DarkFoxKit: Happy New Year everyone. Here's hoping for a good year of 2023. Maybe hopefully a Danny Phantom revival is on the horizons? With the new Danny Phantom comic that's coming out this year, I'm hoping for something new for Danny Phantom, though it's a long shot hope, it's still a hope.
ZAFT: I hope so too! That would be fun! XD I hope you will enjoy the first update of 2023 as well~
DarkFoxKit: Indeed. We hope to hear from more of you again soon, especially once we start deviating from the canon episodes.
ZAFT: Now, on to the chapter~
(Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title)
Digital Phantom!
(Shows six forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Takuya Kanbara, Andy Fenton, and Jazz Fenton)
Falling into destiny
(A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky and cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that)
Reaching across new boundaries
(Andy Fenton appears with Jazz beside him. Takuya Kanbara appears behind him as well, the form of Agunimon appearing behind Takuya himself)
Let our stories come together
(Andy is shown with the form of Phantom beside him, a shadowed form with blue eyes behind the ghost boy)
Growing stronger
(Andy looks on at Phantom fighting before running to help the ghost boy by taking out his Fenton Rod)
Our pasts intertwine
(Six glowing orbs of light are shown, each of a different color (red, teal, lavender, dark purple, white, and yellow) before the red orb speeds towards Takuya)
Showing our future
(Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire as Plasmius fires off ecto-rays at him, only for a glowing orange orb to appear around Agunimon and deflect the beams)
As we evolve
(The blasts speed past the screen as Tucker is shown with a Fenton Wrist ray being fired at a ghost)
Let's go… EVOLUTION
(Sam is shown with her Fenton Lipstick, firing it at a different ghost)
As our worlds collide
(Jazz is shown beside Andy, her hand on his shoulder as Andy looked shell-shocked by something)
We stand as one
(Jack and Maddie Fenton are shown, with the Fenton Works logo behind them as it glows green)
Growing strong
(A shadowed form is shown with blue eyes and a glowing white blade erupting from what looks like a giant weapon in the form's hands)
As we move along
(Danny is shown walking down the street with those closest to him appearing one by one; Andy, Tucke, Sam, Takuya, and Jazz.)
CHOU… SHINKA!
(Fractal code is shown before it dissipates to reveal Agunimon lunging out of the dissipating data, fire around his left fist)
Let's go… EVOLUTION!
(The group is shown facing down Plasmius, who looms above them with hands outstretched as a dark form appears behind Plasmius himself.)
Nothing will stand in our way!
(Andy, Danny, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, and Takuya all appear with ribbons of fractal code streaming out from behind them, a swirling green orb behind the ribbons of fractal code.)
Digital Phantom!
Chapter 17: Escaping the Prison
Tucker, Takuya, and Sam were desperately trying to get a hold of Phantom, but there was no response over the web camera.
"Phantom?! Andy?! Please, respond!" Tucker cried as he tried to get the signal to go through. "Aw man… There's no response! We lost the signal!"
"Are you serious?! We can't just leave Andy and Phantom in the Ghost Zone!" Takuya exclaimed, feeling really anxious and worried for his cousin and ghostly friend. "We have to go in after them! Like right now!"
"We'll have to take the Specter Speeder," Sam said. "There's no way any of us can travel through the Ghost Zone on foot."
"Danny? Andy? Is anyone down there!?" They heard Jazz's voice calling out to them. "I tried asking Dad to look through my diary for any miniscule errors, but he ran to his room when I did! Can anyone down here help me?"
Sam buckled up. "Tucker, you drive. Takuya, you buckle up."
Takuya buckled in as well. "Right."
Tucker got the Specter Speeder in motion, flicking the stick to 'Drive' before accelerating the Specter Speeder into the Ghost Zone.
As soon as they were through the portal, Jazz knocked on the door that Takuya had locked. "Is nobody going to answer me!?"
Meanwhile, back in the Ghost Zone, Phantom was sitting on an uncomfortable steel chair with his wrists chained up. Or rather Andy's wrists were chained up, and he was also wearing the black and white striped clothes all prisoners usually wore. There was something wrong having both himself and his brother wearing this, while a warden was reading out everything they supposedly did wrong.
"Trespassing, loitering, creating a disturbance, and possession of living-world contraband." The Warden ghost listed off.
"Jeez, just tell us that existing is against the rules." Andy grumbled.
Just then, the very present Phantom came here for floated past him.
"Excuse me, sir, b-but…" Phantom began. He so wanted to be out of here right now!
"Name's Walker, son." The ghost warden, Walker, introduced himself. "Learn it, fear it, obey it!" He then lifted Andy's body by the prison shirt. "I am your judge, executioner, jury, executioner, jailer, and if necessary, executioner."
"You said executioner 3 times," Phantom pointed out.
"I like that part of the job," Walker said before he plopped Phantom back onto the chair.
"How does one execute a ghost?" Andy questioned.
Phantom had no idea, nor did he want to find out. He looked up, seeing the gift box floating there. He had no idea why it was here, or how it got here, but he really wanted to grab it and get the heck out of here.
Phantom tried to come up with something to say to get Walker to let him go. "Um… well… you see, Mr. Walker, I am actually trying to… Ah… remove the contraband, so if I could just take it and then be on my way, it won't be a problem, right?"
Walker grinned as he got in Phantom's face. "I'd like to let you go son, but I can't. That'd be against the rules. But seeing how this is the first offense, I'm willing to be lenient…"
Walker closed the rule book before he pointed at Phantom. "Your sentence is… locked up at my prison for one thousand years!"
"Lenient? Lenient he says! How is being locked up here for a thousand years over a stupid contriband item lenient? He does know you're a child, right? Or are ghost kids condemned as well? What's that rule book!? I want to see what it says! We need a lawyer! Or at least a fair tri-" Andy's rant was cut off all of a sudden.
"Andy? What's wrong?" Phantom muttered softly to himself, so low Walker couldn't hear it.
"Is this… that nightmare I had last night…?" Andy muttered, seeming to be talking to himself rather than Phantom. "Would that mean Mom and Dad will come here looking for us soon…?"
Phantom had no idea what Andy was talking about, but now he was getting worried. First his sister was a basket case, and now Andy was starting to lose it.
"Calm down… We'll get out of this… somehow…" Phantom said to Andy reassuringly. I hope…
After Walker passed his sentence on the boys, he had his ghost guard take them to a prison cell that was ghost proof. Phantom wouldn't be able to phase through the bars no matter how hard he tried.
"So this is what it feels like to be in jail," Andy noted. "Isn't that just lovely?"
"I was afraid this was going to happen…" Phantom frowned. "This is why I didn't want to take you with me…"
"Well, I'm here now, so regretting it isn't going to fix it," Andy replied. "And… I'm sorry if I was a burden to you… but I didn't want you going alone, not knowing what could happen to you in this ghostly world."
"I know, but I really regret taking you with me. It isn't fair to you as a human." Phantom pointed out. "No offense, but ghost jail doesn't sound friendly to humans."
"I doubt anything with ghost law is friendly to humans," Andy sighed. "But surely there's a way to get out of here, right?"
"If there is, I'm not seeing it…" Phantom frowned, his core itching to get Andy somewhere safe.
"Not here at least… I think the best thing we can do right now is to bide our time," Andy said. "And hopefully escape before my parents realize I'm missing."
"I'd hate to see what they would do to get you back." Phantom muttered. "I'm pretty sure they would wage war on the Ghost Zone to do that."
"All the more reason to figure out a way to get out of here…" Andy muttered.
A ghost guard flew up to the prison cell and opened it. "It's chow time. Get moving."
Phantom was dragged out, and pretty much shoved out into a large looking cafeteria with all the other ghostly convicts. There was one table in particular that had past ghostly enemies glaring at him.
"Okay… everybody who hates us is at one table…" Phantom muttered. "Just like in high school, when I… was alive…"
"I didn't even know ghosts needed to eat," Andy remarked, surprised. "And they put us in a cafeteria with other ghosts?"
"Andy, this is a very bad thing!" Phantom hissed. "Just because I'm the one moving your body right now doesn't mean you're safely watching this on TV somewhere."
The ghosts who knew Phantom stood up from the table and started to approach him, ready to beat the tar out of him and Andy. Phantom quickly backed up before his back hit the serving line.
"Can I get you anything, dearie?" A familiar old lady's voice asked. "Coffee? Pudding?" Phantom looked up to see it was the Lunch Lady. "An extra helping of DOOM!?"
Phantom yelped as he attempted to fly away, which Andy noticed, meaning none of the ghost's powers were taken away by their oh so loving warden. Is Walker stupid or just that cocky?
"Phantom, let me have control," Andy spoke up.
"H-huh? W-why? You'll be hurt, Andy!" Phantom protested.
"Fine, then repeat after me to these ghosts," Andy instructed.
Phantom stopped flying, letting the Lunch Lady grab onto him. The other prisoners began to surround them, giving Phantom plenty of cover from the ghost guards.
"It's payback time, whelp!" Skulker growled. "But I have to question why you aren't in your ghost form right now."
"That's not important right now," Phantom said before he began to speak up what Andy wanted him to say. "And why waste your energy and time to beat me up? I know that I sent you guys back to the Ghost Zone, but I wasn't the one who locked you up here."
Skulker paused in his walk, just as the Box Ghost spoke up. "It is true! He did not package us in this box of horror! I am the Bo-"
Skulker slammed his hand against the Box Ghost, they didn't need his annoying speech right now. "Go on."
"That warden ghost, Walker, never gave us anything to take away our powers," Phantom began, still relaying what Andy was saying. "That is a big mistake on his part. Look around us, we have many ghosts here together. If we can work together, we'll be able to escape from this place. And you guys can always kick my butt afterwards, when we're all free. So, what do you say?"
Skulker grinned. "An enemy of my enemy is my friend, huh?" He gave the Lunch Lady a nod, and she released Phantom, and Andy by extension. "For now, anyway."
Andy inwardly grinned, he knew these ghosts would rather get out of here than just beat up Phantom. The fact these ghosts still had their powers gave them a real fighting chance. It made Andy wonder why nobody here had thought about doing this before.
Phantom could sense Andy's mischievousness rising, he knew pure chaos was about to be unleashed.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Ghost Zone, Tucker was driving the Specter Speeder. Sam and Takuya were looking around. If it weren't for the fact they saw bits of the Ghost Zone from the camera, they would've been completely overwhelmed by the Ghost Zone's atmosphere.
"This place feels so wrong…" Tucker muttered. "Like we don't belong here."
"Try being me… I feel like the Ghost Zone hates my presence…" Takuya grumbled, feeling shivers running down his spine constantly. "I'm getting chills non-stop."
"I wonder why that is… although even I find this place creepy, I also think it's pretty cool," Sam remarked. "But even so… I think we're lost."
"I'm going to try to recalibrate the scanner. Since Andy's here, the scanner should be able to pick up Andy as a 'living object' for us to find," Tucker said as he was pushing some buttons on his PDA.
"You put too much faith in technology." Sam groaned. "Why can't we just stop and ask for directions? Like normal people?"
"You want to ask a ghost for directions? On where to find a human?" Takuya deadpanned.
"We know that they got arrested, so we just need to ask someone where the nearest ghost jail is, right?" Sam said. "It's not that hard. Look, there's someone over there, she doesn't look so bad."
There was a ghost maiden floating nearby, she appeared to be deep in thought about something.
"Hello there!" Sam called, knocking against the glass to get the ghost maiden's attention.
"Hmm?" The ghost maiden looked at them. "Human children? What are you doing in the Ghost Zone? This is no place for you."
"Um… sorry, but we're looking for a friend of ours." Sam said. "He came in here with the help of a ghost and the two of them somehow got arrested. We were wondering if you could help us find the nearest ghost jail?" Wow… a friendly ghost! This totally disproves Mr. and Mrs. Fenton's theories on all ghosts being evil!
"Ghost jail? Oh, I believe you're referring to Walker's Prison," The ghost maiden noted. "Your friend and a ghost who helped them got arrested by Walker most likely. Of course, that's just like him. All he ever wants to do is arrest other ghosts. Now, I admire your determination and boldness to come in here to rescue your friend, but are you sure you want to go there? It'll be dangerous."
Takuya gave a vague smile. "We can handle ourselves." He said, his hand going to his pocket for a reason. "But we will keep your warning in mind."
"And we'd like to get there as soon as possible," Sam added.
"I see… well alright. That machine you're in, I take it that it's really fast?" The ghost maiden asked.
"You bet it is!" Tucker grinned. "It was built by our friend's parents! They're great inventors!"
"Then you should be able to keep up with me," The ghost maiden said before the amulet on her neck glowed.
Tucker, Sam, and Takuya were surprised to see the ghost maiden suddenly transforming into a large, familiar looking ghost dragon, staring down at them, and blowing out green smoke from her snout.
Takuya felt something run down his spine, a familiar heat and chills combination. "Ah…"
"No way! That is so cool!" Sam gushed.
"Um… yeah… cool…" Tucker said with a nervous grin.
"Follow me, I'll be moving fast so make sure you keep up," The dragon stated, surprisingly still in that same, delicate, gentle voice.
Tucker grinned. "That we can do!" He said as he gripped the controls of the Specter Speeder tightly. Takuya gripped his seat, not sure how fast they would be moving, so he didn't want to be thrown around.
Takuya was glad they had been lucky so far. No ghost had truly tried to attack them yet. The dragon ghost could've easily been hostile, but she was helping them instead. But what disturbed him was the fact she had that amulet that had turned Phantom and Andy into a dragon before.
Was that her amulet that had affected Andy and Phantom? Oh geez… if it was… I hope this goes off without a hitch… Takuya thought nervously. The last thing we need is her amulet latching on to one of us and making us go all dragon…
Meanwhile, back at the prison, all the ghosts were surrounding Phantom and Skulker. The plan was starting. Skulker tossed Phantom over the crowd of ghosts, which caused him to slide across a table of food, and hit a pot of green ooze all over him. Luckily it wasn't hot, so it didn't burn Andy's skin.
"What is that? Ugh, did Skulker have to throw us into that pot of… mystery liquid?" Andy groaned. "I'm going to need a 3 hour shower after this."
"I think that would be a good idea…" Phantom groaned as well. For both you and me… "I think I broke my ghost leg…" He groaned out, faking having been injured as part of the plan.
"Feh… my prey ceases to amuse me," Skulker grumbled, but smirked.
Phantom looked over at the guards, hoping this plan would work. While Andy usually came up with great plans, neither of them knew how things worked in the ghost prison. For all they knew, they wouldn't have an infirmary for ghosts. Luckily for them, however, there apparently was.
"Another one for the infirmary," One of the ghost guards remarked.
"It's always the new guy, isn't it?" The other ghost guard said.
As the ghost guards approached Phantom, he knew this was his best chance. He jumped at the nearest ghost guard, knocking him into a wall with all of his strength. This caused the wall to break a bit as the guard was knocked out, and Phantom grabbed the baton the guard was holding.
"Now!" Phantom shouted as he tossed the baton at Skulker.
Skulker caught the baton and grinned. "Attack!" He cried as the ghosts began to fight back against their guards.
The many ghost prisoners began to fight back against their guards. One guard was slammed to the ground and a ghost prisoner grabbed the guard's helmet, only to yank it off. Under the helmet was a shriveled ghost head and that made the one prisoner scream as they darted away from the ghost guard.
Skulker slammed down another ghost guard before getting back to his feet and firing the baton at three other ghost guards, trapping them in their own ghost cuffs.
As this was going down, the dragon ghost stopped in front of a large floating prison, there was an alarm going off. The dragon looked back at the group. "We're here. And it sounds like there's a riot going on right now."
Sam grinned. "We get to cause chaos in a prison riot? I can't think of a better way to save the day~"
Tucker wasn't so sure, but since Andy and Danny were in trouble, he wasn't about to back out now. "We have to be careful though. We're just here for Andy and D-Phantom."
Takuya looked at the ghost maiden. "How will we get inside?"
"There is an easy way for you children to get inside, but…" The dragon ghost looked at them. "If you'd like, I can toss your machine into the prison."
"What?!" All three kids shouted at the same time.
"Oh man… That could so kill us!" Tucker groaned.
"In the Ghost Zone, gravity isn't quite the same as in your world. You'll be fine, at worst you might feel dizzy from it," The dragon explained. "Or you can try your luck by going through the door."
"What? The door?" Sam blinked.
"Nobody knows for sure since it's been centuries since we had anything alive in the Ghost Zone, but it's believed living beings like humans might be able to phase through buildings in the Ghost Zone. But it hasn't been confirmed for thousands of years, so I can't guarantee your safety if you tried to go through the door with your machine," The dragon informed.
"We'll just take your offer of tossing us in then." Tucker said. "If we are to get in somehow, we may as well go a more direct route."
"Alright then. I wish you luck," The dragon said before she flew behind them and took a deep breath before blowing against the Specter Speeder.
The blow was strong enough to send them flying over the walls of the prison.
Tucker, Sam, and Takuya were screaming as they were falling into the prison after being blown so high. Then the Specter Speeder landed softly, and perfectly, on the floor.
"W-wow… That dragon maiden wasn't kidding when she said gravity worked differently." Sam said once she regained her bearings.
"Y-yeah… Although I think my glasses are skewed." Tucker groaned. He reached up and fixed his glasses. "But it's good to know not all ghosts are evil."
"We knew that with Phantom and Poindexter though," Takuya pointed out.
"Yeah, but it's good to see more ghosts like that," Sam remarked.
"What is that?" A ghost guard frowned, seeing this mysterious object had fallen here.
"In the middle of a riot?" Another ghost guard questioned.
"It's a living world item, it's a contraband! Someone get the warden!" A ghost guard shouted.
"Looks like we may have stirred up some trouble," Tucker noted nervously.
"Yeah, but trouble we excel at~" Sam grinned. "I like what we have done so far already just by falling from the sky~"
"Of course you would," Takuya rolled his eyes. "But do you think we can take on these ghosts?"
"We're going to try," Tucker said a little nervously.
The ghost guards started to fly towards the Specter Speeder. Sam readied her Fenton Lipstick, Tucker had his ray gun on his wrist, and Takuya had the Fenton Rod and his device in his pocket. Tucker started up the Specter Speeder.
"Alright boys, say hello to my little friends~" Tucker grinned as the Specter Speeder let out several different ecto guns.
The guns began to fire on the ghost guards, catching them off guard as many were hit by the green beams. Tucker then noticed the scanner going off, showing a picture of Danny… or maybe Andy.
"Sweet, I know where they are!" Tucker smiled as he began driving the Specter Speeder into a hallway, blasting away the guards along the way.
Takuya hoped this scanner would lead them to Andy and Phantom. "I hope you're right, Tucker."
"And we're headed right into the heart of the riot it sounds like." Sam noted with a big grin.
In the heart of the riot, Phantom was glad Andy brought the Fenton Rod with him. Using that, on top of his ghost powers, made the battles a lot easier. The ghost guards weren't that used to combat it would seem, they had relied too heavily on their batons to wrangle up ghosts. Phantom would smack a ghost guard into another with the Fenton Rod before blasting them into several other guards with his ghost ray like bowling pins. Skulker was doing a good job beating the tar out of the other guards with brute strength alone.
But more ghost guards began to fly into the area, shooting out the green lasers to ensnare the ghosts, stopping them from fighting back. Phantom could see their numbers were starting to dwindle now.
"Try to grab one of their batons!" Andy instructed Phantom. "We can use their batons against them! It seems to make ghosts powerless."
Phantom grabbed one of the batons that was flying in the air from a ghostly guard being hit against the wall. "I hope this works!" Phantom said as he aimed the baton at a guard coming at him and fired it. The green laser caught the ghostly guard, rendering him powerless.
Phantom grinned when he saw this. "Cool! It worked!"
"Watch out behind you!" Andy suddenly warned.
Phantom was surprised, but he jumped up, barely avoiding another guard's baton energy that almost caught him.
"Whoa, thanks Andy. How'd you know there was a ghost behind us?" Phantom asked.
"I think maybe you shared some of your ghostly senses with me, and I noticed it while you were more focused on cheering that the tactic worked," Andy replied. "Remember what we learned during training. Don't let your guard down until the battle is over."
Phantom chuckled sheepishly. "Right, I'll remember that." He said as he then ducked under a green laser that had been aimed at his head.
Things were starting to go well, despite the hiccup when the guards began calling for backup. Skulker managed to grab another baton from another guard. The Lunch Lady was shoving food in the guards' mouths and faces, drowning them in piles of meaty substances. Andy didn't want to know where the Lunch Lady got all of that meat from. Although he was interested to know if ghost animals could provide meat since he always thought when a ghost lost their physical form, they just turned to goop or mist.
"I think we can create an opening to an exit, but we have to team up with Skulker and the other ghosts to take on the guards that are guarding the exit with their shields," Andy instructed.
"Yeah, strength in numbers." Phantom noted with some approval. Looking around, Phantom hoped that the guards wouldn't try to catch him, in Andy's body, again. Oh man… I hope this plan of Andy's works. I don't want Andy to get hurt because of it…
Phantom joined up with Skulker, the Lunch Lady, and a few other jail ghosts. The guards began to aim their batons at them. They fired the energy from their batons. Phantom jumped to dodge, Skulker managed to dodge as well, but most of the other ghosts got caught and rendered powerless. Phantom was moving around quickly, he managed to slam the Fenton Rod at some of the guards that tried to sneak up on him. He fired a ghost ray behind him, he jumped up and slammed the Fenton Rod at the guard trying to rise up from the floor to grab him. With Andy's help, he was learning how to use Phantom's ghost sense to keep an eye on their surroundings. Phantom realized they made quite the deadly duo.
However, despite doing well, they were starting to get outnumbered as more of their allies were getting caught by the baton's energies. And one of the baton energies was shot at Phantom, who was dodging another guard's baton, and his waist was hit, being wrapped up by the energy. Phantom fell to the ground, groaning, feeling his powers starting to weaken.
N-no… No this… Aw man! How could've I not paid closer attention?! Phantom groaned in his mind. Darn it all… Phantom tried to get to his feet, and while he was able to, he felt his powers slowly getting weaker and weaker.
And unfortunately for Phantom, things were made more complicated when a voice boomed over the cafeteria. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?"
Everyone froze as the warden himself came into the cafeteria, glaring at the prisoners. Skulker, one of the few prisoners who have yet to be caught, shrunk back a little. The Lunch Lady backed away. The other prisoners who weren't caught yet knew they were in trouble. After all, this was Walker's domain, he controlled everything here.
"Oh… crap…" Phantom muttered, feeling worry pulsing in his chest, right where his heart would be if he were human, or maybe that was Andy's heart he was feeling. "We just had to draw the warden's attention…"
This may not have been your best plan, Andy… Phantom thought to himself. Now we're in even more trouble!
"I will have no riots in my prison!" Walker bellowed. "Whoever started this riot is going to go straight to the dungeons!"
"Andy… if you've got another plan… let's hear it, quick," Phantom whispered.
"I… I don't have one…" Andy replied worriedly.
Phantom paled at hearing that from Andy. "Oh… you've got to be kidding me…" He muttered softly.
"If the one behind this doesn't come forward, all of you are going straight to the dungeons!" Walker demanded.
Phantom felt something in his chest telling him to get Andy's body away from the prison, to protect Andy, but with that green ring around his waist, it just wasn't possible. And now Andy, along with him, was going to go into the dungeons!
"I've got a question. If the green ring is rendering you powerless, how are you still in my body? Shouldn't it, theoretically, push you out?" Andy questioned.
"I… I think it's because I'm pretty much using your body. It… It could be that the ring seems to mistake your body as a ghost." Phantom noted.
"So it's on my body, but not yours, right? So… couldn't you leave my body and be separated from the green ring?" Andy asked.
Before Phantom could answer, suddenly, the doors were blown open, what looked like scorching dents on the doors themselves. The smoke cleared, revealing a very familiar vehicle was there.
"Wait… the Specter Speeder?" Phantom asked, surprised.
"No way… that's just like in that weird dream I had earlier," Andy noted.
"Dream?" Phantom questioned.
"I… uh… thought I saw this exact scenario in my head when Walker was reading out all the rules we supposedly broke," Andy admitted. "If it is like that dream, then Tucker, Sam, and Takuya should be in there right now."
"Sam… Tucker… and Takuya…" Phantom muttered. "Oh… Oh geez! They could get hurt!"
"Don't move!" Andy quickly spoke up. "Don't waste this opportunity. They're in a vehicle designed for defending itself against ghosts. Only attack when you get the opportunity. We're in Walker's domain, a frontal assault would only end in defeat for us."
Phantom hesitated, but held back. He didn't want to risk hurting Andy's body. "Okay… I'll… I'll stay back…" He muttered to Andy. Aw man! I hate feeling this helpless!
In the Specter Speeder, Sam and Tucker were surprised to see they had made it to the heart of the riot, or it looked like it had been a riot. "Okay… Why isn't there more rioting?" Sam asked with a frown.
"We can't worry about that, Sam! We need to pick out Andy from this crowd." Tucker pointed out. "And I don't think the head of this place is going to be too happy if the broken doors here are any indication."
Takuya knew he had to do something. Staying in the Specter Speeder with Tucker and Sam would only be a detriment to them. Especially seeing how there were hundreds of ghosts here, but the one that gave him the worst feeling was the big white ghost with the black cowboy looking hat.
"Who are these people? What are they doing here? They're breaking thousands of rules just for being here alone!" Walker growled.
"Uh… maybe we shouldn't be here right now?" Tucker gulped seeing how the big white ghost, and the armored ghosts, were beginning to approach them.
Takuya knew he had to do something fast. With Tucker and Sam distracted, he had to find a way to exit the Specter Speeder. "Guys, start flying! Maybe we can lead them away!"
Tucker didn't hesitate to start doing just that. "O-okay! I certainly don't want to be swamped by ghosts!" He said as he engaged the thrusters and began to fly away from the ghosts. "Hang on!"
Sam yelped as she clung onto her seat. "TUCKER!"
As soon as Tucker took off, Takuya was looking at the ejection seat behind him. It was meant to be used in case the Specter Speeder was badly damaged and they had to get out quickly. Takuya knew he needed to use it. He pushed the ejection button. His seat was suddenly pulled to the back of the Specter Speeder, and he was shoved into an escape pod that went out from the back of the Specter Speeder. Leaving Tucker and Sam clueless about the boy's escapade.
Now in the pod, Takuya knew what he had to do before the pod landed on the ground and was forced open. I hope this works… He thought to himself as he took out his transformation device. Takuya held out his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his Human Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed a ring of fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his canine teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"
The pod landed on the ground. Agunimon braced himself for what was to come next. He could sense all of the ghostly guards coming down the hall towards the pod. It was only a matter of time before the pod was forced open now.
The ghostly guards came up to the pod and one of them poked the pod. "This is certainly not allowed here."
"Then open it. We can get the occupant out and bring them to Walker." A second ghostly guard said as the first one began to use his baton to pry open the pod.
Agunimon heard the pod door being pulled open and tensed up.
As soon as the pod door was opened, Agunimon was in motion. Fire coated one of his fists as he lunged out of the pod at the ghostly guard who had opened the door. The ghostly guard only had time to gape before the fiery punch hit his face and knocked his helmet off. The guard was sent back into the wall as the other ghost guards all saw who, and what, had attacked their colleague.
"What is this being doing here?!" The second ghost guard exclaimed as Agunimon turned to face him directly, showing his sharp canine teeth in his anger.
"Why I'm here is none of your business." Agunimon growled out to the ghost guard who had spoken. I just hope I can hold my own against these ghosts. There's a lot of them…
"What should we do?" Another ghost guard asked.
"We can't just let it roam free."
"But we weren't trained to handle Digimon."
"Doesn't matter, we have to capture it!"
The ghost guards began to fire their batons at Agunimon.
Agunimon saw the incoming lasers and reacted, dodging the lasers as best he could. Agunimon had never been so grateful to Andy's training. That, when combined with his sharper senses, allowed him to dodge the green lasers as they came his way. Any he couldn't dodge, he used his Pyro Darts to counter.
Agunimon got in close to one of the ghostly guards and used his Pyro Punch to knock said guard out before grabbing the baton that fell to the floor. Agunimon aimed the baton and fired it at the ghost guards around him.
Agunimon noticed how the baton shot out some kind of green energy that wrapped around the ghost, and the ghost fell to the ground, seeming to be unable to move.
The other ghost guards around Agunimon began to fire ghost rays from their hands at him, and then they used big, thick, metallic shields to try to shield themselves from Agunimon's attacks.
"Damn it…" Agunimon hissed when he saw the shields that the ghost guards held. Okay, think Takuya, think! How can you remove their defenses? Dodging alone won't cut it, and nor will the baton you're holding. My Pyro Darts won't do anything, and my Pyro Punch may do something, but not much.
"Give it up, Digimon, you're surrounded!" The ghost guards shouted, starting to surround Agunimon with their shields.
Agunimon knew he had to make a move before he was caught.
Agunimon looked at the guards around him. He didn't know if he could fight them all off, but he had to try at the very least. C'mon… I need to do something that will let me get through this… He thought as his mind raced. But it's not like I can surround myself with fire… right?
Suddenly, new knowledge hit Agunimon from deep inside his mind. Thinking fast, Agunimon jumped up into the air before he began to concentrate his flames. Fire began to flicker from his armor on his shoulders, wrists, knees, and ankles before he began to coalesce said fire around his form. Agunimon began to spin around, the fire enveloping him in a twister. "Pyro Tornado!"
The fiery vortex hit several of the ghost guards, the flames burning them badly.
Seeing this was his chance, Agunimon made a run for it. He needed to get back to the cafeteria place he saw to see if Andy was there.
Meanwhile, in the cafeteria,Walker was looking for the rule breaker who started this riot. He was not happy. Human contraband items were all over the place today, and someone needed to pay. Andy was telling Phantom to stay down and wait. Walker was getting closer to them.
Phantom wanted nothing more than to get Andy out of the prison, but it wasn't so easy to ignore the desire to protect Andy. He felt like he was going to lose it if he ignored the feeling for much longer. Aw man… I hate this… I so, so hate this! Of all things that could go wrong, I had to get Andy and myself in prison, ghost prison at that!
Walker made his way to Andy and Phantom, looming over the ghost boy overshadowing the human boy. Walker looked down at them.
"You… you're the one who's responsible, aren't you?" Walker growled as he grabbed Andy's shirt and pulled him up. "Now let me acquaint you with a few rules. Rule one, you cross me, you pay the consequences."
Walker's fist tightened.
"Rule two, just because you're a ghost doesn't mean I can't crush you within an inch of your afterlife," Walker hissed as he pulled Andy closer to his face. "Rule three!"
Andy grinned a little. "Following all of these rules will break your face."
Before Walker could react, Phantom, who was invisible after exiting Andy's body, shoved a fist right into Walker's face. It was enough force that it sent the warden flying into a wall.
"Rule 4, never assume someone is a ghost." Phantom joked. "Wow, who knew that would work?"
"What the heck?"
"Is that a human?"
"Was that ghost kid just using the human as a skin suit?"
The other ghosts were surprised and confused.
"Quick! Now's our chance to make a break for it!" Skulker shouted, getting all the ghosts's attention.
The ghostly mob didn't hesitate to run for the door, using Andy and Phantom's distraction to flee for freedom. The Lunch Lady stopped to look at the two for a moment.
"I hope to see you two again, dearies, THEN STUFF YOU FULL OF MEAT!" The Lunch Lady grinned before she flew out with the rest of the prisoners.
"She hasn't changed much," Andy noted.
"Well, at least that's one good thing…" Phantom said with a sweatdrop running down the side of his head. Phantom then looked back at Walker. "I hope that last punch knocked out the warden for a while."
"We should leave and find-" Andy began to say when Walker suddenly stood up. "Uh-oh."
"Don't you dare think duplicating yourself will let you get off scot free, boy!" Walker shouted as he flew at Andy, thinking he was the 'real' ghost boy.
Phantom and Andy didn't have time to react before Walker tried to grab Andy… only for his hands to phase through the boy like he was intangible. Phantom and Andy blinked, surprised, and confused.
"Huh?" Andy blinked.
"Why can't I grab you?!" Walker demanded as he tried to grab Andy again and again, only for his hands to go through Andy.
Phantom however, was grinning like a loon. "Oh, oh gosh! This is the best thing ever!" He howled with laughter. "Who knew humans became ghosts in the Ghost Zone!?" Oh man! I'm going to have to remember this!
Andy was just blinking, he also noticed the green ring that had been around his waist had disappeared. It didn't work on humans because humans didn't have ghost powers.
Agunimon came running into the cafeteria, seeing Walker about to try to grab Andy once more.
"Shit…" Agunimon hissed before he ran at Walker, fire coating his right hand. "Pyro Punch!"
Walker, who had been fixated on trying to grab Andy, didn't see the incoming fiery punch coming up from behind him. Walker let out a shout as the Pyro Punch slammed into his back, leaving a rather nasty burn mark, and sent the warden flying into the ceiling this time.
"Oooh, that's gotta hurt!" Phantom shouted.
The guards had lost all their morale, seeing their boss being pummeled, and they quickly flew away in a panic.
"Are you okay?" Agunimon asked as he turned part of his attention to the boy in front of him; he kept his senses on high alert in case Walker came at him and Andy again.
"Yeah, I'm… surprisingly fine… like… completely fine," Andy answered, still trying to wrap his head around what just happened. "Walker literally couldn't touch me."
"Huh?" Agunimon blinked. "Wait… seriously? How is that possible?"
"Whoo-hoo!" Tucker shouted as the Specter Speeder flew through the wall, literally, it was as if they had phased through it. "Did you see that!?"
The Specter Speeder stopped beside Andy, Phantom, and Agunimon, who were all looking at Tucker and Sam.
"What the heck? How'd you do that?" Agunimon asked in surprise.
"Check it out, stuff and beings from the living world phase through everything here!" Tucker grinned.
"In the Ghost Zone, we're the ghosts!" Sam smiled, looking excited herself. "Although it would've been nice to have known we could do that a lot sooner."
"You're telling me…" Andy groaned. "I could've saved us a lot of time and headaches if we knew this sooner!"
Phantom felt like a complete dork for not realizing it himself. And me… I could've just entered the Ghost Zone as a human and gotten that present back in no time!
"Yeah, and we even found that present y- err, Danny wanted to get back!" Tucker said, showing the gift box in the Specter Speeder. "So you guys hop on in and let's go find Takuya and let's get out of here!"
"You lost Takuya?" Phantom frowned, trying not to look at Agunimon.
"Yeah, somehow." Sam frowned. "Last we knew, he was in the Specter Speeder, and when we got the present back, we turned to him and he was gone."
Agunimon was trying not to sweat.
"Uh… Hey, why don't Phantom, Agunimon, and I look for him over there? You guys wait there a moment, I don't think Takuya went far," Andy spoke up.
"... What is Agunimon doing here?" Sam questioned, looking at the armored Digimon.
"Um… let's not worry about it, okay?" Phantom said, trying to cover for Agunimon being there. "He probably had his reasons for coming here."
"Y-yeah," Agunimon said. "So I'm gonna go help them find Takuya quickly."
Phantom picked up Andy and flew out of the cafeteria with Agunimon running behind them.
"How long do you think it'll take for them to find Takuya?" Sam asked Tucker.
"It could be hours… maybe even-" Tucker began to say before Phantom, Andy, and Takuya came running back.
"We found him!" Andy called.
"... seconds…" Tucker finished, astonished at how fast they were.
"Takuya apparently fell out of the Specter Speeder." Phantom said as Takuya rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Yeah… when you guys took off going so fast, I didn't hold on and somehow I fell out." Takuya explained.
"How did you fall out? The Specter Speeder wasn't even open… and get in here! Humans can't be exposed to the Ghost Zone for long without being overshadowed!" Sam quickly said as she had the Specter Speeder open up. "You too, Andy, unless you still want to be Phantom's skin suit."
Andy looked at Phantom and chuckled. "I mean it's not the worst thing in the world."
"Um… I think that's enough with the overshadowing for a while…" Phantom said, "I'd rather you get back to Fenton Works in the safety of the Specter Speeder, Andy."
"Yeah… I know…" Andy sighed as he looked at Phantom. "What about you? You are coming back with us, aren't you?"
Andy was a little worried that Phantom might decide to stay in the Ghost Zone now that he knew what being in a place for ghosts was like.
"I'm definitely coming back with you. I can't just leave Amity Park." Phantom said, trying to reassure Andy. "As cool as the Ghost Zone is, I'd rather not come here unless I really have to."
Takuya climbed into the Specter Speeder. "C'mon, Andy! We don't have all day!"
Andy nodded as he smiled. "Then I'll see you on the other side."
Andy ran over to the Specter Speeder and climbed inside. Tucker closed up the Specter Speeder and looked at Phantom. Phantom nodded, he was going to follow them back, not only to make sure no ghost attacked them on the way back, but also so he wouldn't get lost. Tucker had a radar that would easily lead them back to the Fenton Portal. Tucker started up the engine and had the Specter Speeder fly through the wall while Phantom followed them, hanging onto the back of the Specter Speeder. He transformed into his human form since nobody could see him from the back, so he was able to phase through the wall with them. He made sure to turn back to Phantom once they were out of the prison.
The Specter Speeder flew out of the portal and landed in the lab. Tucker, Sam, Takuya, Andy, and Phantom were all relieved to have finally made it out of the Ghost Zone and back home.
"Is everyone alright? Everyone made it out?" Phantom asked as Tucker opened up the Specter Speeder.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Takuya said as he hopped out first.
"That was so exciting!" Sam exclaimed as she hopped out too. "I can't believe we just went into the Ghost Zone! That was so wild!"
"Yeah, and we found out humans are ghosts when they are in there." Tucker added with a smile of his own as he hopped out as well. "And we got that present back too~"
"Let's just hope it's still in one piece and nothing fragile was in there," Sam remarked, looking at the gift.
"I'm sure if there was, we would've heard something break inside," Andy reassured. "Knowing Dad, he wouldn't handle anything fragile for a gift to Mom. Speaking of which, I should get this gift to Danny so he can stop freaking out."
Phantom looked a bit nervous. "Yeah. I'll… just be on my way now." He said, trying to not sound so nervous. "Um… you know… this is a ghost hunter's house and all… I'd rather not stick around for much longer."
Andy looked at Phantom, a little sad to see him go after going through the Ghost Zone together. "Will you be alright, getting out on your own?"
Phantom nodded with a smile. "Don't worry. I will be fine, Andy." He said gently. With a small wave, Phantom turned intangible and flew up through the ceiling and out of sight.
Andy sighed as Takuya looked at him.
"You miss him already, huh?" Takuya grinned.
"Hush you," Andy huffed. "It just would be nice if he could stick around a little longer, that's all."
Tucker and Sam looked at each other for a moment before back at the other two.
"Well, you know, maybe someday he could," Tucker chuckled.
"But don't you have a present to deliver?" Sam asked.
Andy looked down at the gift box. "Yeah. I better go see if Danny is still in our room. The last thing I need is to discover he went into the Ghost Zone alone."
"I'll come with you." Takuya said. "Just because I don't want Danny to be freaking out either."
"Then Sam and I will just head home." Tucker said. "As fun as it was to go into the Ghost Zone, I think we could use some rest after that trip."
"And if I don't get home, my parents will freak out on me," Sam grumbled. "I wish you guys luck with your family and all that."
Danny had turned back to human after phasing into his and Andy's room. He sighed in relief, now all he had to do was wait for Andy to bring the present up here. Although he couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if he had gone into the Ghost Zone without Andy. Andy had saved his hide numerous times when they went into the Ghost Zone together.
I hope this doesn't mean Andy is going to have to save my sorry butt each time I'm in trouble. I know I saved his sorry butt on more than one occasion too, but still… Danny thought as he sat on his own bed. Oh well… At least this time there was a happy ending I suppose.
Danny heard his sister's voice talking to his dad's voice. Out of curiosity, Danny used a little bit of his ghost powers to enhance his hearing to hear what they were saying.
"What about this entry when I was 4 years old?" Jazz frantically asked.
"We just spent 3 hours reading about your infancy, sweetie. I'm not even sure how you were able to write back then!" Jack groaned.
Danny couldn't help but feel sorry for his dad. Wow… I wouldn't wish going through Jazz's diaries on anyone, even Dad.
"It doesn't matter! I need to go through every entry in my journals!" Jazz exclaimed.
Jack let out an exasperated sigh before he cleared his throat. "Alright… Jazz, sweetie, I've listened to you when you needed to talk about something. But now it's time for you to listen to me. This world is full of mystery that the human race hasn't yet discovered. Theories and research doesn't mean they're going to be 100% correct, Jazz. You aren't going to be right all the time. That's what makes us human. I would be concerned if you were right all the time. People can surprise you, even the ones you've known your entire life, Jazzypants. And I like to think life is more exciting if you don't know everything, don't you?"
Jazz hesitated briefly before speaking again. "But… I didn't think ghosts were real… I just… I was so sure…" She muttered.
"So did about 90% of the world. And yet, they were all proven wrong," Jack explained. "You can't always assume what you know is the absolute truth, Jazz. That's why scientists like your old man here do research, to learn more about things that people think don't exist. We know ghosts exist, and now we want to learn what a ghost is, and what makes them tick. Because the more we know about ghosts, the less scary they will be."
Jazz sighed. "I guess that makes sense." She conceded. "I was just so surprised by ghosts existing that I just… I guess I just went into a little bit of a panic."
Danny couldn't help but snort. Panic? More like a spazz-out. He thought with some amusement.
Jack couldn't help but chuckle. "I think that was more than a 'little panic', Jazzypants."
"I… I know…" Jazz sighed.
"Do you think you'll be alright now, Jazz?" Jack asked softly, making what he said a little hard for Danny to hear.
"Yeah… I think I will be now… thanks, Dad," Jazz said. "I guess… I got a little too wrapped up in being right all the time that it felt weird to be wrong, and knowing ghosts actually exist. That means I could be wrong about anything… or everything."
"Don't see it that way, Jazz. You know I'm not always right, and neither is your mom," Jack stated. "See it as something of a surprise you discover in life. It doesn't matter if you're right or wrong, what matters is how you take what the world gives you."
Danny was surprised, he never heard his Dad speak like this before, he kind of liked it, but it was also unlike his usually goofy Dad, it was weird.
Jazz giggled a bit. "I guess you're right, Dad. I'll use this as a learning experience to ensure I don't get too wrapped up in my own little world again. A good, mentally healthy person keeps an open mind about things, even the possibility of being wrong."
Jack gave a loud bellowing laugh. "That's an excellent way to look at it!"
Danny smiled a bit. It was nice to hear his usually goofy dad being so encouraging and supportive.
The door opened, revealing Andy, holding the present, and Takuya behind him. "Hey, bro, glad to see you're still here and not diving headfirst into the Ghost Zone."
Danny blinked before he gave a sheepish chuckle. "Yeah… Good thing indeed." He said nervously. Although I kinda already did that…
"Well, thankfully Phantom decided to help us out when he didn't need to," Andy said as he held out the present to Danny. "So here. You take the present to Dad since you were the one who was so concerned about our parents getting split up over this stupid thing."
Danny took the present and smiled sheepishly at Andy. "Thanks for finding this, Andy. Really." He said with a smile on his face.
"Okay, enough. Just get that present to Uncle Jack." Takuya grumbled, feeling quite tired from that whole Ghost Zone trip.
Danny noted that Jack's footsteps were leaving Jazz's room, so that must mean they were finally done talking. Danny smiled as he walked out of his room, and walked up to his dad, who was walking in the hallway.
"Hey, Dad!" Danny spoke up.
"Hey, Danno, glad to see you, your brother, and cousin are doing okay." Jack smiled. "It's getting late. How about dinner? We can, uh…"
Jack sweatdropped as he couldn't cook, and the casserole Maddie left wasn't exactly… the most edible thing in the world. "Order pizza."
"That sounds great, Dad, but here," Danny held out the present. "You really should put this somewhere safe, somewhere not in the lab where it could get messed up, or… possibly lost in the Fenton Ghost Portal. You do want to give this to Mom as an apology, right?"
Jack took the present. "That… may be best. I was wondering if I had left this in the lab. Good thing you brought it up here instead."
"So, out of curiosity, what is in the present?" Andy asked.
Jack smiled. "It's a replica version of the prototype ghost portal your mom, Vlad, and I made back in college. It's just a replica though, so it doesn't actually work. But I figured it would be a great way to commemorate the old days, how we met, and how we fell in love. I also made it with strong, stainless steel, so don't worry, you could drop it from the roof of the OP Center, and it would still be in perfect condition."
"Wow… so that's what you were working on? That's so sweet~" Danny grinned.
Jack coughed, trying to hide the blush that wanted to form on his face.
"Erm… yes, well uh… what do you boys want on your pizza?" Jack asked, hoping to change the subject to something a little less embarrassing.
When Maddie came home the next morning, she was taken by surprise when she saw the house was spotless. Everything was organized well, and when she went into the kitchen, she was surprised to see a whole pizza box of her favorite toppings on the table, and a big gift box. Jack was standing there, smiling.
"Welcome home, Maddie. And I know it's a few days late, but… Happy Anniversary, Mads." Jack smiled. "I can't cook, and the bakery was closed yesterday for cake, so I decided to get you your favorite pizza instead. I also worked on this present to give you to make up for the anniversary thing. And… I want you to know, Maddie, more than anything else in the world, is that I love you."
Maddie felt her heart melting at the effort her husband had put into making things look nice. And that he had worked on something for her as a present? How could she stay mad at the lovable goofball that was her husband?
"Oh, Jack! You didn't have to!" She said as a smile crossed her face.
"But I wanted to, Maddie. You deserve to know that even after all these years, you're still special to me, Maddie." Jack smiled.
Maddie was happy that Jack reminded her why she loved him so much. Her sister, Alicia, had been divorced for 10 years. She had become quite hard, stubborn, and bitter, but she still had a tightly knit community willing to help her out when she needed it. And Maddie was happy to have Jack, and their children, in her life, even when she does get mad at them.
"Why don't you open up your gift, Mads?" Jack smiled.
Maddie smiled as she took the present, tore off the wrapping paper, and opened up the box. She was surprised to see a perfect replica of the prototype Ghost Portal she made with Vlad and Jack all those years back.
Maddie looked at Jack, who was giving her a sheepish smile.
"What do you think?" Jack asked sheepishly.
"I love it!" Maddie said as she hugged Jack in return for the present. "Oh, Jack! It's just like the original deal! It's just perfect!"
Jack was smiling the whole time, pleased that his wife liked his gift to her so much. Maddie hugged him, and both of them started kissing.
Andy, Danny, Takuya, and even Jazz had been watching from afar. They stopped watching when the two of them began to kiss.
"That's gross…" Danny grumbled.
"Well, I think it's nice. They still love each other." Jazz smiled.
"Yeah, it's nice, but maybe they could get a room and do that out of sight…" Takuya muttered.
"I mean to be fair, this is their house," Andy chuckled. "Come on, let's give them some time alone. We'll have our breakfast outside."
Takuya nodded, as did Danny and Jazz. Takuya was starving, something he had noticed after each time he reverted back from being Agunimon. He just chalked it up to using lots of energy, but it was still weird.
"That's a good idea. I'm starving." Danny said.
Jazz watched as the 3 boys went to the door. She couldn't help but notice how often they began hanging out again. While she was glad they were hanging out, something was bothering her. Andy had been going out a lot at night, specifically around 8 PM lately. Danny would also disappear around that time. They would sometimes come back home covered in dirt, or were tired. Takuya didn't disappear as much, but he would sometimes follow Andy out around that time as well.
I wonder if there's something they're keeping from me… and if there's something more going on with them then I know… Jazz frowned.
Jazz wondered if she should try to follow the three boys after they snuck out. It would give her the information she was looking for, but she also knew that if she was seen, Andy, Danny, and Takuya would find a way to lose her. The three could ditch her if they really tried.
It may also drive them away from me if I follow them. Jazz realized. I don't know, maybe I can talk to someone who might be able to help me out with this.
Jazz walked out of the door, watching them as they walked together down the sidewalk.
Son Sandy: DarkFoxKit: Andy being left behind in the other stories was the point. He may be the protagonist of the story, but Danny is the hero. Back then, I was doing a point of view character who wasn't in the know and wasn't allowed to know for a good while. But since I've already done that, I decided to go in a different direction here, making him a part of the group even if he isn't quite in the know, and what would've happened had Danny played his cards right with Andy involving his ghost half. He doesn't outright tell Andy, but he still includes Andy to get close to his ghost half. So Andy is able to prove himself more useful right away by using his intelligence instead of trying to figure out what happened to Danny and why Danny kept leaving him behind.
ZAFT: And boy, has it been a blast making Andy part of the group early on, even if he doesn't know Phantom is Danny right now. So many changes have taken place already, especially with how Andy comes up with the battle plans. XD
DarkFoxKit: Admittedly, we did spend a chunk of season 1 showing what would've happened had Danny included Andy in some way, but things are gonna start derailing from the canon episodes soon and it'll become its own story instead of an alternate version of My Brother's a Ghost.