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.

64. A Dark Circus with Dark Secrets

DarkFoxKit: It's now December, things are gonna get busy during the Holidays, but hopefully you guys can still find the time to read. We're getting into Control Freaks, but no, this isn't the season finale. We are just starting Control Freaks earlier than normal due to how the plot has been progressing.

ZAFT: But you will like the ending episode, since it changes up how things go. XD

DarkFoxKit: We hope that by changing some things around, it also makes other episodes a little more different and interesting. But enough of us blathering, go ahead and read the chapter.

---

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

Digital Phantom!

(Shows 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 64: A Dark Circus with Dark Secrets

At Casper High, things were definitely not looking good for anyone. Sam, Andy, and Danny were in Principal Ishiyama's office, with their respective parents at their sides.

"How are you feeling, Danny?" Andy asked Danny.

Lopmon was sitting on Andy's lap, acting like a good little stuffed animal. Jack and Maddie knew about Lopmon, of course, but for the sake of Sam's parents, and their principal, it was best he remained still and quiet.

"I'm fine," Danny replied, not really sure what happened, he just knew that they got caught at Circus Gothica's opening ceremony by Pamela and Jeremy. "But I'm… fuzzy on the details."

"I was afraid of that…" Andy frowned.

Principal Ishiyama then cleared her throat. "You might call this little act of rebellion a cry for attention. But I call it a cry for detention!" She said, trying to make a joke to lighten the tension.

No one looked like they were laughing though, which made Principal Ishiyama sigh. "Okay, so it wasn't that good a joke, but that aside, you three kids are in serious trouble."

"To be fair, Ms. Ishiyama, this isn't the time for jokes," Maddie sighed.

"I can't believe you kids cut school to go to that opening ceremony," Jack said, sounding disappointed. "We raised you two better than that."

"If you two are even raising them at all," Pamela snarked.

Jack frowned. "What's that supposed to mean? That we're bad parents? That's just insulting."

"We've raised our boys well, thank you." Maddie retorted.

"What kind of jobs do you have? Why do you always wear those tacky jumpsuits in public?" Jeremy pointed out.

"I'll have you know the mayor hired us to be the town's ghost hunting experts!" Jack pointed out.

"And you've got a problem with jumpsuits!?" Maddie snapped.

"So, uh… is this still about us… or…?" Andy asked, watching the adults argue about each other.

Principal Ishiyama cleared her throat. "As much as I enjoy seeing grown adults arguing like high schoolers, I believe we have a more pressing issue about the real high school students in the room."

"Since it's obvious that these two were raised by these people, they are nothing but bad influences on you, Samantha," Pamela said in an angry tone.

Sam winced, she hated being called 'Samantha', especially by her parents, because it meant they were about to say something she really wasn't going to like.

"Your father and I forbid you from seeing these boys, and any of your other troubled friends," Pamela stated firmly.

"Yeah, like that's going to work considering she goes to the same school as all of us…" Andy muttered moodily.

"And what's wrong with my friends? Do you want me to have shallow types as my friends, who will dump me as soon as I do something not popular?" Sam retorted angrily. "At least Tucker, Danny and Andy treat me like the person I am, unlike you who want me to be a copy of you two!"

"Sam, don't talk back to your parents like that! We only want what's best for you!" Jeremy retorted back.

Before Sam could retort herself, Mr. Lancer opened the door, and both Tucker and Takuya walked into the office. Tucker was wearing a wig that looked like Sam's hair, and he also wore her outfit, and her make-up. Takuya was wearing a wig that looked like Danny… or Andy's hair. He wore Danny's white shirt with the red oval on his chest, but Andy's dark red pants.

"What the- Takuya, I said to cover for us, not make an amalgamation of us!" Andy hissed.

Takuya was blushing. "Sorry…" He whispered back.

Principal Ishiyama could understand Takuya, so she wasn't as disturbed by it, but Tucker… She groaned. "This is so wrong…"

"What? You got a problem with a man wearing a skirt?" Tucker huffed. "You're so outdated."

---

After a lot of talking, Jack and Maddie talked to Danny, Andy, Lopmon, and Takuya after leaving the principal's office.

"Did you run into any problems on your way to school?" Maddie asked. "Is that why you were late and had Takuya cover for you?"

"We did," Andy answered honestly. "There were some ghosts that appeared to be robbing money from somewhere, likely a bank, and we got caught up in chasing after them."

"But they disappeared, and we noticed we were at the Circus Gothica place," Danny added. "We were going to leave, but we saw Sam there, and the opening ceremony was already beginning."

"So you didn't leave because you wanted to see the opening ceremony?" Maddie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It was interesting! It's not like we couldn't leave!" Danny muttered, blushing a bit. Not that I remember much due to my memory being fuzzy…

"Lopmon was also interested, and I'll admit, there is something about the actors in Circus Gothica that makes it hard to look away from them. The way they move, and look, is so unnatural," Andy explained.

"I felt something off about them too," Lopmon added. "But I couldn't quite put my finger on it."

Andy mentally debated on whether or not he should tell his parents about the possible mind control he saw happen to Danny, but that likely was because of Danny's half ghost nature, so he decided to keep quiet about that now since he didn't know enough to really explain that yet.

Takuya frowned. "I guess that makes sense… But… you guys should have just left after losing track of those ghosts. Then we wouldn't be in this situation."

"I was tired, okay!? I had to run after those ghosts! Do you know how hard it is to run after ghosts that can fly and go intangible!?" Andy snapped, having already had a rough morning.

"Okay! I'm sorry for my comment! Geez…" Takuya grumbled.

"I would've digivolved and ran after them, but we were in the middle of the streets…" Lopmon frowned.

"And I… uh, had to run after them too," Danny added sheepishly. "Yeah, we were both kinda too tired to leave."

Takuya frowned, he knew better than that because he was aware Danny was half ghost. True, Danny running was a lie, but something told him it wasn't that simple. He decided he would press for more information after school. Danny and Andy had better have a good explanation as to what really went down…

"Then in that case, we should join in on the parents protesting to see if there is anything weird going on with that Circus Gothica," Maddie decided.

"Really?" Jack blinked. "You want to join the protesting led by the two most unreasonable people in Amity Park?"

"It's our best cover for why we're there, Jack. We don't want the ghosts, or whoever is leading the ghosts, to get suspicious as to why two of Amity Park's ghost hunters are there," Maddie pointed out.

"You're going to go after those ghosts?" Takuya asked, surprised his aunt and uncle were actually coming up with a plan to take out ghosts. Wow… this is a bit… unusual, but in a good way. … I think…

"Of course! We're the ghost hunters here!" Jack beamed. "It would be foolish to not go after some ghosts causing trouble in our town!"

"And we know our boys. Despite what Pamela and Jeremy say, we know our kids wouldn't do something like skip school without a good reason," Maddie stated.

Danny and Andy smiled at hearing that. At least they knew their parents would give them the benefit of doubt when it really counted. It also helped that both Maddie and Jack knew they had seen their fair share of danger and action, and that Lopmon was a real Digimon.

"For now though, we'll stay at the school's library after school to serve our detention," Andy said. "It was the best way to keep Mr. and Mrs. Manson from blowing a fuse and creating a restraining order on us."

"They really need to see that the world is not all primrose and flowers…" Takuya grumbled.

Danny snickered at Takuya's comment because it was true in a sense.

"Just as long as you boys stay out of trouble, and make sure to call us if you see any ghosts in the school too," Maddie instructed.

"I'll also be sure to keep an eye on them," Lopmon promised.

"You're just as immature as the rest of us, Lopmon," Andy deadpanned.

"Hey, I was the angel on Sam's shoulder, it wasn't my fault she ignored me," Lopmon pointed out.

"I can keep an eye on the twins too." Takuya agreed. "It's not like I have much going on after school anyway."

"Alright, then you'll be in charge of them, Takuya. Just don't… go give Andy anymore favors, okay?" Jack sighed, remembering the 'disguise' Takuya had on earlier.

"It wasn't a bad one, jeez," Andy huffed. But this is good. I can talk to them when we're alone in the library later.

"Don't worry. I don't plan to." Takuya grumbled. Geez… one little favor and I mess it up… I really need to keep my mouth shut…

Jack and Maddie nodded at Takuya's words.

Danny groaned, but at the same time, he felt relieved because he wouldn't be affected by… whatever was making his brains feel like mush at times.

---

When school was out for the day, Andy, Danny, Takuya, Sam, and Tucker all met up at the school's library. Mr. Lancer was supposed to be watching them, but he was caught up with other things. Like grading the school tests, and reading books. He trusted the students wouldn't get into any trouble. While Danny and Takuya had a tendency to go to the bathroom way too often to be considered healthy, normally there was a ghost attack shortly after anyway, so it wasn't like Mr. Lancer could say they were being bad students. He knew the parents, mostly Sam's parents, had overreacted. Though Tucker and Takuya didn't do them any favors with their disguises.

This was also a relief to the 5 students, because it gave them enough breathing room to discuss things among themselves.

"You look weird in a dress, Tucker," Danny remarked.

"Can we please talk about something else?" Tucker grumbled.

"Hey, you made fun of me when I was stuffed in a dress. I'm taking what I can get," Danny reminded.

Tucker grimaced at the reminder. "Yeah… Looking back, I kinda feel bad I did that now…"

"Hey, we have more important things to talk about," Andy said.

Sam sighed as she looked at the Circus Gothica ticket she had bought in advance for this day, but now she was stuck in detention because of her unreasonable parents. What she wouldn't give to have Biyomon Spiral Twister them both. However, after what she saw happened today, it had been bugging her.

"Does it have to do with how Danny was acting and why you and Lopmon were trying to drag him away from everyone?" Sam asked.

"You two were dragging Danny away from the crowd?" Tucker asked.

"Why?" Takuya raised an eyebrow.

"I don't even remember that…" Danny furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well…" Andy looked around for a moment, and looked at Mr. Lancer to make sure he wasn't paying them any attention. "I think that… Danny was being mind controlled."

Sam, Tucker, and Takuya's eyes went wide.

"Wait… seriously?!" Tucker hissed. "That's like… I don't know… using one of those slave collars or something!"

"Well, it would explain why Danny doesn't remember any of that." Takuya mused, remembering how Koji had been affected by the slave collar recently.

"But how? And by what?" Sam asked.

"Something at the circus most likely," Lopmon said. "We think it might be the ringmaster's crystal ball."

"Are you sure?" Takuya asked.

"Yeah, Lopmon and I noticed Danny was looking at it before he repeated what Freakyboy said," Andy remarked. "And I think his eyes turned red too when he was under its effects, kinda freaky, but also kinda cool… in an intimidating way."

"You… think it's intimidating?" Danny squeaked out. "But… I don't wanna be seen as intimidating…"

"Said the half ghost child…" Tucker muttered.

Takuya grinned at Danny cheekily. "You want to be seen as a cuddly ghost then?" He teased.

"It would be better than being seen as intimidating…" Danny grumbled.

"So what should we do?" Sam asked.

"I mean it's already been done, if that crystal ball is what was mind controlling Danny, we just simply don't have him see it," Andy shrugged.

"You know it's never that simple with us." Takuya sighed. "If something seems simple, in practicality, it never is that simple when we are concerned…"

Sam frowned, knowing that was what their history as a team said. "That's true…"

"And if this Freakshow is using a crystal ball to control ghosts… wouldn't that mean he might have other ghosts under his control?" Tucker pointed out.

"Good point, maybe that's why we saw those 4 ghosts were carrying those moneybags with them, and why they led us to Circus Gothica," Lopmon remarked.

"Shouldn't we do something then?" Takuya frowned.

"Relax, our parents are on the case. If anyone could bust Freakyboy with his ghost minions, it would be them," Andy said. Though inwardly he knew his parents alone may not be able to do it, he really didn't want to risk Danny looking at the crystal ball and being mind controlled.

Wait, didn't I… have a dream about that before? Andy remembered, frowning.

"Um… no offense to Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack, but… I don't really know if they can pull it off…" Takuya said nervously. "I-I mean… there are four ghosts and only two of them…"

Danny was getting worried, his parents may get hurt if they had to confront those ghosts.

Tucker gave a moment to think. "Would it be alright if we could watch the show on my PDA then? I mean surely the crystal ball can't affect him if he's not looking at it in person, right?"

"He was still affected by it in the commercials," Andy pointed out.

"But… maybe you can still show us?" Sam asked, mostly wanting to see the show someway. "Danny can keep his eyes closed, and… it'd be a good way to know if Mr. and Mrs. Fenton are doing okay."

"You just want to watch the show," Lopmon remarked.

"I guess…" Danny said, but he didn't really like the idea. It made him nervous, possibly being exposed to that crystal ball again.

"It may be our best bet." Takuya agreed. "It's not like it can affect Digimon or other humans."

Andy thought about it. He was worried about his parents, and he knew Danny would be restless if he didn't have some kind of peace of mind. "Alright… as long as Danny doesn't look at the screen, it should be fine. Keep the volume low too, we don't want Mr. Lancer seeing us watching a video."

Tucker grinned. "No sweat!"

"Circus Gothica should be starting in about half an hour from now," Sam said. "So we should maybe take precautions until then?"

"Like what, a blindfold?" Danny asked.

"I can be your blindfold~" Lopmon smiled. "I can rest on your head, which I'm sure is as comfy as Andy's, and cover your eyes with my ears."

"You'd be the world's cutest blindfold~" Andy grinned.

Lopmon grinned as well. "Why thank you, Andy~"

Takuya chuckled. "At least we have a plan in place then." Let's hope it doesn't go down the gutter…

Danny groaned. I really hate being half ghost…

---

Meanwhile, back at the Circus Gothica tent, a small figure was looking around.

There's a lot of evil aura in here… I can feel it.

The small figure ran around, trying to find something. Then he heard Freakshow coming in. The small figure quickly hid behind one of the bleachers.

There was something on Freakshow's shoulder. It was a small bat-like Digimon, with a dark blue hat that covered his upper face and wings. He had golden eyes, and small fangs in his mouth. His lower face was a pale blue, and he had dark fur on his underside. He had a skull image on his forehead, and had pink claws as well. His legs were pale blue as well.

"First day in Amity Park, and you've already brought in a lot of haul, I see," The creature remarked to Freakshow.

"You flatter me, DemiDevimon," Freakshow remarked.

"You've certainly grown since the day I saw you, looking all lost and hopeless," The creature Freakshow called 'DemiDevimon' grinned sinisterly. "Looks like I was able to get you all the wealth I promised after all, eh?"

"Well, of course you were! You seem to know all the best places to find the best loot." Freakshow grinned.

"Not to mention the crystal ball giving you all the assistance you need to run a successful business," DemiDevimon replied. "Speaking of which, isn't it about time you told me why you were aiming for Amity Park specifically? I know you like controlling ghosts, but this place has more ghosts than you could possibly control. It's dangerous to try to control too many ghosts at once."

"I know, but word has spread of a specific ghost, and that ghost is the one I seek. It's said this ghost is a rare one, and powerful too~" Freakshow grinned.

"Oh? Do share, I'm all ears~" DemiDevimon grinned.

"I will, but first, I need to make sure my minions brought everything here," Freakshow said. "Minions, gather around!"

As if on cue, the ghosts began to appear. The skeleton took off its clothing, revealing the short ghost was on the stilts. The tall muscular guy on the ball dropped the skulls he had been juggling and dropped his own disguise, revealing he was the giant green muscular ghost. The lady on the wire shapeshifted to her ghostly form, and the woman with the piercings who had been in the wheel earlier unzipped her disguise, revealing she was the cloaked ghost. All four ghosts assembled in front of Freakshow, standing at attention.

Freakshow grinned as he began to pace in front of them. "For generations, my family has controlled ghosts with this staff and crystal ball." He held his crystal ball close. "Untold power, and all they could think to do was to entertain the masses! How could they let the potential go to waste like that?"

The muscular ghost then floated up with a treasure chest of money, gold, and jewels. "Whereas I have found a much more profitable use for these ghostly minions of mine!"

The figure who had been watching from the bleachers frowned, sensing the evil aura coming from that crystal ball that could apparently control ghosts. But there was something else about it…

"You didn't start trying to control ghosts until you met with me," DemiDevimon noted. "You were too afraid to control them at the start."

"Other than Lydia, I didn't know too much about ghosts," Freakshow said. "Unlike the others, I don't need to control Lydia, I know she's loyal to me already."

"You have a weird relationship," DemiDevimon remarked.

Lydia, the ghost with the tattoos, just gave a small smile.

"Well, what can I say? She's the most loyal of them all~" Freakshow purred at Lydia.

Freakshow then looked at his crystal ball. "And as soon as the newest cast member joins us, this town will be mine for the taking~" The ball showed the image of a ghost with white hair and green eyes as well as a black and white hazmat suit on.

"He almost looks human too," DemiDevimon said as he looked at the image of the ghost boy in the crystal ball. "I take it you're planning on using him to help with Plan D?"

"Oh, absolutely! A ghost of that rarity and power will be of great use to me!" Freakshow grinned. "Plan D will be more successful with stronger minions after all~ The more the merrier, as the saying goes."

"You're also riding this pretty high now that you know the prototype was a success," DemiDevimon chuckled while giving a toothy grin.

"But of course, that means we know it's possible that this crystal ball has the power to control more than just ghosts," Freakshow ominously said.

"But how do you know the ghost boy will see your crystal ball?" DemiDevimon questioned.

"I've already broadcasted my commercial all over the town's TV stations, and put up billboards with my image, including my crystal ball. He's bound to see it at some point~" Freakshow replied. "And when he does, then he will come to me…"

"I can't wait then~" DemiDevimon grinned.

"Now come, we've got a performance to do in about 15 minutes," Freakshow announced.

The small figure waited in anxiety as Freakshow, and his ghostly minions, and his supposed Digimon partner, walked out of the area to get ready for the show. The small figure climbed out of the bleacher, revealing to be Patamon.

"Danny…" Patamon frowned in worry. This is bad… Danny is in danger!

---

At Casper High, it seemed like things would be going well for once, well… as well as they could with the five students in detention.

Tucker had gotten his PDA set up to watch the opening ceremonies, and Lopmon was on Danny's head, ready to cover his eyes when Freakshow's image showed up with that crystal ball. Danny, Andy, Sam, and Takuya were gathered around Tucker, who had a book up to hide the fact they were really watching a video instead of studying.

"It looks like the opening ceremony is about to start." Tucker said. "Let's see if we can spot Mr. and Mrs. Fenton in the crowd when it starts."

Lopmon was on top of Danny's head, keeping his eyes covered with his ears.

Freakshow appeared on Tucker's PDA screen, holding his crystal ball. "Creatures of the night. Unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica!"

"He sure likes showing off that crystal ball a lot," Tucker noted.

"Yeah, in an attempt to mind control Danny…" Takuya growled. I seriously hate this guy…

"Well, at least I can't see it." Danny noted in relief. "Seriously, Lopmon's big ears are a huge help!"

The circus began, and so far, nothing bad was happening. Takuya felt his mind getting a little fuzzy, but he was able to fight it off.

"Hey, I think I see one of your parents," Sam noted. "Wish I could go there."

Curious, and wanting to make sure his parents were okay, Danny lifted up one of Lopmon's ears from his right eye so he could sneak a peek. Lopmon was too into the show to notice Danny was peeking. The little bunny found the circus quite fascinating.

However, as soon as Danny took that little peek, Freakshow was front and center once more, and so was his crystal ball. Danny's eyes began to show that swirling red color again and he let his hands fall to his side.

Nobody noticed that Danny had peeked, until Freakshow said his line again. "Cross over to the dark side at Circus Gothica!"

"Unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica…" Danny murmured, as if in a trance. He stood up, the movement making Lopmon fall off.

"What the hell!? I thought we covered up Danny's eyes!" Andy shouted.

"He must've been peeking!" Sam pointed out.

"Lopmon, you had one job!" Takuya groaned.

"S-sorry, I… was a little distracted…" Lopmon sheepishly apologized.

"Great, now we have to grab Danny and snap him out of it…" Takuya grumbled as he stood up as well.

Danny began to walk to the door of the school library, not even caring about the fact he had been in detention.

Mr; Lancer was quick to get in his way, having seen Danny just stand up and start walking away. "Going somewhere, Mr. Fenton?"

Danny looked at Mr. Lancer for a moment before the swirls in his eyes disappeared, and his pupils were now a crimson red. Danny gave a sinister smirk before he turned intangible. Mr. Lancer didn't get a chance to react before Danny jumped into his body, taking over quickly.

"Danny! Stop!" Andy called out as he and the others ran at the overshadowed teacher.

Danny, in Mr. Lancer's body, just grinned sinisterly before he turned Mr. Lancer's body intangible to avoid being caught. His voice was heard from what seemed like nowhere. "Unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica…"

Danny then had Mr. Lancer go into the closet, phasing through it before Danny, in his ghost form, phased out, meaning Mr. Lancer was now locked in the closet.

"What happened? … Oh… Cask of Amontillado! Let me out of here!" Mr. Lancer yelled.

"Where'd he get that key from? Did Mr. Lancer have it?" Tucker blinked.

"It doesn't matter, this is bad!" Sam snapped.

"Danny… listen… you should calm down… you're being controlled, you shouldn't listen to the big bad man on the tiny screen," Andy said cautiously, like he was talking to a wild animal.

Andy didn't like the smirk Danny gave them. It went beyond the harmless mischievous smirk he and Danny would give to others sometimes. No, this smirk was full of malice.

"The big bad man on the tiny screen breaks the rules~ Unleash your dark side at Circus Gothica!" Danny said as he eyed the four humans and one Digimon before him sinisterly. Danny then turned intangible and floated through the ceiling.

"That… could've gone better…" Tucker frowned.

"Maybe watching Circus Gothica was a bad idea…" Sam sheepishly said.

"No crap it was a bad idea!" Andy snapped. "My brother's being mind controlled by a mad ringmaster and he's going to join Circus Gothica to do who knows what!"

"Hey, calm down, Andy." Takuya said. "I know this is bad, but we can still stop Danny. We know he is going to Circus Gothica, so if we get the move on now, we can still catch up to him."

I can't believe this is happening… This is just like that dream I had… but that ended with me falling to my death… Andy frowned, suddenly not feeling well at all. Is that my future? Is that what will happen if we try to go after Danny?

"I want to say this is ironic, since we have to ditch detention to go to the circus anyway, but this… really isn't the time for it," Sam said.

"Andy? Are you okay? You don't look so good," Tucker noted in worry.

"Andy?" Lopmon frowned, feeling Andy's worry.

"I'm… I'm fine. Let's go before Danny gets too far," Andy spoke up, trying to hide his anxiety.

Takuya frowned, but nodded. "Okay, but if something is bothering you, let us know." He said before he looked at Sam and Tucker. "Are you two coming?"

Sam grinned. "Ditching detention to save a friend? Count me in!"

"Yeah, I won't let some circus freak take my best friend away from us!" Tucker agreed.

Andy looked at the janitor closet Mr. Lancer was locked in. "Shouldn't we let him out?"

"We don't have the key. I'm sure he'll be fine once the janitor opens it later, but we have to go now!" Sam urgently said.

The group quickly ran out of the school. Andy tried to remember more details about that dream. Lopmon was on his head again. Wasn't there someone else? Agunimon… he was there, wasn't he? And Patamon too… we were riding on top of a train, I think. Agunimon was… he was fighting against Turuiemon, wasn't he? But why?

"Andy, you're thinking again…" Lopmon said as he looked down at Andy.

"I… just can't shake the feeling that… this is leading us to something really bad…" Andy said worriedly. "But I'm not entirely sure. I also want to save Danny, so I can't just do nothing."

"I know. All of us want to save him." Lopmon replied reassuringly. "We'll be fine. We'll save Danny and get him back."

But… what are we getting ourselves into? Andy frowned.

---

Andy, Lopmon, Takuya, Tucker, and Sam finally arrived at Circus Gothica.

"Okay… we're here, but… how will we find Danny in all of this?" Tucker asked.

"Maybe you can hack the surveillance cameras?" Andy suggested.

"Are there any?" Takuya asked.

"Even if there were, if this guy was controlling Danny, I doubt he'd let his prize show up in the cameras," Sam pointed out.

"Well, we can't just sneak in there, can we?" Tucker grumbled. "I mean, none of us are 'creepy enough' or 'look like a freak' to get in there from the back, and the front? We can't get any seats!"

"Uh, hello? I have a ticket," Sam pointed at her Circus Gothica ticket.

Andy looked over at the train, wondering if that was the train from his dream. "Good idea, how about we split into groups? One group can check the tent, while the other group checks the train. Danny has to be in at least one of those, right?"

Sam grinned. "Then Tucker and I can check the tent!"

"No you're not," Andy spoke up.

"What? Why not?" Sam asked.

"Uh, hello? We're dealing with someone who can control ghosts. And neither you nor Tucker have your Digimon partners with you. One of you needs to come with me, and the other needs to go with Takuya," Andy pointed out.

Sam groaned. "Fine… But who will check where?"

"Since you have the ticket, Sam, and you really wanted to check this place out anyways, you and Takuya can check the tent," Andy suggested.

"So that leaves us with tech boy," Lopmon remarked.

"There should be something useful on the train, hopefully…" Tucker sighed. "I hope Danny is on the train at least."

"So… why aren't you going into the tent?" Sam asked Andy.

"Why does that matter?" Andy asked back. "There's just something about the train that bothers me, alright?"

Sam frowned, but had to admit, Andy had a tendency to be right when it came to bad feelings about things. "Okay… just be careful." She said at last.

"Just stay close to Takuya," Andy replied. "You've got her, cuz?"

Takuya grinned. "You bet I do! I won't lose sight of her!"

"I'll be sure to keep you and Tucker safe too." Lopmon said as he used his right ear to give a salute.

"Heh, alright, we'll meet back out here in an hour," Andy said. "If one or more of us aren't back here by the allotted time, we're going to go look for you."

"Got it," Tucker said.

"Okay… let's hope things don't go south, " Sam said.

With that, the group split up into groups of two. Andy, with Lopmon on his head, and Tucker heading for the train, while Sam and Takuya went into the tent.

Takuya and Sam managed to find some seats, which was impressive given the crowd and its size. It was a full house. The seats were mostly filled with goths, but there were other people there too.

"Wow… this place is packed…" Takuya muttered. He had never seen so many goths in one place.

"Just about everyone in town wants to see this show," Sam remarked.

"If by 'everyone' you mean goths," Takuya said. "I had no idea there were this many goths in one town."

"You'd be surprised how often kids rebel against their parents in Amity Park," Sam sighed. "Or maybe I should say in America. But I can see some non-goth people here too, maybe they're morbidly curious."

"Maybe… But I'm not seeing any sign of Danny in here." Takuya noted as he looked around for any sign of his cousin. "Do you think he's on the train?"

Sam frowned for a moment. "I doubt Danny would be out in the open like this. He might be backstage putting on a costume if Freakshow is planning to use him in the show."

"Then… You think we should sneak backstage?" Takuya asked, curious. "Because that 'would be against the rules'."

"When have the rules stopped me?" Sam questioned. "And in any case, blame my parents. They were the reason why I wasn't able to get the backstage passes."

Takuya grinned. "Then let's see what we can find backstage~"

Sam grinned back. "I'm liking the way you think, hope the other Legendary Warriors don't get on your case for this later."

"If it's to save someone, I don't think they'd mind." Takuya chuckled.

The two of them stood and began to walk down from the bleachers. They would need to find where the backstage was. Thankfully, everyone was too distracted by the show to care what they were doing. Freakshow appeared to be showing off a new actor that wasn't at the opening ceremony.

"-the Grim Reaper himself!" Freakshow gestured to someone wearing a dark gray cloak, covering their entire body and face, and was standing on a high tight rope. The cloaked person was holding a scythe as well that looked very much real.

Sam and Takuya looked up, surprised to see this person was walking on the tight rope like it was nothing. Even the most trained tightrope walker would have some kind of balance they needed to keep, but this cloaked person didn't look like they needed that at all. Even more so, the person had the scythe they were holding on the tightrope, and put a gloved looking hand on the blade before lifting themselves up into the air with only one hand holding onto the blade. The crowd was quite impressed at this.

"How'd he do that?" Takuya asked.

"It… doesn't seem natural, but it is really cool," Sam muttered.

"Yeah… I'd like to find out how… Wait! What are we doing? We can't get distracted! We need to get backstage to find Danny!" Takuya exclaimed as he shook his head.

"Come on, let's go," Sam whispered. "And don't go shouting. I know it's noisy here, but we want to draw as little attention to us as possible."

Takuya nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed for speaking somewhat loudly. "Got it…"

---

Meanwhile, Andy, Lopmon, and Tucker were checking out the train. Since all the crowd were in the tent, watching the show, and Freakshow and his circus actors were putting on the show, they were alone.

The train was quite creepy, especially with nobody else around it. It was quiet, even the crickets were quiet around here.

"I can't help but feel… uneasy…" Lopmon frowned.

"Yeah, this place gives me the creepy vibes, like the park at night," Andy noted.

"The park gave you the creeps at night? Then why did you go there to meet with Danny when you didn't know he was Phantom?" Tucker curiously asked.

"Is this really the time to be asking such questions?" Andy grumbled. "It was just the easiest place to meet up with him since people usually stayed away from the park at night due to the creepy vibes. And I knew I was safe with him around. But this is different. We're in enemy territory, anything can go wrong."

Tucker shivered. "Anything to save a friend… I don't feel comfortable here either, and yet here I am… We'd better find something useful, or even Danny, soon. The sooner we can get out of here, the better."

Lopmon hopped off of Andy's head. He figured it would be faster if they each looked at the train's cars individually. Unfortunately, most of the train's cars were closed and locked, so they couldn't get inside.

But Lopmon discovered one of the carts still had an opening. "What about this car?"

Andy and Tucker went over to Lopmon.

"It's… open?" Andy blinked.

"Why would Freakshow lock all the other cars, but keep this one open?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know… but… I'm sensing a powerful force from this car…" Lopmon shivered. "It feels… malicious, evil… and not like a ghost's energy at all…"

"What do you mean? It's not a ghost?" Tucker frowned. "What else could it be?"

"I'm… not sure… but it feels familiar." Lopmon frowned.

"This could be a trap for anyone who tries to snoop around Freakshow's stuff…" Andy guessed.

"But if he was that concerned about people snooping around, why not just lock it instead of setting up a trap?" Lopmon asked. "He'd get in trouble if some innocent kid got hurt because they got a bit too curious."

Lopmon made a good point, locking the car would've been a better option to keep out innocent bystanders than setting up a trap for them. So none of this added up.

"We're never going to find out if we stay out here," Tucker said.

"It's likely dangerous. You stay out here, Tuck, in case something happens," Andy instructed. "Lopmon and I will check it out."

Tucker frowned, but knew Andy was trying to look out for his safety. "Okay. Just be careful, and if it is a trap, get out of there as fast as you can."

"I know… but in case we don't make it back, I'm counting on you to tell the others," Andy said.

That was why Andy wanted to have Tucker stay outside, it wasn't just for his safety, but Andy needed someone to stay out here in case it was a trap Andy and Lopmon couldn't escape from.

Tucker nodded. "I can do that."

"Turn on your recording function on your PDA. That way you'll have proof something isn't right in Circus Gothica," Andy instructed.

Tucker grinned. "Nothing escaped my recording equipment~" He said as he held up the PDA, which was already recording. "I activated it just in case we needed some evidence of ghostly happenings."

Lopmon grinned. "One step ahead, eh? Nice thinking."

"Okay, let's go, Lopmon," Andy said after taking a deep breath and letting it out.

While Andy was trying to appear calm and brave, inwardly he was terrified. Normally he would have Danny as back-up, or as the one to investigate such a dangerous place. But Danny was currently missing, and being controlled. And Takuya was with Sam. He only had Lopmon and Tucker with him. While he knew he could count on Lopmon and Tucker, it still made him uneasy that only Lopmon was capable of fighting back whatever this thing was.

Andy and Lopmon entered the car. The lighting was dim, but they were able to see enough to see there were mountains of gold all over the place. There were precious gems, and chests on the mountains of gold as well. There were piles and piles of money bags in another area of the car.

"... Are we sure we didn't get teleported to a dragon's hoard?" Lopmon asked. "All this treasure is hurting my eyes."

"What could one man do with all of this… treasure and money?" Andy questioned. "This is more than what Vlad probably makes on a daily basis, and he's a billionaire."

"I don't know, but this is very strange…" Lopmon agreed. "It's like… he's trying to amass a fortune for some reason. Whatever the reason though, it's clear this is all stolen money."

Andy frowned. If Freakshow was trying to amass such a fortune, it must be for something big. If it was just for a luxurious life, this went way beyond that. He could understand human greed, but even so, Freakshow seemed to be very clever and conniving, there was no way the man would risk stealing more than he would need, because it risked putting a target on his back . Freakshow must have some kind of goal that needed such a massive fortune. And whatever that was, that scared Andy a lot more than he would like to admit. Especially since it involved controlling his brother as well.

"We need to shut him down," Andy said grimly. "Freakyboy is planning something big if he's trying to amass so much fortune. Whatever it is, it can't be good."

"But how can we shut him down?" Lopmon asked. "The guy can control ghosts! He would only steal more, even if we did shut him down."

"We'll have to get rid of the power he's using to control the ghosts," Andy replied. "That crystal ball. And then… we bring Tucker's proof to the cops, and have him arrested. That's the best way we can go about it."

"But how do you plan to get to that crystal ball, hmm?" An unknown voice spoke in the shadows, quickly putting Andy and Lopmon on high alert.

"W-who's there?" Andy demanded.

"I should be asking you that, child, considering you're intruding in my and my partner's home." The voice said sinisterly as a form emerged from the darkness. It had black torn bat-like wings, wore a black outfit covering most of its body save for the lower face, and had really long arms with red fingernails. There were lots of belts on its body, and it had two orange bat images, one on the chest and one on its left foot. There were skull images on the shoulders, and its lower face was a pale blue color. The eyes were pure red, and it had two horns, one on each side, extending from its head.

Lopmon quickly got between Andy and the evil demonic looking Digimon. "Be careful, Andy! This guy is a Devimon, a very evil Digimon who feeds on darkness, and can turn others evil with his Touch of Evil attack!"

"That doesn't sound very fair…" Andy frowned before realization hit him. "Wait! Devimon? You're a Digimon?"

"Of course I am. What did you expect, another ghost?" Devimon sneered.

"Yes, actually. Why is there another Digimon here in the real world?" Andy questioned, being cautious, but also needing answers. He said this was his and his partner's home… "Are you… Freakshow's partner?"

"You are a smart boy, aren't you?" Devimon grinned sinisterly. "Why do you think I lurk around here? It's perfect for me~ I can easily blend in as a 'performer' if anyone gets suspicious~ Of course, since I see you have a Digimon partner, there's no point in me pretending with you."

Andy knew it would be foolish to fight Devimon, especially since it would alert Freakshow they were here, and he could send his ghost minions, including Danny, to capture them. They had to get away.

Andy began to move a bit to the exit, and Lopmon slowly followed him, neither of them turning their backs to Devimon.

"I hope you weren't thinking of leaving so soon. What kind of host would I be if I just let you go like that?" Devimon grinned as he began to move his long arms.

Lopmon saw this and tensed up, but he readied himself to protect his partner.

A dark energy began to form in Devimon's hand. "The Touch of Evil!"

Devimon launched the now clawed hand at them. Andy and Lopmon jumped away, dodging the attack. Lopmon jumped at Devimon's face.

"Blazing Ice!" Lopmon shot out an icy wind at Devimon's face.

Devimon hissed in annoyance, but wasn't that badly affected by the attack. He brought back his hands and pushed the little bunny away.

Devimon grinned sinisterly as his claws extended out. "Deadly Nail."

Devimon moved his claws to slash into Lopmon. Andy ran over and knocked Devimon's hands away with his Fenton Rod. Devimon was rather surprised, he had never seen any human trying to protect their Digimon partner from an attack before.

"Well, this is interesting~" Devimon grinned. "What a nice surprise to see a human protect their Digimon partner~ It makes things much more fun, because it means I don't have to only attack the Digimon~"

Andy and Lopmon frowned, but they readied themselves to dodge and attack when they needed to. Devimon stretched out both of his claws, gaining dark energy in them. "Try to dodge this then. The Touch of E-"

"Boom Bubble!"

A large air bubble came out of seemingly nowhere, and smacked into Devimon's back of the head, causing the dark Champion Digimon to lose his balance a bit.

Patamon quickly flew out of the shadows and at Andy and Lopmon. "Hurry, run!"

Andy and Lopmon didn't need to be told twice. Andy ran out of the train car, Lopmon hopping onto Andy's head as the boy left. Patamon was quick to follow right behind Andy and Lopmon.

Tucker yelped when he saw Andy running out with not just Lopmon, but Patamon as well.

"Wh-what's-"

"No time to explain, just run!" Andy urgently said as he grabbed onto Tucker's arm and ran.

Devimon looked out as the kids ran away. He could chase after them, but he had been told not to leave the car until the performance was finished. He did say he could pass himself as a performer, but it would be rather risky if the parents saw a literal devil near Circus Gothica, it would make them go into a frenzy and make things harder for his partner.

"Those kids will be back," Devimon muttered to himself. "And when they do, they'll either be a part of the circus, or… heh, they won't have to worry about nightmares anymore."

Devimon retreated into the shadows, deciding it was best to bide his time for now.

---

Sam and Takuya finally found an entrance with a sign that read 'cast only' on it.

"This has to be it," Sam whispered.

"Yeah… Let's just hope Danny is back here…" Takuya whispered back, feeling his heart racing.

"Just stay close to me, and don't shout," Sam hissed before she began walking through the entrance.

Takuya kept his mouth shut as he followed Sam through the entrance. He was feeling on edge for some reason, but he chalked it up to the ghosts that were probably lurking around, but hiding.

There were… what looked like props back here. They could see a sarcophagus with a skull on it, a flat looking board with spiked wheels on it, a full on guillotine, a spiked bird cage, a large piece of wood that had three holes in it, which Sam deduced was used like a medieval prison for people who were about to get their heads chopped off in the guillotine, and what looked like a large spiked bed.

"This… Freakshow really… uh… goes all out…" Takuya said uneasily. "Unless this is his torture room…"

Sam frowned as she looked around. They were alone, and there didn't appear to be any cameras. "Okay… even I'm getting freaked out by this… Maybe you should Spirit Evolve now while you have the chance."

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

Now evolved, Agunimon felt a chill run down his spine, which was never a good sign. "Shit… I hate that chill down my spine…"

"That must be all the ghosts you're sensing," Sam noted. "Is there any… um… familiar to you? Any of them that feels like Danny's aura?"

Agunimon focused for a moment before he felt the chills again. "Y-Yeah… I… Danny… I can feel his ghostly energy… But there's… something else… I think it's right behind-"

"What are you two doing back here?" Freakshow's voice spoke up from behind them.

Sam and Agunimon gasped and jumped as they turned around, seeing Freakshow himself standing there, looking at them.

"Crud…" Agunimon muttered to himself.

While Agunimon was on edge, Sam was more excited. "Oh my gosh… Freakshow… This is so cool…" Sam murmured in awe.

Agunimon looked at Sam and sweatdropped. Really? This guy mind controlled and practically kidnapped Danny, and you're fangirling over him? Priorities, Sam!

Freakshow was looking at Agunimon. "Interesting. That doesn't look like a costume, either that or it's a very authentic costume."

Agunimon felt his heart rate increase. Shit! C'mon, Kanbara… Say something! "Um… It's a… unique costume I had made…"

Sam seemed to snap out of her fangirl state at hearing Freakshow speaking to Agunimon, which made her confused. "Why the sudden interest in my friend?"

"He just reminds me of someone," Freakshow muttered before he looked at Sam. "So… you never answered my question, why are you two here?"

"We-We're looking for a friend of ours." Sam replied. "He was acting kinda weird earlier, and we thought he would have come here."

"Someone who's acting kinda weird, you say? That narrows it down to… everyone in this tent! Haha!" Freakshow laughed rather loudly.

Agunimon felt that familiar presence approaching them, and the cloaked figure who was playing the 'Grim Reaper' earlier walked up to them, holding the scythe in its hand.

Sam and Agunimon looked over, just as Freakshow also took note of the cloaked figure. He didn't seem pleased to see the figure there. "What are you doing, you dolt? Get back out there and do your encore!" Freakshow hissed.

Do you treat all your employees that way? Agunimon frowned. I would've quit if I had you as my boss…

The cloaked figure reached up to its hood and brought it down, surprising Sam and Agunimon when they saw the person's face. It was Danny, or rather, it was Danny Phantom.

"Sam? Agunimon?" Danny blinked, looking rather confused and surprised himself. "What… are you two doing here?"

"We came to get you back from Freakshow." Agunimon replied.

"No… you need to leave, now!" Danny urgently warned.

Maybe it wasn't confusion on Danny's face, but horror.

Agunimon noticed the horror on Danny's face, and a bad feeling began to settle in his stomach. Danny's… scared…? Crap… That's… never good…

Sam frowned. "But why? We can't just leave you here, Danny!"

"Is that free will I see?" Freakshow frowned, surprised that one of his ghost minions was acting on their own, normally when he had them under his control, they could never break out. Perhaps he needed to ensure this new ghost's mind was completely his.

"Obey me, ghost!" Freakshow shouted as he held up his crystal ball, making it glow strongly.

"N-no…" Danny begged, but he couldn't look away from the crystal ball.

Agunimon found he couldn't look away from the crystal ball either.

Freakshow grinned when he saw his new ghost minion was falling under his control, but a glance at the armored man with the girl showed something just as thrilling. "Well now, what do we have here~?"

"No! Why are you controlling him with that?!" Sam demanded, not even realizing she was in twice as much danger now. "Let him go!"

"Oh? I think I will… on you!" Freakshow sneered as he looked back at Danny and Agunimon. "Him and my newest minion!"

"What?" Sam frowned.

"I knew he wasn't just a guy in a costume, he was a Digimon." Freakshow grinned. "I know a Digimon when I see one."

Sam's eyes went wide in horror, she didn't know Freakshow knew about Digimon. She turned her head over to Agunimon. "A-Agunimon…?"

Agunimon looked up, his eyes a pure glowing red now. He gave Sam a very sinister grin, showing off his fangs like a predator, and the air around him seemed sinister, not that calming, protective feel he normally gave off.

"And what do you know? You know this Digimon too? Hahahaha! This is even better than I thought!" Freakshow cackled. "Minions, get her!"

Sam watched in horror as two of her friends began to approach her with intent to do harm. Sam tried to run, but Agunimon jumped and blocked her way out. Danny grabbed her rather quickly.

"You're not going anywhere~" Danny said with a sinister grin.

"Good… you, my Digimon slave, get a blindfold for this girl. We're going to make a spectacle, and an example, out of her," Freakshow instructed while grinning sinisterly.

Agunimon went and found a blindfold, returning with it a few minutes later. He tied it around Sam's eyes, which made Freakshow grin even more.

"Excellent~ Now, for the show to begin~" Freakshow purred.

---

Freakshow was standing in the spotlight in the middle of the audience once more. "Please welcome a brand new talent to the highwire…"

Freakshow gestured to the tightrope above them. "... in her first… and final performance."

Up above, Sam could feel she was standing on something thin, but she didn't know what it was. All that she knew was that it felt very high up, and the floor beneath her was very wobbly and likely very thin. Behind her, Danny was standing in his Grim Reaper outfit again.

Danny raised up the scythe, and swung it, cutting off Sam's blindfold with precision.

Now free of the blindfold, Sam looked down, only to find she was standing on a tightrope. "Wh-whoa!" She waved her arms, regaining her balance, albeit in a very unsteady manner.

The crowd was going crazy with what they were seeing.

At the same time, Andy, Lopmon, Tucker, and Patamon ran into the tent.

"Surprised we got in so easily without a ticket," Tucker remarked.

"Just be glad that we were able to get away…" Andy frowned.

"Um, guys? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but… is that Sam on the highwire?" Lopmon pointed out.

The group looked up and gasped in shock and panic, seeing their friend was standing unsteadily on the highwire without any nets to protect her if she fell.

"What the hell is she doing up there!?" Andy yelled. "Where's Takuya!?"

"I think… I see him…" Patamon pointed at the other end of the tightrope, across from Sam. In the shadows stood Agunimon. But he wasn't doing anything to rescue Sam, which told Patamon something was very wrong.

"Why isn't he doing anything?" Tucker frowned, holding up his PDA to record this.

"Something must be wrong with him." Lopmon frowned, thinking the same thing Patamon was.

"We have to do something!" Andy frantically said. "She's going to fall!"

Sam was looking between Danny on one end of the tightrope, and Agunimon on the other. Both of them were smirking evilly at her. It was… not a look she was used to on either of them.

"Danny… Agunimon… you don't want to do this, you're both being controlled!" Sam spoke up, hoping her voice could reach them somehow.

Agunimon only grinned more as Danny let out a sinister sounding laugh, which sounded both very off, but also oddly fitting for him. Agunimon touched the rope with his finger, and began burning the rope.

"No way! He can't do that!" Tucker exclaimed in a harsh whisper. "If Agunimon does that… she will…"

The rope then snapped at Agunimon's end, and Sam then fell with a scream.

Patamon and Andy were the first ones to run onto the center in an attempt to catch Sam. Lopmon ran after them, but he had some trouble keeping up due to his short legs. Tucker was frozen in place, unable to process what was going on.

"Save her!" Patamon shouted.

The D-Arc in Danny's pocket began to beep frantically, letting out a small signal of some kind. This was enough to free Danny from Freakshow's control, at least for a short time. His eyes returned to their green color, and he quickly flew down at Sam to catch her before she could hit the ground.

Danny managed to save Sam, making the crowd go crazy with delight. Danny came in and landed, looking a bit confused and dizzy. He set Sam down on her feet before grabbing at his head to try and ease the dizziness.

"Danny, don't scare me like that!" Sam said, feeling shaken up from the experience.

"You… have to leave…" Danny managed to croak out, already feeling his mind being taken by Freakshow's crystal ball again. "Please… you… will get hurt… I can't… hold him back…"

"D-Danny…" Sam muttered. "I can't just leave you!"

Danny opened his eyes again, but they were red once more. "Then you can join me as a ghost yourself~"

But then Danny stepped aside, and Freakshow approached Sam. "Consider that a warning, girl. Don't stick your nose in where it doesn't belong. But I must thank you, for bringing me a powerful new ally."

Sam glared at Freakshow. She didn't like this, but she knew when she was in over her head, and against both Danny and Agunimon, she had to play along as the good little girl, or get seriously hurt. You better enjoy it while it lasts, Freakshow.

Freakshow then walked away to tend to the audience, who had been too distracted to notice Andy and the two Digimon had been running to save Sam.

Sam quickly ran back to where the others were, meeting up with Andy, Patamon, and Lopmon halfway.

"Jeez, Sam, you nearly gave us a heart attack! What was all that about?" Andy frowned. "What happened to Agunimon? Why did he burn the rope like that?"

"From what I could see, he looked like he might've been… under Freakshow's control," Patamon said grimly.

Tucker felt a chill run down his spine and settle into his gut as he ran over to meet up with the rest of them, no longer frozen in place. "You've got to be kidding me… We've faced down Legendary Warriors before, but never an ally like Agunimon. And no, the loss of control of his Beast Spirit does not count."

"At least we can handle Agunimon. We know him and how he fights, so that should give us an edge… Uh, right?" Sam asked.

"Maybe, but both Agunimon and Danny?" Andy asked.

Sam frowned, that was a good point, both of them were their strongest fighters, and now they were both being used against them.

"Lopmon may be strong, but he can't take on both on his own," Andy pointed out. "And… Patamon can't digivolve."

"What… is Patamon doing here?" Sam asked.

"I was… investigating Freakshow," Patamon answered. "I had a bad feeling about him. And… it looks like my feelings were accurate…"

"We… we can't just let Freakshow control Agunimon and Danny though." Sam groaned, feeling really bad now. "I… I suggested to Takuya he Spirit Evolve into Agunimon earlier, and now he's being mind controlled!"

"But…" Lopmon frowned. "Why is he able to control Agunimon? If that crystal ball can control Digimon, why didn't it work on Patamon or me?"

Andy frowned as well. "Let's get out of here first, it'll be better if we discuss this somewhere more private. Especially if Freakshow is able to control Digimon as well, we want to make sure he doesn't come after Lopmon and Patamon next."

Sam, Patamon, Lopmon, and Tucker all nodded.

"Let's find a place to head." Sam suggested. "Maybe your place, Andy?"

"Your parents would kill me…" Andy frowned. "Especially with the threat of the restraining order hanging over our heads."

"Let's try the park then, that place is usually empty of people, right?" Tucker suggested, remembering Andy's secret meeting place with Phantom before he knew he was Danny.

"The park sounds good." Sam sighed. "At least we can talk more privately there."

"Patamon, are you coming with us?" Lopmon asked.

"Yeah…This is an emergency situation, and we need all the help we can get." Patamon nodded.

Normally they could count on either Danny or Takuya if one or the other were to fall, but since they were both out, they would need to do something else to save them. They quickly left the tent… only to run into a mob of angry adults, led by Pamela and Jeremy, of course.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" Sam groaned.

"Just our luck…" Tucker grumbled.

"Sam? Shouldn't you be in detention?" Pamela asked, holding a sign that read 'our kids are not clowns!'

There was another sign that read 'no goths', which could easily be taken the wrong way.

"Um… Mr. Lancer let us out?" Sam nervously replied, she was normally better at lying, but being caught by her parents at Circus Gothica made her off her game.

Patamon and Lopmon had to act like stuffed toys, and were on the ground, unmoving.

"So you just happen to be at Circus Gothica… with one of the Fenton boys… and your crossdressing friend?" Jeremy frowned. "This is not a good look."

"It's not what you think," Andy said. "We're not here to… have our minds polluted."

"And I look good in a black mini-skirt," Tucker huffed.

"Not helping…" Sam hissed to Tucker, who just looked at Sam sheepishly.

"Then why are you here?" Jeremy asked suspiciously.

"We're looking for a friend of our's," Andy answered.

"Are we late for the protest?" Maddie's voice spoke up.

Both Maddie and Jack were armed to the teeth, wearing their hazmat suits. Jack was actually wearing his hood and goggles, which was a rare sight. They were definitely taking the ghost threat seriously.

Pamela looked at Jeremy.

"What? I didn't invite them," Jeremy quickly said. "I don't even know why they're here. They never showed any interest in protesting this polluted circus."

"We have our reasons." Jack replied. "We've heard reports of potential ghost activity around this circus."

"You Fentons would think anything with a dark color or a skull is a ghost," Pamela rolled her eyes. "This is meant to be a protest against such evil mind pollution on our children, not for you to infiltrate for ghosts."

Jack frowned. He wanted to retort, but he had the feeling if he did, it may make things worse. Maddie seemed to be better at explaining that he was anyway.

"You can just see us as protection against ghosts then, just in case there are ghosts here," Maddie explained before she looked at the kid. She noticed Patamon was with them now. "What are you kids doing here? Shouldn't you be in detention? And where are Danny and Takuya? Weren't they with you?"

Andy, Tucker, and Sam looked back at the tent for a moment, trying to figure out what to tell them.

"Some… unexpected circumstances happened, and they had to… leave for a while," Andy vaguely answered. "We were just leaving ourselves. We don't like the… um… evil mind pollution going on in the circus, right, guys?"

Sam hated to do it, but she had to swallow her pride for once and go along with Andy's explanation. It would make her throw up, but it had to be done. "Y-yeah… After… that kind of show… I've had enough of… the dark circus…" Ack! I can't believe I am saying stuff like this! I will need to wash my mouth out after this…

Tucker looked at Sam in surprise, but the look of utter disgust on what she had made herself say told him she was obviously not thrilled about it. Geez… Now I feel sorry for Sam…

Pamela and Jeremy were surprised to hear that too.

"Well, I'm glad that you're coming to your senses, Sam," Pamela said. "However, you still came here in the first place. So I'm afraid I'll have to ground you. You march straight home, young lady."

"But Mom-" Sam tried to argue.

"No arguing with your mother, Sam, you've already broken enough rules as it is," Jeremy scolded.

"And we are forbidding you from having contact with the Fenton boy and your crossdressing friend," Pamela stated firmly.

"We do have names, you know," Tucker sourly said.

"Aren't you being a little harsh?" Maddie asked the Mansons.

"We said we were here to look for a friend of our's, you shouldn't be punishing Sam, and us, for that," Andy calmly stated, though he was starting to lose his patience, especially with the anxiety knowing both his brother and his cousin were being mind controlled, and Sam's parents were not making things any easier for them.

"Our decision is final." Pamela said firmly.

Tucker clenched his fists. He was really starting to dislike how Sam's parents were treating everyone around them, even their daughter's own friends. True, the crossdressing moment he had wasn't exactly the best impression he gave them, but he had other, good, traits too! So did Andy and Danny! Someone really needs to pop their little bubble…

"Now you march on home, Sam. We'll talk more about this later." Jeremy stated firmly.

"And you get home as well, Andy." Maddie said sternly. "We'll talk more about your… behavior when we get back."

"And be sure to tell Danny and Takuya to go home as well if they haven't already," Jack added.

"Oh trust me, Dad, I would like nothing more than to bring Danny and Takuya home," Andy said before he picked up Lopmon with one of his hands, and Patamon in the other.

Since Patamon was Danny's partner, Andy decided to bring Patamon with him. They would find a way to communicate with Tucker and Sam despite what Sam's parents said.

"I'll see you guys later," Andy said to Tucker and Sam.

"Yeah, we'll see you later, Andy." Tucker said with a nod.

Sam gave a nod too; she would find a way to meet up with Andy and Tucker anyway, despite what her parents wanted.

---

Despite the parents' protests, and Jack and Maddie's investigation, they couldn't find anything off about Circus Gothica. Though Jack and Maddie knew something was off about it, their Fenton Finder was going off the charts. The only problem was something was jamming their signal, so they couldn't get a good read on where the ghosts were. And since they didn't have any proof that Freakshow was harboring any ghosts, they couldn't do anything about it.

The show went on until the end, and the audience, and the parents, finally had to leave and head home because it was becoming late.

Meanwhile, Andy was home, trying to figure out what to do. He brought Lopmon and Patamon back to the house, and he knocked on Jazz's door.

"Jazz? Are you there?" Andy asked, hoping his sister didn't spend the night in the library again.

Jazz, to Andy's relief, opened the door. "Hey, Andy." She greeted her brother before noticing something was missing. "Where are Danny and Takuya?"

"We need to talk," Andy said in a serious tone.

Jazz saw Lopmon and Patamon looked worried as well, neither of them had said anything. She knew something bad happened.

Jazz held open her door. "Come on in. You can tell me what's going on once we have some privacy."

Andy, Lopmon, and Patamon walked into her room. Andy looked at Jazz for a moment.

"Don't worry, Bearbert is hidden under my pillow," Jazz sighed.

Andy gave a sheepish look before he sat down on Jazz's computer chair. "You might want to sit down for this…"

Jazz sat down on her bed. "So what happened?"

"... Have you heard of Circus Gothica?" Andy began.

Andy told Jazz about Freakshow, and how his crystal ball was able to control ghosts, that included Danny. And when they tried to find Danny at Circus Gothica, Takuya, as Agunimon, got caught up in the mind control as well. They nearly killed Sam in the process. And they were trying to figure out how they were going to confront Danny and Takuya when they ran into their parents, and were told to go home.

"Mom and Dad can be a bit… distracted when it comes to ghosts. But they'll notice both Danny and Takuya are missing before long," Andy sighed.

"Well, we do have a convenient cover story for that." Jazz began before correctly herself. "Err… at least for a short time anyway. We could always say Danny and Takuya went to the Digital World, but again, that will only work for a short amount of time."

"Yeah… so we might have about 3 days at most to try to get them back," Andy said.

"3 days? That's a bit too long, isn't it?" Patamon frowned.

"I can't promise we'll be able to get Danny and Takuya away from Freakshow in one night," Andy sighed. "Freakshow also has a Digimon in the real world, a rather nasty one too."

"You mean… a Digimon partner?" Jazz frowned. "That's… pretty strange that his partner is in the real world."

"Is it though? I mean we're here, aren't we?" Lopmon pointed out.

"But… you're able to come here because of the device Andy has," Jazz pointed out. "Freakshow… doesn't have that, does he?"

"I don't know. He has loads and loads of treasure though," Andy answered. "Way more than a single man needs to live a luxurious life for the rest of his life. We think he's using that wealth for something really big."

"Then it sounds like we need to do some more investigating." Jazz frowned. "It could also help us find out how to free Danny and Takuya if we do investigate more."

"First, we need to call Sam and Tucker. With Danny and Takuya under Freakshow's control, we're going to need as much help as we can get," Andy said.

"What about the other Legendary Warriors? Couldn't they help?" Jazz questioned.

"That's not practical. They live on the other side of this world," Patamon answered. "And besides that, the crystal ball seems to be able to control Legendary Warriors, so it would be too big of a risk to involve them."

Jazz gave a grimace, remembering how hard it was to fight just one of the Legendary Warriors, and that was with the help of another Legendary Warrior to boot. "Yeah… that's a valid point…"

"So we contact Sam and Tucker, and then what?" Lopmon asked. "We can't just rush in there. We don't know if that crystal ball could control me and Patamon either."

"I don't know about that," Patamon said. "If that crystal ball could control us, I would've fallen for that crystal ball when I was investigating Freakshow earlier. I was looking at that crystal ball for a while, and I saw he was targeting Danny with it. And his partner, who was a DemiDevimon at the time, didn't seem to be affected by it either."

Andy began thinking. "Maybe… maybe it only affects hybrid Digimon? Or… maybe it…"

Andy remembered something. "Partner Digimon! You, Lopmon, and that… DemiDevimon were all partner Digimon, right? And one of the rules of the Ruler of the Digital World was that you can't control a partner Digimon, only free Digimon, meaning Digimon that don't have a human partner. The rules could apply here as well, maybe Freakshow was only able to control Agunimon because he doesn't count as a partner Digimon. But you guys are, that's why the crystal ball can't affect you!"

Jazz's eyes went wide. "Of course! That means then that we can find a way to free Danny and Takuya! If we can take advantage of that rule, Freakshow won't be able to control them for long!"

Lopmon blinked. "What do you mean?"

Jazz smiled. "I mean, what if we have Sam and Tucker bring their Digimon partners to our world? We need as much help as we can get, right?"

Lopmon grinned as well. "I see now! And if I know Biyomon and Kokuwamon, they will want to help as well!"

"And let's not forget about Floramon," Patamon said.

"Hold on, let's not get too carried away," Andy spoke up. "I agree, we're going to need more help than just the two of you. But we also can't bring in too many Digimon; who knows what that could do to our world?"

Jazz nodded. "Then… I'll leave this to you, Tucker, and Sam. You guys know how Danny and Takuya fight more than I do, I'd likely just get in the way."

"But… what will you be doing?" Andy asked.

"You said Tucker was recording that treasure car, right?" Jazz asked. "Have him send the footage to my computer, I should be able to help expose Freakshow for the thief that he is. Using ghosts to steal for him."

Lopmon grinned. "I like the sound of that~"

Patamon nodded. "The footage will be on your computer in an hour or so."

Jazz smiled. "Then I'll let you guys figure out what to do. Be sure to bring back Danny and Takuya, okay, Andy?"

"You're just as involved as us in bringing them back, Jazz," Andy said. "I'm going to need you to do another thing for me…"

"What is it?" Jazz asked.

"Can you call Sam?" Andy requested.

"Hmm? Why do you need me to call her?" Jazz questioned.

"Her parents forbid Sam from contacting me, Andy Fenton. But they said nothing about Jazz Fenton." Andy grinned.

"Who would be a better 'influence' on the troubled child than the straight A student who is loved by the teachers?" Lopmon added.

Jazz sweatdropped. "You can be quite scary with finding loopholes like that, little bro…"

"Eh, Mr. and Mrs. Manson makes it easy with how deep they are in their little world," Andy shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

Jazz sighed. "Okay, I will contact Sam for you."

Lopmon smiled. "Thanks, Jazz!"

Jazz contacted Sam via her computer, figuring it would be easier than just calling via phone. Sure enough, Sam's icon appeared on the computer in the video chat room they used to talk.

"Jazz?" Sam blinked, surprised to see Andy's sister on the video chat.

"Shh," Andy shushed Sam as he came into the video. "Yes, you're talking to 'Jazz' right now."

"Sam? Who are you talking to?" Sam heard her mother's voice just outside her room. "It better not be that Fenton boy!"

"No, Mom, it's just his sister, Jazz. You know, the honor student at Casper High, and a very peppy girl who gave the spirit week speech?" Sam called back.

Sam's mother seemed to be satisfied with that answer. "Well, at least someone in that family has some common sense!"

Jazz sweatdropped at hearing that. Wow… I've never heard a person so uptight before…

Sam looked like she wanted to wring her mother's neck, but at least Pamela wasn't bursting into Sam's room to check to see if she actually was talking to Jazz.

"Alright, we managed to get in contact with you. Now we just gotta get Tucker to join in," Andy said. "There's a lot we need to discuss."

"Right, I'll get him to get on here quickly," Sam said.

---

When Tucker joined the video chat, Andy began explaining everything to them. About Devimon, about the massive wealth in Freakshow's train, and how they suspect partner Digimon were immune to being controlled by Freakshow's crystal ball.

"So we were thinking about bringing Biyomon and Kokuwamon here to help us," Andy explained. "But we need to be careful, bringing too many Digimon here could be bad too."

Sam was grinning. "Hey, I'm not complaining!"

"Yeah, even if it's just the two of them, at least we would have a better chance then with only Lopmon on our side." Tucker agreed. "I agree Biyomon and Kokuwamon would be best to bring in, if only because they have experience against Takuya when it comes to fighting him."

"So, when we bring them here, then what do we do?" Sam asked as she leaned back in her chair. "It's not like we know where Freakshow is going to strike next for money and precious gems."

"Since I'm the only one who can bring them out here, I'll get Biyomon and Kokuwamon into this world," Andy said. "I'll bring them to your houses since they've never been to your house, or this world. Once they get settled in, and are up to date on what's going on, we'll start checking the news on the latest ghostly robbery and track down where they are. If we have to… we'll confront them at Circus Gothica."

"Wow, that would be a place for a final battle." Tucker joked. "It's all doom and gloom, like a villain's fortress where the hero has to fight to save the day."

"This is serious, Tucker, we could really lose Danny and Takuya." Sam frowned.

"I'm just trying to lighten up the mood. If we're too stressed out, we're not going to be at our best," Tucker pointed out.

Sam groaned, but she did admit Tucker was right. "Yeah, okay… I guess we're all stressed out…"

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to save them. I'll do my best to expose Freakshow as well," Jazz said. "The cops will be on him quickly."

"Freakshow will pay for what he's done, and what he's doing now," Andy swore, angry flames burning in his eyes "He's not going to get away with controlling my family."

Tucker nodded, but inwardly he was sweating. Dang… Andy's on a warpath now…

Sam was impressed at Andy's conviction, and she smiled. "Yeah. No one controls one of my friends and gets away with it!"

"I must warn you, Andy, it's easy to take the dark path when you let anger control you," Patamon warned.

"This is righteous anger," Lopmon spoke up, looking fired up himself. "I'm with you all the way, Andy!"

Patamon sighed. I hope this doesn't come back and bite us later…

"I'll text you when I have Biyomon and Kokuwamon," Andy said to Sam and Tucker. "Until then, try not to get into any more trouble with your parents. I can't have them have you two under house arrest."

Sam grumbled. "Oh, don't worry. I have no intention of making my parents put me under house arrest until we save Danny and Takuya."

"Same here. I can't afford to get grounded even more when my friends are on the line." Tucker agreed. "Luckily, my parents are actually pretty cool and understanding."

"Lucky…" Sam huffed.

Andy chuckled a little before getting serious again. "Okay, Sam, Tucker, I'm going to need you two to contact your partners. Tell them what's happening, and let me know where they are so I can just get to them right away when I enter the Digital World. This will also help us save time."

"Are you sure you're not a general or something in disguise?" Patamon asked.

"This became personal when Freakshow took control of my brother and cousin," Andy replied. "I'm pulling out all the stops."

Sam grinned. "I think I'm liking this from you, Andy. It shows how determined you are, not to mention how dangerous an opponent you can be."

Andy was trying not to blush at the compliment, he wondered if Valerie would like to see him like this… But now wasn't the time to be thinking about such things. "Erm… just get in contact with your partners."

Jazz gave a smile. "Maybe you are a genius in your own way, little bro."

"Please stop talking, I just want to save Danny and Takuya," Andy huffed, trying not to let his cheeks turn red, he was not used to all these compliments.

Tucker was grinning. "I think you like the compliments Andy~" He teased.

"Okay guys, let's focus on the task at hand please!" Patamon groaned out.

"Yeah, focus everyone!" Lopmon added, feeling his partner's embarrassment.

---

Biyomon hadn't expected for things to get this bad when Sam contacted her about what happened at Circus Gothica. Sam had been raving about that place for a while, but apparently it held dark secrets, well, other than the obvious of course.

"Are you alright, Biyomon?" Hawkmon asked.

"I'm fine… I just… I'm nervous. I'm going to the real world for the first time, and… I have to help save a friend, two friends actually," Biyomon replied. "I just hope I'm strong enough to do it."

"I know you will be strong enough." Hawkmon reassured Biyomon. "You were able to digivolve to save your friends before, so don't forget you have your partner to help you."

Biyomon smiled a little at that. "Thanks. It's just… I don't know what will happen. I want to help, but… I don't know if it will be so easy. I'll be facing against a Legendary Warrior, and a ghost!"

Hawkmon frowned a little, but he gave Biyomon an encouraging smile. "It wouldn't be the first time you had to face a Legendary Warrior or a ghost. You've done it before, and you can do it again, I know you can."

Biyomon blinked as she looked at Hawkmon. "Wow, Hawkmon, when did you get so confident in me? What happened to the older brother who was overprotective of his little sister?"

"What can I say? You've grown up, Biyomon, and you've proven you can handle yourself on more than one occasion." Hawkmon said with pride. "I'm proud to call you my little sister, in more ways than one!"

Biyomon blushed. "C-come on, you're making me blush now." I do hope Hawkmon could find a human partner of his own one day, someone who would love and take care of him too.

The little monitor Biyomon kept near her flashed, and Andy and Lopmon came through.

"Finally landed on my feet! Nailed it!" Andy smiled.

"Only because it was just you and me this time," Lopmon chuckled.

"Andy!" Biyomon grinned as she jumped onto Andy. "You're here!"

Andy nearly fell when Biyomon jumped onto him.

"Jeez, someone's excited," Andy chuckled. "I was gonna be all cool and ask you in a formal way if you'd come with me to the real world to help Sam, and the rest of us, save our friends."

"Of course I would like to!" Biyomon said eagerly. "I'm always willing to help Sam out if she needs it! No one controls a friend of Sam's while I'm around!"

"I'm pretty sure he's your friend too," Lopmon commented.

"Yes, that too!" Biyomon added.

"Take good care of her!" Hawkmon waved.

"Don't worry, I'll bring her back safe and sound once this is all over," Andy said to Hawkmon. I hope.

---

Kokuwamon was in the forest with the other Kokuwamon tribe. This was where he was supposed to live, but he couldn't help but wish he could be with Tucker. The forest was great and all, but it was boring, it lacked technology, and things to tinker with. The only technological thing about the forest was the fact they could sap as much electricity as they wanted from these trees.

But now Kokuwamon was antsy for another reason. Tucker just told him about what happened at Circus Gothica, and how Takuya and Danny were being mind controlled, and that his help was needed. Andy was going to be here soon to pick him up.

"Surely I will be of some assistance to them," Kokuwamon said to himself.

Kokuwamon managed to sneak out a small TV screen from a nearby junkyard, and waited. After a while, the TV screen flashed, Andy came out. Along with Lopmon and Biyomon. The two landed on Andy's back.

The other Kokuwamon were surprised to see a human here in their forest. Most of them backed away and hid, not wanting a player to attack them.

Andy groaned as Biyomon and Lopmon rolled off of him. "Okay… so 2 is fine, but 3 is where it gets too much…"

Kokuwamon made his way to Andy. "It is good to see you, Andy." He greeted. "Although your landing needs some work."

"Don't talk about the landing…" Andy huffed before he stretched his body out a bit. "Okay… ahem…"

Andy smiled as he held out his hand. "Kokuwamon, Tucker needs your help. Will you come to the real world with us and help us save our friends?"

"If Tucker needs my help, then yes." Kokuwamon replied as his head antennae, if it could be called that, sparked with electricity. "If my friends are in trouble, I will do what I can to help save them."

"Then let's go, I'll take you to your partner's houses, but I need you both to stay close to me," Andy warned.

Biyomon and Kokuwamon nodded.

"And if someone sees you, remain still and quiet," Andy instructed. "I will handle the talking."

"Got it," Biyomon said.

"We will not disappoint you, Andy," Kokuwamon said.

"I think they'll be fine," Lopmon said. "We should go. The other Kokuwamon look uneasy."

"Yeah, I guess they're not used to seeing a human here," Andy sheepishly said. "Okay, all of you, hang onto me, this will be a bit of a rough ride."

Kokuwamon grabbed onto Biyomon's wing, as she grabbed onto Andy's hand with her other wing. Lopmon was sitting on Andy's head still.

Andy held out his D-Arc at the little TV screen. "Take us to Fenton Works!"

The TV screen glowed and sucked Andy and the Digimon on him in.

---

Sam felt a sick twisted feeling in her gut when she saw the latest news that night. It showed a security camera recording the 4 ghosts, and Danny, robbing a museum. And while they were, Agunimon was setting fire to the cops' cars, preventing them from giving chase.

Though a small part of Sam found Danny wearing a golden crown on his head, and a golden amulet around his neck to look really hot and cool.

"Get moving, we can't keep Master waiting," Danny said to the other 4 ghosts before firing a ghost ray at each of their butts, making them move faster.

It would appear that Danny seemed to be the ringleader of the party, the other 4 ghosts looked rather afraid of him despite all being on the same side.

The cloaked ghost flew away with a yelp, followed by the stretchy ghost. The muscular ghost and the dwarf ghost were hit next and flew away with yelps as well. Danny grinned sinisterly. "This party's just getting started~"

Danny flew low towards Agunimon. "Think you've done enough damage there?"

"What do you think~?" Agunimon grinned sinisterly as he pointed back at the cop cars, which were now ablaze. The cops had bolted and were hiding behind other cars, not sure how to handle the fiery Digimon.

The guns they fired only seemed to bounce off of Agunimon's armor, and the bullets only went through Danny harmlessly.

"I think we've caused a good enough scene, let's get going," Danny said.

Agunimon and Danny began moving past the burning cars.

"Looking good in that crown, Danny, are you trying to make a statement?" Agunimon questioned.

"I just like wearing it," Danny replied. "It feels good to be on top, especially to these people who only harass or insult me when they don't even know anything about me. The sheer ignorance and dissociation is just baffling."

"I know that feeling." Agunimon replied. "It's like nothing can stop me now, and yet everyone is looking at me like they see something else."

"Well, we don't need them. All we need are ourselves and Master," Danny said.

Agunimon gave Danny a grin, showing his sharp canine teeth easily. "You know it!"

---

Sam only got distracted from the news when her phone beeped, she just got a text message from Andy. Sam gave a smile, at least there was a small light at the end of this tunnel. She hurried over to her window and opened it. She saw Biyomon flying there, and Biyomon smiled as she flew in to hug Sam.

Sam hugged Biyomon back. "It's so good to see you again, Biyomon!" She said in a low tone.

"I'm glad to see you again, too, Sam." Biyomon smiled as well.

Sam looked out the window, seeing Andy, Lopmon, and Kokuwamon standing outside.

Andy gave a wave to Sam, and Sam gave him a thumbs up. They couldn't shout at each other or her parents would hear them. Seeing that Biyomon was with Sam, Andy began walking to Tucker's place next.

"How bad is it?" Biyomon asked Sam.

"It's… really bad…" Sam frowned. "But let's help you get settled in first. You're not used to being in this world."

"True, it's similar, but very different from the Digital World," Biyomon agreed before she looked around. "So this is your house?"

"Well, this is my room, it's part of the house," Sam said, she knew she was going to have to ease Biyomon into this, especially since Sam had a few things in the house that would blow the poor Digimon's mind, like the bowling alley.

"Oh wow… If this is your room, I can't wait to see the rest of your house!" Biyomon said.

"Just don't let my parents see you moving and talking," Sam warned.

"I know, Andy went through with the rules already. I'll just act like a toy around other people." Biyomon smiled.

The only bad thing about this is… Mom and Dad will think I like pink now and start hounding me more with pink stuff. Sam sweatdropped.

---

Tucker couldn't believe this happened to his best friend. It was one thing when he went a little out of control with his ghost powers, but this was worse. At least Tucker… sort of had his free will, Danny and Takuya were being controlled by a madman, and being forced to steal priceless things, like artifacts and portraits from the museum. Not to mention it was being shown everywhere on the news, so now whatever Danny and Agunimon's reputations were before had been flushed down the drain. They would be way too easy to demonize now.

Tucker could only hope that his video would help show the world that it wasn't Danny Phantom or Agunimon's fault, that they were being controlled. But what bothered him was that he knew that wasn't how adults worked. They would definitely still blame Danny and Agunimon just because they're not 'humans', so for all they knew, this was normal behavior for them.

Tucker was taken out of his musing when he got a text message on his phone. It was from Andy. Tucker looked out the window, only to see Kokuwamon was hovering in front of it. Tucker blinked before he grinned and made his way to the window. He opened it quickly, allowing Kokuwamon to enter his room. "Nice timing, Kokuwamon."

"I hope I will be of assistance," Kokuwamon said as he landed in Tucker's room.

Tucker looked out the window to see Andy and Lopmon there. They waved to Tucker before they began heading back home. They were going to need some time to get Kokuwamon, and Biyomon, settled before they could confront Freakshow.

"This world is very new to me," Kokuwamon admitted. "I am curious about this place. And all the wondrous technology."

"Well, just don't latch onto my computer to suck the energy from it." Tucker chuckled. "I kinda need my computer anyway."

"Oh? What are you planning to do?" Kokuwamon asked curiously.

"I was just about to send Jazz a video I recorded while I was exploring Circus Gothica with Andy." Tucker replied. "Hopefully it will go a ways to help restore Agunimon and Danny's reputations."

"Will it be alright if I observe then?" Kokuwamon asked.

"Of course you can." Tucker smiled, it felt nice having his partner with him.

---

Andy laid down in his bed as soon as he got home. He was tired, traveling through the Digital World apparently took some energy, not to mention he had to hurry to Sam's and Tucker's houses with their parents as well. And all the stress hadn't been good for him either.

"You think we might be able to save them tomorrow?" Lopmon asked worriedly.

"We're going to try…" Andy said. "Until then…"

Andy looked over at the empty bed. "I hope Freakshow is at least taking care of them."

There was a knock on the door, Andy quickly sat up, realizing that his parents were home.

"I don't think we have much time. We need to make sure we have a cover story for where Danny and Takuya are." Lopmon said urgently.

"I've got this," Andy said before Maddie opened the door.

"Andy? Where's Danny?" Maddie asked. "You did tell him to come home, right?"

"Danny is-"

"Maddie! I can't find Takuya in his room!" Jack called from downstairs.

"Erm… Danny and Takuya are in the Digital World right now," Andy answered. "They… needed to check something in the Digital World, and decided to go together, while the rest of us kept an eye on things out here."

Maddie blinked. "Really? Well, why didn't they just tell us then?"

"You and Dad were busy looking for ghosts," Andy pointed out.

"But… why Danny and Takuya? They don't have Digimon partners," Maddie pointed out.

"That's why they went," Lopmon spoke up. "They wanted to find their own partners, and they figured if they went without the rest of us, they'll have an easier time finding their partners."

"Didn't Danny have Patamon?" Maddie asked.

"Danny also wanted to look for Patamon, he thinks Patamon would be in the Digital World, and try to make up with him," Andy quickly added.

"Ah, now that makes more sense." Maddie sighed. "I guess that comes first."

"And they went to find Takuya a Digimon partner as well since he doesn't have one yet." Lopmon added.

"Well, just be sure that they aren't gone for too long," Maddie said. "It may be Friday, but it's not good to be gone for too long."

"Don't worry Mom, I'll make sure they'll come back home safe and sound," Andy promised, though his hands gripped onto his blanket tightly to keep from showing his anger and anxiety about what really happened to Danny and Takuya.

"I'll hold you to it then." Maddie sighed. "I'd better go tell your father where they went."

"Yeah… um… have you and Dad checked the news recently?" Andy asked.

"No, we just got home, why?" Maddie asked.

"A-ah… no reason…" Andy nervously replied. They're gonna literally kill Danny and Takuya if they saw what they were doing now!

Maddie frowned, not really sure she liked Andy's nervous look. "That's an odd question to ask."

"Yeah, I just like being weird, it must be Circus Gothica polluting my mind already. Maybe I'll sleep it off, and have Lopmon cleanse my mind," Andy sheepishly chuckled.

"I'll make sure to decontaminate his mind from all of that bad stuff!" Lopmon saluted with his right ear as he crossed his arms.

Maddie smiled at Lopmon. "I don't doubt it. Make sure my boy sleeps well tonight."

"Of course, Maddie," Lopmon said.

Maddie walked away from the room and Andy sighed as he laid down. This is going to be a long weekend…

Patamon was staying with Jazz for the time being. He looked out her window, wondering what Danny and Takuya were doing now.

"You know… I'm surprised you came back when you found out that Danny was in trouble," Jazz said to Patamon. "I thought you didn't want to have anything to do with Danny."

"I don't…" Patamon grumbled. "But… it's dangerous to have him in the hands of someone with ill intentions. He is pretty strong, you know… it would be irresponsible if I didn't take action."

Jazz crossed her arms before grinning a bit. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you cared about Danny."

"This isn't about Danny, this is about protecting the world from him!" Patamon snapped.

"Is that why you've been avoiding him?" Jazz frowned. "You feel you need to protect the world from Danny?"

Patamon frowned and looked away. "I'm going to turn in for the night."

Jazz frowned before sighing. "Okay, but I'm not going to drop this just because you don't want to explain it. I will be asking you more about this tomorrow."

"And you can't force me to answer," Patamon said as he squeezed himself under Jazz's bed where she couldn't reach him.

Jazz grumbled. "You're just as stubborn as Danny is, that's for sure."

---

Titanic X: DarkFoxKit: Well… okay.

ZAFT: More details on what you like please… ^^'

pokemon fan 1991: ZAFT: XD True~ Veemon being a bit of a stinker is fun though. XD As for hiding the Digimon in plain sight, we will see. We have so many characters in the real world already, but trust me, second season will involve Veemon and Wormmon more.

Sam and Danny showing their feelings a bit early was the idea. We will see if we have them date other people though. But I'm glad you like how we are developing Sam as a character. Oh, we will do Lucky in Love still, but that is all I am saying. ^^'

DarkFoxKit: Well, I will say that the reason why we haven't brought in the other Digimon is because this was a problem we faced in the last story we did. Too many characters on screen at once. It gets very difficult to give meaningful dialogue to every single character on screen. So we would prefer to keep most of the Digimon partners in the Digital World for the time being.

As for Danny and Sam, it was quite obvious they had feelings for each other all the way back in season 1. And Danny showing his feelings for Sam early isn't really… early. In canon, he showed it as early as Fanning the Flames, this is way past that. Also, as we stated before, the episodes right now are not in canon order. Control Freaks is not the last 'episode' in this season/story. Meaning we have yet to get to Lucky in Love. And remember, Danny is a teenager, meaning he would have more than one crush. It's Andy who's over Paulina.

Akhemphi: DarkFoxKit: Actually, the question of whether or not Andy will get ghost powers in this story has been something we've been debating on for a while. I hadn't been sure if I wanted to take it in that direction since Andy already has a Digimon partner, and we had trouble with using Danny's partner due to Danny being able to… pretty much take care of himself. In fact, I wasn't even sure if we'd let him keep Patamon as a partner for a while due to this dilemma. And if we gave Andy ghost powers… once we pulled that trigger, there's no going back. Would the story be better if Andy stayed human? Or should we still give Andy his ghost powers? The Dark Reflection was a bit of a testing ground with that. But… I think we've come to a decision now. But I won't say which decision we went with.

As for your guess on Dragon Andy coming back, I do have to ask… is that something you really want to happen? I love dragons, and I have dabbled a bit with writing Andy as a dragon (it's a story I never posted though), but considering he already has Lopmon, and maybe ghost powers if we're giving it to him, wouldn't giving him a dragon form be a bit too much? I want to avoid turning my character into a Gary Stu, or at least an overpowered kind of character. Though I guess it depends on how it's handled. I'm just surprised someone mentioned Dragon Andy.

ZAFT: As for Vlad going after Andy instead of Danny, that is an interesting idea. But that would probably if or when Andy gets ghost powers. As Kit mentioned, we are not saying on whether Andy gets ghost powers or not; we want it to be a surprise. But you will have to keep reading to see what happens. XD