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.

50. Rogue Teddy Bear

ZAFT: More Digital Phantom coming your way~ X3

DarkFoxKit: Yup. And tomorrow we will be updating an Earthbound fic we've been working on.

ZAFT: Had one review on the Earthbound fic on AO3 too. The person really liked it. XD

DarkFoxKit: If you guys are interested, hopefully you can check it out. It's called 'A Brother's Love'. But for now, let's continue with Digital Phantom.

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(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 50: Rogue Teddy Bear

A few days earlier…

Kumamon managed to use his D-Tector to get back into the Digital World. He fell out of the portal that brought him back. "Oof!"

Kumamon groaned a little at the rough landing before he stood up and looked around. "Where am I…?"

He saw he was on some grass, and there were trees, but he knew he wasn't near the mountainous area when he was with Jazz and Kiwimon. "Jazz! Kiwimon! Are you there!?"

Kumamon called out for his friends, but he didn't get any answers back. This is definitely the Digital World… so it looks like the D-Tector can take me back if I go back to the real world. That's good to know then. But for now… I need to find Jazz and Kiwimon, they could be in danger.

Kumamon looked down at himself. Just… maybe not like this. The last thing I want is for another Legendary Warrior to find me and start beating me up.

Fractal code surrounded Kumamon, transforming him back into Tommy. Now as Tommy, he began walking forward. The first thing I need to do is find out where I am. It might help me get back to Jazz and Kiwimon. I hope they're okay.

Tommy made his way forward, but as he did, he began to see signs he wasn't anywhere near the mountainous area, even more. He saw what looked like things that a kid would play with, a toy train going around on tracks, a ball pit, and even a large swinging boat ride that one would find at an amusement park. There were even toys scattered around. A candy shop sat in plain view, and the largest building of all was a bright lavender castle with a blue roof.

Whoa… This is like a kid's paradise! Tommy thought as he looked around the area. It's clear I'm not in the mountains anymore…

Tommy tried to ignore the cool looking toys, but the kid part of him really wanted to check it out. Maybe it couldn't hurt to at least look at these toys. Maybe some of them are Digimon?

Tommy smiled as he ran over to some of the toys. He saw there was a toy race track all built up, and a toy race car to put on the track. He picked up the race car and put it on the track, watching it zoom on the race track. "Wow, that's so cool!"

"What a baby."

Tommy froze when he heard those words, or rather, had the memory of hearing those words when he was trying to play with the toys his parents bought him.

"You have to grow up some time, Tommy, you can't keep relying on Mom and Dad to get you toys."

Tommy frowned as he stood up. Yutaka's… cynical, but he's right. I don't have time to play with these toys, even if they are cool. Jazz and Kiwimon might need me.

So the boy walked away from the toys, trying his best to ignore everything around him while he tried to focus on what should be more important right now. Tommy hadn't seen anyone since he got to this strange, kid paradise, and it was starting to creep him out a little.

He came up to the candy store. Someone's got to be there, someone has to be running the candy store, right?

But when Tommy entered the candy store, there was no one inside except for him. Okay… this is starting to freak me out a bit… Why is no one here? Tommy wondered with worry in his stomach; it made him feel uneasy.

While Tommy usually loved sweets, his unease made it hard for him to want to eat anything, and these could be poisoned for all he knew. He didn't know anything about this place.

Tommy left the store quickly, and he looked at the lavender castle. Maybe there's someone in that castle?

Tommy began making his way to the castle, hoping to find at least a soul in this strange place.

As soon as Tommy reached the castle's main gate, he looked up at the brightly colored castle. It looked very inviting, but with how quiet the place was, it also seemed to be foreboding as well. I hope I find someone living here… This kid paradise is starting to creep me out…

"Oh, hello there!"

Tommy jumped, not having expected to hear a voice all of a sudden. "Wah!?"

Tommy turned around, seeing a friendly looking yellow teddy bear standing behind him. "Hey, I like playing Surprise, do me next!"

"Wait, what? Who are you?" Tommy asked.

"I'm Monzaemon!" The bright yellow teddy bear replied with a big smile. "I'm one of the Digimon who lives here on Toy Island!"

"Oh, so this place is inhabited." Tommy sighed in relief. "I was worried I was the only one here. Wait… did you say Toy Island? We're on an island?"

"That's right!" Monzaemon smiled. "We're on an island!"

"But… I don't see the ocean," Tommy said, confused. But come to think of it, I haven't seen anything else for miles.

"Toy Island is a flying island!" Monzaemon replied happily. "We move from place to place from the sky."

"We're in the sky!?" Tommy replied in shock. "How?"

"There's a giant toy plane under the island that flies us from place to place," Monzaemon said. "It keeps us safe from players who want to harm us."

"Oh… I see…" Tommy said. Wow, the Digital World really doesn't follow a lot of the laws of physics from our world.

"Hey, do you want to play with me?" Monzaemon asked. "We can go to my room in the castle, I have lots of toys and games to play there!"

"Uh… no, thank you. I'd rather find a way off this island," Tommy answered. "No offense, this is a nice place you have here, but I'm looking for someone."

"Awww… You don't want to play?" Monzaemon pouted, he looked so sad.

"No, sorry… but do you know a way to get off this island?" Tommy asked.

"Umm… I think we just wait until the toy plane lands for fuel, but maybe I might have a parachute or two in the castle somewhere?" Monzaemon replied.

"The castle?" Tommy turned back to the castle.

"I could show you if you'd like to follow me," Monzaemon offered.

Tommy looked back at Monzaemon. He was starting to get suspicious on why this Digimon was so insistent on helping him when he just turned down playing with him. He could just be a kind hearted Digimon, but Tommy wasn't sure, he had been tricked by people with 'kind' intentions before.

"No, it's fine. You've done enough to help me," Tommy said. "I'd like to take the time to explore the castle on my own."

Monzaemon smiled. "You're more than welcome to!" He replied with a grin. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask!"

"Sure," Tommy replied, not really trusting Monzaemon.

Tommy began walking towards the drawbridge, but then the drawbridge suddenly lifted up. Tommy yelped as he lost his balance and fell into the water. He let out a scream as he struggled to stay up on the surface.

"H-help! I can't swim!" Tommy shouted in distress.

Tommy didn't get a response from Monzaemon, or anyone else for that matter. He didn't know what to do as his body started to sink underwater. He saw black plastic looking fireballs going into the water as well, but his main concern was not drowning. A black and white being swam to Tommy, grabbing him.

After a few minutes, Tommy found himself being taken from the water into an underwater cave, which allowed him to breathe with no issues.

"Are you alright?" A new voice asked, making Tommy tense up as he turned to face the speaker.

The being speaking was a black and white bear-like Digimon. "I saw you drowning and saved you. Are you okay?"

Tommy coughed out some water before he was able to speak. "T-thank you for saving me… but why did you save me? Who are you?"

"It's the right thing to help someone in trouble." The Digimon replied. "My name is Pandamon, and I am one of the inhabitants of Toy Island."

"Monzaemon said he was an inhabitant too." Tommy muttered.

"That's right, we are toy Digimon, and we live on Toy Island," Pandamon explained. "We used to live on Cherubimon's kingdom before the players took over. We had to be on the run to avoid their Slave Collars. The ShadowToyAgumon, the ones who made you fall into the castle's moat, do not trust players. They think they're all bad and evil. Monzaemon and I are the only Digimon who still believe not all players are evil."

"Pretty convenient of you to save me when I fell into the water…" Tommy noted.

"Please, I don't mean to harm you if that is what you're worried about," Pandamon explained. "I only want to keep you safe."

"Do you know a way to get off of this island?" Tommy asked. "If not, then let me into the castle. I need to find something that'll help me get down from this island."

"I'm afraid getting into the castle will be difficult. The ShadowToyAgumon will surely attack you again." Pandamon warned. "Are you sure you want to risk it?"

Tommy frowned. "They attack players, right? But what about other Digimon?"

"They attack anything indiscriminately." Pandamon replied. "Unless they are inhabitants of this island who think like them. Which is why I'm in hiding myself."

"Is there any way to convince them to stop?" Tommy frowned. "The way they're acting, it's no better than the players using Slave Collars on every Digimon they see."

"I've tried to appeal to them, but the ShadowToyAgumon's corruption is deep, far too deep for words to have an effect." Pandamon sighed sadly. "Talking to them is not a viable option anymore."

Tommy frowned again. "So you can't convince them to stop?"

"No, I cannot." Pandamon replied.

Tommy frowned again, wondering if there was anything he could do.

"Are you worried about the ShadowToyAgumon?" Pandamon asked. "Or are you more concerned about leaving this island?"

Tommy sighed. "I am looking for a couple of friends of mine. But… I just don't feel right leaving things like this. This corruption just doesn't feel normal. I mean… every single ShadowToyAgumon became corrupted just like that? I find that kind of… odd, and unnatural."

"You're right in that it's not natural." Pandamon confirmed. "It was because of what the players did. The ToyAgumon all want to get back at the players, they have lost faith in humanity. But what's more worrisome is that they have been granted a blessing by a Legendary Warrior, Mercurymon. I do not know what these abilities are, just that the power granted to the ShadowToyAgumon is dangerous."

"Mercurymon?" Tommy frowned. "Do you know what kind of Legendary Warrior he is?"

"He is the Legendary Warrior of Steel." Pandamon replied. "He is their main strategist as well."

The Warrior of Steel… his blessing may have something to do with manipulating toys then. Tommy thought to himself. "He sounds dangerous."

"What do you plan to do?" Pandamon asked.

"I'm going into the castle," Tommy answered. "There has to be something there that could help cure this corruption."

"If you insist on heading into the castle, I will not stop you." Pandamon replied. "But be careful."

Pandamon pointed up some stairs to the door. "That will lead you to the castle's yard. There might be a lot of ShadowToyAgumon there."

Tommy nodded. "Thanks, I'll see what I can do."

Tommy went up the stairs as Pandamon watched. Hard to believe a human as young as he could be so brave.

Tommy slowly opened the door, looking around. He could see the castle, and he was past the drawbridge at the very least. He didn't see anything, but he knew to keep his guard up. He began making his way to the castle's entrance.

Tommy, upon not seeing any ShadowToyAgumon, felt he was in the clear. However, he did not drop his guard. So far so good…

The castle entrance was soon before Tommy, looking imposing and yet impressive, even if it was a bright lavender color.

Tommy quickly headed into the castle. The ShadowToyAgumon watched from afar. They could've stopped the boy, but they had their orders. The boy was invited to the castle by their master.

Tommy was tempted to call out to see if anyone was in the castle, but something was telling him that was a bad idea. He didn't know if anyone or anything would answer, and Tommy wasn't sure if he wanted an answer either.

Tommy was soon inside the castle, looking around the interior of the entrance. It was a bright lavender color inside as well, with large blue and yellow banners hanging from the walls and ceiling, and a blue tiled floor. A candle-bearing chandelier hung above the tiled floor, giving off an impressive sight.

Wow… someone really likes bright lavender… Tommy thought with a sweatdrop running down the side of his head as he eyed the brightly cheerful walls.

The inside of the castle wasn't as big or impressive as Seraphimon's castle, but there was something really creepy about how empty it was. It looked toy-like on the inside, but it was missing a lot of stuff. Tommy wondered if most of the toys outside came from this castle.

"Hello there, boy, did you come to play?"

Tommy jumped when he heard that voice. A being stood in front of him. "M-Monzaemon?"

"I was hoping you would come! I've been so lonely with no friends to play with…" Monzaemon said. "But now you're here to play with me!"

"I'm not here to play, I'm here to find out what's causing the ShadowToyAgumon's corruption," Tommy firmly stated.

"Awww… No playing? That's sad…" Monzaemon pouted. "But I don't think you have a choice in the matter. You're here, in my castle. You're not allowed to leave now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tommy frowned, getting a bad feeling.

"You are staying here in the castle with me!" Monzaemon cheered. "My new 'friend'!"

Tommy looked back at the door, and saw a black wall that looked like it was made of legos blocking the way out. Tommy tried looking at the windows, but all the windows were soon blocked by the same black legos. Tommy turned back to Monzaemon, who was now grinning a lot more sinisterly at him.

"Don't worry, I take good care of my 'friends'~" Monzaemon stated.

That smile… those eyes… They're just like Sir Michael's… when he wanted to use me. Tommy realized. "You tricked me!"

"How simple it was~" Monzaemon grinned wickedly at Tommy. "The fluffy, friendly yellow teddy bear bit works every time~ Or well, it almost does. You didn't quite fall for it, but you still went into the castle all the same."

Tommy narrowed his eyes. "Then who are you, really?"

Monzaemon grinned even more sinisterly as the ribbon of fractal code surrounded his bigger form. "Slide Evolution!" When the fractal code dissipated, it revealed an evil looking version of Monzaemon. Where the body had been yellow, it was black now, and it had what looked like stitches going up from its eyes to its head, and even across the mouth. The left arm had a sinister looking claw on it, and the red cape it wore was torn and tattered. "WaruMonzaemon!"

"I'm surprised that a little child like you didn't quite trust me," WaruMonzaemon noted after showing his true self. "Human children are usually very trusting and very naive. You also don't look scared, I'm disappointed. I thought I'd have you crying right about now."

Tommy frowned, he was scared, but he also knew the risks of coming to the castle. "Did that Mercurymon do this to you?"

"So you have heard about the Legendary Warrior," WaruMonzaemon noted. "Did Pandamon tell you? That coward, he refuses to join us and he won't come out of hiding! Where did you see Pandamon?"

"If you won't answer my question, why should I tell you that?" Tommy replied back.

"Oh? You're quite the stubborn one." WaruMonzaemon noted. "It seems you're not quite as gullible as other human children. No matter, Pandamon will show himself eventually."

How many human children came through here before? Tommy frowned.

"Now you're coming with me," WaruMonzaemon growled as he reached out his clawed arm at the boy.

Tommy took out his D-Tector. "If you want me, you'll have to fight!"

"Huh? What's that?" WaruMonzaemon's eyes glared as he looked at the D-Tector in the boy's hand.

Tommy's right hand created a ring of code around it before he scanned the ring with his D-Tector. A cocoon of fractal code surrounded his body, changing him into his Digimon form. "Kumamon!"

"What?" WaruMonzaemon was looking at Kumamon in shock and confusion. "A human transforming into a Digimon!?"

"What's the matter? Didn't expect that, did you?" Kumamon remarked.

"You must be one of them then." WaruMonzaemon growled out. "Those who oppose us and dare to protect the players… I will not let you get away with this!"

Kumamon took a deep breath and shot out an icy wind at WaruMonzaemon's feet, freezing him in place. He knew WaruMonzaemon was much stronger than he was in terms of power, so he had to be smart about this. While WaruMonzaemon was surprised at the ice attack, Kumamon leaped up into the air, before he transformed his body into a giant icicle spear. WaruMonzaemon yelped as he tried to get away from the attack, only to fall over, leaving his back exposed. The icicle spear pierced WaruMonzaemon's back, causing a good amount of damage to the dark Ultimate. Kumamon didn't hesitate to jump off of WaruMonzaemon's back before the evil teddy bear could try to get him off.

Kumamon landed on the floor a few feet away from WaruMonzaemon, turning his body back to its normal shape.

WaruMonzaemon glared at Kumamon. "Sneaky, but not good enough against me!" WaruMonzaemon then sneered. "Nasty Step!"

WaruMonzaemon broke free of the ice and began to do a strange dance before the opening in his stomach glowed and a beam of light was shot at Kumamon.

Kumamon's eyes went wide before he quickly ducked to the ground, barely dodging the beam of light that went over him. The beam of light hit one of the black lego walls, causing a bunch of ShadowToyAgumon to split apart. But more ShadowToyAgumon quickly rebuilt the wall that was broken.

That was close… one hit from that, and I'm done for… Kumamon gulped.

WaruMonzaemon grinned at Kumamon. "How long do you think you'll last, you little bandit?"

Bandit…? Kumamon frowned. Is that what I am? Just a common bandit?

"Time for my turn again! Bear Claw!" WaruMonzaemon then lunged forwards, his claw on his left arm aimed right at Kumamon's chest.

Kumamon gave a gasp as WaruMonzaemon's claws dug into him. Kumamon groaned in pain, but he had WaruMonzaemon where he wanted him. WaruMonzaemon's eyes went wide as his claw was stuck in Kumamon's liquid body. He tried to pull it out, but Kumamon's body was holding him tight.

"You're in point blank range," Kumamon stated.

Kumamon shot out a powerful icy wind from his mouth right at WaruMonzaemon's face, covering the bigger bear in ice.

"H-hey!" WaruMonzaemon exclaimed. "N-no fair!" WaruMonzaemon began to claw at his quickly icing over body.

WaruMonzaemon was finally able to yank his big claw out of Kumamon's body since Kumamon was busy trying to cover him in ice. Kumamon stopped short as he started to cough, while his body was malleable and not as easy to damage as most bodies, that last attack still really hurt him. Kumamon's body became solid again, and he groaned as he put a hand over his stomach, which had a wound on it from being pierced by the claw attack earlier.

That was a bit too reckless. I shouldn't have gambled with that attack… Kumamon thought to himself.

Since the ice attack had been incomplete, WaruMonzaemon wasn't fully covered in ice.

"That's it, little bandit! Time to break you!" WaruMonzaemon shouted. "Heart Break Attack!" WaruMonzaemon let loose lots of black heart-shaped bubbles at Kumamon.

Kumamon's eyes went wide as the heart-shaped bubbles were coming at him. To try to counter the Heart Break Attack, Kumamon pulled out his blaster gun from his back, and he quickly shot out snowballs at the bubbles. The snowballs that managed to hit the bubbles cause them to pop. But WaruMonzaemon wasn't stopping, and he created more of those heart-shaped bubbles, while Kumamon kept firing with his snowballs.

Kumamon knew he had to keep defending himself from whatever that attack was, but he was quickly running out of energy. The Bear Claw attack weakened him significantly, and he hadn't eaten or rested much since he was at the KaratsukiNumemon's village, and that had been a while ago. The blaster was shooting out snowballs slower and slower. Kumamon was starting to feel dizzy from overdoing it.

Dang it, not now… I can't afford to be tired now! Kumamon hissed.

Eventually, one of the heart-shaped bubbles managed to reach Kumamon, and popped in front of his face. After that happened… Kumamon suddenly lost all motivation to keep battling.

Why am I even doing this? He's too strong for me, and I'm nothing but a common bandit as a Digimon. It's clear nobody wants me around, not even my own brother… Kumamon thought depressingly.

Kumamon dropped his gun and fell on his knees, unwilling to do anything else other than cry and feel like everything was hopeless. Fractal code surrounded Kumamon, changing him back into Tommy.

WaruMonzaemon grinned when he saw his target had returned to being a mere human child. "Awww… It looks like you're sad~"

"I don't belong here… I don't belong anywhere… I'm just some freak that people either hate or want to get rid of… it's not fair! What did I do to deserve this?" Tommy began crying.

WaruMonzaemon approached the crying Tommy. "You poor thing. How about you stay here at my castle? I won't mistreat you~"

"Y-you won't?" Tommy asked, sniffling.

"Of course not, I want you here~" WaruMonzaemon grinned.

"I'm wanted here…" Tommy repeated.

"Yes… my little 'friend'. I want you here, by my side…" WaruMonzaemon said, unable to believe his luck at this kid believing his words. Then again, with his negative emotions cranked up thanks to his Heart Break Attack, it shouldn't come as a surprise. Humans couldn't use their logic when they were feeling emotional, especially human children.

Tommy curled up on himself. "I don't want to cause anymore problems for others… I'll stay…"

"That's a good little boy." WaruMonzaemon said, his voice holding a sinister tone to it, not that Tommy noticed it due to his emotions clouding his judgment.

---

WaruMonzaemon brought the child up to his room at the tallest tower of the castle. "You can stay here until I need you for something."

Tommy just silently nodded.

There were toys, bean bags, a TV with a few game consoles hooked up to it, and a big bed.

"You know, you're the first living human I was able to keep here," WaruMonzaemon admitted. "The rest usually ended up disappearing when I was about to get them to stay around. But you didn't~"

Tommy didn't give a response.

"But I am curious about how you were able to use the Spirit's power," WaruMonzaemon remarked. "Give me that device you used to transform earlier."

Tommy reached into his pocket and took the D-Tector out. His hand shook. Despite this device being the cause of his reason being in this Digital World in the first place, and also gave him the power to turn into a Digimon, he didn't really want to part with it.

"Please, give it to me." WaruMonzaemon repeated, holding out his paw. "Hasn't that device caused you enough troubles?"

Tommy shakingly began to hold out the D-Tector to WaruMonzaemon. WaruMonzaemon took the D-Tector from Tommy's hand and began to study it.

"How do you even activate it?" WaruMonzaemon asked.

"I don't really know… it just happens when I want it to…" Tommy answered softly.

"Hmmm…" WaruMonzaemon mused. Well, it seems that is a problem then… "It seems the Spirit reacts to only you if that is the case." Which means I can't get at it or even use it myself… "You poor thing, you've suffered so much because of this thing…"

Tommy looked down. Why me? Why did any of this happen to me?

"It might be for the best if I broke open this device, so it would never bother you again," WaruMonzaemon stated.

"N-no, don't do that!" Tommy quickly spoke up. "Please… it's my only way to go back home."

WaruMonzaemon grinned inwardly at hearing this. Oh? Now this is an interesting turn of events~ "It is? Are you sure you want to go back home, to your world where no one will want you around?"

"I-I… have… people who want me…" Tommy argued, although not with a lot of conviction. "My parents would want me back…"

"Really? Have they even been searching for you?" WaruMonzaemon asked in a fake concerned tone. "I haven't seen anything like that."

"Th-they are! They are… they just don't know where I am…" Tommy frowned.

"If you know that, and you're concerned about them, why haven't you gone back home to them then?" WaruMonzaemon questioned.

"I… didn't want…" Tommy hesitated.

"You didn't want what? To go back home? Why?" WaruMonzaemon questioned. "Are you worried they wouldn't let you go back? Or… do you think they wouldn't want you back?"

"T-that's not…" Tommy frowned.

WaruMonzaemon put a paw on Tommy's shoulder, secretly using another Heartbreak Attack on him.

"Th-they… they wouldn't want me back…? My brother… would think I'm just a pain…" Tommy sadly said.

WaruMonzaemon grinned. He knew he had the boy where he wanted him. "Yes, he would, wouldn't he? And your parents would think of you as nothing more than a nuisance. But here… you are wanted, you are accepted… by me… I'm the only friend you'll ever need from now on~"

"You're my only friend…" Tommy repeated.

Tommy thought back on Takuya, who had promised to help him. But all he could think of was when Takuya, as Agunimon, looked at him with anger and hatred in his eyes. He wasn't sure if Takuya even really wanted to be around him anymore. Maybe that was why he still hadn't come back to the Digital World. Maybe… Jazz and Kiwimon were better off without him. He belonged in this castle, being the lonely, selfish child that he was. Being compatible with a bandit Digimon who was sealed away for his crimes.

WaruMonzaemon still planned to try to break this device to get the Spirit out, and now that he had successfully distracted the kid from the device, and likely the Spirit's call to him, he would have all the time in the world to get the Spirit out.

---

For the next few days, WaruMonzaemon kept Tommy under his emotional control by giving him more of his Heart Break Attack whenever Tommy started to show signs of fighting back. Whenever he had enough of a spark to argue, or ask for his D-Tector back, WaruMonzaemon would reapply his Heart Break Attack on the kid. He would try to keep Tommy distracted by having him clean up around the castle, or play with the toys. Tommy seemed more interested in the video game consoles, and was pretty good at the games he played.

WaruMonzaemon had wanted to enslave a human the same way the humans had enslaved his Digimon brethren. But so far, he had only successfully enslaved one human child. And it required maintenance. He had to make sure Tommy was well fed so he wouldn't keel over. And with how sad he kept making Tommy, Tommy didn't really feel motivated to play with him, or even talk much.

So WaruMonzaemon decided to focus on the device the kid had trapped the Spirit in. He was no mechanic, however, so he decided while Tommy was busy cleaning in his room, he was going to use his Bear Claw attack to break the device wide open.

WaruMonzaemon had the device set down on a table and grinned. The device looked so fragile, so he figured one swipe would break it open. He drew back his left claw. "Bear Claw!" He drove the claws home at the device directly.

However, just as his claws were about to strike at the D-Tector, the symbol of the Warrior of Ice appeared on the screen and sent out a powerful force of ice at WaruMonzaemon, sending WaruMonzaemon into the wall, while freezing his claw into ice.

"Bah… I should've figured the Spirit's power would defend the device…" WaruMonzaemon grumbled to himself as he looked at his ice-covered claws. "It seems this will not be so easy after all."

WaruMonzaemon wondered how he was going to be able to use the Spirit's power. After all, even if he could get it out of the device, the fact that it just pushed him away and froze his claw was proof enough it wasn't going to let him use it. Surprisingly, the Spirit felt stronger than when the boy was using it earlier.

WaruMonzaemon thought back to when the boy was using Kumamon's power earlier. The ice powers were strong, but it paled in comparison to the power it demonstrated just now. When the boy fought him, he didn't seem to be using the Spirit's power to the fullest. He fought with intellect and strategy, but not with a lot of power. He didn't even shout out the name of the moves he used. Normally, Digimon did that to focus on their power and make them stronger. But the boy didn't do that, which would probably explain why when he used the Spirit's power, it was a lot weaker than it should be.

Then WaruMonzaemon got an idea, a devilishly great idea. He may not be able to use the Spirit's directly himself, but it was clear the Spirit had chosen the boy for whatever reason. And the boy was his slave. There was no reason for him to try to use the power himself when he could just get the boy to use the power for him.

Ooooh, I am such a genius! WaruMonzaemon praised himself as he picked up the device and began to make his way back to Tommy's room. I should think of brilliant plans more often~

WaruMonzaemon soon reached Tommy's room, ready to put his plan into action.

Tommy was sitting on one of the bean bags, and looked up when he saw WaruMonzaemon. "Do you need me for something?"

"Oh, I just wanted to give you back your device." WaruMonzaemon replied. "It's sad I have to do so, but… it seems the Spirit wants you to wield it, despite my best efforts to prevent it."

"What?" Tommy frowned before noticing something. "What happened to your claw? It's ice!"

"Yes… This is the terrible price I had to pay to try and stop you from suffering so much." WaruMonzaemon sighed dramatically.

"It… did that to you?" Tommy asked in worry. "I… didn't know it could do that…"

"Neither did I, but yes… it did this to me." WaruMonzaemon confirmed. "And now this is the terrible price I have to bear…"

Tommy frowned. Was that a bear pun? "What… do you want me to do with it?"

"You are the only one who can wield this Spirit. Hold on to it, whatever you have to do. It… will accept no other." WaruMonzaemon replied. "But even if you have to shoulder such a terrible burden, I will be there for you, my 'friend'."

I still can't believe a Legendary Warrior would choose a human of all beings to wield it. This is very unusual, but at least I know the boy didn't steal it. WaruMonzaemon noted to himself.

Tommy looked at the D-Tector. He didn't know if he really wanted it back, especially knowing that apparently this 'spirit' of this bandit Kumamon was sentient enough to freeze someone's arm off.

"Here, I want you to hold on to it. I need to defrost my claws," WaruMonzaemon said, practically shoving the D-Tector in Tommy's hesitant hands. "Now don't lose it."

Tommy frowned. "But wait, you can't just-"

WaruMonzaemon already closed the door, leaving Tommy alone.

Tommy looked down for a moment before he looked at the D-Tector in his hand. "Why did you choose me? If what WaruMonzaemon says is true, why me?"

The D-Tector was silent, not even showing the Spirit on the screen. Tommy felt foolish for talking to his D-Tector, but what else could he do to get answers?

Tommy sighed as he laid back on the bean bag, just letting his hand hold the D-Tector that had started all of this for him. He closed his eyes, feeling very tired.

---

"Hey, wake up. We have another job to do."

I groaned a little as I heard Sir Michael's voice.

"Get up." Sir Michael repeated to me, insistent that I wake up.

I was feeling quite tired, but I knew Sir Michael was going to lose patience with me if I kept sleeping. Sometimes I wished I would wake up, and find out all of this had just been a dream. But no, every time I woke up, the nightmare continued.

I opened my eyes, getting up from the floor I was lying on. I wasn't allowed to lay on a bed or a sleeping bag because 'Digimon' didn't need to lay on those to feel comfortable. At least according to Sir Michael. He didn't want to 'spoil' his precious Digimon too much by pampering them. Even though I tried to tell myself I was his friend, not his Digimon, I didn't really believe that.

"Ah, good. I see you're up." Sir Michael said to me. "C'mon. We have a job to accept. I'll explain the details while you eat."

We had been staying at an inn to rest. I was surprised the Digimon had been generous enough to let us players sleep here. Though I suppose the cash Sir Michael offered them was enough to convince them to let us stay as guests.

I stood up, my back feeling a little sore from laying on the hard floor all night. I followed Sir Michael to the rest of the group. Kwan, Drake, Susie, and Ryan were sitting at a table, already eating breakfast. Their Digimon partners were eating on the floor. Though surprisingly, Sir Michael let me and PawnChessmon eat at the table with him.

"So this job you decided to take, are you sure we'll be able to get it done?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, it sounds like it could be pretty dangerous," Susie remarked. "I mean we don't even know if it's true, a rare Digimon that can turn human."

"Yeah, it kinda sounds like something straight out of a movie, right?" Kwan asked.

"It does sound like it, but we should at least investigate it." Sir Michael replied. "This Digimon might be powerful, and we could use another such Digimon on our side. Although we already have one on our side, so it is real. And who knows? Our little guy here might be happy to have a friend like him."

Drake grinned. "But I get this one! I've always wanted a really rare Digimon!"

But I wasn't a Digimon who could turn human, I was a human who could turn into a Digimon. I wanted to tell them that, but I knew they wouldn't listen. I had already tried telling them that before, but they would just think I was trying too hard to be like a 'real human'.

"Hey, that's not fair, you already have Ghostmon, which I haven't seen anyone else have, so you already have a rare Digimon. Do you know how many Kunemon I've seen? I think I should get the rare Digimon," Ryan spoke up.

"Why should you get to decide who gets the rare Digimon?" Susie asked. "I'm sure Numemon would love to have a playmate, and I'd love to have a rare Digimon myself."

"Maybe we should let Sir Michael decide who gets it?" Kwan suggested. "He is our leader after all, and he hasn't steered us wrong yet."

The rest of the group looked at Kwan in surprise before Susie rubbed the back of her head. "That's true… Yeah, I think Sir Michael is the best person to ask."

Sir Michael laughed. "Don't butter me up. I'm just doing what's best for the party."

"But it's true." Kwan pointed out. "And we would like you to decide who gets the Digimon."

Sir Michael looked over his crew before he settled his gaze on Ryan. "I think Ryan would be a good fit for this new Digimon. He could use a powerful Digimon to help us in our fights."

I noticed Kunemon looked a little down upon hearing that. Though it was a bit cruel, it was also probably true. Out of everyone in the group, Kunemon seemed to be the weakest Digimon. Numemon and Veggiemon were both Champion level Digimon, Ghostmon had proven to be quite strong, and PawnChessmon was pretty strong too for a Rookie. Although Sir Michael seemed to favor using me over PawnChessmon for a lot of the jobs we do. Kunemon had trouble keeping up with everyone, and he hadn't been able to digivolve yet either.

"Yes! I can't wait to have my own rare Digimon that can look human!" Ryan grinned.

The other 3 groaned.

"Um… but what if that… human really is human?" I brought up.

"Nonsense. It's just a rare Digimon. No human could turn into a Digimon," Sir Michael replied, certainly not pleased with my insistence that the 'Digimon' in question was possibly human. "And rare Digimon need strong players to guide them, to help them get stronger as well."

I looked down at the food on my plate. It was mostly plain chopped meat and vegetables. There wasn't much flavor to them. The other guys got to have pancakes, eggs, bacon, and gravy. Those were stereotypical American food, but they had to be a lot tastier than what I was given. I was used to it at this point, Sir Michael didn't want me getting 'fat' and 'slow' from eating 'unnecessary' food. I wasn't sure how PawnChessmon ate, since I could never see his face, or his mouth, past that helmet he always wore.

After we had eaten, we left the inn. We headed out to where we heard the last sighting of this supposed rare Digimon that could turn into a human.

We had to walk for quite a bit, because we needed to get to a location called 'TV Forest'. Apparently there had been rumors of unusual activity going on in the forest. Causing some Digimon to suddenly go mad and attack others for no apparent reason. That was where the sightings of the rare Digimon were last seen. Sir Michael seemed to believe the rare Digimon could be what was causing the locals to go mad and attack others.

"If it is that rare Digimon, then us taking it would be killing two birds in one stone," Sir Michael stated. "The other Digimon would be grateful enough to reward us for getting rid of the problem."

"Yeah! The more positive clout we get, the more the Digimon will call on us to help them!" Susie grinned.

"And that makes our goals much easier too." Kwan added with a smile.

"And we're likely to get more people to join us too!" Drake grinned.

"Yeah, and I'll finally show that I can be a strong player with a strong Digimon!" Ryan smiled.

Kunemon didn't say anything, but he didn't seem too happy about being replaced. I wondered if PawnChessmon had been unhappy about Sir Michael using me more these days, but I could never tell due to the lack of any facial expressions, and how he just never seemed to say anything.

"What? You're not satisfied with your caterpillar?" Drake teased.

"No, I am! I just want to have a strong Digimon at my side as well, that's all!" Ryan exclaimed. "Although… it wouldn't hurt if Kunemon could evolve too…"

Kunemon seemed to be pouting as we made our way to the TV Forest.

"Although at the rate you're going, he may not evolve any time soon," Kwan remarked.

"What makes you say that?" Ryan frowned.

"You don't have him battle enough, you spoil him too much, you let him eat whatever he wants, and don't think I haven't seen you sneak him onto your bed last night," Sir Michael stated firmly.

I didn't think that was bad. I thought it was good that Ryan wanted to pamper Kunemon, but I suppose Kunemon being the weakest of the group didn't help Sir Michael's perception on pampering Digimon leads to them being weak.

"Isn't that a bit harsh? I let Numemon sleep with me, and eat whatever he wants," Susie remarked.

"And that's why your Digimon became a Numemon," Sir Michael pointed out. "We need to work hard to make sure your little slug actually evolves into something worthwhile."

Susie frowned, but she nodded at Sir Michael's words. "I guess so… You do have a point." She admitted.

Sir Michael nodded. "I know I do. Now let's keep moving. The rare Digimon will escape us if we keep yapping while we walk."

Sir Michael was quite strict, he must've felt like he had to after seeing two of his group of people having their Digimon digivolve into two Champions that were normally seen as weak.

But after that long walk, it was night by the time we reached the forest.

"So why is this place called 'TV Forest'? I don't see any TVs here," Kwan remarked as he looked around.

"Tommy? Explain," Sir Michael ordered.

"I-I don't know… it's my first time here…" I frowned.

Sir Michael gave a sigh. "PawnChessmon, explain."

"There is a strange phenomena where if the three moons are full in the sky, the trees will show images of another world," PawnChessmon stated.

Kwan blinked. "Really? We have to see this then!"

"I want to see this other world as well!" Susie exclaimed. "Imagine it! Another world seen from this one! Oh, the developers really went all out with this!"

"Now don't get too excited, the moons aren't full tonight," Drake pointed up at the sky. "At least two of them are still in their waxing phases."

"Awww… so we came at a bad time…" Susie whined.

"Well, we're here now, how are we going to find this Digimon?" Kwan asked.

"We will split up and search around. If you spot an unfamiliar human without a Digimon partner, assume it might be the rare Digimon. Or if you see a strong looking Digimon you had never seen before, assume it might be the rare Digimon," Sir Michael stated. "If you engage it in battle, make as much noise as possible to get the rest of us to come and join in."

The party members nodded before we all split up. Ryan was looking quite excited, judging by the big grin I could see on his face.

I was thinking if I should split up from the rest of the group and look on my own.

"Tommy, with me!" Sir Michael ordered.

"O-okay…" I replied before I followed after Sir Michael and PawnChessmon.

The forest was pretty creepy in the dark. I couldn't see past the trees, which made me feel uneasy. I also had this feeling that we were being watched.

"S-so… um… What will you do if you manage to get this rare Digimon?" I asked, mostly to distract myself from the creepiness of the forest. "Are you going to build your own guild like you've been wanting to?"

"Yes." Sir Michael replied. "Once we have this rare Digimon at our side, the one like you, then we will begin our quest to build up our guild. It will be worth it in the end. We will finally begin our long quest to overthrow the players at the Rose Morning Star castle."

It may be selfish of me, but I was hoping we would find this Digimon. Because they could be like me, they would understand what I was going through. Maybe they might be able to explain why I was able to turn into a Digimon. Maybe they could prove to me that I am still human despite being able to turn into a Digimon. I could only hope…

Suddenly, there was a rustle in the trees. I stopped, my heart pounding in my chest, as I looked at where I heard the sound. I couldn't see anything, but the feeling of being watched was stronger than before.

Sir Michael noticed I had stopped. "What's wrong?" He asked, not really sure why I stopped.

"I… I thought I heard something in the tree," I answered, my voice sounding uneasy.

"Hmmm… You probably heard the Digimon we are seeking." Sir Michael mused. "Keep an ear out in case you hear it again."

What kind of Digimon is it? I wondered to myself, getting worried we could be facing an actual monster. Calm down… this is the Digital World, of course it's going to be full of monsters. There's nothing wrong with that… night Digimon couldn't be that much scarier than day Digimon, right?

I tried telling myself that, but my child-like fear of the darkness was starting to kick in. A fear I thought I had gotten rid of a while back. But that was when I was at home, where I knew where everything was. This was an unfamiliar place, with literal monsters living in the world. My imagination was starting to run a little wild.

I followed closer to Sir Michael, trying to resist the urge to want to hold his hand. I knew he would never allow me to do that. But I was definitely starting to become afraid. I flinched at almost every sound I heard, even if it was just the wind, or our footsteps crunching on the leaves.

Sir Michael kept walking, with me trying to stay by his side. Then, he stopped, as if listening for something. "Hmmm? I hear voices."

"Waaah!?" I ended up screaming.

"Quiet! Do you want to give us away?" Sir Michael hissed.

"S-sorry…" I quickly covered my mouth with my hands.

"Listen…" Sir Michael said quietly as we walked closer to the voices to hear what they were saying.

"... sure we're not finding anything unusual?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

"We've searched the TV Forest many times, Koichi." A second unfamiliar voice sighed. "If there are any leads, they aren't easy to find."

"And that's what is so frustrating!" The first voice, called Koichi, groaned. "I swear, Koji, if we don't find anything here, we will have to leave this to someone else."

The second voice, called Koji, just grunted. "Whatever."

"It's not 'whatever', this is a very real concern. We don't know what's causing the Digimon to suddenly become violent and attack their friends," Koichi's voice replied.

Sir Michael, PawnChessmon, and I finally got close enough to be able to see the two voices we were hearing. Two people who looked very similar to each other, were talking to each other. They appeared to be teenagers from what I could see. Both of them looked tense about something. But the most noticeable thing was that they were out here, they weren't scared or looked like they were lost, yet neither of them had a Digimon partner.

"Well, what do you know? Two teens out here, and without Digimon partners…" Sir Michael whispered. "I'm going to bet one of them is a Digimon in disguise."

"I know it's a concern, Koichi! But we can't find any leads!" The long-haired teenager grumbled. "It's like whenever we search the area, any possible leads are gone!"

I frowned as I studied the two of them.

"Tommy, I want to hear your thoughts on this," Sir Michael said. "Who do you think is the Digimon? And do you think one of them could be?"

I didn't know this anymore than Sir Michael did. He seemed to like having me explain things he couldn't figure out on his own, or give my opinion if he felt he wasn't sure. However, I could feel a sense of power in both of them if I focused hard enough. But I didn't want to put the idea in Sir Michael's head that they both could be a Digimon.

"I think it's possible the more aggressive one could be the Digimon," I said, looking at the one who I believed was 'Koji'. "And he's taking on the look of his partner to avoid getting attention?" Or they're twins.

Sir Michael grinned. "Ah, yes… I see it now. Yes, the more aggressive one has the long hair. Very clever, but not clever enough. The Digimon can't hide his more aggressive side, even in a human form."

"But we can't just take him, he already belongs to someone," I pointed out.

That was the main reason why I didn't reveal both of them could be a Digimon, because I was hoping if I convinced Sir Michael that one of them was human, and the other was the human's partner, we wouldn't have to try to catch the human with a slave collar.

Sir Michael frowned at this. "Hmmm… This makes things much more difficult then." He noted. "And here I was sure the rare Digimon would be by itself. I didn't think such a rare Digimon would be given a human partner."

"I guess we should go back and tell the others?" I suggested.

"What if they are both Digimon?" PawnChessmon spoke up.

Really? Of all the times you chose not to speak without being spoken to, you choose now of all times!? I mentally screamed.

"Isn't that a bit too convenient?" I asked. "I mean it's a bit too rare to expect two Digimon able to turn into humans in one place together, especially taking on similar appearances."

"I agree with Tommy, PawnChessmon." Sir Michael replied. "Only one of them can be the Digimon in question, not both. Of all the Digimon we have seen so far, only Tommy can hide as a human. So if this is really rare, then it's logical only one of them is a Digimon."

I was relieved to see Sir Michael was taking my side on this. I suppose the rarity of it was really working in my favor this time.

"I suppose," PawnChessmon said. "It was just a thought to consider."

"Too bad… Let's get back to the others. We've wasted enough time here," Sir Michael sighed as he began to walk away from the two. "We will start our guild plans tomorrow."

I looked back at the two teens, having a longing feeling in my chest. If they really were like me, I wanted to go to them, and ask them everything.

"Tommy, we're leaving." Sir Michael said. "Come, the others are going to be wondering where we are if we don't get a move on."

"I'm coming," I replied before sighing to myself. Maybe another time…

I followed after Sir Michael and PawnChessmon, worriedly losing the only opportunity I likely had to find out more about myself.

I still didn't like being in this dark forest. I stayed close to Sir Michael and PawnChessmon again until we found the others. I felt a little bit safer being in a bigger group. But I heard something moving along the bushes. I quickly looked at the bushes, but still saw nothing. What is that? Is there someone else here?

"So that's the gist of it. The rare Digimon already belongs to someone else," Sir Michael stated to the others.

Ryan frowned. "Really? Aw man! I wanted that rare Digimon myself!" He pouted.

"Tough luck, dude…" Kwan said with sympathy. "I guess the rarity of these Digimon makes it easier for them to be claimed by someone else if they get found."

"Some players just get all the luck." Susie grumbled.

"But maybe we can work something out with the player who owns that Digimon?" Ryan suggested. "We came all this way, we should at least get something for this, right?"

"Maybe you should train Kunemon if you want a stronger Digimon," Drake remarked. "Don't you know the rules? You can't take someone else's Digimon. They can trade enslaved Digimon, but partner Digimon have to stay with their original player."

"Stupid rules…" Ryan grumbled. "I wanted that Digimon…"

"The rules need to be followed, Ryan." Sir Michael stated firmly.

"This isn't fair! I was looking forward to getting a strong, rare Digimon!" Ryan snapped.

"Ryan…" Susie frowned. "Getting mad isn't going to change anything."

"Instead of wasting your time and energy getting mad, focus on getting stronger. We will need strong players and Digimon for our guild, so you can't afford to stay weak," Sir Michael stated firmly. "Only the weak complain about not getting what they want."

"Oh, so I can't be mad over someone else having such a rare Digimon on their side?" Ryan snapped back. "Great, just great! Well, I suppose I'd better train the common, but weak Kunemon I have instead of having a rare, strong Digimon of my own!"

Ryan began stomping away, with Kunemon quickly following him.

"Where are you going?" Kwan asked.

"To train my weak Digimon! Does anyone want to stop me?!" Ryan snapped.

Susie looked like she was going to say something, but Sir Michael put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "Let him cool off."

"Okay… I'm just worried about him though." Susie sighed. "He… really wanted that Digimon… badly… I can't imagine how he must be feeling right now."

"Ryan will cool off and come back to us." Kwan reassured her. "He doesn't stay mad for long when he goes off on his own."

"Hmph… he shouldn't be putting his hopes into one basket anyways," Drake grumbled.

"Are we going to be spending the night here?" Susie asked.

"It is too late to head back to the inn." Sir Michael replied. "So yes, we will have to stay here for the night. We also need to wait for Ryan to get back, so we cannot leave without him."

"W-we're spending the n-night… h-here?" I gulped. "Isn't it… a bit too dangerous? I-I mean there was that rumor about Digimon becoming violent and attacking their friends. What if that happens to us?"

"He's got a point, that wouldn't be very good…" Kwan frowned.

"We can handle it." Sir Michael replied. "We will stay in our group while we sleep and one of us will be on watch so they can wake the others if this rumor happens to be true."

"I'll stay up and watch," I volunteered. I don't think I can sleep in this forest anyways.

"You can stay up for the first watch, but you're not staying up all night. I need to make sure you get enough rest to be able to fight later," Sir Michael stated.

I frowned, but Sir Michael did have a good point. "Okay…"

"Then I guess I'll take the second watch." Susie shrugged before grinning. "Who knows? I might see that strange world thing appear while I keep watch~"

"I wouldn't count on it, but do what you want." Drake grumbled. "I guess I'll get the third watch then."

"And I got the last watch." Kwan noted. "I think that will work out for us."

"And hopefully Ryan will be back before morning," Susie said.

"Okay everyone, eat up your rations, and find a place to sleep," Sir Michael instructed.

---

I was looking around nervously. Without a campfire to keep things lit, it was really dark and cold in this forest. The cold didn't bother me, it was just the fact there could be someone out there, and Ryan still hadn't gotten back yet. The others were sleeping on some leaves as a make-shift bed. I was glad I didn't have to fall asleep now, because I was wide awake, and on high alert.

I heard what sounded like scurrying moving quickly in one direction. I turned around, unable to see anything, but I knew I heard something. It can't just be my imagination. There's something out there!

I frowned. Whatever scurried, however, sounded like it was moving away from us rather than towards us. I didn't need to wake up the others for that, did I?

I listened a bit more, but whatever had been moving around was indeed moving away from us. I think whatever it is has gone… I thought to myself. It seemed like we were safe for now.

I waited a few more minutes, and nothing seemed to be happening. I let myself calm down, trying not to get so worked up over every little thing. I could spirit evolve if I really needed to. I was fine… everything was fine.

Then I began hearing footsteps coming towards us. At first I thought maybe it was those two boys we saw. If they came to us… then maybe I could use this time to ask them questions I had been dying to ask. But as the footsteps got closer, I heard another sound accompanying it. It sounded like a sticky substance being dragged on the grass. And not long after I heard that icky sound, I began smelling a horrible stench. It smelled like rotting fish and eggs whatever it was.

The stench got closer, as did the icky sound I had heard accompanying it. Then, I heard what sounded like groans from the brush, like it was a Digimon groaning, but not in pain. More like it was… not able to speak… Chills ran down my spine when I heard that groaning sound. I felt like I couldn't move. I was scared that the moment I moved to wake someone up, whatever it was, was going to lunge in and attack us.

They were getting closer, the stench was becoming unbearable. I could hear it breathing. I couldn't stay like this. I had to wake up the others. I began to pinch my leg to get it to move.

I managed to get the courage I needed to get up from my position and run to the others. "WAKE UP! WE'RE IN DANGER!"

I heard the groaning from earlier turning into a growl.

"Ugh…" Sir Michael groaned as he began to wake up. "This had better be a real attack…"

Then, Sir Michael's face took on a look of disgust when he smelled what was in the air. "What is that stench?!"

The growl turned into a moaning roar. Everyone quickly got out of their make-shift beds, and gasped when we all saw what was making that noise in the darkness. It was still difficult to see, but from what we could see, it looked like a mass of sludge that had a mouth and red eyes. It had bits of wiring and other metal bits coming out of its oozy, gray slime body, and it had large claws on its front… appendages. The mouth had lots of sharp teeth that were sticking out as well.

Susie was disgusted. "Okay, I may like Numemon, but that thing is disgusting!"

"What even is that thing!?" Drake shouted.

"It's gross, that's what it is!" Kwan yelped.

"I won't forgive you…" A familiar voice stated.

"Huh? Was that Ryan?" Drake frowned.

"Where is he?" Susie asked worriedly.

"There, in front of that nasty creature!" Sir Michael pointed out.

We were shocked to see Ryan standing in front of the Digimon, and his eyes looked vacant as he stared at us. "I won't forgive you."

"Ryan? What are you doing? Where's Kunemon?" Drake demanded.

I frowned as I saw a dark mist-like thing coming out of the Digimon's body.

"Kunemon… is in front of you…" Ryan said in a vacant voice. "Stronger than ever… I won't forgive you… You think I'm weak… Think Kunemon is weak… We'll show you… I'll show you that I deserve that rare Digimon too!"

"Watch out! That's a Raremon, a nasty Digimon who can melt stones with its acid!" Veggiemon warned.

"Ooh, how dark and cruel," Ghostmon commented.

"Breath of Decay!" The Raremon shouted as it shot out sludges from its mouth at us.

All of us quickly ran to avoid getting hit by the sludge. And we could see the sludge melting the ground and trees it touched.

"That really is nasty! Even for me!" Numemon gulped.

"You have to fight it though! It'll kill us if you don't!" Susie quickly said.

Sir Michael looked like he wanted to have me fight Raremon, but the stench and the fact this was Ryan's partner was making him hesitate, even if it was just a little bit. "We have to defeat it to save Ryan."

"But what even happened to Ryan? Why is he doing this?" Drake asked.

"He seemed pretty angry at us for teasing him about how weak Kunemon was." Kwan frowned.

"And now you know what happens if you tease someone too much," Sir Michael snapped at Kwan, who flinched back from his snap.

"It might be whatever made Digimon violent and attacked each other had gotten to him and Kunemon," I suggested. I did hear something scurrying in the direction Ryan and Raremon came from… maybe that had something to do with it?

"It seems we are experiencing that rumor of friends attacking friends then." Sir Michael noted with a frown. "Whatever is behind it can wait for now. Saving Ryan is a priority. After we do that, we can hunt down the source of this… event."

"How? That Raremon is strong!" Susie asked.

"Just try to fight back. If we can't take on a single Champion Digimon, then we're not ready for our guild!" Sir Michael shouted.

I was surprised Sir Michael didn't make me join in the fight this time, instead, he had PawnChessmon fight. Veggiemon, Ghostmon, Numemon, and PawnChessmon ran at Raremon, using their attacks all at once. Much to their surprise, however, Raremon's body absorbed their attacks.

"No way! How did he do that!?" Drake yelled.

"That's so disgusting…" Susie paled.

"Our attacks aren't working?" Kwan frowned.

"Scar Nail!" Raremon slashed at the other Digimon with his claws. Numemon and Veggiemon took the brunt of the attack, trying to protect the Rookie level Digimon.

"Numemon!" Susie cried out.

"Veggiemon!" Kwan cried out as well.

Numemon and Veggiemon's fractal code began appearing on their bodies.

Raremon began to approach them.

"No, stop! Don't hurt them!" Susie shouted.

"Take their data, get stronger!" Ryan shouted.

Raremon opened his large mouth, intending to consume the data. PawnChessmon ran in, using his spear at Raremon's mouth, trying to push him away from the others.

"Be careful, PawnChessmon!" Sir Michael warned. "Don't get hit, but don't let the others get hit either!"

Raremon just shot acid at the spear, eating away at its hilt. PawnChessmon was pushed back by the acid attack as well. "Acid Sludge!"

If this kept up, they would all get wiped out. Despite not being in my Kumamon form, I ran forward. PawnChessmon was about to get melted by the sludge, and I tackled him away. Both of us went flying a few feet away from the sludge as the sludge hit the ground, eating away at it.

"Are you okay?" I asked PawnChessmon.

"Get out of there! He's coming!" Susie shouted.

Raremon was charging at us.

"Sir Michael's precious Digimon will be the first to go!" Ryan shouted angrily.

I gasped as I turned my head, seeing Raremon getting closer. I reached into my pocket to take out the device, but I wasn't sure if I would have time to transform into Kumamon before Raremon reached us.

However, I found I didn't need to, because a white laser cut through the air as a voice shouted out.

"Howling Laser!"

The laser hit Raremon right in the mouth, causing it to cry out in pain.

Then what looked like a man in white armor and a white body suit landed on the ground, his scarf falling behind him as he did so. But his armor was modeled after a wolf's form almost, and he had out a sword made of light as well. His red eyes were locked onto Raremon the whole time. On his shoulder armor was the symbol of light, or what looked like it to me.

The Digimon looked back at me and PawnChessmon. I was in awe by this Digimon, he looked very impressive and strong.

"Are you alright?" The Digimon asked us.

"W-we're fine, thanks to you," I answered.

"Who are you?" Sir Michael questioned.

The Digimon looked at Sir Michael with his red eyes for a brief moment before turning his attention back to Raremon. "Who I am is not important. The fact is, your friend is in danger, and his partner needs to be stopped."

"D-don't hurt him too much, he's our friend after all," Susie begged as she was holding Numemon, who was unconscious.

"I will do what I can to purify him from the darkness," The Digimon stated, likely seeing the same black mist I was seeing around Ryan right now.

"Get him, Raremon!" Ryan shouted.

Raremon let out a roar as he built up another attack in his throat. "Acid Sludge!"

The unknown Digimon just drew out his second light sword and ignited the blade before running at the Acid Sludge attack. He knew what to do to counter it. "Lobo Kendo!"

The Digimon began slashing through the acid globs like they were not even a threat to him. "Nice try!"

"Whoa… that's a strong Digimon…" Drake said in awe.

"Yeah, he is," Kwan agreed, holding onto Veggiemon, who was also unconscious.

"And he's kinda handsome too," Susie remarked.

I wasn't sure if Susie had been serious or not there. But I was relieved to see this Digimon seemed to be on our side as he was fighting off Raremon.

Raremon tried to come in with his Scar Nail attack to slash at the Digimon.

The unknown Digimon raised up his swords and blocked the attack with ease, but now he was in a predicament himself. If he removed his swords, he would get slashed and he couldn't make contact with Raremon due to the acid that made up his body.

But the mysterious Digimon then shifted his grip on one of his swords and began to push Raremon's claws away just enough before he was able to jump back and land a few feet away from Raremon.

"This may be a bit more difficult than I thought…" The Digimon growled out. "Let's see if Raremon can handle a long range attack!" The Digimon stowed one of his swords before aiming his left gauntlet, revealing a laser was built in as it powered up. "Howling Laser!" He fired off another white laser at Raremon.

Raremon let out a roar of pain as the white laser went through his body.

"Noooo! You can't do this to me! I'm not weak, I'm strong!" Ryan shouted.

Raremon slumped over, his fractal code showing. I saw an ominous dark purple mist around it.

The Digimon noted the mist around the fractal code, but he seemed to know how to fix things. "Let the light return you to normal!" He declared before something was dragged across the fractal code. The code seemed to be collected into something before Raremon glowed and the mist faded from his fractal code. Then, Raremon reverted back to being Kunemon. Ryan himself suddenly fell to the ground.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I don't know, it was too bright for me to see…" Susie said.

"But it was cool whatever he did!" Drake smiled.

"And he saved Ryan!" Kwan added, relieved to see their party member was okay now.

The mysterious Digimon looked down at Kunemon and Ryan with a frown on his face. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but whatever it was, it certainly didn't make him happy.

"Do any of you know what happened to these two?" The Digimon asked us.

"The only one who was awake before we were attacked was this boy over here," Sir Michael pointed at me.

I gulped, suddenly being put on the spot. The Digimon turned his red eyes on me. "I-I don't know what happened… All I know is that Ryan walked away, upset about something… then I heard something scurrying away from us before Ryan and Kunemon started coming back to us, but Kunemon was Raremon and Ryan was acting weird."

The Digimon frowned a bit. "So you didn't see anything?"

I shook my head.

A sigh escaped the Digimon. "Well, at least you are okay, and your friend is safe. However, it seems you did confirm what I have been suspecting, and investigating, for some time; something is here, affecting any who enter this forest and making them attack their friends."

Ryan groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head. "What just happened? Huh?"

Ryan let out a gasp when he saw the mysterious Digimon standing before him. "Holy moly! Is that the rare Digimon!?"

At once, the unknown Digimon seemed to be on alert, as he was looking ready to bolt.

"Yeah, he just saved you," I spoke up.

"Saved me? From what?" Ryan blinked.

"You're kidding, right?" Susie deadpanned.

"Dude, you nearly melted us with Raremon! How do you not know that!?" Drake snapped.

The mysterious Digimon seemed to calm down a bit when he heard this, but he then spoke up. "What your friend is experiencing seems to be the result of whatever is making those who enter this forest attack others; the victims never remember what they did."

"Well that's just dumb…" Kwan grumbled.

"No, it's clever. It keeps the one responsible for this hidden, if nobody can remember who caused them to attack their friends, then nobody can trace it back to them," Sir Michael remarked.

"What happened with Kunemon was that he dark digivolved. That Raremon shouldn't be a Digimon that a Kunemon normally digivolves into," The mysterious Digimon noted. "I've noticed if a player gets a black mist around them, it affects their Digimon badly. So you should be wary of that the next time you see someone having a black mist around them."

"Did… I have that black mist around me?" Ryan asked, a bit fearful now.

The mysterious Digimon turned his gaze to Ryan. "Yes, you did." He confirmed. "But it was lucky for your friends that I was in the area."

Ryan frowned as he looked at us, then at Kunemon, who seemed to be awake as well, and looked at Ryan. Kunemon didn't seem to know what happened either.

"I see… thanks for saving us then. I will try to work on not being weak, both physically and mentally," Ryan stated, determination coming onto his face.

Kunemon looked happy at that, at least I think he did, it was a little hard to tell sometimes with the lack of eyes and a smiling mouth.

The unknown Digimon nodded in approval. "Good to hear. Next time, you may not be so lucky, so work on that."

The Digimon then turned to leave. "I have to get back to investigating the area. What happened to your friend shows the one behind it is still in this area." He then gave us one last look. "You'd best leave before someone else in your group gets hit as well."

"We will do just that. And…" Sir Michael said as he walked up to the Digimon. "... Tell your partner that we said 'thanks'."

The Digimon seemed to be a bit surprised, if not caught off guard by that statement, but he seemed to recollect himself pretty quickly as the surprise faded from his face just as fast as it had appeared.

"I will." The mysterious Digimon replied.

With that, the mysterious Digimon jumped away from us, disappearing into the dark woods.

"It would be best to do what he says and leave. I don't want another one of us to fall to this… event," Sir Michael stated. "We will sleep once we are out of the forest."

"Good idea, I don't want to go through that again… and Numemon is out of it," Susie said.

"We're going to need to get some food and salve to heal our poor Digimon," Kwan sighed.

"I'm fine," Ghostmon said.

"Yeah, but Numemon and Veggiemon got hurt pretty bad…" Drake frowned.

Ryan frowned as well. "I'm sorry, guys. This is all my fault… but I promise I'll get stronger, and make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Maybe we're not strong enough to start a guild from scratch…" Sir Michael said as we began to pack up. "But perhaps if we can find a guild with the right training equipment, we'll see some real results."

I looked over at PawnChessmon, who was standing beside me. "I thank you for saving me."

I nodded. "Of course, what are friends for?"

PawnChessmon couldn't show emotions on his face, but he did nod once, as if to say he agreed with me, which made me smile.

Maybe this meant that things would work out. Maybe now the other Digimon will start to see me as a friend instead of a strange hybrid between a human and a Digimon. And maybe Sir Michael would see me as a person again instead of just his pet to get stronger.

Of course… that didn't turn out to be the case…

---

I looked down at the water, showing my reflection. I didn't know where I was. Everywhere I could see was just water, stretching to the horizon. Even behind me was nothing but water. I seemed to be standing in the shallows even though I was surrounded by water.

"I wonder if anything would've changed had I decided to leave Sir Michael earlier and talked to Koichi and that other boy he was with…" I asked my reflection, not really expecting an answer.

"I know that staying with Sir Michael just led to me being forced to fight with that girl's Lunamon, before I snapped at Sir Michael and ran away, losing my hat in the process," My reflection said back to me.

I blinked as my reflection didn't have the hat, while I still did.

Then my reflection came out of the water, standing in front of me, before turning into Kumamon.

"Why did you choose me?" I asked my reflection.

"I chose myself," Kumamon answered.

"That doesn't make any sense," I replied.

"It does when I think about it." Kumamon replied back. "But why am I in the Digital World?"

I frowned. "I got taken here by that portal on my computer screen. Isn't that why I'm here?"

"I needed to find myself," Kumamon said. "I was tired of being lost, of being alone and cold. But… I have the tool and ability to go back home. Why am I still in the Digital World?"

"I don't know…" I said.

"I know…" Kumamon said. "But I don't want to say it. Am I worried about judging myself? No, I've already done that multiple times."

"I want to prove something… to myself, to those who look down on me…" I replied. "I could go home, but I also don't want to… I don't feel ready to face my parents and Yutaka."

"I'm sure there's more to it than that," Kumamon remarked.

"Maybe I'm just a coward…" I sighed.

"But am I? Would a coward save those who he is afraid of?" Kumamon asked back. "Is it a mark of a coward to want to help others?"

I shook my head. "No, it's not. I just helped… because I could…"

"Exactly. I could've left them back at the Candlemon Village, and hoped everything would be alright. But I didn't, I went back to help them despite not having a Digimon with me. I could've let Raremon melt PawnChessmon, but I ran up and got him away from the attack. A coward wouldn't do any of what I did," Kumamon stated.

"But I kept doing what Sir Michael wanted me to, even when I knew it was wrong… doesn't that make me a coward?" I asked.

"Does it? That is never an easy question." Kumamon replied. "Did I feel like I had to? Or was it something else that made me stay with Sir Michael, something I don't want to admit?"

I frowned as I thought about it. "Sir Michael was a friend, he was the only one who was kind enough to take me in when I didn't have a Digimon. He may have been strict, but he still took care of me even after he thought I was a Digimon. I wanted to support him, and help him any way I could. But… when he crossed a line, I just… couldn't anymore. And… Now he's hunting me down. And I've ticked off the good Legendary Warriors…"

"Yes, but are they really that bad? Aren't they still human? Aren't I still human? Aren't you still human?" Kumamon questioned. "Aren't those who are human allowed to make mistakes?"

I nodded. "Yes… they are… I am human, and so are they… we all make mistakes…" I knew the good Legendary Warriors thought Kumamon had drowned me, that it was a misunderstanding, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

"Then don't give up," Kumamon said. "I know it hurts, but we have to keep going. I have to keep going. It's what we want. We still want to help those who need it, that's why we're still here. I can't let WaruMonzaemon win, I can't let him make me into his slave."

"WaruMonzaemon wanted to keep me as his slave…" I realized. "But what do I do if he hits me with another one of his Heart Break Attack?"

"Is this a fight I can win?" Kumamon questioned. "Or is there an alternative? Or maybe… a friend perhaps could help?"

"A friend?" I repeated. "To make a friend, one has to be a friend… maybe that's what we need…"

Kumamon reached out a closed hand to me. I blinked before I held out my hand under his. Kumamon opened his hand, dropping something on my palm. I was surprised to see it was my D-Tector. I looked up at Kumamon.

"Whether I like it or not, this is me now." Kumamon smiled at me. "Please, try not to forget that again."

Kumamon then turned into a stream of data and went into the D-Tector I was holding. I squeezed my D-Tector for comfort as I saw a symbol appearing on the screen. That symbol… is that…?

---

"Time to wake up!"

Tommy yelped at the sudden wake up call, nearly falling off of his beanbag.

The form of WaruMonzaemon was looming over Tommy. "Ah, good to see you awake."

Tommy quickly got to his feet, realizing he was still holding the D-Tector.

"It seems I have a task for you," WaruMonzaemon remarked. "I want you to use your Spirit and its ice powers."

"Okay," Tommy said. "I'll be using it alright." Just not for you.

WaruMonzaemon grinned. "Excellent~" Oh, I am such a genius indeed~

"But just so you know… I'm tired of being your prisoner," Tommy suddenly said.

"What?" WaruMonzaemon frowned. The last Heart Break Attack shouldn't have worn off yet!

"I'm leaving now," Tommy stated firmly before he activated his D-Tector, summoning the ring of data on his hand.

"No, you can't! I'm your only friend, remember!?" WaruMonzaemon spoke up as Tommy transformed into Kumamon.

"We were never friends," Kumamon pointed out. "You only wanted to keep me down so you could use me! Well not anymore!"

"Do you think you can fight me in the state you're in?" WaruMonzaemon growled. "I've got plenty more Heart Break Attacks!"

Kumamon grinned. "Fight you? No. I have a better idea. Let's play Tag. And guess what? You're it!"

Kumamon shot out a blast of icy wind at WaruMonzaemon's feet, just like the first time. WaruMonzaemon yelped in surprise before Kumamon slid under WaruMonzaemon, going past him and through the door. "Catch me if you can!"

WaruMonzaemon growled. "You little sneak! I'll get you back here!" He chased after Kumamon, breaking free of the ice around his feet.

Kumamon looked back, only to see WaruMonzaemon was chasing after him now. Uh oh…

Kumamon wasn't going to give up so easily after finally breaking out of WaruMonzaemon's spell. There's gotta be a way to go faster!

Kumamon remembered something that had only happened the first time he had transformed. He remembered feeling confident and ready to fight when he first transformed, something he hadn't really felt since then. There had been an image in his head of skiing down. He wasn't sure if that was supposed to be some kind of inherit Digimon knowledge, or if that had been his imagination. But if there was any time to use it, now would be that time, especially since he was going down the long stairs and WaruMonzaemon was quickly catching up to him.

"I've got you now, little bear!" WaruMonzaemon shouted as he began to reach out his claws at Kumamon.

Kumamon quickly shot out his icy wind at the stairs, turning them to ice. It's now or never!

Kumamon's boots created a couple of ice skiers, allowing him to ski down the icy stairs, and quickly moving away from WaruMonzaemon, who now had to deal with icy stairs. I can't believe I'm actually doing this! I had never skied before in my life! Yet this feels natural, like I've done it for all my life! … Is this what it feels like to be a Digimon?

WaruMonzaemon saw what was going on and cried out in anger. "NO!" He chased after Kumamon, only to slip on the icy stairs. He landed on his stomach and began sliding down the icy stairs, but instead of the smooth ride Kumamon was experiencing, he was bouncing up and down due to each step being icy. "Owowowowowowow!"

Kumamon was grinning to himself. Not only was he getting away from WaruMonzaemon, but he got to get the bigger, corrupted bear to fall down the stairs as a bit of payback.

I just have to get out of here, meet up with Pandamon, and think of what to do next. Kumamon decided.

When Kumamon made it down the stairs, he returned the skis back into his boots and began running through the castle. However, as he did, he saw those black lego walls coming up again.

Those won't stop me this time! Kumamon decided.

Kumamon was running at the biggest wall that was blocking the door. When he got close, he jumped, and made it look like he was going to kick the wall, but he transformed his body into a giant icicle, planning to ram into the wall with it. As soon as the icicle hit the wall, it caused that part of the wall to burst into ShadowToyAgumon.

"WHA!" The ShadowToyAgumon burst apart, creating a gap big enough for Kumamon to escape through.

Kumamon didn't waste any time rushing out through the opening. As soon as he was out, the wall began to rebuild itself. Then, Kumamon heard what sounded like a large body hitting the black lego wall.

"Oooof!" WaruMonzaemon's voice grunted as he hit the wall of ShadowToyAgumon.

"Heh, looks like that wall is working against you!" Kumamon grinned.

"You won't get far!" WaruMonzaemon shouted. "Heart Break Attack!"

Kumamon started to run into the yard, heading to the drawbridge, however, he didn't realize how fast the bubble heart could travel, he didn't see it until it was right up on him. OH CRA-!

The heart popped in his face. Darn it, no! I can't lose it now!

Kumamon felt his negative emotions building up at a rapid pace. He was having trouble hanging onto his evolution. Unwanted thoughts began invading his mind, about how he was unwanted, how nobody wanted him around, and how he was nothing but a thief and troublemaker.

A cocoon of data wrapped around him, turning him back into Tommy as he got to the drawbridge. He was fighting to keep running, but he was quickly losing motivation to run.

However, WaruMonzaemon was now catching up to Tommy. WaruMonzaemon was grinning sinisterly as he saw Tommy was slowing down. "I told you you would not escape me~"

"No… I can… run away!" Tommy retorted, though only half heartedly.

By the time Tommy got halfway onto the drawbridge, he couldn't hold it back any longer. He fell to his knees and started crying. WaruMonzaemon, seeing that Tommy was outside of the castle, decided to slide-evolve back into his friendly looking form, Monzaemon, just in case someone was out there. He approached Tommy while the ShadowToyAgumon began to surround them.

"Oh, Tommy! Are you okay?" Monzaemon asked, acting all concerned while he was grinning sinisterly inside. I love my Slide Evolution~

"I'm not okay! Everything is bad!" Tommy cried, not just from the negative feelings, but also out of frustration for failing to escape. He had been so close.

"Oh, you poor boy! Why don't you come with me?" Monzaemon suggested. "I can give you some candy to help you feel better!"

The ShadowToyAgumon made sure that Tommy couldn't try to run off even if he tried. Monzaemon took the crying child by the hand and took him back inside. Though to Pandamon, who was watching this from afar, it looked like the ShadowToyAgumon were pushing them into the castle.

---

I can't believe I failed to escape… I had been so close… Tommy thought to himself depressingly as he was back in Monzaemon's room in the castle. Even if I tried again, he would be on guard this time. I really am a failure…

For the past hour or two, Tommy had been trying to work out what were his actual thoughts, and what were the Heart Break thoughts. He had to make sure to untangle himself from that attack before he fell back into WaruMonzaemon's slave again. Thankfully, keeping his D-Tector close seemed to be helping him with that.

Monzaemon seemed to be helping him, much to Tommy's relief.

Monzaemon on the other hand, was so glad he could change between his two forms. It made it so much easier to trick the boy than just using his Heart Break attack. But he decided he would wait for at least a day or two before he tried getting Tommy to use his Spirit for him, he needed to be sure the boy wouldn't suddenly get rebellious and attack him again. He got lucky this time, but he had a feeling this boy would make sure he wouldn't get caught so easily again.

In the meantime, Monzaemon decided he would check around the island to see if there were any new visitors.

With Monzaemon out of the castle, Tommy had been staring out of the window, trying to clear his head. He felt like maybe the spirit of Kumamon was helping him with that, because he felt like the Heart Break's negative cloud was clearing up faster than before. Not that he knew much about Kumamon, or who he was before.

Too bad Kumamon can't fly though… but I guess if he could, WaruMonzaemon would put bars on this window. Tommy thought to himself.

While the idea of an escape through the window seemed like a good one, the fact the room was so high up made Tommy hesitate; even if Kumamon could become ice and had a malleable body, there was no way he could survive a fall from this height.

Tommy looked back at the video game console. There were a few games that required a 2nd player, which bummed him out a little since he wanted to try out some of these games. Then an idea hit him. He likes playing games, even as WaruMonzaemon… I think… I wonder if I could use that to finally get out of here?

The boy, having an idea, began to set up for when WaruMonzaemon came back. He could only hope he would be able to convince WaruMonzaemon to go along with this. Once he finished setting everything up, he waited for the big teddy bear to get back.

Sure enough, Tommy didn't have to wait for long. Monzaemon was back in his room.

Before Tommy could bring up the game, however, Monzaemon spoke first. "It looks like you may have new playmates soon."

"What? New playmates?" Tommy frowned. "What do you mean?"

Suddenly, Tommy felt an odd sensation run down his spine, like a chill. It was as if he was sensing something coming, and it was getting closer. But it also felt familiar…

"Tommy!" A familiar voice called.

Tommy gasped when he saw a familiar face at the door, as well as another familiar face… but also different. "Takuya? And… uh… Andy? What are you two doing here?"

"Actually I'm Danny, I'm Andy's twin brother," Danny explained.

Takuya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah… this is my other cousin… They do look alike though…"

"What's going on?" Danny asked. "We were sure you were in trouble."

"Yeah, but it looks like you've been… playing?" Takuya questioned.

"Oh yes, you see, this little tyke is my friend," Monzaemon stated.

"Yeah right, we know your real nature, Monzaemon!" Danny pointed out. "You kidnapped Tommy!"

Monzaemon was silent. "..."

Takuya was getting a bad feeling in his gut, and he was tense. I hope Danny knows what he's doing…

"Did it look like I kidnapped him?" Monzaemon asked. "After all, look at all the toys and games I have here. Does this look like a prison to you?"

"No…" Danny admitted. "But… for all we know, you could be tricking us."

"Danny… I'm not sure this is a trick…" Takuya muttered. "I mean… we know what the ToyAgumon said but… this guy looks so… friendly…"

"Are you really being taken in by that friendly disguise, Takuya?" Danny asked, exasperated. "I thought you of all people would know if it was a trick or not!"

"Come now, if I was as evil as they say I am, wouldn't I have already harmed my little friend here?" Monzaemon questioned.

Tommy frowned. He could try to stop this now and tell Takuya and Danny the truth about Monzaemon, or he could wait and see what happened. If he blew his cover now, he wasn't sure if he would be able to get Monzaemon to play the game with him. On the other hand… since Takuya and his cousin were here, they might give him a better chance at escaping finally. Tommy knew he needed to make a choice soon, he had no guarantee that Monzaemon would even honor his word if Tommy tried the video game route. And Takuya was a Legendary Warrior. He didn't see any Digimon partner with Danny… so maybe unlike Andy, Danny could also turn into a Digimon?

Takuya frowned as he looked at Monzaemon. Things seemed to be okay with the big yellow teddy bear Digimon, but his gut was telling him it was only a trick. And the more he looked at Monzaemon, the more Takuya got the feeling it was indeed not what it seemed to be.

"You… may not have… but that doesn't mean you don't have other ways of keeping him here." Takuya finally admitted. His eyes were narrowed slightly. "Danny's right. You're not who you say you are."

"Why don't you ask little Tommy here? I am his friend after all," Monzaemon stated. "Isn't that right, Tommy?"

Takuya and Danny looked at Tommy.

"That's… not true, is it?" Takuya asked.

Tommy frowned before speaking up. "You left… and your cousin let his sister stay with me… but we ended up losing each other. Sometimes I think I'm just a burden to you all. Though Monzaemon seems to want me to stay."

Takuya paled a bit. "N-no! I… I don't think you're a burden! I…" Takuya swallowed nervously. "I… I did mean to come back… but… things happened and I couldn't just… leave…"

"Most of it is my own fault…" Danny admitted guiltily. "I wasn't directly responsible… but that didn't mean I wasn't the main cause of the reason why your friend couldn't get back for a while."

Tommy walked toward the two. "I have waited for a while to see you again, Takuya… and there's a lot I want to talk to you about. But… the hard part is leaving here. Monzaemon doesn't want to let me go."

Takuya frowned. "Really? That sounds… wrong…" He gripped his D-Tector in his pocket.

"What? Tommy, why would you say it like that?" Monzaemon asked.

"Why do you think?" Tommy asked, turning to Monzaemon with a glare of his own. "You want to keep me here as your slave! But I won't stay here."

Takuya's eyes went wide as his face grew pale. W-wha… Shit!

Danny felt this thing in his chest twinge when he heard Tommy's response to Monzaemon. It was telling him to act, to save Tommy, to stop Monzaemon. But Danny held back, pushing the urges aside for the moment. No… Not here… Not in front of this boy…

Takuya glared at Monzaemon himself. "You're twisted!" He exclaimed.

Monzaemon frowned and glared. "How could you say such a thing? Even after all I've done for you when you were feeling sad?"

"You mean when you made me feel sad?" Tommy pointed out. "If you wanted me to be your friend, you should've acted like a friend, instead of as someone who wanted to take advantage of me."

Monzaemon frowned more, seeing how the kid's words were making the other two more suspicious of him. This isn't going to work anymore. "I'll make you regret saying those words, little boy!"

A cocoon of data wrapped around Monzaemon, changing him into WaruMonzaemon.

"It seems you were right, Danny…" Takuya growled when he saw the evil teddy bear Digimon.

"We're in for it now." Danny groaned.

Takuya took Tommy's hand, as Tommy was closer to him, and pulled him behind him.

"I'll make you all my slaves!" WaruMonzaemon growled.

---

Titanic X: ZAFT: Pretty sneaky with that! And here you go~ :3

Pokemon fan 1991: DarkFoxKit: Teddy bears aren't evil, Andy's just got a phobia and is trying to justify it. XD Also, your sentence is a bit wonky to read here, so I'm having trouble trying to figure out what you're trying to say. Since Mercury hadn't appeared in the series yet, I thought it'd be interesting if he was working behind the shadows, and using a more indirect approach when it comes to battling.

ZAFT: Yeah, we wanted to change it up, and to be frank, no one really defeated WaruMonzaemon in canon, but here, they had to. XD And you will see what happens with Jazz. :3