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.

45. A Mountainous Trouble

DarkFoxKit: Alright, so we're here with another update-

Andy: Kit! I know you took that book!

DarkFoxKit: What are you talking about? I don't have the book.

ZAFT: Oh boy… These two plan to argue over A Glitch In Time… ^^'

Takuya: Want me to pull Andy away from Kit, ZAFT?

DarkFoxKit: No need. *Hops onto Andy's head* Hey, Andy, we can read the book together. This way we don't have to keep arguing about it.

Andy: *Grumbles* Why didn't you just say that instead of taking the book away? Especially since you haven't even read it yet?

DarkFoxKit: I wanted to look at the cover. It's so beautiful~ … Erm… uh… well, let's just get the viewers onto the chapter, shall we? I'm sure they'd like to know what Walker's gonna do. Though I'm surprised nobody mentioned Patamon and the revelation of the prophecy.

ZAFT: I'm sure they will, Kit. :3

---

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

Digital Phantom!

(Shows several forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton and Patamon, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Takuya Kanbara, Andy Fenton and Lopmon, 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, his twin brother Danny Fenton 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, Kokuwamon shown behind him)

Let's go… EVOLUTION

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

As our worlds collide

(Jazz is shown beside Andy, the form of Lopmon behind Andy while a shadowed form is behind Jazz)

We stand as one

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

Growing strong

(Ghosts are shown flying all around Amity Park as the shadowy form of Walker is shown atop a building and sneering down)

As we move along

(Danny is shown walking down the street with those closest to him appearing one by one; Andy and Lopmon, Patamon, Tucker, 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, Lopmon, 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 45: A Mountainous Trouble

Andy and Lopmon were on the search for Patamon. They noticed the ghostly activity seemed to have slowed down. They hadn't seen any ghost guards for a while, even though it was getting dark.

"I wonder what made Patamon have that outburst, he seemed… really angry about something," Andy remarked.

Lopmon frowned as he was walking beside Andy, he remembered what Patamon said about the prophecy thanks to his big ears, and what he said to Salamon about it. He wondered if he should tell Andy, he hadn't before because he didn't want Andy to worry. But… if that ghost boy was who he thought it was, then Andy needed to know.

"Um… Andy…" Lopmon said.

"What's wrong?" Andy asked, noticing the worried tone in Lopmon's voice.

"That ghost boy… was that… Danny?" Lopmon hesitantly asked.

Andy stopped and frowned. He supposed he should've realized the Digimon would pick up on who the ghost boy was easier than most people who never really looked at Danny, or cared that much about him. Andy didn't figure it out on his own because he didn't want to. Thinking about it now, it was blatantly obvious that Phantom was Danny.

But Andy wasn't sure if he should be the one to confirm that Phantom was indeed Danny. It wasn't his secret to tell after all. But at the same time… he doubted he would be able to keep the secret from Lopmon. Lopmon was almost like an extension of himself at this point.

"Honestly… I shouldn't be the one to answer that…" Andy finally said. "But… I'm guessing that answer itself already gave you the answer you're looking for."

Lopmon frowned a bit more. "Yeah… it… kinda did…" He admitted at last. "It… if that really is Danny… then…" He trailed off, unsure of how to continue.

"Are you worried about what this means for us?" Andy asked. "Because of Digimon not liking ghosts?"

"No, it's nothing like that," Lopmon said. "I don't… have a problem with Danny being a ghost, but…"

"Technically… he's half ghost," Andy explained. "He's still half human as well."

"What? How can such a thing exist?" Lopmon questioned, confused. "I thought if a human were to die, they would become a ghost. They can't be both alive and dead at the same time… can they?"

Andy sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Danny… is a very special case. Nobody, not even Danny, knows why or how that's possible. But we can confirm he's human as much as he is a ghost."

Lopmon blinked. "Wow… Talk about a walking contradiction."

"But getting back on topic… What's the problem about Danny being the ghost boy?" Andy brought up.

Lopmon hesitated. "That… is more for Patamon to explain. I only know a bit about why, and only from overhearing Patamon talking to Salamon about it."

Andy frowned, but if Lopmon was able to deduce Phantom was Danny by just seeing him once… chances were, Patamon already figured it out as well. Whatever the problem was, it obviously affected Patamon pretty badly.

"Then I'll ask Patamon once we find him," Andy decided. "The only issue is trying to find that tiny Digimon in this big town…"

"I might be able to sense him," Lopmon offered. "It won't be easy, but as long as he's within the vicinity, I might be able to pick up on his data."

"Okay, I'll leave it to you then, Lopmon," Andy replied.

Lopmon nodded and closed his eyes, focusing in on Patamon's own data. It wasn't easy, but he finally got a sense of where Patamon was. He opened his eyes and looked at Andy. "I think I found Patamon's location. He's not too far away, but it will be a bit of a walk."

"Let's just hope he doesn't go flying away," Andy said before his D-Arc started to beep. "What now?"

Andy took the D-Arc out from his pocket, and was surprised to see a hologram of a compass showed up from the screen. It was pointing northeast. "What's this?"

Lopmon blinked as he looked at the holographic compass. "It's pointing in the direction I'm sensing Patamon."

So it's showing me where Patamon is? Andy wondered. Or… is it because Lopmon's the one sensing where Patamon is and the D-Arc knows we want to find him? This thing does seem to be connected to Lopmon somehow.

"Keep track of where Patamon is," Andy instructed. "We'll follow where this compass takes us while you do that."

Lopmon nodded. "Okay, Andy! Let's go find Patamon!"

---

Meanwhile, Danny was flying while holding Agunimon towards Casper High. It had gotten dark rather quickly, and the closer they got to the school, the colder the air felt. Danny wasn't sure if it was because it was getting cold, or if it was due to the immense amount of ghosts in the area.

Agunimon suddenly went tense in Danny's grip as those feelings of heat and cold raced down his spine. The feelings were so intense he actually shivered visibly. "Geez… I really hate my internal ghost sense…"

"I don't know which is worse, the internal ghost sense, or the external one. Either way, both are quite annoying after a while," Danny groaned.

Danny flew into the school, and landed in the hallway with the lockers, putting Agunimon down. He looked around, and frowned to himself. Although he knew he had to find Walker, he couldn't help but worry about Patamon. Patamon seemed pretty angry when he shouted at Danny, like whatever he was saying was personal to him instead of just being angry because he was talking to a ghost.

Agunimon noticed Danny seemed to be distracted. "You okay, Danny?" He asked in concern.

"It's just… maybe I should've gone after Patamon," Danny replied in a worried tone. "He seemed really upset, and I feel like it's my fault."

Agunimon found himself biting his lower lip slightly at what Danny said. He himself knew why Patamon was upset, but he wasn't sure if he should tell Danny why as well.

"Let's focus on finding Walker first. Andy and Lopmon will take care of Patamon," Agunimon said, hoping to reassure Danny enough to get his mind back on the mission.

Danny sighed, but nodded, their first priority was Walker. "Okay, let's go."

Both of them began to move around in the hallway, trying to find where this meeting was that Dash told them about. Dash didn't follow the others into the school, because it was pretty much ghost central, so they didn't blame him for that. At least he managed to give them the information.

Danny felt his ghost sense coming out of his mouth again, and Agunimon felt another flash of heat. A second later, both of them began hearing voices not too far away.

"Okay, listen up!" The familiar voice of Calvin said from down the hall.

Agunimon looked at Danny and gave him the signal to follow. Danny floated right behind the Legendary Warrior as Agunimon crept closer to what looked like an open classroom.

They peeked into the classroom, seeing Calvin standing in front of the popular kids and all the school staff. Instead of using the lights, they had torches hanging on the wall that was burning a blue, ghostly fire. It was really creepy, and looked like something out of a horror film.

Yeah, this doesn't scream 'we're ghosts!' at all. Danny thought to himself when he saw the setting of the classroom.

Agunimon shivered, seeing the exact same setting. It put him on edge even more. Geez… this is like something out of a horror movie or something…

Calvin resumed speaking. "Is everyone clear on the plan?" He asked the assembled students and staff.

"Yes, yes, it should all go down tomorrow after the town meeting," Paulina replied with a malicious grin on her face.

"Good, then all that's left now is for the mayor to walk up to the podium." Calvin grinned sinisterly as well.

Danny and Agunimon frowned. They began to realize whatever it was Walker was planning had something to do with the mayor himself.

Agunimon and Danny backed away a bit from the classroom to discuss what they should do.

"It sounds like something big is going to happen tomorrow," Agunimon whispered.

"I gathered that, something to do with the mayor and the town meeting," Danny agreed quietly. "It might be good if we could stop them here and now."

"But there's a lot of them. I'm willing to bet that all of them in that classroom are being overshadowed by Walker's minions," Agunimon pointed out. "Would we even be able to fight them all off?"

Danny gave a hesitant look. "I don't know. I've never had to fight this many ghosts before. It'd be nice if everyone was here with their Digimon partners, we might have a chance, but… right now it's just the two of us. And we don't have time to assemble everyone here…"

Agunimon reached up and rubbed where the bridge of his nose would be if he didn't have his facial armor on. "Great… We're probably in over our heads, and Walker's up to something involving the mayor… What else could go wrong?"

"THE GHOST BOY IS HERE!" Someone shouted.

Danny and Agunimon jumped as they saw 'Kwan' standing at the door, looking at them with glowing red eyes.

"You just had to ask, didn't you!?" Danny snapped.

Agunimon sweatdropped at the sudden turn of events. "Geez… I really need to stop jinxing us…"

The two were quickly surrounded by the overshadowed students and staff. 'Calvin' grinned as his eyes glowed with Walker's green eyes instead of red like the rest of them. He grabbed Danny's chest and shoved him against a wall.

"Gotcha, punk!" 'Calvin' grinned sinisterly.

Danny growled. "Walker?! You're the one overshadowing Calvin?! I should've guessed…"

"He wasn't what I quite wanted. I wanted the 'king of Casper High' as he had the most influence in the school," 'Calvin', or rather, Walker, said. "But he managed to get away from me. No matter though, it's no longer important. Because my plan will come to fruition soon. How does it feel? Nowhere to run, no place to hide? I'm going to turn the whole world against you. And by the time I'm done, you're gonna beg for the safety of my prison."

Walker leaned in closer to Danny's face. "In the Ghost Zone, where you belong!"

Agunimon growled. "So that's your plan, huh?" He snapped, showing his sharp canine teeth in his anger. "Trying to make Danny out to be the bad guy?"

"He's not the only one I'm aiming for," Walker said as he glared at Agunimon. "I'll make sure the world will turn against the digital beast who shouldn't be here!"

"You know what? I've heard enough!" Danny snapped before he fired a ghost ray at Walker, or rather, at Calvin, forcing Walker out of his body. "We're going to stop you before you get to do anything!"

"We are?" Agunimon asked.

"We kinda don't have a choice now," Danny grumbled.

Agunimon sighed, but knew Danny was right. And to be honest, he didn't want to see everyone turn against Danny, so he kinda had no options left. "Okay, I guess we're doing this then." He said as he got into a fighting stance.

"But not here," Danny suddenly said. "If we fight here, the entire school will collapse."

Danny flew up and picked up Agunimon. "If you want us, Walker, then come and get us!"

With that challenge, Danny turned himself, and Agunimon, intangible before flying them out of the school.

Walker frowned before he grinned. "The hunt is on, I see~ Well, I will catch you yet, ghost boy~"

Walker flew back into Calvin's body before he and the rest of his minions flew up after Danny and Agunimon, still using the students and teacher's bodies. They had a ghostly aura covering their bodies.

Danny flew out into the open, hoping this was a good enough distance away from the school.

Suddenly, both Danny and Agunimon had their ghost senses go off, Danny's coming out of his mouth in that light blue mist.

"Behind us!" Agunimon shouted to Danny, sensing 'Calvin' behind them.

Oh great, we're at a disadvantage in the air. Agunimon can't fly, and I have to keep carrying him. Danny frowned.

'Calvin' gave a battle roar at the two before he flew at them. Danny tried to use one hand to fire a ghost ray, but he nearly dropped Agunimon, so he had to grab onto Agunimon, unable to use his ghost ray.

Seeing that Danny was at a disadvantage, Agunimon knew he had to do something. He had the power to fly with his Beast Spirit, but he had no control over it at the moment, so that was ruled out. What luck that I can't control my Beast Spirit right now…

Danny flew up, dodging 'Calvin's' incoming tackle. "Agunimon, can you use any of your attacks while I'm carrying you?"

Agunimon looked up, surprised before he got the message. He grinned. "You just had to ask~" He said before he concentrated and had fire flare from one of his silver wrist braces. "Pyro Darts!"

As 'Calvin' was coming in again, the flames from the Pyro Darts hit him.

Agunimon remembered what Andy had told him before, about how the ghost's aura will give their human hosts the same durability as a ghost. So while he didn't like having to hurt a human, he knew Calvin's body could take it as he was right now.

With 'Calvin' trying to recover from the fiery darts, Danny began to fly down, wanting to get them both on the ground. They were coming down near the Nasty Burger, which was, thankfully, closed right now. However, as Danny was landing, he was suddenly tackled by 'Mr. Lancer', accidentally letting go of Agunimon. Agunimon yelled as he fell on an empty car that was parked near the Nasty Burger.

"Ow…" Agunimon groaned once he had made impact with the car. "That really smarts…"

Agunimon rolled off of the car and got to his feet, brushing off his armor before he turned his attention back to the battle.

He saw 'Kwan' and 'Star' glaring at him with those red eyes. Weirdly enough, despite being ghosts, they didn't seem to want to use ghost rays. Instead, they launched at him. It was creepier than it probably actually was due to the fact it was people he knew launching at him.

Agunimon got into a fighting stance and readied himself for the attack. He saw 'Kwan' coming at him from his left from the corner of his eye and turned around, using the momentum of his turn to throw his weight into a round kick and hit 'Kwan' in the side of the face.

However, after kicking 'Kwan' away, 'Star' managed to pounce him from behind with ghostly strength. She began to claw at his armor like a rabid wild animal.

"No… you don't!" Agunimon hissed as he grabbed 'Star's' hands before he threw her over his shoulder, right onto 'Kwan', who was dazed from the kick earlier.

Danny himself just managed to throw 'Mr. Lancer' off of him, and he was trying to fly back to Agunimon. 'Ishiyama' stood on top of a street light, holding out a metallic bazooka of some kind at the flying ghost boy. She took aim and fired out a mechanical claw at Danny.

Danny heard something coming towards him from behind. He turned around to see what it was. He saw a silver blur before something cold and hard grabbed onto his chest. Danny groaned, only having a second to look down to see what grabbed him before he was shocked by electricity.

Seeing Danny in trouble, Agunimon ran at 'Ishiyama', fire coating his right fist. "Pyro Punch!"

'Ishiyama' jumped away from Agunimon's punch as he ended up hitting the street light, causing it to fall over. But the distraction was all Danny needed to grab onto the cord the claw was connected to, yank the claw off of him, and throw the cord, and the bazooka, along with 'Ishiyama' who was holding the bazooka, into a billboard.

Agunimon looked back at Danny, relieved he had gotten free of that claw thing. He gave Danny a grin, which Danny returned.

"Arrgh!" Two girly roars shouted.

Danny was tackled in the air by 'Paulina', while Agunimon was tackled on the ground by 'Star' again.

"You can't get away from me!" Both 'girls' growled at the one they pounced.

"Wow, Paulina, and here I thought you didn't like me after the dance," Danny sarcastically remarked.

Danny then grabbed 'Paulina's' wrists and threw her off of him, causing her to scream as she was thrown away from Danny's person.

On the ground, Agunimon was literally wrestling with 'Star', trying to keep her from grabbing at his throat. He gritted his teeth in frustration as well as anger before he kicked 'Star' in the stomach with his left foot, sending her flying off of him. "Geez… These ghosts are relentless!" Agunimon exclaimed, panting a bit.

Danny landed on the side of a building, and 'Kwan' landed in front of him. Both of them were literally standing on the side of a building. Apparently ghosts didn't care about gravity at all, or the laws of physics.

"You're telling me!" Danny grumbled as 'Kwan' began showing off with the green stick the ghost guards usually used for their prisoners.

Danny wondered if these ghost guards lacked the ability to use any long range attacks. So far, they had to use tools to use any long range attacks. He fired a ghost ray at 'Kwan', and 'Kwan' didn't seem to have a defense for it, and ended up falling off of the building.

But despite Danny and Agunimon being able to overpower most of these ghost guards, every time they did, more of them showed up, one after another. Both Danny and Agunimon were becoming quite exhausted the longer the battle dragged on.

Danny landed behind Agunimon, both of them were back to back as they saw more of the overshadowed students and staff surrounding them.

"I don't know… how much longer… I can keep this up…" Danny panted.

"I think… I have an idea…" Agunimon said, panting as well. "But… you'll need to either turn intangible or fly out of here…" Fire flickered from the openings in his armor on his shoulders, wrists, knees, and ankles a bit.

Danny's eyes went wide when he saw what Agunimon was about to do. "Try to aim away from the buildings!"

Danny turned himself intangible as Agunimon was powering up.

"I will…" Agunimon promised as he then began to spin around, fire erupting from his armor on his shoulders, wrists, knees, and ankles. "Pyro Tornado!"

Most of the overshadowed people got sucked into the fiery tornado. They all yelled as the flames licked them, their ghostly forms unable to take the digital heat. They were soon thrown far away as the attack came to an end.

Agunimon landed on his feet, grinning. "It worked…" He said before he fell to his knees.

To Agunimon's surprise, fractal code surrounded his body, and he shrank. He blinked, wondering if tiring himself out made him human again. He looked down at his hands… and saw he wasn't exactly human.

Now as Flamemon, Takuya sweatdropped. "I guess I'm still a Digimon…"

"Why are you Flamemon again?" Danny asked when he released his intangibility.

"The stupid defense is still in effect…" Flamemon grumbled. "I guess I used too much energy and reverted to my… um… less powerful form…"

"Do you really think you've won just because you tossed aside a few of my men?" Walker's voice spoke up, getting the two's attention.

'Calvin' grinned as he stood in front of them, along with more of his ghost guards floating behind him.

Danny frowned, seeing the situation. It was clear they were too tired to keep fighting, and Walker had them outnumbered even if the ghost guards weren't that strong on their own. We need to get to safety. We can't keep fighting like this.

Deciding getting himself, and Flamemon, to safety was top priority now, he quickly picked up Flamemon and flew away from Walker and his minions as fast as he could.

"Get him!" 'Calvin' demanded before his ghost guards flew after Danny.

Flamemon looked back and yelped. "They're following us!" He exclaimed.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Danny yelled against the wind. If I could just get to Fenton Works and put up the Ghost Shield…

Some of the ghost guards began firing the green energy from their batons at Danny and Flamemon. Danny was putting his dodge training to good use once again. Though Flamemon was starting to get a little air sick.

Danny finally reached Fenton Works and turned both himself and Flamemon intangible. They entered the house, with Danny setting down the airsick Flamemon once they reached the lab.

Danny didn't waste any time activating the ghost shield from Fenton Works. The shield emitter emerged from the top of the Ops Center and activated, sending out the green shield all around the house.

Walker and his ghost guards ran smack into the Ghost Shield like it was a solid wall. Not even the overshadowed humans were able to get through the Ghost Shield. For once, Danny was incredibly thankful his parents made the Ghost Shield. He opened the curtains in his room to look outside at Walker and the other ghosts, turning back to his human form. He saw 'Calvin', the other overshadowed humans, and some of the ghost guards who weren't in a body, glaring back at him.

"This isn't over. We'll stop you, Walker, you can count on it!" Danny stated before he closed the curtains.

Flamemon came staggering up the stairs to Danny's and Andy's room. "Ugh… Did you have to fly like a roller coaster?" He groaned out, having just finished throwing up in the bathroom on the first floor.

Danny sweatdropped. "Sorry about the rough flying, but I had to keep dodging those baton energy things. They would've handcuffed me and cut off my powers if they managed to touch me."

"I'll take being airsick over being a splat on the ground then…" Flamemon groaned, falling onto Andy's bed and curling up. "This really sucks…"

"What really sucks is that we have an idea of what Walker plans to do, but we're on lockdown right now. We don't have enough power to stop him as we are now, and everyone else is scattered," Danny sighed as he sat down on his own bed. "And Patamon… I hope Patamon will come back soon… I hope Andy and Lopmon are doing okay out there. Lopmon may be able to fight off the ghosts, but not if all of them tried to come at them at once…"

"I think we both are worried…" Flamemon muttered. "I want Andy and Lopmon to come back with Patamon soon… if only for their own safety…"

---

After failing to catch Danny and Flamemon, Walker flew through the streets before he landed in front of Tucker's house. He wasn't stupid, he kept a tracking device on Wulf's collar. He grinned to himself, knowing that he just had to finish the job.

"Looks like you'll finally join those friends and families of yours that you broke every single rule for," Walker remarked as he held out a controller. "Goodbye."

Walker pushed the button… but there was a lack of screaming. Walker frowned, but he didn't have time to check to see if Wulf's core was going to get destroyed by the collar, he had bigger things to do. Walker flew off, he had a lot to do to prepare for tomorrow.

In Tucker's house, in the attic, Tucker was looking outside the window. "Okay, he's gone."

"Good thing you got that collar off when you did," Sam said. "Otherwise Wulf here would be a giant spark plug."

The big collar was on the floor, Wulf was grinning. He hadn't expected these two human children to be able to get such a high ghostly tech collar off, but they were able to do it. And Walker likely thought he just finished Wulf off for good.

"Dankon pro forigi tiun kolumon! (Thank you for removing that collar!)" Wulf exclaimed.

"You should get out of here before someone sees you," Sam suggested. "Try not to get caught by Walker again."

Wulf smiled. "Mi iam repagos al vi pro via bonkoreco! (I will repay you for your kindness one day!)"

With that said, Wulf turned intangible and flew out through the window.

Tucker smiled. "He said he would repay us for helping him one day." He translated with a grin on his face. "I didn't need to know Esperanto to know he was grateful; it showed on his face clearly."

Sam smiled as well. "We'd better let Danny and Andy know Wulf is free of that collar." She said as she took out her cell phone.

"It's 9 o'clock!"

Sam frowned when the door to Tucker's attic opened, showing his parents. Angela and Maurice Foley were Tucker's mom and dad, and they apparently knew they were up here the whole time. Tucker and Sam had been lucky that they hadn't come in earlier when Wulf was here.

"That means it's curfew time," Maurice stated. "Lights out, phones off, technology down, computers off."

You've gotta be kidding me… Sam groaned.

Angela then spoke up. "It's too dangerous to take you home, Sam. You'll have to spend the night here."

"And so we know you kids are safe, your mom and I will stay in the room with you." Maurice added as Angela then unrolled two sleeping bags with a grin.

Sam looked quite annoyed now. "Next time, we will take the extra-dimensional fugitive to my place…" She whispered to Tucker.

Tucker just gave a sheepish shrug.

Meanwhile, Wulf was outside. He wondered what he should do now, but then he thought about the two ghost boys… or rather one ghost boy, and one normal boy who just looked, and smelled, identical to the ghost boy. He remembered looking through the pictures of that girl's photo album. They seemed to be pretty close friends, and after they had taken time to help him… he figured the least he could do was make sure Walker's plan failed, whatever that was. With that thought in mind, Wulf grabbed his hoodie and pulled it over his face before he ran down the street.

Meanwhile, not too far away, Andy and Lopmon stopped when they reached central park, and stopped in front of a tree. Both of them looked up, seeing Patamon laying on a tree branch.

"Hey, Patamon!" Lopmon called out. "Why don't you come down here so we can talk?"

Patamon clearly heard Lopmon if the way one of his ears/wings twitched in their direction, but he didn't respond, much to Lopmon's disappointment.

"If you don't come down, we'll go up!" Andy called.

When Patamon didn't give a response, Andy put his D-Arc into his pocket and grabbed onto the tree's trunk. "Alright, you asked for it, bud!"

Andy and Lopmon climbed up the tree, hoping that Patamon wouldn't fly away the second they reached the branch he was on. Lopmon was the first to reach the tree branch Patamon was on, it took Andy another few seconds to reach the branch himself. The branch was thick, so Andy hoped his weight wouldn't cause it to snap.

"What do you two want?" Patamon grumbled, though he hadn't flown away from them yet, so Andy wanted to take that as a good sign.

"It's dangerous to be out here alone, especially with the ghosts flying around," Andy said.

"So you came out here, alone, to find me?" Patamon retorted.

"He wasn't alone! I was with him!" Lopmon pointed out.

"So I saw." Patamon grumbled back. "Why did you two come to find me? You can't be that worried about my safety."

"What are you talking about? Of course we are," Andy frowned. "You may be a grump, but you're still our friend. We didn't want anything to happen to you. Danny's also worried about you too."

Patamon grew stiff when Andy mentioned Danny. "I don't care about him."

"If that's true, why'd you go stiff when Andy mentioned him?" Lopmon questioned.

Patamon felt like smacking Lopmon with one of his ears/wings at that point. "That's my business and not yours."

Andy frowned. "Patamon… what happened between you and… my brother?"

"Why would you think anything was going on?" Patamon questioned.

"The way you lashed out at Phantom like that earlier, and then flying off on your own. That's not like you," Andy explained. "Something was obviously bothering you about Phantom."

"Digimon don't like ghosts. I'm a Digimon, and he is a ghost. Isn't that obvious?" Patamon retorted.

"I'm a Digimon too, and you don't see me lashing out at Phantom or Wulf," Lopmon pointed out.

"Yeah, well, you're too innocent to really have a deep hatred for ghosts," Patamon grumbled.

"I don't think that's it," Lopmon said. "You wouldn't have sounded so upset if it was just because you don't like ghosts."

Patamon didn't give a response back.

Lopmon frowned. "... Is it because of who that ghost boy is?"

Patamon froze at the question, and this did not go unnoticed by Lopmon, who frowned.

Andy decided to stay quiet and let Lopmon handle this for now. Since Lopmon was a Digimon like Patamon, he may know the right words to say to Patamon, and Lopmon had a better idea of what was bothering Patamon so much.

"That's it, isn't it?" Lopmon said softly. "I know you're smart, Patamon. You figured out who that ghost boy was the moment you laid eyes on him."

Patamon didn't answer. His silence told Lopmon all he needed to know.

Since Patamon didn't seem to be in a talking mood, Lopmon continued on. "And it's not just because he's a ghost. It's because he matches that… thing you were talking to Salamon about. You had been prepared to do what you think is necessary if you ever found that ghost boy. But you didn't expect to bond with the very boy himself."

Finally, Patamon spoke. "No… I didn't… But that is irrelevant now… I know what I must do…"

"What are you talking about?" Andy asked, wanting to know what it was about Danny being half ghost that made Patamon feel this way.

"It's best you don't know, Andy," Patamon said.

"If it involves my twin brother, I think I have the right to know," Andy replied.

Patamon looked away from Andy. He couldn't tell Andy exactly why he was so upset about Danny… about him being…

"I can't tell you everything, but… I can at least tell you this," Patamon said as he stood up on his hind legs. "You may or may not have figured it out already on your own, but I am a Celestial Digimon. I was Seraphimon, and had been stripped of my powers in order to hide from the players so they can't take my castle so easily."

Andy was both surprised and not surprised. He knew Patamon had been more than he appeared, and he had been trying to hide it. But with his grumpy attitude, it was quite clear he was more jaded than a child naturally would be. Though he knew Patamon had to have been someone of importance, he didn't think Patamon would've been one of the Celestial Digimon.

"You are?" Andy blinked.

"Whoa… I had no idea," Lopmon said, looking just as surprised. "Wait, then why are you here? Shouldn't you be back at the castle or something?"

"Hush and let me explain," Patamon sighed. "I'd appreciate it if you don't tell anyone about this. But… I do owe you an explanation at least. As a Celestial Digimon, I was given a prophecy told by Shamamon himself a long time ago. It was a prophecy that talked about a dark future, where the 3 worlds would end, and war will break out between the 3 worlds. As a Celestial Digimon, I took it upon myself to find a way to prevent such a thing. It was… a mission I took."

Patamon looked down. "But… now… I may have found a way to prevent the prophecy. But it involves… a very tough choice on my end. A choice that I… I'm not sure that I can make anymore. But I can't just ignore it and turn a blind eye. I will be failing my duty as Seraphimon, and I will put all the worlds in danger."

Patamon raised up his paws on his head, scratching himself. It was clear he was in a lot of emotional turmoil over this.

"And this prophecy… involves… the ghost boy?" Lopmon asked with a frown on his face.

Andy frowned as well. Whatever Patamon felt he had to do was clearly hurting him.

"Yes, I'm afraid it does," Patamon answered. "I won't go into detail about it though. Just know that your brother's ghost form matches the prophecy's description perfectly, Andy."

Andy didn't know what to make of this. "How do you know the prophecy isn't wrong?"

"It was written into sacred stone. Ophanimon, Cherubimon, and I all had the same vision as well," Patamon said.

"You mean Celestial Digimon can see into the future, right?" Lopmon asked. "I think Shamamon said something like that before."

"Yes. And those visions are always accurate," Patamon explained.

"But you're… trying to prevent it, right?" Andy asked.

"Prevent the prophecy? Yes, I am." Patamon replied, his tone serious.

"What is it that you have to do to stop it then?" Andy asked.

Patamon shook his head. "Something… unpleasant… and perhaps unbecoming of a Celestial Digimon."

"Salamon mentioned you could fall into a dark path if you go through with it," Lopmon remembered, looking worriedly at Patamon. "But… surely there's another way to prevent it."

Patamon sighed. "Agunimon mentioned that too, at least, he was trying to stop me in his own way. He did mention I could possibly set off this war if I did what I planned to do, but that is not possible."

"Do you even know when this war between the 3 worlds could happen?" Andy asked.

Patamon shook his head. "I'm afraid the prophecy was vague about that. It could happen at any time."

"Then stop stressing out about it. You don't even know when or why this war would happen," Andy said. "Why don't we get back home? We can't stay out here. If someone sees us, they're going to call the cops to get me back home because it's past curfew."

Patamon sighed. "That… may be best for now…" He agreed, feeling tired after all of that stress left his body.

Andy was glad he was able to convince Patamon to go back with him and Lopmon. But he wasn't sure how Patamon would react once he saw Danny again. Andy decided he would have to talk to Danny. Though Patamon being one of the Celestial Digimon was… information that was going to take time to digest.

---

Andy had his hoodie up and his head down while he, Lopmon, and Patamon walked back to Fenton Works. The ghosts didn't pay them any mind because they were focused on doing whatever it was they were doing. Andy wondered what the ghosts were up to since they seemed to be busy.

When they reached Fenton Works, they were surprised to see a bright green dome covering the house.

"What's that?" Lopmon asked.

"The Ghost Shield?" Andy frowned as he walked up to the shield. "Someone must've activated it."

"Can… we even go through it?" Patamon questioned.

"We should. It's supposed to stop ghosts, not humans, and… I don't think it'll stop Digimon," Andy replied.

Both Patamon and Lopmon sweatdropped at Andy's response.

"Well… better late than never to test that theory." Lopmon muttered. "Might as well go inside."

Andy walked through the Ghost Shield with ease, taking out his house key from his pocket to unlock the door. Lopmon and Patamon walked through the Ghost Shield themselves, both of them sighing in relief. They hurried into the house before Andy closed the door.

"I wonder if Danny and Takuya are back yet," Andy remarked.

"I'm sensing a familiar digital energy in your room," Lopmon pointed out.

Andy, Lopmon, and Patamon went upstairs and opened the door to the twins' room. They were surprised, but also relieved, to see Danny and Flamemon sleeping. Danny was out cold on his own bed, while Flamemon was sleeping on Andy's bed.

"Looks like Takuya tired out his Spirit enough to become Flamemon again," Patamon noted. "Hmph, I'm not surprised."

"Well… it will be easier to come up with disguises for him during this time." Lopmon pointed out. "Um… at least until he becomes Agunimon again…"

"Well, if they're sleeping, we might as well turn in for the night ourselves," Andy suggested. "I have a feeling a lot is going to happen tomorrow."

"Where are we going to sleep? Flamemon took your bed," Lopmon pointed out.

Andy frowned and sighed. "The couch, I suppose…"

Patamon huffed. "Then get some sleep. We'll need it for tomorrow, if what you say is correct, Andy."

Flamemon murmured in his sleep before he curled up into a ball, looking like a sleeping cat almost.

"Come on, let's go while these two get their beauty rest," Andy sighed before he and Lopmon left.

Patamon watched them go downstairs before he turned his attention to the sleeping Danny. If Danny truly is the ghost boy from the prophecy, I have to take him out as soon as possible. Maybe Walker's plan is what will spark the war. I can't let my emotions stop me.

Patamon quietly flew up onto Danny's bed, and he started walking on all fours slowly to Danny's face. The D-Arc in Danny's pocket's screen started to turn black.

Patamon summoned his fractal code a little to take out a single object. It was a small blade that was glowing red.

The Blood Blossom blade… crafted from the heaviest potent of Blood Blossoms. If a ghost's core were to touch this blade… well, the results aren't pretty… This was what I was planning to use to kill the ghost boy. And he's right here, in front of me… Patamon thought to himself as his paw held onto the handle of the blade.

Patamon looked at Danny's chest. He had an easy target. All I have to do is plunge the Blood Blossom blade into his chest. Even if his core is inactive, it will still be enough to kill him. I promised as a Celestial Digimon that I would prevent that prophecy. I can't squander this opportunity.

Patamon leaned in closer, and… Danny's eyes groggily opened. Patamon gasped when Danny was looking at him, and froze where he was, the tip of the blade touching just the outside of Danny's shirt.

"Hey, buddy… I missed you…" Danny said sleepily with a grin before he conked out again. Thankfully, he hadn't seen the blade Patamon was holding due to being too sleepy.

Patamon's paws were shaking. Was he really that worried about being caught? … No, after seeing Danny being so happy to see him, Patamon's resolve had weakened considerably.

Danny, though he was sleeping, started to subconsciously reach his hands out to hug Patamon. Patamon gave a small yelp before he moved back to the edge of the bed, then lost his balance and fell to the floor.

Danny didn't even react to Patamon falling off, at least not while awake. "Be… careful… Pata…mon… Zzzzzz…"

Patamon sat up from the floor, shaking his head. He saw the Blood Blossom blade in front of him, on the floor. He looked up at the sleeping boy in the bed before he picked up the blade again, gripping it tightly. Patamon started to walk to the door, unable to find the resolve to finish off Danny. The D-Arc in Danny's pocket's screen returned to normal as Patamon walked away.

Maybe not yet… maybe later… Patamon told himself. But I will get this blade into you, ghost boy.

Danny had no idea his own words had just saved his life. He continued to sleep peacefully, unaware of what Patamon was trying to do, or almost did.

---

Back in the Digital World, Jazz, Floramon, and Tommy had been sticking together for a while. They didn't have a destination in mind exactly, but they were exploring in hopes of finding Valerie. Andy hadn't given Jazz any messages on her phone about Valerie being back home in the real world, so it was likely she was still here, in the Digital World. Since Floramon has yet to be able to digivolve into her Champion form, the group decided to stay hidden from other players for the time being.

That was why they were currently hiking up a large, gray, rocky mountain.

"Tell me again why we're hiking up this mountain?" Floramon grumbled.

"It's the best way to avoid players. I doubt many of them would be trying to look around a rocky mountain like this," Jazz replied.

"Isn't this a bit dangerous though?" Tommy gulped as they were pretty high up.

Jazz hesitated. "It… might be a bit dangerous… But only if you don't watch your step. If you do keep an eye on where you step, no problems should arise." She replied at last.

"I still feel like this is a bad idea." Floramon frowned. "One slip and we're goners."

"Just try not to think about that, alright?" Jazz grumbled.

As they were moving up the mountain, they saw train tracks going vertically up the steep mountain.

"How… are there train tracks on the side of the mountain?" Jazz questioned, feeling like her brain was starting to break. "The train would fall!"

"Maybe that's not the case for Trailmon?" Tommy suggested sheepishly.

"When Trailmon traveled here, they were able to stick to the tracks, and able to climb up the mountains easily even at a vertical angle." Floramon replied. "It's… kinda a thing with Trailmon…"

"I… need to see these Trailmon in action…" Jazz groaned.

"Yeah, me too," Tommy agreed.

"Unfortunately we can't until the station at the Flame Terminal is fixed," Floramon sighed.

"Great…" Tommy sighed. "How high is this mountain anyways?"

"Let's… not worry about that…" Jazz said. "If you see how high it is, you'll get demotivated to keep going."

Tommy grumbled. "Too bad we can't just fly…"

"Or stick to walls like the KaratsukiNumemon can, that would make this a lot easier," Floramon added.

"The what?" Jazz asked.

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know. We're near the KaratsukiNumemon village, they live on this mountain," Floramon explained.

"These Digimon must like climbing vertical spaces." Jazz noted. "Especially if they live here."

I wonder if I could stick to the walls as Kumamon… Tommy thought to himself. If I could, then if we do fall, I could at least save us….

"Yeah, they're snail Digimon," Floramon explained. "They've probably had it the easiest since I doubt many players would bother them here."

"Hey, do you hear something?" Tommy asked as they were climbing.

Jazz and Floramon stopped, hearing what sounded like caveman speech. "...sign of other Legendary Spirits… Me missing something…"

"Maybe if you actually looked somewhere besides on the side of a freaking mountain! Why would you even think the other Legendary Warriors would be here of all places!?" A female voice shouted.

"Me know, Ranamon! Me want other Spirits as much as you do! This seem like good place for other tainted Legendary Warriors to come." The caveman speech user grumbled back.

"Honey, the only Legendary Warrior who'd like to come here is you," The valley girl voice grumbled. "Why did I even come with you? You're about as intelligent as this mountain."

"You looking for Beast Spirit, right? Figured you find it here, but now you complain because it not here." The caveman speaker retorted.

Tommy frowned as he gathered who they were hearing were likely the rogue Legendary Warriors. He recognized Grumblemon's voice, but he didn't know who the other voice belonged to. But he could gather she was likely a rogue Legendary Warrior herself, especially since she was with Grumblemon. Hang on… if she is a rogue Legendary Warrior, why is she looking for her Beast Spirit? I thought Petaldramon said they all had their Beast Spirit.

"I'm only looking for it because those player brats somehow managed to knock it out of me, and it disappeared somewhere. And don't you dare tell Cherubimon about that!" The voice snapped.

"Me won't, not if you help me look for other Spirits claimed by players." The caveman speaker replied.

"Those voices sound like they're coming closer…" Floramon frowned in worry.

"We need to get out of the open," Jazz quickly said.

"Where can we go? It's just the mountain side as far as the eye can see," Tommy pointed out. This is bad, if we get caught by those rogue Warriors, we're going to be at a huge disadvantage.

Floramon looked around, trying to find a good hiding spot. Then she saw one. It was a small cave off to the side. "Hey, we could hide there!" She exclaimed, pointing at the cave.

"Good eyes, Floramon!" Jazz praised. "But it's so far, we won't reach it in time before those voices get to us."

"Allow me," Floramon replied. "Get ready for a ride, Jazz!"

"Huh?" Jazz blinked.

"Poison Ivy!"

Floramon used one of her hands to shoot out a vine that wrapped around Jazz's waist. Jazz yelped as Floramon swung her towards the cave.

Jazz landed in the cave, sweating like crazy. "I-I'm in the cave now!" She called back.

Floramon's vine unwrapped from Jazz's waist before she looked at Tommy. Tommy sweatdropped. Uh-oh…

"Waaaah!" Tommy yelled as he was being swung by Floramon's vine now.

Jazz held out her arms to make sure she caught Tommy once he got into the cave.

"You okay?" Jazz asked.

"U-uh-huh…" Tommy groaned. "Now I remember why I don't like roller coasters…"

Floramon then used her Poison Ivy to pull herself into the cave as well. "There we go~" She smiled. "We're now out of sight~"

"Me thought me heard something out here…"

Grumblemon pushed himself out from the mountain wall where Jazz, Tommy, and Floramon were earlier. They stayed hidden in the cave.

"How much longer do we have to be out here?" The female voice grumbled as water started to come out of the mountain wall, and began forming into a shape.

"Until me find out where tainted Legendary Warriors are. They not in one area for long, keep moving around." Grumblemon muttered.

The watery form finally took on a humanoid form. The form looked like a human woman with blue skin in a light blue bathing suit, and she had pointed ears like a nymph's. She had red eyes and an odd swim-cap like helmet on her head.

"You really need to lighten up, Honey." The female Digimon grumbled. "Them other Legendary Warriors will show up in time, just not here, and not right now."

"You don't know that, Ranamon." Grumblemon retorted. "Me know I sense a Legendary Warrior out here."

"You sure that wasn't just little ol' me, sugar?" Ranamon giggled.

So that's another rogue Warrior… Tommy noted as he studied Ranamon. From how she appeared as water, she must be the Warrior of Water.

"Me know your power anywhere. This power me sense not yours." Grumblemon explained. "Surely you sensed it too."

"Well… I suppose I must've sensed something. But it was too small for it to really show up on my radar," Ranamon shrugged. "How can you say that it wasn't just a fluke?"

Are they saying they sensed a Legendary Warrior nearby? Who would be here? Tommy wondered. I thought they'd either be at their home or patrolling around the two castles or something.

Jazz frowned to herself as she was listening in as well. This is bad… If they are looking for another Legendary Warrior… then we might not stand a chance against these two if they find us.

But Jazz couldn't let her fear take over. She had a responsibility to keep Tommy safe, and she was the only one here with a Digimon partner. Tommy definitely reminded her of her little brothers, and she wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him if she could help it. She hadn't been there when Danny was dying in the accident, and she hadn't been there when Andy was being pushed away by Danny. Never again would she leave someone she was responsible for to fend for himself.

"Don't worry, Tommy, we'll be okay," Jazz whispered, trying to assure the boy.

Tommy nodded, remaining silent. Jazz figured Tommy was somewhat scared, so she put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly, unaware of the fact Tommy was not scared, but rather thinking of something else.

"C'mon… Let's see if we can find a way out of this cave and away from those rogues." Jazz suggested.

"We can probably go in deeper," Floramon suggested. "The cave looks like it leads into a tunnel through the mountain. We might be able to find a way out through there."

"What if there are hostile Digimon in that cave?" Tommy asked.

"It's probably still safer than trying to climb the side of a steep mountain with rogue Warriors chasing after us," Floramon pointed out.

Tommy frowned, but he realized Floramon had a point. "Yeah… good point…"

Jazz nodded. "Okay, let's go. We should probably all hold hands, so we don't get separated and lost from each other."

Jazz took Tommy's hand, and Floramon took Jazz's other hand. Jazz couldn't help but smile a little as it felt like she was holding a flower while holding Floramon's hand.

They began walking deeper into the cave, going into a dark tunnel.

"How long do you think this tunnel is?" Tommy asked as they were walking.

"Honestly? I have no idea." Jazz replied. "But I'm sure we'll find an exit somewhere down this tunnel."

"And even if it gets dark in here, I can see in the dark better than a human can, so I could spot the exit for us." Floramon added with a small smile.

"It is dark in here," Jazz remarked.

"Wait, I see a light up ahead," Floramon noted. "We shouldn't be too far from the end of the tunnel."

As they were getting closer to the light, however, something popped up from behind them. They gasped as they turned around, though it was difficult to see what, or who, was behind them.

"Well, look at what me found! Players lurking in cave!" Grumblemon grinned sinisterly.

"Run!" Jazz yelled before she started running while still holding onto Tommy and Floramon's hands.

"You not get far from me!" Grumblemon shouted.

Jazz didn't stop running, as she ran out of the cave and into the light. She came to a stop, realizing that she was near the edge of the cliff. "Crap…"

Grumblemon came up from behind them again. "See? Told you not get far from me!"

"What are you going to do to us!?" Tommy demanded.

Floramon let go of Jazz's hand, and stood in front of Tommy, trying to put herself between them and Grumblemon.

"What else? Rid you players of this world!" Grumblemon snapped "This mountain an easy place to do!"

"I won't let you!" Floramon snapped.

"What you do to stop me, little weak Digimon?" Grumblemon questioned.

Floramon hesitated, realizing she was probably in over her head, but at the same time, Jazz and Tommy were in trouble and she couldn't just sit back and let someone hurt them. Floramon took a deep breath before she focused on one of her attacks, making sure to not hit Tommy or Jazz with it. "Rain of Pollen!"

Grumblemon sank back into the walls of the tunnel, completely avoiding the pollen.

"How'd he do that?" Jazz gasped.

"He's the Legendary Warrior of Earth," Tommy stated. "He can go into anything that's part of the natural world."

Jazz paled. "We need to get away from here, and fast!"

Jazz looked back and saw it was a long fall if they jumped. There was no way they would make it out alive if they jumped. If only they had Lopmon, or Danny, or heck, even Takuya, maybe they could make it. Why am I so useless!? I'm supposed to be the older sister!

Grumblemon came back up to the surface and laughed. "Time to say goodbye! Seismic Sledge!"

Grumblemon swung his sledge hammer at them. Floramon jumped in the sledge hammer's way to take the brunt of it, but it caused her to fly back into Tommy, who then flew back into Jazz, causing all 3 of them to fall.

"That should rid those players and traitor of this world," Grumblemon remarked.

As Jazz, Tommy, and Floramon were falling, Jazz was calling out to Floramon who was unconscious. "Floramon! You have to wake up! You might be able to save us with your Poison Ivy! Floramon!"

Tommy frowned, he may not have a choice to keep Kumamon hidden from Jazz any longer. If they kept falling like this, they would die.

However, as they were falling, they could see they were coming up to a village, and just underneath them was a big pile of hay.

"I hope that hay is soft enough to stop our fall!" Jazz yelled before they impacted the hay pile. "OOOF!"

"I think it was…" Tommy groaned, though mostly to himself since he wasn't sure if Jazz could hear him from where he was partially covered by hay. "Oww…"

Jazz held onto Floramon, who seemed to still be out cold from the brutal attack from Grumblemon earlier. She dug her way out of the pile of hay. Tommy also managed to dig himself out of the hay. They were greeted by a bunch of green looking giant snail creatures that were surprised to see them falling from the sky and landed in their pile of hay.

"Oh boy…" Jazz muttered. "I think we've been found."

"You're telling me," Tommy remarked. "Uh… hello there?"

One of the snail creatures approached the two. "Are you two players?"

"Um… Kind of…?" Jazz replied. "B-but we're not here to cause trouble! We just escaped a rogue Digimon, that's all!"

"Is that what happened to that Floramon you're holding?" The Digimon asked.

"Yes, she got hurt trying to protect us," Jazz explained. "Can you please help her?"

The snails looked at each other before they began to whisper to each other.

"Wonder what they're talking about," Tommy remarked.

"I hope it's nothing bad…" Jazz frowned.

Eventually, the snail Digimon looked over at Tommy and Jazz again.

"We are the KaratsukiNumemon tribe, this is our village. If you truly mean no harm, you're welcome to stay," One of the snails, the KaratsukiNumemon, greeted.

"Thank you." Jazz said gratefully. "Please, help Floramon… I… I don't want anything to happen to her…"

"She looks like she got hit pretty hard. Come on, you can take her to my place," A KaratsukiNumemon with… what looked like a mustache that was a part of his skin, suggested.

Jazz and Tommy blinked as they watched the KaratsukiNumemon slithering on the mountain slide like it was ground, heading to one of the houses that was sideways on the mountain.

"Um… how do we follow you?" Tommy asked. "We can't cling to walls."

The KaratsukiNumemon with the mustache looked down at the two of them. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry! We rarely get visitors who cannot cling to walls. Please, just use the rope ladder we'll throw down to you."

Jazz and Tommy were a bit surprised when the KaratsukiNumemon tossed down a rope ladder.

"I guess this is how visitors usually get around here," Jazz remarked.

"Yeah," Tommy agreed, looking at Jazz, seeing how she was going to be climbing with a bit of a disadvantage due to having to hold onto Floramon. "Why don't you go first?"

Tommy wanted to have Jazz to climb first, so if she accidentally fell, or she dropped Floramon, Tommy could catch them. Well, as much as he could with his smaller body.

Jazz nodded, likely not knowing about the smaller boy's plan. "Okay…" She said before she began to climb up the rope ladder awkwardly, trying to keep a grip on Floramon as well.

It was rather difficult, and stressful, to climb the rope ladder with one hand. Tommy stayed behind her, hoping Jazz and Floramon didn't fall.

"You're doing great, just a little further," The KaratsukiNumemon encouraged.

As Jazz and Tommy got closer to the entrance of the house, Tommy noticed a shadow of a humanoid being in the house's window. "Wait… who's that?"

Jazz didn't seem to notice, and kept going, pulling herself into the house.

"Hey, wait!" Tommy called.

"Finally made it!" Jazz smiled as she pulled herself into the house, glad that Floramon was still in her grasp.

"Who are you?"

Jazz blinked, hearing an unfamiliar, feminine voice. She looked over at who spoke, seeing a teenage girl who looked about her age, glaring at her.

"What's a player doing here?" The teenage girl demanded.

"I-I'm not a player! I promise!" Jazz replied nervously. "I-I just came here for help for my partner, Floramon! She got hurt fighting a rogue Digimon…"

The girl frowned as she studied Jazz. She could tell Jazz wasn't lying about Floramon being hurt, but she definitely didn't trust this strange girl who decided to climb the mountain without a flying Digimon. "You're a human with a Digimon partner, you are a player by definition around here."

Tommy could hear the girl's voice, he hadn't entered the building yet, but he recognized that voice. I know that voice… what is she doing here?

"I… guess I am a player then…" Jazz muttered with a frown. "B-but I don't mean any harm, honestly!"

"How do I know I can trust you?" The girl questioned.

Tommy frowned, seeing how they wouldn't get anywhere if the girl in question couldn't trust Jazz. He finally pulled himself into the house, which quickly caught the girl's attention.

"Tommy!? Is that you?" The girl asked in shock.

Tommy looked up at the girl. "Hey, Zoe… didn't expect to see you here either…"

Jazz blinked. "You two know each other?"

"You two know each other?" The girl Tommy called 'Zoe' asked back in surprise.

An awkward silence filled the house for a few moments before Jazz decided to break the silence. "I met Tommy recently, due to helping out some Burgermon with an issue that had cropped up. He offered to help me and my brother Andy, along with our Digimon partners, with the issue at hand."

Zoe frowned. "I see… Is that true, Tommy?"

"Yeah… Jazz isn't a bad person," Tommy vouched. "She's been keeping an eye on me all this time."

Zoe looked at Jazz. "So, your name is Jazz?"

"Actually it's Jasmine Fenton, but I prefer to be called Jazz," Jazz answered.

"I suppose I should introduce myself as well. I'm Zoe Orimoto," Zoe stated. "I apologize for my hostility. It's unusual for a player to come to the KaratsukiNumemon village without some kind of goal in mind, and usually they aren't very good goals."

"Here, lay down Floramon on this bed of leaves," KaratsukiNumemon instructed to Jazz. "These leaves will help plant Digimon like Floramon to heal much faster."

Jazz did as KaratsukiNumemon instructed, placing Floramon down on the leaves gently. "I hope this works…" She muttered. "Floramon protected us and now she's hurt…"

"Don't you worry, she'll be fine. If she hadn't lost her fractal code, she'll heal soon enough," KaratsukiNumemon reassured Jazz.

While Jazz was watching over Floramon, Zoe turned her attention to Tommy. "Now for you."

Tommy didn't give a response, he had a feeling he knew what Zoe was going to say, but it was best to get it out of the way.

"How could you run off like that?!" Zoe demanded. "Do you know how worried Koichi, JP, and I were when we found out you had left?! We were worried some Digimon got to you! We were all looking for you for days! Do you know how stressful that is while also trying to keep the castles safe from players?"

Jazz was surprised to hear Zoe scolding Tommy like that.

"I was hoping… you'd just forget about me and go on about your duties," Tommy responded. "I didn't want to keep being a liability to you guys."

Zoe paused for a moment before she frowned. "You… thought you were a…" Zoe wondered why Tommy would say he was being a liability before she remembered Koichi mentioning how it would be difficult to protect Tommy.

"Did… you overhear us talking?" Zoe wondered.

"... M-maybe a little…" Tommy confessed.

"If you did, then you should also know why we wanted to get you back home." Zoe frowned. "It's not because you're a liability. Your family is looking for you. Why would you rather stay here knowing that?"

"I have… my reasons…" Tommy said quietly.

"That's not good enough. I need to take you back to the castle and let the others know you're okay," Zoe stated firmly. "And then we're taking you back home."

"No, you can't!" Tommy snapped, speaking up for the first time since Zoe started talking to him. "I… I know my family's worried about me… but I'm not ready to leave the Digital World yet. And you're not making me leave before then."

Zoe blinked, surprised that Tommy was being insistent on staying in the Digital World, as well as the fact he had finally spoken up for himself. "You… really want to stay then?" She asked with a frown, not really liking what she was hearing.

Tommy looked down from Zoe's eyes. "What's waiting for me at home? Nothing but school, bullies, homework, and Yutaka's judgment. I have unfinished business here, and I don't want to leave not knowing if I can even come back."

Before Zoe could respond, Jazz decided to speak up. "I'm guessing this 'Yutaka' person is someone you look up to?"

Tommy frowned, he hadn't meant to mention his name like that. "He's… my older brother…"

Jazz frowned herself, wondering if her little brothers ever felt like she judged them too harshly like Tommy felt with his older sibling.

"It… sounds like you might have issues with your older brother." Jazz noted, not really sure what to say without coming off as awkward.

"More than you know…" Tommy frowned.

"Even so… you do know I can't just let you stay in this world, right?" Zoe said. "You've gotten lucky so far, but one day you'll come across something dangerous you can't get away from."

Jazz could see that there was some tension between Zoe and Tommy, so she decided she needed to intervene before it got out of hand. "How about a compromise? How about you let us stay while you're here for the time being?"

Zoe blinked before she frowned a little. She didn't really want to trust Jazz, but Jazz seemed like a good person, and Tommy seemed to be safe with her. So, she nodded. "Very well. I think that is acceptable. But as soon as we're done here, I'm taking Tommy back with me."

Jazz didn't know how Zoe intended to do that, but she hoped that maybe buying them time would give Tommy what he needed to convince Zoe to either let him stay, or have some kind of compromise.

"Now, now, how about we settle down for lunch?" KaratsukiNumemon suggested. "That always helps us calm down when we're in a bad mood."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Jazz nodded. "Tommy and I haven't eaten in a while."

"Great, I'll get some crops that only grow on this mountain," KaratsukiNumemon replied as he began to slither off.

Tommy decided to sit in the corner near Floramon, he didn't really want to talk to Zoe. So Jazz decided to talk to the other girl herself so she could find out more about the situation.

"What's the story between you and Tommy?" Jazz asked Zoe. She doesn't have a Digimon partner either, like Tommy. I wonder if there's a reason for that…

"It's a bit of a long story." Zoe sighed. "But the short version of it is that a friend of mine found Tommy and brought him to Seraphimon's castle for Tommy's own safety. That's where I met Tommy, and the rest is kinda history."

"That doesn't really tell me much," Jazz remarked. "This friend of yours found Tommy, brought him to the castle, and you met him there. There's gotta be more to it than that."

"Well, sorry, but I have some secrets of my own I can't go into detail either," Zoe huffed.

"There had to be some reason why Tommy left, and felt like he was a liability," Jazz pointed out.

Zoe sighed. "I suppose we did show off a bit around him. Trying to keep him safe, and fight off the players who wanted to try to take the castle like the players at the Rose Morning Star did."

"With… your Digimon?" Jazz questioned.

"You could say that," Zoe said. "You see… our Digimon partners are… special. They aren't like the Digimon partners you see with other players exactly. In fact, most of the time you wouldn't be able to see them until they're needed."

"That's… definitely unusual," Jazz noted, not sure what to make of that. Are their Digimon partners invisible or… is it something else?

"It's kinda hard to explain… And… I don't want to really show what… my Digimon partner… is capable of unless there is no choice." Zoe continued, trying to keep the subject somewhat vague.

"Is… Tommy the same way then? Because we never found his Digimon partner, while the rest of us found our's pretty quickly," Jazz questioned.

"As far as I know, no he isn't," Zoe answered. "Unless he has a D-Tector or something, chances are, he's probably just a normal player who got really unlucky with not finding his Digimon partner."

Tommy frowned to himself as he heard that. He definitely had a D-Tector, but he knew it wasn't quite the same one Zoe was probably thinking of. Or maybe D-Tectors go to a small group of players who could fuse with Digimon, it didn't have to be Legendary Warriors specifically.

"A D-Tector?" Jazz frowned. Like the one Takuya has?

"Yeah. It's a… unique device… that only certain players have." Zoe replied. "I happen to be one of them."

Is she… talking about the Legendary Warriors? I know Takuya is one, and he uses that D-Tector of his turn into a Legendary Warrior. Jazz thought to herself. Could it be…? Is Zoe a Legendary Warrior? Those two rogue Warriors did say they sensed a Legendary Warrior in the mountain before… could that have been Zoe?

I wonder if Jazz figured it out yet? Tommy wondered as he could see she was thinking. If what she and Andy told me was true, they already knew at least one Legendary Warrior.

"I see," Jazz finally said when she realized she hadn't said anything for a while. "Oh, I should warn you, Tommy, Floramon, and I were on the run from some rogue Legendary Warriors. They seemed to be looking for another Legendary Warrior on the mountain."

Zoe frowned. "Really? That doesn't sound good…" Did these rogue Warriors sense me when I was Kazemon? I mean… it makes sense, but for them to follow me to this place… Jazz, Tommy, and Floramon could be in danger… "But it's odd… the rogue Warriors didn't have any interest in looking for other Legendary Warriors before… I wonder what brought this on?"

Jazz and Tommy both sweatdropped, they knew what brought it on. But it wasn't like they were willing to share what happened, because they could unintentionally paint a target on Lopmon's back if the human Legendary Warriors believed he sent the rogues after them.

"I don't think that matters, what matters is that they are looking for the Legendary Warriors now," Jazz said. "And we're caught in the middle of it."

"Yeah… it seems we are…" Zoe agreed. More like you, Tommy, and Floramon are, Jazz… "If that is the case, then… we… need to be careful…"

"Oh… that reminds me… you said players didn't usually come on this mountain without a goal, right?" Jazz questioned. "So… what are you doing here yourself?"

Zoe sighed. "I was looking for Tommy, but I was also checking on the KaratsukiNumemon. They said that their girls were going missing, and… I felt like I was responsible to investigate."

Jazz frowned. "That's disturbing… Err… the girls going missing I mean." She added, trying to not make it sound like Zoe investigating was a bad thing.

"Yeah, I've been trying to see what was causing the disappearances. It could be a kidnapping, it could be the girls got lost somehow, which is unlikely as they know their way around, or maybe players caught them and took them away," Zoe sighed.

"Why the girls specifically?" Tommy asked, finally speaking up again.

The KaratsukiNumemon was coming back with a big bag on his shell. "The girls usually go out and gather ingredients, so they explore further than our territory while the guys do the labor farming. We were distraught when some of the girls didn't come back, and the other girls who did make it back don't seem to know what happened to them either."

KaratsukiNumemon set the bag down, using his teeth to open the bag up, showing a pile of different colored heads of lettuce.

Jazz blinked. "Is that all edible?" She had never seen differently colored heads of lettuce before, save for special ones at the store.

"Of course, they are specially grown on our mountain. We make money by transporting these to other places in the Digital World. Our food and crops make our mountain famous," KaratsukiNumemon explained.

"Go ahead and try one, they taste a lot better than they look," Zoe prompted.

Jazz hesitantly picked one of the red-colored lettuce heads up, only to bite into it. At once, her eyes went wide in surprise. "This tastes like I'm eating steak!"

"You see?" Zoe chuckled.

Tommy picked up a white lettuce and bit into it himself. "Mine tastes like a potato."

Zoe picked up a dark green lettuce and bit into it. "Mine tastes like pasta."

Jazz couldn't believe that she was eating lettuce that tasted just like steak. If she could bring these back to the real world, she was willing to bet people would pay a lot of money just to try these different flavored lettuces.

"Um… so getting back on topic," Zoe said as they were eating. "I've been investigating what caused some of the KaratsukiNumemon to go missing. I tried to go out with some of them earlier today, but we got back just fine. However, we found out more of them went missing, they just weren't in our group."

Jazz frowned. "So it sounds like someone is attacking when you aren't around, or at least when someone who is trying to find out what is going on is not around."

"Hold on…" Tommy said as he finished swallowing his piece of lettuce. "First, I want to know… did the group who went missing go in the same direction as the last group who went missing?"

"Yes, actually, come to think of it…" KaratsukiNumemon noted. "They did in fact go in the same direction. It's where they're supposed to gather seeds for our crops. In fact, we've started running a little low on those seeds due to this."

Zoe frowned. "That's a bit worrisome." She noted. "Maybe… maybe someone is trying to gather the seeds themselves, and the girls are just unlucky enough to be caught up in that effort."

"Even so, they shouldn't not be able to come back if they were being chased away from it." KaratsukiNumemon frowned.

"But if it was a player, they could've been capturing them," Zoe pointed out.

"Maybe, but…" Jazz frowned. "Doesn't it seem a bit odd if that was the case? What player is going to spend their hard earned cash on all those slave collars only to use them on the same species of Digimon over and over again?"

"I don't know, but sometimes players do things that don't make sense." Zoe admitted. "But whatever is going on, someone is definitely behind it."

"So I'm guessing we're going to check out this place the KaratsukiNumemon are going to that are disappearing?" Tommy asked.

"I am, but you are staying here with Jazz," Zoe stated firmly.

Tommy frowned. "Are you serious? You can't expect us to stay here while you go at it alone!"

"I know what I'm doing in this case." Zoe insisted. "You and Jazz just stay here and help Floramon recover."

"Are you sure about this?" Jazz asked with uncertainty.

"Of course. I may not look it, but I'm a lot stronger than I appear. And I do have my Digimon with me even if you can't see her," Zoe reassured. "No matter what anyone says… I know I'm a strong girl."

Jazz blinked, wondering if Zoe had some issues about her not being strong, or… if it was something else. "You kind of remind me of someone."

Zoe blinked, caught off guard a bit. "I do?"

"Well, I'm not particularly close to her myself, but she's a friend of my brothers'. She's pretty headstrong, and doesn't like to fit in with the crowds," Jazz explained. "But she cares a lot for the people she's close to. I can tell you care a lot about Tommy, and that's why you want him to stay here."

Zoe giggled. "You could say that. I'd like to meet this friend of your brothers' one day. She sounds interesting to be around."

Tommy frowned, but he didn't say anymore. He knew he wasn't going to be changing Zoe's mind anytime soon.

"But what are we going to do about the rogue Warriors on top of that?" Jazz asked as she remembered Grumblemon and Ranamon.

"I don't know yet…" Zoe frowned. "One of them is already hard enough to deal with, but two of them? That'll be a nightmare, especially on this mountain."

"Can't you call for backup or something?" Jazz questioned.

"I could yes, but the others who are… like me with their… Digimon partners… are all kinda split up at the moment…" Zoe admitted. "I'm the only one in this area…"

"If they're just looking for a Legendary Warrior, then it's simple, don't get caught," Tommy grumbled. "I doubt they're going to hurt the Digimon here, they're only after humans."

Jazz blinked as she looked at Tommy, wondering why he sounded so… jaded…

Zoe grumbled. "You say it like it's that simple when it's clearly not."

"It is that simple," Tommy replied. "What's not simple is actually doing it. How do you expect to find out what's causing the KaratsukiNumemon's disappearances if you have to worry about the rogue Warriors on top of that? The only thing you can do is to not get caught."

Zoe frowned, but sighed. "Yeah, that's true…" She conceded. "But the rogue Warriors are a secondary priority right now. We have to focus on the missing KaratsukiNumemon first."

"I agree, but we can't drop our guard when the rogue Warriors are concerned either." Jazz pointed out.

"If you want my opinion, maybe you should all follow our women out of the mountain," KaratsukiNumemon said. "You'll be off the mountain, and not have to worry about falling as much. If the rogue Legendary Warriors come here, at least they won't find you."

"You think they'll come here?" Zoe frowned.

"They came here at least 3 times before, who's to say they won't come back before they leave the mountain?" KaratsukiNumemon answered.

Jazz groaned. "Great… This can't get any worse… We have two big issues to deal with at the same time, yep, we can handle that just fine."

"Please never say 'this can't get any worse', because you're just tempting fate at this point," Tommy grumbled.

"Ugh…" Floramon groaned as she started to wake up. "What smells… good?"

"Floramon! You're awake!" Jazz said in surprise and relief. "How are you? Grumblemon hit you pretty hard."

"A little sore, but… hungry… can I have some?" Floramon groggily requested.

Jazz smiled. "Sure… These taste really good actually. I think you'll like them." She handed Floramon one of the lettuce heads, a creamy colored one.

Floramon took the lettuce head and bit into it. "Oh wow! This is really good!" She exclaimed with a smile on her face.

Jazz noticed that whatever wounds Floramon had left were healing up much quicker now that she was eating.

"I'm glad to see your partner is awake now," Zoe remarked.

"Who're you?" Floramon asked while she was chewing.

"She's Zoe, she's… a new friend," Jazz said. "Actually, Floramon, there's something I should tell you."

Jazz explained the situation to Floramon, about the KaratsukiNumemon going missing, and how Zoe was trying to investigate, but now they had to worry about the rogue Warriors on top of that.

"Oh my, it sounds like we have a lot on our plate." Floramon noted with a small frown. "We'll have to figure out what to do to first, then take action."

"We can't stay here, the rogues are likely to come back here to look for us," Jazz stated.

"But you can't just come with me either. That'll increase our chances of getting caught, and it's too dangerous for you three anyways," Zoe pointed out.

Floramon frowned more. "So our options aren't exactly the best."

"The way I see it, we can either go together and risk getting caught while we're together. Or we can split up, and risk getting caught while divided," Tommy stated. "Seems pretty obvious which option is the better one to me."

Jazz frowned. "If we go together, we have strength in numbers to say the least."

Zoe frowned as well. She didn't like Jazz, Floramon, and especially Tommy, coming along with her, but Jazz had a valid point. In a larger group, they had more power, even if it wasn't exactly ideal with only one Rookie-Level Digimon with them.

"Don't worry, Zoe, I promise I'll look after Tommy. We've managed to get this far," Jazz promised. Of course we only got as far as we did by avoiding paths most players would take, that was why we were here in the first place… but she doesn't need to know that.

Zoe looked at Jazz before sighing. "Okay… But if things start to get bad, if I tell you to take Tommy and get out of there, I want you to do it, alright?"

"I'll do the best I can," Jazz answered. "I hope it won't be while we're on the mountain though, we can't exactly run on such a vertical angle." I can't let anything bad happen to Tommy. I'm supposed to be the responsible one.

Floramon looked at Jazz a little worriedly, though Jazz sounded confident, if not a bit sheepish, she could tell something was bothering Jazz.

Feeling satisfied with Jazz's answer, Zoe nodded and dropped the subject for the time being. She returned to eating her lettuce heads, needing to eat to keep up her strength for when she had to… call upon her 'Digimon partner'.

---

A little bit later, when it started to get darker, the group were resting for when it was time for the KaratsukiNumemon to go out. The one with the mustache had informed them that the ladies usually went out at night to collect ingredients since they could see in the dark, and the places around were safer to traverse at night since most players wouldn't be able to see them so easily.

Tommy and Zoe had fallen asleep pretty quickly while they were waiting to go, but Jazz just stayed awake while she was thinking to herself.

"Jazz?" Floramon asked.

"Oh… you should sleep, Floramon. I want to make sure you're fully recovered after taking a hit from Grumblemon," Jazz said.

"I'm fine," Floramon replied. "It's you I'm worried about."

"Why are you worried about me?" Jazz asked in confusion. "I'm fine."

"Don't think I haven't noticed that something's been bothering you," Floramon stated bluntly. "You're good with psychology, and thus, that makes you good at hiding your real feelings. But just as you can't fool yourself, you can't fool me."

Jazz sighed. "You're right… I can't fool myself." She admitted at last. "It's just… What if… What if Zoe is… like Takuya? She doesn't have a Digimon partner, and she has a D-Tector, like he does. Does that mean she is… a Legendary Warrior too?"

"I wouldn't doubt that. After all, the Legendary Warriors are spirits that need a host to take physical form," Floramon replied. "I'm not sure how Cherubimon was able to summon the rogue Warriors without a host, but… Celestial Digimon always had powers beyond comprehension. And anyways, does it matter if Zoe is a Legendary Warrior? I know that's pretty shocking, but… your eyes had been mostly on Tommy."

"Yeah… He… seems tense… around Zoe, like… he doesn't want to be around her for some reason." Jazz admitted. "You think he'd be safer around her, but… he wants to stay away from her."

"There seems to be some kind of history between the two of them they don't want us to know," Floramon said. "But I doubt they'll ever tell us. But… that's not all, is it?"

Jazz sighed, rubbing her head a little. "I'm supposed to be the responsible one… Andy left Tommy to me, and… I want to make sure he stays safe. I've been trying hard to stay off of the conventional paths just to make sure we didn't run into players. But I think I just made things worse, because now we're in a dangerous situation."

"You feel responsible for keeping Tommy safe." Floramon noted. "You went out of your way to do that."

"Yeah… he may be older than he looks, but he's still a kid, and still a lot younger than I am. He doesn't have a Digimon partner to protect him. And…" Jazz looked down. "I've let my brothers down before."

"What do you mean?" Floramon asked in concern.

"I stopped paying them attention, and they both got hurt… When I tried to figure out what was going on, I started getting pushed away. I've been more concerned about my own work lately that I've started to use my brothers as experiments for these works and theses instead of actually seeing if they're okay or not," Jazz admitted. "Lately, it's been… rare that I even get to help them with something anymore. I've been… not a very good sister."

"Jazz, you've done your best. Sure, you might've made mistakes, but isn't that part of being a big sister?" Floramon asked in concern. "You can't shoulder all these responsibilities on your own."

"I've only caused them trouble though. Look at what happened when Johnny came over," Jazz bitterly stated. "I almost let myself get taken over by a ghost, and I was yelling at Danny for it, blaming him for messing up my time with someone I barely even knew."

"You were not yourself during that time." Floramon pointed out. "You were under the influence of ghostly items. Wouldn't something like that cloud your judgment?"

"Yeah, but nothing influenced me to put on the scarf he gave me, the first one of the ghostly items," Jazz sighed. "I should've known better than to accept items from a stranger, yet I did anyway, just because I was relieved he saved my life from that roller coaster… which I think he caused to almost slam into me in the first place."

Floramon frowned. "Jazz, nobody is perfect, and you're a good example of that. You made a mistake, and you feel bad about it, yes, but you can learn from it and not do it again, right?"

Jazz looked down. "I guess. I've… always had an issue about making mistakes. I've become a perfectionist to a fault. I was freaking out when I realized ghosts were real, and I had been wrong about them not really existing and that my parents were just a couple of ghost obsessed crackpots. I wasn't doing too well when I realized they had been right all along. I've been trying to work around that. I know logically it's impossible to be right all the time, but… my mind just couldn't accept that I was wrong. And… I guess in some ways, I'm still like that. But after knowing what happened to my brothers… I just want to make sure Tommy is safe. He reminds me of Andy, and… I feel like I'm letting him, Andy, and Takuya down if I don't keep him safe…"

"You're crushing yourself with all this responsibility, Jazz, that's not good for you…" Floramon frowned. "I think… you need to remember… you're only human, and you're still only a teenager. You seem to forget about that."

Jazz groaned. "I know I'm just a teenager, but I feel like I have to be more responsible because I'm the oldest of us kids in my house. It's just… I sometimes feel like I have to be an adult when my parents are working on something ghost related."

Jazz looked down. "I know I can't be an adult every time, but I want to set a good example for my brothers and cousin. Maybe I'm overdoing it a little…"

"Jazz, maybe… your brothers and cousin feel like they can't match up to you because of how 'perfect' you set yourself up to be to them," Floramon stated.

Jazz paused, she hadn't really thought about it like that. Her brothers used to come to her whenever they had trouble with their homework, but they had slowed down in doing that when they started going to middle school, and not at all in high school. Despite the fact they had trouble with certain subjects, and Jazz had been more than happy to help, they just wouldn't go to her for it.

"I… never thought about how the three of them, especially my brothers, would feel about being compared to me." Jazz murmured, looking down. "I… Should I dial back the perfection act? It… might help…"

"I think for your sake, you should drop most of that act," Floramon bluntly said. "Don't be afraid to make mistakes. After all, I would've never learned how to make my soup as good as it is if I never made any mistakes."

Jazz gave a small smile and a slight chuckle. "That's true. Your soup is really good." She then sighed. "And you're right. I need to dial back my perfect image, and learn to make mistakes. I guess… I was acting a bit immature, trying to be perfect all the time."

"Heh, I guess you really are a teenager after all," Floramon giggled.

Tommy had one eye open as he watched Floramon and Jazz talk to each other. He couldn't help but give a small smile.

The KaratsukiNumemon came into the house and spoke up. "Sorry to disturb your sleep, but it's time for our women to be sent out to gather ingredients."

Jazz looked back. "Really? Wow, time flies when talking is concerned."

Tommy got up from the leafy bed and looked over at Zoe, he shook her a little. "It's time to wake up."

Zoe grumbled as she opened her eyes, and rubbed them for a moment as she sat up.

---

Jazz, Floramon, Tommy, and Zoe were standing together as the KaratsukiNumemon who were going out had gathered around.

"So… how are we going to do this?" Jazz asked.

"We were talking about a good way to get you off the mountain without getting caught by the rogue Warriors," The KaratsukiNumemon with the mustache stated. "And that's if you're willing to get into these bags that the women will carry."

Jazz, Zoe, Tommy, and Floramon all looked at the large sacks before them.

"So… we'd be carried down the mountain in these?" Zoe asked with a bit of uncertainty.

"That… doesn't sound like a very safe way to get down from here…" Jazz added, feeling a bit uneasy about the idea.

"Don't worry, we have sticky limbs, we'll make sure you won't fall," One of the female KaratsukiNumemon assured.

"As long as nothing trips or attacks us anyways," Another of the female KaratsukiNumemon remarked. "In which case, you might be out of luck."

"I'm trying to encourage them, not frighten them," The first female KaratsukiNumemon grumbled.

Jazz looked at the first female KaratsukiNumemon with a small smile of gratitude.

"Well… it's better than nothing…" Floramon muttered, also not really liking the idea.

Zoe looked at the sacks again. Well, if we do get dropped, I could always turn into Kazemon… but that is a last resort…

"Well, we won't get anything done by just standing here," Zoe sighed. "Tommy, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Tommy replied before he stepped into the big bag. "Come on, let's go."

Zoe sighed, not sure how she was going to get through to Tommy, but she stepped into the bag herself. Jazz and Floramon looked at each other nervously before they stepped into the bag as well.

"We're all set." Jazz said once all four of them were situated in the big bags as comfortably as possible.

"Good luck out there," The mustached KaratsukiNumemon said as the ladies began picking up the bags, tying them up.

The bags' materials had enough little holes in them for the group to breathe, so at least that wasn't going to be an issue. The female KaratsukiNumemon put each bag on their shells.

"Alright, ladies, let's head on out!" One of the female KaratsukiNumemon stated.

The group of KaratsukiNumemon headed out, each taking one of the bags with them.

Zoe was watching this from her bag, wondering if things would go off without any issues. She grimaced a bit. Yeah… I doubt it will be so simple…

Jazz was worried about things going south, but she had to believe they would make it out alright.

Tommy was nervous as well. While he had seemed jaded, he didn't want them to get caught. He knew Zoe would be alright if they should fall, she could fly. Tommy might be alright, since Kumamon seemed to be capable of sticking to walls. Jazz on the other hand would be in the most danger. Floramon would definitely try her best to keep Jazz safe, but he wasn't sure if her Poison Ivy would be able to cling onto something solid enough to hold both of them. And if Tommy was forced to use Kumamon, things were going to get complicated between him, Kazemon, Grumblemon, and Ranamon.

In short, their fate was in the KaratsukiNumemon's sticky limbs.

They could hear Grumblemon's voice grumbling. "What you doing out here?"

"We're heading out to collect ingredients for our tribe," One of the KaratsukiNumemon explained.

"You no see sign of players?" Grumblemon asked.

"Afraid not. Players don't usually come here, the mountain isn't exactly climbing friendly to them," The KaratsukiNumemon replied.

"I already told ya that it would be impossible they'd be here," Ranamon's voice grumbled.

"Me saw some players earlier!" Grumblemon huffed.

"And you threw them off the mountain, right? So they're likely all splat on the ground now," Ranamon huffed back.

Grumblemon lived up to his name by actually grumbling. "Me resent throwing players off mountain now… Wanted to get rid of players more directly."

"Well that's your own fault then," Ranamon huffed.

Their voices started to get further away, meaning they were leaving, which was good.

Zoe, Jazz, Tommy, and Floramon all felt the tension leaving their bodies. So far, things seemed to be moving along smoothly.

Things seemed to be quiet for the next part of the journey, and while the plan seemed to be moving smoothly, the four couldn't help but feel a bit tense, like something was going to happen.

However, Tommy started to notice something wasn't right. There appeared to be a leak in his bag. He frowned as he saw water dripping into the bag he was in. Is it raining? … But why is there only one spot in the bag that's dripping water?

The water that was dripping into the bag began to slowly form a shape. Tommy gasped as he realized this wasn't ordinary water.

Jazz, Floramon, Zoe, and the KaratsukiNumemon heard Tommy yelling in the bag, and there was a struggle. The KaratsukiNumemon that was carrying Tommy almost dropped the bag, but she quickly held onto it tightly.

"What's wrong!?" The KaratsukiNumemon asked in concern.

Tommy couldn't reach into his pocket as the water was quickly filling up in the bag, and grabbed onto him, making him unable to move or breathe. It was like he was drowning while being chained up.

"Open the bag, hurry!" Zoe quickly said as she tore herself out of her own bag.

Jazz and Floramon opened up their bags to see water was leaking from the bag Tommy was in. They were quite shocked and horrified.

The KaratsukiNumemon that was carrying Tommy's bag stopped moving while the other KaratsukiNumemon hurried over to her to get the mouth of the bag open. As soon as they did, Ranamon shot out of the bag was holding onto Tommy, who was choking out some water. Ranamon stuck onto the mountain's side.

"Well, well, well, look at what little ol' me found~" Ranamon grinned.

"Oh great…" Jazz groaned. "It's her… that Digimon we heard with Grumblemon."

Floramon was tense. "She's the Legendary Warrior of Water, Ranamon!"

"Even worse, she has Tommy!" Zoe growled.

"You know that smuggling players is against the rules, don't ya'll? This is punishable by taking away your mountain's fractal code!" Ranamon threatened the KaratsukiNumemon.

"There's no such rule! You can't do that!" The KaratsukiNumemon argued.

"And leave that little boy alone! He hasn't done anything to hurt us!" Another KaratsukiNumemon shouted.

"Just let him go! He's only a child!" Jazz pleaded. She had never felt her heart racing so fast before, except for Danny's accident.

"Yes, he is only a child, who will one day hunt every single one of us down and enslave us," Ranamon stated as she moved her free arm towards Tommy, turning her arm into a water scythe, and pointed it near the boy's neck. "It would be best to nip it in the bud before it could bloom into a real threat."

Tommy tried to reach into his pocket while Ranamon was talking, but he felt his strength leaving him, he could barely move his arms to his pocket. What's wrong with me…? Why do I feel so weak?

"Don't even bother to struggle, I mixed it a little bit of my Draining Rain when I grabbed you earlier, cutie~" Ranamon giggled as she noticed Tommy trying to move. "You won't be able to move a muscle for a while."

"Jazz, should I do something?" Floramon asked.

Jazz wanted Floramon to save Tommy, but… What can Floramon do against a Legendary Warrior? She wouldn't stand a chance, she'd just get knocked out like she did earlier when Grumblemon hit her.

"Jazz?" Floramon frowned, noticing Jazz hasn't said anything.

"I didn't want to do this, but I need to save Tommy," Zoe said as she took out a device from her skirt pocket.

Zoe knew what she had to do. The magenta outline of her Spirit appeared visible on the screen of her D-Tector as she held it up. Fractal coding appeared on her left hand and she slammed the D-Tector against it as she brought the two together. Zoe then called out the familiar phrase she knew by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" Her body became data as her clothes ripped away. Coding surrounded her in a cocoon of sorts and the power of her first Spirit flowed into her. Her hair became longer, flowing past her waist and turning a purple color. Her body grew in height, increasing her strength and speed. A bikini-like outfit appeared on her body as gloves, and high boots formed on her arms and legs, with shoulder guards appearing as well as a visor that covered her eyes. Butterfly-like wings appeared on her back and she landed, letting out a cry as she unleashed a kick before she came to a stop and said her name. "Kazemon!"

Jazz had figured Zoe was a Legendary Warrior, but to know it, and to see it happening before her eyes were two different things. Despite knowing Takuya was Agunimon, it still surprised her when she witnessed a human being turning themselves into a Digimon.

"You're a Digimon!" Jazz found herself saying without meaning to.

"I'm technically a Legendary Warrior, but yeah, you could say I am." Kazemon replied without taking her eyes off of Ranamon and Tommy.

"So… that rock for brains was right, there is a Legendary Warrior here after all," Ranamon noted with annoyance. "I hate it when he's right. But now that you've shown yourself, I can finish you off and cleanse the Spirit from your humanity."

Kazemon growled. "No way! I won't let you get the Spirits of Wind! I was picked to wield them, so that means they're off limits to you! And I will save Tommy from you!"

"Just try it, hon~" Ranamon grinned. "But I might drop him if you hit me too hard, is that what you want?~"

Tommy was groaning, he was trying to get his body to move. He couldn't let this corrupted Legendary Warrior win. While Tommy may not get along with the other human Legendary Warriors as Kumamon, he knew they weren't bad people, and he didn't want to be a liability to them.

Jazz looked uneasy, like she wanted to help but she couldn't. This was a fight between two powerful Digimon, and she was just a mere human. Yes, she could fight, but what good would that be when faced with a rogue Legendary Warrior? It scared Jazz. She also knew she had to help Tommy, but her fear was stronger than she had expected.

Kazemon moved in close to Ranamon. She couldn't just recklessly use her best techniques on Ranamon, not while Tommy was in her grasp. She had to get Tommy away from Ranamon somehow.

KaratsukiNumemon moved Jazz and Floramon, getting to a more stable part of the mountain side. There was a fence there that Jazz and Floramon could sit on.

"Hopefully the battle won't get this far…" A KaratsukiNumemon said worriedly.

"You're Digimon, aren't you? Can't you do something to help Zoe?" Jazz asked.

"I'm afraid there's not much we can do to a Legendary Warrior. We're not fighters, we're peaceful Digimon that just wanted to grow our crops on the mountain and sell them in peace," One of the KaratsukiNumemon explained.

"But Zoe turned into Kazemon, who's a Legendary Warrior herself. If anyone can defeat that rogue Warrior, it's her," Another KaratsukiNumemon optimistically pointed out.

But… she has to worry about Tommy too… Jazz frowned to herself.

Floramon was looking at Jazz worriedly.

"Do you think that just because you can fly, you can fight me on this mountain?" Ranamon remarked. "Flying still takes energy, which you won't have in a minute. Draining Rain!"

Tommy's eyes went wide, considering Ranamon said she used some of that on him earlier, and his body felt too heavy to move, he knew that would be bad if Kazemon got hit by it as it would likely cause her to fall.

"Zoe, look out!" Tommy shouted as a dark rain cloud began to form over Kazemon's head.

Kazemon saw the rain cloud forming above her and was quick to fly as high as possible, avoiding the cloud. "Being sneaky won't work so easily on me!"

"Dark Vapor!" Ranamon began creating a dark acidic cloud around her and Tommy. "Are you sure about that? Do you think you can get to Tommy before the acid gets through him? Careful, hun, if you come too close, you'll get affected as well. And I can hit you with my Draining Rain~"

Kazemon growled, realizing she was at the disadvantage. Damn it… Ranamon is right… I can't hit Tommy, and if I get close to her, I get affected…

Jazz could see that things were going south really quickly for Kazemon. As long as Ranamon had Tommy, there wasn't much Kazemon could do. What can we do?

"Jazz…" Floramon spoke up. "Listen. I know I said that you shouldn't take too much responsibilities on your shoulder, because there's only so much you can handle on your own. But… I think this is something you can shoulder."

"What? No, I can't… That's a Legendary Warrior, what can I do against her?" Jazz frowned.

"You're forgetting that you're not alone. You have me," Floramon pointed out. "I know I'm not the strongest Digimon around, but I'm still your partner. If you want me to save Tommy, all you have to do is tell me, and I will save him."

"But how? You'll get knocked out, Ranamon is as strong as Grumblemon… I may not be able to save you a second time." Jazz frowned in worry.

"And how do you know that unless we try?" Floramon questioned. "What if that was Danny or Andy up there right now? Would you keep making excuses why you and I can't do anything? Do you think you need to be strong and have super powers in order to do something to save someone?"

Jazz looked down. "It's… No… I don't… but I…" Jazz hesitated, realizing Floramon was right. The two of them could do something, but would it be enough…? The logical part of her said no, but her heart said it had to be.

"Jazz… you're a girl with a big heart. I know, you've always been trying your best to help those you care about in your own way. Even when you feel like it's not enough," Floramon said softly. "Where's that girl now? Do you still want to save to Tommy?"

Jazz frowned as she thought about those times she stood on the sidelines whenever her brothers and cousin went to fight ghosts, or when they were keeping big secrets from her. But despite that, she always did her best to help them in whatever way she could. She would try talking to them when they felt troubled about something, she had learned how to patch up Danny whenever he came back from a fight scathed, though thankfully none of his wounds had been too bad or fatal. Andy, however, also needed some patching up as he wasn't as durable as Danny or Takuya in his Agunimon form. She would try to cover for them whenever her parents asked where they were.

Even though Danny, Andy, and Takuya didn't go to her for tutoring help that much anymore, Jazz was always willing to help them if they ever asked. But she wondered… was there anything she could've done more? Could she still do more?

She looked up at Ranamon and Tommy, being covered in the dark vapor. She could only imagine Danny or Andy suffocating in that dark vapor, wanting to get out, only for that monster to keep them in it. She wanted to save him… she had to. There was nobody else who was going to save Tommy.

"Floramon… please, save Tommy," Jazz finally said. "Get him away from that rogue Warrior!"

Floramon smiled. "I was waiting to hear you say that…"

Floramon's body began to glow.

"Floramon?" Jazz asked.

"You've finally released the restraints of your heart, allowing your desire to flow into me," Floramon said. "I will do what I can to fulfill your heart's desire!"

Fractal code surrounded Floramon. "Floramon, digivolve to…" Floramon's skin peeled away from her body, as well as her arms and legs. Then her legs had the skin form back on them, but they were more like a bird's legs now. Her body had brown fur form on it, but with the lack of arms. Her head had a white helmet cover the top of her head, and a beak formed as well. Leaf-like hair formed from below the white helmet, and her eyes turned green as well. "Kiwimon!"

The fractal code dissipated, revealing the new Digimon to Jazz.

"Floramon? Is that you? You've turned into a bird!" Jazz said in shock.

"I'm Kiwimon now," Kiwimon explained. "Jazz, get on my back. I promise to save Tommy, and that is what I'm going to do."

Jazz, while still surprised as Floramon's digivolution, nodded. She trusted her partner knew what she was doing, and hopped onto her back.

The KaratsukiNumemon were in awe, they hadn't expected to witness a digivolution like that. They began cheering Jazz and Kiwimon as Kiwimon jumped towards the mountain.

Jazz hung onto Kiwimon's neck tightly to keep from falling off. Kiwimon's sharp talons dug into the mountain, keeping her from falling off, and she started running up the mountain towards Ranamon, who's attention was focused on Kazemon. Kazemon saw Kiwimon running up the mountain, with Jazz on her back. She noticed Kiwimon was heading towards Ranamon. Seeing this, Kazemon decided to keep Ranamon's attention on her.

"Let's see if you can hit me then! I'm not the Warrior of Wind for nothing!" Kazemon taunted, trying to stay on the move.

"Stay still! You're never going to save the boy if you keep moving around like a ballerina on hot rocks!" Ranamon snapped in annoyance.

Tommy felt his body was starting to go numb. Despite the dark vapor around them being acidic, it wasn't literally eating away at his body… but rather at his soul, or at least his energy. Tommy wasn't sure how much longer he was going to last until he was either unconscious or… maybe even dead.

Kiwimon was coming in close, Jazz looked up with determined eyes, still holding onto Kiwimon's back neck. We'll save you, Tommy!

When Kiwimon was close enough, she jumped towards Ranamon and used her right feet to kick through the black fog and right at Ranamon's face. Ranamon hadn't expected a sudden kick to the face, and ended up dropping Tommy. Kazemon quickly flew down, catching the falling kid.

"You got him!?" Jazz called.

Kazemon looked up, Tommy in her arms. She held Tommy with one hand and gave Jazz the thumbs up. "Yep! He's safe!"

Tommy could breathe again, he hadn't realized he wasn't breathing earlier as he was slowly blacking out. And now that he was out of Ranamon's hold, he felt his energy coming back as well.

"How dare you kick me in the face!?" Ranamon shouted angrily. "You're going to pay for that! Whipping Waves!"

Ranamon held out a hand and summoned moist that was in the mountain's wall. Water came out from the wall, turning into tentacle-like shapes.

Kiwimon had to go on the move again to avoid some of these tentacle waters that attempted to lash out at them. "Pummel Peck!"

Kiwimon opened her beak and sent out tiny looking chibi versions of herself at some of these tentacle waters, trying to keep those tentacles busy while she tried to find a clear route.

Kazemon flew after Kiwimon while still holding onto Tommy. She was using her free hand to summon the wind.

"Hurricane Wave!" Kazemon let out a slew of wind from her free hand at Ranamon.

Ranamon got hit by the pink-colored tornados directly in the face. Ranamon let out a yelp as she couldn't stick to the mountain side with all that wind blowing at her. "Waaah!"

The watery tentacles was still chasing Kiwimon.

"Look out!" Jazz yelled as one of the tentacles lashed out at Kiwimon from the side.

Kiwimon yelped as the tentacle whipped her side, making her fall.

"Kiwimon!" Jazz shouted.

Kiwimon hissed as she stuck out her feet at the mountain side, clawing her want into the rocky hide, stopping her and Jazz from falling.

"Keep going! You're almost at the base of the mountain!" A KaratsukiNumemon called.

"Wait, not that way! You're going in the direction of danger!" Another KaratsukiNumemon warned as Kiwimon was running quickly in one direction.

"Seems like Ranamon might need a little help," Grumblemon remarked as he came out of the mountain, looking at Kazemon and Tommy.

"Not you again." Tommy frowned.

"Why can't you just leave us alone? We haven't done anything to you!" Kazemon groaned. "And we don't have time to deal with you either, so just go away!"

"We on a mission to hunt down you Legendary Warriors tainted by humanity," Grumblemon stated. "We rid Spirit of your humanity, and bring down players at Cherubimon's castle!"

Grumblemon covered himself with fractal code. "Slide Evolution! Gigasmon!"

Not wasting any time, Gigasmon jumped in front of Kazemon and began to spin around. "Quagmire Twister!"

Kazemon saw this and gritted her teeth before flying above the twister. "Not today, you annoying gnome!"

But Kazemon was caught up in the twister as she tried to fly away. It was too powerful for her to break out of. She and Tommy were caught up in it.

Kazemon, not wanting Tommy to get hurt, used her wind power to shove the boy out of the twister attack. Of course, this led to Tommy falling now. But, since Kazemon was too busy being spun around by Gigasmon, this gave him an opportunity.

Tommy quickly dug into his pocket and grabbed onto his D-Tector while he was falling. "Come on!"

Tommy created a ring of code on his hand, swiped it on his D-Tector, and had it transform him into Kumamon.

Now as Kumamon, he turned his body into a sticky substance to stick onto the mountain wall. He managed to stop falling before he returned to his more solid form, clinging onto the mountain. He looked up in concern, seeing Kazemon getting thrown up into the sky.

In a last ditch effort to stop Gigasmon from finishing her off, Kazemon shot out her Hurricane Wave at full blast. She created a giant pink twister at Gigasmon, but this caused her to be propelled much further away from the mountain.

However, now that Kazemon was away from the mountain, it gave her some breathing room as well. She knew she had to get back to help Tommy, Jazz, and Floramon, but with the two rogue Warriors working together, it made her job much harder.

Kumamon saw Kiwimon at the base of the mountain, and was leaping over a ledge. Kiwimon then came to a sudden stop, and looked horrified at something. Jazz frowned as she looked up as well, seeing what Kiwimon was seeing.

Kumamon looked up at the mountain. Kazemon was far away, and he doubted Gigasmon would be able to chase her down without being able to fly himself. And in the air, even without using a Beast Spirit, Kazemon would have the advantage. Kumamon didn't know where Ranamon was, but he doubted she would bother the KaratsukiNumemon, despite her threat earlier, if none of them were there.

Kumamon jumped off from where he was, not afraid to hit the ground as Kumamon. His body flattened on the ground like a white puddle before he reformed himself easily. He rushed over to where he saw Kiwimon stopping, wondering why she stopped.

Kumamon was about to revert back into Tommy since he wasn't on the mountain anymore, and it looked like they escaped the rogue Warriors for the time being, but he stopped when he finally saw what Kiwimon and Jazz were looking at.

It was fog… unnatural green fog.

---

Titanic X: ZAFT: You'll have to see. All I can say is Andy's plans are kinda crazy, but fun~ XD

pokemon fan 1991: ZAFT: Thanks! We like to expand on certain episodes when we can. :3 And you would like the book I'm sure, though I've never read it myself… ^^'

And I hope your story does well. It's not easy to do DP and Digimon. XD A death Digimon as a protagonist would be interesting for sure. :3

DarkFoxKit: Nice to know where Andy got the Glitch in Time from then. And yeah, the idea behind the story is to expand what the original didn't, or at least, somewhat.

RisingShadow: ZAFT: Thanks! Yeah, we have a plot this time, so it is more coherent. :3 Look forward to reading more reviews from you! :3

DarkFoxKit: The reason we did a reboot was because we didn't have much of a plot before. We were just retrending the show, and adding some Digimon stuff here and there. Takuya was already at his end game, so that didn't leave a lot of room for character growth without regressing him, which I didn't like doing. We also made him a lot weaker than he really should be so it would give Danny and Andy some time to shine, which also bothered me. So it was either get rid of Takuya from the story for a good while with some excuse, or start the story over with Takuya not at his endgame. We chose the latter.

ZAFT: And it seems to be working out well. XD So enjoy~ :3

DarkFoxKit: As for Walker's plan, uh… I mean it's really not that different from the show. The main point was Patamon's falling out with Danny, and the prophecy that made him have issues with Danny.