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.

47. Unstable Emotions

ZAFT: Haven't updated on a Wednesday in a while. Need to keep from doing that though… ^^'

DarkFoxKit: Would be nice if we had some kind of reminder to update.

Andy: You two just get distracted really easily.

DarkFoxKit: Like you don't?

Andy: Hey, it's not my responsibility to update this story.

ZAFT: We had a Mother 3 ficlet we were working on and got too into it. ^^' It was getting really good too…

Takuya: Now let's get this chapter up. XD

---

(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 47: Unstable Emotions

Danny didn't know how long it had been, but he found himself staring at the night sky while resting on a tree branch. He wasn't in the town right now, he was outside of it, somewhere in the woods. His mind was in a haze, and he felt numb. It felt like he had been trapped in a nightmare for the past few hours. His parents hated him, he put his brother and cousin in danger, his own Digimon didn't trust him… maybe he was just meant to be hated…

Meanwhile, Andy had locked his room. After Danny had escaped, his parents dragged him home, and began to scold him about trusting a ghost. There had been a lot of yelling between him and his parents. Andy stopped talking to them and just ran up into his room, locking his door. He had no reason to talk to his parents if they weren't even going to try to listen to him. They didn't even know that all the nasty stuff they were saying about the ghost kid, they were talking about their other son, and his twin brother. It hurt to hear them say all of that. But if it hurt him to hear them calling Danny that, Andy could only imagine how much that affected Danny.

Andy didn't see Patamon anywhere. Patamon likely left the house again, but Andy knew Patamon could take care of himself, especially since Walker was gone now. And right now, Andy was more worried about Danny than Patamon. Danny hadn't come back home, and it was midnight now.

"Danny should've been home by now…" Andy frowned, only having Lopmon to talk to since even Takuya couldn't get into his room. Andy refused to have contact with anyone but Lopmon right now.

"I think he just needs some time to… well… to get through things…" Lopmon said, but the reassurance felt hollow and empty. "He'll be home soon… I know it…" It was clear Lopmon was worried about Danny and how he was feeling as well.

"This is all my fault!" Andy snapped, punching his desk. "I saw this happening… I could've done something to stop this! But… no… instead I was used like a puppet by Walker… I ended up causing this! Danny doesn't deserve this treatment, especially not from our parents!"

"Andy… there was nothing you could've done. You didn't know this was going to happen," Lopmon tried to reassured. "This isn't your fault."

"You heard our parents, Lopmon. They wanted to do all sorts of horrible and unimaginable things to him… Dissection is just one of them…" Andy bowed his head onto his desk, and rubbing his head. "How could I have let things get this far?"

"You can't take all the responsibility for this, Andy, it's not healthy…" Lopmon frowned in worry.

"What am I supposed to do? Because of me, Danny is in this situation in the first place!" Andy snapped back at Lopmon. "He could be out there, alone, thinking he's hated because of this!"

Lopmon winced at Andy's snappy tone. "Andy, you had no idea Walker would have planned so far in advance. None of us did…"

Andy sighed as he rubbed his face. "I'm sorry, Lopmon. This is just… too much… I don't know how I'm going to be able to help Danny… especially when he could be anywhere…"

"Well, if Danny is in his ghost form, then maybe we could find him by sensing for him." Lopmon offered. "As a ghost, he should be able to be picked up by me or Takuya." Lopmon paused before continuing. "Using a ghost finder from your parents may not be the best idea anyway…"

"Even if we do find him, what can we even say? 'Mom and Dad still want to dissect you and everything, but please come home anyways'? Somehow I don't see that helping," Andy groaned as he rubbed his now aching head.

"But we can't just leave him alone out there, right?" Lopmon asked. "At the very least, if we find him, he'll know he won't be alone."

Andy sighed. Lopmon was pretty much voicing his own echoing thoughts, he just wished he knew what to do to really help Danny. Walker truly screwed him over.

"Maybe you're right… unless someone invents a time machine, that's all we can do…" Andy said.

However, before Andy could stand up, his head felt dizzy. Huh? What's wrong with me? … Am I getting sick, or…?

Andy saw an image of someone flicking a single domino, and after that, it caused more and more dominoes to fall. It was a long chain of dominoes.

At one point, one of the dominoes that fell over caused the entire vision to go dark, then Andy saw a new image. This one showed Danny flying around in what looked like the school's auditorium. Then Maddie aimed some kind of device Andy had never seen before at Danny, and shot at him. Shortly after she did, Danny stopped moving for a few seconds before he let out a loud scream that sounded like he was in agony.

The image went dark before showing the dominoes again. They were falling faster than before. When it reached a certain point, the image went dark again before showing Danny in a hospital, lying in the bed, unconscious. Jack and Maddie were taken away by these strange beings that were blurry, and Andy couldn't make out. But he could see both Maddie and Jack were in handcuffs, and were being taken somewhere.

The dominoes were falling again, moving so much faster than before that Andy couldn't see the dominoes falling, they were just a blur now. Then once again, the images changed. This time, a courtroom was shown with Danny in the witness stand, and many ghosts all around him. Jack and Maddie were nowhere to be seen, but Jazz was shown in the courtroom as well. There was a ghost that looked like what Andy assumed was a yeti, but it was too blurry to make out completely. The next ghost was so blurry, all Andy could see was the purple cloak and a staff in the blurry hand.

The dominoes kept falling, and again the image changed. Andy saw Agunimon shouting something at the ghosts, and Andy saw himself and Lopmon, they were running away from something. The image kept shifting, Andy was only getting bits and pieces of it. The image kept shifting between the dominoes, and something else. He saw his parents in a jail cell. Both of them looked very thin, even Jack. To the point Andy could see their ribs. He hardly recognized them.

Finally, the last domino fell off of the 'table', and shattered upon hitting the ground. And the last image Andy saw was Danny sitting on what looked like a throne. He was smiling, but Andy could also see pain in his eyes. He looked more ghost than human. All the ghosts that were around him bowed. As the image started to fade away, Andy heard a dark laughter that almost sounded like his voice, before seeing a pair of yellow eyes glaring in the darkness.

Andy fell out of his chair, and Lopmon was looking at him in concern.

"Andy? Are you okay?" Lopmon asked worriedly. "You… kinda zoned out."

"I'm… not sure…" Andy admitted as he stood up. "... I think… this situation caused a domino effect… it's already going off now…"

"Domino effect? To what?" Lopmon questioned.

"I don't know for sure… it was going by too fast for me to tell," Andy sighed.

"What was going by too fast?" Lopmon frowned.

"These… images I saw in my head. There were these dominoes that kept falling faster and faster… and it all led to Danny sitting on some kind of throne, I think… it looked like he became the king of ghosts or something. My parents were locked up, looking like they were being starved…" Andy frowned. "It didn't look pretty."

Lopmon frowned again. "That's… pretty disturbing… I wonder if anything can be done to prevent that."

"Are these images… really visions of the future?" Andy asked.

"Maybe? Would you rule it out entirely?" Lopmon asked.

"I don't know. If they are, why am I seeing them?" Andy questioned.

"Is that really important?" Lopmon frowned.

Andy looked down. "You're right. We need to find Danny first and foremost. I can worry about visions of the future later." But those visions… could they have something to do with that prophecy of the ghost boy and the ruined future Patamon talked about before? I didn't see what happened to the worlds though… so maybe not.

Lopmon nodded. "Good idea. We can figure out what those mean later. Let's go see if we can find Danny."

"I'll call Sam, Tucker, and Takuya," Andy said, taking out his cellphone.

---

Andy snuck out of the house by jumping out the window, using Lopmon as a parachute. It was weird, if he was asked to jump out the window a few months ago, he would have thought the person who asked wanted him to die. But now it didn't seem like such a big deal anymore. He didn't want his parents to open the door to his and Danny's room, so he kept it locked.

Flamemon met up with him outside. Tucker and Sam had to sneak out of their house too since it was late, and the curfew rule was still in effect despite the ghost guards disappearing not long after Walker was taken back to the Ghost Zone.

"Any word from Danny?" Tucker asked.

"No…" Andy said grimly. "I'm not sure when… or if he'll come back. I don't think we should be leaving him alone either after what happened…"

"Do we have any idea of where Danny could be?" Flamemon asked. "As far as we know, he just flew off in any random direction."

"I could try sensing him," Lopmon suggested.

"But can you sense him from far away?" Sam asked.

Lopmon frowned as he tried to get a lock on where Danny could be. But he couldn't pick up on Danny's ecto signature.

"I can't sense him…" Lopmon admitted at last.

"Great… now what?" Tucker grumbled.

"We'll… have to try to search for him the old fashion way," Andy said.

"Will that even work? Especially since he can go through buildings, turn invisible and-" Tucker began saying before he was elbowed by Flamemon. "I-I mean I'm sure we'll be able to find him in no time."

"If I have to, I can evolve again and see if I can find him as Agunimon." Flamemon suggested.

"I doubt he'll leave Amity Park at least," Sam tried to optimistically point out. Having to be optimistic… things really have gone to crap.

"Yeah…" Andy replied. If only I hadn't been stupid enough to come up with such a dangerous plan. I shouldn't have gotten Sam to rile everyone up. I shouldn't have tried to expose Walker. We should've just kept everything on the down low. If we did, none of this would've happened. Now everyone is out to get Danny. Everything bad that's going to happen is because of my blunder!

Lopmon frowned.

"Are you okay, Lopmon?" Flamemon asked, noticing Lopmon was shaking a little.

"Y-yeah… I… think so… I feel a bit shaky, but… I might just be a little cold…" Lopmon replied softly.

"O-okay…" Flamemon trailed off, getting a bit of a bad feeling in his gut for some reason. "I'll… just trust you on that…" But why? Why is Lopmon really shaking? It can't be because of the cold, because I certainly don't feel any cold. … Then again, I am the Warrior of Flame…

"I can try hacking into more cameras to see if I can find Danny," Tucker offered.

"I'll check all the places Danny usually likes going to," Sam suggested.

"Yeah, let's go find him," Andy replied. "He… he needs us…"

The group split up, all determined to find Danny. Flamemon decided to go to central park first, since that was where Andy and Danny met up when Danny was still keeping his ghost half a secret. It seemed like the most logical place for Danny to go to hide out for a while.

Flamemon, now in his Agunimon form, landed amongst some bushes at the park. He could see no sign of Danny so far, but he didn't just assume Danny wasn't there. He had to check thoroughly. Standing up, Agunimon slowly ventured out of the bushes. Where would Danny be? As far as I know, he would probably be hiding in a tree or something similar…

Tucker was checking on all the cameras he could access in Amity Park, looking through them with his PDA.

Sam was using her moped to go to all their hang out places, like the Nasty Burger or the mall, which stayed open for 24 hours.

But none of them were having much success in finding Danny.

Andy and Lopmon were looking in the harder to reach places, Climbing up some of the buildings, pushing through the condemned warehouses, and the creepy abandoned north hospital. Hours went by, and night began to turn into dawn. Andy began to stew more in his thoughts, not even talking to Lopmon about them anymore. The longer it took them to find Danny, the more stressed Andy became.

What if we never find him? What if didn't just leave Amity Park, but he went into the Ghost Zone? What if he decided to live like a ghost now because of what our parents said?

It wasn't just what Maddie and Jack said, it was what they did, and intended to do. Danny was only a child, and he loved his parents. Andy should've done more, he should've prevented this, he should've found a way to get his parents to see that not all ghosts were bad before all of this. Now it would be near impossible to change their minds. This entire event solidified their belief that all ghosts were deceiving, evil entities that must be taken down, and must never be trusted.

What does this mean for Danny now? Andy questioned, afraid of the answer. If only I was stronger, if only Lopmon could've digivolved… Why do we always have to be so weak?

Lopmon could tell Andy was feeling so frustrated and upset at himself for not being strong enough to beat Walker. "Andy… it's not your fault… Don't beat yourself up over this…"

But Lopmon was feeling the same feelings Andy had, and it was making him feel… funny… like off in a sense that was not a good way…

"Maybe it should've been us…" Andy suddenly said.

"Huh? What?" Lopmon asked.

"Danny didn't deserve to be seen as a monster," Andy stated. "It should've been us… they should've seen us as the monsters…"

"W-why?" Lopmon asked. "Why should we have been seen as the monsters?"

"Because Walker wanted someone to be seen as the monster…" Andy said as he thought back to Walker overshadowing him and hurting Danny, Agunimon, and Lopmon. "He made me hurt them…"

Tears began to fall from Andy's eyes as he began to give a bitter laugh. "I was the one who hurt them. Not Danny… Danny didn't hurt me. I hurt Danny. If my parents wanted to blame someone for hurting their son, it should've been me! It's all my fault!"

"Andy… I…" Lopmon began to say. "It's my fault… I couldn't save you from Walker… I was too weak…"

"We were too weak… I was too weak to stop Walker from overshadowing me…" Andy said.

A black fog began to surround Lopmon's body.

When this happened, Agunimon suddenly got a sharp sense of a dark power. It wasn't a ghost power, but it wasn't natural.

"Shit… Not now!" Agunimon growled to himself. He knew he had to find Danny, but this power was too dangerous to ignore. I'll let Sam and Tucker find Danny… I need to see what this power is first. I just hope it's nothing bad…

With that in mind, Agunimon ran off to find the source of the odd power he was sensing.

Agunimon hurried, he had a bad feeling the closer he got to the power. The power began to feel familiar, and that was why he was pushing himself to move faster. If this was from who he thought it was… things just got a lot worse.

Finally, Agunimon reached the area. He came to a stop, panting as he looked around for any sign of the source of this familiar, and yet dark, power. C'mon… where are you, Andy? This had better not be what I think it is…

A green fog filled the area all of a sudden.

Someone fell through the green fog, and looked up, confused.

"Huh?"

The being stood up, looking at Andy and Lopmon. Both of them appeared to be in a daze.

"H-hey! Wake up!"

A cold wind snapped Andy out of his daze. "H-huh!?"

"What's wrong with you?" The being asked.

"Who are you?" Andy gasped. "You're… a Digimon?"

"... Call me Kumamon," The white bear stated. "What's happening to Lopmon?"

Andy blinked before he saw Lopmon, covered in darkness. "L-Lopmon! Lopmon, snap out of it!"

Lopmon seemed to be coming out of his daze a bit, and the dark fog that surrounded his body faded away. "W-wha… Andy?"

"What happened to you?" Andy asked in concern. "Why were you covered in darkness?"

"I… I don't know…" Lopmon replied. "I… just felt… your anger… and rage…"

Agunimon then ran into the area, having sensed the power receding. "Andy! Lopmon!" He called before he skidded to a stop, seeing a very familiar white bear-like Digimon.

"W-what are you doing here?!" Agunimon snapped at the white bear angrily.

Kumamon frowned. "I think I just saved your friend from dark digivolving his partner."

"Dark digivolving?" Andy frowned.

"I've learned… while I was in the Digital World, it's possible for a Digimon partner to turn into something very dangerous and… almost evil," Kumamon shivered. "It's rare, but it's still possible. The Digimon partners are linked to their human partners, so if the human is… unstable, to put it lightly, that affects their Digimon too."

"Oh… no… what've I done?" Andy said, horrified at what he almost did to Lopmon. "I'm so sorry, Lopmon… you almost turned into something really bad because of me…"

Agunimon looked at Andy and Lopmon with a concerned look on his face. "Andy… It's okay… You're just under a lot of stress right now…" Agunimon said softly as he approached Andy and Lopmon. "It's okay. We… We will find Danny and fix things… Somehow we will…"

"I'm alright, Andy, really… please don't blame yourself again," Lopmon pleaded, worried more for Andy than himself. "We'll find Danny and everything will be alright."

"Nothing will be alright…" Andy frowned.

"I don't know what's going on, but…" Kumamon frowned. "It looks like a lot has happened. I'm not even sure how I got here… or where I even am. I was with J… someone, and we saw a green fog covering the area, and… the next thing I knew, I was here, seeing Lopmon and A- this boy in a daze. I knew I had to snap them out of whatever they were thinking before things went too far."

Agunimon looked back at Kumamon, wary of him and on guard. "It… is correct a lot has happened." He confirmed. "And… thanks… for snapping Andy and Lopmon out of whatever was going on…" It was clear Agunimon didn't know what to think about Kumamon right now. Sure, Kumamon had almost drowned Tommy, but now he had saved Andy and Lopmon.

"Agunimon, I know you don't trust me right now… but believe me when I say I don't want any trouble here," Kumamon stated.

"What?" Andy and Lopmon looked between Agunimon and Kumamon.

"Did something happen between you two?" Lopmon questioned, glad for the distraction from Andy's self loathing.

"You could say that…" Agunimon said, but he kept it vague, mostly for Andy's and Lopmon's sake. "But I don't want to get into detail about it right now, okay?"

Kumamon gave Agunimon a less than impressed look. "Why not? If you think I'm so dangerous, it'd be worse to keep them in the dark. After all, I'm the big, bad Digimon who almost drowned Tommy. Who's to say I wouldn't do the same to them?"

"What?" Both Andy and Lopmon looked at Kumamon in surprise, especially since Tommy never mentioned a white teddy bear Digimon almost drowning him.

Wait… he does look like a teddy bear! Andy just realized.

"Is that true?" Lopmon asked, sounding unsure.

"Agunimon seems to think it is," Kumamon huffed.

"Well, that's because Zoe and I found Tommy in a pond after Kumamon ran away from us." Agunimon countered before he looked down, an odd emotion crossing his face. "Tommy… almost…" He gritted his teeth as he looked down even more, his wild blonde hair hiding his eyes. "He was almost… If we had been too late…"

Kumamon didn't say anything in his defense, instead, he just watched Agunimon.

Andy looked between Kumamon and Agunimon. It was clear that Agunimon really believed Kumamon was a bad Digimon who tried to drown Tommy. But… he wasn't quite sure if that was the whole story. His cousin tended to jump to conclusions. Kumamon didn't seem hostile to Agunimon, despite the accusation, and instead seemed to be waiting for him to say or do something. It's… just like with our parents and Danny. Mom and Dad see Danny as a monster… just like Takuya sees Kumamon as a monster.

"Do you want to do this here?" Kumamon asked. "Because… I have reasons to believe you shouldn't be in the Digital World right now, so… are we in the real world?"

Agunimon looked up, surprised. "Y-yeah… You… are…" He trailed off, a confused look crossing his face. "Wait… If you're in the real world here… then…" Agunimon frowned as he tried to figure out just what the heck was going on. "You said a green fog appeared in the Digital World and then you… ended up… here? That sounds… too convenient to be true to be honest, but… I saw that green fog so… I…" He then sighed. "I'll believe you when you said you were transported here."

"Is that what the green fog does? Teleport Digimon engulfed by it to this world?" Lopmon asked.

Andy frowned. "That… can't be it… if that were the case, this world would already be flooding with Digimon. We'd hear it on the news everywhere."

"I can't say I know anymore than you," Kumamon stated. "Is there a way for me to get back to the Digital World? It's not like I wanted to be here, especially with fire boy here looking ready to melt me."

Agunimon felt a twinge of anger at that comment, but he didn't say anything, figuring it was wise to keep his mouth shut for now.

"Andy and I can help you with that." Lopmon offered. "We could send you back through a Digi-Port opened on a monitor using the D-Arc Andy has."

"What?" Kumamon blinked.

"But…" Andy frowned. "That'll have to wait, I'm looking for someone right now. That's why we were out here in the first place."

"Andy… Lopmon… I have to strongly suggest that we keep this Digimon… restrained before we do anything," Agunimon stated firmly. "I don't trust him."

Andy frowned at Agunimon's words. It made him think back on how his parents reacted to Danny because they assumed he did something he didn't do. I don't think trying to get others to see me as the monster is going to fix anything. It would only make the situation worse. What was I even thinking?

"Oh, are my cold words not good enough for your hot mouth?" Kumamon sassed back.

Andy couldn't believe that this smaller, teddy bear-like Digimon could just mouth off to someone bigger and, depending on who you asked, more intimidating than him. Although Andy could believe a teddy bear was evil and scarier, he just couldn't believe Kumamon would actually try to drown someone. Then again I don't really know him, do I? But… I do admire that he's able to not take what Agunimon says to heart, or at least not get depressed about it. I shouldn't either. What happened happened, and whining about it and blaming myself isn't going to fix it. I can only look forward now and hope that there's a chance to make things better, even if the future looks bleak, it's not impossible to change.

"Agunimon, perhaps you can stay with us and keep an eye on Kumamon," Andy suggested. "But for now, maybe he can help us find the ghost boy."

Agunimon frowned at Andy's suggestion, but at the same time, they did need all the help they could get to find Danny. He sighed. He didn't like it, but there were so few other options, so he nodded. "Okay… I don't like it, but we could use all the help we can get."

"The ghost boy? If I'm to find someone, you should inform me who I'm supposed to be looking for," Kumamon stated.

"He-" Andy began before Lopmon spoke up.

"He looks like Andy here. Only his hair is white like your fur, and he wears a black jumpsuit with white gloves, belt, boots, and collar," Lopmon described. "Either that or he just looks like Andy while wearing different clothing and has blue eyes."

Kumamon blinked. "Wait, which person am I looking for?"

"Either of those two," Andy said. Way to be blunt, Lopmon.

Agunimon sighed as he shook his head. "But we're mainly looking for the first person Lopmon described." He added on, so as to not confuse Kumamon too much.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," Kumamon said.

"Thanks. I know you didn't intend on being here, but I appreciate your help." Andy smiled.

Kumamon blinked, surprised that someone was genuinely thanking him, while as Kumamon. "Oh, uh… it's nothing. But you're sure you're okay with me looking for him? Aren't you worried I would do something bad if I find him?"

"Agunimon will be with you. And even if you look scary to me, I'm sure you're not as bad as Agunimon thinks you are," Andy replied.

"Thanks…" Kumamon smiled before what Andy said confused him. "Wait… I look scary to you?"

Agunimon snickered. "Andy's scared of teddy bears." He remarked cheekily. "So your cute act won't work on him as easily."

"Shut up!" Both Andy and Kumamon snapped.

Being snapped at by both Andy and Kumamon made Agunimon stop his snickering as a sweatdrop ran down the side of his head. "Geez… no need for you both to snap at me…"

After a moment of gathering his bearings, Agunimon looked at Andy and Lopmon in worry. "Are you sure you two can be left alone?"

"Yeah. You're right to be worried, but I'm fine now, I promise. I won't keep blaming myself for this," Andy assured. "I'm still upset that this happened, but… if I want to make things better, I can't keep thinking such bad thoughts. Especially since I have a partner who could turn into something bad if I let myself drown in such negativity. I don't want to do that to him."

"And I don't want you doing that to yourself either," Lopmon added. "When you hurt, I hurt too, Andy. Remember that, okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Andy chuckled. "And… maybe I'm just being biased because Kumamon saved both of us, but… try to give Kumamon a chance. I don't think he's all that bad."

Agunimon frowned a little, but he nodded in agreement to Andy's words. "I can't guarantee it, but I will try." He said at last. "Just… be careful, okay, Andy?" It was clear he didn't want them to split up though, if not because of Kumamon, then because of what Andy and Lopmon had gone through.

"Just make sure you two don't tear each other up," Lopmon said. "I'll keep an eye on Andy."

"Good luck then." Kumamon said.

---

Andy and Lopmon were on the move again. This time Andy tried to keep his thoughts clear from these negative thoughts. A part of him still blamed himself for what happened, but he also had to remind himself that thinking like that wouldn't do any good.

"I'm sorry again for what almost happened back there, Lopmon," Andy said softly. "You must've felt as awful as I did when I was… in such a dark place."

"It's not your fault, Andy." Lopmon reassured Andy. "You were just feeling all of the stress and it didn't help that Danny hadn't been found yet. You have to remember you're also still just a 14 year old boy, Danny isn't the only one who was affected badly by this."

"Yeah… I guess it's easy to forget about that sometimes," Andy admitted. "I was thinking too much about Danny, and the… I guess 'future visions' definitely didn't help."

"No, they didn't," Lopmon agreed. "But you need to remember those are not set in stone as well. No future is set in stone."

"Yeah, you're right," Andy agreed. "Anything could change the future, even the smallest of choices. That prophecy Patamon mentioned… that can be changed too, I know it can."

"Yeah… I just hope Patamon realizes that before he does something drastic," Lopmon remarked. "But what are we going to do about your parents? They're not likely going to believe Danny isn't evil."

"Maybe not," Andy sighed. "There's a lot of damage Walker left behind with this plan of his… But that doesn't mean we can't fix things. I doubt Mom and Dad will ever truly hate Danny himself. If we have to… if it really comes down to it… I'll have to try to talk Danny into telling them. I think, if nothing else, that'll show them he isn't evil. And… hopefully they would be willing to listen."

"I hope so too…" Lopmon said softly. "Although… That may not work… at least the way you hope. They might think he's overshadowed and try to get rid of his ghost half, or try to 'cure' him."

"Yeah…" Andy nodded. "I thought about that possibility too. But… that's always going to be a risk. The longer we wait though… the more time they have to fester this hatred of ghosts, and one day, it might be too late. It's better to take that risk now rather than wait and have that risk become a guarantee later."

Lopmon nodded. "Yeah, but for now, we'd better focus on finding Danny. If we find him, it may stop Agunimon and Kumamon from going head to head with each other. The longer those two are stuck with each other, the greater the chances of that happening become."

"Yeah… about Kumamon, there's just something about him that's familiar to me," Andy remarked. "That teddy bear appearance still kinda creeps me out, but… there's something about that I feel like I know. I'm not sure why though."

"Hmm… well, hopefully Agunimon will keep himself from hurting Kumamon," Lopmon said.

Andy looked up at the stars as the sky was slowly starting to light up. "You know, Danny always said he wished he could go somewhere out of town to look at the stars. The light pollution makes it hard to see the stars in the city."

Then Andy got an idea. "Wait… I think I might know where he is."

"Really?! Where?" Lopmon asked, feeling a bit hopeful since this whole incident began.

"Come on!" Andy quickly said as he ran off.

"H-hey! Wait for me! I have very small legs!" Lopmon yelled after Andy.

---

Meanwhile, Agunimon was feeling awkward. It wasn't like he had expected to be left alone with Kumamon while looking for Danny. Kumamon was looking around, like he was seeing the world for the first time. Although he probably was.

"So this is Amity Park," Kumamon remarked.

"Yeah… This… is where I've been staying while here in America…" Agunimon said, not really sure what else to say. "It's… nice, but definitely interesting." Especially with the ghost attacks…

"You talk to me like I care that you're staying here," Kumamon replied. "Or maybe you're looking for an excuse to start a conversation?"

Agunimon looked away, his red facial markings vanishing into his cheeks with his blush. He remained silent, feeling stupid for even saying anything. Should've kept my mouth shut…

Kumamon frowned for a moment. "But I don't mind talking. It gets pretty awkward and boring just walking in silence. I just have a few questions if you're good with speaking to me."

Agunimon sighed. "Fine… just a few…"

"Who was I before?" Kumamon asked.

This, of course, confused Agunimon. "What?"

"It's just… you and the other Legendary Warriors seem to have a problem with me… well, before I 'drowned' Tommy," Kumamon pointed out. "I just wanted to know why. Did I do something bad in a past life or something?"

Agunimon actually hesitated for a moment, not sure what to really say to that. Finally, he spoke up. "Um… I can't… really say for sure…" Agunimon stated awkwardly. "I… haven't really… I…" Aw man… this is really awkward…

"You don't even know?" Kumamon frowned. "You're just a fountain of information, aren't you?"

"Hey! You should know why we have a problem with you!" Agunimon pointed out. "You were attacking that player before!" Granted he's not very likable, but still.

"Was I now?" Kumamon replied. "Are you sure about that? You saw me standing in front of that player. How is that proof that I attacked him?"

Agunimon paused before speaking again. "I clearly recall you had your blaster pointed at him." He replied before he frowned a little. But… I didn't really get a good look around that area before, but looking back now… I didn't see any damage from Kumamon's blaster… And… I saw these… Agunimon's face grew a bit pale when he realized what had been on the ground that he had seen but had chosen to ignore. Slave collars…

"Perhaps, but I didn't shoot him," Kumamon said. "If I did, he'd be a human popsicle by the time you found him."

"Do you have a problem with humans then?" Agunimon asked.

"Not usually, no," Kumamon replied. "I only have a problem with them if they attack me and try to put a slave collar on me."

Agunimon actually flinched, realizing he had just made a mistake with their first encounter ever. Kumamon's words seemed to match up with what he had seen. "I… I guess… I didn't read the battlefield that well that time…" He admitted, feeling a bit foolish now. Wow… way to screw up, Takuya… But that still doesn't mean you can trust him. He almost drowned Tommy, don't forget that…

"So why are you a rogue Warrior then?" Agunimon finally asked. "I doubt you wouldn't be like the others if you were summoned by Cherubimon."

Kumamon stopped walking and turned to Agunimon, with clear confusion in his face. "Rogue Warrior? Are you saying I'm a soldier for the rogue Legendary Warriors or something? I'm not sure where you got that idea, they've attacked me too."

Agunimon felt confusion cross his face now. "Wait, they attacked you? But you're just like them, aren't you?" He has to be… right?

"Um… no?" Kumamon replied, looking confused. "Why would I be like them?"

Agunimon frowned a bit. Now that he thought about it… Kumamon didn't really have a problem with humans, not if he saved Andy. There was no way a rogue Warrior would do that. He knew that from personal experience. "Then… If you're not a rogue Warrior… who are you?"

Kumamon looked away, not sure how to answer that. "I don't know…"

Agunimon blinked, surprised Kumamon didn't know who he was, or what he was supposed to be. "You… don't know…?" He was definitely confused now.

"Let me ask another question," Kumamon said before a familiar device appeared in his hand. "When Lopmon mentioned Andy's D-Arc that can open a portal back to the Digital World, did he mean anything like this device?"

Agunimon's jaw would've dropped down if he wasn't trying to keep himself together right now. None of the rogue Warriors had a D-Tector, only those who were human needed a D-Tector to- …

"You're… like me…" Agunimon finally whispered. "That's… That's a D-Tector…"

"Hmm?" Kumamon frowned. "Like you? That's what I thought… until I realized you guys were all Legendary Warriors, and I… wasn't welcomed."

Before Agunimon could reply, his D-Tector began beeping. Agunimon realized this and grabbed his D-Tector from his person. He pressed the button to answer. "H-hello?"

"We found him. Hurry, get to the outskirts of Amity Park!" Andy's voice said urgently.

Agunimon nodded. "R-right. I'll be there." He hung up, putting his D-Tector back on his person. It was clear he was shaken up by what Kumamon had shown him, but Danny being found seemed to lessen that to an extent. He took a shaky breath and let it out slowly.

"It sounds like you found who you were looking for," Kumamon said as he was already walking away from the shaken up Agunimon. "I'm going to head back to the Digital World, there's someone there who's waiting for me. Tell Andy and Lopmon that I said thanks for teaching me how to use this device to get back into the Digital World."

Agunimon paused. "W-wait! Do… You can't just leave…" He said, his voice actually sounding a bit hoarse. It was clear he was shaken up worse than he had thought.

Kumamon didn't seem to hear him and kept going. "Good luck, Agunimon."

Agunimon had to choose between Danny and Kumamon. If he didn't go after Kumamon now, he didn't know when he would see Kumamon again. Knowing that Kumamon may be human, a human who didn't know he was even a Legendary Warrior, made him realize what a terrible mistake he and the others made in judging Kumamon. But Danny also needed him, Andy clearly sounded urgent to get him to where Danny was as soon as possible.

Finally, Agunimon turned away from where Kumamon had gone. He didn't want to let Kumamon go, but Danny was more important. When we meet again… if we meet again… I'll… I'll make things right, Kumamon… I promise!

Agunimon ran off, leaving Kumamon to go off alone. I'm sorry, Kumamon… But Danny needs me more… Agunimon thought as he ran, his eyes hidden by his hair.

Meanwhile, Andy and Lopmon were looking up at the tree. He tried calling Tucker and Sam as well. They were on their way.

"Danny, can you come down, please?" Andy spoke up.

Danny didn't give a response.

"Uuugh, I swear, you and Patamon are more like each other than we are!" Andy groaned. "Get down from that tree or I will come up there!"

Danny twitched at Andy's words, but he didn't move again save for that twitch. He just remained on his branch.

"He really is just as stubborn as Patamon," Lopmon noted.

At least he's not flying away, that would be a problem. Andy grumbled. "You realize that we're not leaving until we talk, right?"

Danny just gave a grunt of response, but nothing else. He was clearly intent on staying on that tree branch.

"Fine, then we're coming up!" Andy stated.

Lopmon and Andy began climbing up the tree. While Danny could just fly away, he didn't feel intent on leaving his tree branch, so instead, he put a hand on the tree trunk and turned it intangible. This caused Andy and Lopmon to fall through the tree and back onto the ground before the trunk was solid again.

"I think that was a signal to stay away…" Lopmon groaned from on top of Andy's back.

"Oh really? I thought that was the signal to climb up faster…" Andy grumbled on the ground. Why do I have to deal with an emotional brother with ghost powers? At least if he locked himself in his room, I could… use Mom or Dad's invention to break it down…

"We're here!" Tucker called as he and Sam stopped on their mopeds.

"Where's Danny? And… why are you on the ground with Lopmon on top of you?" Sam asked.

Andy just pointed up at the tree branch.

Sam and Tucker looked up, seeing a glowing ghostly aura hidden amongst the leaves.

"Oh… so that's where Danny's been." Sam muttered.

"And if Andy and Lopmon are on the ground… I think it's safe to say Danny may have turned the tree trunk intangible…" Tucker added.

"Good guess," Andy grumbled as Lopmon hopped off of him, and he stood up, wiping grass off of him. "I'm afraid we're not gonna reach him if he's not gonna let us. Where's Takuya?"

Footsteps reached the group's hearing as Agunimon came into view. "Sorry… I… was further away than I had expected…" He then looked around before he perked up, his ghost sense sending the chills and heat down his spine. He looked up, seeing Danny above him. "Oh… There's Danny…"

"Yeah, and he's being an unfair grump. Turning the tree intangible if we tried to climb up to him," Lopmon huffed.

"If Biyomon was here, she could fly up to him," Sam sighed.

"Same with Kokuwamon," Tucker sighed as well.

"Takuya, is there any way you can jump up to him or something?" Andy asked.

"I could try." Agunimon confirmed. "But I don't expect much luck…"

Taking a breath, Agunimon then crouched before he jumped up and grabbed onto the branch next to Danny's. He pulled himself up onto the branch. "Danny?"

Danny faced away from Agunimon.

Agunimon frowned, wondering how he was going to get Danny to talk. But before he could try, the tree turned intangible and Agunimon fell to the ground.

"Ow…" Agunimon groaned as he lay on his back, the wind knocked from his lungs. He was clearly stunned from the unexpected fall. "Hurts… to breathe…"

Fractal code surrounded Agunimon, and he was back to being Flamemon again.

"How many times are you going to turn into Flamemon?" Tucker asked. "I'm starting to think you actually turned into a Digimon."

"I didn't get much sleep or anything to eat…" Flamemon grumbled as he sat up. "I can't maintain my Human Spirit form if that happens it seems…"

"Wait, how are you able to Spirit Evolve when there's a lot of ghosts around?" Andy asked. "Lopmon wasn't able to digivolve because there was too much ectoplasm. His body couldn't handle it."

"This is Agunimon's weaker form." Flamemon muttered. "It seems… Well… all the ghosts left… right? So the defense is lifted it seems. I just didn't want to give up Agunimon's power yet."

"That's not what I meant. You were able to Spirit Evolve before when there were a lot of ghosts, right? How were you able to do that?" Andy clarified.

"I just… did." Flamemon admitted. "It was to help Danny and then… the defense kicked in."

"Maybe the Spirits work differently than normal Digimon," Lopmon guessed. "Since he uses the spirit to evolve rather than getting stronger himself. The ectoplasm probably doesn't affect him like it does to me."

"So you're saying that even if our Digimon were here, they wouldn't have been able to digivolve?" Sam asked.

"Apparently, too many ghosts in the area stops their digivolution," Andy answered.

"Yeah, but since the Spirits of Flame are technically… well… alive for the lack of a better term… I am able to evolve with their power even when a lot of ghosts are around." Flamemon replied. "But then that defense kicks in, and it's a pain in the…"

"Guys, we can talk about this later, we need to focus on Danny," Tucker spoke up.

"Well jumping on the tree branch isn't helping, and I'd rather not try that again," Flamemon grumbled.

"Who knew a ghost boy could throw such an inconvenient tantrum?" Sam huffed.

"I am not…" Danny muttered from his tree branch.

"Oh, now he speaks. I guess Sam gets special treatment," Andy grumbled.

Danny didn't say anything to Andy at that.

"You see what I mean!?" Andy huffed.

Flamemon and Tucker sweatdropped as Sam groaned. "Danny, stop acting like such a little kid!"

Danny just threw a pinecone down at Sam, making her dodge it. "Hey!"

"Maybe it's a present?" Tucker teased.

Sam picked up the pinecone and threw it at Tucker in response.

"Hey!" Tucker whined as the pinecone landed in his beret.

"It's a present," Sam grumbled.

"Danny, just get down here! We've been searching for you for quite some time! Please, we're all worried about you!" Flamemon called up.

There was still no response from Danny.

"Okay…" Andy sighed. "Flamemon, you still have the strength of a Digimon, right? Could you do me a favor?"

"Uh… Sure…" Flamemon blinked. "What is it?"

Danny was getting quite cozy on his tree branch, when suddenly Andy was thrown up and landed onto his tree branch, making Danny blink in shock. Lopmon was on Andy's head.

"Hey, bro, sorry for intruding, but I thought it'd be better if we spoke face to face," Andy waved.

Danny blinked before he frowned. "Why? I'm just a 'post human consciousness of ectoplasmicness', right? Why would a person want to talk to me? Aren't I just an evil being that can't be trusted by any human?"

"Um… no," Andy replied.

"What? That's it? Just 'no'?" Danny asked.

"Danny, you know that you're nothing like that," Andy said. "You're just echoing what our parents said, and we know they're far from being correct on this."

"Just leave me alone…" Danny grumbled as he turned the tree intangible once more, making Andy and Lopmon fall.

After about a few seconds, Lopmon slowly floated back up with Andy holding onto him. "So as I was saying, the simple answer to your question is just no."

"Wah!? How'd you get back up here? Lopmon can't fly!" Danny pointed out in shock, almost falling off of the branch.

"Ever heard of an updraft?" Lopmon grinned. "You know fire can cause that."

Looking down, Danny saw there was a campfire under the tree branch. The wood likely had been gathered by Tucker and Sam, and Flamemon burned it with his fire.

"Don't even think about trying to fly away, bro. I will make sure to attach myself to you, even if you try to go intangible," Andy warned.

Danny blinked before grumbling. "You two are as stubborn as a cactus stuck on something…"

"Look who's talking," Andy pointed out as Lopmon had him land back on the now solid tree branch. "And anyways, I think it's time you stopped trying to avoid us. Do you really think you're just a monster because of what our parents said?"

"If anyone is a real monster right now, it's me!" Flamemon called up.

Andy picked up a pinecone and threw it at Flamemon. "Not helping!"

Flamemon yelped as the pinecone hit him.

Danny actually chuckled at witnessing this. "He does kinda deserve that pinecone."

"Well, glad I could get you to chuckle a little," Andy remarked.

"After all, laughter is the best medicine when you're feeling down." Lopmon smiled.

"But… you haven't answered my question, bro. Do you really feel like you're just an evil, post human consciousness?" Andy asked.

Danny looked down. "I… I don't know… I am… both a ghost and a boy… Am I a human with ghost powers, or am I a ghost with a human form? If it's the former, then that's more acceptable, but if it's the latter… then… I…"

Andy looked at Danny for a moment. "It's gotta be difficult, not knowing the answer to that. But… do you want to hear my opinion on the matter?"

"What?" Danny asked glumly.

"Who the heck cares?" Andy bluntly said.

"Huh?" Danny hadn't expected that answer.

"You told me before, 'why does it matter if Danny was a ghost or not?', and I said 'I guess it doesn't, as long as Danny is Danny.' Admittedly, the implications are uncomfortable if you are a ghost with a human form. But you're still here, you still have a pulse, and you still do things like eat and sleep like any human does. And you have this cool ghostly form, able to fly, go through solid objects, turn invisible, and even shoot out lasers from your hands. You're Danny whether you're ghost or human or something in-between. I know both sides of you are just you, good, big hearted, a bit overprotective. Danny and Phantom, I got to know them, and I know they're nothing like what our parents said. They just didn't bother to get to know the Phantom side of you."

Danny blinked before he turned as green as a Christmas light. "A-Andy! I swear, you want me to become a green Christmas tree, don't you?!"

"I can do worse than that~" Andy grinned mischievously. "Look at the people down there. Takuya, Tucker, and Sam. We all came out here, despite it being a school night, being tired, and having to sneak out of our homes, because we wanted to find you. We were all worried, do you think we wouldn't be out here right now if we didn't care about some ghost? You should know by now, bro, you're more than just a ghost. You're Danny, you're a friend, you're a family, you're a hero, and you're human and ghost."

Danny felt like just flying away, he was so embarrassed. "Andy… You…" He looked down at the three below the tree. It was clear none of them were leaving either, not with the way Sam gave Danny a slight wave, not with the way Tucker was grinning, and not with the way Flamemon just cheekily threw a pinecone in his hand.

Danny felt so lucky he had such good friends and family. "Thanks, bro…"

"Admittedly though, I know this is also hard on you," Andy sighed. "It was… hard on me too… I felt guilty for letting Walker use me like a puppet to turn our parents, and everyone else, against you. I almost turned Lopmon into something really bad."

"Yeah, I felt it. Andy's anger, rage, guilt, and bitterness at the whole situation was bleeding out into me," Lopmon agreed.

Danny blinked before frowning. "Andy… you… felt that bad…? It… It wasn't your fault… Walker was just that good with his planning. You can't be shouldering all of that on your own…"

"Regardless, he still used me to turn everyone against you. I was… upset that I was the key to making you look like a monster," Andy admitted. "I wanted to take that away, I wanted to be the one seen as the monster. And… I guess that desire was what almost triggered a dark digivolution in Lopmon."

"Is that true?" Sam asked, hearing what Andy said.

"Yeah…" Andy answered.

"If it weren't for Kumamon, I… probably wouldn't be me right now." Lopmon frowned.

"Who's Kumamon?" Tucker asked.

At hearing Kumamon's name, Flamemon actually flinched. "He's… a complicated issue… But he's… a Digimon… or…" Flamemon swallowed nervously. "Maybe a… Legendary Warrior…"

"Another Legendary Warrior?" Sam frowned. "Is he a rogue?"

"That doesn't matter right now," Flamemon sighed, since he wasn't sure how to answer that at the moment. Kumamon could've almost drowned Tommy, or maybe that might've been another misunderstanding. But Flamemon needed to stay focused on Danny right now.

"Where is Kumamon now? I think that's important," Sam asked.

"He went back to the Digital World," Flamemon answered.

"Okay, so I guess we don't have to worry about him right now," Tucker sighed in relief.

"He looks scary, but I don't think he's bad," Andy said.

"What makes you say that?" Sam questioned.

"I don't know, just something about him that seems familiar, and I don't think it's bad," Andy shrugged. "Though I could be biased because he saved me and Lopmon."

"And that doesn't really fix the issue," Lopmon added. "I'm glad I didn't turn into something horrific, but… Walker did a number on our… situation. Especially with the drama with Patamon and all."

Flamemon groaned at that reminder. "I guess we have to find that drama queen of a Digimon then next, huh?"

"I think we should leave him be…" Danny sighed. "If he doesn't want to be found… we should leave him alone until he's ready to come back."

"Didn't you want to talk to him?" Andy asked. "Are you sure it's wise to leave him alone?"

"I did… but after Walker's plans and all… I think we both need our space." Danny admitted. "I… don't exactly want to be around him right now myself to be honest…"

Andy and Lopmon both frowned. Although, from what Andy learned, both human and Digimon partners are linked, and they could usually feel each other's desires. Although it was usually stronger from the human side. It would explain why both Danny and Patamon didn't want to be near each other. It was likely Danny could sense Patamon's desire to not want to be near him.

"Then, I think, for now… we'll work on what to do about Amity Park now that everyone thinks the ghost boy is 'evil'," Andy decided. "After that, we should talk about our plans for the Digital World. I need to pick up Jazz now that the invasion is over, she's been in the Digital World long enough."

Danny sighed. "Okay… The sooner we can figure something out, the better."

"But first… how about you get down from this tree?" Lopmon suggested.

"And if you turn the tree intangible again, I will use Lopmon and the campfire to get back up here," Andy stated firmly.

Danny grumbled. "Fine… You're so stubborn when you put your mind to it, bro…" He did float down from the tree though. Although I can see why Walker thought you were dangerous. Despite not having ghost powers, you're able to come up with ways to counter ghost powers. Like using the campfire and Lopmon to make sure I couldn't just make you fall off the tree.

Andy jumped down from the tree, using Lopmon as a parachute to 'float' down as well.

"I swear, even when you're not half ghost, you're still Danny's twin…" Tucker grumbled. "Look at both of you just floating down from that tree together."

Danny blushed, turning even greener in his embarrassment. "Shut it, Tucker…"

"Well, we should get home. It's already dawn, and the sun will start rising soon," Andy suggested as Lopmon landed on his head.

"... We're going to be really tired at school…" Tucker groaned.

Fractal code surrounded Flamemon, and he was finally Takuya again.

"Hey, you're human again!" Sam pointed out.

"About time, I was getting worried you'd be stuck as a Digimon forever!" Tucker grinned.

"I couldn't hold my Digimon form any longer." Takuya grumbled. "I guess the Spirit needs rest too now."

"Well, at least we now know what happens when a bunch of ghosts are around and you end up having to Spirit Evolve." Tucker joked to Takuya.

Takuya grumbled at Tucker.

"And when a bunch of ghosts are around and I try to digivolve," Lopmon grumbled. "Pain… lots of pain…"

"You want to know what else will be painful?" Andy sighed. "Dealing with our parents when we get back home."

Everyone groaned at that reminder.

"We'd better get back home then." Sam sighed. "But… Danny, you'd better turn human again. Just… so people don't… um… you know…"

"Yeah…" Danny sighed before he summoned the rings on his torso, changing him back to his human form.

Lopmon took a deep breath, and used a weaker version of his Blazing Ice on the campfire, putting out the flames.

"Okay, let's get going," Andy said.

---

Lopmon dropped into Andy's arms, since now he had to act like a stuffed animal once they reached Fenton Works. Things had been quiet, though it was a comforting silence as everyone was tired, but also happy to be together. Tucker and Sam already split up from the group to head back to their own houses.

Andy took out his house keys to unlock the door, and hoped that Jack and Maddie were still asleep. As soon as he opened the door, however, his hopes were quickly dashed when they saw Jack and Maddie standing just behind the door, glaring at the three of them.

"Danny, Andy, Takuya… come into the living room, and sit," Maddie stated. "Now."

The three boys winced at her tone of voice, which left no room for argument.

Danny, Andy, and Takuya all walked in and sat down on the couch, each boy looking nervous and embarrassed.

"What were you 3 thinking? Staying out until dawn?" Maddie began.

"When we went to check on Andy and Danny, we noticed the door was locked. We had to break down the door, only to see neither of you two were there," Jack stated. "We went to see Takuya, and he was gone too. And Jazz is gone as well! She better be coming back soon. I can't believe she'd be out all night!"

Oh dear… Jazz is going to get an earful later… Andy sweatdropped.

"But until she comes home, I want to address the 3 of you," Maddie stated as she looked at the 3 boys. "You know we have a curfew for a reason! And especially after what just happened with Andy… why would you go back out into the danger zone? You almost got killed or taken away by that vile ghost kid!"

"Mom, that ghost kid didn't kidnap me, he was trying to help me," Andy tried to explain.

"Oh, I know what your father and I saw. That ghost 'kid' did no such thing! You're lucky you escaped with your life!" Maddie retorted.

Danny inwardly flinched at his mother's words. He didn't like hearing her say such things, but they had to find a way to work through this for now.

"You were also calling for help," Jack added. "It was recorded and shown on TV. He was kidnapping you, there's no question about it."

"What if it was a set up?" Andy asked.

"No more arguing about this, Andrew Fenton!" Maddie snapped, leaving no room for argument, and clamming Andy up in fear of incurring his mother's wrath.

Takuya winced. Oooh, full legal name… Yep, Andy's in trouble… But… so far nothing has been mentioned about my Digimon form so maybe… I'm in the clear…?

"The ghost invasion may be slowing down, but that doesn't mean it's safe for you kids to be going out past curfew. Not to mention even if there weren't any ghosts out and about, you shouldn't be out until dawn regardless," Jack added. "We also have a strange armored man running around, who may or may not be working with that vile, evil ghost kid."

Takuya paled. Crap… Yep… I'm not in the clear… "Um… Actually… I think that armored man may be on our side… I mean… he did save me from a ghost when I was hiding from one…"

"We still don't know what his intentions are, or even what he is," Jack stated. "Until we know more, it's best that you kids stay away from him too."

Like you're gonna stop us. Technically if we were to obey that rule, Danny and I should be moving far away from Takuya right now. Andy grumpily thought to himself.

"Um… I take it we're in serious trouble then?" Danny asked nervously.

"Yes, you are in serious trouble," Maddie stated. "You broke curfew, you stayed out all night for who knows what reason!"

You could just ask… Andy inwardly grumbled.

"And you keep trying to defend the ghost kid who was obviously evil, and obviously kidnapped you!" Maddie finished, looking at Andy. "Danny, Takuya, your punishments will be grounded for a week. Other than school, you're not allowed to leave this house. And you will be cleaning your room. Andy, your punishment will be grounded for 2 weeks, and you'll be helping clean up the lab and the living room. And you'll be coming into the lab for more ghost lessons from me and your father."

"What? Why do I get the worst punishment?" Andy frowned.

"You obviously think that ghost kid is good, and need more lessons on what to do when around a ghost." Maddie said sternly. "Your father and I will not have one of our boys thinking a ghost is capable of being benevolent around humans."

Unable to hold in his own anger, he stood up from the couch, holding onto Lopmon for support. "And why not!? Why can't ghosts be benevolent around humans? Where did the idea come from that all ghosts are evil? What is it that human dying and becoming a ghost makes them automatically evil towards other humans!?"

"They lose their humanity when they die!" Maddie snapped back. "It's been proven time and time again! Now, no more of this! You will go to your room, as will your brother and cousin!"

Andy's glare intensified, and he looked ready to argue more. But Danny stood up, and put a hand on Andy's shoulder, stopping him from saying anything else to make the situation worse. Andy calmed down a little when he felt Danny's, surprisingly comforting, cold hand on his shoulder. As much as he didn't want his parents calling Danny evil just for being a ghost, and over a very bad misunderstanding, Andy knew he wasn't going to get anywhere if he just shouted at his parents now. This was going to require a lot of time, patience, and careful planning.

Deciding it was best to not say anything else to his parents, Andy turned away from Maddie and Jack, and headed upstairs. Danny quickly followed him.

Takuya just stood up and went into his own room, feeling bad for Danny and Andy. He also felt a bit uneasy now that his intentions as Agunimon were being called into question. Yeah… perhaps it's best I don't say anything either…

Andy and Danny stared at their doorless room.

"... They better fix this…" Andy grumbled.

"Maybe we should use Jazz's room for the time being…" Danny sighed.

They had a lot to talk about, and they didn't want their parents hearing them because they didn't have a door.

"I don't think that would be a bad idea…" Lopmon whispered to Andy.

Andy frowned, he didn't want to go into Jazz's room, because that thing was in there.

Danny noticed Andy's hesitation. "Come on, bro, he's not going to hurt you."

"Who's 'he'?" Lopmon questioned.

"Just keep him far away from me," Andy huffed.

The two of them went into Jazz's room. Lopmon was looking around to see what had Andy so riled up. He saw a lot of cute stuffed animals. Though there was one teddy bear wearing a white coat, and had weird gray hair sitting on the bed. Andy sat at the corner of the room as far away from the bed as possible.

Danny sighed. "Bearbert won't hurt you, bro. He's on the bed."

"That's where he hides his chainsaw," Andy muttered.

"Chainsaw?" Lopmon looked in shock and horror.

"It's just a thing Andy has with Bearbert." Danny explained. "Although… not even I know how Andy got his fear of Jazz's stuffed bear plush."

"Let's talk about something else, please? Bearbert is watching," Andy said, looking uncomfortable.

Danny sighed, but decided to go with it. "I'm sorry, Andy. You're being punished, and it's all my fault."

"Don't start apologizing. Mom and Dad are being emotional and unreasonable," Andy grumbled. "They can punish me all they want. I'd go out after curfew again in a heartbeat if you needed me."

Danny blushed again, but red this time. "Yeah… you like me turning into a Christmas tree…"

"Not my fault you blush so easily," Andy replied.

"So what are we going to do now?" Lopmon asked. "You're not allowed to leave the house unless it's for school for a while."

"That won't stop us from going into the Digital World," Andy pointed out. "After all, we only need our computers to go there, and those are in our room."

"Would be a lot easier if we had a door though," Danny sighed.

"... I'm gonna ask Takuya to help us put a door back on our room, because we need our privacy, especially now," Andy huffed.

"Yeah… good idea…" Danny agreed before sighing. "But we also have the issue of… well… Mom and Dad aren't really trusting Agunimon either at this point… They… think he may be… working with the 'evil ghost boy'..."

"Well, he is." Andy rolled his eyes. "I think the main issue with Mom and Dad is their hatred, and unwillingness to trust ghosts. They see a ghost, 'oh, must be evil!' they see someone working with a ghost, 'oh, they must be evil too!'. It's childish and foolish to assume an entire species is all evil or mindless!"

Danny groaned. "I know that, and you know that… Heck, even Sam, Tucker, Takuya, and Jazz all know that! But Mom and Dad are so tunnel visioned it's difficult for us and them!"

"What about your idea before?" Lopmon asked Andy. "About… telling your parents?"

Andy frowned as he looked at Danny for a moment and frowned again. "I do believe that waiting would be bad… but telling them now… would also be bad. It might be best to wait until things calm down before we go about telling them…"

Danny nodded, as did Lopmon.

"I… I think that would be best…" Danny agreed. "I… I want to tell them… but… things could go bad so fast, I…" He swallowed nervously. "I think we have to wait for now."

"Yeah, but don't wait too long to tell them, bro… I just… have a bad feeling that if you wait too long, that could turn out really bad for them," Andy warned.

"You have a feeling?" Danny asked.

"... I saw…" Andy began slowly. "Um… I saw… an image… several images… a domino effect happening that Walker caused. It led into our parents getting arrested, by ghosts, and starving themselves… it wasn't pretty."

Danny grew so pale, he looked like a ghost. "Arrested by ghosts?! That… Oh man…"

"You know it's not impossible, considering ghosts like Walker exist. There could be an actual law in the Ghost Zone that we haven't seen yet. I doubt Walker would be interested in arresting humans though," Andy pointed out. "And Mom and Dad's hatred towards ghosts is really going to get them in trouble one day." I can't tell him that it may have been because of what they might do to him… a lot has happened already, Danny shouldn't be burdened with the knowledge they're going to do something to him that might cause them to get arrested in the first place.

Lopmon looked up at Andy in worry, sensing that he was hiding something again.

"Andy… Are you okay?" Lopmon asked in concern. "You seem… certain of that…"

Andy shook his head. "It won't happen… we can stop it. We just… have to try to get Mom and Dad to be more open to ghosts. I think once we can do that, that future of them getting arrested won't have to come true."

Danny and Lopmon nodded.

"I hope so, bro…" Danny said softly. "I… don't want to have them get hurt… or come after me in my ghost form…"

Danny then grinned a little. "Also… it sounds like you've already accepted that you can see the future."

"Shut up," Andy grumbled. "I don't know why I'm seeing these visions, but I doubt it's because I'm some kind of future seer. For all I know, maybe this only happened because I got exposed to a lot of ectoplasm, or it's because of Lopmon."

"Why me?" Lopmon asked.

"I don't know, I'm just trying to figure out what I was seeing those images," Andy sighed.

Danny chuckled. "Well, however you got that ability, it's definitely come in handy a few times." He said with a grin.

"Great…" Andy sighed again. "But for now, how about we-"

The clock rang, showing it was now 6 AM.

"... Get ready for school?" Andy finished.

Danny groaned. "Great… one sleepy day at school… What could make this day go better?" He remarked sarcastically around a yawn.

"Time stopping…" Andy sighed. "Or we could be risky and take a nap in the Digital World since time flows faster there…"

"I'd rather not just in case Mom and Dad come up here." Danny grumbled.

"Let's go…" Andy said as he stood up. "After school, I need to go pick up Jazz."

Danny nodded. "Good idea. I think she'd like to hear about what's gone down recently."

---

Takuya had been thinking to himself after he went to his room. Now that Danny was safe and at home, he could finally start thinking about Kumamon. It had been bothering him since Kumamon showed him his D-Tector.

Just who is Kumamon…? Takuya thought to himself as he lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. Is he really a human like me? I mean… Why else would he have a D-Tector? But then… Does that mean he really is a bad Digimon? Or is he just a scared kid who has no idea what he can become? I mean… I'd be scared if I was in his situation too…

Takuya thought about it more, and he realized he had been in Kumamon's situation before. He had found Agunimon's Spirit long before he knew what Digimon were. For a while, he, Andy, and Danny didn't know what he was. They only found out from Vlad, who hadn't really explained much.

And to think it took a creep like Vlad Plasmius to find out what I was able to become… Takuya thought with a shiver running down his spine. But… I can't help feeling bad for Kumamon… And… when he needed help, me and the other Legendary Warriors… we made things worse… We didn't give him the help he probably needed…

Takuya thought back on when they found Tommy drowning in the river. It terrified him, and he thought it was Kumamon's fault why Tommy was drowning in the river… and the only reason he thought that was because he thought Kumamon had taken Tommy hostage… and the only reason he thought that was because of what Grumblemon said. Tommy wasn't with Grumblemon anymore, and Kumamon had suddenly showed up. Takuya didn't know what to think, the whole situation was confusing. But… Takuya never actually saw Kumamon anywhere near Tommy. Maybe Tommy just managed to get away from Grumblemon when Kumamon came to help, and he ran away, but then accidentally fell in the river while he and Zoe were chasing Kumamon.

Aw man… I really screwed up… Takuya grimaced at his own actions towards Kumamon. I didn't even think about the bigger picture! I just jumped to conclusions, just like… Takuya felt a shiver run down his spine again as he realized just who he had been acting like. Crap… Yeah… I definitely have the Fenton gene if I was jumping to conclusions like Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack…

Takuya couldn't believe it took his aunt and uncle jumping to conclusions with Danny for him to realize he may have jumped to conclusions with Kumamon. Although, it didn't help that Kumamon didn't really speak up for himself. Tommy didn't argue about Kumamon not drowning him either. Takuya wondered if Tommy and Kumamon had issues with speaking up for themselves. He knew Andy was trying to, but was shut down by Maddie when she scolded him for it.

Takuya shook his head. He had come to a decision. I need to find Kumamon… If anything… I… I don't know if he would accept my apology, but I need to know if he really is a human like me… I'll go to the Digital World today after school. I should be able to find him there if he made it back safely.

Speaking of school, Takuya checked the time on his digital clock, and saw it was 6 AM. Takuya groaned. He had very little sleep to work off of. He better get a lot of food in him if he wanted to spirit evolve in case of emergency.

Time to get through school… I just hope I don't fall asleep in class… Takuya thought grumpily.

---

School wasn't so bad despite the long night of no sleep. A lot of the students were recovering from being overshadowed by ghosts for the past day or two. The school staff were also recovering from that, so they mostly gave students a free day in class to study themselves. It gave Danny, Andy, Takuya, Tucker, and Sam some time to take a nap in class and catch up on their sleep.

By the time it was lunch, everyone met outside to eat. Andy saw Dash was walking to the other popular students.

"I can't believe I was taken over by a ghost… I can hardly remember anything for the past few days…" Calvin remarked.

"On the plus side, you were taken over by the ghost in charge," Dash chuckled.

"How is that any better?" Calvin grumbled before he perked up. "Wait, seriously?" He then grinned. "Awesome!"

"I don't think being taken over by the head ghost is awesome…" Kwan sweatdropped. "I just think it's creepy. I feel violated in so many ways. And my leader in Ruler of the Digital World is going to be mad that I missed so many days, I wouldn't be surprised if he kicked me out by the time I join back in."

"That would suck." Calvin said with some sympathy. "But if you get kicked out, you can always join my party in the game."

"You have a party? I thought you said you rather go at it solo?" Kwan questioned. "I remember you saying you and Gotsumon were so strong that you don't need help from anyone."

"That was before I faced a strong Digimon." Calvin grumbled. "He beat Gotsumon like my partner Digimon was an In-Training Digimon… This strong Digimon also claimed to be a 'Legendary Warrior', so that claim was not a boast if I was beaten so easily…"

"Oh, that's too bad. I think my leader had a Legendary Warrior before he ran away," Kwan said.

"What? Is it possible to own one of those Legendary Warriors?" Calvin questioned.

"Apparently, yeah." Kwan replied. "But they aren't easy to catch, or even defeat for that matter."

"Well they are Legendary for a reason," Dash remarked.

"What about you, Dash? Have you finally gotten into the game?" Calvin asked.

"Yeah, I have…" Dash answered. "It's just by the time I did, the whole ghost invasion happened."

"Great! Who's your partner? I'll bet it's something fierce and strong, like you~" Calvin grinned. "And where are you now? Maybe I can meet up with you later and you can join my party."

Dash hesitated, not sure if he liked that idea. "Um… Maybe… Could I have some time to think about it?"

"What's there to think? We form a party, get stronger by having our Digimon fight and train, and we take out other weaklings and showing our dominance like we always do," Calvin replied.

Dash frowned. "I guess…" He admitted reluctantly. Great… if Calvin finds out about Labramon, he may not like the idea of her being my partner.

"Man, if you thought it was hard enough to find a place to go ghost during school hours before all of this…" Tucker sighed as he looked at Danny.

Sam was looking at the newspaper, showing a picture of Danny Phantom 'taking away' Andy Fenton. Andy was currently wearing a hoodie to cover his face as he didn't want people asking him about what it was like being kidnapped by a ghost.

"Well, we can't exactly say things won't be interesting now." Sam remarked as she set the newspaper down. "Although I feel bad for Andy, given what happened."

"The least they could've done was blurred out my face…" Andy grumbled.

"Yo Fenton! What was it like being taken away by a ghost kid!?" A student asked.

Andy slid down in his seat, realizing the hoodie didn't do much to hide his face since he was sitting with his friends and twin brother. "Maybe I should eat lunch alone for the next few days."

Takuya grimaced at the situation Andy found himself in. "I… think that would be a good idea, if not for the fact others may get close to you and bombard you with questions about 'being kidnapped'..."

"Takuya's right, bro." Danny said sheepishly. "We're kinda lucky no one has come close to us because we're such a large group."

"Hey, Fenton, what was it like being taken away by a ghost?" Another student asked.

Andy turned around and threw an apple at their head.

"Ow!" The student yelped.

"I don't know, what was it like being hit on the head by an apple?" Andy responded.

Takuya, Sam, Tucker, and Danny all snickered at Andy's sassy response. The student just sulked and walked off, not really happy with the response.

The other students who looked like they were going to ask Andy the same question stopped, and Andy looked at them.

"Anyone else want to ask the same question?" Andy asked. "I've got plenty of apples."

The students quickly walked away.

"I think all that was needed was to do what you just did, Andy." Tucker grinned. "Now maybe we can eat in peace."

"Let's just hope it lasts," Andy said before munching on one of his apples and putting another apple into his backpack for Lopmon to eat. "This apple pales in comparison to the meat apples though."

"Yeah, my mouth is drooling just thinking about those meat apples…" Tucker remarked, with some drool really running down from his mouth.

"No need to act like Niagra Falls…" Sam grumbled. "It's disgusting. Though the meat apple is good, I'm glad I can eat meat without actually eating meat. I used to be quite the carnivore before I decided to become an Ultra-Recycle Vegetarian."

"What?" Lopmon blinked.

"Just… vegan for short," Andy sighed.

"... What?" Lopmon asked again.

"That's hard to imagine," Tucker grumbled. "Sam eating actual meat I mean."

"Whatever. I don't need you to imagine that," Sam huffed before she looked at Danny. "But you know… I'm impressed, Danny. Despite what everyone else thinks of your ghost half, you still plan to defend Amity Park from bad ghosts?"

"Well, yeah. At this point, I kinda have to." Danny replied with a shrug. "It… may not be so easy, what with the town against me and all, but… As long as I have you guys with me, I think we can slowly change their minds about my ghostly half."

"That's the ideal situation anyways," Andy said. "That's gonna be quite the long term goal thanks to Walker. Not to mention the goal we have to help people co-existing with Digimon in the Digital World."

"Yeah, but I think we can pull that one off too." Takuya remarked as he bit into a sandwich he had. "It seems much easier than the goal for the town at any rate, at least… so far."

"Let's just take it one step at a time," Tucker said. "Hopefully by the time we get to the Digital World after school, Kokuwamon and the others will have the Trailmon station up and running, or close to it."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

"Let's just get through the rest of the day first. We don't know what will happen in the Digital World when we get there." Takuya suggested.

I hope Jazz is alright. A lot of time had likely passed for her by now. Kumamon said that he ran into the green fog earlier… I just hope Jazz, Floramon, and Tommy didn't run into any green fog themselves. Who knows what would happen to them if they do. Andy thought to himself in worry.

---

Pokemon fan 1991: DarkFoxKit: I think it's about the same in canon, just it felt more personal due to Andy getting involved due to Maddie and Jack. And Danny just flying away with a smile on his face at the end of the episode was a bit weird. If anything I think he'd be more devastated about what happened, like here.

ZAFT: I agree with Kit's statement. Danny is just a kid, of course he would be devastated. Poor boi doesn't deserve it though; what he needs is a hug~ X3 And as for Agunimon… Yeah. things will get a bit dicey with Jack and Maddie with him, but can you blame them? They don't know much about Digimon yet, so it makes sense.

As for the Adventure 02 stuff, now that I look back on it, that does sound kinda like what ghosts can do. It's kinda eerie, but also kinda cool. XD

DarkFoxKit: After playing Digimon Survive, Digimon could be considered a lot of things, ghosts, Yo-kai, monsters, viruses, and the like. I think it depends on the universe they're in. At its core, though, Digimon are supposed to be Digital Monsters. So that's what they are here, that and we're using Frontier's version of Digimon, which are digital creatures that exist in a world made of data and fractal code.

ZAFT: But your observations are noted and I find that kinda cool. :3

Titanic X: ZAFT: You will see how clearing Danny's name plays out

SkiesEagle: ZAFT: Thanks for the review! :3 And yeah, it is getting intense. XD

DarkFoxKit: Patamon doesn't want to give Danny a chance, because he feels he has to kill him to prevent a great catastrophe. The problem, at least for Patamon, is that he already gave Danny a chance and bonded with him. That's why he couldn't bring himself to kill Danny.

ZAFT: Glad we can make you want the next chapter so badly you have to wait to read a bunch of them just to hold off. XD

RisingShadow: ZAFT: Thanks for the review. :3 As for if Jack and Maddie would've seen Danny as the bad guy anyway, I think they would have with Control Freaks for sure.

DarkFoxKit: Control Freaks definitely doesn't help Danny's case with his parents. But if Walker hadn't done what he did, perhaps Danny, or maybe Andy in this case as he's the twin who's much better with people and words than Danny, could've tried to convince them to give the ghost boy a chance.

Glad that you acknowledged the tension between Danny and Patamon. Things are definitely getting heated between them.

There's only so much Jazz can do, unfortunately, and she's not in the best situation to help anyone right now. Kumamon will have to learn to talk to the other Legendary Warriors.

ZAFT: But you will like how it gets resolved down the road. XD As for your comment about 02, it may have happened, but we don't know. ^^' We're just focusing on the Frontier Digimon season with some hints of Tamers and Survive.

DarkFoxKit: Actually, they're asking if this would've happened if we did do an 02 crossover. In which case, I'd say Ichijouji had a very good chance of coming back as a ghost. I think there could've been an interesting story arc regarding Ichijouji and our DP characters. Ichijouji would probably want to try to go back home and see if Ken's alright.