Digital Phantom

by ZAFT Convoy

DP Rebooted: Twins Danny and Andy have their lives torn upside down when Danny gets into an accident with the Fenton Ghost Portal. Takuya Kanbara just wanted to have a normal high school life until he found an odd figurine. The three boys have to navigate high school, ghosts, and Plasmius's plans while trying to master their unique powers.

6. A Training Regimen

ZAFT: Well, another Monday update. The story seems to be taking off on AO3 as well as on . :3

DarkFoxKit: It's just too bad that some of our usual commenters on FFnet are on AO3 instead, so I don't get to answer them. *pouts*

ZAFT: Well, I do that, or at least try to… ^^'

Takuya: Hey, at least you two answer comments at all. That can't be said for most authors. XD

Andy: Maybe they don't need us here then. We're just taking up space.

DarkFoxKit: Aww, don't say that, people love you.

Andy: They love me or they love to see me suffer?

ZAFT: On to the chapter! No more questions! *shoves Andy and Takuya into chapter*

---

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

Digital Phantom!

(Shows six forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Takuya Kanbara, Andy Fenton, and Jazz Fenton)

Falling into destiny

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

Reaching across new boundaries

(Andy Fenton appears with Jazz beside him. Takuya Kanbara appears behind him as well, the form of Agunimon appearing behind Takuya himself)

Let our stories come together

(Andy is shown with the form of Phantom beside him, a shadowed form with blue eyes behind the ghost boy)

Growing stronger

(Andy looks on at Phantom fighting before running to help the ghost boy by taking out his Fenton Rod)

Our pasts intertwine

(Six glowing orbs of light are shown, each of a different color (red, teal, lavender, dark purple, white, and yellow) before the red orb speeds towards Takuya)

Showing our future

(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 as Plasmius fires off ecto-rays at him, only for a glowing orange orb to appear around Agunimon and deflect the beams)

As we evolve

(The blasts speed past the screen as Tucker is shown with a Fenton Wrist ray being fired at a ghost)

Let's go… EVOLUTION

(Sam is shown with her Fenton Lipstick, firing it at a different ghost)

As our worlds collide

(Jazz is shown beside Andy, her hand on his shoulder as Andy looked shell-shocked by something)

We stand as one

(Jack and Maddie Fenton are shown, with the Fenton Works logo behind them as it glows green)

Growing strong

(A shadowed form is shown with blue eyes and a glowing white blade erupting from what looks like a giant weapon in the form's hands)

As we move along

(Danny is shown walking down the street with those closest to him appearing one by one; Andy, Tucke, Sam, Takuya, and Jazz.)

CHOU… SHINKA!

(Fractal code is shown before it dissipates to reveal Agunimon lunging out of the dissipating data, fire around his left fist)

Let's go… EVOLUTION!

(The group is shown facing down Plasmius, who looms above them with hands outstretched as a dark form appears behind Plasmius himself.)

Nothing will stand in our way!

(Andy, Danny, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, and Takuya all appear with ribbons of fractal code streaming out from behind them, a swirling green orb behind the ribbons of fractal code.)

Digital Phantom!

---

Chapter 6: A Training Regiment

The school dance hadn't been a bust, or horrible, but it did cause some unintended domino effects. Due to Danny being unable to overshadow Jack to stop him from talking to Mr. Lancer, things got a bit heated between Mr. Lancer and Jack. Maddie had to calm things down between them. When Andy went dragon and roared, Jack and Maddie shouted how there was a ghost attack, and to evacuate everyone. Maddie and Jack spent most of the night looking for this ghost, as well as inspecting the damages in the football field. Dash, Kwan, and Calvin were pretty shaken up, but Dash was trying to convince himself that it was a trick, there was no dragon, because there was no way a nerd and loser like one of the Fentons could possibly have turned into a dragon.

Jazz, of course, not having seen this dragon, thought her parents were embarrassing her when they shouted at everyone to evacuate the school. Tucker and Sam went home and called Danny, Andy, and Takuya to ask if they were alright, and what happened.

It had been rough, but things seemed to be calm now. Takuya had never felt so glad to have Phantom help him stop the rampaging Andy. But the fight had left some burning questions in his mind, namely what was he able to become now? Was it some kind of ghost? And he wanted to know if he could try to do what Phantom was able to do, like fly and go through stuff.

Andy had been trying not to think about the incident with his dragon rampage, or the fact he swallowed the amulet and needed Phantom to get it out of him. It was rather disgusting for both of them, but it had to be done. He was just glad they wouldn't need to worry about the amulet anymore. The school didn't shut down for a few days like when the Lunch Lady attacked, but it certainly wasn't going to have football on the football field any time soon.

According to the news, people were saying that some of the high schoolers were pulling pranks on the football field that went horribly wrong, most likely with fire since the field was scorched by flames, and the bleachers were torn and melted by flames as well. Though some of the students were saying it was a dragon that attacked, not many people believed them.

Thankfully, it was the weekend as the school dance had taken place on Friday, giving everyone a chance to just rest at home and recuperate.

Takuya was wondering to himself, he could now transform into Agunimon at will, at least he thought so. Andy and Phantom had offered to train him when he was able to do that. Now he wondered if training with them was a good time to do so.

Yeah… I think it would be. Takuya thought to himself. I mean, I can become Agunimon at will now. And it will help me understand my own abilities better if I get some training in. May as well go for it.

His mind made up, Takuya decided to talk to Andy about meeting with Phantom for his training session.

Andy was in his room with Danny, the two had started to bond again lately, which was pretty nice, but Takuya needed to talk to Andy alone.

"Hey, Andy?" Takuya asked as he knocked on Andy's door. "Can I talk to you about something?"

Andy, who was reading a biology book, looked up from it. Danny, who was writing on a piece of paper on his desk, looked up as well.

"Is it urgent?" Andy asked.

"Uh… no, but…" Takuya blinked. "What are you guys doing?"

"I'm helping Danny study for the biology test we have on Monday," Andy answered. Although considering what happened yesterday, I can't say I'm really interested in reading the digestive system right now…

"I want to make sure I at least get a B on the test," Danny sighed. "But biology is just so… hard…"

"You need to stop looking at it as a text book, and more as something that keeps us and other living creatures functioning," Andy said. "I wonder how a ghost's biology works… I wonder if Phantom knows…"

Danny looked disgusted. "I… don't want to think about that…" He admitted. Especially since I stuck my hand in your stomach yesterday…

Andy frowned when he saw the picture of a gorilla's stomach in his book before shutting his book. "But you know, maybe a break can't hurt. Danny, how about you get us some snacks while Takuya talks to me?"

Danny smiled. "That won't be a problem." He said. "I could use some 'brain' food."

Andy rolled his eyes before Danny walked out of their room, leaving Takuya alone with Andy.

"So what do you need to talk about?" Andy asked.

"Well… the last couple of ghost fights, especially the last one, I found I can now become Agunimon at will." Takuya said at last. "Remember how Phantom mentioned we could begin training as soon as I was able to do that? I was thinking we could start the training now because I can transform at will."

Andy decided to ignore the fact the last ghost fight Takuya had been in had been against him. "Well, I usually don't see Phantom until around 8 or 9 PM, when people are going home so they wouldn't see Phantom at our meeting spot. I'm not sure if Phantom will be there any sooner. But if you want to train as soon as possible, we could probably get a headstart, we'll just have to go where there aren't a lot of people."

"It's fine if we wait until Phantom can join us. I just meant we could start the training because I can transform at will now." Takuya clarified. "It… would probably help if Phantom was there. I mean, the extra help would be nice… Especially if I have trouble when trying to use any other abilities I may have in that form."

"True… I mean from what you told me, your fire attacks are useless against fire elemental ghosts," Andy remarked. "I still can't wrap my head around the fact that fire didn't do anything to me, at least when I was a dragon. I wish I could remember what I was like as a dragon… it probably would've been cool to experience it…"

"Trust me, you'd be better off not knowing that." Takuya muttered. "Especially with all of the hits you gave me and Phantom."

Andy sheepishly grinned. "Was it really that bad? I mean we were able to stop Phantom as a dragon relatively quickly."

"You were basically learning how to counter us." Takuya pointed out. "Particularly Phantom, since you train with him quite often."

"Huh… I thought as a dragon I would be too primitive to learn how to counter you guys," Andy admitted. "But… I think I do remember, a little, about… sparring with you two? I feel like I was trying to teach Phantom how to use something… something with his hands I think? But it's pretty much a blur…"

"Oh! That's right! During the fight, Phantom learned how to fire off ghostly rays from his hands!" Takuya realized. "That was how we were able to turn the fight around."

"Really? Phantom can now use long range attacks?" Andy blinked.

"Yeah, he can." Takuya confirmed. "At least, I think so. He may need some training to truly use that though. I'm not sure how ghost powers work, so I am just assuming here."

"I'll keep that in mind," Andy said. Strange, feels like I wanted him to learn that… maybe it was just the selective memory. I doubt my dragon self would've been able to even think about anything other than trying to hurt people that made me mad. "Alright, I'll take you with me when I go to meet up with Phantom later tonight. I'll see if I can whip your new form into shape~"

Takuya grinned. "Thanks, Andy! I appreciate it!"

After Takuya left, Danny came upstairs holding a plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. "Hey, bro, so what did Takuya want?"

"Oh, nothing too important," Andy shrugged. "You ready to get back to studying?"

"Yeah, why not?" Danny said as he set the sandwiches down. "Hope you're in the mood for some PB&J sandwiches."

As long as they're not amulets, I can eat them. Andy thought to himself. "Yeah, sure. Thanks, bro."

---

After several hours went by, the sun went down, and the stars began to sparkle in the sky. Andy looked at the rocket model clock on their wall.

"It's almost 8," Andy remarked. "I think we've studied enough today. I need to get going."

"Where are you going?" Danny asked.

"To meet up with Phantom, I usually meet up with him at this time," Andy answered, seeing how Danny knew Phantom and about them meeting up together.

Danny blinked, but then turned a bit nervous. "Um… well… What if he is tired and doesn't want to come tonight?" Sorry, bro, but I really can't… Not after that dragon fight…

"You think he won't?" Andy asked with a frown. "I've been needing to apologize to him… and Takuya wants to see him."

"Oh…" Danny realized. "Uh… well, maybe he might come, but he might not want to go all out with training, I mean you did say he had to fight some big ghost yesterday, not that I got to see it."

"Well… I'll ask him about that," Andy said. "I won't make him train if he doesn't want to, but I just thought he could at least talk to Takuya about… uh, something. And hear me out."

Danny smiled a bit. "Well, as long as he doesn't have to train, he may come. And I think he would want to hear an apology too." I really can't back out now…

Andy raised an eyebrow at Danny. "You almost make it sound like you know for a fact he'll be there if he doesn't need to train, or that he would want to hear an apology."

"Um… only from what you told me about him!" Danny exclaimed, trying to cover for his slip up. Aw man! I almost slipped up there! Way to go, Fenton…

Andy wasn't sure if he bought that, but he decided to ask Danny something else. "Would you like to meet him, bro? I didn't ask you before because Phantom didn't want others to know about him. But he knows you, and you know him now, so… I don't see why I can't bring you."

"Uh… No, no… It's fine! I wouldn't want to ruin the friendship you are forming with him." Danny said. "I'd be the third wheel."

"Takuya's gonna be there," Andy pointed out.

"S-still, just… don't worry about it, bro," Danny said. "You and Takuya go on ahead… I'll see if I can get some extra study time in. I need it after all."

Andy raised an eyebrow, wondering if Danny didn't want to meet with Phantom. "Sure… okay. Well, I'll go get Takuya then. If we're back home early, it means Phantom didn't show up tonight."

Danny nodded. "Okay. Have fun, bro." He said with a smile.

Andy waved to Danny before he walked out of the room, heading down to get Takuya. Danny waited for a minute or two before he closed the door, then he transformed into his ghost form. He was still a little sore from his battle with Andy. Andy could pack a punch as a dragon, not to mention how much of a battle he gave to Danny, way more than the meat monster did.

"Well, time to go meet Andy and Takuya…" Danny, as Phantom, sighed. "Boy, bro… you really know how to guilt-trip me, even not knowing I am Phantom."

Though Phantom couldn't blame Andy, Andy really had a good heart, and he was likely feeling guilty himself. Phantom didn't really know why Andy felt the need to apologize to him really, but he might as well hear him out. Phantom flew out of his house and headed for central park to wait for Andy and Takuya.

---

Andy and Takuya made their way to central park, using Andy's moped, it was faster than walking, and Andy didn't want Takuya to transform into Agunimon until they were at central park. They didn't want people to notice the armored man running down the streets with a boy in his arms.

"Alright," Andy said when he parked the moped near the fountain. "Phantom should be nearby if he was coming tonight."

Takuya hopped off the moped. "So, where do we go to meet Phantom?" He asked as he looked around.

"Around here," Andy said. "He should be-"

"Here I am!" Phantom announced, dropping his invisibility, causing Andy and Takuya to jump. "Hahaha! Gotcha~"

"Phantom! That wasn't funny!" Takuya exclaimed, trying to calm his racing heart. "Geez! You really like to be mischievous, don't you?"

"Hey, I'm a teenager, and a ghost, you gotta expect some pranks to happen," Phantom chuckled.

"Well I'm glad you had fun," Andy grumbled. "We came to talk to you about some things."

"Oh?" Phantom asked. "What's this about?"

"Well first of all… I wanted to apologize to you," Andy said softly. "Sorry for causing you so much trouble the other day, going dragon, having to keep people safe from me, and having to get the amulet out of me. I also apologize if my question about your… personal thing upset you. I had been worried you were angry with me, so I hadn't tried to talk to you after that."

"Whoa, whoa! First off, it wasn't your fault you turned into a dragon." Phantom pointed out. "And second, it was not the… uh… personal thing that upset me. You were just asking a question and didn't know it wasn't really… talked about… amongst ghosts. You didn't upset me. I was just under a lot of stress with that amulet around my neck."

Andy gave a sigh of relief. "I figured that was the case, but I needed to be sure. I'm glad that's all cleared up. As for the other thing…"

Andy looked over at Takuya.

"I can now transform into Agunimon at will." Takuya revealed at last. "I found out I could during that last fight, and boy, was it handy."

"Really?" Phantom asked. "Well, can you transform for me now?"

"Um… right here?" Takuya asked, looking around nervously.

"Yes. Nobody's going to see you, that's why Andy and I usually meet up here around this time," Phantom explained.

"Why are there no people here at this time? People like taking night walks in parks from where I came from," Takuya questioned.

"We're not really sure. Something about this park keeps people away at night. If it weren't for the fact that I come here to meet up with a literal ghost boy, I would probably leave too. This place kinda gives off a very spooky feeling, like you're being watched by something invisible," Andy remarked.

"O-okay…" Takuya said, accepting it. Taking a deep breath, Takuya took out that device from his pocket. Okay, here we go…

Takuya held out his device and the blue digital form of his Human Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his device as he formed a ring of fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the device over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his canine teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"

It was the first time both Phantom and Andy witnessed the transformation before their eyes.

"Whoa… so you Spirit-Evolve?" Andy asked. "Is that what it's called?"

Now evolved, Agunimon was looking himself over for the first time. "Apparently, yeah." He admitted, getting a good look at his new form for the first time. "It's what I say when I have to become this form. I think it triggers the transformation."

"Huh…" Phantom curiously looked Agunimon over. "So… we never really had the best of time to ask… but… what exactly are you in this form?"

"I'm… not entirely sure…" Agunimon admitted, his red facial markings on his cheeks seeming to vanish as he blushed from the embarrassment.

"We've had ghost meat monsters and ghost dragons… So maybe this is another type of ghost?" Andy guessed. "I mean you did call it Spirit Evolution, so maybe you're turning into a ghost when you do that?"

Phantom tried not to flinch at those words.

"I don't know…" Agunimon muttered. "Maybe…" In truth, he wasn't sure what he was. Sure, he could be a new type of ghost, but he wasn't sure if that was the case, then again how would he know?

"Well, there's only one way to find out~" Phantom said with a grin.

"What…?" Agunimon frowned.

"When I became a ghost, I could do 3 things right away," Phantom began. "Invisibility, intangibility, and flight. Granted it took me a while to get control of those annoying powers… but I was able to do it. If you can do those 3 things, then you're probably a ghost."

Agunimon actually looked unsure. "Um… I guess." He said, looking a bit nervous too.

"So how do we check then if he doesn't know how to control it?" Andy asked.

"His body should naturally use those powers if he's about to hit a wall, or if he falls from a decently tall height. The invisibility could be if he feels like not wanting to be seen," Phantom remarked.

"So you want me to run into a wall or something?" Agunimon asked.

"You could try," Andy sweatdropped. "Maybe you could try running through that tree there?"

Agunimon looked back at the tree Andy was pointing at and sweatdropped himself, as the tree looked quite thick and large in the trunk. Are they serious?! This is not going to be fun…

Still, deciding it was better than just standing around, Agunimon took a breath and decided to try it. Agunimon took a running stance then charged toward the tree. Agunimon tried to picture going through the tree, to have his body go intangible. Surely if Andy as a dragon could do it, so could he. I'm intangible, I can do it! I'm about to go through the-

Agunimon's thoughts were rudely interrupted when his face came into contact with the tree's trunk, nothing but tough bark.

"Ow…" Agunimon muttered as he stumbled back, rubbing at his face where he had hit the tree. Wow, suddenly I am thankful I have armor on… I would have broken my nose…

"Oof… looks like intangibility may be a no go," Phantom remarked.

"We could try flying next," Andy suggested. "Where would be a good place for that?"

Phantom gave a mischievous looking grin.

---

"Are you sure about this?" Agunimon frowned.

Agunimon and Phantom were standing on the roof of one of the taller buildings in Amity Park. Andy was standing on the ground, looking up at them.

"Sure. What better way than to learn to fly?" Phantom grinned mischievously.

"Couldn't we do this a bit closer to the ground?" Agunimon asked nervously.

"We have to be sure you'll be able to fly, your body might need some time to realize its falling," Phantom answered. "Don't worry, I'll catch you before you hit the ground… maybe…"

Agunimon paled at that. He looked down at the ground below again and gulped nervously. Please don't have me hit the ground… Please be able to fly…

"Alright, Agunimon, time to spread your metaphorical wings and fly!" Phantom announced.

Agunimon, however, stepped back from the roof's edge, which was not what Phantom wanted to see. "I… I can't…"

"Alright, I guess you just need a push in the right direction," Phantom nonchalantly said.

"What-" Agunimon began to ask before Phantom suddenly pushed him right off the roof.

"Oh CRAP!" Agunimon cried out as he felt himself falling. He fell for a short while before he realized he wasn't flying and instead grabbed onto a flag pole, stopping his fall. He was shaking badly too. Crap, crap, crap! I almost died there! Agunimon thought, his mind racing.

The flag pole snapped, however, causing Agunimon to fall again. Agunimon yelled as he tried to fly, but he was still falling. However, just before he hit the ground, he stopped. Agunimon blinked a few times, realizing he was… floating?

"H-huh?" Agunimon wasn't sure if he was actually floating or not. "W-wha…?"

Agunimon then smiled. "H-hey! I'm flying! Do you see this Andy?"

Andy was looking at Agunimon and gave him a pitiful smile. "I… hate to break it to you, Takuya, but…"

Andy pointed up behind Agunimon.

Agunimon looked back, only to see Phantom was actually holding him. "H-huh? O-oh…" Agunimon frowned. "Then… I'm… not flying?"

Phantom let go of Agunimon, and he fell onto the pavement with a small 'thud'. "Nope. But hey, I told you I would catch you."

"Yeah, thanks." Agunimon said, trying to calm his racing… heart? He wasn't sure what was pulsing in his chest so rapidly, but it didn't feel like a normal heartbeat either. "So, I can't fly, and I can't go intangible. What's left? Invisibility?"

Agunimon took a moment to get back to his feet.

"Do you feel like you want to be seen right now?" Phantom asked.

"After that stunt… not really…" Agunimon admitted. "But… Can you guys still see me?"

"I can," Phantom answered.

"Definitely, and boy is your face red," Andy chuckled.

Agunimon found himself actually wanting to be invisible now. "Great… the one time I want to be invisible, I'm not able to be…" He muttered.

"Okay… so I think we can rule out Agunimon being a 'ghost'," Andy remarked. "He's not very transparent like the other ghosts have been either, nor does he have that glow on him like you do."

"And he definitely feels solid, and warm, warmer than a human at any rate." Phantom noted. "I noticed it when I grabbed him before he hit the ground. He feels warmer than you, Andy."

"I guess that makes sense, he uses fire attacks after all," Andy remarked. The figurine he had before he began to Spirit Evolve was pretty warm too now that I think about it.

"So, if I'm not a ghost, what am I?" Agunimon asked, not sure of what to think now.

"It's hard to say until we have more information," Andy answered. "You're not a ghost, you're definitely not human… I think, in this form. Maybe some kind of biomutant man? Or maybe the armor is magic and it changes you when you 'wear' it, or in your case, evolve. Another theory is that you're some kind of monster, not like in a bad, pure evil way, but like you're a creature with magical powers."

"Those first and last ones aren't exactly helping me…" Agunimon muttered, giving Andy an unimpressed look.

"Helping you? You were the one who wanted to know what you were," Andy grumbled. "I'm just giving out possibilities."

Agunimon sighed. "Well… I do know that Lunch Lady didn't like seeing me. She said something along the lines of 'what's a being like you doing here?' Emphasis on the 'you'."

"Well you don't feel normal in this world," Phantom admitted. "It's hard to describe, but I do sense something you're emitting, like an aura I guess. It doesn't really feel natural, or at least it doesn't feel like it should be in this world. I guess ghosts don't belong in this world either actually, so who am I to judge?"

"So he could be some kind of alien then?" Andy guessed.

"No way!" Agunimon exclaimed, feeling his face heating up again. "I am not some alien!"

"Jeez, why are you getting so riled up about this? It's not like you can't go back to being human. And at least you didn't go on a rampage during the school dance, swallowing some foreign ghost object!" Andy pointed out. "I think an alien, biomutant, magical armor, or monster are all pretty cool actually!"

Agunimon groaned as he put a hand to his head. "At least the armor theory seems to be the most believable I guess…" He said at last. "But I don't know… I just… I could be any of those things!"

"How about we just call it a magical armor then?" Phantom suggested. "At least until we can actually figure out what you are?"

"Yeah, I guess that can work…" Agunimon admitted. "It at least doesn't require me to be afraid of government agents coming in to 'capture me to experiment on'."

Phantom winced at that, that was something he was afraid of himself.

"Err… sorry," Agunimon apologized, seeing Phantom's reaction, knowing the Fentons would be all too happy to experiment on the poor ghost boy if they ever got their hands on him.

"It's fine," Phantom sighed. "I understand that fear all too well…"

"So… Agunimon, you said you wanted to train, right?" Andy asked.

"Ah, right!" Agunimon remembered. "Yeah, I want to get some experience in this form, since I don't really know much about my own abilities in this form. I just know my senses and physical abilities are enhanced and that I can use a fire attack, albeit a weak one."

Andy gave it some thought before he looked at Phantom. "How do you feel?"

"Pretty sore and still kinda tired," Phantom admitted.

"Okay…" Andy looked at Agunimon. "Can you wait until tomorrow night then? Phantom needs some time to rest, and I don't think we should be training your fire power here, where there are trees and shrubs to burn."

Agunimon frowned, but decided it was best to wait, for Phantom's sake and so a new area to train could be found. "I guess so. If it helps Phantom, I can wait."

"Thanks, that helps," Phantom said in relief.

"But where would we go to train?" Agunimon asked.

"I suppose we could try my parents' lab when Mom and Dad are out tomorrow," Andy suggested. "But would Phantom want to go there? It's like a ghost's death trap in there."

Phantom rubbed the back of his neck. "As much as I would like to avoid such a place, it may be best to train there. I mean, I have to go there to release any ghosts or ghostly artifacts to the Ghost Zone. So I may as well get comfortable with heading there more often."

"You sure are brave to go into the lab to release the ghosts in the Ghost Zone. You could just let me handle that," Andy said.

"No, no. It's fine. If I am to be doing this ghost capture thing, I may as well be the one to release them into the Ghost Zone." Phantom insisted.

"Just… be careful," Andy replied. "Mom and Dad could be around."

"I'll be careful, b- erm, Andy, I promise," Phantom reassured, nearly slipping.

"Right…" Andy said, wondering why Phantom cleared his throat there. "Well then, it's settled. I'll see if I can set up a training simulation in the lab for you guys tomorrow."

"That would be great." Phantom said as Agunimon nodded in agreement. "I'll be there around the usual time."

"Great, guess we'll see you then." Agunimon smiled.

Andy smiled as well. Danny will have to meet with Phantom then, and hopefully I can get the two of them to get along. Then maybe we can all train together. Danny will have to learn to defend himself when a ghost attacks too after all, and it'll be great to spend more time with him.

Phantom then floated off the ground before waving good-bye. He then flew off into the night sky, leaving Agunimon and Andy alone.

"Well, let's head back," Andy said. "I've got a lot of planning to do tomorrow."

Agunimon nodded before that shimmering ribbon that Andy and Phantom had seen during the transformation reappeared. When the shimmering ribbon dispersed, Takuya was back in his human form. He looked himself over. "Huh… That worked. Just thinking about dispersing the armor made it go away."

"At least you don't have to worry about being a biomutant for long," Andy remarked.

"Sure, you choose to go with that instead of the magical armor idea." Takuya grumbled. "Way to make me seem more like a mutant than the magical armor idea does."

"Jeez, you're so sensitive, I was just joking," Andy grumbled. "Come on, Mr. Magical Armor."

Takuya followed Andy as they left for the park again to pick up Andy's moped. "Well, at least Phantom is coming back to help me with my new form tomorrow." Takuya admitted at last. "I'm glad for that. Trying to figure it out on our own would be so much harder."

"Yeah… at least we have someone like Phantom," Andy said as they headed home on the moped.

---

Andy went down to the lab where he saw his parents working.

"Hey, Mom, Dad? Do you have a simulation in the lab for… training or something?" Andy asked.

"Oh, why do you ask, son?" Jack asked as he looked up from one of the inventions he was working on.

"Uh… well, I thought about the ghost incidents these past few weeks and… I thought maybe I should start training to prepare myself in case there's another ghost attack," Andy answered.

Jack and Maddie looked at one another before looking back at Andy. "Well, of course we'd be happy to let you start training to defend yourself." Maddie said with a smile. "It doesn't hurt to be prepared. Ghosts are very manipulative and very dangerous."

"And they can cause a lot of destruction," Jack added. "Come over here, son, I'll teach you everything you need to know!"

"Jack, don't go overboard, we don't want Andy hurting himself," Maddie sighed. "Maybe we should supervise his training."

"No, that's okay, Mom, I just want to see how it works," Andy spoke up. "Besides, you two will be busy, I don't want to bother you two when I could just do this on my own."

"As long as you don't overdo it." Maddie sighed. "And make sure you wear your hazmat suit when you come down here, I don't want you getting contaminated by ectoplasm and radiation."

"I will Mom, don't worry," Andy promised.

---

The next evening

"Okay, do you think you've got it?" Andy asked Danny.

"Yeah, I think so," Danny said, looking at his paper. "That test is totally gonna be aced!"

"Great, now we can relax," Andy sighed as he laid in bed after a tough study session with his brother.

Then Andy heard the rocket model clock pinging that it was 8 o'clock. Andy groaned as he sat up in bed. "And now I can not relax."

"What?" Danny blinked.

"Phantom's coming over to train with Mom and Dad's equipment," Andy explained. "Mom and Dad should be going out to investigate the… erm, incident at the football area again. So the lab will be empty for a while."

"Wow, Phantom's… brave for… coming into a ghost hunter's house." Danny blinked, trying to act surprised. Then Danny realized something. Uh oh… if Phantom's 'coming' here… then… Crap! I can't be here!

"Hey, bro," Andy spoke up, getting Danny's attention. "Since you haven't planned to go out anywhere tonight, how about you join us for training? It might be good for you in case another ghost decides to attack Amity Park."

Danny was trying not to sweat. He really didn't think this one through. "Uhhhh… actually! I do have plans with Tucker, I was supposed to go to his house tonight for a sleepover!"

Andy looked at Danny. "A sleepover… at Tucker's? And you didn't mention this before why?"

"I forgot!" Danny said quickly. "What with how hard we've been studying and all, it slipped my mind."

"Tucker didn't mention anything about a sleepover either," Andy noted. "He usually invites both of us."

"Uh…" Danny said, his mind racing. Crap! What do I do now?!

Then a brilliant, yet probably stupid, idea came to mind. "L-look bro, I don't really want to talk to Phantom!"

"What?" Andy blinked. "Why not?"

"He's a ghost, and Mom and Dad are always telling us ghosts are evil and stuff. He overshadowed me that one time, remember? And he, uh, didn't help us when Dash and his posse were beating us up until after you turned into a dragon. So… yeah, he's probably not that good of a guy, and I rather not talk to him," Danny stated.

Andy stared at Danny, and Danny was trying not to mentally scream at himself, he just made himself look bad in front of Andy. He was supposed to have Andy bond with his ghost half, not scare him away. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I should've thought of something better!

"I… see where you're coming from, bro," Andy finally said after some hesitation. "But I really don't think Phantom's a bad guy. Maybe you should try to get to know him outside of all those ghost fights."

"N-no! No, I'm sorry bro, I just can't," Danny said, trying to be firm. "You can go ahead and train with him and stuff, but leave me out of it."

Andy frowned. "Are… you sure…?"

Danny sighed. "I am, bro. I'm sorry… but I just don't want to meet Phantom. Maybe someday though…" He added, trying to give Andy a bit of hope as well, so as to not truly disappoint him.

"Fine…" Andy sighed. "I can't make you meet him. But I do hope you won't let Mom and Dad's hatred of ghosts keep you thinking all ghosts are evil."

"I will keep an open mind at least. From what you've told me, there may be a chance that not all ghosts are evil." Danny admitted.

"If you're going to stay up here, make sure Jazz doesn't go to the lab. She usually doesn't, but you never know," Andy said.

"I can do that." Danny agreed. "I will keep Jazz away from the lab, no problem."

"Alright, I better go. Takuya's probably getting impatient, and Phantom will probably be here soon," Andy said before he walked over to his door. "Make sure you study a little more while you're up."

"Yeah, yeah, I will," Danny said before Andy left. Whew… this double identity thing is getting pretty complicated…

Once Andy had left their room, Danny transformed into his ghost form. "Well, better get down into the lab. I don't want to keep Andy waiting." He muttered under his breath. "But geez… I need to think things through better before I try something like this again…"

Phantom phased into the lab and waited. The Ghost Portal flowed behind him like it always did. Phantom usually didn't stay in the lab for too long, however, as he was waiting, he started to hear what sounded like a beautiful hum from behind him. The ghost boy blinked before turning to the Ghost Portal.

Is that… coming from the Ghost Zone? Phantom questioned. Why does it sound… so soothing?

It was almost as if the Ghost Zone wanted to welcome Phantom.

"Oh! Looks like Phantom's already here!"

The voice snapped Phantom out of his little trance.

"Uh, yeah! I'm here." Phantom said as he saw Andy and Takuya behind him, turning to face them. "I was just waiting for you, invisible of course."

"I hope we didn't keep you waiting for too long," Takuya said.

"Nah, it's fine, I just got here," Phantom replied. "So… how are we doing this?"

"Dad showed me how to use the lab's equipment to help you train," Andy said as he walked over to the control panel. "There is a simulation the lab can use, but it can't use anything too advanced. The most it can do is expand the lab enough for you two to move around pretty easily."

"Really? Sounds quite impressive." Takuya said.

Andy began to push some buttons on the control panel, making the room expand, allowing Phantom to fly much higher, and giving Takuya more room to move around.

"Okay, what should we start with first?" Andy asked.

"How about we try just seeing what kind of abilities we each have?" Phantom suggested. "I mean, I want to see how good I can shoot with my ghost rays now that I can use them."

"Okay, then with you we'll set up target practice," Andy said as he pushed more buttons on the control panel.

Danny and Takuya saw a long looking platform coming up from the floor before it set up cutouts of ghosts moving around on the platform.

"Takuya, you can try using your Pyro Darts to practice your aim as well," Andy suggested.

"May as well." Takuya grinned as he took out his device to transform.

Takuya held out his device and the blue digital form of his Human Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his device as he formed a ring of fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the device over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his canine teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"

Now evolved, Agunimon was feeling quite giddy at the prospect of seeing what he could truly do now and it showed on his face clearly.

Phantom noticed the look on Agunimon's face and chuckled. "Someone's excited it seems~"

"Of course, I've been wanting to try out this form's powers for a while now." Agunimon grinned.

"Alright you two, let's see how well you can aim," Andy remarked. "Phantom, since you mostly fight from the air, you try to use your new ranged attack from the air."

Phantom grinned. "I like a challenge!" He said as he floated off the floor and powered up his ghost rays.

"Then I'm staying grounded it seems." Agunimon noted as he turned to face the targets.

Andy watched as the two superpowered beings began firing out their attacks. It was the first time Andy saw Phantom using his ghost rays, at least while as a human. The ghost rays showed to be quite powerful as they destroyed the cutout ghosts with ease. Agunimon's Pyro Darts set the cutouts on fire before turning them to ash. Thankfully the cutouts were easily replaceable. Phantom didn't have the best aim, he usually ended up firing between the cutouts and hit the wall instead, leaving a rather impressive scorch mark on the usually anti-ghost room.

Agunimon noticed Phantom's aim was off quite often and couldn't help but give a teasing smirk. "You need to work on your aim, Phantom~" He teased.

Phantom pouted. "I'm not used to firing things from the air, give me a break."

"That's what this training is for," Andy chuckled. "We'll keep working on it until you're able to hit targets pretty easily."

Phantom sighed. "I guess that's a good reason to train." He conceded.

Agunimon was actually quite accurate in his aim, only missing a few of the cutouts overall. But Phantom seemed to pack more power in his ghost rays whereas Agunimon's Pyro Darts attack was not as strong. Phantom noticed this difference the longer they tried to use their ranged attacks.

"You know, Agunimon seems to have accuracy to make up for the lack of power for his Pyro Darts." Phantom noted with some interest.

"Yeah… but a weak, accurate move will only go so far," Andy noted. "Are you sure that's the only power your form has?"

Agunimon looked down, blushing as his facial markings seemed to vanish. "As far as I know…" He admitted sheepishly.

"Maybe there's more to it, and you only know the basics," Andy theorized. "I doubt the magical armor only has one trick up its sleeve. Let's see what else we can do."

Andy pushed more buttons on the control panel, taking down the platform, and rising up a steel wall.

"That'll be your practice dummy," Andy stated. "Instead of just using Pyro Darts, how about you see if you can put more power into the flames you summon from your wrists?"

Agunimon looked at the steel wall and frowned in thought. "I suppose that may be more useful than just using fiery darts all the time." He conceded. He called forth more flames and tried to increase their power, but it didn't seem to work. All he got were more Pyro Darts.

"Can you control the flames at all from your wrists?" Andy asked.

Agunimon blinked. He hadn't thought of that. "I… never thought to try…" He admitted.

"Then let's try to get a little creative," Andy suggested. "Like maybe you can use the flames on your wrist to shoot out fire directly, like how Phantom does with his… um…"

Andy looked at Phantom. "What do you call your long ranged attack?"

"Ghost rays," Phantom replied. "At least, that's the name I gave them."

"Okay, so it'll be like Phantom's ghost rays," Andy continued. "Or you could try lighting yourself on fire and see how that goes. You did say my dragon flames didn't do much to damage you, so you shouldn't be hurt by your own flames."

"Great… I could become the Human Torch…" Agunimon grumbled before he sighed and decided to see what he could do. "But I won't get better by just standing here running my mouth."

Agunimon stood up from his fighting stance and tried to call forth his flames again, seeing if he could control them at all. Let's see… What can I do with my flames?

Concentrating his thoughts on his flames, Agunimon tried to get the flames to move from his wrists and over his body, but some force was stopping them, like something was not letting him use them in that manner.

Agunimon tried to move his flames from his wrists again, but they just flickered out instead. "W-wha?" He blinked, wondering why his flames had gone out. "H-how did that happen?"

Andy and Phantom looked at him curiously.

"Huh… maybe the magical armor thinks you're not quite ready for it?" Phantom guessed. "I mean I needed time to adjust to my ghost powers, I didn't just automatically mastered flight, intangibility, and invisibility after I got them. You should've seen me falling through the floor countless times, or suddenly flying up to the ceiling like a balloon."

"I… I guess…" Agunimon muttered. "When I learned about my Pyro Darts, I got this… feeling… knowledge… flooding my mind, but that was… a while ago. I think you're onto something, Phantom. Maybe this armor does have a mind of its own."

"I guess that explains why you had trouble 'spirit evolving' before," Andy remarked. "Perhaps you need to gain experience and level up before learning new moves, like a video game character."

"Oh, now you compare me to a video game character?" Agunimon remarked sarcastically. "What is with these comparisons? First a monster/alien/mutant, now a digital game character? You really like comparisons, don't you Andy?"

Andy's eyebrows twitched. "Oh, I'm sorry, would you rather I had gone into a complicated detail that makes no sense whatsoever than just use something that's easy for your mind to grasp and be able to compare it to something with? I guess I'm just that insensitive."

Phantom was snickering. "If you two hotheads are done, can we get back to the training?" He quipped.

"He started it!" Both Agunimon and Andy pointed at each other.

"Yep, two hotheads, like peas in a pod~" Phantom said jokingly.

"Maybe you can cool us down with your ice cold body," Andy muttered. "Alright, fine, you want to get back to training, then let's train."

Andy pushed a large button on the control panel.

Suddenly, guns came out from the walls, aimed at Phantom and Agunimon.

"Let's go with the basic lesson of learning how to dodge~" Andy grinned.

"Oh crap…" Agunimon and Phantom muttered at the same time.

The guns powered up and fired, forcing both Agunimon and Phantom to start moving around, Phantom was harder to hit in the air, but the guns could follow him due to being an ecto-entity. Agunimon was easier to fire at, but he was harder to target since whatever he was seemed to lack an ecto-signature, so the guns didn't lock onto him for long.

Agunimon found himself having to either dodge the laser blasts or blocking them with his armored forearms. "Geez! When you said we would be dodging, I didn't think you meant literally, Andy!"

Phantom yelped as one of the lasers hit his side, but it didn't really hurt, it just stung. Andy, of course, wasn't actually aiming to hurt them, but still, getting hit by too many lasers would still be a bit painful.

Andy ran through the lasers himself rather than just standing by the control panels, taking out his Fenton Rod.

"What are you doing!?" Phantom asked, surprised his brother joined in.

"What? I have to train myself too!" Andy said back, using the Fenton Rod to deflect some of the lasers away. "After all, as a human, I'm a lot more defenseless against ghosts than the two of you are. I have to practice my dodging skills."

Agunimon gave a slight smirk. "Heh, I can see why you would have to then." He noted.

A laser nearly hit Agunimon's face, but he deflected it with his left forearm, his armor taking the blast easily.

Andy's back got hit by a laser, though it didn't hurt him since the lasers only hurt ghosts, not humans. But it was still enough to get Andy's attention. He couldn't afford to get sloppy, if that had been an actual ghost attack, he would've been hurt really badly.

"While we're dodging, this will also be a good time to work on your own attacks. See if you can hit the lasers back, they're moving targets that are also attacking you, just like your real targets will be!" Andy stated to Agunimon and Phantom while still moving around to dodge the lasers. "Don't expect the enemy to give you the time you need to concentrate and aim! You'll have to think, aim, and fire in less than a blink of an eye in battle!"

Agunimon frowned, but nodded. He had to admit, that was a very valid point. He perked up when a laser was fired at him. He flared his fire from his left silver wrist brace and then fired off his Pyro Darts attack. The laser hit the fiery darts, causing a small explosion in the air. Agunimon heard another laser firing at him and threw more Pyro Darts at that laser as well. However, he did wind up getting hit by a few more lasers as he had not paid them any attention.

"Geez… dodging, attacking, and aiming all while under attack is harder than it seems." Agunimon hissed.

"Welcome to Andy's Boot Camp," Phantom grumbled as he fired his ghost rays at some of the lasers; hitting them caused the two attacks to cancel each other out rather than an explosion like with Agunimon's Pyro Darts. "I think he watches too many training anime."

"Less talking, more action!" Andy yelled.

---

Takuya felt a little sore from the training. He laid in his bed, wanting to just relax. Andy was a tough coach, who knew? Though Takuya got the feeling Andy was being more mischievous than a harsh coach. The gun dodging thing only happened because he complained about the comparison Andy gave him.

Andy and Danny were laying in bed as well, both feeling sore as well. Andy hoped his dodging got better soon, he ended up getting caught up in a few of Agunimon's explosions. Danny wasn't that sore, since his ghost half kept his body from straining his muscles too much, but still, he didn't expect having to dodge while working on his ghost rays.

Andy wondered if he should get Tucker and Sam to join in on the training. Danny seemed to be against Phantom, but maybe he could try to get Danny to train while Phantom wasn't there. If they were going to help Phantom and Agunimon, they all needed to actually help rather than be burdens. Andy would definitely have to talk to Tucker and Sam about it, after the soreness went away of course.

Although Andy could've sworn Danny seemed tired like he was for some reason, but maybe he was just imagining things. Danny was probably just wiped from all the studying.

---

Andy was a little grumpy. It was Sunday night, they had school tomorrow, and a biology test to prepare for. Yet here he was, chasing after ghosts that apparently came out of the Ghost Zone on some kind of 'business trip' in the living world.

With Agunimon, Phantom, Tucker, and Sam's help, however, and all the training Agunimon, Phantom, and Andy did, they were able to catch these ghosts quite efficiently. They would have plenty of time to go back home, do some last minute studying to review the biology books.

They were going after the last ghost Phantom had sensed that night, which was somewhere on the Amity docks.

"You know, it's kinda creepy coming out here at night," Andy couldn't help but remark.

"Not as creepy as going to central park at night," Tucker shivered. "I don't know why you like going there so much."

"Can we please just find this ghost already?" Agunimon muttered before he suddenly perked up as he got the sensation of feeling hot and cold chills run down his spine. "Ah… I hate that feeling!"

"You say you get those feelings when you sense ghosts, right?" Sam asked. "So it works like Phantom's ghost sense. Can you tell where it's coming from?"

"I can," Phantom answered. "It's coming from one of the warehouses."

Andy looked ahead. "You phase through and try to flush out the ghost, we'll come in and back you up."

Phantom grinned. "I like how that sounds." He said jokingly before going intangible. He then flew into one of the warehouses, hoping to flush out the ghost that was supposedly haunting this area.

"Agunimon, you take the lead, Tucker, Sam, and I will follow you," Andy instructed. "We don't know how dangerous the ghost is yet, we don't want to go charging recklessly."

"That's a good idea," Sam agreed. "Agunimon would be able to take whatever the ghost dishes out better than we can."

"Fine.' Agunimon sighed, but he did agree that it was best he was in front. "Just stay close." He added as he began to make his way down the docks carefully.

"Man, this is so cool," Tucker giggled. "Look at us, coming out here at night to fight some ghosts. I feel like a total badass, like a secret agent sent on a mission to stop monsters from destroying the world, and exposing people to the world they're not ready to be exposed to."

"Well try to keep yourself from going fanboy, this isn't the Men in Black," Sam grumbled.

Agunimon had flinched a bit at Tucker's 'monster' comparison, but he didn't snap like he did with Andy when Andy had been making that comparison. Then he got those feelings racing down his spine again. "Shit…" He muttered. "We're close…"

"Can you see anything inside?" Andy whispered.

Agunimon poked his head into the warehouse. He could see a lot of boxes stacked on top of each other, as well as some rats running around.

"Nothing so fa-"

Suddenly he heard a voice yelling out in pain, then a ghost was pushed through the wall and crashed into some boxes.

"I guess there is something in there," Tucker remarked.

"Yeah, and it's definitely a ghost." Agunimon said, frowning. "That would explain the feelings of hot and cold I experienced."

"Then shouldn't we get in there to help Phantom?" Sam asked.

"Hold on," Andy said.

Phantom himself came out from the wall, flying over to the ghost he just pushed through the wall. The ghost flew up from the boxes. He was some kind of short, chubby looking man. He had blue skin, dark red irises, he had a gray hat on his head, and a light gray shirt, with dark blue overalls. He also had light gray gloves, and black shoes.

Agunimon's group waited to see how much of a threat this ghost was.

The ghost then spoke up in a goofy sounding voice.

"BEWARE! I AM THE BOX GHOST! I HAVE POWER OVER ALL THINGS CARDBOARD AND SQUARE!" The self, proclaimed Box Ghost exclaimed.

Agunimon couldn't help but snicker at the name. "Box Ghost? What kind of ghost is called the 'Box Ghost'?"

Tucker was already chuckling.

"I mean… boxes can be scary…" Andy said, though he definitely didn't expect this ghost to sound all dramatic in a goofy and tryhard way.

"Only if you suffocate in one…" Sam muttered.

"Can we get this over with? I have a test to study for," Phantom grumbled, sounding more annoyed than amused.

"STUDY? THERE WILL BE NO TIME TO STUDY WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF CRUSHED UNDER THE FORGOTTEN POSSESSIONS OF…" The Box Ghost paused to look at the box's label. "ELLIOT KRAVITZ, OF ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS!" The Box Ghost said as he made some of the boxes levitate up and around him.

"He's going a little too far to sound clever…" Sam muttered.

The Box Ghost used his telekinesis to force the box and its content to fly at Phantom. Phantom raised an eyebrow with the expression of 'are you serious?'

Phantom just turned intangible, not even bothering to dodge, and the box and its contents just went through Phantom and hit the wall behind him.

"Ugh… I don't have time for this!" Phantom groaned as he returned to being tangible, clearly annoyed now. "Any time now would be nice, guys!"

"This is why you keep the Fenton Thermos on you," Andy grumbled. "Now where-"

"I have it!" Tucker smiled, holding the Thermos before he decided to show off and roll the Thermos on his arm before taking off the lid. "Goodnight everybody!"

The Fenton Thermos activated on the Box Ghost, easily sucking him inside.

'NOOOOOOO!" The Box Ghost cried out as he vanished into the Thermos. Tucker capped the Thermos once the Box Ghost was caught.

"That's 10 ghosts we caught tonight, a new record I should say~" Tucker grinned.

"The fact there were 10 ghosts out in the world is a little alarming," Andy remarked. "That means the ghosts are getting bolder to come out into our world."

"I don't like it." Agunimon muttered. "It means I get those conflicting feelings of hot and cold running down my spine. That is not a fun experience." He shivered as he tried to keep the memories of that out of his mind.

"Maybe something you need to learn to control then," Andy remarked.

"Whatever, we caught our ghost, now can we go home before it gets any later? I don't need my parents catching me out this late at night," Sam grumbled.

"I don't sense any more ghosts, so we should be good," Phantom said.

"Yup! They're all right here!" Tucker grinned as he began to twirl the thermos on his finger.

Andy grabbed onto the Fenton Thermos from Tucker's finger. "I'm not letting you get careless and dropping that."

"Aw, c'mon, Andy! I'm not a Mr. Butterfingers!" Tucker pouted. "When have I been careless and dropped something?"

"Do you really want him to answer that?" Sam questioned.

Phantom frowned, for some reason he had a strange feeling of being watched, but he didn't sense anything. Maybe Andy was right about being out here at night being creepy, even for a half ghost like him.

"Whatever, let's just go. I need to take care of those ghosts before something else tries to escape the portal," Phantom sighed.

Agunimon nodded. "Yeah, and the rest of us may need to get back to our own places of residence." He said before he looked around a bit, also getting the feeling of being watched, but much more noticeably than Phantom had experienced.

The group left the warehouse, unbeknownst to them that a hunter had been watching them.

---

The next morning…

Jack, Maddie, Danny, Andy, and Takuya were eating breakfast together in the kitchen. They were mostly eating cereal today since Maddie was working on a new ghost invention.

Jazz suddenly hopped into the kitchen, looking all excited as she held out a sheet of paper. "Oh my gosh, they actually said yes!"

Everyone stared at Jazz for a moment before Danny grinned mischievously. "Who said yes? The person you asked if you were a conceited snob?" He quipped.

Takuya felt like smacking Danny upside the head for making that quip, though Andy was trying not to laugh.

Jazz gave Danny an annoyed look. "No."

Then Jazz smiled again, she wasn't going to let her little brother ruin this for her. "Genius Magazine said yes!"

Jazz held up a magazine that had a cover of 'Genius Magazine'. She walked up to Maddie as she continued to talk. "They got my letter, and now they want to put Mom on the cover! Isn't that exciting!?"

Jazz was so excited that she let her inner 16 year old self scream out in happiness.

Takuya snickered. "Who knew the adult Jazz could act like a 16-year-old." He joked.

Jazz chose to ignore Takuya's comment.

"Genius Magazine?" Maddie asked, not that familiar with them.

Jack took the magazine himself. "Genius Magazine? … It's not the swimsuit issue, is it?"

Danny looked disgusted. "Wait… Mom is going to be in the swimsuit issue?"

"I don't know, I think Mom is still hot enough to pull it off." Andy grinned.

"Bro! That's our mom!" Danny groaned.

"So? That means she can't be hot?" Andy raised an eyebrow.

"Ugh! It's not the swimsuit issue!" Jazz spoke up, getting frustrated. "Genius Magazine is for women geniuses, by women geniuses, and about women geniuses! It has nothing to do with swimsuits!"

"So it's one of those magazines for nerds?" Takuya grinned.

"Whatever you want to call it!" Jazz replied, a little exasperated.

"Why do you care so much about this Genius Magazine, Jazz?" Andy asked.

"It's a good way to show to the public that I have normal parents instead of a couple of ghost hunting freaks!" Jazz bluntly stated.

"Come on, Jazz, they're not ghost hunting freaks," Danny said.

"They staked out a high school for a week because of a supposed ghost dragon attack!" Jazz pointed out.

Which did actually happen… Andy didn't want to say out loud.

"But how is showing Mom is a genius going to prove you have normal parents? If anything it'd show you have at least one gifted parent," Andy pointed out.

"Jazz, why can't you just accept that your parents are who they are? You can't make them be normal." Takuya added. "And Andy's got a point. You're not going to prove Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack are 'normal parents' with just Aunt Maddie in the issue."

"And besides that, your father and I are a team, sweetie," Maddie added. "While I'm all for women geniuses, I also like to think there's a genius man as well."

"Who should be standing beside her in the Genius Magazine!" Jack smiled, putting an arm around Maddie's shoulders. "The world needs to know the Fentons are a family of geniuses."

"Which isn't true…" Andy muttered.

"Oh, Andy, don't be so hard on yourself, you and Danny are more intelligent than you know!" Jack smiled encouragingly. "Here, why don't you two try our latest invention? Genius Magazine has to be interested in this."

Jack took the strange device with two green light bulbs that were flashing as Jack activated it.

"What is it?" Andy asked.

"It's the Ghost Gabber. It translates the mysterious sounds a ghost makes into words we humans use every day!" Jack said with pride as he held it out in front of the twins.

Danny looked visibly nervous. Takuya just raised an eyebrow. Andy blinked as he looked at the device.

"But how do we 'speak ghost'?" Andy questioned.

"Y-yeah, it's not like we'll suddenly start talking like ghosts," Danny agreed nervously.

"It's not like we'll suddenly start talking like ghosts. Fear me." The translator said.

Danny paled as he clamped a hand over his mouth. Crap! Of all the things that could go wrong… Me and my big mouth!

Everyone was looking at Danny. Danny began to sweat, not sure how to explain this since it didn't pick up on Andy's words.

Jack looked at the Ghost Gabber for a moment. "Ah, I guess we still haven't tweaked it yet. It's like with the Fenton Finder all over again."

"We'd… better get to school now…" Takuya said as he stood up from the table, not wanting Danny to get freaked out by the Ghost Gabber. Although the Ghost Gabber acting up around Danny is kinda strange. Or… is it because of his accident that the device picked up on his words?

Takuya looked over at Andy, wondering what he was thinking about all of this. While Andy made that comment about not being a genius, the way Andy thought was quite scary honestly, not that he was going to tell the boy that.

Danny was relieved that they were leaving. He was too afraid to say anything else in fear of the Ghost Gabber 'translating' his words. Besides, he had a test today, he needed to focus on that.

---

After a long day at school, everyone met up at the school's library. Danny, Andy, Tucker, Sam, and Takuya were currently looking at their test scores. The ones who failed or got a low grade were here to see if they could pull their grades up. Sam was looking at something on one of the library's computers.

"Wow dude, you guys aced that test," Tucker said, impressed when he saw Danny and Andy's grades.

"We both studied pretty hard over the weekend," Andy said with a smile. "I'm glad it paid off."

"Glad it helped." Takuya said as he looked at their grades. "An A for Andy and an A- for Danny."

Danny grinned at Andy. "Well, Andy deserves that 'A', considering this is his best subject."

"Too bad I ended up with a C…" Tucker pouted. "I'm more of a tech guy, not a biology guy."

"You could always try pulling your grade up," Sam said.

"I mean C is still passing… do I really need to?" Tucker asked.

"Considering how your grades have been, it's never too late to get some extra credit," Sam answered before she clicked on a link she had been researching, which showed a white furred gorilla with a purple back. "You can try doing some research on this magnificent creature."

"A purple back gorilla?" Andy blinked. I've heard of silverback gorillas, but this is my first time seeing a purple back gorilla.

"Yup, extremely rare, there's only 2 known ones left in the world," Sam answered. "They're both said to be male, so after them, the species is gone forever. So you need to prove why he deserves to be set free."

"They have one at the zoo?" Andy asked, surprised. "Why isn't the zoo gaining more traction then if they have one of the last 2 remaining species? And wouldn't living at the zoo allow this gorilla to live longer? The wild is a harsh place for survival."

Sam frowned. "Yeah, but there isn't a female of the species, and if neither male mates, then the species dies off."

"Surprised they haven't tried bringing a female gorilla to mate with the males then," Danny remarked.

"I guess they didn't want to taint a pure blooded purple back gorilla," Takuya shrugged.

"Besides, it's just a C, do I really have the time to do extra credit and worry about your agendas?" Tucker asked. "What if we have another ghost attack or something?"

"Can't you use your PDA to set up your own time management or something?" Andy asked.

Tucker blinked before he smacked himself with his own hand. "Of all the… How come I didn't think of that?"

"So are we really going to the zoo to look at some gorilla?" Danny asked.

"I want to see this near extinct animal," Andy admitted. "And hey, maybe we can get some extra credits too, it can't hurt to get an A+, it'll help with your astronaut career."

Danny looked at his A- before he smiled. "Why not? It would look good on a resume too, if I mention I studied this rare animal."

"What're you going to do, Takuya?" Andy asked, since Takuya was a grade higher than them, he didn't have a biology test.

"This should be interesting. I kinda want to see this animal for myself since this is the first I've heard of it." Takuya admitted. "I mean, who wouldn't want to see a nearly extinct creature?"

"Great, then let's get going!" Sam smiled excitedly, glad to see her friends were willing to see the gorilla with her.

The small group left the library, not noticing the hunter was following them.

---

Sam was watching the purple back gorilla with some binoculars. "Sampson… he's so beautiful… so majestic…"

The gorilla's name in the zoo was Sampson, and he mostly scratched his butt. Andy was writing something in a notebook while Danny, Tucker, and Takuya had gotten quite bored. While it was neat to see a purple back gorilla, it wasn't that much different from normal gorillas.

"Ugh… How long have we been watching the gorilla scratch at his butt?" Takuya yawned. "When I agreed to this, I didn't think it would be this boring…"

"It's been about 6 hours," Tucker tiredly replied.

"Wait… it's been 6 hours?" Andy asked, surprised.

"Indeed… time flies when you're majestically scratching your butt," Danny commented, yawning a bit.

"Well crud, I didn't tell Phantom we'd be out for this long." Andy frowned.

"I'm sure he'll understand, bro," Danny said.

"Come on guys, it's only a matter of time before you learn something about Sampson nobody knows about!" Sam excitedly said before she turned to them. "You should try to communicate with him!"

Sam frowned when she saw Danny had fallen asleep on the floor.

"Tucker, can you wake Danny up? He's fallen asleep." Sam noted before she saw Tucker was also asleep. "Oh…"

Sam looked to the side, seeing Takuya was asleep too. The only one who was awake among the boys was Andy.

"Huh… looks like it's just us," Andy noted before he closed his notebook.

Sam sighed. "Yeah, I suppose it is. And I thought this would be a fun project for us to do. I didn't really think the others would fall asleep on us."

"We've all had a long night," Andy said. "Maybe we should go home. I've written a lot of things down about Sampson. It should be enough to pull Tucker's grade up to a solid B- at least."

"But…" Sam began. "Don't you think it might be better to study Sampson up close rather than from afar?"

"Is that a good idea?" Andy asked. "Wouldn't Sampson be kind of angry to have a couple of kids bothering him at this time?"

"C'mon, Andy. Don't you want to see Sampson up close? We don't have to go into the enclosure, just… see if there is anything someone may have missed about Sampson." Sam pleaded.

Andy had to admit, he was pretty tempted to study this rare gorilla up close. And they should be fine as long as they are outside of the enclosure. "Alright, let's go."

Andy noticed Danny shifting in his sleep, and ended up hugging Tucker. It was kind of wholesome because whenever Danny and Andy slept together on the same bed, they would often cuddle with each other. Danny likely subconsciously did that with Tucker. Andy wasn't quite sure why Tucker cuddled with Danny though. Takuya shifted in his sleep as well, and was cuddling with his cell phone.

Andy grinned before he took out his own cell phone and snapped a picture of them. "This is so gonna be useful in the future."

Sam snickered as she took a picture of Takuya cuddling his cell phone. "I've never seen anyone cuddle a cell phone before. This is going to make a great memento~"

After taking their pictures of the boys, Sam and Andy headed out of the building and toward Sampson's enclosure. Andy wasn't sure what they could learn from studying Sampson up close, especially since the gorilla appeared to be asleep now. But then suddenly, something woke up Sampson, and he seemed worried about something. Sampson moved to the left edges of his enclosure, looking worried. Then Sampson took notice of Sam and Andy.

Sampson rushed over to the kids and began making noises at them, hoping they could help. Sam and Andy, of course, didn't speak gorilla.

What I wouldn't give for Mom and Dad to make a Gorilla Gabber… Andy grumbled.

"What is it, you wondrous being?" Sam asked in awe at the fact that Sampson was trying to communicate with her and Andy. "What are you trying to say?"

Sampson was urgently pointing at the enclosure's door.

"I think he's saying something's going on over there." Andy frowned.

"Maybe he wants out," Sam concluded.

Andy wasn't sure if that was it. Sampson had been in the zoo for pretty much all his life, why would he suddenly want out? Andy went over to the other enclosure that Sampson had been pointing at to see what was riling up the gorilla. Sampson followed Andy until he reached the door, looking on in worry.

Andy heard what sounded like a 'meow' from the other enclosure before something just phased through the cage, causing Andy to stumble back in shock.

The form that had come through the other enclosure was a metallic looking ghost with a flaming green mohawk on its head and green eyes. The ghost wore a black sleeveless shirt and black pants with matching boots, and had what looked like a metallic belt slung over its left shoulder to its right hip. The ghost also had on metallic gloves of some kind and had a belt on that had a blue 'S' on it.

The robotic ghost looked at Andy. "Well, what do we have here?"

"What the?" Andy frowned, not sure how to react to this sudden appearance of a ghost, and with no Phantom or Agunimon in sight.

"Hmm… my scanners indicate you're a regular human, so you're not the ghost child, despite looking like him," The ghost mentioned.

"Ghost child?" Andy frowned. Is he looking for Phantom?

The robotic ghost grinned as its arm opened up to show red binoculars, which came up on his eyes. He was looking up at the building… where Danny, Tucker, and Takuya were. Andy didn't know what the ghost was planning, but he couldn't let this ghost hurt his friend, cousin, and brother. Andy took out his Fenton Rod and swung it at the ghost.

The robotic ghost was taken by surprise since he was ignoring Andy, and he ended up hitting the cage's bars.

Sam saw the ghost and gasped. "Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what to do.

"You've made a mistake, human," The ghost growled in annoyance.

Andy yelped when the ghost fired some laser guns at him. Andy was really glad he had those dodge training earlier. But he knew him and his little stick wasn't going to do much to this ghost. He could hear Sampson yelling, tugging against the door. He didn't know much about gorillas, but this ghost was likely what was riling up Sampson.

Without Phantom and Agunimon here, Andy knew they would need some serious muscle to handle this ghost. "Sam! Release the gorilla!"

Sam blinked before she grinned. "On it, Andy!" She said as she ran to where the console to open the cage was. Her fist slammed down on the 'Open' button, releasing Sampson from his enclosure.

Now freed, Sampson ran at the ghost who was going after Andy. Sampson showed the ghost no mercy, it was bad enough the ghost hurt one of Sampson's friends, but now it was going after a child too.

The ghost growled as he kicked Sampson off of him. But Sampson wasn't done yet, he gritted his teeth at the ghost. The ghost glared at the gorilla before Sampson jumped at the ghost again, this time he managed to get the robotic ghost onto his feet, and began to kick him in a circle.

"Wow… who knew gorillas were so good at fighting ghosts…" Andy commented in awe. "I have to write this down!"

"Go Sampson!" Sam cheered as she watched this fight.

Sampson then kicked the robotic ghost away and jumped on top of the ghost. The gorilla lifted the ghost's arm and bit down on it, causing some of the circuits to spark. The ghost narrowed his glowing green eyes and a small goop shooter lifted from his arm, aiming at Sampson's face. Green goop shot out and covered Sampson's eyes, causing the gorilla to stumble back while making noises. The ghost then shot a glowing net at Sampson once the ghost was on his feet. But Sampson, having better hearing than a human, heard the net being launched and moved to the left of the net before grabbing it in his hand. Then, Sampson began to spin the ghost around, using the net as the sling. The ghost began banging on his own arm to get the net to release, but to no avail. After being swung around by a very strong animal, the net finally broke free from the ghost's arm and sent the ghost flying… right into the building where Danny, Takuya, and Tucker were all sleeping still.

"Oh crud!" Andy yelled as he quickly ran to the building.

Sam followed after Andy, knowing their friends were in danger.

"Really should've better prepared for a ghost attack!" Andy said as he and Sam were running up the stairs.

"It's not like we could see the future, Andy!" Sam grumbled as she ran behind him.

Sam was quite athletic and able to keep up while Andy was able to keep up due to the training he had been putting himself through lately. They both reached the door to the room they left the others in.

Somehow, despite the ghost crashing through the window and landing right next to the boys, and the strange blue mist coming out of Danny's mouth that made him shiver, none of them woke up.

How much of a heavy sleeper are they!? Andy frowned.

"Guys! Wake-" Sam and Andy tried to yell when the ghost shot some kind of green sticky slime on their mouths, shutting them up.

The ghost sneered before glancing down at Danny and Tucker. "Now… for the ghost child…" He whispered, as if enjoying the fact he was just above his prey. Behind the ghost, Takuya shivered as he lay there asleep, feeling both hot and chilled for some reason.

Andy grabbed his Fenton Rod, he may have been silenced, but he could still move. Andy ran in and smacked the ghost right in the face, since the ghost had, once again, ignored him. The ghost groaned, not enjoying that he was being shoved into the wall again. At the same time, Sampson jumped through the window and pounced on the ghost.

Never thought a gorilla would be on our side. Maybe purple back gorillas are more intelligent than we thought. Andy noted in amusement.

The ghost, finally having enough, grabbed Sampson's face and threw him down. The ghost knew he was going to have a hard time with the ghost child if he were to try to catch him now, so he decided to retreat for the time being. The ghost turned intangible before going through the wall. Sampson, trying to get back at him, began banging against the wall, shouting angrily. This was enough to finally wake up the other 3 boys.

Danny and Tucker yelled in shock, then they realized they were holding onto each other, they screamed again, letting go, then they looked at what was making that loud banging noise, and screamed again at seeing a loose gorilla banging against the wall.

Takuya groaned as he woke up to the screaming. But when he opened his own eyes, he yelped as he saw Sampson banging on the walls. "What the hell?!" He exclaimed.

"Gorilla… Loose!" Tucker exclaimed in fright.

"O-oh… Oh geez!" Danny yelped. "I-I got him! Wait, I… uh…"

Danny was a little disoriented when he suddenly woke up, but then he remembered Andy was here, as well as Takuya. "I'll go get someone to get him!"

Danny rushed outside, going through Sam and Andy, not noticing the green slime on their mouths. Though when the ghost that shot the green slime at them left, the green slime disappeared as well.

"What the hell is going on!?" Takuya screamed. "Why is there a gorilla here!?"

Before Sam or Andy could even attempt to explain, there was a flash of light behind them, and suddenly Phantom flew into the room towards Sampson. Sampson, seeing this new ghost coming his way, tried to run away from him. Phantom managed to grab onto Sampson's arms and flew them outside, turning both of them intangible.

"I don't know how you got out, but you're going back in." Phantom said as he flew the gorilla back to his enclosure. Once Phantom deposited Sampson in his cage, the ghost boy flew out and shut the door, while returning to a tangible form.

Phantom pushed the 'close' button to shut the door on the enclosure, and he gave a sigh of relief now that the gorilla was back in his cage.

Sam, Tucker, Andy, and Takuya caught up with Phantom.

"Um… so I meant to tell you, there was a-" Sam began before Phantom interrupted her.

"I wonder who let the gorilla out… Sam?" Phantom questioned, sounding annoyed.

"Actually I told her to let him out," Andy admitted.

"What? Why?" Takuya asked, surprised Andy would do such a thing.

Tucker gave a sneaky grin. "Who knew you would tell Sam to let out a 400 pound gorilla, Andy?"

"Do you want me to post this on the internet?" Andy asked as he held up his cell phone, showing the picture of Danny and Tucker cuddling, as well as Takuya cuddling with his cell phone.

"Um… We'll just keep this our little secret then." Tucker said quickly. "I mean, we only have your word to go on with no real proof."

Phantom was also pretty embarrassed at seeing the picture, but he couldn't react to it in front of Andy for obvious reasons.

"Just shut up and listen," Andy said. "I told Sam to let the gorilla out because we were attacked by a mechanical ghost. We didn't have Phantom or Agunimon around, and Sampson seemed to want to help, so I told her to release him. Sampson's really good at fighting ghosts. Maybe you two can learn something from him."

Phantom looked sheepish, as did Tucker. "Wow… were we too quick to judge or what?" Tucker admitted at last.

"A ghost attacked you?" Takuya asked with a frown. "Are you okay?"

"He didn't hurt us, but he seemed to be after someone," Sam answered.

"Who?" Phantom asked.

"I think it's you," Andy answered, looking at Phantom. "He kept talking about the 'ghost child'. Though he said I looked like the ghost child, and he… called Danny 'the ghost child', at least I think he did, before I smacked him away from Danny."

"That… is disturbing, what that ghost called Danny." Phantom said slowly, trying to not act surprised. "A ghost hunting Danny? There must be a reason…."

Takuya frowned, an odd look entering his eyes. "No ghost is going to hunt Danny if I can help it." He growled out.

"But why would he be calling Danny the 'ghost child'?" Andy asked. "Is he really confusing Danny for Phantom? He did scan me earlier and said I was a regular human. Maybe it's the ectoplasm in Danny's system from the accident he's picking up and thinks he's a ghost child."

"So either way, Danny's boned?" Tucker frowned.

"Alright, that's it, I'm going to drag Danny for some training tonight," Andy said firmly. "I will not have my brother be an easy target for some ghost poacher."

"Err… Really?" Phantom blinked. Wow, Andy wants to train me, as a human?

"Yup. I was planning on asking him, Tucker, and Sam to train too," Andy answered. "This way we'll be more effective when a ghost attacks."

"Well, I think that would be a great idea." Phantom said. "It would let you bond with Danny more too."

"Hey, don't I get in on that training too?" Takuya asked, feeling a bit left out.

"Aren't you already training?" Andy asked Takuya. "In your own special way?"

"Uh… Oh! Right! I am! How stupid of me to forget!" Takuya said with a nervous laugh.

Tucker and Sam raised an eyebrow at Takuya's reaction.

"So you said we're going to train?" Tucker asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, you know, do some exercises in the lab, learn to dodge attacks, use some ghost weapons, and the like," Andy answered. "It'll be fun. Would your schedule allow it?"

Tucker grinned. "Are you kidding? Count me in! It will be more like secret agent training!"

Sam rolled her eyes at Tucker's reaction, but agreed it would be a good idea. "I don't see the harm in it. Who knows? It may come in handy one day."

"Great." Andy smiled before he looked at Phantom. "You might want to lie low for a while. I think that ghost is after you. And my parents are gonna be home tonight because of some Genius Magazine interview. Plus, I don't think Danny is… ready to train with you. Would you be alright with that?"

Phantom nodded. "I can lay low. And it's fine. It would be better for Danny to train with you guys anyway. He may respond better to it."

"Then it sounds like we've got a plan!" Tucker smiled.

"Wait… where is Danny? He ran out kind of quickly when he saw Sampson banging against the wall," Andy asked.

Phantom looked a bit pale. "O-oh! He will be right back. I can go find him if it helps you guys." Before anyone could ask any questions, Phantom turned invisible and flew off to find Danny.

"Was it just me or was he in a hurry?" Takuya asked.

"H-hey guys!" Danny spoke up, coming from behind Sampson's enclosement. "Looks like the gorilla's back in his cage."

"What the? Phantom just went to look for you," Takuya said in confusion. "Were you hiding the entire time?"

"Uh… yeah! Yeah, I was. I saw Phantom leaving and realized it was safe to come out now." Danny said quickly.

Sam facepalmed herself. He's really bad at lying under pressure…

Andy sighed. "Alright, come on, let's go home. We've got some training to do."

"Training?" Danny innocently asked.

"I'll explain on the way back," Andy said.

---

Titanic X: ZAFT: You bet it was gross for Danny! XD

DarkFoxKit: Poor Andy for having to go through what was essentially surgery that could've easily gone wrong.

CT7567Rules: ZAFT: Glad you think it's good! And Dragon!Andy was so much fun!

DarkFoxKit: Yes, Andy was pretty well tempered for the most part, but even he has his limits. As for Veemon, we do plan to have Veemon in the story, but you will have to wait because it won't be for a while due to our build up.

ZAFT: But boy, will the wait be worth it! XD