Agunimon before she placed a gentle hand of comfort on his shoulder. "... Maybe this just shows us how dangerous it can be to keep secrets from each other."

Agunimon sighed. "You may be right…" He then opened his eyes. "I'm just worried about Andy. He… He's been… spacing out quite a bit lately. And… He won't talk about it."

"I've noticed that too…" Jazz sighed. "I guess my next therapy schedule is with Andy if- when we get back home."

Agunimon gave a bit of a sad smile. "If I could slide evolve, I would do so easily." He then looked down at the handcuff on his wrist. "But this… If I even try, it will not only hurt me, but you as well." He gripped the cuff and began to fiddle with it, as if trying to take it off, but that was not what he was doing.

"Well… maybe you don't need to. While it's true a beast is stronger than a human in terms of raw strength, the human has something over a beast," Jazz stated. "Their ingenuity. And we have that."

Agunimon sighed. "I mean I can fly in my Beast Spirit form. I would be able to fly us home if I could."

"Don't focus on the things you can't do, that would be like giving up," Jazz spoke up. "Focus on what you can do, and figure out how you can use that to beat a hunter."

Agunimon looked up at her words, his eyes holding a determined look as he lowered his head slightly. "Yeah. You're right." He then sighed. "But the thing is, this is Skulker's lair. He knows it in and out. We're just running around blind here, trying to find Danny without a clue on where he is."

"Then we learn this lair," Jazz said. "If we keep going the way we're going, then we'll be pelts on Skulker's wall for sure."

Agunimon began to tremble at that. "Please… Don't bring that up…"

Jazz sighed before she began thinking. "Skulker uses a battlesuit to get around… and you're made of data… sort of. Maybe we can use that."

"How?" Agunimon asked as he looked at her. "It's not like I can make him do things like Tucker could by hacking into his battlesuit."

"There are a few things I learned from Tucker that I think could work with you." Jazz smirked.

---

"You ever thought about learning how to cook?" Valerie asked Andy as they were eating sliced apples, and a bag of cheez-it crackers.

"Hmm? Cook?" Andy blinked. "Well, I once tried to make pancakes with Dad, but… it ended up exploding in my face."

Valerie laughed at that. "Wow… Now that I would have loved to see!"

"It wasn't so much fun for the rest of us," Andy chuckled sheepishly. "We had to clean up our mess. Mom wasn't too happy with us either."

"That still sounds pretty funny." Valerie teased.

"Yeah, I'm sure it does." Andy rolled his eyes.

"I'm not good at cooking either," Valerie sighed. "I tried, almost burnt the apartment down."

"Ouch, sounds like it went pretty bad," Andy winced.

"Have you ever tried cooking without your dad?" Valerie questioned. "Knowing your dad, he likely caused the explosion, not you."

"Ah… no, I haven't, never really thought to after that," Andy admitted.

Valerie looked at Andy again. "Maybe you should. It would be better than your dad causing an explosion of batter again."

"I don't know… maybe I guess," Andy shrugged.

"Have a little more confidence in yourself," Valerie chuckled.

"I do have confidence in myself. I'm just careful not to be overconfident," Andy rolled his eyes.

"Then why haven't you tried to cook after the 'batter' incident?" Valerie questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Because… I didn't want to?" Andy shrugged.

Dorimon was snuggling with the flour sack, it helped keep it quiet.

Valerie then decided to ask Andy something that had been bugging her. "So… you grew up with ghost hunting parents… and yet, you seem to be more… pro ghost than anti ghost. Why?"

Andy took a moment to think about his answer. "Well… I guess you could say… that changed when I met with a real ghost. I was scared at first, I definitely was. But… he spoke to me like a real person would. And I guess after a while, I realized that this ghost was more human than most would think he was."

"You… talked to a ghost… Wow… You're just as crazy as your parents, but in a different way. No sane ghost hunter would talk to a ghost like you did." Valerie chuckled.

"Well, what else could I do? I didn't bring any ghost weapons with me, it's not like I knew I was going to be face to face with a ghost," Andy chuckled. "I wasn't going to antagonise a ghost while I was defenseless."

"So you decided to talk it down." Valerie chuckled again. "Yep, you're just as crazy as your parents."

"It worked," Andy rolled his eyes. "But it did let me see that ghosts aren't as mindless or evil as my parents made them out to be."

Valerie frowned as she looked down at the ground. "That makes things harder for me, because a ghost ruined my life. I want them gone, but… if what you are telling me is true, then how can I be sure it was on purpose like I first thought? It's like having one's view called into question when they are sure it is right."

"Well… maybe try to think back on what the ghost kid was doing when that dog messed up the Axion Labs," Andy suggested. "Did he look like he wanted that to happen? Was he laughing or snickering about the whole thing?"

"No… He did neither of those things…" Valerie murmured. "It looked like he was… upset at the whole thing. But… aren't ghosts capable of making it look like they are feeling one thing only to be feeling the opposite so they can get humans to trust them?"

"Some ghosts probably are," Andy admitted, remembering how well Spectra emulated concern. "But then again… people are capable of doing that too. Ghosts aren't the only beings capable of masking feelings, you know. But some emotions are too genuine to fake. I'm pretty sure that ghost boy was trying really hard to stop that dog."

Valerie frowned again. The ghost boy's face had looked pretty distraught, which was not an easy emotion to fake. "Yeah… I guess you do have a point. The way that ghost kid looked upset… It isn't easy to fake that kind of emotion."

"Yeah… and I don't know for sure, but ghost kids might have a harder time masking their feelings," Andy chuckled. "And you know how out of control dogs can be. Imagine trying to control a ghost dog that can turn giant and go through walls at will."

Valerie chuckled at that. "It would be a nightmare to try and control a dog like that."

"It also turns out that wasn't even his dog to begin with," Andy remarked. "So… maybe if you ever meet with that ghost kid again, you could try talking to him too? At least give him a chance to properly apologize?"

Valerie sighed. "I guess I could give it a try. It may not be easy, but I will at least make the attempt."

Andy smiled at that. "I'm glad you're willing to try. So… you have a baby stroller I could use?"

---

Patamon was standing over a large looking field of land. "He's here."

Lopmon looked around. "But where? I don't see him."

"Underground, I think, or invisible," Patamon answered.

Lopmon looked down at the ground. "It wouldn't make sense to have Danny visible, so it may be that he is underground. If he was above ground, I would sense him, even if he was invisible."

Patamon looked down. "How are we going to get to him? It's not like we're Drimogemon."

"Hmmm…" Lopmon looked around, trying to find anything that would open up the ground, like a switch or something, but nothing could be seen.

"... Guess we better start digging," Patamon sighed.

"This is going to take a while…" Lopmon frowned.

"What the?" Someone frowned as he flew over the two Digimon. "What are you two little pests doing here?"

Patamon and Lopmon jumped, looking up to see Skulker floating there.

Lopmon gulped. "Uh oh… Patamon… I hate to ruin things, but we have trouble…"

"I can see that, Lopmon." Patamon frowned.

"What are you two doing digging over where I put the ghost boy?" Skulker frowned.

"We're helping him!" Patamon snapped. "You have no right trapping him like this, you… you big metal head bully!"

Lopmon looked at Patamon with a deadpan look. "You're antagonizing a ghost… while we are in our Rookie forms…?"

Skulker rolled his eyes before he held out an arm at the two, a gun popping up. He fired a small missile at them. Lopmon and Patamon quickly jumped out of the way.

Lopmon landed, skidding a bit before looking up at Skulker. "Patamon! We have to get out of here! We're at the disadvantage right now!"

Patamon noticed the small hole Skulker's missile made, and he got an idea. Patamon ran back over to the hole. "You're the worst hunter ever, you even hit the broadside of a Mammothmon!"

Lopmon blinked in surprise at what Patamon was doing before he saw the hole in the ground and realized what Patamon was up to. Using his own missiles to dig down to Danny… Patamon, you sometimes surprise me. He ran over as well and got by the hole too. "Your aim is lousy enough that you couldn't even hit a Poyomon!"

Skulker, actually getting quite angry from those comments to his pride, fired bigger missiles at the two. Lopmon and Patamon quickly dodged, barely getting away before the missiles exploded, creating a bigger hole. Patamon noticed, however, the ground was starting to regenerate.

No! Patamon ran to the hole and took a deep breath, expanding his entire body. "Boom Bubble!"

Patamon shot out a big air bubble about the size of his entire body at the hole, then he jumped down into the hole.

Lopmon followed Patamon down into the hole, but not before flipping one of his ears at Skulker in a rude gesture. Then the hole closed up.

"Why those little impudent…" Skulker began growling.

"There's Skulker!" Jazz pointed out, having heard and followed the missile blasts.

Skulker blinked, seeing Jazz and Agunimon approaching him. "Well, well, it's not every day the prey comes to find the hunter."

Agunimon looked at Jazz. "Are you sure this will work?" He asked, unsure of how well what Jazz had planned would work.

"I'm sure it will… we just need to pin Skulker down long enough for it to work," Jazz replied.

Agunimon nodded. "Okay… I guess we'll just have to go for it then." I'm not sure if this will work because I'm mostly human, but, if there was any chance to disable Skulker, then this is our best bet. I hope that my human side stays intact...

Jazz picked up a tree branch before Skulker began to fire missiles at them. Agunimon retaliated by using Pyro Darts. Then Jazz threw the tree branch at Skulker's head.

The branch hit Skulker's head, making him look down at them in anger. "That was a low blow, human!"

Agunimon threw more Pyro Darts at Skulker to get him down lower so he could pin him down. Jazz began throwing rocks, dirt, grass, whatever else she could get her hands on. Skulker growled as he landed, not wanting to get hit by more projectiles in the air. At this, Jazz hopped onto Agunimon's back while Agunimon charged at Skulker to tackle him.

Agunimon rammed into Skulker and managed to knock the ghost hunter down before he pinned down Skulker's arms while Jazz got on top of Skulker's legs. Agunimon took in a breath before letting it out. "Okay… Here we go…" He closed his eyes and began to concentrate before his form began to flicker slightly. C'mon… please let this work...

"Can you use your D-Tector?" Jazz asked. "Try using that, like how you use it to go into the Digital World."

Agunimon opened his eyes at that and looked down at the device. "Maybe…" He took it out, but he looked unsure of how to do it.

"There, on his arm, there's a computer there, use the D-Tector on that," Jazz quickly said.

Agunimon looked at Jazz. "But we're handcuffed together!" He pointed out.

"Just try it and see what happens!" Jazz said frantically. "Hurry, Skulker's going to start struggling soon!"

Agunimon frowned, but nodded. He held up his D-Tector to Skulker's arm computer. "Okay… here we go…" The screens of the arm-mounted computer and the D-Tector began to glow in sync.

Then Agunimon was reduced to data and he went right into Skulker's mech suit. Blinking, Agunimon realized he was currently Flamemon again while he was floating in some dark circuits.

"Takuya!?" Flamemon heard Jazz's voice shouting in concern outside.

"I… I'm okay!" Flamemon replied as he looked around. "I… I think it worked… I see a bunch of dark circuits around me."

"What? But… wait, you're in the computer? Then why is your body out here, unconscious, and human?" Jazz's voice asked, sounding worried and confused.

Flamemon paled. Oh shit… "L-let's not worry about that now. I will see about disabling the mech suit from here." He stammered out.

Flamemon then heard, and felt, the suit moving again.

"I'm going to try to get your body and myself to safety, try to hurry!" Jazz called out.

Flamemon nodded. "I will see if I can." He then began to move in the suit's circuits, trying to find the control circuits. "C'mon… where are those control circuits?!" He muttered as he floated by some panels that were showing different functions of the suit.

Flamemon could feel Skulker moving, he knew he had to be fast.

Jazz was dragging the unconscious Takuya to the nearest hiding spot, but she knew it wouldn't be long before Skulker was up and running again, and found them quickly.

Meanwhile, underground, Patamon and Lopmon were on top of the cage Danny was in.

Lopmon looked at the cage. "How are we going to bust Danny out of here? This cage looks pretty strong."

"Maybe breaking Danny out isn't what we need to do, but to wake him so he can get out," Patamon stated.

"How? I think Skulker is somehow keeping him asleep in that cage," Lopmon asked.

"I don't think it's impossible to wake him up. I… I heard him when I was in the egg… he's struggling to regain consciousness… we just have to give him the right push," Patamon replied.

"But how?" Lopmon asked. "I don't have any ideas. Unless… we try rousing him by mentioning his cousin and sister are in danger. That may work."

"It's as good as any other chances to wake him up," Patamon agreed.

Patamon and Lopmon began to talk to the sleeping ghost boy in the cage.

"Danny, Jazz is out there being hunted down by Skulker, you have to wake up and protect her!" Lopmon called out.

"Takuya is out there too, he's freaking out, and both he and Jazz are in danger! I know you can wake up and save them, Danny!" Patamon called out.

There was no response from Danny verbally, but he did twitch one of his hands slightly.

Meanwhile, Jazz and Flamemon were still dealing with Skulker. Flamemon hated how he was unable to use his beast spirit or even his fusion to kick this bucket of bolts into next week.

However, since he was inside Skulker's robot suit, he would be able to at least get some payback. If only I could find the control circuits for this battle suit! Flamemon thought angrily.

Jazz managed to pull Takuya's body into some bushes, and she laid low, hoping Skulker wouldn't find them so easily until Flamemon could shut down Skulker's suit. Skulker was pretty angry, however, that he had gotten pinned down by the weakened Agunimon and a mere human child. He was floating around the bushes Jazz was hiding herself and Takuya in, then gave a predatory grin.

Inside Skulker's suit, Flamemon grumbled as he moved around, trying to locate the elusive control circuits. "You think finding some simple control circuits would be easy, but no… In a ghostly battle suit, those controls are difficult to find!"

Flamemon yelped as some antibody ghosts started to form around him. They began to growl. They appeared to be the basic green blob ghosts with a pair of red eyes and a mouth, but they looked vicious. They were not happy to see a Digimon in their master's body, even if it was a robotic suit. And it was at that moment, Flamemon realized, that the ghost Skulker was symbiotically linked with this suit since he had organic antibodies inside it.

"Oh, come on! Really?!" Flamemon growled as he got ready to attack. "This is not my day!"

The antibody ghosts began to surround Flamemon and started attacking him. Flamemon let out a battle cry as he covered his body with flames and fought back.

Meanwhile, Jazz gasped, seeing Skulker floating above them. He knew they were there. Jazz knew she had to act now or never. She gripped on the tree branch and hoped that because it was technically a ghost tree branch, it would at least hurt Skulker. But with Takuya being dead weight, Jazz wouldn't be able to move as much as she would like. Jazz jumped at Skulker and swung the tree branch at him, causing a CLANG noise. Skulker just grinned before he released a glowing blade from his arm that easily cut the tree branch in half.

Jazz backed away, grabbing onto her cousin.

"Do you really think you could fight me, human? You're nothing but a weakling," Skulker laughed. "Easy pretty for a hunter like me."

Skulker then fired lasers at Jazz. She moved quickly, but let out a scream of pain when the side of her leg was grazed. She fell down along with Takuya's body. Her pants were halfway burnt, her skin was bleeding.

"And that was only a weak graze, next time I won't miss." Skulker grinned.

Lopmon's ears shot up. "That was Jazz! She's here, and in trouble! I have to go help her!"

Patamon looked back. "But Danny needs help too! We can't just leave him!"

"You help him wake up, I have to go help Jazz," Lopmon said frantically before he jumped up through the hole.

Patamon frowned before he looked at the ghost boy. "Did you hear that? Your sister is in trouble."

Danny still didn't wake up.

Lopmon came up from the hole, seeing Skulker holding out his hands at Jazz, ready to shoot her. Lopmon leaped forward. "Blazing Ice!"

Lopmon shot out a big ice ball at Skulker, hitting his face directly and made Skulker fall back a few feet.

Inside the battle suit, Flamemon felt the suit shudder with the impact of something hard. "Ugh… Great… Now I have to do this while Skulker is fighting and under attack as well? Jazz owes me big time for this…"

He continued on, trying to avoid the small antibody ghosts as well as fight back. Flamemon punched out a couple of the antibody ghosts that tried to swarm him before kicking another one back and away from him. Seeing that he had a clear gap ahead of him, Flamemon then pushed off towards and through the gap of antibody ghosts. He turned back and let loose with a burst of fire that engulfed the mass of antibody ghosts briefly before he then turned and fled deeper towards the control circuits, wherever they were.

"Where am I supposed to go?" Flamemon frowned. "It's not like I could easily tell where Skulker's off switch is in here!"

Jazz was shocked to see Lopmon suddenly as he landed in front of her.

"Are you alright, Jazz?" Lopmon asked his partner.

Jazz nodded. "Yeah… Thanks Lopmon. I was sure I would be a goner there."

Skulker growled as he flew back towards them. "So the other digital being is here as well. No matter, if anything, this would make the hunt a little more interesting."

"Lopmon, you better digivolve!" Jazz said, holding out her D-Arc.

However, the D-Arc glowed slightly before it stopped, and there was no digivolution on Lopmon.

"What? What's wrong?" Jazz questioned.

Lopmon frowned, confused as well.

Skulker laughed. "You mean you don't know? This is the Ghost Zone, it's the bane of digital beings. Just like the Digital World is a bane to ghosts. Your Digimon can't digivolve or get any stronger here."

Jazz recalled what Agunimon had told her about being stuck in his Digimon form and being unable to revert to human, growing pale as she realized what was going on. "Crap…"

"Don't panic, Jazz, we can still beat this tin can!" Lopmon encouraged. "Just don't lose hope."

Jazz remembered that Agunimon, err… Takuya… was still inside Skulker's battle suit. "Yeah… Yeah, you're right." She then gained a bit of a grin. "Let's just say that Skulker will get a surprise soon enough~"

Skulker held out his arms, grinning, and fired out missiles. Lopmon jumped up. "Tiny Twister!"

Lopmon spun around quickly, creating a little tornado that sucked in the missiles, but while he tried to reflect them back at Skulker, Skulker shot a ghost ray at Lopmon, which caused the missiles to explode on Lopmon. Lopmon fell to the ground after the explosion.

"Lopmon!" Jazz called out in concern at her partner.

Lopmon grunted as he got back to his feet. "I'm fine…" It was clear he was not fine, but he was still willing to fight to protect Jazz and Takuya.

Flamemon yelled as he was pushed back by more antibody ghosts. He was getting tired and overwhelmed.

Patamon frowned as he looked at Danny in the cage. "You were right about me, you know? That I was just as bad as Vlad was. I still think that being who is half human, half ghost, and half Digimon is still possible… but trying to achieve it the way I did was… less than ethical. I became obsessed with it, just like Vlad became obsessed with having Maddie, and you. I may not deserve your compassion, but you deserve to have a better chance at life, young Danny… I know you want to protect people, and especially those you love. Right now, your sister and cousin are out there, fighting, and getting hurt. They can't win on their own. They need you. So please… if not for me, or you, then for them. Wake up, Danny Phantom! Wake up and fight!"

Danny's hand twitched again as he began to fight back against the cage and its ability to keep him asleep. He was clearly trying to wake up, but the cage was still keeping him deep in slumber.

Patamon frowned as he looked at the cage. "If you can't wake up, then I'll make sure you do."

"Body Blow!" Patamon jumped and tackled the cave with his entire body.

Patamon fell to the ground, but he got back up on his feet. "Body Blow!"

Patamon kept slamming into the cage's bars with his entire body. His body was beginning to bruise up, but he kept going.

Patamon began to make some headway on damaging the bars, and after another Body Blow attack, felt it was time to use a stronger move. He sucked in air before he then used his next attack. "Boom Bubble!" The air shot came out of his mouth at high speed and hit the bars where they had been rammed repeatedly before.

The cage's bars started to look a little beat up, but Patamon was tiring out faster than he could beat up the cage. And since the cage was made in Skulker's lair, it was regenerating. Patamon panted on the ground, his wings drooping, and his body covered in bruises.

Patamon wanted to keep going, but since this cage was from Skulker's lair, he was at a disadvantage because the lair could just regenerate the damage he inflicted on the cage itself. "Danny, please! Wake up! DANNY!"

Danny's eyes opened as they flashed green brightly.

Skulker grabbed onto Lopmon and squished him against a tree. Lopmon struggled to get out of Skulker's hold. Jazz was trying to get Skulker to let go by grabbing his arm and pulled, but she wasn't strong enough to match a ghost's strength on her own.

In Skulker's battle suit, Flamemon finally eluded the antibody ghosts and panted as he tried to find the control circuits. "I got rid of those pesky ghost antibodies, but now where am I? And where is that damn control circuit?!" Flamemon growled as he looked around before his eyes caught sight of what looked like a panel of some kind.

Skulker grabbed onto Jazz with his other hand, and Takuya's body was brought along for the ride due to the handcuffs.

"Time to finish the appetizers~" Skulker smirked.

Skulker's arm released the glowing blades, intending to cut Lopmon and Jazz's heads off. The two of them struggled in Skulker's iron grip.

Then suddenly, Skulker was blasted by a ghost ray from behind. This made Skulker release Jazz and Lopmon, making them fall to the ground. Skulker turned to see Danny Phantom floating there, looking quite angry at Skulker for almost killing his sister. Danny was holding onto the weakened and bruised up Patamon in one arm.

Jazz blinked. "D-Danny?!" She hadn't expected Danny to wake up on his own. Or did Takuya disable the cage?

Danny groaned a little, rubbing his forehead like he was trying to come out of a daze. "Jazz? Are you… alright?"

"I'm fine… but are you?" Jazz asked in concern, seeing her ghostly brother wobbling a bit in the air. "And… what's that in your arm?"

Patamon smiled tiredly. "You can call me Patamon. I was once Seraphimon before I met Vlad and became his partner. Now though, I'm back to being Patamon."

Jazz blinked before her D-Arc beeped. She looked at it, seeing a hologram of Patamon. "Patamon is a Mammal Digimon. It is characterized by its large ears, and is able to fly through the air by using them as large wings. Even though Patamon doesn't wear a Holy Ring, it is able to exhibit its hidden holy power, and it appears to have inherited the genes of ancient Digimon. Patamon is a Rookie level Digimon and is a Data type."

"Wait, so you're Seraphimon reborn?" Jazz asked, surprised.

"Yeah, that's him," Lopmon spoke up, answering Jazz's question.

Danny looked down at Patamon. "Yeah… He was the one I woke up to…"

Skulker, however, wasn't one to go down so easily. "Ghost child, I can't believe you actually escaped that cage I put you in. Perhaps I should've done a better job at fortifying it. No matter, this just speeds up the hunt a little more. Take a good look around you, ghost child. You're in my lair now."

"Yeah? So what?" Danny glared back.

Suddenly, the trees around Danny grew larger, and grew out hands. They grabbed onto Danny's body. Patamon quickly flew up, looking at the trees.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shot out a bit burst of air at the tree's limbs, which did enough damage to cut it off, but the tree regrew a new one in seconds, and then time, it grabbed Patamon.

"The lair is connected to its ghost," Skulker explained, still grinning. "Meaning I can control all of it, the land, the environment, even the air itself. You don't want to mess with a ghost in their own lair, ghost child, which you are now learning the hard way."

Turrets came up from the ground and were pointing up at Danny and Patamon.

Inside Skulker's battle suit, Flamemon was checking out the panel, which looked like it could control something, possibly important. The circuits looked to be branching out into every area of the battle suit as well, he noted before a realization hit him.

No way… I found the control circuits! Flamemon realized before a smirk crossed his face as fire formed around his body. "Time for some payback…"

"Danny!" Jazz cried out in panic.

Danny was too disorientated to focus in order to phase out of the trees, or even think to turn human to try to phase out. He was panicking slightly though, knowing he was in danger, and so was Patamon.

"I shall have your pelt on my wall, ghost child." Skulker grinned. "Now, fire-!"

Skulker stopped suddenly, his body sparking, and the PDA he stole from Tucker on his wrist was suddenly bursting into flames for no apparent reason. "W-what? What is this!?"

Jazz, upon seeing that, was confused for a moment before she realized who that had to be. "That… has to be Takuya! Only he could set something on fire like that!"

"How? How did he get in there!?" Skulker shouted as he banged on the flaming PDA.

The distraction caused the trees to let go of Danny. Danny then grabbed Patamon and phased him out of the tree's grasp as well, then he began flying towards Skulker.

"Hey Skulker! You want my 'pelt'? You got it!" Danny then punched Skulker's head with his free fist while flying at him at 112 miles per hour.

Skulker was sent flying into a large boulder, which made him fall to the ground. The fiery PDA fell off of his arm.

"Danny! We have to get Takuya's body over to that PDA!" Jazz frantically called. "I think his spirit was transferred into Skulker, and the only way to get him back is to have his body and D-Tector near it!"

Danny looked back. "What?! How did that happen?!" He asked as he flew over to Jazz to help her with their cousin's body.

"I was telling him about how Lopmon and the other Digimon were able to go into computers and other technology stuff, so we decided to have him try it out while he was Agunimon on Skulker to try to shut him down. It… sort of worked," Jazz answered.

"Wait… how did you know Takuya was Agunimon?" Danny asked.

"A lot happened when we got brought here, Danny, and that isn't important right now!" Jazz groaned.

Danny sighed. "I won't question it for now, but I want an explanation when we get back." He then began to drag Takuya's limp body back to the fiery PDA.

Of course, due to the handcuff, Jazz had to walk with Danny. Lopmon followed them.

"Skulker should have a key on him that goes to this handcuff," Lopmon stated, seeing the handcuff.

"You think he would…" Danny grumbled as he finally reached the flaming PDA before setting Takuya's limp body down by it.

After a while of waiting, nothing was happening.

"Why isn't anything happening?" Jazz frowned.

"Maybe you need to set his D-Tector near where Takuya's spirit is right now?" Lopmon suggested.

Danny began digging into his cousin's unconscious body, taking out the D-Tector from his pocket.

"Maybe… maybe let Takuya know… what you're doing," Patamon suggested, feeling weak.

Danny looked at Patamon. "How would I do that?"

"I think Takuya should be able to hear you. I heard him talking to me when his spirit went into Skulker earlier," Jazz answered.

Danny looked down at the PDA, which was still in flames. "Um… Okay? Uh… Takuya… I… just want to let you know… I'm… uh… going to set your D-Tector near the PDA, so you can… uh… return to us…" Danny said, feeling quite awkward about this.

"Okay!" Danny almost flinched when he heard a little voice calling back to him from the flaming PDA, he didn't actually expect an answer back.

As soon as Danny set the D-Tector into Takuya's limp hand, and set his cousin's hand near the PDA, a light emitted from the PDA before the D-Tector began to glow with the symbol of Fire before fractal code surrounded Takuya's limp form. The coding dispersed, revealing Agunimon again. A groan escaped him as he sat up, rubbing his head. "Okay… that I never want to do again…"

"Takuya! Are you okay?" Danny and Jazz both asked at the same time in concern.

Lopmon took out a small white key from Skulker's suit while he was currently powered down.

Agunimon smiled a bit. "I'm fine." He then looked back at the flaming PDA. "Although that experience was just… weird. I don't think I will be trying that ever again."

"Probably for the best, since you end up leaving your human body behind when you do it," Lopmon spoke up before holding up the white key. "Here, this should unlock or dispel that handcuff."

Agunimon didn't waste any time in snatching the key before he held it over the handcuff. The key sent out a signal, which caused the handcuff to unlock, much to his relief. Agunimon then held the key over Jazz's handcuff and the same thing happened. The key sent out the signal and the handcuff unlocked. It fell away from their wrists, leaving them free at last.

"That's a relief," Jazz sighed as she rubbed her wrist, feeling a little sore.

"You two have some explaining to do." Danny frowned, looking at Jazz and Agunimon. "What happened that caused Jazz to know who you are, Takuya?"

Agunimon frowned as he looked at Danny, before noticing the Patamon in Danny's arm and was shocked.

Danny noticed Agunimon staring at Patamon. "Oh… Takuya… err… meet Patamon. He hatched from the egg…"

Agunimon realized he was staring and shook his head, snapping out his shocked state. "Sorry…" He then sighed. "Let's just say Jazz figured out who I was after some prodding."

"Of course she did." Danny rolled his eyes.

"You say that like it happens often," Jazz pouted.

Agunimon couldn't help but laugh at Jazz's pouting, since she almost never pouted. He gave her a goofy grin. "You do know you're pouting right now, right?"

"You hush, I can pout when I want to," Jazz grumbled.

"You should do it more often, it looks cute on you~" Lopmon laughed.

Danny grinned. "You bet it does. Jazz is finally acting her age!"

"Shut it, Danny!" Jazz snapped.

Patamon gave a small smile at the siblings before he looked at Agunimon. Agunimon noticed that Patamon's eyes were green instead of blue.

Agunimon frowned a bit to himself at this. Why are Patamon's eyes green instead of blue?

"Come on, we should get back before someone misses us," Danny spoke up.

Agunimon looked back at Danny, realizing he was right. He gave a nod. "We should." Agunimon then looked at Jazz. "You ready to get back home?"

"Sure, but… how are we getting back home? You can't fly as Agunimon, can you? And you said you can't turn into your beast spirit while we're here," Jazz questioned.

"I said it was because of the handcuff." Agunimon clarified. "If I had tried, that thing would have shocked me, and you by extension. Now that's off, I can slide-evolve no problem." As if on cue, fractal code surrounded him and he slide-evolved into his Beast Spirit. The coding dispersed, revealing BurningGreymon.

"Wait… why are you able to become BurningGreymon but Lopmon can't digivolve?" Jazz frowned.

"It's because Takuya is using Spirits to evolve," Lopmon answered. "They work differently than how normal Digimon do when it comes to digivolution. The Spirits are remnants of the Ancient Digimon, so they're not bound by regular digivolution laws and such to an extent."

BurningGreymon nodded. "By all rights, forms like Aldamon and EmperorGreymon shouldn't exist, and yet they do." He pointed out before he flexed his large orange wings in preparation for flight.

"Well, this does make it easier then." Danny grinned as BurningGreymon picked up Jazz and Lopmon.

Danny and BurningGreymon flew up out of Skulker's Island, but when they were in the Ghost Zone's endless sky, BurningGreymon frowned.

"... How… do we find the Fenton Ghost Portal?" BurningGreymon asked.

Jazz frowned. "If I had seen how Skulker took us here, or at least the path he took, I might be able to remember. But… we were unconscious when he took us to his island."

BurningGreymon growled. "This isn't going to be easy, it looks like."

Danny frowned. "Tell me about it…"

"Don't you know the way home, Danny?" Patamon suddenly asked, his green eyes looking up at Danny's own green eyes. "You're half ghost. You should have the instinct to navigate through here. To be able to go back home, to find the place where you half died in."

Danny and Patamon looked at each other for a moment.

Danny looked down. "That… might not be a bad idea to try." He then looked back up with a frown. "But how can I do that? I don't know how to really do that."

"Can't you feel it?" Patamon asked. "That tug that's leading you back to where you became half ghost? Follow that feeling. Follow your ghostly instinct. Don't be afraid of it."

Danny closed his eyes and focused on the feeling Patamon was talking about. At first, he felt nothing, but then he felt something, like a tug. It was close, but not in the direction they were currently headed. No, it felt more to the… far lower left of their location currently. Danny opened his eyes and looked back in that direction. "It's this way."

He then flew off in that direction, BurningGreymon following right behind Danny.

"How did Patamon know all that?" Jazz questioned as they were flying.

"He likely learned it from Vlad during his time as Tsukaimon," BurningGreymon guessed.

"Since he's a Celestial Digimon, it's not unusual for him to retain his memories, but that usually comes later. I was shocked that he remembered everything the second he came out of his egg," Lopmon noted.

BurningGreymon looked down at Lopmon. "How did the egg hatch here in the Ghost Zone?" He was confused as to how that was possible.

"I'm not all that sure. He said he heard Danny calling for help and he suddenly came out of the egg to go find him," Lopmon answered.

BurningGreymon looked down in thought. "Danny was calling for help… I guess Patamon's Celestial Digimon instincts kicked in and guided him to Danny."

"Yeah, that's a possibility, another is that… maybe it's that bond he and Danny have, even if he doesn't realize it yet," Lopmon guessed.

"You can tell they already have a bond?" Jazz asked in surprise.

"From what I've heard from Andy, Dorumon, and even Maddie that night, Tsukaimon was already changing. He seemed to want to be closer to Danny even back then, and it was to the point that he betrayed his original partner to make sure they would get away," Lopmon explained. "And when he became a Digi-Egg again, Danny wouldn't let go of the egg."

BurningGreymon remembered that well. He gave a deep laugh. "Danny was a downright mother hen, wasn't he?" He then became thoughtful. "It seems like Danny may be meant to be Patamon's partner if he was willing to betray Vlad for Danny instead."

"I wouldn't be surprised, considering his sibling has a Celestial Digimon, his girlfriend-to-be has a Celestial Digimon, why shouldn't he get the last Celestial Digimon then?" Lopmon chuckled. "Besides, the Seraphimon I knew would've never joined up with someone like Vlad. I still wonder what caused the corruption in his data in the first place."

BurningGreymon frowned. "I don't know, but we can worry about that later. We have to get out of the Ghost Zone first."

"I see it, the portal," Jazz pointed out.

Sure enough, Danny was leading them towards the familiar spirals of the ghost portal. It surprised BurningGreymon how Danny was able to find it despite being in an unfamiliar area before.

However, BurningGreymon shook off his surprised state of mind and focused on getting back through the portal. He found he would barely fit, which was expected, but luckily, he knew how to get through easily. "Hang on, Jazz. I'm going to Slide-Evolve to my Human Spirit again as we come in. It may be a bit weird, but it's the best way." Fractal code surrounded him as he reverted back to his Agunimon form, landing in the portal's opening easily.

"Huh… so that's what it feels like to be on you when you evolve…" Jazz blinked.

Vaguely, Agunimon remembered Calumon saying the same thing. He gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry… It was the best thing I could do, considering I could barely fit inside when I was BurningGreymon."

Jazz shrugged before Danny went through the ghost portal. Agunimon then followed after him, along with Jazz and Lopmon. They were relieved to be back in the lab. Danny looked around quickly before he transformed back into his human form, not wanting his parents to catch him while he was in ghost form. He was still holding Patamon in his hands.

Agunimon felt a bit uneasy being back in the lab, but given how much he had gone through recently, it seemed kind of comforting in an odd way as well. I just hope nothing else happens...

Suddenly there were footsteps coming downstairs. Agunimon's eyes widened, he didn't even think to turn back to human before Jack walked into the lab. Jack blinked, looking surprised.

"Danny? Jazz? What are you kids doing down here?" Jack asked before he looked at Agunimon. "Oh… hey, I was hoping I would see you again. I wanted to talk to you since our last encounter."

Deep down, Agunimon wanted to talk to Jack too, to put the whole thing behind him, but something wasn't allowing that. He had a flashback to when he was on the lab table, his uncle looming over him with that mad scientist air around him. Agunimon's body began to tremble and his breathing began to pick up, becoming somewhat shallow and rapid. His eyes were wide and he was looking like he was going into a panic attack.

"S...stay… Stay away!" Agunimon backed up a bit before he fell backwards against the wall and was shaking even more now. "Don't… Stay away from me!" Agunimon finally cried out as a surge of heat erupted from his body before becoming transparent and a reddish orange color. He was shaking hard now, gripping his arms and sort of slumped against the wall, shaking violently.

"W-what's wrong? I won't hurt you-" Jack tried to approach Agunimon, only to come into contact with the sphere and he suddenly felt like he was touching the sun itself. Jack flinched back, holding his burning hand.

"Agunimon!" Danny called out in concern.

"Agunimon, you need to calm down." Lopmon frowned.

However, Agunimon didn't hear them, he was too lost in his own memories. He continued to tremble, looking as pale as a ghost almost.

"Agunimon, Dad just wants to talk to you! Please, try to calm down!" Jazz called out, but it was to no avail.

Danny frowned as he looked at the sphere Agunimon made to protect himself with. He remembered being badly burned by Takuya's Spirits before when he tried to overshadow him to save him from Techatamon.

"Don't be afraid," Patamon spoke up to Danny. "He won't hurt anyone he trusts."

Danny blinked, not sure if that included him since Takuya had attacked him before. But Danny couldn't stand by and watch his cousin suffer from post traumatic stress. The boy risked burning himself to save Takuya before, and he would do it again. Danny carefully put Patamon down on the floor, not wanting him to get hurt if things went wrong.

"Danny?" Jazz blinked, seeing her little brother going towards the sphere. "What are you doing?"

Danny didn't answer. Instead, he carefully approached the sphere and held out a hand. Danny was half-expecting his hand to get burned, but to his immense shock and relief, the sphere didn't burn him. Instead, it felt warm and calming almost. Jazz was surprised to see that Danny's hand went through the sphere with no problem. In fact, Danny was able to walk through the sphere just fine.

When Danny was inside the sphere, he carefully put a hand on Agunimon. This seemed to wake Agunimon up a little when a gentle hand touched him instead of a scalpel.

"Takuya," Danny whispered so Jack didn't hear him. "It's okay now. I'm here for you, cousin."

Jazz then took the plunge herself after she put Lopmon down, not wanting him to get hurt. Lopmon looked on in concern, but stayed back as Jazz went through the sphere herself.

Jazz carefully approached the sphere and went through it, feeling a comforting heat herself. It amazed her that even in a panicked state, Agunimon was able to instinctively trust them to not hurt him.

"Takuya," Jazz whispered as well. "We're here now, nothing bad is going to happen to you."

Both of them then gave Agunimon comforting hugs. Jack was watching in surprise, seeing his kids were able to walk through the sphere that nearly burned his hand off, and seemed to be able to calm the Legendary Warrior down. Jack frowned, but he decided it was best he took his leave so Agunimon wouldn't freak out again. He knew he could trust his kids with this good Digimon that he had mentally scarred badly.

Agunimon didn't really hear his cousins' words, but he did feel their comforting hugs. He finally broke down crying, the sphere dissipating easily. He had never expected to have a panic attack like that, and it upset him. He just wanted to put the whole incident behind him, but… that seemed to be impossible now. Not if he had a panic attack whenever he saw his uncle.

Danny and Jazz looked at each other, frowning, realizing this was a bigger problem than they thought. But at least they were able to calm Agunimon down for the time being.

---

Titanic X: ZAFT: Oh, you will like this next chapter a lot~ :3

Luna Lillyth: DarkFoxKit: It's fun doing switch-ups, and yes, a lot more stuff to see.

ZAFT: As for your constructive criticism, thank you. We will work on not being repetitive when it comes to details in the future. :3