DarkFoxKit: Hello everyone.
Andy: Apparently there's lots of snow where ZAFT is, but meanwhile, there's just a lot of rain here.
DarkFoxKit: Nothing but rain… I'm all wet… but no snooooow.
ZAFT: If I could, I would send the next blizzard your way, but I can't… T-T
Takuya: At least the snow let up where you are, ZAFT.
ZAFT: No one asked you, fire-boy…
Andy: Hey, I have an idea, why don't you have Takuya turn into Agunimon and melt all the snow in your area?
Takuya: That's a lot of snow, Andy! I'd push myself beyond exhaustion if I tried that!
Andy: You could at least clear the driveway. Who knows? You might even make some money doing that~
ZAFT: Okay… onto the chapter you two~ Get in the chapter before I make you… :3
(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 black-haired boy 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, 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, 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 21: The Need for Justice or Vengeance?
Takuya frowned when he went into the twins' room, only to see Andy there. He didn't see Danny, and wondered where the other twin could be.
Andy was writing something in his journal. "Is there something you need?"
Takuya blinked. "Um… I was just wondering where Danny was. I assumed he would be with you but… apparently not…"
"He went out to meet with Sam at Central Park," Andy answered.
"Isn't it a bit early though?" Takuya asked.
"He said he wants to try to figure out how to stop that dog he calls 'Cujo' from escaping the Ghost Zone," Andy replied. "Since Sam is the animal expert, he's hoping she could help figure something out. And going to central park is a good way to keep the dog from destroying more things."
Takuya had to admit, that was a good idea now that he thought about it himself. "I see. This way the ghost dog can run around and there is limited damage." He mused. A frown then crossed his face. "But… What does that ghost dog want? It can't just be coming back for no reason, right? From what I remember about ghosts, they usually come back for a reason."
Andy frowned. "Maybe…"
"Are you okay? You're looking a little… stressed?" Takuya asked.
"I blew it with Valerie!" Andy suddenly exploded. "She's going to want to come after Danny now! I don't know how she would, but she's going to do something that's going to put Danny, and herself, in danger!"
"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, Andy!" Takuya said as he put his hands on Andy's shoulders. "Just calm down! What makes you so sure Valerie will go after Danny? Did something happen that convinced you she will? You need to be more clear with me on what happened to make you so sure of that."
Andy groaned as he rubbed his head. "I… don't actually know for sure. But the way she looked when she spoke about how the ghosts ruined her life… it wasn't just anger, I could hear the venom in her voice. That's the tone of someone ready for revenge."
Takuya frowned at that information. "So, it was her tone that gave it away, huh? And… you're sure she is going to go after Danny?" Takuya had a bad feeling forming in his gut as he asked the question, hoping he would be wrong about the feeling.
"Not Danny Danny, but his ghost half, yeah," Andy answered. "She really believes everything that happened at the lab was his fault, and that Cujo really belongs to him."
"Are you sure you're not just being paranoid?" Takuya asked. "I mean even if Valerie wants revenge, she's still a human, right? She should know she can't just fight back against a ghost."
"Strong emotions make people do crazy, illogical things…" Andy sighed. "If a ghost were to suddenly come in, destroy everything you owned, stole all of your money, and left you with barely anything, how would you react?"
"I… can't say…" Takuya admitted at last. "But I would probably feel the same way if it did happen to me…"
Takuya then sighed. "Would… would it make you feel better if I went to check on Danny and see if Valerie really does come after him?"
Andy sighed and rubbed his face. "What would you do if she was though? Showing up as Agunimon isn't going to help the situation."
"Ugh… I know, but it's not like I can just sit back and wait to see if she does try to hurt Danny." Takuya groaned. "I… Okay, how about this? I just observe to see what is going on, and if she does try to hurt Danny, I will try to help Danny, but as a human."
Andy paused for a moment before nodding. "Okay. Besides, the knucklehead might need your help in case things go wrong with the dog."
Takuya nodded. "Alright, sounds good then. I can do that easily."
Takuya made his way to Central Park, but as he went, he couldn't help but wonder why Andy himself didn't go with him. He didn't think to ask Andy at the time, Andy didn't look particularly busy with homework or anything. Maybe Andy just decided he didn't need to go out, or maybe he was worried about confirming his suspicion on Valerie going after Danny's ghost half.
Sighing to himself, Takuya decided to focus on the task at hand, namely just checking in on Danny and seeing if things were really going okay. Takuya could see Danny, in his ghost form, standing with Sam on a hill. Takuya found a good hiding spot amongst the brush and shrubs, kneeling down to stay out of sight. Okay, now I just have to wait and see if Valerie shows up or something. This shouldn't be too bad.
"I'm telling you, Sam, this is one bad dog!" Danny complained. "No matter how many times I throw him into the Ghost Zone, he digs his way out and comes back to me!"
"Well you're the only other ghost in the area," Sam pointed out. "Maybe you could train him."
"Train him?" Danny blinked.
"Yeah… I mean, ghost dog or not, it's still a dog… I think…" Sam replied. "Besides, didn't you say you always wanted a pet?"
"Well… yeah, but not a ghost dog that won't listen to me!" Danny whined.
"But it's still a dog." Sam pointed out. "Therefore, it should be trainable."
Danny grumbled. "I don't know about this…"
"At least try," Sam said before she tossed the dog obedience book she was holding to him. "Here, you can try using this to help."
The book passed through Danny's stomach and arms, landing on the ground beside him.
From his hiding spot, Takuya grimaced. He knew Danny was ghostly, but seeing that book pass through his body like that was a bit eerie to him.
Danny picked up the book and sighed. "Well, I don't have any better ideas." He muttered as he flipped open the book to the first chapter.
"Good luck," Sam said before she walked down the hill.
"Where are you going?" Danny asked. "Aren't you going to help me with this?"
"We're not exactly on private property, I can't be seen hanging out with a ghost kid," Sam pointed out. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that ghost dog wouldn't be happy to see a human standing beside the only other ghost in the area."
Danny sighed. "I guess that's a good point…" He conceded as Sam smiled before turning to walk down the hill again. Danny then looked down at the open chapter he had before him.
"Let's see… 'A dog's hearing is much more acute than a human's.'" An idea then crossed Danny's mind. "Which means…"
While Danny had been reading the book, someone was watching him. Someone who wasn't Takuya and Sam. They were watching through special binoculars that would be able to see through a ghost's invisibility. Danny let out a loud whistle, and the person turned to see the ghost pup rushing to answer the call of its master.
Danny then looked at the book again. "'Hand signals, along with vocal commands, can be a powerful combination.'" Then Danny looked up and held out a hand to the dog in a 'stop' gesture. "Stop!" He called, making the ghost puppy come to a stop in front of him.
Danny raised an eyebrow at seeing this. "That's weird… this dog is already trained."
While Danny was new to trying to train a dog, he didn't expect the dog to immediately obey anything he did. Cujo was smiling and wagging his tail at Danny before he jumped and pounced Danny in the chest, causing the ghost boy to fall off of the hill. Of course, since Danny was in his ghost form, the fall was nothing for him. Although it would've been quite bad for a human. Cujo landed on Danny's lap, looking quite playful.
"Sort of…" Danny chuckled. "Though Andy had a point before. The way you play would only be alright for ghosts. Humans wouldn't last very long with a ghost dog as a pet…"
Takuya couldn't help but smile a bit. It was rather cute watching Danny and the ghost dog.
However, the cute scene didn't last as a missile came flying past Takuya himself, making the boy jump. "Aw, shit!" Takuya swore to himself as soon as he saw what was going on.
Luckily, Danny spotted the missile coming at him and Cujo, so he reacted quickly. He grabbed onto Cujo and jumped out of the way. The missile hit the ground, causing a rather large hole.
Danny frowned, but he knew trouble when he saw it. He set Cujo down. "Stay!"
Danny flew over to the small crater, looking over at it. "What the heck was that?"
The sound of what sounded like engines came into Danny's hearing and he looked back, seeing a female form in a red suit with black gloves and boots, as well as a red hood with a black eye covering. The form was on a silver hoverboard as well. In the form's hands was an ecto-gun of some kind. The form looked quite intimidating… before wobbling on the hoverboard and then regaining balance.
The red suited person was aiming at the ghost boy's face, then unleashed the missile that was attached to the hoverboard at him. Of course, Danny still had his dodge training's reflexes, and easily dodged the missile. But in doing so, the missile blew up the ground. This was causing quite the mess in central park. Danny moved around quickly, avoiding more missiles.
How many missiles does this person have? Danny frowned.
Danny stopped for a moment as the person riding on the hoverboard moved closer to him. He saw the person had a bit of trouble keeping their balance on the board, which meant he had the advantage. Danny flew around the person, trying to knock them off balance. The red suited person attempted to fly after him. Despite how fast Danny was, the hoverboard was fast enough to keep up with him.
Takuya watched this from his hiding spot. He clenched a fist, knowing he should do something, but the speeds the two were moving at would do some damage to him if he tried to interfere. Damn it… I know I said I would help as a human, but… this is just… He trailed off mentally, feeling frustrated. Who is this person?!
Danny flew around, trying to elude the person on the hoverboard, but the person was still on his tail. Danny, in an attempt to lose the person, flew towards a tree and turned intangible, phasing through it. The person seemed startled and tried to fly up to avoid the tree; while successful in avoiding the tree, the person fell from their hoverboard.
The hoverboard, however, had an auto drive, and realized the pilot was absent. The hoverboard flew over to the falling person, catching her.
"Yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about!" The person cheered.
Danny frowned, the voice of the person sounded very familiar. Wait… it couldn't be… could it?
Andy had warned Danny to be careful, because it was possible Valerie may try to do something foolish to get back at his ghost half. But Danny didn't think it would be this extreme.
Down below on the ground, Takuya had recognized the voice as well. Oh man… I hate it when Andy tends to be right… He thought with dismay. Valerie is out to get revenge on Danny's ghost half…
The red-suited person, Valerie most likely, came to a hover in front of Danny before throwing what looked like three buzzsaw blades at Danny. But her aim was off, the first saw blade embedded in a tree trunk, the second bounced off a rock, and the third hit a bird bath before landing in the bath itself.
Danny moved his arm away from the second blade that almost grazed him. He knew better than to take a chance with dangerous projectiles like that. Considering they were being aimed at him, there was a good chance these were meant to hurt ghosts. Danny wasn't going to try to find out though.
What do I do? If this is Valerie, I don't want to hurt her. Clearly she's new with the weapons, but… I could try knocking her out, but I don't know how well her suit will absorb my attack. I don't want to hit her too soft and not knock her out, that would only put me in more danger. But I don't want to put too much force and accidentally give her brain damage. Danny frowned, seeing the situation was pretty bad right now.
The person, whom Danny suspected to be Valerie, aimed a large bazooka at him. Danny could hear the bazooka powering up. "You'll soon be nothing but a puddle of goop, ghost! This is what we humans call 'consequences'!"
Danny wanted to do something, but he wasn't sure what to do.
Takuya, on the other hand, knew exactly what to do, seeing as the two were not flying around at high speed anymore. He stood up and ran out from the brush, intent on knocking the aim of the person on the hoverboard off so she would miss Danny.
Just before the red suited person could fire, Takuya ran under the hoverboard and shoved it enough to make the person lose her balance just as she fired the bazooka. The bazooka had enough recoil to cause the person to go flying back. Since the aim was off, it would be easy for Danny to dodge it, but Cujo came running in as his bigger dog form. Since Cujo didn't know that Danny could've dodged, he decided to grab Danny's boot with his mouth and drag the ghost boy away from danger.
Takuya looked back, the red suited person didn't see him, and the hoverboard was moving up to catch the person again. The person had to take a moment to rebalance herself before aiming her bazooka at the ghost dog and the ghost boy.
The ghost dog was dragging poor Danny along like a chew toy, the blasts of the bazooka missing Cujo by mere inches at times.
The person on the hoverboard rammed into a tree and fell to the ground off her board.
Danny managed to get his boot out of Cujo's mouth after the person hit the tree, causing him to slide a little on the ground, and Cujo to stop running. Danny and Cujo stopped right next to Sam, who had been watching the whole thing.
"Who is that? And… what's Takuya doing here?" Sam asked.
"Takuya's here too?" Danny frowned, surprised. "And that person in the red suit… I think that… might be Valerie."
Sam blinked. "Valerie? In that suit? That's an awesome outfit." Sam remarked with a grin before she realized what this meant. "Wait… Valerie is after you?"
"Apparently yeah…" Danny said with a frown as he saw Takuya find a new hiding spot in the bush. "But why is Takuya here? I thought he would be at home with Andy."
Danny could hear the engine of the hoverboard approaching them. This wasn't the time for questions right now. I gotta get Cujo out of here!
Danny looked over at the dog. "Hey, see the ball, boy?"
Danny shaped his ghost ray into a glowing green ball in the palm of his hand. Cujo hung out his purple tongue, looking excitedly at the 'ball'.
Danny threw the 'ball' as far as he could. "Fetch!"
Cujo ran after the 'ball' barking all the while.
Danny could hear the engines getting closer. "Oh no… She's coming! We have to hide!"
"No time!" Sam said before she pushed Danny to the ground in a tackle move, only to plant her lips on Danny's. Danny was so shocked, he lost his transformation, turning back to human form.
The person on the hoverboard came up to their location, assuming Danny was the ghost boy. "No escaping me now, ghost boy - huh?" She removed the bazooka, seeing Danny and Sam in the middle of a 'kiss'.
Danny had no idea what was going on, his mind was erupting with confusion and shock when his best friend had planted her lips onto his with no warning. Sam looked up at Valerie and acted shocked. "Hey! Do you mind? We'd like some privacy!"
The red-suited person cringed. "Ugh, gross… Loser love! I always knew you two geeks would end up together!"
The red-suited person then had her hoverboard fly away from the two to look for the ghost boy and his dog.
"Yeah… that voice definitely sounded like Valerie," Sam noted before she looked over at Danny, and noticed… a strange, dreamy smile on his face.
At some point, after the shock, Danny ended up smiling. The kiss was definitely unexpected, but he kinda liked it. It wasn't like he had a lot of experience with kissing girls.
"Uh… Danny? You… didn't think that was a real kiss, did you?" Sam asked cautiously, feeling awkward now.
Danny at once had a response. "No! No I didn't!" He exclaimed a bit too quickly. Then he paused. "Why… did you?" He asked awkwardly.
Sam bit her bottom lip, of course the awkwardness was setting in, she did just kiss her best friend on the lips without warning. She had a good reason to, but it didn't stop it from being awkward.
Takuya, seeing that the cost was clear, ran over to the two. "Are you two okay? … Is there a reason why you both are blushing?"
"N-no! Not at all!" Danny replied quickly.
"Y-yeah! We were just… hiding!" Sam added rather quickly.
Takuya blinked before a grin began to cross his face. "Oh? And what were you doing while 'hiding'?" He teased them.
"I can ask you the same question! What were you doing here?" Danny huffed, trying to get Takuya off of their backs.
"Um… Andy asked me to come and see if you were doing okay." Takuya replied, giving a half truth. Not that Danny needs to know Andy was worried about him being attacked by Valerie…
"Andy? I wonder if he knew this was going to happen." Sam frowned.
"He suspected it might," Danny answered. "But I don't think he knew it was going to be this bad…"
Danny rubbed his forehead. "What am I going to do? Fighting ghosts is one thing, but a human? A classmate of our's? How am I supposed to handle that?"
"I don't know, but maybe we should talk to Andy about this, see if he has any ideas." Takuya suggested.
"Yeah, I kinda have to agree with Takuya, Danny. This is new territory for you," Sam agreed.
Danny sighed. "Not to mention I still have to deal with Cujo… this is such a mess…"
Meanwhile, Valerie had been flying for a while, but didn't see any signs of the ghost boy or the dog anymore. How could they have gotten away? It's like the ghost boy just disappeared.
Valerie heard beeping coming from her hoverboard. The hoverboard was specially made, it didn't need fuel or batteries to run. But it did still use energy to run, and it was starting to run low. The hoverboard, according to the instructions from her mysterious benefactor, was able to recharge itself over time. Valerie sighed as she landed, making sure nobody was looking at her. She deactivated her suit and hoverboard. The hoverboard folded itself until it compacted itself enough to go into her shoes, and the rest of her suit slipped off of her, going into her wrist bands and the mouth of her shoes.
Now free of her suit, Valerie walked out of where she had landed. She had felt so free, fighting that ghost and its dog. Man, who knew ghost hunting was so much fun? Now I can get back at that ghost for ruining my life! Valerie thought as a grin crossed her face. Maybe there is hope for me yet…
However, as she began walking, someone stopped in front of her. Valerie blinked before she looked up to see… Andy. Andy was holding an umbrella. Valerie blinked, about to ask him why he was holding an umbrella when she felt drops of water coming down on her head. Valerie hadn't noticed the clouds had covered up the sky during her little ghost hunt. But now she felt kind of awkward.
It wasn't that long ago that she went on that silly date with him at the school dance when the whole 'dragon boy' incident happened. Valerie thought he was kind of cute, and he seemed so cool headed when he asked her out, like he wasn't afraid if she rejected him. But now it was weird to be around him because he and his friends were at the bottom of the popularity chain at school after they pulled that dragon stunt at Dash's party.
"Um… are you going to stand in the rain?" Andy asked.
"No… but now I'm having second thoughts…" Valerie muttered, but she did walk under the umbrella to get out of the rain. "What are you doing here anyways?"
"I wanted to go on a walk, but the weatherman said it was going to rain, so I took an umbrella with me," Andy answered.
"A walk?" Valerie raised an eyebrow.
"I needed to clear my head. I used to go out to central park a lot to… meet with a friend," Andy replied softly. "So I guess I got kind of used to just going out to walk to central park on a daily basis."
Valerie looked away. "I guess that makes sense." She conceded. Then she paused. "Wait… used to? What happened? Why don't you meet with your friend anymore?"
Andy looked down, not seeming to want to answer at first. Seeing that, Valerie beegan to get a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"I guess the easiest answer is that he's gone now," Andy finally answered. "There isn't a reason for me to see him at central park anymore."
"Oh… I'm… I'm sorry I asked…" Valerie said somberly, feeling guilty for asking such a question.
Valerie was a teenager. While she had lost her mother at a young age, it had just been her dad and her for as long n as she could remember. The concept that someone her age knew someone who… may have died was almost foreign to her. But it also made her realize something important that she couldn't believe she didn't think about until now. Despite the label, Andy was just as human as she was, just as human as the other popular kids she thought were her friends. And just like her, Andy had lost something pretty important in his life, and from the sound of it, pretty recently.
Valerie also began to realize that was probably why Andy approached her when he did. He probably understood her situation more than anyone else in that school.
And another thing Valerie was starting to realize, she was standing very close to Andy under the umbrella he was holding, and he wasn't pushing her away.
"Um… If you need anyone to talk to about it… I'm… open to do that, you know…" Valerie said softly, feeling somewhat bad and awkward about being so close to Andy. She backed up a couple of steps, just to get some distance from Andy. She was trying to respect his personal space, not because she wanted to get some space so she could stop the slight burning on her cheeks.
"You shouldn't step away from the umbrella, you might get sick if you stand under the rain," Andy warned. "I know it's probably not what you'd want, but I should walk you home if you don't have your own umbrella. It's coming down pretty hard right now."
"I know that!" Valerie huffed, but she did step back under the umbrella again, but she was keeping her distance from Andy.
"Well, I'm glad you know that then," Andy chuckled. "You'll have to show me where to go, I don't know where you live right now."
"I live in Elmerton…" Valerie said at last. "It's… quite a distance from Amity Park…"
"Huh… what're you doing here then?" Andy asked as he and Valerie began walking.
"I decided to go for a walk too," Valerie quickly said. "I… must've lost track of time, and… forgot that I didn't live around Amity Park anymore."
Andy wasn't sure if that was the truth, but he decided not to push it.
The two walked in silence for a while. Hearing the pouring rain hitting the umbrella and the streets. There weren't a lot of people out right now due to the rain.
"Why are you helping me?" Valerie asked Andy after a while. "I mean… what's in it for you?"
"Some time to gather my thoughts, and make sure you're okay," Andy answered.
"That's… it?" Valerie frowned. "I mean if you're hoping this would boost your popularity at school, forget it, nobody cares about chivalry anymore, and I'm not really popular anymore either."
"Why would I care about that?" Andy asked. "I used to think it would be cool to be popular. But seeing how those popular people treat you, each other, I don't think it's all that it's cracked up to be. You've been having a hard week, and I'm worried about you. I happened to be here when it started raining. It's as simple as that."
"I see…" Valerie said slowly. She still didn't trust Andy's words, but the fact he was helping her did score Andy a bit of respect from her. "Well, I guess I should thank you for trying to be considerate, despite being low on the popularity chain."
"Welcome to the club," Andy replied. "Here at the bottom of the popularity chain, we actually look out for each other. Would you like a cookie with that?"
Valerie couldn't help but chuckle at Andy's comment. "Did you plan that cookie comment?"
"Hey, it helped break the tension, didn't it?" Andy grinned. "Or maybe you prefer it if I turn into a dragon that you can ride on and brag about it to your former friends. They'd have to let you back in the popularity chain after that, I mean who wouldn't think a dragon rider deserves to be popular?"
Valerie outright laughed at that. "Just like in that movie? Seriously? That would be too funny!"
Somehow, the two of them chatted and had a good time being in each other's company, so Valerie lost track of time. Andy stopped, which surprised her.
"Is this the apartment you're living in?" Andy asked.
Valerie sighed. "Yeah, this is it. Home sweet home…" She admitted, feeling somewhat embarrassed now. It felt like we got here too fast. This walk through the rain with Andy had been… probably the best experience I had in a while. Not that I'm going to tell him that.
"Think you'll be alright on your own from here?" Andy asked.
Valerie nodded. "Yeah, I can get in on my own." She said as she turned and made her way to the front entrance. She did stop before entering and turned to face Andy. "And Andy? Thanks…" She said with a small smile before entering the apartment building.
Andy gave a small smile of his own. Despite knowing Valerie had a grudge for his brother, he could see there was hope in her from this interaction. But Danny and Takuya are going to be worried sick about me now… oh boy… I better get back.
The next day, the group was back at school together. Danny, Sam, and Takuya explained the situation with Valerie becoming a ghost huntress because she was out for blood, or in this case, ectoplasm now, to Tucker. They had already told Andy about it last night when he came home, although not without an earful about how worried Danny and Takuya were that Andy had been out in the rain on his own.
Danny and Sam wisely left out their little 'fake-out-make-out' when they explained everything to Tucker and Andy. Takuya hadn't seen it, but he definitely suspected they were hiding something embarrassing.
"So Valerie actually somehow got her hands on some high tech ghost weapons, and a smart hoverboard of all things, just to come after you and that dog?" Tucker asked after they finished the explanation.
Danny groaned. "That basically summarizes it." He grumbled as he put a hand to his forehead. "And it's all because I couldn't catch that stupid ghost dog the first time around!"
"Don't be too hard on yourself," Takuya sighed. "We all could've been better prepared for that ghost dog."
"But this still leaves us with the problem with Valerie and Cujo." Sam frowned.
Andy was grumbling to himself. They had been hoping he had some kind of plan to handle both things, but he had nothing. In fact, he was rather annoyed; they always felt like they had to come to him for everything. They had brains, surely they could think of something. Andy didn't have all the answers.
"Are you okay, dude?" Tucker asked Andy.
"Things are just kind of complicated right now," Andy sighed, rubbing his forehead. "If you really need my opinion, it might be best to focus on one problem at a time. Cujo started this whole mess, so we should start with him, then we can focus on what to do about-"
Andy had been walking ahead while he was talking that he didn't see someone coming around the corner until he bumped into them. The person dropped the stack of books they had been carrying. "Valerie?"
"Oh… it's you." Valerie said, her disdain in her voice sounding a bit forced now. She had her pride after all; she was not going to just start being all buddy-buddy with Andy just because of a nice walk home in the rain.
"Ah, sorry about that," Andy apologized as he bent down to pick up the books. "I was having a conversation with my brother and friends, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Takuya were a little surprised that Andy was still being so considerate to someone who tried to waste his brother, but they didn't say anything.
"Well… be more careful next time!" Valerie said, trying to sound like she was annoyed with being around Andy.
Danny looked down at the books. "Um… if you would like us to help pick up the books…"
"No thanks. I can do it myself." Valerie huffed.
"Alright, no need to be snippy," Sam grumbled.
The group decided to walk further away, leaving Andy and Valerie alone, for the most part. They were still nearby enough to watch them.
Andy noticed the titles on some of the books he was picking up. "'Ghost hunting for dimwits'? I see you've… gotten into ghost hunting."
"Ever since they ruined my life, I kinda have to turn to it if I want to bring justice on that ghost kid and its dog." Valerie grumbled as she took her books back from Andy.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" Andy asked.
"These ghosts need to know that they can't just do whatever they want. They need to know about the consequences," Valerie huffed. "And if nobody else is going to do it, then maybe I should."
"My parents are already doing stuff like that, you don't need to put yourself at risk," Andy pointed out.
"Your parents?" Valerie blinked.
"Yeah… you didn't know they were avid ghost hunters?" Andy asked. "They make it pretty obvious."
Valerie then remembered Andy telling her at the dance about what his parents did for a living. "I think I remember you telling me at the dance." She realized. "So… does that mean you know a thing or two about hunting ghosts?"
"I don't hunt ghosts, but I have been training to try to at least dodge their attacks if they attack," Andy admitted. "But I leave the ghost hunting to… well, the best people I believe are equipped for it."
"Well, at least some people in this town are ghost hunters then." Valerie chuckled. "You must have all sorts of ghost hunting stuff in your place."
Andy frowned a little. "I suppose we do. But I'm more concerned about how you're going about with your… desire for justice."
"Don't be. The ghost is a coward, the moment someone shows up to fight back, it just flies away," Valerie grumbled.
"But he's not the only ghost, you know. There are others, and you have to be careful, they might perceive you as a threat if you manage to really hurt that ghost," Andy warned.
"Then let them come." Valerie challenged. "I can handle any ghosts that show up. These ghosts will learn that ruining the lives of humans has consequences."
"Ghosts are more dangerous than you realize, Valerie…" Andy frowned.
"Then I'll have to be even more dangerous than them," Valerie hissed.
While Danny and the group were watching, Danny sighed. "I'm wondering if my own brother has a crush on a ghost hunter."
"You think he does?" Tucker asked.
"Why else would he be trying so hard to talk to her and put up with her attitude?" Danny huffed.
Takuya blinked. "You really think Andy has a crush on her?"
"If he does, Andy is lucky with the ladies." Tucker snickered.
"Hey! Valerie is trying to waste Danny in his ghost form! How can you forget that?!" Sam hissed.
"Dangerous and hot? Andy has a winner for sure!" Tucker joked back.
"Stop joking about it!" Takuya hissed at Tucker as he smacked Tucker on the head with a hand.
"Ow! Jeez, I'm just trying to lighten the mood," Tucker grumbled.
"Regardless, like Andy said, we should focus on one problem at a time," Danny said. "Unfortunately we'll have to wait until after school, and hope that ghost dog doesn't show up until then."
"I wouldn't count on it." Sam sighed.
A bit later, the school was having a basketball game going on. Dash was on the team, despite him being better at football than basketball, he was decent with basketball. If he wanted to retain his image as the 'king of the jocks', he needed to be good with a lot of sports. One of the players, a teenage boy named 'Wes', was a great basketball player. He had ginger colored hair, and was quite tall for his age. He actually looked kind of similar to Andy and Danny, not that anyone ever said it.
Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Takuya were sitting on the bleachers with the rest of the audience, but their focus wasn't on the game.
"Danny, would you try to relax?" Sam asked. "You're so tense that you're making the air around you cold."
"How can I relax? That ghost dog could be anywhere, and I have no idea how Valerie became a ghost hunter!" Danny groaned. "This is the worst week of my life so far."
"Hey, it will get better." Tucker said, trying to cheer Danny up.
"Danny, just calm down. We're going to help you get through this." Takuya said reassuringly.
"Easy for you to say." Danny grumbled.
"Maybe Valerie has some kind of mysterious benefactor or something," Sam guessed. "I may not like my parents, but I do learn from them from time to time. If someone was short on money, then most likely someone has to give them money to be able to do what they need to do. They're usually known as benefactors."
Danny frowned. "But who would want to give Valerie such equipment?"
"That… I don't know. The only people I know who have such gadgets would be your parents, but I doubt they'd give a random 14 year old girl they barely know exists any of those weapons," Sam replied.
"And last I checked, Uncle Jack and Aunt Maddie didn't have a hoverboard like that," Takuya added. "Otherwise they'd be using those instead of the RV."
"Takuya has a point." Tucker agreed. "Your parents are smart, but building a hoverboard like that? That is a bit out of their range of equipment."
"So now we have another problem to solve; who would give Valerie ghost hunting equipment." Danny grumbled.
"Well, let's just focus on the ghost dog, then we can worry about all of that later," Tucker suggested.
"Hey guys, can we join you?" Andy spoke up, having Valerie behind him.
After having a talk with Valerie, Valerie decided she could work with Andy for now, because his parents were ghost hunters, so they may have something that could help her bring justice to these ghosts. That, and getting closer to both him, Danny, and Takuya would make it easier for her to be invited into their house to meet these fellow ghost hunters. Andy just hoped that he and his friends would be able to do something to talk Valerie out of this dangerous career she chose for herself.
Danny wanted to retort 'no', but given how Andy was with her, he didn't want to just say it. "I guess…" He finally said.
"Great… What is she doing here…?" Sam muttered under her breath.
Takuya nudged Sam with his elbow to get her to shut up. Tucker just gave a very dorky smile.
Valerie hoped sitting with these losers would be worth it. She slid next to Danny since he had an open space to his right. "So, Andy told me your parents hunt ghosts."
"Did he now? What else did he tell you?" Danny asked, not liking what was going on. It was obvious to him that Valerie wanted to get close to him to get into his house and access all of the ghost hunting stuff his parents made.
Andy sighed, knowing Danny wasn't happy about this. "Maybe you can tell her how dangerous ghosts are or something."
Before anyone could say anything, there was a sudden tremor that shook the entire gym, which made Dash miss a good shot of the basket. Dash was frustrated about that, but that frustration soon turned into fear when a giant, neon green dog appeared under the basket, barking loudly and viciously. This caused everyone to run away in a panic.
Why do these monsters keep appearing!? Dash mentally shouted. Is it too much to ask to have a normal school day anymore!?
Upon seeing the ghost dog, Danny, Valerie, and Takuya all gasped. Danny had a glare on his face, Valerie had a smirk on hers while Takuya had a frown on his face.
"I… think I need to leave…" Takuya said, wanting to stop this before it got out of hand. He stood up and ran off.
Danny and Valerie each stood up and ran off as well to try and stop the ghost dog themselves.
"H-hey! Don't go splitting up!" Andy shouted, but nobody listened to him. "Great, this is just going to make things worse!"
"I mean what else are they going to do? Just let the dog go on a rampage?" Tucker asked.
"I'm about to go on a rampage if they keep this up," Andy growled. "By splitting up, they risk coming in at the same time, where Valerie will shoot at Danny and the dog, riling up the dog even more, and Agunimon comes in and causes more confusion and chaos!"
Sam paled. "Oh geez… We have to find a way to stop them from all coming in at once!"
"We have our work cut out for us…" Tucker sighed.
"It's already too late." Andy frowned when he saw Danny Phantom flying into the scene.
Luckily, the dog turned intangible and went through the bleachers, prompting Danny to follow him. Danny saw Cujo scratching the floor. Cujo saw Danny and instantly calmed down, reverting back to his puppy form. Danny landed beside the puppy.
"Okay… so I need to figure this out. What is it that you're doing? Surely it's not just to cause chaos among people," Danny asked.
In response, Cujo began digging at the floor, like he was trying to show Danny what he was doing.
"Wait… are you looking for something?" Danny wondered aloud as he knelt down. "What are you looking for?" Danny then realized something. "Ghost or not, you are a dog, and you're looking for something."
Suddenly a pinkish energy beam hit Cujo a few feet away. Danny turned, gasping when he saw Valerie in her red suit.
"Time for you to face justice, ghost boy!" Valerie stated as she was holding what looked like a thermos that was similar to the Fenton Thermos, only this one was red and silver instead of green and silver.
Sam, Tucker, and Andy were seeing this from the top of the bleachers.
"Oh my gosh, Danny's in trouble if she opens that!" Sam gasped.
Luckily, before Valerie could remove the top, Agunimon came running on the scene.
"What the?" Agunimon blinked when he saw the red suited person trying to get open a thermos that looked eerily like a Fenton Thermos, that ghost dog in some kind of energy ball, and Danny in the middle between what had to be Valerie and that ghost dog. "Oh no…"
Andy, seeing Agunimon nearby, decided the best way to help Danny was to turn her attention on someone else. The Thermos, if it was meant to catch ghosts like the Fenton Thermos, shouldn't work on a Digimon. At least, Andy hoped not. He didn't have a lot of time to think.
"Hey, you in the red suit! Look out! There's someone behind you!" Andy shouted a warning.
"Huh!?" Valerie turned around and was shocked to see an armored man with long blond hair right behind her.
Agunimon was shocked at what had just happened. "Crap…" He muttered, not sure how this would go down. "Way to go, Andy…"
"Who are you!? Are you a ghost too!?" Valerie shouted, taking the top off of the thermo and aiming it at Agunimon.
The thermos didn't react. Valerie frowned from behind her mask. "What the? What's wrong with you, you stupid thermos!?"
Seeing this, Agunimon realized he was not in any danger, and decided to try and calm Valerie down. "H-hey! Calm down! I'm no ghost. I just came to help." He said, trying to get her to calm down.
Seeing this Danny knew he had to do something. He flew at Valerie before she could attack Agunimon and grabbed her. He then flew Valerie to the basketball hoop and dumped her in there so she wouldn't cause any harm.
"You should be safe here until help comes." Danny said as he floated away from the trapped Valerie.
"Get me down! I still need to teach you a lesson!" Valerie shouted angrily.
Danny responded by turning intangible and flying through the wall.
Agunimon frowned, and he saw the dog was gone as well. It likely got out of the ball it was in. Though he was surprised the dog didn't try to rip him apart since ghosts didn't seem to like Digimon very much.
"You!" Valerie shouted from the basketball hoop, getting Agunimon's attention. "What are you if you're not a ghost? Are you just as bad as ghosts?"
Agunimon shook his head. "No, I'm not. As I said, I only wanted to help you, but if you make such accusations, I can't say I'm inclined to do so." He said somberly, his tone of voice showing his disappointment. "But if you want to know what I am, you won't get that from me so easily."
Andy, Tucker, and Sam watched as Agunimon walked away, leaving Valerie stuck on the hoop. Andy sighed, seeing that things weren't going so well.
Despite the attack on the gym, school went on. The teachers didn't want the attack of some giant dog to stop them from teaching their students. Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Andy were in the same chemistry class, along with Valerie. But because Takuya was a grade higher than them, he wasn't in the same class as them.
"Andy, that was pretty reckless, setting Valerie on Takuya like that," Danny quietly scolded his twin.
"What else was I supposed to do? Let her suck you in the thermos?" Andy asked. "I figured it wouldn't work on him. Don't you trust me?"
"I do, but it's Valerie that I don't trust." Danny admitted. "It's… hard to see what Valerie has sunk down to in order to get back at my ghost half."
"But it doesn't look like she's willing to stop any time soon," Sam sighed.
"I mean not everyone has to like you, Danny," Tucker remarked.
"She doesn't need to like me, just not shoot at me," Danny grumbled before he looked at Andy. "But I'm also concerned for you. You've been… a bit off your game lately, bro. Is there something else going on?"
"I'm not sure," Andy admitted. "I've been second guessing myself a lot recently…"
"Really? Why?" Danny asked, concerned now.
"Ever since Takuya and I had that talk about how I could've prevented the disaster that happened to Valerie, I've been wondering if I've been doing the right thing," Andy answered. "There were a lot of things I could've done, but I only seemed to be making it worse. I tried to talk to Valerie when she got booted off of the popular kids' table, and I somehow convinced her to become a ghost hunter."
Danny frowned. "Wow, I didn't think you would assume you're making things worse. Bro, you're just trying to look out for us, for me. Why second guess yourself when that's what you're trying to do?"
"I mean I did just toss Takuya under the bus earlier, you even said it yourself, it was reckless," Andy pointed out.
"He's got a point," Tucker agreed.
"Nobody asked you…" Danny grumbled, but he did admit Tucker had a point. "But yeah… that could've gone better…" He sighed. "Well, at least Valerie didn't attack him or anything."
"But she tried to if not for you." Sam pointed out.
Danny grumbled. "Okay, I get it!" He sighed. "I guess I see the point you're trying to make Andy."
Andy sighed as he poured a vial of chemicals into another vial, watching it turn blue and bubbling a little bit. "Admittedly, it would've helped if you, Takuya, and Valerie didn't split up when you did. That only made things more complicated."
"That is a good point." Danny conceded. "But why shouldn't we have split up? Valerie would've seen us transform if we didn't."
"Because then she wouldn't have been able to transform. Or she wouldn't have so easily," Andy answered as he poured another vial of chemicals into the same vial earlier. "Only one of you needed to handle the ghost dog. It may have been causing chaos, but it clearly isn't hostile. Agunimon didn't need to be there, and Valerie only made things worse."
"I see where you're coming from then." Danny sighed. "Man… we should really think about how to handle that ghost dog next time."
Suddenly, Danny's ghost sense went off, and at the same time, they heard the loud barking just outside the school, which alerted Valerie.
"I guess that 'next time' is now," Andy grumbled. "Danny, here's a suggestion… try to knock Valerie's weapons away. Without her weapon, she can't go after you so easily."
Danny frowned, but nodded. "Okay, I will try to do that."
So Danny found himself flying outside with Cujo, in his giant dog form, running beside him and away from the angry ghost hunter riding on the hoverboard shooting at them. Danny knew the best way to get Valerie off his back was to disarm her, then figure out what to do with Cujo, he just hoped he set his ghost ray to a point that it wouldn't hurt Valerie. He never actually tested his ghost ray on a human before, but she was wearing a suit that was made to take ghost attacks, right? So it shouldn't be too bad.
"Ugh… there's many girls at our school, and it just so happens Andy had to hang out with the one with the weapons, and the grudge…" Danny muttered to himself before he turned around and fired off a weak ghost ray at Valerie, aiming at her gun. I hope this works… For both my sake and Valerie's sake.
The ghost ray hit the weapon, disarming Valerie. Of course, the force of the blast knocked her off of her hoverboard and to the ground, thankfully she wasn't too far from the ground, and Valerie was unharmed thanks to her suit. However, she wasn't too happy when she saw that the ghost boy and his dog managed to get away from her again.
When Danny felt like he had gotten far enough away from Valerie, he slowed down to a stop. Cujo stopped as well, panting happily at Danny before it shrunk back to its puppy form.
"Alright, now that Valerie's out of the equation for a bit… What the heck am I supposed to do with you?" Danny groaned as he looked at Cujo. "Ugh… I guess I can't just leave you here." He muttered as he took out that dog obedience book and flipped to a new chapter. "Let's see… Go on boy, go get it!"
Cujo just blinked at the command. Danny groaned before he corrected himself. "I mean 'Fetch!'" He said as he pointed away from himself.
Cujo got the hint and darted off, barking happily. Danny followed Cujo, wondering where the ghost dog was going.
Why didn't I think to do this before? Danny couldn't help but question himself as he followed Cujo.
The afternoon sun was starting to go down towards evening as Cujo led Danny back to the Axion Labs where it all started. Danny was surprised that Cujo started barking at the wall of the building, indicating this was where Cujo wanted to be.
"The lab? What you're looking for is in there?" Danny frowned. I guess that makes sense, he was going through here before. I just wished I knew he was here to look for something rather than causing chaos. Was he coming to my school in hopes I would help him?
Then Danny heard voices approaching them. The boy gasped and whispered. "Somebody's coming!"
In a quick reaction, and hoping that Cujo wouldn't struggle and make noise, Danny picked up Cujo, put a hand over the puppy's mouth, and turned them both invisible.
"I appreciate you giving me a second chance, sir." Damon Gray said as he and his boss walked around the corner.
"As long as nothing else happens, we'll see about reinstating your contract." The bald man said as he and Damon both walked right past the invisible Danny and Cujo. "I knew we shouldn't have gotten rid of those guard dogs."
Danny groaned. "Valerie's dad? Ugh… Great… Things just got a whole lot harder…"
Little did Danny know, a camera was pointing in his direction. While he was still invisible, and no human could see him, something else was looking at the invisible boy. The camera lens glitched a little with static for a split second.
Later that night, Danny gathered Tucker, Sam, Takuya, and Andy. The group were standing on some small hills that were a good distance away from Axion Labs, but still allowed them to see the building.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Andy asked.
"It's not like we have any choice." Danny said as he looked at Andy. "That ghost dog, Cujo, came here specifically for something when I gave the 'Fetch' command."
"So you think what Cujo wants is in the labs?" Takuya asked.
"Most likely." Danny confirmed.
"So, speaking of, where is man's best friend?" Sam asked sarcastically.
Danny grinned before he whistled and the ground rumbled before Cujo, in his big dog form, emerged while barking and growling.
Andy, Tucker, Sam, and Takuya lowered themselves to the ground in an attempt to not set off the giant ghost beast on them.
"Did you have to call it to us?" Andy hissed. "We're not exactly on a 'fiends level' with the dog yet!"
"It's the only way to get Cujo to come." Danny said sheepishly. "And I don't want him to cause any more trouble."
"Yeah, and having a big dog growling at us is a great way to do that." Takuya grumbled.
Danny then sighed. "So, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that there is only one security guard. The bad news is, it's Valerie's dad."
"Ouch…" Both Tucker and Sam frowned.
"So what are you going to do about it?" Tucker asked. "I was able to knock out the security systems and cameras, but that's about all I can do."
"Since only you can go through buildings, why are the rest of us out here?" Andy asked. "Because we are not going to dog sit a giant ghost dog that can use us as chew toys."
Danny paused. "Um… that was kinda my plan…?" He admitted sheepishly.
"Danny, you really need to think these things through…" Takuya groaned as he put a hand on his face in exasperation.
"Look, it'll be fine. I have the Fenton Fisher, which I think will make a good leash," Danny said as he took out the Fenton Fisher from his pocket and extended it, showing the fisher was extendable.
"I'm glad you found a leash for the dog, but how is that going to keep us safe?" Sam questioned as Danny tied the Fenton Fisher around Cujo's collar, then wrapped the rest of the fishing line around a tree.
"Just keep an eye on the dog and call me if he gets loose or something," Danny replied. "Now I'll go in and find the thing Cujo wants."
"Do you even know what you're looking for?" Andy asked.
"I heard Valerie's dad and his boss talking about the guard dogs, so I am assuming what Cujo is looking for may be in the dog kennels." Danny replied. "But until I know for sure, I'm just going off of what I've seen from Cujo."
"Right, because bringing everything from the dog kennels is not going to be suspicious at all," Andy grumbled.
"Just watch the dog, bro," Danny grumbled back before he flew off towards the lab.
With Danny gone, Cujo was going kind of wild. He began barking loudly as he tried to chase after Tucker and Sam, with only the tree stopping it. Andy frowned, seeing how ghosts had such strength, he doubted the tree was going to stop Cujo.
Takuya yelped as Tucker ran past him and almost got his face chomped off. The dog then ran after Sam, who ran over at Andy. Andy yelped as well as Cujo nearly bit his own face off.
"This is why I'm more of a cat person…" Sam grumbled.
"Does Cujo only like Danny? It's not like we've shown we were enemies or something…" Tucker gulped.
"It must be because Danny is half ghost…" Takuya grumbled. "At least, it makes sense to me that Cujo would connect with another ghost."
"I mean we could try something risky to maybe calm him down… or rile him up more," Andy sheepishly said.
"And what would that be?" Sam frowned.
"Have Takuya go find Agunimon and have Agunimon challenge him?" Andy sheepishly replied.
Sam blinked. "Wait… what?"
Takuya realized what Andy was thinking and groaned. "Okay, look… Andy… that idea is crazy!"
"Okay, fine, then I'll do it!" Andy snapped, finally losing his own patience and began running towards the dog.
"What are you doing!?" Tucker shouted.
"Okay, that's it!" Takuya shouted. "Andy, you're going to get a prank from me when this is over!"
"Hey, Cujo!" Andy spoke up, getting the dog's attention. "Want to play chase?~"
Cujo barked and started to chase Andy around the area that the 'leash' would allow Cujo to run with. Despite the dangerous situation, Andy was really good at dodging Cujo's bite.
"What… are you doing?" Sam frowned.
"He wants to play!" Andy called. "Playing with a ghost dog is dangerous for us, but it might be the best way to calm him down! Don't just stand there, hop on in! Just don't get bitten!"
"I think he really is crazy…" Tucker muttered.
Takuya groaned. "We have nothing better to do." He admitted as he ran in as well. "At least it's better than having the dog come after us!"
"Come on, guys! What's all that dodge training for if you're not going to use it?" Andy asked, dodging another bite from Cujo.
Tucker and Sam looked at each other before they shrugged.
"If I die, I want my mother to have my computer," Tucker sighed. "She's the one who makes me all the best meatloaves after all."
"Welp… Here goes nothing." Sam said as she ran in as well.
Tucker followed Sam in to join Andy and Takuya. "I'd better not die from a dog bite…"
"Hey, look on the bright side," Andy said as he jumped past Tucker. "If you do get bitten, you might get ghost powers of your own like in the comics~"
"Was that a sassy comeback from that time with Desiree!?" Tucker yelled, quickly moving away from the incoming Cujo.
"Do you think it is?" Andy asked back.
"You won't let me live that down, will you?" Tucker snarked back.
"Considering how you, Andy, and Danny all got sick with the same cold, mostly from Danny sneezing on Andy, while you were possessing Andy's body, I don't think Andy will let you live it down." Takuya joked as he dodged a bite from Cujo.
"I'm surprised you guys can have such a casual conversation while we're playing 'dodge dog'!" Sam yelled.
"Hey, it's a good way to cope!" Andy replied.
Andy's gotta be the most… craziest… chaotic person I know! Did he get this from Uncle Jack or something? Takuya groaned.
Meanwhile, Valerie was in her red suit again. Her dad was going out to pick up some late night food at a fast food place. While he was out, Valerie decided to check the Axion Labs in case the two ghosts decided to come back. After all, criminals always return to the scene of the crime. She wanted to be ready for them. She wasn't disappointed.
The ghost boy flew into the lab, looking around cautiously. "I wish I knew what I was looking for…"
Valerie didn't hesitate to shoot at the ghost boy while his guard was down.
"Ooof!" The ghost boy got hit by Valerie's blast.
Valerie smirked below her hood. "Back to the scene of the crime?" She said as she stood up, bazooka resting on her shoulder.
Danny groaned, but he had taken worse blows than that. He stood up and fired a ghost ray at Valerie's hand to get her to drop the bazooka like before. However, Valerie was prepared this time. Her suit created another, smaller, but still effective bazooka from her shoulder.
"Don't think you'll get away with the same trick twice, ghost!" Valerie snapped.
Danny frowned. Well this isn't going well…
Tucker, Sam, Takuya, and Andy were all on the ground, tired from playing 'dodge dog'. They had exerted a lot of energy. Cujo seemed satisfied enough to not try to use them as chew toys anymore, but he was still in his giant dog form. Andy looked up at Cujo.
"Hey there, Cujo," Andy spoke up, catching the dog's attention. "We may not be ghosts like Danny is, but we do want to help. Will you at least trust us to do that?"
Andy held up a hand, but looked away from Cujo. Not making eye contact with an animal usually helped them feel more comfortable. Cujo approached Andy's hand, sniffing it. Andy tried to ignore his instincts to pull his hand away. He waited, hoping Cujo didn't decide to bite his hand off.
After a moment, Cujo suddenly licked Andy with his tongue. "Oh! Eew! Okay, okay, boy! That stuff doesn't wash off easily!"
Takuya laughed at Andy being licked by the giant Cujo. "Hey, I think he likes you now!" The older boy joked before Cujo walked over to him and sniffed the boy before giving Takuya the same treatment. "WAH!"
Sam and Tucker laughed at the sight of the slobber-covered Takuya.
"Yeah, go ahead and laugh…" Takuya grumbled.
Cujo sniffed Tucker and Sam as well, while he didn't attack them, he didn't give them the licking treatment.
"Cujo probably warmed to us more because we have more of Danny's scent on us," Andy guessed. "That and maybe some lingering ectoplasm due to my parents' work."
"As long as we don't get bitten, I'm not complaining." Takuya sighed as he tried to wipe off the slobber from his hair. "My hair's going to be sticky from this slobber!"
Andy reached up to Cujo, and Cujo smiled, panting this time as he allowed Andy to pet his head and face. "Aww, you're a good boy, aren't you?"
Suddenly, there was an explosion from the Axion Labs. Danny came flying out while intangible. The group looked on in surprise before Danny lost his intangibility and flew back towards the hole that was made in the lab's roof.
"What was that?" Tucker asked.
"10 to 1 says it's the girl you seem to like so much," Sam grumbled.
Cujo began barking angrily, pulling against the tree, he was worried for Danny. Andy looked at the tree, seeing it was not going to last much longer. Another crazy idea hit him.
"Cujo, heel boy!" Andy spoke up.
Cujo stopped, and looked at Andy curiously.
"You want to save my bro? Then let's do it!" Andy grinned before he went over to the tree to untie the fishing line from it.
Cujo barked once and laid down so Andy could climb on his back.
"Andy! What are you doing?!" Takuya exclaimed as he ran over. "Are you serious about this?! Have you even thought about what this could do?! This could make things worse!"
"Yeah, it probably could," Andy replied. "But it could also make things better. You'll never know until you try. Besides, if we tried stopping Cujo now, he'll go on a rampage on his own. Do you think that's going to be any better, Mr. Cautious?"
Takuya stared for a moment before he sighed. "Okay… We'll try it your way." He relented. "But if this doesn't go well… At least I can say I warned you."
"What are you going to do?" Sam asked.
Andy smiled. "Anybody up for a ride?~"
Meanwhile, Valerie was still shooting everything she had at Danny, and Danny was doing his best to dodge the lasers that Valerie was viciously shooting out. She was causing more damage to the area than Cujo did.
Danny watched as Valerie's blasts hit a computer and desk, lights, and the walls. Realizing he had to stop her, he powered up an ecto-ray and fired it at Valerie, but made sure to miss her on purpose.
"You're a pretty lousy shot!" Valerie snapped.
"That's because I'm not trying to hit you!" Danny exclaimed. "Can't we just, you know, talk?"
"I'm done talking! And I won't listen to your lies, ghost!" Valerie countered before she had wheels come out of her suit's boots and a small rocket emerged as well. The rockets powered up, propelling Valerie right at Danny.
Instinctively, Danny turned intangible, making Valerie pass through his body. Valerie managed to stop herself and tried to move around. Then suddenly, Cujo came through the wall while intangible. Danny's eyes went wide in shock, not just because of Cujo's sudden appearance, but the fact his brother was riding on top of Cujo's back, using the Fenton Fisher as a rein, with Takuya, Tucker, and Sam sitting behind him.
Tucker was laying down on his stomach, grabbing onto Cujo's back like his life depended on it and shook. Sam was grabbing onto Takuya's waist tightly, probably making it difficult for the boy to breathe. As for Takuya himself, he was holding onto Andy's waist.
"Next time we get an offer of riding a ghost dog, I'm staying behind…" Sam grumbled. "This is why I prefer cats."
"Can you let go of me? I can't breathe…" Takuya rasped out, feeling like Sam was squeezing the life out of him.
"You guys hop on down, and find somewhere to hide," Andy instructed the group. "I'm going to send Cujo to help Danny."
Tucker quickly slid off of Cujo, more than happy to get off of the giant dog. Takuya had to help Sam get down, because she wasn't that inclined to let go just yet.
"C'mon, Sam, you can let go now… I kinda need to breathe…" Takuya said as he tried to tug Sam's arms off of his waist.
Sam finally let go of Takuya, feeling her feet on solid ground. "Oh, sorry…"
"C'mon! Let's hide before we get caught up in the battle." Tucker said as he ran to find a place to hide.
"What's going on!?" Valerie shouted as she de-transformed her rollerblades back to boots. "And- I mean, young man? What are you doing on that ghost dog!?"
Andy slid down from Cujo's back. "Okay, boy, go fetch!"
Cujo barked before he turned intangible and went through a wall.
"Phantom, you should follow him, make sure he doesn't cause any more damage," Andy instructed Danny, consciously not using his first name in front of Valerie.
Danny blinked, but nodded. "Okay. Just be careful. This… ghost hunter is crazy with her shooting." He said before turning intangible and going through the wall himself.
"I don't understand… Why are you helping them?" Valerie questioned, very confused.
Andy frowned as he looked at Valerie. "They're not evil, Valerie."
"How… how do you know it's me?" Valerie asked, shocked that Andy knew it was her.
"Your voice gives you away," Andy pointed out. "The next time you want to hide your identity, you should get some kind of voice modulator."
Valerie blinked beneath her hood before shaking her head. "What do you mean those ghosts are not evil?! They ruined my life! On purpose!"
"Valerie, if I'm going to explain myself, I need you to take a deep breath and calm down first. I can't tell you anything if you're riled up," Andy replied calmly.
Seeing Andy was serious, Valerie did as he asked. She took in a deep breath and let it out before reaching up and slowly removing her hood. "Okay… fine. I'll listen, but only because you're the one explaining this."
Andy raised an eyebrow. Valerie essentially just told him that she was only willing to listen because she trusted him. But Andy decided now wasn't the time to point that out to her. Since she was listening, that made it a little easier, he just hoped he could use the right words.
Taking the plunge, Andy began his explanation. "That ghost boy, the one I called 'Phantom', is actually a friend of mine. I met him a few months ago in central park. He approached me, wanting a friend. He was a newly dead boy, and he didn't quite understand what being a ghost was like. But he knew he couldn't just go back home either, and he was lonely."
It just hit Valerie that the ghost boy she had been firing at was a dead teenager, a newly dead one at that. It didn't cross her mind since she was hyper focused on getting justice on what the ghost boy and his dog did, but now that Andy laid it out for her… it made her a little queasy.
"You mean… he just… recently… d-died…" Valerie began, feeling her voice failing her. Hearing herself say it, Valerie realized she had been shooting at someone's child. A dead child… "Oh… oh gosh… He… I…" She didn't know what to say. "But… even so, that shouldn't excuse him for ruining my life!"
"He didn't mean to, Valerie. The dog he was chasing was out of control," Andy explained. "The dog was one of the guard dogs that was put down recently, you saw his collar, didn't you? Even you can't ignore the tag, it looks exactly like the symbol for Axion Labs. Phantom was trying to stop him, but the dog was too powerful. So after the incident, Phantom was trying to learn ways to tame the dog so he can better handle the situation."
Valerie felt chills run down her spine. She had been hoping that the guard dogs had only been adopted out, but it seemed that was not the case. "So… did that dog come back for revenge on Axion Labs, its employees, and their families…?" She asked nervously. "Because it sure seems like it."
"I don't think so," Andy replied. "I think he wanted something he left behind-"
"Now, please, just go home and stay there!" Phantom's voice yelled as a pink, squeaky bear toy was thrown past them.
The dog ran up to the toy, grabbed it in his mouth before shrinking back to the puppy size. The dog was smiling, wagging his tail happily as he looked back at Phantom and Andy, seeming to be thanking them before his body, and the toy, disappeared.
"Ah, there it was," Andy chuckled. "The dog just wanted his favorite toy back. I guess that was all he needed to fully move on."
Valerie blinked. "You mean… that dog wanted its toy? The whole time, that dog wanted its toy?! All of that destruction and damage over a toy?!"
"Valerie, what did I say about being riled up?" Andy asked. "I'm not done talking."
Valerie sighed and put a hand on her face. "Sorry, Andy… I'm… not exactly too pleased with what has been going on lately…"
Did I just apologize to Andy? Valerie blinked.
"I understand. I wish the situation didn't happen like it did. But there's something you need to know about ghosts other than what you… assumed they are," Andy said. "Ghosts are different from us, but they're also very much alike to us. There are good and evil ghosts, just like there are good and evil humans. The ghost dog… imagine a regular dog, how would you think a normal dog would react if they couldn't find their favorite toy? They'd bark loudly to get attention, and if that doesn't work, they'll start looking on their own. They don't know any better, so they start knocking over objects trying to find what they're looking for, unless the dog was trained otherwise. For a ghost dog, they have immense strength, that's why the ghost dog was able to do so much damage, but at the same time, it didn't have any actual malice. It just wanted to find its toy."
Andy let out a sigh. "And it was noble to try to bring ghosts who do bad things to justice, but was it for justice? Or was it just for vengeance? It's important to tell the differences. Vengeance only hurts others, and will cause them to retaliate right back."
Valerie looked down in thought before she looked up and around the lab. She could see where there was damage, but from her blasters. The only damage from the ghost boy's ecto-ray was a small smoldering impact point on the wall. Valerie frowned as she took in the damage she had done. "I guess… I see what you're saying…"
Valerie saw Phantom floating nearby, but he didn't come any closer. Valerie took a moment to really look at the boy now that she knew he was a teenager who recently died, and someone Andy knew. While Phantom still looked pretty eerie, with the unnaturally white hair, the glow around his body, and his glowing eyes, she could see he was looking at them in concern like any human would.
"Um…" Phantom began saying when he noticed Valerie was looking at him. "I'm really sorry I couldn't stop the dog from destroying everything. I've never handled a dog before, let alone a ghost dog. But I am willing to take responsibility. If there's anything I could do to help make it up to you, I'll definitely try my best."
Although Valerie had assumed all ghosts were evil, and that Phantom could easily just be lying to manipulate her, she didn't really sense any ill intent behind his words. Andy also seemed to trust him, and she doubted one of the sons of ghost hunters would be that trusting towards a ghost without a good reason.
Valerie sighed before she rubbed the back of her neck. "Andy, you sure have some weird friends if you hang out with a ghost of all things…" She muttered. "But… I suppose you would know more about ghosts, so if you're trusting one, then there must be a good reason."
Andy smiled, seeing that his words managed to get through to Valerie. "Thanks, Valerie. But you know, being a ghost hunter isn't a bad idea. You've got all the equipment already, and you seem to be a natural. While Phantom couldn't stop the ghost dog from damaging the lab, you could still use the equipment and skills you have to stop something like that from happening again. And if it'll help motivate you, Phantom can always spar with you, and you can take your frustrations on out him~"
Valerie smirked. "Oh, I plan to~ You might trust him, but I'm going to be more skeptical for the time being. I want to see for myself if he's a good guy or not~"
"Why me?" Phantom moaned.
"Just promise not to actually destroy him, or capture him," Andy said. "He is still my friend, and I rather he didn't end up becoming an ecto-goop on the side of the road, or sent back to the Ghost Zone."
Valerie chuckled. "Oh, I won't do that to him, not if I want my new favorite punching bag to remain in one piece~"
"Hey!" Phantom whined, folding his arms in a pout.
"But I'll be fair. I wouldn't really be able to get to know you if all we ever do is fight whenever we see each other," Valerie compromised. "After a spar, we can take some time to chat and get to know each other. But that's all I'm willing to do until I know for sure you're not just manipulating us."
Phantom smiled nervously. "Well, I'll take what I can get I guess." He admitted. "And that's way better than you trying to waste me."
"And maybe I can help teach you more about ghosts too," Andy suggested. "After all, knowing your enemy will help you better prepare for them."
"Valerie?" Damon's voice called. "I heard an alarm going off, are you in there?"
"Well, I guess that's our cue to leave!" Andy quickly said. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Valerie!"
Valerie blinked, but nodded. "Sure. Just tell your spooky friend there he'd better watch his back when we spar." She said with a small smile.
Phantom sighed, but he didn't have time to talk. He grabbed onto Andy, turned both of them intangible, and flew up through the roof.
"Um… you know, if Valerie's dad comes back and sees Valerie in a destroyed room… wouldn't that just make things worse for them?" Sam asked as she, Tucker, and Takuya had been hiding and watching the scene play out.
"Oh… yeah, it probably would…" Tucker winced. "But what can we do?"
"Uh… I got it! Tucker, turn the security system back on!" Takuya quickly said as he rushed away.
"Huh?" Tucker blinked. "Where- and he's gone."
"Just turn the security system back on!" Sam quickly said.
"Alright, alright!" Tucker pushed something on his PDA.
While out of sight, Takuya quickly used his device to evolve himself into Agunimon. He then hurried back into the room Valerie was in as Valerie was packing away her red suit.
"Huh?" Valerie blinked just as a net came down and captured Agunimon.
"Of all the…" Agunimon groaned as he squirmed in the net. "Why do I do these things?!"
"It's you… what-" Valerie began to ask when Damon and his boss approached them.
"Looks like there is some damage around here," The boss noted, mostly looking at Damon. "But at least we know we're secured against armored men. But you're still on thin ice."
Agunimon gave a sheepish grin from inside the net.
Valerie sighed as Damon glared at Agunimon. She knew this… being stepped into the trap on purpose, so she was going to have to help bail him out later to return the favor. She didn't know why he decided to help her, but helping him was the least she could do.
The next day at school, Takuya was sighing. It had been a close call last night, but he was thankful Valerie let him go without asking any questions. Most likely she was still thinking about what Andy told her, so she was keeping an open mind about beings that weren't exactly human.
But despite everything that happened, school went on like it usually did. Everyone was in the cafeteria at lunch again.
"I still can't believe you managed to talk Valerie down," Tucker remarked to Andy. "I thought for sure she would rather waste Danny and the dog than listen to you. I mean what made her decide to listen to a 'loser'?"
"I was nice to her when she was out in the rain the other day," Andy answered before taking a spoonful of mac and cheese and eating it.
"That's… it?" Sam blinked.
"Yup," Andy replied.
"Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you got through to her." Danny said with a smile. "I was sure she would just blame me for what happened."
"At least it worked. Now you have one less ghost hunter to worry about." Takuya remarked with a grin.
"I guess, but she's definitely going to enjoy kicking my butt whenever she sees me. Thanks bro," Danny sarcastically grumbled.
"You're welcome~" Andy grinned. "Besides, her sparing with you will help both of you for what's to come. If Valerie taught us anything, it's that not every enemy is going to be a ghost."
"I guess you have a point," Danny sighed. "But I still want to know where she got those weapons."
"And that red and black suit. That must've cost a pretty penny." Tucker noted.
"Well, we may not know where Valerie got the weapons, but I think I know where she got the extra cash." Sam replied with a grin. "Valerie sold her concert tickets online, so, guess who bought them~"
Andy, Danny, Takuya, and Tucker looked over at Sam in almost disbelief.
"Wait… you bought her tickets?" Danny blinked.
"Yep~" Sam grinned as she held up the tickets.
Andy grinned as well. "So… Dumpty Humpty concert at 7?"
"Oh, you bet~" Sam smiled.
Valerie smiled as she looked at Andy and the rest of the group from the corner. She wasn't quite ready yet to sit with them, but she was fairly confident she would soon. And at least she knew she had a friend to turn to now if she needed it, unlike those kids sitting at the popular table.
However, as she was walking along to find a nice, quiet place to eat her lunch, her cell phone suddenly started going off. Curious, she put down her tray of food and took her cell phone out from her pocket.
"Huh? What the heck?" Valerie blinked, seeing a strange symbol on her phone.
"Valerie Gray… you have a great destiny. You would like to become stronger to bring evil ghosts to justice, do you not?" A woman's voice spoke through the phone to her.
"Yeah… yeah, I do. I do want to become stronger." Valerie said to herself, feeling a bit foolish for talking to her phone of all things. "Only to the evil ghosts… Phantom is not one of them, so far…"
"Then head to the Amity Mall at 5 PM, there will be a special promotion there to get a software and a virtual helmet early. Once you get these items, you must use them on your computer. We will be able to talk then," The voice instructed.
Valerie wondered if this was some kind of game, but if it would help her get stronger for fighting against evil ghosts, she would take any chance to grow stronger. Valerie wasn't sure if this was a trick or something, but she didn't have much to lose to head at the Amity Mall anyways. She gave a grin to herself.
Titanic X: DarkFoxKit: That trailer was pretty good, huh? I'm glad it turned out alright. I wasn't sure how to go about making the trailer, but I'm glad to see it paid off pretty well.
ZAFT: Don't get too excited, we have a ways to go yet… XD
: ZAFT: Thanks for such a compliment, but thank my co-writer for that idea. It was her doing, not mine… ^^'
DarkFoxKit: The Rulers of the Digital World came to me after I mulled over how we were going to introduce the Digimon in this story. I thought it'd be more interesting if it was introduced as an online game instead of Digimon just randomly showing up from the Digital World. As for the mastermind, yeah, I also thought it'd be more intriguing if there was a mastermind behind this.
CT7567Rules: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, trouble always comes, otherwise the story wouldn't be as fun to read.