ZAFT: It's close to Halloween… Time for a spooky update! XD
DarkFoxKit: Yes, it is. Takuya and Andy are out getting their costumes. I wonder what they'll be wearing.
ZAFT: I don't know. But I'll bet Andy is going to be something cute and sweet~ Like a cinnamon roll costume perhaps?~
DarkFoxKit: Oh? And what about Takuya?
ZAFT: He may be something like a soccer player or even just a simple ghost in a sheet. XD Although the ghost sheet may be a bad idea, given the adult Fentons'... well… enthusiasm… ^^'
DarkFoxKit: I guess we'll see later. Let's head to the chapter.
(Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title)
Digital Phantom!
(Shows six forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Takuya Kanbara, Andy Fenton, and Jazz Fenton)
Falling into destiny
(A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky and cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that)
Reaching across new boundaries
(Andy Fenton appears with Jazz beside him. Takuya Kanbara appears behind him as well, the form of Agunimon appearing behind Takuya himself)
Let our stories come together
(Andy is shown with the form of Phantom beside him, a shadowed form with blue eyes behind the ghost boy)
Growing stronger
(Andy looks on at Phantom fighting before running to help the ghost boy by taking out his Fenton Rod)
Our pasts intertwine
(Six glowing orbs of light are shown, each of a different color (red, teal, lavender, dark purple, white, and yellow) before the red orb speeds towards Takuya)
Showing our future
(Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire as Plasmius fires off ecto-rays at him, only for a glowing orange orb to appear around Agunimon and deflect the beams)
As we evolve
(The blasts speed past the screen as Tucker is shown with a Fenton Wrist ray being fired at a ghost)
Let's go… EVOLUTION
(Sam is shown with her Fenton Lipstick, firing it at a different ghost)
As our worlds collide
(Jazz is shown beside Andy, her hand on his shoulder as Andy looked shell-shocked by something)
We stand as one
(Jack and Maddie Fenton are shown, with the Fenton Works logo behind them as it glows green)
Growing strong
(A shadowed form is shown with blue eyes and a glowing white blade erupting from what looks like a giant weapon in the form's hands)
As we move along
(Danny is shown walking down the street with those closest to him appearing one by one; Andy, Tucke, Sam, Takuya, and Jazz.)
CHOU… SHINKA!
(Fractal code is shown before it dissipates to reveal Agunimon lunging out of the dissipating data, fire around his left fist)
Let's go… EVOLUTION!
(The group is shown facing down Plasmius, who looms above them with hands outstretched as a dark form appears behind Plasmius himself.)
Nothing will stand in our way!
(Andy, Danny, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, and Takuya all appear with ribbons of fractal code streaming out from behind them, a swirling green orb behind the ribbons of fractal code.)
Digital Phantom!
Chapter 7: The Hunter
Jazz wasn't sure what she expected exactly when she signed up for her parents, though mainly her mom, to talk to the woman who was behind the Genius Magazine. But she had hoped her Mom would've had the common sense to not talk about ghost hunting, or anything relating to that. She had been dead wrong.
"So could you tell me what it is you're working on now?" The woman asked Maddie.
Maddie opened her mouth to speak, but Jack was the one who spoke up. "Well, it's called the Ghost Gabber, and-" Jack was cut off by Jazz's groan.
"Dad!" She exclaimed in exasperation. "Put that thing away!"
The woman blinked at Jazz. Jazz gave a nervous chuckle before deciding she would have to speak on her mother's behalf if she wanted this to work out.
"She's actually working on a… new form of… self generating energy," Jazz began, trying her best to sound proud of her mom rather than ashamed. "She's… an amazing, intelligent woman about to change the world."
"Is that so?" The woman remarked before she turned her attention to Maddie. "Could you tell me what it is you're focusing on these days, Mrs. Fenton?"
"Well, my primary focus these days is ghost hunting." Maddie said with pride.
Jazz felt her carefully crafted plan was falling apart. Oh no… no, no, no! She did not just say 'ghost hunting!' I knew I should've rehearsed with my parents…
At the same time, the front door suddenly opened, and in walked 5 teenagers that looked like they went through a battle. Their hairs were messed up, and their clothes were a little wrinkled.
Maddie frowned when she saw them. "Danny, Andy, look at you two! And Takuya, what've you and your friends been doing? This overnight zoo research doesn't look healthy for you."
"Mom, we're just five kids at the zoo, doing research at night." Danny grumbled. He sighed. "We'll be in my and Andy's room…"
"We'll be in my and Andy's room, fear me," The Ghost Gabber repeated, or 'translated'.
Andy raised an eyebrow before Jazz grabbed the Ghost Gabber and stuffed it into a pillow.
"Everything is fine, we'll be fine, we just have a lot of work to do is all," Andy said as they started heading upstairs, hoping that would help with the interview, it wouldn't look good for Mom if the woman thought she wasn't responsible with her kids after all.
"And while they do that, I'm going to conk out on Danny's bed." Takuya grumbled. "I've been watching over these guys for the last several hours and need some shut eye."
"Erm!" Jazz cleared her throat. "So… where were we?"
The group stood outside of Danny and Andy's door. It was decorated with stickers of stars, planets, cute little animals, and birds. There was a large sign on the door that read 'Danny and Andy's bedroom'.
"Alright, just in time for some much needed rest before training," Tucker said before his PDA played the William music, he checked it. "But let's make it quick, because we have 13 minutes before it gets too late."
"I don't recall making you my time manager," Danny grumbled.
"Just go with it…" Takuya grumbled before he suddenly got a feeling he was coming to both love and hate; the feelings of being hot and chilled raced down his spine. "Oh shit…" He muttered under his breath.
At the same time, the familiar blue mist came out of Danny's mouth. Danny himself was now on high alert. Oh-no… no, not here…
"Um… Danny, I've been meaning to ask… but why do you have cold breaths like that sometimes?" Andy asked.
"Erm… it's a side effect of the ectoplasmic exposure I suffered during the accident…" Danny muttered.
Andy raised an eyebrow, that didn't really explain the cold breath, just that he somehow got it from the accident.
However, before Andy could ask anymore, the door suddenly opened and that mechanical ghost stood in front of them, grinning maliciously.
"Double shit…" Takuya hissed as he saw the ghost. Now I know what I was sensing this time… Maybe those feelings are a ghost sense!
"Hello, ghost child." The ghost said with a sinister grin.
The ghost held out his arm at Danny and shot out a glowing blue net on him. Danny yelped as he was caught and pulled into his room before the door shut.
"Danny!" Everyone called out in worry.
"What the heck!? That was the ghost from the zoo!" Andy shouted.
The group grabbed onto the door knob and tried to pull it open, but it was locked.
The ghost grinned at his prey, there was no way he was getting any more assistance from the others. Now it was him and the ghost child.
"Who are you? What do you want with me?" Danny demanded.
"I am Skulker, a collector of all things rare and unique." The ghost, Skulker, introduced himself. "And you, ghost child, are that, and more." The hunter ghost laughed. "You will make a fine trophy for me!"
The ghost who claimed himself to be Skulker showed off his little collection to Danny with a holograph, showing these poor ghosts being stuck inside a small cage together.
Crap… Andy was right… Danny frowned.
Skulker stepped on one of Danny's model rockets, crushing it, which angered the ghost boy.
"Hey, my rocket! I built that!" Danny snapped as he glared at Skulker.
"It's a pity though. I had been hoping you would put up more of a fight." Skulker said as he looked back down at Danny, who was still in the net and feeling cramped up a bit.
Andy and Takuya aren't here… so I should be fine transforming. Danny thought to himself. "Oh, don't you worry, I will!"
Danny activated the cold spot inside him before transforming in his ghost form, and phased out of the net. For some reason, despite it glowing and likely used to catch ghosts, it wasn't intangible proof. Danny decided to try out his ghost ray on Skulker, it worked pretty well on dragon Andy, so it should work well against this robot ghost. Danny fired his ghost ray at Skulker point blank, causing Skulker to hit the wall, and some of his suit scorched and damaged.
Skulker grunted as he hit the wall before his pained look turned into a sneer like that of a predator. "Now we're talking."
While the two of them were duking it out, Andy realized they couldn't get through the door without breaking it down. They could hear Danny's grunts as the room was shaking, and there was the sound of explosions in there.
"What the heck is going on in there?" Andy frowned. "Danny shouldn't be able to put up that much of a fight."
"I don't know, but we have to get that door open, like now!" Takuya exclaimed as he ran to the door knob and began to pull on it again. There was a sense of urgency in his actions and voice too.
"But that ghost locked the door!" Sam pointed out.
"So we'll just have to break it!" Takuya shouted before he backed up and charged forward.
"Wait!" Andy yelled, but Takuya hit the door, and fell over in pain. "I was… about to warn you. Mom and Dad reinforced our doors with wood hard enough to rival steel."
"Ow… whhhhhy?" Takuya groaned.
"To try to keep us safe from potential burglars, and possibly ghosts once they got the Ghost Shield working," Andy answered.
"Great… I'd better keep that in mind then…" Takuya grumbled as he rubbed his left shoulder. "I'm pretty sure I'll have a bruise from hitting that door now."
There was another sound of explosion that nearly shook the entire floor.
"What's going on up there!?" They heard Jazz's voice calling.
"Oh great! Our family can hear them!" Andy groaned.
"We need to keep them from checking the room!" Sam quickly said.
"But we have to help Danny too!" Andy pointed out.
"Danny will be fine, he can take care of himself!" Tucker reassured hastily.
"Gah! Tucker, Sam, you two go down there and distract them! Takuya and I will try to get the door open," Andy quickly instructed.
Sam and Tucker nodded as Takuya looked at Andy and nodded. Sam and Tucker ran down the hall to distract the older Fentons while Takuya glanced back at the door.
"They're gone, do your thing and see if Agunimon has better luck at opening the door," Andy quickly said.
Takuya nodded as he took out that device from his pocket. I really need to know what this thing is called. He mused before shaking his head to return to the task at hand.
Takuya held out his device and the blue digital form of his Human Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his device as he formed a ring of fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the device over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his canine teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"
Now evolved, Agunimon faced the door again. "Okay… here we go…" He muttered before he ran at the door again. Agunimon slammed into the door with his armored shoulder, and the door surprisingly wanted to give in, but it didn't give in so easily, this knocked Aguimon back enough to slam into Andy, causing both of them to stumble back.
Meanwhile, back down in the living room, Jazz knew she had to do some damage control.
"You know, ghost hunting isn't the only thing my parents do, Connie," Jazz began. "It's more of a side interest. What they're really into is-"
There was another explosion upstairs that interrupted Jazz.
Jack quickly got on his feet, preparing for battle. "Ghost! Ghost! GHOOOOST!"
Tucker and Sam finally got downstairs.
Maddie got on her feet too. "Kids, get down, there's a ghost in the house! Where's our boys?"
"Actually, there's tw-ooo much homework to be done for there to be a ghost in the house!" Tucker said, correcting himself when Sam had nudged him with her elbow to stop him from spilling the beans.
Deciding that he needed to excuse himself before he said anymore, Tucker pointed at the kitchen. "I'll get some snacks."
"Uh, yeah… there's no ghost here. Danny, Andy, and Takuya are upstairs," Sam nervously stated before there was another explosion. "Erm… they're having a guys' bonding time up there."
"Are they wrestling with each other?" Jack grinned. "I remember when I used to do that with Vladdie in college, those were good times."
"Uh, yeah! That's what they're doing!" Sam agreed. "They were really eager to let out some frustration at the amount of work and got into wrestling with each other."
"My computer! … Oh, that's Andy's," Danny's voice somehow echoed through the house.
"And I guess they're also wrestling with his computer." Sam grinned nervously.
Upstairs, Andy groaned a little, spitting out Agunimon's hair. "Ever think about cutting your hair? Though I guess I can't complain too much, it softened the blow…"
"Ugh… Didn't expect that door to give such recoil." Agunimon muttered as he rolled off of Andy and got back to his feet. "But I have to try again. The door wanted to break down when I slammed into it."
Andy then frowned as he realized something. "Wait… did something happen to my computer in there?"
"You're worried about that when Danny is in danger?!" Agunimon almost shouted, only restraining himself from doing so because his family was downstairs.
"If he was fine enough to complain about the computer, he's fine enough to not be in major danger," Andy growled.
Agunimon, ignoring Andy, charged at the door again. This time he managed to force it open… only to see the ghost and Phantom sinking under the floor, but no sign of Danny.
"Shit! Danny's not here!" Agunimon swore. "But I did see Phantom and that ghost phase down through the floor."
"Wait, what do you mean Danny's not in there?" Andy frowned as he looked in the room and saw not just his computer broken, but his collection of books and animal models were broken and ripped apart as well. "MY ANIMAL LIMITED EDITION MODELS! It took me years to collect these!"
"We have bigger problems than just your stuff…" Agunimon muttered. "Danny's definitely not in here."
Andy lashed out his Fenton Rod. "Oh… someone's definitely not going to be here very soon."
Andy stormed downstairs, ready to extract vengeance on the ghost who destroyed his collection.
Realizing Andy would need his help, Agunimon made to follow, only to realize he couldn't just sneak downstairs in his current form. Oh… crap… He thought to himself. How the heck am I going to get downstairs like this?!
With Agunimon in his dilemma, Andy rushed downstairs. If he remembered the layout of their house right, the room that was at the bottom of their room would be the kitchen. He ignored his parents and sister, and made a beeline to the kitchen. There, Andy saw Tucker standing there, and Phantom on a now very broken table. That mechanical ghost landed on Phantom.
"Now ghost child, time to see your new home." The mechanical ghost announced to Phantom.
"Phantom? What-" Andy began to ask before the ghost grabbed Phantom and then turned intangible before heading down into the basement of the house, which was the lab.
"Uh…" Tucker started to ask before they heard footsteps approaching them.
Andy and Tucker turned to see the older Fentons and that Connie woman looking at them. Andy was still holding his Fenton Rod.
"... And that is how you break a table," Andy said to Tucker, still trying to cover for the mess that was going on.
"I see! Thank you for showing me, Andy!" Tucker said with a smile.
"What's going on?" Connie asked, confused as heck as to what this family was up to.
There were more quakes and explosions.
How many quakes and explosions can a human and a ghost make? Andy groaned.
"Uh… it sounds like there's rats in the lab!" Sam quickly said.
"Don't worry! We'll go and get rid of them, right Andy?" Tucker said to Andy, looking at him for help.
"Yes, that's right! In fact that's why I have this rod, to… uh… kill and dispose of rats with!" Andy pointed out.
"Wait a minute, you kids shouldn't go into the lab unprotected!" Jack spoke up. "What if those are ghost rats?"
The kids pretended to not hear Jack and ran straight for the lab downstairs.
"Lock the door!" Andy quickly told Tucker.
Tucker did just that, slamming it shut before turning the lock into its shut position. "There! That should buy us some time."
"Now let's go stop that ghost!" Sam said as she continued to run down the stairs into the lab. "Wait, where's Takuya?"
Andy frowned. "There's no time to worry about him, let's go!"
They rushed into the lab to see the mechanical ghost grabbing Phantom by the neck and lifted him up. "-oing to your new home where I can put you on display."
"What?!" Phantom demanded. "Why?! I'm just a teenager, a dead one!"
"Don't play dumb with me, ghost child," The ghost grinned as he pushed a button on his wrist, which forced the Ghost Portal to open its doors, showing the Ghost Zone. "Now let's put you in your cage."
"NO! PLEASE STOP!" Phantom begged, his Obsession was starting to stir, if he was trapped in a cage, he couldn't protect Amity Park anymore, and his family, his friends would all be in danger.
Andy came in, and slammed his Fenton Rod into Skulker so hard that it caused the ghost to drop Phantom and hit the lab's wall.
"Ugh… Thanks, Andy." Phantom said as he rubbed at his sore neck.
Skulker looked back at Andy, angry now. "You… How dare you, human?! No one can outmatch Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!"
"Oh, so you're the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter? Well, you certainly killed a lot of animals," Andy said with a smile on his face. "Animals that took me a long time to collect, and enjoy. Some of those were only found for a limited time, now they're gone, forever. I sure hope you're proud of yourself for that, Mr. Greatest Hunter."
Phantom actually shivered at seeing Andy's grin. Oh boy… Andy's pissed. Andy can be really scary when he's pissed…
"Wow… who knew Andy had it in him." Tucker muttered, feeling a bit freaked out as well now.
"I don't blame him," Sam said. "Skulker was about to put Phantom in a cage, and you know how I feel about those."
"I don't think he's angry because of that…" Tucker gulped.
"And what do you think a weak human like you could do to me? You only got lucky with your little stick," Skulker teased.
Andy calmly walked over to the control panel, and his grin turned into a malicious one. "Dodge."
"What-" That was all the warning Skulker got before he was suddenly faced with huge guns all over the lab. "Uh-oh…"
The guns all fired at Skulker.
Phantom grabbed Sam and Tucker, turning them all intangible so the gun blasts would just pass through them harmlessly. Skulker… was not so lucky. His armor got quite beaten up to say the least. Tucker accidentally dropped his PDA when Phantom had grabbed him.
Unfortunately, the guns ran out of juice rather quickly because they had been used the night before and had yet to be recharged, so they were pulled back into the walls. Though Skulker was now having some issues moving his armor. The guns had shot something important on his wrist, something he had been using to power his suit.
Skulker looked down at the damaged part of his suit. "Great… Now I need to replace that part…" He muttered before something caught his eye. Skulker reached down and picked up Tucker's PDA. "The technology here… it's so sleek, so… advanced…"
Looking at his damaged suit part, Skulker had an idea come to him. "I wonder…" He said with a smirk before he took off the damaged part and put the PDA in its place.
Phantom put Sam and Tucker down and frowned as Skulker's suit was quickly being repaired from the damages.
"Are you serious? Tucker's PDA just healed and leveled up this guy?" Andy growled. "That's just bull-"
"Shit! I didn't know my PDA was ghost compatible!" Tucker yelled.
Phantom flew at Skulker, intending on ending the fight before anyone could come down into the lab. Skulker grinned as he saw Phantom flying at him. He aimed his arm at Phantom before a gun came out and fired off a ray that hit Phantom back against the wall. There were glowing green rings keeping his wrists and ankles together, meaning he couldn't fight back now.
"Yeah… your PDA just made the bad guy more bad…" Sam groaned.
"He's still in the lab," Andy said. "So we still have the advantage. Oh, this is going to feel so good~"
Andy pushed a few buttons on the control panel.
"Andy… maybe you should try to calm down?" Sam asked. "You don't want to hurt Phantom too, do you?"
Andy stopped and thought for a moment. It was highly possible what he planned to do could end up wasting Phantom as well. He looked back at Skulker, seeing he had Tucker's PDA, maybe there was something they could do to-
The PDA on Skulker's arm started to play the William theme, catching the ghost's attention, and confusion.
"Huh?" Skulker looked at the PDA he had just installed on his arm. "What? Fly to library, check out book on eating habits of purple back gorillas?" He read aloud.
Suddenly, wings came out of Skulker's back, surprising him. "Wait! The hunt is not yet over!" He exclaimed as the engines on the wings ignited and he began to fly away.
Seeing that he was about to smash into the ceiling, Skulker turned himself intangible, and silently flew past the Fentons. Jack turned his head, feeling like something just went past them. They decided to go upstairs to check on Takuya and Danny since the lab door was locked.
Agunimon, who was still upstairs, paled when he heard what sounded like a lot of footsteps coming upstairs. Oh crap! C'mon, change back, change back! He thought frantically as he focused on dispersing his armor. To his relief, the shimmering ribbon appeared and when it vanished, he was back to being Takuya. Looking around the room, Takuya tried to come up with something that seemed believable so he didn't get into too much trouble.
Meanwhile, in the lab, Phantom was surprised, and relieved, to see the energy restraints he had on his wrists and ankles dissipated when Skulker was far enough away.
"Whoa, what happened there?" Sam asked as she helped Phantom up on his feet.
"Who cares, at least I have a moment to figure this out," Phantom sighed.
"At least I didn't have to turn on the ecto security system…" Andy mumbled before he turned to Phantom. "But I do have questions… When and why are you here, Phantom? And what happened to Danny?"
"I… sensed a ghost in the area, and Danny was being hunted by that ghost, so I flew in and got Danny to safety." Phantom explained. "But that ghost then decided to hunt me in Danny's place."
"That explains why Danny wasn't in our room then," Andy sighed, relieved that his brother was safe, but still quite angry that his collections were destroyed. "All those models and manga… all the conventions my brother and I convinced our parents to take us to… all those birthdays and Christmases… just… gone to waste…"
"If it helps… I can see if there's anymore sold on the internet," Tucker offered, hoping to cheer Andy up.
"They're gonna be very expensive, Tucker…" Andy solemnly replied.
Sam wanted to offer to help, given her parents' financial situation, but she wasn't sure if her parents would allow her to help the 'bad influences'. Still, it never stopped her before. Only problem was she never told any of her friends about her financial situation. Maybe she should invite them to her house when her parents were out for the night so she could ease them into it.
"I also need a new computer…" Andy huffed.
"I'm sure Mo- Maddie and Jack are willing to shell out some cash for a new computer, you do need it for research and stuff, right?" Phantom said, hoping to cheer Andy up, he also felt kind of guilty that he was relieved Andy's computer got broken instead of his.
"Andy, it will be fine. We'll do what we can to help." Tucker reassured Andy.
Sam nodded as well, giving Andy a smile as well.
Suddenly they heard Maddie's voice calling them. "Danny? Takuya? Where are you? There's someone here who wants to meet you!"
Phantom paled, realizing the state of their room was going to make things worse.
"Phantom, take me to my room, you can swing by with Danny after," Andy quickly said.
Phantom nodded before he grabbed Andy and turned them both intangible before flying up to Andy's and his room. Once in the room, Phantom let go of Andy, returning him to a tangible state and flew off, presumably to 'find' Danny.
"Andy?" Takuya blinked.
"Hey cuz," Andy casually greeted just before Maddie opened the door, allowing Connie to see him.
"Takuya? Danny? … Oh, Andy? When did you… ah, never mind." Maddie said with a smile. "There's someone who wants to meet you. This is Connie, from Genius Magazine." She said as she introduced the two boys to Connie.
Connie smiled as she looked at them, and saw the state of the room. "Oh my…"
Andy, wishing he had a better way to get them out of their room, because he knew his parents would snoop around to check for ghost samples if they got a good look at the mess, quickly ran over to the door and gave an annoyed look.
"Hey! Don't you people ever knock?" Andy snapped before slamming the door on them. Jazz is going to kill me for that… Sorry, Jazz, it's for a good cause! … She's totally going to bring Bearbert into my room tonight, isn't she?
I'm going to kill Andy for that… Jazz thought angrily to herself. I should bring in Bearbert tonight as payback for that…
Connie, however, wasn't at all insulted, in fact, she was more intrigued than ever. "Broody, messy, reclusive, only allow those closest to him in his room… Now those are the signs of a true genius! … If only he was a woman…"
"I'm sorry about that… Andy isn't usually that snappy," Maddie apologized. Although… The fact Connie thinks he's showing signs of a true genius does make me proud.
"Oh, it's fine. I wasn't expecting that from your son, but it must make you proud to be the mother of such a bright young genius." Connie said with a smile.
"Of course! Both of our sons are young geniuses!" Jack smiled, happy that someone was acknowledging his boys' genius.
Jazz was… surprised, to say the least, she definitely didn't expect to hear that from Connie.
Andy could still hear them from the other side of his door, and so could Takuya. Takuya couldn't help but snicker.
"It's not funny," Andy grumbled. "The misunderstanding is going to cause this to spiral out of control."
"That's only if you don't take it in stride. If you protest it, it will only get made worse." Takuya pointed out with a grin.
"Whatever. I'm going to make a makeshift graveyard for my poor collection," Andy grumbled.
The next morning, after Jack and Maddie replaced the broken kitchen table, Andy had to ask his parents about buying a new computer during breakfast.
"What happened to your old one?" Maddie asked.
"It's kaput," Andy said. "Don't know how it happened, probably from that… yesterday's bonding wrestling."
"Ah, right. Well, we can get you a new one, son." Jack said, remembering how many times he had to replace stuff of Vlad's that had been destroyed in their own wrestling matches and vice versa. "That's bound to happen during such activities."
"You don't mind?" Andy asked, surprised at how easily his parents just say 'yes'.
"Of course not!" Jack grinned. "The computer's important for your school work after all."
"Just try to be a little more careful next time," Maddie said. "We can't just keep replacing it every time you boys decide to rough house. Next time, do it outside."
"We will try next time, Aunt Maddie." Takuya said, feeling bad he had to go along with the lie, but it was the best cover they had.
"Yeah… sorry about destroying your computer, bro." Danny said, feeling bad himself since he had done that.
Andy raised an eyebrow at Danny. As far as he knew, Danny didn't do anything wrong, but he guessed Danny was just trying to add for the cover story. "It's okay, bro, we'll just have to be more careful next time." On the plus side, at least I'll get a new computer. The old one was getting slow.
"We'd better get to school." Takuya said as he stood up, having finished his breakfast. "We don't want to be late."
Jazz, however, had been quite depressed after yesterday's interview. She had her head on the table and refused to eat anything.
"Come on, Jazz, it wasn't that bad," Maddie tried to reassure her daughter.
"Yes, it was… there went my best chance at proving my family is normal…" Jazz moped.
"Jazz, let's be real… we're never normal, heck, you're not even normal yourself. Who enjoys going to school and doing extra homework?" Andy remarked.
"Quiet you, or I'm bringing down Bearbert," Jazz warned.
"Normal is totally us!" Andy quickly said. "Yeah, we're totally normal! Just a normal family eating a normal breakfast, going to a normal school!"
Yeah… I don't think hanging out with a ghost kid, and having a cousin who can become a superpowered being is normal. Takuya thought with a sweatdrop running down the side of his head. He was not going to say it aloud though, lest Jazz use his fear of clowns against him.
Andy… the boy who willingly antagonized, and maybe even scared, a ghost predator… is afraid of a teddy bear… Danny couldn't help but find it funny.
Danny, Andy, Tucker, Sam, and Takuya were walking up to school. Danny had been looking around like a scared rabbit for the past hour or so.
"Any sign of him?" Danny nervously asked.
"I'm sure Skulker knows you're not that ghost kid he's hunting anymore, bro, so relax," Andy said. "He's seen what Phantom looks like, so why would he go after you again?"
"Maybe because I'm a human with an ecto-signature?" Danny muttered grumpily.
"Well… yeah, but you're not a ghost…" Andy said, raising an eyebrow.
Danny wished he could just tell Andy right then and there, but he didn't feel ready yet.
"Besides, Skulker hasn't bothered you since yesterday, so maybe he's hunting someone else now," Tucker suggested. "Or… uh… you know, just looking for Phantom somewhere."
"I hope so. I don't like being hunted down like this! It makes me feel like a… a… an animal or something!" Danny groaned.
"I would make a snarky remark about how animals feel during the hunting season, but I can tell this isn't the time," Sam sighed. "And Tucker, is that another PDA you're holding? How many of those things do you have?"
"Only two. This one I had to back-up all the info I have onto it." Tucker said. "I had no idea my PDA could be used by a ghost though. I'll have to be more careful with this thing from now on."
"Yeah, that was a rather horrifying way to find out your PDA was ghost compatible," Andy said.
"You were the one going bloodthirsty on the guy, bro," Danny pointed out. "Um… not that I saw it myself, just heard about it…"
"The dude destroyed all my animal models and manga!" Andy growled. "I wasn't letting him get away with that scot free, even if he is a ghost."
"Makes me glad I wasn't there to witness Andy going after a ghost." Takuya said with a grin.
Andy rolled his eyes. "Stop exaggerating, the only reason why I was able to damage Skulker that much was because he was in the lab. I had access to the heavy artillery. But he should leave us alone now, so we have nothing to worry about."
Danny had to keep himself from gulping.
"Come on, we should head to class or we'll be late," Tucker spoke up, looking at his PDA's time.
Takuya sighed. "Yeah, I suppose we should." He agreed, but he was getting the feeling something was watching them. "And like, now."
The school's warning bell went off, the group hurried into the school to get to their homerooms. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched.
"Soon ghost boy, soon."
After the first period had finished, everyone left the classroom. Danny began to relax since nothing had happened yet today, and Mr. Lancer's voice made him pretty sleepy. He, Andy, Tucker, Sam, and Takuya were in the hallway with the lockers. Everyone else went straight to their next class or went somewhere else in the hallway as their lockers were located further away.
Danny was unlocking his locker when Takuya suddenly gasped as he tensed up. "Wait, Danny! Don't-" He was cut off as Danny opened his locker.
Green chains shot out and wrapped themselves around Danny as he was pushed back from his locker and hit the lockers behind him.
"Wah!?" Danny looked down at the green chains that had wrapped themselves around him like snakes.
"Danny!" Tucker, Sam, and Andy shouted in alarm.
Skulker came out of Danny's locker in the form of flames before showing his battle armor suit again, grinning down at Danny like a predator.
"I have you now, child!" Skulker grinned as he aimed his arm at Danny with a gun charging up.
Andy took out his Fenton Rod and Takuya was about to charge at Skulker when suddenly the William theme began playing on Skulker's wrist.
Skulker blinked as he looked at his wrist. "Huh? Go to the newsstand and purchase magazine with article about purple back gorillas?" He read aloud before his wings came out of his back again. Then, Skulker's engines kicked on and blasted him out of the school.
As soon as Skulker was gone, the chains on Danny dissipated.
"Are you okay?" Andy asked Danny in concern.
"Y-yeah, I'm okay," Danny answered, rubbing his arm.
"That's weird, why did Skulker set a trap for you?" Andy frowned. "Is he still somehow confusing you for Phantom? Or is Phantom nearby?"
"I don't know. I think Skulker may still be after me because I am a human with an ecto-signature…" Danny replied, "So much for not being hunted anymore…"
"And what's odd is that what Skulker said he was going to do was the same thing on my PDA," Tucker remarked, looking at his PDA.
"We're definitely blowing that one off…" Danny grumbled before he realized something. "Takuya, you told me not to open my locker earlier… did you know Skulker was in there?"
"Um… kinda? I… just had a feeling…" Takuya said, trying to pass it off as such. In a sense I did, but I can't really say how I got that feeling…
Probably that magical armor's ghost sense or whatever. Andy concluded.
"We should try to get back to class, we don't want teachers getting mad at us for being late, even though being hunted like an animal is totally grounds for being late," Sam grumbled.
Later, it was lunch time. Skulker hasn't returned yet, but Danny was on alert. He was too nervous to eat his lunch. He also didn't want to potentially put others in danger, so he, Andy, Tucker, Sam, and Takuya decided to have their lunch out on the football stadium. The bleachers were still getting replaced from the little dragon incident, so nobody else was out here but them.
"Danny, can you at least eat something?" Sam asked in concern.
"I can't eat now! Skulker could be anywhere!" Danny groaned, feeling completely out of his element.
"Well you're not going to be able to do anything if you're hungry," Andy sighed as he finished up his small bowl of spaghetti. I knew I should've trained with him last night, but the lab was a mess and everyone was tired.
Takuya frowned as he bit into a sandwich he had with him. "We can't just wait for something to happen. Not if we want to stop Skulker from hunting you."
"I know that! But I don't know where he could be or when and where he'll strike next," Danny groaned.
Tucker swallowed his yogurt before picking up a carton of milk. "Well, this food was scheduled to be eaten. Maybe we'll come up with something after we-"
Tucker opened the carton of milk, only for a blue energy ball of some kind to come out of it. Everyone stared in surprise at this blue ball before it latched itself onto Danny's head.
"Danny!" Everyone with him cried.
Skulker came down and landed on the bleachers above the group. "Now, boy, once more, I, Skulker, shall-" He was cut off once again as the William tone played from the PDA on his wrist.
Skulker looked at the device on his wrist. "Take photos of gorilla?" Then his wings came out again and once more, Skulker was flying off into the distance against his will.
As soon as Skulker was gone, the blue ball that had latched itself on Danny's face disappeared as well.
"He really likes gorillas, doesn't he?" Sam couldn't help but remark.
"Weren't we studying Sampson before all of this happened?" Andy asked. "Maybe Tucker's PDA still has that schedule in it when Skulker took it."
"That would explain why Skulker seems to be so regular with his sudden departures." Takuya realized.
Danny began to get an idea. "Hmm… Tucker, what's our next schedule?"
"Gym, why?" Tucker replied, confused.
Danny gave a mischievous grin. Andy decided not to comment on that, but it looked like Danny was thinking something similar to he was. Andy decided to wait and see what his brother planned to do.
Later, after a tiring class of Physical Education at the gym, the boys were in their locker room. Since Takuya was a grade higher than them, he didn't have the same gym class as they did, so it was just Danny, Tucker, and Andy together. They were wearing their gym clothes, and they were getting ready to take a shower.
Dash was in the same locker room as they were, ignoring them in favor of looking at his own muscles in the full body mirror.
Danny looked over at Andy and nodded to him.
Andy walked over to Dash. "Hey Dash?"
Dash actually jumped when Andy approached him, looking surprisingly nervous. Andy blinked at Dash's reaction.
"W-what!? I mean I'm busy, you know!" Dash yelled, trying to cover up his nervousness.
"Uh… well, Danny is a bit too weak and tired after a long day of running laps, and so am I… so… we were hoping you'd open the locker up for us?" Andy pleaded.
Dash, despite trying to not look nervous, decided to do as Andy asked, lest he become that dragon again. He shoved Danny aside as he made his way to Danny's locker. "Out of the way, loser!" He said, trying to act all tough still.
Danny, Tucker, and Andy looked at each other as they waited.
As soon as Dash opened the locker, he was suddenly hit by some kind of slime that also blinded him, smashing him against the wall. Dash was actually terrified now, he wasn't sure what hit him or trapped him, but all he could imagine was the dragon glaring down at him, ready to smash, barbecue, or eat him.
Skulker came into the locker room to see what triggered his trap, but to his dismay and annoyance, it was not his preferred prey. He looked at his scanners on his wrist. "Hmmm… My scanners indicate you're just an average human, destined for an average human life after high school."
Who's destined for an average human life in this crazy town? Andy couldn't help but question, though he did feel bad for tricking Dash like that, despite Dash pretty much deserving it. Why did Dash seem like he was scared of me? Was I imagining it?
Skulker turned around, seeing his preferred prey standing there. Skulker frowned, seeing that the ghost child was standing next to his look alike, but it didn't matter, his look alike didn't have an ecto signature.
"Now, child, I shall-" Skulker was cut off by the PDA chiming again. He looked at the device once more, despite holding an energy ball in his other hand. "Visit the gorilla display at the Museum of Natural History?"
Skulker seemed to know what was coming next, as there was a resigned look on his face as his wings came out again before he blasted off out of sight again.
"Why would he go there?" Tucker questioned.
"When Skulker put your PDA into his system, he became bound to your schedule, he had to go where we were going to go next," Danny explained.
"So… you were planning to leave school several times to take photos of Sampson and visit the museum?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Only during my free period!" Tucker exclaimed. "I want to get as much extra credit as possible!"
"I think you have enough extra credits," Andy sighed. "Not that it matters right now. Now that we know where Skulker's going to be, we can set up a trap for the hunter. Nobody keeps hounding my brother and gets away with it."
"Wah!" Dash yelled when the trap he was in was now gone and he fell to the floor.
"Uh… are you okay, Dash?" Andy asked, not sure why he cared enough to ask.
"You just stay away from me with your weird dragon powers!" Dash screamed before he ran away.
"Oh…" Andy paled. "He remembers…"
Danny snickered. "It seems he remembers the roaring time he had at the dance."
"This isn't funny. If Dash remembers, then other people might remember. Then it's only a matter of time before the government tries to hunt me down because they think I'm some kind of ghost dragon!" Andy groaned. "Isn't there any way to create a device that wipes people's memories?"
"What are you so worried about? It's just Dash, maybe Kwan and Calvin, but who's going to believe them that someone turns into a dragon?" Tucker asked. "It's not like you'll turn into a dragon again now that the amulet's gone."
"I can't have these top dog bullies be scared of me, that's going to raise a lot of questions," Andy grumbled.
"We can worry about that later. We have a hunter to hunt down." Danny said.
Andy sighed. "Fine, we'll deal with Skulker first, after that I'm taking care of that dragon incident once and for all."
"So… what is the plan, exactly?" Takuya asked after school was over and the group were heading to Amity's zoo again.
"We're going to lure Skulker out with the right kind of bait," Danny answered. "Once he's out in the open, that's when we'll strike."
"Okay, but what will be the bait?" Takuya asked, wanting to know more. "It's not like we can use you or Phantom. You two are trying to lay low for a while. And he has weapons that can deal with Phantom."
"It's not going to be me… or, uh, Phantom," Danny said, taking him a few seconds to add in 'Phantom'.
"So what bait are you using?" Takuya asked. "Is it going to be Andy?"
"By that logic, you would think so," Andy said. "Skulker did say I look like the ghost child, even though Phantom and I look nothing alike. Then again he's constantly hunting Danny down too for some reason. But no, it's not me."
"After some careful considerations, and looking up different scenarios with my PDA's simulation," Tucker said as he was looking at his PDA. "It's best to use the most athletic one in our group to be used as bait."
"Meaning you, Takuya," Sam spelled it out.
Takuya paled. "Wait… what?! I'm the bait! But I don't have any powers or anything!" Crap… of all the things…
"You seem to be able to tell when Skulker is nearby, despite not having special powers," Andy said, though he knew darn well Takuya had special powers. "Out of all of us, you'd be able to react the fastest once Skulker is out in the open. He could catch any of us by surprise."
"But what if I…" Takuya trailed off, hoping Andy would get the message. What if I need to Spirit Evolve?
"We'll give you a disguise to cover you up," Andy answered. "Skulker won't be able to see you so easily until he gets close."
"Great…" Takuya grumbled. Well, at least a disguise would cover the fact I will most likely have to become Agunimon again.
"But what will we do about Sampson when we put the plan into action?" Sam asked.
"You leave that up to me," Danny said. If I can overshadow people, I should be able to overshadow animals too. I can keep Sampson out of the way while we do this.
"Alright, let's do this! Super secret spy mission, operation: Hunt the Hunter!" Tucker yelled cheerfully.
"It's not going to be a secret 'spy mission' if you keep yelling it out like that…" Sam grumbled.
Tucker at least had the decency to look sheepish at Sam's comment. "Ehehe… right… my bad…"
"Alright, everyone, let's get everything ready, we don't want to be late for our schedule with Skulker~" Andy grinned.
This is humiliating, demeaning, stupid… Why did I agree to do this? Takuya growled to himself as he was wearing the purple back gorilla costume, having to scratch his butt like the real thing several times.
He could sense Skulker was in the tree above him. Stupid hunter… When I transform into Agunimon, I am so taking some payback on this guy…
The disguised boy could hear Skulker muttering to himself. "Where is he? According to this stupid device," He growled, looking at the PDA which was playing Pong on its own. "Which I cannot reprogram, the ghost boy was supposed to be here an hour ago."
Finally getting fed up, Skulker flew down from the tree and glared at the 'gorilla'. "You were supposed to be the bait, you stupid animal!"
Takuya growled as he turned around. "Maybe you shouldn't be hunting down my cousin then!" He snapped.
"What the? You!? … Who are you?" Skulker frowned.
"I'm your worst nightmare!" Takuya grinned.
"By the way, Sampson's not stupid!" Sam shouted from the bushes as Tucker was doing something on his PDA.
"Have fun doing push-ups!" Tucker yelled.
"What are you-" Skulker began to say before he heard that dreaded theme playing on his wrist. "Time for Push-Ups?"
Suddenly, Skulker began doing push-ups. "H-hey! Stop! I can't stop! Stop it!"
"We can help with that!" Andy spoke up, coming out from his own hiding place, and Danny stood next to him, holding his own Fenton Rod.
Andy and Danny ran at Skulker, who was still doing push-ups, and both brothers smacked Skulker with the Fenton Rods hard enough to send Skulker flying, hitting the edge of the enclosure.
Skulker grunted as he hit the enclosure wall.
"Don't stop, keep hitting him!" Danny called out.
Andy and Danny ran up at Skulker, who was stunned by the hits earlier, and they continued to swing their Fenton Rods at him, doing a decent amount of damage to his suit.
After some good hits by the twins, Skulker dodged the next blow from Danny, allowing both brothers to rush past him. Now free of being pounded by the Fenton Rods, Skulker called out a gun from his right shoulder and aimed it at the twins.
"Oh crud!" Andy yelped.
Danny knew he may have to go ghost in order to protect Andy from what could be a fatal blow to a human. His secret identity wasn't worth Andy's life after all.
However, Tucker managed to stop Skulker by sending another message to the PDA Skulker had. "Time to polish your armor!"
The gun became a polishing tool that then began to polish Skulker's face. "Hey!" Skulker stumbled back from being unable to see.
"Can't you power him down with that thing!?" Andy called out.
"I've been trying, but it won't send!" Tucker called back. "I think powering him down goes against the self preservation thing, so the PDA won't take it!"
"Then try to keep him stunned, we'll-" Danny began before Skulker fired an arrow at Tucker's PDA, smashing it into a tree. "... Nevermind…"
Tucker gaped. "Aw man! I had four more payments on that!" He whined. "I should've taken my own advice and been more careful…"
Skulker had had enough of this ghost boy's resistance. He was tired of holding back. "Very well, I grow tired of this game, ghost child. I had planned on simply capturing you and letting you live the rest of your existence in a cage on display. But now I've decided, I will rest your pelt at the foot of my bed!"
"That's gross, and inhuman!" Sam snapped.
"Of course not! I'm not human!" Skulker snapped back.
"Well… this might put us in a pickle…" Andy chuckled sheepishly. "So… uh… Agunimon, any time you wanna help, that would be nice!"
As if on cue, a slew of fiery darts came out from the brush, hitting Skulker's form directly. As soon as the attack stopped, Agunimon came out from his own hiding place.
Unbeknownst to the others, once Danny and Andy had begun engaging Skulker, Takuya had slipped away and evolved into his Agunimon form.
"You knew Agunimon would be here?" Sam asked.
"He seems to show up when a ghost is around, so I figured he would be. Phantom's probably trying to lay low right now," Andy replied.
"You aren't going to be hunting down anyone anytime soon." Agunimon growled at Skulker, showing his sharp canines in his anger. "Not while I'm here."
Skulker glared at Agunimon. "What is a being like you doing here? I thought your world was sealed off a long time ago!"
At that, Agunimon became confused. "What? What are you talking about?"
"I don't have time for chit-chat, if I have to destroy you to get my prey, then I will!" Skulker hissed as he summoned a large gun on his back, this one, however, fired missiles.
Seeing this, Agunimon was quick to react. He got into a fighting stance before he threw more Pyro Darts at Skulker directly. C'mon… I can't just keep using my Pyro Darts. I need to get better… I need more power! He thought as he had to dodge missiles that were coming at him.
"Can't Agunimon do more damage than that?" Tucker asked.
"No…" Andy frowned.
"Shouldn't we help him?" Sam asked.
"We're going to get caught up in those missiles if we did now," Andy pointed out.
"I can't just sit here and let T- Agunimon get hit!" Danny spoke up, gripping on his Fenton Rod.
"Danny! What are you doing!?" Andy shouted when he saw his brother running towards Skulker.
Danny ran at Skulker, intending on helping his cousin out. But when he did, some missiles locked onto Danny instead. Agunimon saw this and gasped. He ran over to intercept the missiles himself. Danny saw the missiles coming at him in slow motion. He knew he couldn't dodge, or even go intangible, the missiles were coming too fast. However, Agunimon was able to get in front of Danny, shielding the boy from the front. The missiles hit Agunimon's form, causing smoke to envelop him.
"NO!" Danny shouted in alarm, seeing this.
Skulker grinned at seeing Agunimon hit by the missiles. But as the smoke began to clear, he could see a form still standing in the smoke. Skulker narrowed his eyes a bit before the smoke cleared fully, revealing Agunimon was still standing. He had used his armored forearms to take the brunt of the explosion. Agunimon looked up as he lowered his arms before he held his arms out to his sides, his eyes holding a look that told of payback.
"That's it…" Agunimon growled out as he then slammed his fists together, causing a spark to ignite from his silver wrist armor. New knowledge hit him suddenly, and he knew what to do. Using this new knowledge, Agunimon called forth flames from his wrist armor, and it gathered around his fists. He then lunged at Skulker, one of his flame-coated fists drawn back before thrusting it forwards at Skulker's face."Pyro Punch!"
Skulker let out a shocked yell as the fiery punch knocked off his head entirely. Andy's eyes went wide as the head flew at him, and he ended up catching it, though the head did knock him back a few inches. "Oof!"
"Yikes, now that was a punch," Sam whistled, impressed.
"You're telling me!" Tucker said, also impressed.
"Wow… Agunimon… you have a mean right hook," Danny complimented, relieved to see his cousin was alright, and got stronger.
Agunimon was looking at his own hands in shock. "Thanks… I think…" He muttered, surprised but also relieved for some reason. "I… I don't know how but…" He trailed off before they all heard a squeaky voice yelling from the head Andy was holding. Agunimon ran over, as did Danny, to see what was making that sound.
"Put me down! I am the Skulker, the Skulker! Do you hear me? Fear me!" The squeaky voice shouted.
Andy looked down at the head, seeing what appeared to be a pair of glowing green legs kicking around at the bottom of the robotic head. Andy grabbed onto the legs and pulled the thing out.
Everyone was rather surprised to see a tiny ghost in Andy's hand, hanging upside down. Skulker turned out to be nothing more than a tiny green ghost with legs, hands, and a face.
Agunimon couldn't help but extend a finger and poke the small ghost. "W-wha… This is Skulker?"
"I am the greatest hunter in all of the Ghost Zone!" The tiny Skulker shouted, trying to sound intimidating. "You will all fear me!"
"Someone please get the thermos before he slips through my hand," Andy spoke up.
"I got it this time." Sam said as she held up a Fenton Thermos before taking off the cap and sucking in Skulker.
"You haven't seen the last of me! I will be back!" Skulker shouted as he was sucked into the thermos. "I have more suits at home!"
Skulker was finally sucked into the thermos, and Sam put the cap on the thermos.
"He sure likes to boast a lot," Sam remarked.
"I'm just glad it's finally over, no more hunting," Danny sighed in relief.
Sampson, who had been watching the action, had been waiting in case these kids needed his help. But it looked like they handled themselves pretty well. He walked over to them, smiling.
"Well, for now anyways," Sam said.
"Hey, don't let that ruin our victory," Andy chuckled. "At least Phantom doesn't have to keep hiding anymore either. And Agunimon learned quite a strong move out of this."
Agunimon chuckled as well. "I will admit, I wasn't expecting to learn a new move, but I can't complain, not if it defeated Skulker so easily."
Danny smiled at Agunimon's comment. "Hey, at least Skulker is defeated, so that means we can all rest easy for a while." Danny then turned around to see Sampson and smiled. "Hey, there you are!" He said with a grin.
Sampson gave a wave to them.
"I wonder if purple back gorillas are as intelligent as humans," Andy mused as he looked at Sampson, and then noticed something was off about 'him'. "Oh… my gosh… Hey, Sam, maybe the purple back gorilla population won't have to go extinct after all…"
Sam blanked before noticing what Andy was staring at. "No way… No effing way!"
So at school, the next day, Tucker turned in his extra credit, with Genius Magazine showing the Fentons, Tucker, Sam, and Takuya, standing next to Sampson, who now had a pink bow on her head. The title of the magazine was 'he is a she'.
"Well, I wasn't expecting this." Mr. Lancer noted with some surprise. He picked up the magazine and read the article. "'Brooding geniuses Daniel and Andrew Fenton did what no other researcher dared to do. They got close enough to the rare purple back gorilla Sampson, only to discover… she's a Deliala. With help from Samantha Manson, Tucker, Foley, and Takuya Kanbara, they revealed the species did not have to go extinct, and that the purple back gorilla has a chance to return.'"
Mr. Lancer raised an eyebrow. "Nobody at that zoo ever bothered to see if that gorilla was a boy or a girl?"
"That's weird, huh? Maybe they were afraid of her," Tucker chuckled.
"Well, I have to admit, Foley, I'm impressed. You wanted to pull your grade up so much you and your friends risked getting mauled by a gorilla," Mr. Lancer said before he handed Tucker, Danny, and Andy back their papers.
Andy definitely had an A+ now, Danny also had an A+. Tucker got an A-, but it was still way better than the C he had.
"Awesome!" Tucker said, thrilled he had an A- now. "I knew it would pay off!"
The bell rang for the class to dismiss. Mr. Lancer then said, "But the next time you want to bring your grade up, I suggest you try the library."
With that said, Mr. Lancer left along with everyone else, leaving Danny, Andy, Tucker, and Sam in the classroom. Takuya was, unfortunately, in a different class.
"Well, at least we can tell Takuya the good news at lunch." Danny grinned. "I wonder if getting on the cover of Genius Magazine would bolster our popularity ranking though."
"I just hope the other geniuses in this school don't start thinking we're on their level, because we're totally not," Andy muttered. "Sampson was just really friendly with us. I'm not sure if that takes a genius."
"Come on, bro, lighten up a little. I mean look at our grades! This is the promise of a great school year!" Danny grinned.
"I AM THE BOX GHOST!" A loud, familiar, goofy voice suddenly shouted, surprising the group. "And once I've emptied you of your useless papers, your marvelous squareness shall be MINE!"
They all turned to see the Box Ghost floating over a box of folders and files.
"When did he get here?" Tucker asked.
"How did he get here?" Sam questioned.
"I don't know…" Danny frowned.
"But he's going back," Andy finished, holding up a Fenton Thermos, taking off the cap and sucking the Box Ghost in.
"NO FAIR!" The Box Ghost whined as he was sucked into the thermos. "I HAVE NOT YET SHOWN THE POWER OF MY CARDBOARD WEAPONS OF DOOM!"
Titanic X: ZAFT: Glad you got a kick out of it. XD
CT7567Rules: DarkFoxKit: The Box Ghost is comedy relief, although there was that one time he was a threat when he stole Pandora's box. He needs to know how to use the boxes as a threat rather than throwing people free food that was in the box.
ZAFT: As for Andy, Takuya, and Danny… Danny knows Takuya's secret, as does Andy, but Andy and Takuya are in the dark about Danny being Phantom. ^^' Kinda confusing? Yes, but it will clear up soon… ;3 As for Jazz, yeah, it's kinda what any teenager wants, but no one can be truly normal. XP Now, as for the other Warriors… they will come in, but in a different fashion so to speak. You will have to read to find out. :3
DarkFoxKit: I thought we made it pretty clear Andy and Takuya don't know Danny is Danny Phantom. Andy sees Phantom as a separate entity from his brother. As for Jazz… yeah, she may like to think she's an adult, but she is a teenager who's embarrassed by her parents for being themselves.
We're learning what worked and what didn't work in our old story with this reboot. Having too many characters on a daily basis with our main characters was very… hard to keep track of. I will say the other Digi-destined are still in the story, they're just not gonna be as… close to our characters.