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?

50. Horrors of Halloween

ZAFT: Another chapter, another week. And more snow is coming for my area. I'm getting hammered out here! DX

DarkFoxKit: *Is looking on jealously* Share some of that where I live.

Andy: I'm sure ZAFT would if they could. I wonder if Danny's ice powers are going out of control or something…

Takuya: This is getting ridiculous! Snow hammering ZAFT and FoxKit getting none, this weather is crazy!

DarkFoxKit: Takuya, you're the Legendary Warrior of Flame, can't you stop all that snow in ZAFT's area?

Takuya: I would if I could, but it's too much snow, even for me… ^^'

ZAFT: Anyway… let's get on with the chapter shall we? ^^'

DarkFoxKit: Yeah. Andy, maybe you should look for your brother, make sure it's not him causing all that snow.

Andy: Yeah, I'll try.

---

(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, before the light glows to reveal Patamon in front of Danny, green eyes meeting Danny's baby blue ones.)

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, Patamon, 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 50: Horrors of Halloween

It had been a long school week. Andy was glad to be able to work with Valerie with the baby project. They both got an A from that. The other kids… most didn't take quite as good care with their flour sacks. Some were messed up, or torn apart, or even had that crying meter ripped off. They ended up with low Ds or Cs. Sam and Danny got an A, though Danny was a little creeped out by how serious Sam got into the baby thing with how she dressed up their flour in a wig that looked like Sam's own hair, as well as drew eyes and lips on the flour. Sam was a good artist, but that still creeped Danny out. Tucker and Niki also got an A, they did quite an excellent job at taking care of their baby flour sack as well. Dash was lucky, he did try to take care of the flour sack, but during football practice, Star ended up neglecting the baby, leaving it to cry for hours, which brought their grade down to a B-, but at least it was a decent grade. As for Takuya and Paulina… they got an F, because they had no idea where their flour child went.

Takuya wasn't happy he had failed, but he was taking secret glee in the fact that the alpha… female… had also failed the project. As such, he couldn't help but grin when he left the classroom.

Though despite the mundane stuff, Takuya couldn't help but feel guilty about what happened with Jack. Jack hadn't been quite himself lately after his panic attack as Agunimon. Jack hadn't been as boisterous as he once was, he didn't talk much anymore, not even to blather on about ghosts, he wasn't even eating fudge that much. Maddie was definitely getting worried for him.

Takuya sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I do feel kinda bad about what happened with Uncle Jack…" He muttered to his twin cousins.

The three of them were currently outside the school during break. Most of the students were helping decorate for the upcoming Halloween holiday.

"I still can't believe all of that happened while I was visiting Valerie," Andy grumbled, who was still not letting that go.

"Trust me, bro, it's better you weren't there." Danny sighed. "I've never seen Dad looking so dejected before."

"Not that. The fact Skulker kidnapped you all in his own lair! He almost killed you!" Andy spoke up. "I should've been there. Dorimon and I should've been there to help!"

"Calm down, Andy," Danny said. "We got out alive, and Patamon hatched from his Digi-Egg."

"Speaking of which, where is Patamon now?" Dorimon asked.

Danny frowned. "He's in our room. I wanted to take him with us, but he kept saying that he deserves to be staying at home."

Takuya looked back and frowned. "Why? He's your partner."

"He's… my partner?" Danny blinked. "I don't have a D-Arc or anything Takuya. I wouldn't say we're partners. But Patamon just seems… like he wants to be with me, yet he also wants to stay away from me. It's… weird, I keep getting mixed signals from the little guy."

Takuya frowned some more. "I don't know what to say really." He then sighed. "But… I think he might be affected by what Vlad did to him, or he may be afraid of hurting you."

"He might also be afraid of letting himself get close to another partner," Andy added. "Or he might not feel like he's worthy to be your partner."

"From what I could tell, Patamon has a lot of… guilt from his past life, kind of like Lopmon does," Dorimon remarked.

Takuya blinked. "That… actually, that's a good possibility." He looked down in thought. "It makes sense if you think about it."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Danny frowned.

"Try to spend time with him. Talk to him, let him realize he can take it easy around you and that you don't hold what he did as Tsukaimon against him," Andy suggested. "Although you're lucky, your egg Digimon immediately became a Rookie level when he hatched. I had to raise mine from scratch."

"Don't tell me you didn't love it~" Dorimon grinned.

Danny chuckled. "You got to experience all stages of Digimon life so far, bro~" He then sighed. "But I may do as you suggested. It might help me bond with Patamon a bit more, and possibly get him to open up to me."

"Patamon isn't the only one who needs to open up to you," Dorimon stated, looking at Andy.

Andy shoved Dorimon's face back into his backpack for that comment. "I don't know what he's talking about."

Takuya frowned at Andy's comment and his reaction to Dorimon's comment. Andy… You can't keep hiding whatever it is you are hiding forever. You will have to tell Danny what's bothering you sooner or later.

Danny blinked, wondering why Dorimon said that, and he looked at Andy.

Andy quickly decided to change the subject. "So… looks like it's finally getting close to Halloween, huh? The end of October is getting closer upon us. I wonder if Halloween has any weird effects on ghosts, being supernatural beings and all." Crap! No! Don't think about that!

Andy didn't like the idea that Halloween could affect Danny's ghost half, especially if it might make him more primal or something.

Danny blinked. "Um… I don't really know about that, bro. That would be a good question to ask Mom though."

"Hah… y-yeah…" Andy nervously smiled. Maybe I should keep a Fenton Thermos with me just in case.

Takuya blinked. "Andy, are you okay?" He asked, seeing Andy's nervous smile.

"Fine! I'm perfectly fine! Why do you ask, cuz?" Andy grinned strained more as he looked at Takuya. "... I'm going back inside, it's a bit chilly out here."

Andy quickly walked away from his brother and cousin, unable to stay near the two half humans and half supernatural beings.

Takuya looked at Danny. "Danny? Is Andy… becoming afraid of us?"

Danny frowned. "Why would he become afraid of us?"

"He just left, and his smile looked strained and nervous, like he wanted to get away from us." Takuya pointed out. "As for why, you're a half ghost, and I am able to become a Digimon. How do you think a human would feel around such powerful beings?"

Danny did notice that Andy had started becoming uneasy around him lately, though he hadn't noticed Andy becoming uneasy around Takuya too. It had gotten especially bad after they came back home from the Rockies. But he just thought maybe Andy needed some time to recover from their experience with Vlad.

"But our friends don't seem to mind, and Jazz seems to be as supportive as ever, maybe even a little too supportive at times," Danny pointed out. "I'm sure Andy just needs some time is all. He knows we're still us despite our powers."

Takuya sighed. "I hope so, Danny. I don't want to have one of my own cousins scared of me because of what I can do."

Danny frowned as he didn't like the thought of Andy, his own twin brother, being scared of him because of his ghost half. Andy seemed pretty accepting before, so what changed?

Danny didn't have time to think about it, because a familiar cold blue mist came out of his mouth, and Takuya felt a flash of heat. Both of them saw a ghost eel flying around the school.

"Aw man… Can't we ever get a break?!" Takuya groaned as he saw the ghost eel.

"Short answer, no," Danny groaned. "Come on, let's take care of this annoying ghost."

Meanwhile, Andy sighed to himself as he walked into the hallway of Casper High, seeing the students decorating for Halloween.

"Are you okay, Andy? You seem more twitchy around Danny and Takuya lately," Dorimon asked quietly from the backpack.

"I'm not sure… I mean things have been a bit complicated between me and Danny lately, but ever since what happened with Vlad… I can't help but feel… worried? My heart starts beating fast in my chest, and it gets a bit harder to breathe after a while." Andy frowned. "I guess hearing that Takuya burned my Dad's hand also kinda worried me what he would do if I accidentally scared or surprised him."

Dorimon frowned. "Andy, your cousin only did that because he was scared, not that he meant to. And as for Vlad… He was just trying to scare you. Danny wouldn't hurt you, and you know it."

"I know, I know, but that doesn't stop my subconsciousness from freaking out." Andy frowned. "Maybe I should talk to Jazz about this. I don't want to feel this way every time I look at Danny or Takuya."

Dorimon nodded. "That would be a good idea. It might help you get past your worry."

Andy nodded with a small smile. "Yeah. Hopefully she can help me nip this in the bud before it gets worse."

Andy was walking past a ladder that had a bucket of purple paint in it, and Calvin was setting up a poster for Halloween.

However, just outside Casper High, Danny in his ghost form was trying to catch a slippery white and blue ghost eel. He was having trouble trying to grip its tail.

As Danny tried to grab the eel, the tail slipped out of his grasp and the tail smacked him on the head. However, Danny wasn't fighting the eel alone. Below him and the eel, Agunimon was waiting for his chance to strike the eel, but as he was not in his Beast Spirit form, he couldn't fly up to join them. He didn't want to attract attention to himself.

"Alright, you slippery snake… eel… thing," Danny frowned. "Let's see how well you'll take this."

Danny fired his ghost ray at the eel. The eel, however, just smirked as he took the ghost ray as if he was just taking a nice shower. Then the eel's eyes glowed red as it was powering up.

"... Pretty dang well…" Danny gulped.

Seeing the eel powering up, Agunimon growled before he slide-evolved to his more powerful Beast Spirit form and flared his orange wings once the fractal code dispersed. BurningGreymon took flight and flew up to the ghost eel, slamming a three-clawed fist into its face.

The eel let out a screech before it blasted its red eye ghost lasers, which burned BurningGreymon's claws. It was then BurningGreymon remembered that ghost attacks hurt Digimon a heck of a lot more than Digimon attacks.

Of all the… What a time to remember that fact… BurningGreymon growled as he held his singed right hand.

Danny flew towards the eel, the Fenton Thermos in hand. "Hang on! I almost got-"

The eel then fired its eye ghost ray at Danny. Danny yelped, not having expected that, and was blasted in the chest. This caused him to fall towards the Casper High building, and letting go of the Fenton Thermos. BurningGreymon quickly caught the thermos as Danny turned intangible and fell through the building's wall.

Looking back, BurningGreymon growled before he aimed the thermos at the ghost eel. "Time to make sure you don't come back, you messed up piece of sushi!" The Fenton Thermos sucked in the ghost eel, allowing BurningGreymon to slam the cover on once the deed was done.

Meanwhile, Danny fell through several walls of the school before he returned to his more solid form, and he ended up slamming into Andy, who just so happened to be walking by. Both brothers ended up hitting the ladder with the bucket of paint on top, and this caused the paint, and the ladder, to fall on top of Calvin, coating his leather jacket with purple paint, and a bit of a bump on the head from the ladder. Danny subconsciously transformed back to human form while he was on top of a very dazed Andy.

"Ow…" Danny muttered. "That ghost eel really hit hard…"

Calvin pushed the ladder off of him, and glared angrily at the two who were responsible for causing not just the ladder to fall on him, but the bucket of paint as well, which ruined his leather jacket. He grabbed both Danny and Andy by the shirt, lifting them up to his angry face.

"You defaced my leather jacket, so that is punishable by wedgie!" Calvin growled as he glared at the twins.

How did this even happen? Andy questioned himself. All he knew was that something cold just slammed right into him, and he hit something hard behind him, then there was a sudden weight on top of him, and now he was being held by an angry Calvin along with his brother, who seemed to have showed up suddenly.

Dash, who had seen the incident, minus Danny transforming, came over and was looking quite mad. He had a fist drawn back and tapped Calvin on the shoulder.

Calvin looked back, only to get a fist to the face, courtesy of Dash Baxter. "That's enough!" Dash snapped. "I've had it with you picking on others!"

"Wah?" Calvin questioned on the floor, looking quite dazed.

Dash then picked up Danny and Andy, trying to see if they were okay, but then Mr. Lancer's shadow loomed over him.

"Grapes of Wrath, break it up!" Mr. Lancer exclaimed. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't suspend you three for fighting on school property! And Mr. Baxter, I'm surprised at you, punching one of your fellow football players and getting paint all over him!"

Dash balked. "B-but I…" Dash tried to explain, but Mr. Lancer wasn't hearing any of it.

"No excuses will get you out of trouble for that, Mr. Baxter." Mr. Lancer said sternly.

Dash frowned as he let go of Danny and Andy, who seemed just as surprised at the situation as Dash was.

"But Mr. Lancer-" Andy began to say.

"You three need a more creative outlet for your aggressions," Mr. Lancer continued, interrupting Andy.

Andy just frowned as Danny looked at him and Dash with a frown of his own. Dorimon was peeking from the backpack, having a slight bump on his head, likely from hitting the ladder while in Andy's backpack.

"As you know, every year, one of the faculty puts together a haunted house party at the old abandoned Townsend place, and this year it's my turn. I am bound and determined to decorate it better than Ms. Testlaff did last year, and you three are going to help me do that," Mr. Lancer said. "The scariest room will avoid detention."

"Haha!" As if Mr. Lancer's words had summoned her, Ms. Testlaff was right there, grinning. "Fat chance at you ever topping my Frankenstein monster."

Ms. Testlaff held up a picture of her in a Frankenstein monster costume, which sent chills down everyone's spine.

Danny shivered a bit. "Wow… I don't know which looks scarier; Testlaff not dressed up as a monster, or her dressed up as a monster."

"You think that's scary? Try picturing her naked," Andy commented.

"... Now you traumatized me," Danny twitched.

Andy rubbed his face. "Mom's right, sometimes my imagination is a curse…"

Dorimon was snickering in Andy's backpack, trying to keep himself from being heard.

Dash wasn't sure if he should say anything, but he had to agree with Andy there. Picturing Ms. Testlaff naked didn't even cross his mind until Andy mentioned it.

Mr. Lancer just grinned. "Welcome aboard, Team Lancer, I expect scary things between the three of you."

With that said, Mr. Lancer walked over to Calvin. "I'll be taking you to the nurse's office."

Calvin nodded, putting on the act of a scared victim. As he and Mr. Lancer left, Calvin gave Dash a sneer secretly, which Dash didn't miss. The blonde-haired jock just glared back before Calvin walked around the corner, disappearing from sight.

"Are you okay, Dash? I didn't expect you to suddenly punch Calvin like that," Andy asked his former bully and current friend.

Dash frowned. "I'm fine. I will be honest, I didn't expect to punch him myself either. But it reached a breaking point and well, someone needed to put him in his place." He admitted.

"Hey… Dash… thanks, for doing that for us," Danny said gratefully, feeling awkward that he was thanking Dash of all people for standing up for them. I still can't wrap my head around the fact he and Andy are friends.

Dash just waved it off. "Being on the receiving end of being bullied taught me a valuable lesson, and I won't stand for bullying of my friends either if I can help it."

Tucker and Sam approached them, looking a bit surprised as they had watched the incident themselves.

"So Dash isn't a bully anymore? And is your friend or something?" Tucker asked. "Did we fall into a parallel universe or something?"

Danny ran a hand through his hair. "It's hard to believe, but yeah… It would seem Dash has changed. And I'm not sure if we are in a parallel universe or not…"

"A lot of things happened, I will say that," Andy chuckled. "They can be a real eye opener."

"Yeah, I can believe that, though this… might take some getting used to," Sam remarked.

Danny chuckled a bit nervously. "You're telling me."

Dash gave a small smile. "I know it won't make up for all those times I stuffed you in your lockets, beat you up, and… all those times I bullied you, but if it means anything I am sorry. I'm turning over a new leaf, I promise not to bully anyone anymore. Though I guess that does give leeway to new… bullies, like Calvin."

"Andy, what did you do to him?" Tucker couldn't help but question in shock.

"... Stood up for him? That's… about it." Andy grinned sheepishly.

"Hold on… Dash was being bullied? By whom and when?" Tucker asked, curious now.

"A ghost, Bertrand," Andy answered. "Apparently Spectra made some kind of bet on Dash during one of the football games, but he screwed it up, so Bertrand decided to… 'talk' to Dash about that."

Tucker whistled. "Wow… That's… harsh." He then looked at Andy. "I'm glad you did something about it, Andy."

"It wasn't just me, Takuya stood up for him too," Andy replied.

"I've been friends with them ever since," Dash chuckled.

Tucker smiled. "Hey, that's great." He then chuckled sheepishly. "Wow… This will take some getting used to."

"But even so… what are you going to do about this haunted house competition?" Sam asked. "I mean Mr. Lancer is going to send someone to detention."

"We'll try talking to Mr. Lancer about what really happened," Danny suggested. "I don't know if he'll listen, but…"

"It doesn't really matter," Dash spoke up. "I actually think it's a good idea to challenge ourselves with this creativity. I've always wanted to see if I could make a good scary room for a haunted house. You may not know this about me, but I am pretty creative."

Danny blinked. "Huh? You…" He shook his head with a chuckle. "I'm learning new things all over the place today it seems."

"Hey, you learn something new every day, right?" Sam chuckled sheepishly as Salamon smiled in approval from Sam's spider backpack.

"You don't mind if you got detention though?" Andy asked.

"Not really. It's not going to affect my permanent record or anything. Mr. Lancer may say he's trying to be fair, but he knows he can't punish the football players that harshly due to the school board rules," Dash stated. "And… well, no offense, but your brother does often get detention for being late or not doing his homework on time."

Danny blushed as he grumbled under his breath. "I do too do my homework on time…"

"Heh, well lately you have, now that you have my and our sister's help~" Andy grinned.

Dorimon almost lost control of his laughter, only stopping himself by biting down on his tongue.

"So… are you two supposed to be working together in one room or are all three of us supposed to work separately?" Dash questioned, looking at the twins.

"That's a good question, Mr. Lancer didn't specify that," Andy remarked.

"I would assume all three of us are working separately, but we could go and ask." Danny suggested.

"Nah, if Mr. Lancer wasn't specific, then we can work with it. He didn't say you three had to work separately, so therefore, you're allowed to work together in a room." Sam smirked. "Besides, this could be a good bonding point between you two."

"What? Why would we need that?" Andy asked.

"You think I can't see the rift growing between you two?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

Danny remembered Andy leaving the area, looking a bit freaked out earlier. "Andy, Sam's got a point. You've been trying to avoid me for a while now, so this might be just what we need to get things sorted out between us while we do this activity."

Andy frowned a little. Doing a haunted room with a ghost boy just felt like asking for trouble. But Andy had to remind himself this was Danny, his twin brother, not a dangerous ghost that his mind kept jumping to.

"R-right… yeah… sure, okay. I mean… making a haunted house… yeah, I guess that'll be fun… probably better than trick-or-treating while wearing dumb costumes, right?" Andy said, trying not to appear as skittish as he felt right now.

Danny frowned. "Andy, you need to calm down, bro."

"Besides, trick-or-treating isn't dumb, it's a good way to get free candy!" Tucker smiled. "In fact, Niki and I are thinking about going trick-or-treating together this year. I shared my map chart with her to show her the best places to get candy."

Danny blinked. "You're still into trick-or-treating?" He asked as he looked at Tucker.

"You're never too old for free candy, Danny," Tucker stated.

"Just give it 60 years," Sam remarked.

"Well now that's just depressing," Tucker rolled his eyes.

"Anyways," Dash spoke up, getting their attention. "I'll be seeing you guys later on Halloween afternoon to setup for the haunted room."

"Hey, why not spice this up a little and make a friendly bet?" Sam grinned. "Instead of just avoiding detention, maybe it'll help give you three better motivations to make scary rooms."

Dash looked back. "What kind of bet?" He was curious now.

"It could just be a bet where you have to give the winner something, like cash or something you value," Sam answered. "Or you could even dare the other to do something embarrassing, but within reason of course."

Danny gave a grin. "That sounds fun."

"It sounds like an accident waiting to happen," Andy pouted.

Danny chuckled. "Don't be such a worry wart, bro."

Dash gave a grin as well. "Yeah, it's not like you have to eat my old underwear if you lose. It would be worms instead."

"What? Why worms?" Andy gave a grossed out look at Dash.

"Relax, while some worms are parasites, earthworms are actually pretty nutritional, and filled with protein," Dash informed, which surprised Danny, Sam, and Tucker at how smart Dash could be.

Dash noticed their stares. "What? I just did some research for a test last week and learned about that."

"So… is that your bet? If we lose, we have to eat earthworms?" Danny asked.

"Yup! I'll pick them out and make sure they're clean," Dash answered. "So what's your bet for me if I lose?"

Danny gave a thoughtful look as he tried to come up with something. "Hmmm…"

"If you lose, maybe you can tell Danny your little secret?" Andy suggested.

Dash looked a bit unsure. "Um… Is it something embarrassing or…"

Andy sighed before he gestured to Dash to lean down. Andy whispered in Dash's ear. "I'm talking about your Legendary Warrior status."

Dash blinked. "Are you sure?" He whispered back.

Andy nodded. "I think it would be better if they knew. I'm sure you noticed it by now, that Tucker and Sam have Digimon partners of their own."

Dash frowned, but decided to go along with it. "Okay. I guess it makes sense if they have their own Digimon partners."

Andy and Dash stopped whispering to each other.

"Okay, it's a deal!" Dash announced.

"May the scariest room win," Andy chuckled.

Danny grinned. "We have this in the bag, bro."

"You have what in the bag?" Takuya asked, finally finding Danny and the group.

"Takuya! Man, have you been missing out," Tucker laughed.

Sam rolled her eyes. "I'll explain it."

---

After school was out for the day, Danny, Andy, Takuya, Tucker, and Sam were in the twins' room in Fenton Works, trying to work out a plan for the haunted house. Andy was able to ignore his anxiety by focusing on the haunted room.

"How about skeletons?" Danny asked as he drew a skeleton on a piece of paper on a drawing pad. "Skeletons are creepy, at least, they look the part."

Danny drew the skeleton pretty well, though he drew it in a goofy way. The skeleton almost looked like it was wearing a superhero costume with the cape and tights, not to mention the goofy eyeballs.

Takuya gave a cringe at that. "The way you drew it doesn't look creepy at all, Danny…"

Danny frowned as he looked at his drawing.

"Besides, skeletons aren't scary these days," Tucker stated.

"Lies!" Andy suddenly spoke up. "Skeletons are plenty scary if you know how to use them right. Heck, Danny could overshadow a skeleton model and have its eye sockets glow green, and walk up to you like it's about to strangle your life away."

Takuya actually looked pale at that suggestion. "Andy… you're scaring me…"

"Besides, it's Danny, even as a ghost he's not very scary," Terriermon pointed out.

"Says you…" Andy muttered.

Danny pouted. "I'm plenty scary!" He then paused. "Uh… right?"

Sam, Takuya, and Tucker all just kinda rubbed their heads sheepishly, not saying much. Andy rolled his eyes at their ignorance.

"Guys?" Danny frowned.

"Hey! You not being scary is a good thing, I think," Sam spoke up, hoping to reassure Danny. "That means you're approachable, even as a ghost."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. It makes you seem more lovable too." He added with a grin. He couldn't resist teasing Danny.

"Wait! Wait! How about this then?" Danny transformed into his ghost form before he turned himself invisible.

Then Danny wore the blanket over himself like a cloak, looking like an invisible cloaked being. Andy actually jumped at that. He had remembered seeing a ghost wearing a purple cloak that looked pretty darn scary, even if it was just a dream or a vision.

Takuya looked at the cloaked, invisible Danny. "If we didn't know it was you, anyone else would be freaked out by that."

"Besides, that's pretty lame these days," Sam spoke up in a bored tone.

"Don't listen to her, she's just trying to act like a cool teenager," Salamon stated. "I think that would scare plenty of people."

"But would it scare other teenagers who are usually good at hiding what they fear?" Tucker asked.

Takuya sighed. "We need a good idea for the haunted house room, and none of these seem to be working out."

Danny pouted as he turned visible again, taking the blanket off of him before transforming back to his human form.

"Oh man… Halloween is a week away, and we still don't have anything for our haunted room." Danny frowned, sitting down.

"You're thinking too hard," Patamon spoke up, who had been sitting on Danny's desk. "People are individuals. Different things scare them. What might not be scary to you could be terrifying to someone else."

Danny looked back at Patamon. "Yeah, but what would be a good, scary idea? We need something that will scare most people, not just a few."

"What is considered scary to most humans?" Patamon questioned.

"We could try a psychological horror," Andy spoke up. "Like we make a room that tells the story of how someone died, and is now haunting others, sucking their life force dry, possessing them, influencing them, making them think dark thoughts."

Takuya blinked. "Andy… that… may be a bit too much…" He was now getting concerned about Andy.

"Besides, that would take a lot of time and resources, not to mention a much bigger budget than what we have now," Dorimon spoke up.

"But that is a good idea, maybe something to keep in mind for future references," Tucker complimented.

Danny frowned. "Andy, I think you need to speak to Jazz."

Andy rolled his eyes. "It was just an idea, no need to psychoanalyze what I just said."

"Sam, didn't you have something that could help?" Salamon asked, looking at her partner.

Sam nodded with a smile as she took off her spider backpack. "I found something at the old book shop, Skulk and Lurk." She rustled around in the backpack before taking out an old, dusty-looking book.

Sam handed it to Danny, who read the title of the book out loud. "The Chronicles of the Fright Knight?"

Danny opened the book, seeing an illustration picture of a dark knight clad in armor that had flames on his helmet and back, almost like a cape made of flames. There was a flaming sword in the knight's hand. The knight was also riding on top of a scary looking pegasus. The pegasus itself had bat-like wings instead of feathery ones, its face appeared to be skull-like, while its head and neck was covered in its own fiery armor.

Takuya shivered as he saw the image. "Wow… That guy looks scary…"

"That's because that is the Fright Knight, the age-old spirit of Halloween." Sam replied. "Legend has it that if his sword, the Soul Shredder, cuts into you, you get transported to a dimension where you live out your worst fears!"

"Do you think this Fright Knight spirit is for real?" Dorimon asked.

"Considering how our lives are…" Andy started, looking at all the living Digimon sitting beside their partners, except for Patamon, and the literal ghost boy sitting on the bed. "I wouldn't be surprised at this point if this Fright Knight is real."

Danny flipped the page, revealing an illustration of what looked like a castle that sat on a rock, with a swirling sky around it.

"The Fright Knight's lair?" Danny frowned. "Wait a minute… I think I've seen this before."

"You have?" Andy blinked.

"Yeah… hold on a sec…" Danny reached over to a drawer that was near his bed and opened it, taking out a folder with the words 'Map of the Ghost Zone' written on it.

"Wait, you've been mapping out the Ghost Zone?" Andy questioned, shocked.

Danny gave a sheepish grin. "Hehe…" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Andy, Dorimon, and even Takuya gave Danny a look of a lecturing parent.

"How long have you been doing this?" Andy questioned.

"Why haven't you told anyone?" Dorimon added.

"And how many times have you snuck off to go into the Ghost Zone without any back up?" Takuya asked.

"Okay, first, I haven't been doing this long, second, I didn't want you guys to worry, and three, um… do I have to answer that last one?" Danny asked sheepishly.

"That's it, we're keeping an intangible-proof bell on you," Andy groaned.

Danny sweatdropped before Terriermon looked at the map curiously, he slipped it out of the folder and found a page that looked similar to the one in the book. "Wow, did you draw this? This is really good, and surprisingly accurate to that picture in the book."

Takuya looked at the map as well as the image in the book too. "Either that is coincidence, or the book's author was a ghost."

"Maybe… I mean a ghost writer wouldn't be the weirdest thing we've encountered," Sam sheepishly stated.

"This is awesome. That means the Fright Knight likely does exist, in the Ghost Zone." Danny grinned.

"Danny… what are you thinking?" Andy frowned.

"This is great!" Danny exclaimed. "He's a ghost and the spirit of Halloween? That means we can take the best ideas from this guy, and incorporate them into our Halloween room!"

"No, no, no! Bad idea!" Andy protested quickly.

Danny looked back at his twin in confusion. "Why not, bro?"

"Because this is an ancient spirit who is likely evil, or at the very least, chaotic neutral," Andy pointed out. "Meaning if you get anywhere near this guy or his lair, you're likely going to get yourself hurt, and if not that, then you risk unleashing hell on Earth. I don't think it's worth the risk over a haunted house competition."

Tucker frowned. "Andy, it's not like we're going to actually go to the Fright Knight's lair or something, is it?"

"I mean that might be a good… or a bad idea," Danny hesitantly said. "But what I meant was that I'm just going to take inspiration from the Fright Knight, not actually go there, bro."

Andy blinked before sighing in relief. "Okay, if that's all it is, then that's fine."

Andy then took the book for himself for a moment, before he looked at Danny. "... You don't have any sudden cravings for human emotions, do you, Danny?"

Danny blinked. "Uh… no… Andy, you're creeping me out, and I'm half ghost…"

"Riiiiiight…" Andy closed the book. "Juuuuust checking, bro."

"Would you like our help with making this haunted room?" Salamon asked. "I think it would be fun for all of us to create a room considered scary for humans."

Terriermon gained a wicked grin. "And we could use special effects!" Being the tech whiz alongside Tucker, he was looking for any excuse to show off his skills.

"Just as long as they're within our budget," Tucker chuckled. "But that does sound like fun. But Sam or someone else will have to maintain it since I'll be trick-or-treating with Niki."

"Alright, then it's settled, we'll use the Fright Knight as our main theme for the haunted room." Danny smiled.

---

Tucker and Sam went home for the night. They promised to help come by tomorrow evening to help with decorating the haunted room. In the meantime, Takuya returned to his own room, Danny decided to try to bond with Patamon while Andy and Dorimon went to go talk to Jazz and Lopmon.

Danny didn't actually know what Andy was going to talk to Jazz about, but he was more focused on the little orange bat-like creature on his desk.

"Hey, Patamon… you know, you could sit with me on the bed. I'm sure it's more comfortable than the hard desk," Danny suggested.

"The desk is fine," Patamon answered.

Danny frowned a bit. "I don't think it's that comfortable."

Patamon shrugged. "It's not so bad. Maybe not as comfortable as the soft rug back at Vlad's mansion, but still… I'd take it over laying on the rug again."

Danny frowned. "Patamon, you don't need to sit on a cold desk. It's okay if you sit on my bed with me."

Patamon frowned a little as his green eyes studied Danny for a moment. "Why?"

Danny blinked, but before he could ask, Patamon spoke up again. "Why are you being nice to me? After what I put you and your family through… I would've expected you to toss my egg into the sea of the Digital World just to be rid of one more problem."

Danny blinked before he sighed. "Patamon, I'm not like Vlad. I wouldn't think of doing that to you. Besides, you stood up to Vlad and broke away from him as his partner. That is enough to convince me you are not a problem."

"I hurt you, and the people you love. I was Vlad's partner, your arch enemy. How could anyone be that forgiving?" Patamon questioned. "I'm a failure of a Celestial Digimon. I allowed myself to get corrupted, and become obsessed with something that likely would've put everyone in danger. Someone like you, a child, pure and good, deserves someone better than an old fool who got blinded by his own ambitions."

Danny blinked in surprise. "Patamon, you're not an old fool, and you're not a failure of a Celestial Digimon! What happened was, from what I have heard, normal for Digimon to go through. Err… the corruption thing anyway. It wasn't your fault. Heck, Lopmon probably feels way worse, because he did do worse than what you did."

Patamon frowned as he realized that. "You're right… Lopmon likely does feel worse. And Jack… he harbors a lot of guilt for what he's done to Agunimon. Jazz still took Lopmon in anyways. I can admire her will to help, and forgiveness for what Lopmon had done. However, Lopmon never directly did anything that hurt Jazz or put her loved ones in danger, even if Takuya was put in danger before, he's fine around Lopmon as far as she's concerned. With you… I have more trouble understanding. How could you stand to be near me after what I've done to you and your loved ones?"

Danny sighed here. "It's because you deserve a second chance. And… well… I don't know. I just think you deserve a better partner than Vlad."

"Vlad has… a lot of issues, specifically issues he refuses to let go of, and instead lets it fester in him. He's not such a bad guy, he has a day to day life and businesses like most humans do," Patamon explained. "His obsession is what corrupted him… heh, kinda like what mine did. I only regret not being able to help him. Ever since Vlad had met you, he's been keeping tabs on you and what you've been doing. The more I heard about your adventures and your heroic deeds… I suppose the more I started to admire you and your strong determination. Perhaps that was why I couldn't bring myself to hurt you when we met again."

Danny blinked in surprise. "Wow… That's… kinda nice… in a weird sort of way."

"Yeah… probably…" Patamon sighed. "I just don't feel like I'm really… fit for someone like you… what if I end up corrupting you one day?"

Danny sighed. "Patamon, don't worry about the future right now. Just focus on the present." He then looked up and smiled at Patamon. "You'll be fine. I promise."

Patamon looked at Danny, before giving a small smile. "Maybe…"

"Would you be okay with being my partner if I wanted you to be?" Danny asked.

"I don't know…" Patamon frowned. "I still don't feel like I'm worthy to be your partner… and even if I did become your partner… how do I know it's not just because you're half ghost like my previous partner was? How do I know I'm not doing it for that goal I wanted before?"

Danny frowned. "I…" He then trailed off as he ran a hand through his hair. "Wow… That's… a tough question to answer. But… I guess the best way to answer is to just be blunt here. You just have to trust yourself a little. If you can't trust yourself, then you will always be unsure of things, including why I should be your partner."

Patamon hesitated, but he knew Danny had a point there. He remembered how unsure Koji and Koichi were after they found out they were twins.

"Yeah… I suppose you're right," Patamon answered. "Maybe… it would be wise for us to get to know each other before we decide if we should be partners."

Danny smiled a bit. "That's a good way to start, I suppose."

Patamon used his wings to fly up a bit before he flew over to the edge of Danny's bed. He wasn't quite on Danny's lap or anything, but it was a start. Patamon looked up at Danny with his green eyes. "So… how did you get ghost powers anyways?"

Danny sighed. "That's… a bit of a touchy subject…" He admitted.

"Ah… I apologize, that was foolish of me to ask. Of course that would be a hard subject for you to talk about," Patamon quickly apologized. "Then… how about this? What made you decide to use your ghost powers to help protect the town from ghosts?"

Danny smiled a bit. "Well, as for why I use my ghost powers to help protect the town… I guess you could say I felt it was the right thing to do. After the Ghost Portal opened, ghosts began to emerge and, no offense to them, but my parents aren't exactly the best ghost hunters. So, I decided it would be best for a ghost to fight other ghosts, and that was the start of my ghost fighting."

---

Andy sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at Jazz's door. He felt very awkward at having to talk to Jazz about this issue. While Jazz was studying to be a psychologist one day, she was still just that; someone in training. Besides, this issue was about Danny and Takuya, two people that were their brother and cousin. Jazz had accepted them, and didn't seem to have any issues with their transformations or powers. Andy wasn't even sure if Jazz would like to hear that he was starting to get scared of Danny and Takuya.

Dorimon was on Andy's head, and noticed Andy's hesitation.

"Andy, don't make me shoot my metal beads at the door." Dorimon warned, getting up so he could do just that.

"No! No, that won't be necessary, Dorimon," Andy quickly spoke up. "Besides, if you damage Jazz's door, she'll be sure to shove Bearbert in my face for it."

Dorimon settled back down, smirking smugly. "Then open that door~"

The younger twin groaned, but he did knock on the door. "It's important to respect her privacy after all… even if she doesn't often knock on our door."

Dorimon giggled. "True~"

Not long after Andy knocked on the door, Jazz's door opened up. Andy blinked, not seeing anyone, before he looked down, seeing Lopmon was the one who opened the door, using his ears to reach the doorknob.

"Hey, Lopmon… is Jazz… uh… available?" Andy asked a little awkwardly.

Lopmon blinked. "She is. Why do you want to see her?"

"I need to talk to her about some… issues I've been having lately," Andy answered. "Can't afford a real therapist. And after Spectra, I don't really think the school is ready to hire someone to be a teen therapist for a while. And it's not really something I could talk to a real therapist about anyways."

Lopmon frowned, but nodded. "Of course." He then turned to look into Jazz's room. "Jazz, Andy is here and he wishes to talk to you."

"Alright!" Jazz called out. "You can come in, Andy!"

"... You uh… did put away Bearbert, right?" Andy cautiously asked.

Jazz rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, Bearbert is put away in my closet."

Dorimon's fur bristled. "Teddy bears are evil…"

"How did you convince Dorimon that teddy bears are evil?" Jazz frowned. "You're not a good influence."

"I didn't do anything!" Andy defended. "Dorimon was the one who ran into actual evil teddy bears."

"It was in the Ghost Zone," Dorimon added.

Jazz sighed. "Come on in, before I diagnose you two as teddy bear phobics."

Andy grinned sheepishly before he walked into Jazz's room. Lopmon closed the door behind them before he walked over to Jazz's bed and hopped up onto it to relax. Dorimon hopped down to relax next to Lopmon. Andy sat down on Jazz's computer chair.

"Here, let me sit on that, you relax in bed," Jazz spoke up. "I need that chair to be able to take proper notes anyways. And laying down will help you relax more."

Andy rolled his eyes, but decided to do what Jazz said. He laid down on Jazz's bed while Jazz sat on the computer chair, holding onto a notepad and pencil. Jazz's bed was pretty comfortable.

"So, what seems to be the problem, Andy?" Jazz asked as she looked at her baby brother.

"I… haven't told everyone about what really happened when Mom was looking for Danny in Vlad's cottage back at the Rockies," Andy sighed. "And I think… what happened there really affected my mental state… Lately… I've started becoming anxious around Danny and Takuya, though Danny more so. I keep getting… thoughts about Danny suddenly turning on us one day, or starting to get more… ghostly instincts and urges…"

Jazz frowned. "I see… What kind of thoughts have you been getting about Danny?" She asked as she wrote this down on the notepad. "Would you like to tell me about what happened at Vlad's that you think caused this? Or is that too hard to talk about?"

Andy twiddled his thumbs a little. "Well… basically, Vlad took me down to his secret lab, then attempted to make me half ghost too. He kept talking about how superior half ghosts were, how much stronger and better they were to humans. That I could never truly help or understand Danny, my own twin brother, anymore. I… I don't know what would've happened to me if Tsukaimon hadn't interfered. I likely… wouldn't be here right now…"

Jazz's eyes were wide at what Andy was telling her. "Vlad wanted to…" She trailed off. No wonder Andy has been so spaced out lately… He was almost experimented on and turned into a half-ghost like Danny. That would traumatize any teenager! Her expression turned softer at this.

Andy sighed. "After that… I started having nightmares about it… and I started seeing Danny differently. I started becoming more cautious of his ghost half. I become more alert whenever he transforms into Danny Phantom, watching out for any signs of anything… ghostly about him… aside from the obvious of course. I mean his attitude or personality. What if one day he becomes more malicious without realizing it? What if he starts hungering for things that ghosts would normally eat? Like ectoplasm or… human emotions? Or whatever else ghosts eat? And how would this affect him mentally in the future? Sure he's fine now, but… something is going to start happening to him that none of us could understand, that none of us… could really help him… what then? He might run to Vlad if he gets desperate enough."

Jazz frowned in concern. "Andy…" She set down the notepad. "This is quite the issue." She then sighed. "I can see what Vlad did to you. He scared you psychologically. Vlad most likely told you this to keep you doubting your brother, so Danny could feel like he has nowhere to turn to when these things could probably happen."

"Yeah… maybe… but I've been having these doubts in the back of my mind before then… I guess they've just been eating away at me more lately after what happened with Vlad," Andy admitted with a sigh. "What… should I do?"

"Well…" Jazz frowned. "I can't say that I know the answer to everything… even though I'd like to say that sometimes. But my best recommendation… is to tell Danny about this, and have him work with you through this issue. Show you that your fears are just that; fears. That they aren't necessarily true, and even if they are, that they won't be as bad as you think they would be. Fear can often exaggerate something that's far worse than it actually is after all. Since you fear Danny, or fear for Danny, it would be best if he's the one who helps you through this. The same goes for Takuya. If you're scared of him because of his Digimon form, then you need to tell him to help work you through this. You know Danny and Takuya, they love you, and they will do what they can to help you realize they're not monsters or are in any danger of becoming such."

Andy listened to Jazz's advice, and thought to himself. She might be right, but… "I don't know… I didn't want them to worry about this… what if they think I don't accept them? Takuya might freak out and see me as Dad, wanting to dissect him. And Danny… well… I wouldn't be able to stand it if he started thinking that way about me…"

Jazz frowned again. "Andy, you won't know for sure unless you actually talk to them. Takuya… what happened with Dad, that's different. Takuya knows you wouldn't do that. Heck, when he first revealed his Digimon forms to you, it was to protect you. If that doesn't say he cares about you, I don't know what else would."

"It's not a matter of them caring, it's a matter of them being hurt because I'm scared of them or for them…" Andy sighed.

"Why don't you take some time to think about it then?" Jazz suggested. "You know you can't let this fear fester, Andy… you saw what happened to Vlad for not letting go."

Andy frowned, but nodded. "Y-yeah… I know… I'll consider it at the very least." Maybe if I'm lucky, my 'future visions' will kick in and show me how Danny and Takuya would react if I told them.

Jazz then sighed. "Andy, just don't keep them in the dark. They need to know how you are feeling. Like you said before; keeping secrets can be more harmful than beneficial."

"Heh… way to use my own words against me," Andy chuckled a little bitterly. "Let me at least wait until this Halloween is over. I want to focus on our haunted room before things get… emotional between my cousin, brother, and I."

Jazz smiled a bit. "That's all I can ask of you, baby brother." She ruffled his hair affectionately as she said that.

Andy blinked and pouted. "Hey, no ruffling my hair." Even though it felt kinda good...

---

It was midnight. Everyone in Fenton Works had pretty much hit the hay. Except for Danny, who was currently out on patrol in Amity Park in his ghost form. Jack couldn't sleep. Maddie was sleeping beside him with the Fenton Earplugs as she usually did.

Jack sighed before he got up, feeling a bit hungry. He went down to get a snack from the kitchen, but as he made his way to the refrigerator, his gaze drifted towards the lab. Jack suddenly didn't feel that hungry as the memory of how scared Agunimon had been came back to him. Seeing the Legendary Warrior almost curled in on himself against the wall, shaking like a scared child. The poor Digimon had been so scared, he had felt the need to put up that sphere to protect himself.

Jack sighed as he sat down at the kitchen table. It just hurt him to realize he couldn't apologize to Agunimon, not if the Digimon was that terrified of him.

Jack rubbed his hair and forehead. He sat down on the kitchen table, unable to go back to his room right now.

Then Jack heard something land on the table. The big man looked up slowly, seeing the new little Digimon looking at him with its green eyes. Patamon, Jack remembered Danny calling him.

"... Do you want to talk about it?" Patamon asked softly.

Jack frowned before he sighed. "Not really… But it may help if I tell you."

Lopmon hopped up on the table too. "Hey… couldn't sleep either, huh?"

Jack blinked, before sighing. "Yeah… I just… Lopmon, you saw how awful I was to Agunimon… and you two saw his reaction to me…"

Lopmon nodded. "I know. I saw both things. It's understandable why he would be scared, but you also didn't know who and what he was at the time of the first incident."

"That doesn't excuse what I tried to do to him." Jack frowned. "He was a living being, and I was trying to experiment on him. I may be a scientist, but even I have lines that shouldn't be crossed. I guess I got too excited… Maddie and I were always excited about dissecting ghosts to find out more about them. They're already dead after all, so they can't feel pain anyways. But Agunimon wasn't a ghost…"

"Well… ghosts might be more complex than you think… but we're not talking about ghosts right now," Patamon sighed. "We're not here to judge you for what you've done, Jack. We wanted to let you know that we understand."

Jack gave a sad smile. "That's kind of you to say, but you don't understand the consequences of what I did. Because of me, Agunimon is now afraid of humans, save for those he trusts. And I just want to make things right with him, but if he is that scared of me, I can't do that."

"You don't know what we did in the past, Jack," Lopmon spoke up. "Agunimon isn't afraid of humans, just you. And… he's also afraid of me too, maybe not as much as you right now, but he was. I've hurt him, a lot, before. I was… corrupted at the time, but still, I did hurt him, and his friends. And unlike you, I wasn't sorry for it at the time. I enjoyed it, I relished in it. I've hurt someone else much worse too… and I've never forgiven myself for it… sometimes I can't even sleep at night, like right now, because I get nightmares about it."

Jack blinked in surprise. "You… hurt Agunimon too?"

"Not just him, but I did too." Patamon frowned. "I… well… I guess it's no secret. I was that Tsukaimon, that… dark angel who fused with the Wisconsin Ghost, and hurt your family, including Aguimon who was there at the time. He… he was definitely afraid of me."

Jack remembered that incident at the Reunion well, at least, from where he had been released from being overshadowed anyway. "I can see how anyone would be scared of you in that form."

"Y-yeah… before Andy purified me… I was corrupted…" Patamon sighed. "I still can't even really look at your son without feeling guilty, though Danny seems… pretty determined to bond with me despite what I did."

Jack chuckled a bit at hearing that. "Danny is quite the stubborn boy when he wants something. Andy is too in a way. No wonder they're twins."

"Yeah," Lopmon chuckled before he and Patamon got closer to Jack and put their little paws on his gloved hands.

"We've all done something we regret, and hurt those we care about," Patamon continued.

"And they might fear us for what we did," Lopmon added. "But that doesn't mean we still can't make it right. Agunimon still cares about you, even if you don't realize it Jack. He doesn't want to be afraid of you."

"But he is still a Legendary Warrior. One of these days, he will confront his fear, and allow you to give him that apology you wanted to give him, and make it up to him. Just give it some time, the wound is still too fresh," Patamon stated.

Jack smiled a bit here, feeling a bit better. "You're right. I guess I should give Agunimon some time before I make an attempt to confront him again."

"Until then, you should take better care of yourself. Agunimon wouldn't want you to hurt yourself because of what happened," Lopmon informed. "And your family will worry about you. You wouldn't want that, do you?"

Jack sighed as he looked down at the table. "No, I don't." Despite the guilt still present in his heart, he actually felt better about things now too, as the guilt was not as strong as before.

"Thank you, both of you… you have no idea how much I needed that," Jack said quietly.

"We're happy to help. It's important for people to help each other, whether they are Digimon or human. We all feel the same guilt, and hope to ease it one day," Patamon remarked.

Jack smiled at hearing that. "And one day, we will."

"The important thing is to not lose hope, and keep working towards that goal, as well as try to better yourself in the process so it doesn't happen again." Lopmon grinned.

Jack gave a deep chuckle at that. "That's true. We can only learn from our mistakes." And I will learn from this one so it doesn't happen again.

Patamon gave a small smile, though a part of him sighed sadly. If only Vlad was that willing to let go of the past, and live in the present. Maybe he could've actually reconnected with Jack and Maddie at the reunion, and forgive Jack for what happened. I can see someone like Jack didn't mean any harm, for what happened to Vlad. Maybe Vlad could've been happy, and maybe find another person to fall in love with instead of obsessing what he didn't have. Well… maybe… hopefully one day… he'll wake up and see that.

---

It had been a week since the haunted room idea. Today was Halloween. Danny and Andy were putting on the final touches of the haunted room. Takuya, Sam, and Tucker were going to see how they were doing soon. Dorimon was currently Dorumon, since it made it easier to work with his claws than with stubby little feet, besides, the only other person in this haunted house right now was Dash.

"There, I think we did a pretty decent job, don't you?" Danny asked.

Andy and Dorumon were looking at the room they just finished setting up. There were skeleton models that were hung with rope, and realistic looking spider toys hanging from the ceiling. Andy had Terriermon and Lopmon helped them earlier with some scary looking Digimon replicas, like the evil version of Cherubimon, which Lopmon seemed a bit too happy to help with. Terriermon helped make a creepy goat-like Digimon that Andy only ever saw once at Axion Labs. Patamon didn't seem too happy about that one though. Dorumon helped make replicas of Soulmon, since they were pretty scary in their own right. Salamon helped make some Devimon and Devidramon, which surprised Andy that Salamon would even make devil-like Digimon for their haunted room.

"Well, they are scary, even for Digimon. Though Sam seems to approve of it… which does concern me a little," Salamon had said to Andy.

They also had heads of teddy bears on spears, which were probably the scariest things in the room according to Andy and Dorumon.

Danny felt they had a good chance of winning the bet now. The crown of the room was the replica of the Fright Knight. It had a bucket helmet that had one side removed to look similar to the real Fright Knight's helmet, with fake wooden flames that stuck up from behind the head. The armor was made of metal plates that were bolted together, and the lower arms had fake flames that stuck out as well, but these ones were cloth that had bendable wire in them to make the flames' shape. The hands were paper mache, and the lower body was similar to the upper body in material make. The cape, which looked like it was made of purple flames, was the same material as the fake flames on the lower arms as well. Terriermon and Tucker had helped make the fake flames seem real, though they were just special effects. The 'flames' were actually lukewarm at most.

"Yeah, it does look pretty scary. The culmination of the scary Digimon we've met also helped bring in the creep factor," Andy complimented. "Although we seemed to have left out Phantomon."

"Unless that's Danny's costume," Dorumon snickered.

Danny pouted. "Haha, very funny." He bopped Dorumon on the nose gently for that comment.

"What? Come on, all you have to do is wear a red and gray robe that's torn a little, as well as hold a scythe. You'd look so badass!" Dorumon stated.

"Where did you learn that word?" Andy frowned.

"... Internet?" Dorumon shrugged innocently.

Danny chuckled. "Better keep Dorumon away from your manga, bro. I think he learned that word from those."

"My manga are clean." Andy pouted.

Then there was a knock on the door. Tucker, Terriermon, Sam, Salamon, and Takuya walked into the room.

"Hey, wow, this actually looks pretty scary," Sam complimented while she looked around.

Takuya had to agree. "Yeah, those fake Digimon really bring out the creep factor here. They look so life-like." If I didn't know they were fake, I would have Spirit Evolved.

"It helps that we have special effect specialists, as well as great artists to work on these replicas," Andy complimented.

Sam smiled, she did help with most of the replicas. "It was a lot of fun to do."

"And to top it all off…" Terriermon grinned before he took out a remote and started pushing some buttons.

The Digimon replicas began to move.

"I can make them move around to seem more lifelike~" Terriermon added.

Danny grinned. "You guys rock!"

"Though it's not considered cheating to have help, is it?" Andy asked.

"Nope. Mr. Lancer never said you couldn't have help after all. It's on him for not being specific~" Sam grinned.

"You scare me sometimes, Sam," Andy said.

"She scares you? You scare me on a daily basis," Takuya rolled his eyes.

Andy raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Takuya sighed. "Never mind…"

"Sam knows how to work within the rules to get away with certain things, as a sort of loophole, which she often does with her parents," Salamon explained. "I can't say I always approve, but it does work when it's necessary."

Tucker looked around the room a little. "What's with the teddy bear heads? They're probably the least scary things here."

"Watch your mouth," Andy hissed. "They can still hear you."

"Besides, you won't be saying that for long when they decide to come after you," Dorumon agreed.

Tucker blinked. "You two have issues."

Then Tucker walked over to the Fright Knight replica, blinking at it.

"Wow… This thing looks quite scary." Tucker noted as he eyed it.

"If you think that's scary, wait until you see this." Danny grinned before he suddenly transformed into his ghost form, which Andy watched carefully before Danny flew into the Fright Knight replica, taking it over and making it come to life.

"I am the Fright Knight!" Danny spoke in a rough voice. "Behold the Soul Shredder!"

Danny then held out the bright yellow balloon that was in the shape of a sword. The balloon sword wobbled a bit before it hit Tucker with it, having it squeak out as he did. "It slices, it dices, it creates your worst fear!"

Despite Andy's own unase with Danny apparently capable of taking over inanimate objects, not just people, he couldn't help but laugh when he saw Danny using a squeaky balloon sword toy as the Soul Shredder. Not to mention Danny was speaking like a salesperson, that was anything but scary.

Takuya laughed as well. "Danny, the rest is great, but that yellow 'Soul Shredder' is a bit too silly to take seriously."

"Where did you even get that? You could've easily just made a replica sword." Sam frowned.

Danny had the replica Fright Knight sit down before he left it and landed, turning back into his human form. "We… didn't have enough time to make a replica sword…" He admitted sheepishly.

"Maybe the fake sword can go, I mean the rest looks scary enough without it." Takuya suggested.

"But the Fright Knight isn't complete without the Soul Shredder." Danny frowned.

"Maybe we can scrounge something up for the Soul Shredder," Dorumon suggested. "Maybe… Andy, you could scan the Phantomon's scythe card and create that shadow scythe, right? Maybe we can use that as the Soul Shredder?"

"It's a scythe, not a sword." Andy frowned. "Besides, I don't think it's permanent. The shadow scythe only stays as long as you and I have the energy for it to exist."

Takuya frowned. "Hmmm… Maybe we could use an old pipe or something, put a hand guard over a small section for the hilt, and call that the Soul Shredder."

"Well, while you guys figure that out, I'm going to go out with Niki for trick-or-treating. She's waiting for me," Tucker stated before holding up his D-Arc. "I already charted the best route for the free candy. I made a red zone, that means to stay away from those houses. There's nothing but fresh fruit and granola bars in the red zone."

"Those don't sound too bad," Terriermon stated.

"You'll eat anything. But I just want candy for Halloween," Tucker chuckled. "Niki and I plan to save them up for special occasions too."

Terriermon grinned. "Sounds great!"

"You stay out of my candy." Tucker warned his partner, which caused Terriermon to pout.

"Aww…" Terriermon pouted.

"Don't worry though, I'll save some for you, just… don't eat it all at once," Tucker remarked.

"No promises," Terriermon chuckled.

"Be glad your Digimon isn't a metal eater," Andy remarked.

Dorumon frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"No, just telling Tucker to count his blessings. He has a lot of technology made of metal after all, I'm not sure how much restraint you'd have if you were his partner," Andy explained.

Dorumon nodded. "Ah, yeah, it's probably best I'm not his partner then. I wouldn't be able to control myself if I saw all that metal."

"So… what's your costume going to be for this event?" Salamon curiously questioned.

Tucker simply took out the false glasses with the false nose and put them on. "You gotta travel light to maximize the candy haul."

"I probably don't need a costume, I'm adorable as I am, and people will think I'm just a really small kid wearing a costume~" Terriermon grinned. "Oh, and here, use this remote to control the Digimon replicas. We've already labelled which button does which for which Digimon, so it should be easy for you to figure out how to use it."

Terriermon tossed the controller over to Danny.

Danny caught the controller. "Thanks, Terriermon." He then grinned. "Have fun!"

"Oh we will!" Tucker smiled before he picked up a pumpkin shaped bucket he intended to use to hold his candy, then rushed to the door.

"Okay, time to hit me with something sweet, baby!" Tucker exclaimed as he reached the door and opened it.

As soon as Tucker opened it, he and Terriermon were surprised to see Jack and Maddie standing there. Jack was wearing his goggles, which was rare for him. He was also holding a big bazooka, but he didn't fire it at Tucker.

"Are you kids alright?" Jack asked.

"There was a ghost reading in this very room seconds ago, but… it seems to be gone now," Maddie stated, looking at her Fenton Finder. "I guess we didn't need to worry since you do have your Digimon with you."

Tucker gave a sheepish, albeit nervous, grin. "Yeah… I think the ghost was scared off by them. There are four Digimon in the area after all."

"Now if you don't mind, we're going to get some free candy!" Terriermon grinned.

Tucker smiled sheepishly before he walked past the Fentons to leave the house.

"Isn't he a little old to be walking around in a stupid costume?" Jack asked.

Danny came up to his parents. "Mom, Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Decontaminating the areas," Maddie answered. "We also want to make sure you kids have a safe yet fun Halloween."

"You know how ecto storms always flare up around this time of year," Jack stated.

"Really? … How do those affect ghosts?" Andy asked in concern.

"Ghosts often become more aggressive around Halloween, they are said to become stronger as well. Some say even the weaker ghosts will start to become visible at this time of year, and-" Maddie began to say when Danny quickly spoke up.

"Hey, let's not worry about what could happen to ghosts on Halloween. If this area is clean, then we don't need to worry, right?" Danny smiled sheepishly, though he did notice Andy was starting to pale as Maddie's explanation went on.

"Are you sure? We could do a scan around the area to make sure there aren't any ghosts around here," Jack stated.

"Um… Mom, Dad, I think we have things under control here." Danny said, trying to get his parents to leave so Andy wouldn't get freaked out by the explanation. "If we see any ghosts, we will contact you."

"Alright, if you're sure, sweetie. By the way… what did make you decide to volunteer for this haunted house thing?" Maddie asked curiously.

No one had noticed, but Takuya was now looking somewhat pale and was beginning to feel fear creeping into his body. He was shaking somewhat, trying to find a place to hide in the room. Seeing no real place to hide, Takuya decided to opt for the teddy bear heads, making sure to crouch down so he was behind the spikes with the bear heads on them. He didn't even look up, instead having his gaze looking at the floor. He was panicking now, hyperventilating as he tried to calm himself down. Sweat was running down his face as well, a clear sign of a panic attack, not that anyone saw it anyway.

"Oh, we thought it would be fun to get into it. Sam also enjoys it," Andy spoke up.

"Of course, Halloween is usually my favorite holiday, right next to Christmas." Sam smiled.

"Looks like you all did a pretty good job with this room," Jack complimented, not noticing Takuya.

"Yeah, well, thank the Digimon for helping. They really gave us some great ideas to use for the room too." Danny said, not wanting to get all the credit for the humans.

"It was pretty fun," Salamon admitted. "More so than I would've thought. We didn't have these types of holidays in the Digital World."

"Though we do have our own holidays," Dorumon chuckled. "I think…"

"Oh, Danny, I also brought over your friend." Jack grinned.

Jack stepped aside, revealing Patamon, who flew inside the room. "Uh… Hello, Danny."

"Patamon!" Danny smiled at seeing the little Digimon. "I'm glad you're here. Though what made you decide to come?"

"I… well… your parents thought it might help if I was… here to enjoy this… holiday event with you," Patamon timidly answered.

Danny smiled. "Well, I'm glad they decided to bring you along. Come on in and check out the haunted room we made. It will give you quite the scare."

"Patamon… it's good to see you again," Salamon spoke up, seeing her old friend back to his normal self.

Patamon gave Salamon a sheepish look. "It's… good to see you again too, Salamon."

"Hey, no need for formalities, we're all friends here, not stuffy government run Celestial Digimon," Dorumon chuckled, hoping to lighten up the tension.

Danny grinned. "Yeah, no need to be so formal. We're all equals here, so let's just enjoy ourselves."

"You kids have fun then. We'll be looking around town for any anomalies," Maddie said before she and Jack left the kids to their own devices.

"Takuya? Are you okay over there?" Patamon asked, having noticed Takuya curled up behind the spears of beheaded teddy bears.

Takuya perked up, looking up warily. His face was pale and he looked like he was drenched in sweat. "N-Not… Not really…" He admitted at last as he stood up, but due to how panicked he had been, he felt a bit dizzy. "I… had a panic attack…"

"Oh… maybe you should… stay home for this holiday. It is supposed to be a holiday of scares after all, and… you look like you've had all the scares you can take right now." Salamon frowned in concern.

"And Mr. Fenton is going to be out on patrol all night, so you don't want to worry about seeing him," Sam added, also in concern.

"Can you… come out from over there? I'd comfort you, but… the teddy bears' eyes are watching." Andy frowned.

Takuya nodded. "Yeah… You're… You're right… I think I should get home…"

"Maybe we'll bring you home some candy too later," Danny offered. "Try to relax, okay? I think Jazz and Lopmon will be at home, so you can talk to them if you feel like you need to."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah… I will try. I'll… be going now." He stood up again and made his way to the door, feeling like he needed to get home quickly.

"Do you need someone to walk you home?" Dorumon asked in concern.

"No… I can get home on my own." Takuya replied, not wanting to worry anyone else.

"Alright… but call one of us on your D-Tector if you feel you can't make it on your own," Andy said in worry.

Takuya nodded before he walked out of the room.

"And you guys think I have issues," Andy remarked, crossing his arms.

Danny frowned as he looked at Andy. "Bro, you're afraid of teddy bears. That is not a normal fear."

Dorumon looked at Danny. "It's a normal fear!"

"Especially since they have an army infiltrating in everyone's house due to their cuteness. You don't realize their cuteness is a lure to have you take them in," Andy hissed.

"As riveting as that is, we should get ready for when Mr. Lancer comes to check on the room. It's going to be soon since it's already 9 PM," Sam stated. "And the haunted house is open at midnight."

"Mr. Lancer is likely checking Dash's haunted room first," Andy guessed.

"I wonder what kind of haunted room Dash made," Dorumon muttered curiously.

Danny gave a mischievous grin. "Maybe we can go take a peek?"

"... What do you mean by 'we'?" Andy questioned, looking at Danny warily.

"I mean what I mean, bro~" Danny said as he turned into his ghost form. "You and I go take a quick peek, and we come back here."

"Ah… ha…" Andy gave a nervous chuckle. "Maybe… you uh… could go check it out, while I… um… figure out how to use that controller Terriermon gave you?"

Danny frowned. "Okay, if you insist, bro." He then turned intangible and flew out of the room towards Dash's haunted room.

Andy sighed in relief when Danny flew out of the room.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I… just didn't really want to spy on Dash," Andy answered, waving it off.

Dorumon frowned to himself. Andy, you can't keep hiding this. It isn't right. You should take what Jazz told you to heart, even your own words about keeping secrets from each other.

"Are you sure that's all?" Salamon asked, likely seeing through Andy's excuse.

Andy sighed. "... It's… not really something I want to talk about right now, okay? Let's just enjoy the haunted house before we talk about my… issues."

Salamon frowned, but decided to let it go for now. "Very well…"

"But at least acknowledge it, alright?" Sam suggested, looking a bit worried herself.

"Yeah… I know," Andy sighed.

---

Meanwhile, deep in the Ghost Zone, Vlad Plasmius was flying somewhere. He also had a copy of the Chronicles of the Fright Knight in his hands. Ever since his partner betrayed him, he had been busy looking for a certain key in the Ghost Zone. Vlad smirked when he saw he was coming up to the lair that was in the book.

"Ah, here we go. The lair of the Fright Knight. Just as the book shows." Vlad Plasmius purred as he approached the castle-like lair. It had a menacing air about it, even flashing lightning. But Vlad didn't seem disturbed. In fact, he seemed to fit right in with the creepy air.

Vlad began to fly into the castle. Inside was just as creepy as it was on the outside. There was a long spiral-like stairs ahead of him. Vlad kept grinning as he flew up those stairs. "If I'm right, then the Fright Knight will know where the key is to the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep."

However, as Vlad floated up the stairs, large axes began to swing down towards him. Vlad seemed to be surprised, but he did turn intangible, the axes passing through his form easily. Vlad smirked to himself, as this was like child's play, although it was clearly harder to maintain his intangibility in the Ghost Zone. The castle was clearly designed to keep amature ghosts away, thankfully he wasn't an amature.

Vlad easily got through the axes and came into another room. This one appeared to be a long hallway. There were skeletons standing there, holding onto creepy looking pumpkins with creepy faces on them.

"Oh, what's this going to be, I wonder?" Vlad snickered to himself.

As if to answer, large spikes came out from the walls, just as the walls began to close in around Vlad. Vlad raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Nice trick, but not enough to stop me."

With a flash of dark light, Vlad turned into his human form and just took a leisure stroll across the hallway. Even after the spikey walls shut in on each other, Vlad kept going like it was nothing until he came out on the other side without a scratch on him.

"That was too simple." Vlad noted as he walked away from the walls. "Honestly, being a half-ghost has so many advantages."

Vlad then opened the door to the next room. There, he saw a purple jack-o-lantern pumpkin with a bright glowing green sword sticking out of its head. There were skeletons lying all over the place. Vlad ignored the skeletons, stepping on one of their arms, crushing it under his foot, and paid little mind to it. He walked over to the jack-o-lantern and grinned hungrily at the glowing sword.

"Ah, here we go." Vlad purred before he reached out and gripped the hilt of the sword. "Once I free you, Fright Knight, I can get what I need."

As soon as Vlad pulled the sword out, there was purple goo on the tip of the sword. The skeletons in the room all stood up, coming to life. The skeletons all bowed down, as if waiting for something. Vlad backed away from the pumpkin, but was still grinning. Shortly after, there was a green fiery vortex that came out of the pumpkin, unleashing green ecto-lightning as the vortex spun around and a column of ecto-energy came down from it. The pumpkin shattered and there was an explosion of ecto-energy before bats flew away, revealing a smoke-covered form before the green smoke faded, revealing the Fright Knight in all of his creepy glory.

Fright Knight narrowed his glowing green eyes at the human before him. "Fool! You have released me. Return to me my sword so my reign of terror can begin anew!"

"I will give you your sword back, if you give me what I want," Vlad spoke up smoothly.

Fright Knight just narrowed his eyes again. "And what is it you require? Because, for my sword, that was not a request that was made, but a demand."

The Fright Knight launched himself at Vlad. Vlad quickly transformed back into his ghost form before he held out a hand and created a pink barrier around the Fright Knight. The Fright Knight slammed his fists into the barrier.

"You may be a strong knight, and the original spirit of Halloween, but without your sword, you're barely at the quarter of your strength," Vlad stated.

Fright Knight glared at Vlad. "You will not restrain me for long, whelp!" He tried to break the barrier, but it was no use, for Vlad was right.

"Listen to what I want, and I will give you your Soul Shredder back," Vlad stated. "You had served under the King of Ghosts before. Pariah Dark, you know he was locked into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. And it stands to reason you may also know where the skeleton key is to that Sarcophagus. I would like to know where that key is."

Fright Knight stopped his pounding on the barrier and looked at Vlad. "You wish to know where the key is?" He growled. "You fool! You have no idea the power you could unleash! That key should never be found!"

"That is my business, Fright Knight," Vlad said, turning all his attention on the knight. "Now where is that key?"

However, while Vlad was talking to the Fright Knight, the skeleton minions had been moving in on him. They then jumped onto Vlad, which startled him enough for the barrier around the Fright Knight to drop. Fright Knight took advantage of the situation and lunged at Vlad, nailing the half ghost with a punch.

Vlad growled before he created a duplicate and tossed him the sword. The duplicate of Vlad's then disappeared in a flash of green light and mist, along with the Soul Shredder.

"No! My sword! What have you done!?" The Fright Knight shouted.

"If you want to know the location of your precious sword, then you will tell me the location of the skeleton key. I'd say that's a fair bargain, wouldn't you?" Vlad smirked, showing his fangs.

Fright Knight glared at the ghost before him. "You will rue the day you asked me for the skeleton key's location!" He bellowed in warning. "The skeleton key is in the remains of Pariah Dark's kingdom, the area known as the badlands. It is hidden from humans and ghosts, however, so you will not find it very easily."

"That's good to know." Vlad grinned.

"Now, thou must keep thou's end of the bargain. Where is my Soul Shredder?" The Fright Knight demanded.

Vlad gave a smirk. "Right. Your precious sword is in the town of Amity Park, in the human world. If you go there, you will find your Soul Shredder." Let's see how well you'll handle the Fright Knight, little badger.

The Fright Knight turned towards another jack-o-lantern pumpkin, though this one was orange instead of purple. The Fright Knight grabbed the pumpkin and smashed it against a wall, shattering it. This released a black, bat-like winged pegasus, clad in flaming armor, and its pupiless eyes glowed red. It saw the Fright Knight, its master, and awaited for him to get on its back.

The Fright Knight then jumped onto his mount's back and grabbed the reins before the pegasus let out a whinny and took off with a flap of its bat-like wings. The duo of Halloween flew out of the castle and into the Ghost Zone, their destination Amity Park.

Vlad smirked to himself. I do hope Jack and that little traitor Tsukaimon get caught up in the Fright Knight's rampage. Happy Halloween, Daniel.

Vlad then laughed to himself as he flew out of the lair.

---

"What the?" Andy jumped when Vlad's duplicate suddenly came flying into the haunted room. "Vlad!?"

Patamon gasped and quickly hid behind Andy and Dorumon, his entire body was shaking.

"What are you doing here?" Sam demanded.

"I don't think that's actually Vlad… there's something off about him." Salamon frowned.

"Just thought I'd bring you a little gift~" Vlad's duplicate smirked before he dropped the glowing sword he had in his hands onto the fake Fright Knight. "Enjoy~"

With that said, Vlad's duplicate disappeared into green mist.

"What… did he just leave us?" Andy asked.

Sam slowly approached the sword, and then gasped. "Andy… I think that may be the Soul Shredder…"

"The Soul Shredder? As in from the book about the Fright Knight? Are you sure it's the genuine article and not just a really good replica?" Andy skeptically asked.

"It's glowing," Sam deadpanned.

"Besides, I can feel a lot of powerful ghost energy coming from it. I doubt it's fake," Dorumon gulped, shivering from the sight of the Soul Shredder.

Salamon was growling. "Why did that ghost leave this sword with us?" The normally polite Celestial Digimon was swearing in her mind. As an angel-type Digimon in her strongest form, she was more attune with the despised powers of the dead.

Patamon was shaking, since he too had an angel-type Digimon as his strongest form, he couldn't stop shaking from feeling the powers coming off of the sword. "It… it needs to be gone… it's evil… it doesn't belong here…"

"Patamon, please calm down, you need to breathe," Salamon said in concern for her friend.

"What's wrong with him?" Sam asked in concern.

"He's still a newborn, despite all his memories, his mind and body can't take too much of the powers of the dead yet," Salamon explained.

Sam frowned. "And are you okay, Salamon? You look somewhat tense."

"I am a Celestial Digimon, Sam." Salamon replied. "I am more attuned with the powers of the dead, as in I can sense them more strongly because I am an angel-type Digimon in my Mega-level form."

"Is it the same with Lopmon?" Andy asked curiously.

"Yeah, though it might be to a lesser extent with him," Salamon answered.

"What should we do with the sword then?" Dorumon asked as he approached the shaking Patamon.

Dorumon then picked up Patamon and started to cradle him. "There, there, it'll be okay. We'll see if we can get rid of the big mean sword."

Sam smiled at seeing that. "You're quite brotherly, Dorumon."

"Or motherly," Andy snorted.

"Hey! I just want to comfort Patamon, poor guy's been through enough as it is," Dorumon grumbled.

Andy shook his head before he looked at the sword. He then walked over to it. "It's… uh… not going to kill me or something if I touch it, is it?"

Sam looked uncertain herself. "I don't think it will, but I would rather avoid touching it…"

"We have to do something with it," Andy said before he touched the Soul Shredder and quickly jerked his hand away.

Nothing seemed to happen. So Andy carefully grabbed the sword's hilt and picked it up. "Huh… feels lighter than I thought…"

Suddenly, Danny came flying into the room, which startled Andy as he turned around, holding the sword. Danny yelped at the sudden glowing sword right in his face.

"WAH!" Danny barely avoided the sword's swing at him. "Bro! Calm down!"

"You nearly gave me a heart attack, Danny!" Andy hissed, putting the blade of the sword down.

"Why do you even have a glowing sword?" Danny questioned, looking at the sword in his brother's hand.

"Vlad decided to leave us a gift," Dorumon answered.

"It's also the Soul Shredder, the same one from the Fright Knight's book," Sam added. "At least we think it is."

Danny looked quite surprised. "Vlad left that with us? Why do I get the feeling this isn't some Halloween surprise of goodwill?"

"Because it's Vlad?" Andy raised an eyebrow. "We were wondering what we should do with it."

"Patamon and Salamon are really uneasy around it," Dorumon explained.

Danny noticed the shivering orange ball in Dorumon's arms and frowned.

"Um… Is Patamon okay?" Danny asked, concerned about Patamon now.

"It's evil… it must disappear…" Patamon whispered.

"He may have his memories, but he is still a newborn, the powerful ecto energy the Soul Shredder is giving off is overwhelming him," Salamon explained. "It's also because he's an angel type Digimon, and a Celestial, he's far more attuned with the powers of the dead."

Danny blinked. "I guess that makes sense." He then looked back at the Soul Shredder. "How do we get rid of the Soul Shredder though? I mean, we can't exactly just head into the Ghost Zone with it and put it back… could we?"

"I don't know. But I'd take your balloon replica over this creepy thing," Andy muttered, still holding the Soul Shredder, but was holding it away from his face.

"Ugh… don't remind me. After seeing Dash's Spa of Doom theme, which Mr. Lancer is looking at right now, the balloon just seemed so ridiculous," Danny grumbled. "It's too bad we can't just use that Soul Shredder as a replacement until-"

Danny stopped before a thought occurred to him. "... Hey, why don't we do that? I mean it doesn't seem to be doing anything right now."

"No! Do you know how often things go wrong if we leave it up to chance like that? It's happened far too many times already! I don't think it's wise to tempt fate at this point, bro!" Andy hissed.

Danny frowned but then sighed. "Okay, okay. We won't use the Soul Shredder, bro."

"Thank you for being sensible," Andy sighed in relief .

Sam, out of curiosity, walked over to Andy to study the Soul Shredder. "This is really fascinating. I never thought I would see the genuine article. Just imagine what you could do with it if you're able to harness its power."

"I don't think its original owner would like that," Andy grumbled.

"It's evil, you shouldn't use it," Patamon warned.

Sam frowned. "C'mon, it can't be that bad, can it?"

"It would probably be best not to chance it, Sam." Salamon frowned.

"You worry too much," Sam said. "Halloween is my specialty after all. Could I see the Soul Shredder, Andy?"

"Uh… sure, just… be careful with it," Andy answered as he held out the Soul Shredder to Sam.

Sam reached for the sword and took it from Andy. However, it was very heavy for her. "Ooof! This thing is heavy!"

Due to the weight of the blade, Sam was forced to put the blade into the floor to keep her arms from falling off. "Wow… How can you lift that thing?"

"What? It wasn't that heavy, how were you struggling to hold it?" Andy questioned, confused.

"I don't know." Sam replied. "And don't say it's because I'm a girl!" She added, glaring at Danny.

"I wasn't going to!" Danny quickly defended himself. "You're pretty freaking strong, stronger than even the jocks!"

"It must be one of those weird curses on the sword, or it's actually sentient and is very picky of who wields it," Andy guessed before he yelped. "GAH! I need to decontaminate my hands!"

"I think you're fine, Andy," Dorumon tried to reassure the boy before he could go into panic mode.

Fortunately, and unfortunately, the Soul Shredder suddenly shot out a powerful green light into the ceiling, which it broke through, and the light went up into the sky, creating a vortex of ecto energy.

Sam paled. "Um… I didn't think that would happen…" She muttered, feeling somewhat scared now.

The holy ring around Salamon's neck began to glow, she gritted her teeth. "The Soul Shredder is unleashing its power. Chaos and fear, it will spread it across the world until the world is covered in fear, chaos, and a never ending nightmare of terror."

Sam looked at Salamon. "What?! But I didn't think just putting the blade in the ground would do that!" She felt horrible for what she had done, even if it was unintentional.

"Sam, calm yourself, guilt will only add fuel to the fire. It is not your fault, you could not have foreseen this," Salamon spoke up.

Patamon was silent, he couldn't even move. Dorumon frowned in concern.

"We need to get this thing out of here," Andy hissed.

"Can we even touch it as it is now?" Danny frowned.

Suddenly, the door opened up. Mr. Lancer was walking in, holding a clipboard and a pen. "Mr. Fenton, both of you, it's time."

Mr. Lancer didn't see Danny Phantom, so he quickly changed back to his human form before he could notice.

"Oh, of all the rotten timing…" Danny gulped.

---

It wasn't quite a quiet night, with all the trick-or-treaters constantly ringing the doorbell. Lopmon didn't seem to mind greeting all the people in costumes though. Everyone thought he was a child in costume as well. Many even complimented at how well made his 'costume' was. Jazz was relieved that she didn't have to worry about giving out candy to people, she could just focus. Takuya came back home earlier, he didn't look so well. Jazz easily deduced that Takuya had another anxiety attack when Jack barged into their haunted room earlier. The boy wanted to stay away from Halloween this year.

Unfortunately, while it wasn't a quiet night, it was a peaceful night… until there was a sudden earthquake out of nowhere, and Lopmon suddenly ran to Jazz.

"I sense heavy amounts of ectoplasm in the air!" Lopmon alerted.

Jazz looked alarmed. "What? Where is it coming from?" Oh, of all the things that could happen tonight...

"Outside, somewhere, it's hard to locate though, because it's spreading all over the city." Lopmon frowned.

Jazz picked up Lopmon and hurried out of her room, only to run into Takuya.

As for Takuya, he was tense. "Can't we ever get a simple break?!" He growled. "I got a heat flash from my Spirits, and it's been non-stop!"

"Lopmon says he's feeling a lot of ectoplasm too." Jazz frowned. "We better go check it out. Well, you go on ahead, I need to gear up."

Takuya frowned. "Jazz… I don't know if I should. I mean, if I Spirit Evolve, and I see Uncle Jack again…" He then sighed. "Maybe I should check this out as a human instead."

"You can't keep letting your fear get to you, Takuya," Jazz sighed. "But alright. At least gear up with me. If you're going to fight as a human, you're going to want ghost weapons."

Takuya nodded. "Okay." He then looked at his D-Tector. "If I have no choice, I will evolve, but I would rather not chance it."

Jazz carried Lopmon with her as she led Takuya down into the lab. "Don't worry, Mom and Dad are out on patrol right now."

Takuya sighed. "I know." He then looked around. "So, what weapons do we have to use?"

Jazz put Lopmon down before she took a couple of Fenton Rods and tossed one over to Takuya. She then picked up some ecto guns, they weren't as big and bulky as bazookas, and they were easy to carry. She tossed one to Takuya. "We should travel light. Guns are for the long range, and the Fenton Rods are for close combat. I'm going to wear a hazmat suit as well. Maybe you should too."

Takuya frowned. "Not that I'm objecting, but I would feel like a superhero wearing latex like that." He then looked at the hazmat suits. "I don't know if there is one in black and red either."

"The hazmat suits are to protect you from possible contamination, and it's also better to wear than your normal clothes. They'd get torn up pretty easily in a fight," Jazz explained.

Takuya sighed. "I guess I have no choice then. I hope Aunt Maddie at least made one in red or black."

Jazz picked out a teal and black hazmat suit, the one she wore before when they were under attack by ghost animals. "Well… they don't have red and black, but…"

Takuya blinked.

Lopmon was trying not to laugh as Takuya was grumbling. Danny got a white and black hazmat suit, Andy got a white and dark blue hazmat suit, and Jazz had a teal and black hazmat suit. So why was he stuck with the abomination that was the orange and black hazmat suit? At least it was in his size this time, but the color was still an eyesore.

"Well, at least it's my size…" Takuya grumbled. He lifted up the hood and put on his classic goggles instead of the ones that came with the hazmat suit.

"It… uh… looks good on you?" Jazz tried. "Orange is close to red, isn't it?"

"Don't go there, Jazz…" Takuya warned. I really have to get Aunt Maddie to make one in black and red… Takuya then clipped his D-Tector to his belt on the hazmat suit, just in case.

"Hey, both of you, don't forget these," Lopmon spoke up, tossing both of them two Fenton Thermoses. "Maddie and Jack finally made more for each of us."

"Better hope Dorumon doesn't take a bite out of one of these." Takuya joked.

"I think he said he hates the Fenton gadgets due to the ectoplasm stuff they put into it," Lopmon remarked. "It's like coating donuts with poison, I doubt you'd want to eat it then."

Takuya groaned. "Okay, let's just go hunt down some ghosts."

"Yeah!" Jazz grinned.

The two cousins, and Lopmon, raced out of Fenton Works. They could see things around them were changing. Things like cars turning into big ghost monsters, the mailboxes eating people and animals, lampposts burning others alive with green ghost fire. If there were any Digimon here, they'd flee for their lives.

Takuya felt fear rushing through his body. Okay, I feel like I'm in a real horror film now!

"Come on, Takuya! We've got our work cut out for us. I'm sure the others are also trying to fight off whatever this is," Jazz spoke up.

"I'll see if I can try to locate them!" Lopmon spoke up.

Zombies were rising up from the graveyards and were starting to move towards them. Green rotting flesh falling off of their bones, their eyes glowing red, if they had any eyes. Whatever this was, it was not a normal ghost invasion.

For Takuya, he actually felt somewhat vulnerable while as a human in this invasion. "I think it's safe to say we might need some extra power…"

---

Meanwhile, back at the haunted house, where the spiraling light of ecto energy and chaos was currently, zombies were starting to move in the haunted room Danny and Andy made.

"Uh, Mr. Lancer, this might be a bit too dangerous…" Sam frowned as they were backing away from the zombies.

Dorumon and Salamon were growling at the zombies. Patamon stayed still in Dorumon's arms. Mr. Lancer didn't see anything unusual, he just thought they were either part of the room or were kids in costume.

Danny frowned. "She's right. We may have to leave." He was unsure if this was even a good idea now.

"No wait," Andy whispered to Danny. "Let's go with this."

"Why?" Danny asked.

"We can't have Mr. Lancer panicking, that'll just make things worse. Let him think this is part of the show," Andy explained before looked at Dorumon. "Get rid of those zombies."

Dorumon nodded before he ran forward, tackling the zombies out of the room before Salamon shut the door before the zombies could get back in.

Danny blinked. "Andy, I know we can't have Mr. Lancer panic, but we can't just leave that blade here either!" Danny hissed to his brother.

"Don't you think I know that?" Andy hissed back. "If he starts to panic, not only would that feed the sword's chaotic power, but he would end up hurting himself. He'll run out there where the zombies and who knows what else is out there are! Do you want to be responsible for that?"

Danny frowned. "No, I don't…" He admitted as he looked down.

"Then keep going with this, Sam and I will try to keep the monsters away until we can get that sword out," Andy informed.

Danny sighed. "I don't like it, but okay."

"Well, the zombies are a nice touch, but I must warn you, I do not scare easy," Mr. Lancer stated.

"Right… well, welcome to the Fenton's Room of Doom!" Danny spoke up, holding a flashlight to his face.

Danny then pressed a button on the remote, and everything that was animatronic began to move around, even letting out some evil laughs in the case of the evil Digimon replicas.

While Danny was putting on a show for Mr. Lancer, Andy took Sam's hand and the two of them went over to their Digimon. They looked at the Soul Shredder. Then suddenly, ecto electricity from the swirling cloud above zapped into the windows and containminanted the bear heads on the sticks. Andy and Dorumon both immediately went pale as the bear heads turned big, black, green, and… surprisingly, looked really cute.

"Aww… would you give me a body by hugging me?" The adorable bear heads asked nicely.

"KILL THEM WITH FIRE!" Andy screamed.

Dorumon shivered. "Evil bears… evil, cute, evil bears…"

"What's wrong with you two? They're just teddy bear heads," Sam asked.

Mr. Lancer raised an eyebrow at the supposed 'scary' bear heads.

"Don't fall for it! They're going to take over your body if you hug them!" Andy frantically warned.

Dorumon shot out a metal ball at one of the bears. As soon as it touched it, the bear's true nature was revealed. Its head was red, its ears in the shape of pointy imp-like ears, it had horns from above its eyes, its eyes turned stilted and pink, its teeth became large fangs, and its tongue forked.

"HUG ME. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO. HUG ME SO I CAN EAT YOUR SOULS!"

"I told you! I told you they were evil!" Andy smirked, pointing out the devil bear head.

Dorumon was tense, and he was growling. He wanted to digivolve to get rid of the evil bears, but with the teacher there, it was risky.

"Using cuteness to lure the victims in for a false sense of security… I like it, you're off to a promising start." Mr. Lancer grinned, writing it down on his clipboard.

Danny gave a nervous grin. "Y-yeah… all part of the show."

While Mr. Lancer was distracted, Salamon decided to attack. "Puppy Howling!"

The divine energy from the attack caused the demon bear head to screech out in pain as it was hit by the soundwaves and into the wall.

Dorumon gave a look at Salamon. "Thanks."

"Dark energy like demons are often weak to divine energy," Salamon informed.

"I… I want… to help," Patamon spoke up, trying to move out of Dorumon's arms. "I have to help… I must."

Dorumon frowned. "Are you sure? You're still practically a newborn."

"Yes, I can't let that stop me," Patamon answered before he managed to get his wings to move, then he flew up.

One of the spider toys suddenly turned into a giant spider with several eyes, and pair of horns. Its legs were green and pointy.

"Okay, as much as I like big hairy spiders, this is too much," Sam groaned.

Salamon growled at the spider. She moved in front of Sam. "Puppy Howling!" She unleashed her soundwave attack against the spider, which was pushed back and screeched as the divine energy hit its body.

Andy frowned as he looked back, seeing their skeleton models coming to life. "Dorumon, take down all the Digimon replicas, hurry! We can't afford those coming to life!"

Dorumon nodded. "Right." Dorumon quickly ran to one of the Digimon replicas and began to take it down.

Patamon flew to some of the replicas as well, using his body to tackle them down while Sam, Andy, and Salamon focused on the monsters. Danny ran over to a wall, thankful his dad left the Fenton Foamer behind so they at least had something to defend themselves with.

---

Meanwhile, Jazz and Takuya had been fighting off a dragon car while following Lopmon down the street. Lopmon was trying to find the source of the ecto storm.

"Guys!" Tucker's voice called out.

Takuya looked back. "Tucker?!"

Tucker, along with Terriermon, ran over to them. "Have you seen Niki? After these sudden… monsters started attacking, a big ghost bird picked her up and flew away with her!"

Takuya paled beneath his hood and goggles. "Oh crap…"

"No, we haven't seen her." Jazz replied with a frown.

"What is going on? Why is there a sudden burst of ecto energy and things turning into monsters and zombies!?" Terriermon shouted over the chaos.

"I don't know, but we're out searching for the cause ourselves." Jazz replied. "Lopmon is trying to find the source, but it isn't easy."

Takuya looked down and clenched a fist. He knew there were only a few ways to find Niki, and he was capable of one of them. But he wasn't so sure if he should.

"Maybe Valerie will find her, I saw her flying around on her hoverboard earlier, trying to save as many people as she could," Tucker hoped.

"Let's let Valerie handle the rescuing then," Terriermon spoke up. "Lopmon, together we should be able to find this source."

"Are you sure?" Lopmon asked. "We can combine our senses, but…"

"I'm not scared anymore, Lopmon. I know you aren't that Cherubimon you were in the past," Terriermon assured. "And we need to do this if we want to save everyone. Niki looked so scared when she was taken away, and I couldn't do anything."

Lopmon nodded. "Okay, I trust you, Terriermon."

Both rabbit-like Digimon held each other's hands. Takuya could sense them transferring each other's data, enchanting both of them. He had never seen this before. Their ears lifted up as they closed their eyes. Tucker was recording this with his D-Arc. Then both of them opened their eyes.

"It's coming from the Townsend Place," Lopmon stated.

"The haunted house…" Terriermon frowned.

Jazz sighed. "Of course it would be located at a haunted house…"

"No, it was supposed to be a house for the school staff to make into a haunted house," Terriermon explained.

"Whatever happened… Danny is likely involved," Tucker sighed. "We better go back him up."

However, just as they were moving, a large black pegasus landed in front of the group. The Fright Knight looked down at the children, before grabbing Tucker's shirt since he was the closest and lifted him up to his face.

"I am the Fright Knight, the spirit of Halloween!" The Fright Knight declared before he shot ecto-beams from his eyes at Tucker's pumpkin of candy. "And once this ecto-storm touches every part of this globe, these transformations of my monster minions will be permanent, and this shall be my new domain!" He then pulled Tucker closer to his face. "Now, take me to my sword!"

"Let me go!" Tucker yelled, struggling against the Fright Knight's hold.

"You better let him go!" Terriermon growled.

Jazz got out her ecto-gun. "Do as he says, or you won't be so lucky." She growled as Lopmon stood in front of Jazz, ready to take action.

Takuya watched this unfold before he looked down and clenched his fists tightly. Jazz, Lopmon, and Terriermon are fighting against this fear… So… why can't I? Am I really that weak? Am I truly not cut out to be a Legendary Warrior if I am afraid to fight back when it's needed most?

"Digital beings, thou stay back if you want this child in one piece," The Fright Knight threatened.

"One piece this! Bunny Blast!" Terriermon shot out little pellets of green energy at the Fright Knight's arm.

The Fright Knight didn't let go of Tucker, but he did cry out in pain. "Thou shalt pay for that!"

The Fright Knight shot out ecto flames at Terriermon, blasting him back several feet. Then he did the same to Lopmon before he could retaliate.

Jazz saw what happened to her partner, gaping at the action, before she lunged at the Fright Knight, firing her ecto-gun. "You will pay for that!"

"Jazz! Don't!" Tucker yelled out.

The Fright Knight had the pegasus rear up before using its hooves to crush the ecto gun in Jazz's hand, then it headbutted her in the forehead, which knocked her out rather quickly.

"Jazz!" Lopmon called out. "How dare you hurt my partner! Blazing Ice!"

Lopmon shot out an ice ball at the Fright Knight, who shot out flames at the ice ball, melting it.

The Fright Knight watched as Lopmon leapt up at his face, but he merely backhanded the Rookie-level Celestial Digimon, sending Lopmon back towards Jazz's limp form, also knocked out.

Terriermon then leaped at the Fright Knight himself, biting down on the armor with his teeth. His body was starting to burn from the flames, however.

The Fright Knight just scoffed. "Digital being, thou shalt be no more." He then swatted Terriermon aside like he was a mere insect. Terriermon cried out as he was sent through the air before slamming into the ground and getting knocked out as well.

"Terriermon!" Tucker cried out. "No…"

Seeing what was happening, Takuya gritted his teeth. I… I can't… No… I won't let this fear stop me! Tucker needs me… And I won't let anything happen to him, not as long as I can fight! His fists clenched tighter than ever before he looked down, his eyes in shadow as he grabbed the device on his belt. "You… let the boy go…"

"Takuya, you need to get away from here before he hurts you too!" Tucker desperately called out.

"What does thou think thou can do against the spirit of Halloween?" The Fright Knight questioned.

Takuya then looked up as he held up his left hand, and a ring of coding formed on it. "You asked for it…" Takuya held up his D-Tector and held it up, forming the familiar ring of fractal code around his left hand. He scanned it through the D-Tector's light, swiping his hand up as he did so. "EXECUTE NOW! FUSION EVOLUTION!" he cried.

The fractal code surrounded him, transforming into a blue-white cocoon of light. Within it, he felt the familiar transformation sweep over him. His body grew in height and became more muscular as a tugging sensation near the bottom of his spine transformed into a tail. A slight pain accompanied the growth of his wings and a sharp pain filled his mouth as his teeth elongated. Armor formed on his body and his hair turned yellow, becoming long and wild as his eyes turned a sharp, icy blue color. The light finally shattered and he flared his wings, landing and shouting out his name as he did so. "ALDAMON!"

Tucker's mouth dropped open, the goofy glasses and nose he was wearing fell off from his face. He was shocked speechless.

Aldamon glared at the Fright Knight, flaring his orange wings in a menacing manner. "I told you let the boy go!" He growled, revealing his sharp fangs as he did so.

"How is such a thing possible? A mere mortal turning into a digital being?" The Fright Knight stared in shock.

"That is not any of your business!" Aldamon snapped back as he got into a fighting stance.

---

Meanwhile, back at the haunted room, Mr. Lancer was tied up by the ghost spider's web. Danny shot the Fenton Foamer at the spider, which turned it back into a toy, but more kept coming. The skeletons and zombies were trying to invade as well.

"Uuugh, more keep appearing faster than we can get rid of them," Andy hissed as he was kicking one of the skeletons.

"You're telling me? And this is all my fault too." Sam frowned.

Then the floating bear heads and the giant spiders began to surround them.

"Thorn Jab!"

Vines and thorns came up from under the floor, grabbing the spiders and bear heads, squeezing them until they turned back to normal.

Danny blinked. "H-huh?!" He looked surprised at the sudden appearance of thorns and vines.

Petaldramon entered the room after crashing through the wall. He glared at the zombies before he had his twin tails grab onto the zombies and slammed them down hard.

"Now a giant dragon iguana, made of leaves, grass, dirt, and wood I see, very impressive," Mr. Lancer critiqued.

Danny gave a nervous grin. "Uh… yeah…"

Dorumon gave a look of thanks to Petaldramon. "Nice timing, big guy!"

"Sorry it took me so long. I had to fight off a lot of zombies and skeletons in my own room," Petaldramon stated.

Dorumon gave a grin. "Hey, better late than never!"

"We're not in the clear yet," Andy spoke up while Sam was staring at Petaldramon. "We need to get rid of that sword, it's causing all of this!"

Petaldramon looked at the sword. "Maybe we can pull it out?" He wondered.

"We're not sure if it's safe to touch," Salamon warned. "It's unleashing too much ecto energy, a human or a Digimon could die of ecto radiation poisoning if they touch it."

Petaldramon looked nervous. "Then how do we get rid of it?!"

Andy heard people screaming outside. "We'll figure something out. But you need to go out there and help as many people as you can."

Petaldramon looked at Andy and gave a nod. "Okay, but you be careful here." He then made his way out of the hole in the wall to go outside.

"That was…" Sam blinked.

"Petaldramon, the Beast Warrior of Wood," Salamon spoke up. "But this is no time to worry about him right now."

Danny nodded. "Salamon's right. We have more important things to worry about."

"Look out!" Andy yelled.

A demonic bear head was coming down towards Danny's head.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shot out an air bubble at the bear head, forcing it to hit a wall. "Nobody hurts the ghost boy!"

Danny looked back at Patamon in shock and relief. "Nice shot!"

Patamon seemed to have gotten over the overwhelmness he felt earlier, and was blushing from the compliment.

"I think a few more surprises, and you have this in the bag," Mr. Lancer spoke up.

"We should… probably get Mr. Lancer out of that web," Sam pointed out.

Danny nodded. "Yeah… I think we should." He agreed. "Okay, Patamon, let's see if we can get Mr. Lancer out of that webbing."

Andy blinked as he felt a sudden dizziness. He saw Danny and Patamon running towards Mr. Lancer, before a huge black thing came bursting through the ceiling, and crushing both Danny and Patamon.

Andy gasped as he came out of the vision. He saw Danny and Patamon running towards Mr. Lancer. "Danny! Wait!"

Andy ran towards his brother just as something big and black was crashing through the ceiling. Andy grabbed Patamon and tackled Danny out of the way just in a nick of time.

"Ooof!" Danny grunted as he hit the ground with Andy's arm around him. "Ow… What was that for, bro?" He asked as he looked at his twin.

Andy looked up before looking behind them. "That…"

A large pegasus with a flaming mane, bat-like wings, and an armored head was glaring at them from the floor. A humanoid figure was there as well, clad in armor with purple flames.

Danny paled. "Uh oh…"

On the black pegasus was Tucker, and he looked quite shaken up. From above came a familiar form that had orange wings and looked humanoid as well. Danny knew who that was, but he didn't say it because he was staring at the form of the Fright Knight.

"I think that's the Fright Knight…" Danny muttered.

"No, really? I thought it was some other ghost knight dressed in a flaming armor with a black evil looking flaming pegasus," Andy sarcastically remarked.

"Danny, whatever you do, don't give this guy the sword!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Oh, believe me, I'd rather get rid of the sword than give it to him," Danny grumbled.

Taking the chance while the Fright Knight was distracted, Aldamon flew in, a fist drawn back in preparation for a strike to the Fright Knight's helmeted head from behind. The Fright Knight's helmet went bouncing off on the floor, and his entire head apparently.

"Now that's gruesome," Andy blinked.

Aldamon didn't appear to care, as he then hovered over to where Tucker was on the black pegasus. However, before he could take the boy off, his Digimon instincts kicked in and his body tensed as he looked back behind him. This hesitation cost him, however, as the pegasus reared up and back kicked Aldamon away.

Aldamon grunted as he slammed into the wall, but luckily his armor protected him from the worst of the hit.

"My sword!" The Fright Knight shouted as his head came back onto his body.

"Danny! You grab the sword!" Sam called out. "Hurry!"

"R-right!" Danny hurried over to the sword and grabbed onto its hilt.

Unfortunately, the Fright Knight grabbed onto the hilt as well, and he pulled up both the sword and Danny with it.

The Fright Knight tried to dislodge Danny by swinging the sword around, but to no avail. Andy and Patamon yelped as he moved to avoid the blade of the sword while the Fright Knight and Danny were struggling with it.

"That's exciting, but is it scary?" Mr. Lancer questioned as the blade of the sword came close to him.

"Look out!" Patamon called out.

Danny tried to stop the sword, but the blade swung through Mr. Lancer's body.

Mr. Lancer's body glowed green for a second, before he suddenly went limp.

"Oh-no…" Salamon frowned.

Danny paled. "Mr. Lancer?" He called out, but to no avail. "W-what happened to him?!"

Aldamon had regained his senses by now and saw what happened to Mr. Lancer. Horror was on his face before it morphed into a look of rage. "RAH!" He pushed off the floor and flew at the Fright Knight's form, making sure he flew in from behind instead of from the front where the sword would strike him.

The pegasus, however, interfered. She tackled Aldamon with her own armored head, and she was a lot stronger than she looked. Aldamon hit the wall again. The pegasus flew in front of him as if to say 'your fight is with me'.

Aldamon grunted as he looked up, glaring at the pegasus in front of him. He wasn't sure if he could take on this ghost, but he would do so if it meant getting to Danny and Andy before something happened to them.

Danny let go of the sword so he could check on Mr. Lancer. Andy was looking at Mr. Lancer too. Dorumon frowned.

"He's still alive, but…" Dorumon shook his head.

"What did you do to him?" Andy demanded the Fright Knight.

"I merely sent his mind to a dimension where his worst fears come to life! All who feel the sting of my blade suffer the same fate!" The Fright Knight declared.

"You bring him back!" Danny demanded.

"Thou shalt not demand anything from me!" Fright Knight snapped before he backhanded Danny into a wall.

"Danny!" Both Andy and Sam shouted in concern for him.

Aldamon felt concern flood his body as he heard their cries, but his mind was too focused on his own fight to really care about anything else at the moment. Despite him being a fusion of his two Spirits, the pegasus was putting up one hell of a fight.

"What do you plan on doing now that you have your sword back?" Salamon demanded of the Fright Knight.

"Soon, my storm shall consume every corner of this globe! This world will forever be transformed, and no one can stop me!" The Fright Knight bellowed as he held up his sword in a menacing manner.

"But you're a knight!" Andy suddenly pointed out.

"Yeah? And?" The Fright Knight questioned.

"Aren't knights supposed to serve under a king or something?" Andy asked. "Meaning you're not supposed to be the ruler of anything!"

The Fright Knight let out a bellowing laugh. "Foolish mortal! Thou does not realize my blade grants me power over Halloween! I can rule this as a domain within those boundaries!"

"But this can't be your domain!" Sam spoke up. "It's not your world!"

"The claims of mortals do not matter to me. Thou shalt be residents in my new domain, which I have claimed in the Spirit of Halloween!" The Fright Knight replied.

Hearing that, Aldamon felt fury pulse through his body. He glared at the pegasus as he tried to come up with a plan to get past her. This pegasus is tough… I need a way to fake her out and get past so I can take on the Fright Knight myself!

"Then we will stop you!" Danny snapped, getting back on his feet.

"I have no time for mere human children!" The Fright Knight held up his Soul Shredder.

"Look out!" Tucker ran over to Danny, getting in front of him just before the Soul Shredder sliced into him.

Tucker's body glowed green for a second before he fell to the ground, completely limp.

"TUCKER!" Danny shouted in horror. "NO!"

"Where is his partner?" Patamon frowned.

"That's not important right now, we have to stop this guy!" Dorumon growled as he ran towards the Fright Knight.

The Fright Knight turned to face Dorumon and backhanded the little Rookie-level Digimon with ease.

"Dorumon, you need to digivolve!" Andy called out, getting his D-Arc ready.

The Fright Knight looked at Andy, seeing the D-Arc. He then flew at Andy. Andy's eyes widened as he saw the Fright Knight coming at him.

"ANDY!" Danny shouted as he ran towards his brother, hand outstretched to try to yank his brother away from the incoming blade.

Unfortunately for Danny, he was too late. As soon as his hands touched Andy, the Fright Knight's blade cut through Andy's body, making him drop his D-Arc in the process. Andy's body glowed for a second, and Danny's body glowed as well, then both brothers fell to the ground. Dorumon's eyes suddenly went dull before he fell to the ground as well.

Sam gaped in horror, Salamon stared in shock, and Patamon froze as he saw the brothers were completely still on the floor. Aldamon saw that as well. Fear, grief, and rage flooded his body as he looked down before slight flames came from his body. Aldamon looked back up, his eyes so cold, it was like staring into a field of ice. He didn't even care about the pegasus, his mind wanted to get back at the Fright Knight for what he had done to his twin cousins.

---

Titanic X: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, Agunimon learned a new move out of fear and desperation.

ZAFT: I had originally planned for the new move to happen anyway, but this was a perfect time to bring it out so, why not? X3

Guest: ZAFT: I will be updating my Gundam SEED story. But please try to keep the reviews regarding my other stories to those stories please. Thank you. :3