Digital Phantom

by ZAFT Convoy

DP Rebooted: Twins Danny and Andy have their lives torn upside down when Danny gets into an accident with the Fenton Ghost Portal. Takuya Kanbara just wanted to have a normal high school life until he found an odd figurine. The three boys have to navigate high school, ghosts, and Plasmius's plans while trying to master their unique powers.

24. A Digital World

ZAFT: Well, here we are! :3

DarkFoxKit: Yay, another update!

Andy: Yay, more torment for us.

DarkFoxKit: Don't be such a sour puss, you're happy that this story is being updated on a regular basis.

Takuya: I think it's good that it's being updated. :3

ZAFT: Oh, you will regret saying that soon, fire boy~ XD

Andy: Are you trying to make us feel better or worse? Cause you're giving us mixed signals here.

ZAFT: You'll see what we have planned soon enough, Andy~ :3

Andy: I really don't like that smile.

DarkFoxKit: Come on, let's get into 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 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 24: A Digital World

Takuya groaned as he felt like he had been asleep for days. His head felt like it had been rammed by a truck, and his body felt like it had been crushed by elephants.

Ugh… What hit me…? Takuya thought as he opened his eyes. He last remembered fighting Ember and then some sort of portal sucked him into it. And… Wait! Ember! Oh man! Andy and Danny had better be okay!

Takuya groaned a bit as his head's pain spiked when he tried to sit up. He put his hands on his head and curled up until the pain dulled down. As Takuya laid there, he could hear what sounded like birds chirping, and the sound of running water. He also felt a pleasant breeze. This indicated he was either outside somewhere, or someone put him in a very quiet room with the window open.

As soon as the pain in his head died down, Takuya sat up, rubbing at his head with one hand. "Ugh… that's gonna hurt for a few days…" He muttered before he looked around. He could see trees around him, grass below him, and a small stream nearby.

Takuya blinked, seeing he was nowhere near Amity Park, or even that music store earlier. "Wait… Where am I? I don't remember this place…"

Takuya managed to push himself up onto his feet. "It… looks like I'm out in a forest… but… why and how did I get here?"

The boy tried to think back on what happened. He remembered Ember hitting him with some kind of soundwave attack with her guitar. The next thing Takuya knew, he was waking up out here.

"Where did Ember send me? I… Aw man! Everyone's probably worried about me!" Takuya groaned. "I have to find a way back to Amity Park, and fast! But how can I do that if I don't know where the heck I am?!"

Takuya began to look around. He decided he needed to gather intel on where he was before he tried to get back to Amity Park. Surely Ember couldn't have sent him that far away from Amity Park.

Slowly, Takuya made his way through the bushes and trees, trying to find any sign of life or civilization. "C'mon… where is anything around here?" He grumbled.

Takuya stopped when he heard what sounded like footsteps approaching him… heavy sounding footsteps.

Looking around, Takuya knew he had to find a hiding spot. He just decided to duck into some bushes and peer out to see who, or what, was coming his way. Once in the bushes, Takuya moved aside some of the leaves so he could see the source of the heavy footsteps.

He saw a tall figure walking by. They looked almost humanoid, covered in armor. When the figure got closer, Takuya got a better look at the being. His eyes went wide when he saw the figure was wearing dark gray armor that had gold and red accents on it. The figure had what looked like a lion's face on the chest armor, and the head armor was shaped like a lion's mane. The figure had on a black bodysuit and had red eyes as well as a facemask that covered his mouth and lower face. Whoa… that is some sweet armor…

There was also something familiar about this being. Something that felt like he could trust this being, but Takuya stayed hidden. He didn't know this being, or what its intentions were, he wasn't about to announce his presence to this thing until he knew more.

The black-armored figure looked around a bit more before heading off. Takuya watched this, keeping himself hidden. Okay… I think it's safe to say I'm not in Amity Park anymore… He realized with a pang of horror filling his gut. But… if that's the case, then where am I?

Slowly, Takuya ventured out from his hiding spot, seeing the black-armored being was gone. "I'll have to be extra careful while I'm here… wherever here is…"

Takuya began walking in the opposite direction of that big, armored being. He hoped he could find a way out of the forest and find some kind of civilization that could help get him back to Amity Park. He just hoped maybe that one big, armored being was just some really tall, really buff dude doing some kind of cosplay. Although it sort of reminded him of Agunimon.

Yeah… that was probably just a cosplayer… That's all it was, nothing more. Takuya tried to tell himself. I just need to keep going and I will find someone who can help me. No big deal…

But as he walked further into the trees and bushes, Takuya began to get a feeling that maybe he was lost. "Um… maybe I just… got turned around. I should be able to find my way out of here, right? I mean, it can't be that hard to get out of a forest."

"Awww!" Takuya jumped when he heard what sounded like a girl's voice not too far away. "You're so cuuuuute!"

"H-huh?!" Takuya turned around, wondering who that voice belonged to. It didn't sound like Paulina, so he deemed that at least one good thing so far. "W-who's there?!"

Takuya looked around a bit when something pink caught his eye. He turned to it and saw a person, picking up something in their arms. It was a girl with blonde hair and green eyes. She was wearing a purple beanie cap, and she had on a matching vest. Her shirt was white with blue stripes on it, and she had a purple skirt on with dark purple socks and purple and white sneakers on.

Takuya had never felt so relieved to see another person before. "There's someone else here! Great! Maybe she can help me!" He said to himself before making his way over to the girl.

"Hey!" Takuya called to the girl, hoping she would see him, or that he could get her attention.

The girl turned around to see who was calling out to her. Takuya blinked when he saw the thing in the girl's arms. It looked to be some kind of… white round creature, with stubby feet, two beady, black eyes, and a pair of wrinkly antennae on its head. Takuya decided to try to ignore it since it could just be some weird plush toy the girl was holding.

"Um… Hi…" Takuya said as he came closer to the girl. "Sorry for startling you. I'm… kinda lost and need help getting back home."

The girl was surprised to see Takuya. "You're… lost? You mean you didn't come here on purpose?"

"What do you mean? Do you know where we are?" Takuya asked, blinking in confusion.

"Well of course I do. This is the Forest Terminal," The girl answered. "You're actually kinda close to one of the Celestial's Castle, one doesn't just get here by accident."

"Forest Terminal? Celestials?" Takuya asked, although something about that last part sounded familiar… like he had heard it before.

"Wow… you really don't know?" The girl asked, surprised. "How did you get here?"

"Some kinda weird portal." Takuya replied. "It's… gonna sound crazy, but I was sent here by a ghost that opened that portal… somehow…"

"A ghost sent you here?" The girl frowned.

"Was this ghost a teenage boy?" The white creature in the girl's arms suddenly asked, which startled Takuya.

"W-wah!? That… did that thing just… talk?!" Takuya asked in shock. O-okay… I just… gotta calm down… just… calm…down… Aw man! I can't calm down under these circumstances! I don't even know where the heck I am!

"I'm not a thing! My name is Tokomon," The creature grumbled.

"Okay, that reaction is too genuine to be fake. You… don't know what Digimon are, do you?" The girl giggled.

Takuya suddenly had memories coming back to him. Wait… Digimon? Is that what that thing is? "I… have heard of Digimon, but… I never thought I would see one in person…" Takuya admitted at last. So… that's what a Digimon looks like? Wow… It looks nothing like what I was imagining. I mean, when I become Agunimon, I become a Digimon… I guess there are different kinds of Digimon then…

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Zoe Orimoto," The girl introduced. "What's your name?"

"T-Takuya… Takuya Kanbara." Takuya introduced himself as well. "Sorry about that whole… um… freak-out on my part… I've… never seen a Digimon before…" Aside from my Agunimon form, but that doesn't really count, I think…

"Okay, Takuya, how about you try to calm down and tell me what happened?" Zoe suggested.

"Please tell us about the ghost who sent you here," Tokomon said.

"Aren't you a little young to be worried about ghosts? I need to get you back to Primary Village so they can take you to your family," Zoe remarked.

Tokomon grumbled.

"Um… No, it's fine… The ghost who sent me here was a teenage girl, not a teenage boy." Takuya replied at last. "She was a rock star ghost, and well… I wound up fighting her, but she opened a portal and sent me here."

Takuya then looked at Zoe. "Primary Village? Is that where… um… Tokomon… came from?"

Tokomon looked rather annoyed.

"Well, technically all Digimon are supposedly born or reborn at Primary Village. It's essentially a giant nursery for all baby Digimon," Zoe explained. "This little guy is still a baby, but he somehow ended up all the way out here."

"Wow… No wonder you want to take him back there." Takuya noted. "It must be dangerous out here for a young one like him."

"Yeah… especially with…" Zoe frowned before shaking her head. "Uh… so you said this rock star ghost sent you here?"

"Yeah… I just woke up here, and I have no idea where I am or how to get back home," Takuya answered.

"I see…" Zoe sighed. "So that means you couldn't have gotten here using one of those helmets then…"

"Helmets…?" Takuya frowned, but again, something about that sounded familiar. "Um… no… I didn't."

"Then it might be… difficult to get you back home…" Zoe frowned. "I guess the easiest way to send you back home is through a Trailmon. But with how things have been lately, it might be too dangerous…"

"Trailmon? Are they some kind of Digimon?" Takuya asked.

"Yeah… um… something to keep in mind, every Digimon's name ends with 'mon'," Zoe informed. "So if a name ends in 'mon', it's most likely a Digimon. A Trailmon is a train Digimon, though there are different types, they're mostly used for transportation or delivering goods like actual trains."

"I see. I'll keep that in mind." Takuya said, but he was getting a feeling like some of this was familiar to him; the helmets, the word 'Celestial', the fact he was seeing a 'Digimon'… Why does everything I've heard sound familiar in a way? "Wait, why is it dangerous? Is Trailmon dangerous?"

"No, at least not directly," Zoe answered. "It's just… well…"

"Just tell him. Keeping him in the dark isn't going to help," Tokomon sighed.

Takuya couldn't help but notice that this little Tokomon seemed to know a lot despite being a baby. Maybe baby Digimon were just better informed than normal babies.

Zoe let out a sigh of her own. "Alright… Takuya… I'll stop trying to beat around the bushes. You're not in your world anymore, you're in the Digital World."

Now Takuya knew why everything sounded familiar. "Hold on! You mean like in that new game that is coming out? As in 'Ruler of the Digital World'?! That Digital World?!" He exclaimed in shock. But I thought it wasn't due out for a few weeks! How the heck did I get transported into a game that isn't even out yet?!

Zoe snapped. "It's not a game!"

Takuya was taken back by Zoe's reaction.

"Sorry…" Zoe apologized. "It's just… this world isn't just something created in a video game like so many people here think… it's a living, breathing world, filled with living, breathing creatures. That game… the 'Ruler of the Digital World' is nothing more than a trap set up by some evil monster. Bringing humans, 'players' to this world by taking their brainwaves, and transporting them here, creating a digital body for them. These players believe this world is nothing more than a video game, so they're using Digimon to hunt, and destroy other Digimon to make their Digimon stronger. They're also knocking over Trailmon to loot them, which makes transportation by Trailmon dangerous now. Some of these players are destroying several trees for resources, burning dead wood and grasses, draining water, taking all the food in the area… it's become a big mess…"

Takuya never thought about it before, but video games usually had players do things that would normally destroy the environment and kill a lot of animals.

Looking down at the ground, Takuya knew he had felt the grass below him, that he had heard the water of that stream, that he had felt that breeze on his skin. It was in no way faked, any of that. "Then… this world… isn't fake… It's… It's real?" He asked, clenching his fists.

"Just because it's called the 'Digital World' doesn't mean it's less real than you or me," Zoe sighed. "But these people don't know that, they see anyone who tells them otherwise as either paranoid freaks, or NPCs going ballistic on them. So… me and a few friends of mine have been doing our best to try to protect the remaining castles of the Celestial Digimon. We already lost one to a particularly strong group of players and their overly buff Digimon. Nobody knows what happened to the other one, he seemed to have gone missing, but we know he hasn't been defeated yet, otherwise his castle would've been taken over by the one who defeated him."

"Wait… you and some friends?" Takuya asked, taking this information in. "I'm sorry, but how have you and your friends been trying to protect the Celestial Digimon? If these players have Digimon themselves, wouldn't that well… um… get you guys hurt or something?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. We have our own way of fighting back," Zoe chuckled. "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't be telling you all this. This is our problem, not yours. We need to focus on getting you back home. Since you're physically here, and not here in some digital copy of yourself, you could get killed if the players decide to use their Digimon on you."

"I… have a way of defending myself, don't worry." Takuya said with a chuckle of his own.

"Oh? A fighter, eh? I guess I should've expected that since you tangled with a ghost of all things," Zoe chuckled.

Takuya blushed. "That… wasn't exactly a smart move since I didn't know what she could do…"

"Yeah, well just make sure you keep that mindset here. Digimon come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and many of them are powerful," Zoe warned. "I want to help you though, I can't just leave you here alone… but at the same time, it would be dangerous to leave the Forest Terminal unprotected. If JP was here, he could help Koichi guard this place from ill-intentioned players, but he's busy guarding Ophanimon's castle…"

"Are those two of your friends?" Takuya asked.

"Yeah," Zoe answered. "We've been through a lot together. You could say we were the first ones to come to the Digital World before the 'game' started to become a thing."

"Huh…" Takuya looked down as he put a hand in his pocket, feeling his device to transform. "I… I didn't know others were here before the 'game' became a thing." That message I got… was this the place that woman meant…? I mean… There is no other Digital World, right?

Zoe sighed. "Well, there is one more, but he's supposed to be scouting around the Digital World. But none of us heard back from him for hours, I hope he's alright."

"What is his name?" Takuya asked. "Maybe I can help you find him."

"That's alright, to be blunt, I don't really think you'd be much help," Zoe replied.

Takuya sweatdropped, but he hadn't given Zoe a reason to believe how helpful he could be. For all she knew, he was just some lost kid.

"Ah… right… Well, I can't just sit back if one of your friends is missing. You will need all the help you can get." Takuya pointed out. "I can help, just give me a chance, please! If worst comes to worst, I can at least find a place to hide and escape."

"But… don't you want to get back home?" Zoe asked, confused as to why Takuya suddenly wanted to help.

"Look, I do want to get back home, but I can't just leave if someone is in trouble." Takuya replied. "I'm… I'm not one to just leave a person in trouble behind."

Zoe sighed. "Great, a noble hot head, just what we need."

"Wha? That's your reaction?" Takuya groaned.

"Look, I just don't want you getting yourself hurt, because that's only going to make things harder for us," Zoe explained.

Well… like Andy always says… use logic to convince someone to do what you want them to… That sounds very manipulative actually… Takuya noted. "Look, you said it yourself, it's too dangerous to send me home on a Trailmon, right? And you can't just leave this… Forest Terminal because of players that could come and take over the castle, right? So let me help you, at least this way I can contribute, and maybe we can find a safer way for me to get back home."

Zoe considered Takuya's words. She had said sending him home on a Trailmon was dangerous right now, and if she just left him alone in the woods, he would get hurt or worse.

Finally, Zoe sighed. "Alright… you can help out. Just… be sure to listen to me or my friends if we tell you it's too dangerous, and stay at the castle if the rest of us have to go out, okay?"

"Of course," Takuya answered. At least this way I have a better idea of what's going on, and maybe I'll be able to get back home. I just… hope Danny, Andy, Jazz, Uncle Jack, and Aunt Maddie won't be too worried…

"I also need to get Sorcermon, or someone, to take this little guy back to Primary Village," Zoe sighed, looking at Tokomon.

"I can handle myself just fine," Tokomon huffed.

"Um… I think you're a bit too young for that, buddy." Takuya chuckled sheepishly. "She has a point. It's too dangerous for you to be out here."

"Says the human who fought a ghost…" Tokomon grumbled.

"Wow… he's grumpy…" Takuya said with a sweatdrop.

"Yeah, I guess he's a bit of a rebel," Zoe chuckled before she began walking in one direction. "Come on, follow me, I'll take you to the castle. I'll see if I can call up Koichi too to let him know the situation."

Takuya nodded, following Zoe. Maybe I can meet these other kids too. I mean, if they're here, there must be a reason, right? Maybe I can find out why they're all here in the first place.

The two began the walk back to the castle, Takuya looking around and taking in everything that was around him. As much as he hated to admit it, this world did look just as alive as the human world. The trees were just as lush and vibrant as the ones in the human world, the breeze felt like it did in his world…

To think… someone is making this place out to be a game and ruining this world… Takiya thought before he felt a chuckle escape him. Great… Now I'm thinking like Sam…

Then something occurred to Takuya, and he couldn't believe he didn't think about it before. Why was Tokomon asking about a ghost boy?

"Hey… um… Tokomon? Can I ask you something?" Takuya asked. "Earlier, you mentioned a ghost boy. Why were you asking about a ghost boy?"

"Don't worry about it," Tokomon replied. "It's nothing."

Takuya frowned a little, but brushed it off for the time being. "Okay…" He said, but he was going to ask again when he had the chance.

---

"Are you sure this will work, Jazz?" Danny asked in an uncertain tone.

"With Dad, certainly, with Mom? … We have to make sure she doesn't take a close look," Jazz replied.

It had been a few hours after the Ember concert incident. Andy and Danny took Jazz home, explaining what happened to her since her memory of the event was really fuzzy. Tucker and Sam had to head home because their parents would be worried if they weren't home, especially Sam's parents.

Jazz was trying to create a fake Takuya lying in bed. She had put a life sized monkey plushy in Takuya's empty bed, and tried to hide it by covering the entire body with the blanket, and a big hat over the head. Andy gave Jazz Takuya's spare goggles to add to the hat since Takuya seemed to like wearing goggles on his head.

"This might work for one night, but what will we do for the other days?" Andy asked worriedly.

"You think it might take days to find Takuya?" Danny frowned.

"I don't want to assume we'll find him that quickly." Andy sighed. "He's in a whole other world that none of us had been to."

"We need to get to this Digital World then, and start searching right away." Danny said with determination in his voice.

"Slow your roll, rodeo," Jazz spoke up. "Do you even know how to get there? And how are you so sure this 'Digital World' is where Takuya was sent to? You said that Ember ghost was the one who sent him into another dimension, right? Wouldn't it make more sense to send him to the Ghost Zone then?"

Danny winced at that. "Um… yeah… that's… kinda hard to explain…" Danny began. "But, I… just call it a gut feeling…"

Jazz raised an eyebrow.

"I'll explain it," Andy sighed. "Ember mentioned that she sent the 'digital being' back to where he came from. And we met with another being who called himself 'Lobomon', he said he's a Digimon. Where else would Ember send Takuya if not the Digital World?"

Jazz frowned. "I still can't believe Takuya was Agunimon… why did he never tell us?"

"How do you think anyone else would react to the fact a human can become a Digimon?" Danny asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jazz and Andy both looked at Danny with raised eyebrows.

"What? Wouldn't you have freaked out if you saw Takuya become Agunimon?" Danny asked.

"Danny… my freak out was already 'freaked out' when I saw you turn into a ghost before my eyes. Takuya turning into Agunimon would've been an 'oh, okay' moment to me by that point," Jazz pointed out.

Danny sighed. "Okay, I guess that makes sense. But you have to admit, Takuya did have his reasons."

Jazz sighed. "This family has trouble with secrets."

Andy groaned as he rubbed his head. "Yeah, but at least we all know… except for Mom and Dad. They're a little… less predictable with how they'll react if they found out. They might think Takuya was taken over by some kind of demon ghost or something."

Danny grimaced. "Yeah… I don't want to think about how well that will go down…" He muttered. "It's hard enough for me to keep my ghost powers a secret from Mom and Dad as it is…"

"For now, let's focus on how to get to the Digital World, we'll figure out how to keep the fact Takuya is missing from Mom and Dad tomorrow morning," Andy decided.

"It's already late though, and you two had a long night dealing with Ember," Jazz pointed out. "I'm not sure how productive you can be looking for a way into the Digital World right now."

"Well, there is always a way, we just have to look or think about how we could access this Digital World." Danny said as he sighed. "It… is just… we have no idea on how to get there."

"Kids?"

The 3 Fenton siblings tensed when they heard their mother called.

Maddie and Jack opened the door to Takuya's room, Jazz quickly covered as much of the monkey plushy up as possible.

"What are you all doing in Takuya's room?" Maddie asked. "Shouldn't you be in your own beds? You have the Northwestern Nine Standardized Test tomorrow, don't you? This isn't the time for sleepovers."

Oh crap… I forgot all about that stupid test. Welp, we're going to fail. Andy inwardly groaned.

"O-Oh! Yeah, right! We'll get to bed, don't worry!" Danny said with a grin, although he was sweating inwardly.

"We were all just studying together to prepare," Jazz explained. "Though Takuya fell asleep, so we're letting him sleep. We were just about to head to bed ourselves."

"Jazz?" Jack blinked. "You're not upset about not going to that big concert anymore?"

"What? Oh, right, uh, nah. I realized how… immature my behavior was with that concert," Jazz covered. "I'm sorry for any trouble I caused."

"Well, I'm glad you wised up." Jack said in relief. "You had your mother and I worried about you with how you were acting."

Jazz sweatdropped as she grinned sheepishly. But it was because I was mind-controlled or something like it… She thought inwardly.

"I'm just glad you seem to be back to normal, Jazz. I guess it was just a phase," Maddie remarked.

"Yeah… I guess I just got caught up in all the hype at school," Jazz chuckled. "Anyways, uh, we'll be going now. I'll make sure my little brothers head to bed."

"That's good to hear." Maddie smiled. "We'll be down in the lab in case you kids need us. We'll be heading to bed a little later."

"Okay, goodnight, Mom, Dad, good luck with your… ghost inventing stuff." Jazz waved.

"Have a goodnight, Jazzypants, Danno, and Andyroo!" Jack beamed. "Tell Takuya we said goodnight to him too!"

"We will," Andy said, relieved that they weren't going to check on 'Takuya'.

Maddie and Jack left, leaving the siblings alone. They breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Wow, Jazz, I didn't know you could be so convincing," Danny complimented.

"Don't push it, Danny. I was just trying to keep Mom and Dad off of us for the time being." Jazz grumbled.

"Well, it certainly worked~" Danny grinned.

"Maybe you should teach Danny that technique, he sucks at it," Andy remarked.

"H-hey! I do not!" Danny huffed.

"The minute things start to get heated, you start stuttering and getting nervous, that just screams 'suspicious'!" Andy pointed out.

"I managed to fool you for a few months, didn't I?" Danny grumbled.

"More like because I fooled myself. There were several times I could've connected the dots, but chose not to," Andy huffed back.

"That still counts!" Danny argued.

Jazz was grinning at the banter between her brothers, but they had a more pressing issue, so she cleared her throat. "Well, if you two are done with your banter, shouldn't we figure out how to get Takuya back from this Digital World?"

The twins grumbled, but they agreed with Jazz.

"We got school to deal with tomorrow, so we should also get to bed soon too," Andy sighed.

"We're going to fail," Danny groaned.

"I'm pretty sure most of the class is going to fail due to the whole Ember fiasco, nobody had time, or the mindset, to study," Jazz sighed. "Not even I did… So that means it's likely the teachers will have you make it up later. But we'll worry about that later. I think you can afford to stay up for half an hour before heading to bed, at least assuming you're not too tired from your battle with Ember."

"I think Danny might be close to passing out," Andy remarked.

"I am not!" Danny huffed, but a yawn escaped him, giving away he had been just acting like he was fine. "Aw, great… So much for passing off as fine…"

"You used a lot of your ghost powers today," Andy pointed out. "I'm surprised you didn't pass out to be honest. Overshadowing me for long periods of time outside of the Ghost Zone likely drained you too."

"Yeah… it certainly did…" Danny grumbled. "I really want to stay awake, but I just want to conk out now…"

"You go ahead and get some sleep, bro, I'll do some research and see if I can find out anything before I head to bed myself," Andy suggested.

"Sure… just… let me know what you find." Danny said with another yawn before he left for his and Andy's shared bedroom.

"Do you want some help with your research, Andy?" Jazz asked as she looked at Andy once Danny had left.

"Yeah, if you can," Andy replied. "There has to be some kind of hint somewhere about the Digital World." And I think I know the first place to look.

---

After Danny and Andy went upstairs into their room, the boys changed out of their clothes and into their PJs. Danny was wearing his pink PJs while Andy wore his baby blue PJs. Danny didn't waste time to lay in his bed, and as soon as he did, he was conked out.

Andy sat at his computer desk, and let out a yawn himself. He was pretty tired as well, though he knew Danny needed sleep more than he did. They also needed at least one of them awake to find out where Takuya went to give the other enough peace of mind to actually sleep.

Andy didn't hesitate to go to the Ruler of the Digital World's website. The name had the word 'Digital World' in it. Andy wasn't 100% sure if an MMO's video game world was the same as this Digital World that Takuya was sent to, but it was his only lead.

What Andy found surprised him.

'Early Access demo is now available! Get early access to train up your chosen Digimon! Special Digimon are available to those who choose to participate! Limited time left before the game launches! Get early access now!' The words were splayed across the top of the webpage, showing rare Digimon that were available to those who chose to get the early access.

"What? Why haven't I heard of this?" Andy frowned. Then again, I haven't been looking at the website since the incident with Cujo… I got a little distracted with ghosts and school. "Early Access demo…"

I'm not a big fan of early access stuff, because the game isn't quite finished, but… the beta is coming out in a few weeks, so they should already have most of it done by now… And the special Digimon sound very tempting… Andy thought to himself.

Since Andy didn't know that much about Digimon yet, he didn't know what counted as rare or powerful. He quite enjoyed raising up Kokomon in the Primary Village Care, he wasn't sure if he wanted to change Kokomon to another Digimon. But… it couldn't hurt to at least take a look at the early access, especially since it may just be the key to finding Takuya.

Andy clicked on the 'more info' button regarding the early access demo. The website went into great detail about how most of the early access copies of the game, with the virtual helmet, had been sold out just about everywhere. "It's sold out!? How am I supposed to get into the Digital World now?"

Andy groaned as he rubbed his head before he exited the website, seeing that it was useless to him right now. Great, now what?

Andy looked back at his sleeping brother before he thought about Kokomon. I might as well check in on Kokomon. It might help me relax. I can't fall asleep if I'm feeling too riled up.

Andy logged into the Primary Village Care. He was happy to see Kokomon's cute face greeting him as soon as he came on.

---

Takuya was bored. After Zoe introduced him to Koichi, who was another kid around his age, he had been stuck in this castle for the past few days. Zoe left Tokomon with him to watch over while she and Koichi went out to scout around the Forest Terminal.

While he had been here, Takuya began to learn more about this world, and what Digimon were. A Digimon called Sorcermon was teaching him. Sorcermon was a wizard-like Digimon, capable of using all sorts of magic, which was cool. Tokomon seemed comfortable around Sorcermon, but the little Digimon seemed to be quite grumpy.

"Is everything alright, Takuya?" Sorcermon asked.

Sorcermon walked up to the boy, carrying Tokomon in his arms.

"O-oh! Yeah… I'm fine, Sorcermon." Takuya said, snapping out of his thoughts. "I'm just bored sitting around in this castle. Don't get me wrong, what you're teaching me is great and very helpful, but I haven't been able to do anything except just stay here." The boy then looked down at the floor.

"I'm also worried about my family. They're probably worried sick about me right now." Takuya added softly.

"Maybe, it's hard to say," Sorcermon said.

"What do you mean by that?" Takuya asked.

"According to Zoe and Koichi, time doesn't flow here the same way as time in your world," Sorcermon explained.

"Hold on… so you're saying if I'm here a few days, then in my world… it could be only an hour or so?" Takuya asked, surprised and yet also relieved.

"That's what I believe. How else are they and those players able to stay here for so long if they have families back home?" Sorcermon pointed out.

Tokomon was struggling a bit to get out of Sorcermon's hold. "I believe I've wasted enough time here. I really need to get going."

"You won't survive out there as you are now," Sorcermon warned. "The players would easily capture you or wipe you out."

Tokomon huffed, but stopped his squirming.

Takuya chuckled at the sight of the baby Digimon pouting. "He is definitely a grump~"

Sorcermon chuckled as well. "Yes, well… sometimes the biggest things can come in the smallest packages."

"Where is he trying to go anyways?" Takuya asked.

"He's trying to find a way to a special place," Sorcermon replied. "I've been… looking around myself. There used to be an opening that led to the special place, but with all the players' interferences, the opening had been closed."

Takuya blinked. "Huh… This place must be really special if this little guy is so determined to get there."

"It's very important!" Tokomon exclaimed. "I have to get there!"

"Not as you are." Sorcermon warned.

"As I am was the only way to get there before it closed," Tokomon grumbled. "You think Ophanimon would do it?"

Takuya had learned about the 3 Celestial Digimon, one of them was Ophanimon. Ophanimon was a female angelic Digimon from what he had heard, though she can also turn into an angelic dragon for battling. But like with the Celestial Digimon in this castle, she had disappeared not long after the fall of the first Celestial Digimon. According to Sorcermon, the 2 Celestial Digimon disappeared to go into hiding from the players since the 1st Celestial that fell was their strongest warrior.

"She would have yes, but she would've done so in a calm, planned-out manner, not just running around as you were." Sorcermon stated before sighing. "I apologize, Takuya. As I've taught you, Digimon can degenerate into earlier, younger forms, though unless they're partnered up with players, it's usually rare. When it happens, they do end up with that younger mindset."

Takuya chuckled. "It's no problem. It's kinda like caring for a toddler, err… a very young human child. Although it is interesting to observe how a Digimon can change from a more powerful form to a weaker form."

"Indeed. When a Digimon dies, their data ends up getting reconfigured and are reborn at Primary Village as babies. Though their memories of their past life don't usually stay with them. They start over with a clean slate," Sorcermon explained. "It's like they're a different Digimon to who they were before. There are some rare exceptions. The Celestials usually retain their memories, but sometimes if their death was brutal, it would take time for them to recover their memories after their rebirth."

Takuya frowned a little. "That sounds rough…" He said softly. "And these players probably don't make that any easier for the baby Digimon."

"Yeah. Thankfully thanks to Swanmon, Elecmon, and a combination of magic Digimon, they put up a barrier around Primary Village to keep players out, and the village hidden from them," Sorcermon explained. "Although there have been rumors about baby Digimon interacting with phantom humans in their nursery."

"'Phantom' humans?" Takuya asked, not sure he liked hearing that information.

"Swanmon tries to check it out, but she never sees any humans. Only the babies can see the humans, and only the human that's supposedly taking care of them," Sorcermon explained. "We've been calling them phantom humans since nobody else can see them."

Takuya frowned, but he didn't press the issue anymore. "I'll just leave it at that, I think." Unless the humans are somehow contacting the Digimon, I can't imagine these 'phantom humans' are ghosts. Ghosts don't seem to like Digimon, so there's no way a ghost would come to this world, not if there are whole species of Digimon here.

Tokomon frowned. "Sorcermon, how about you take me to Primary Village? I want to try to see if these rumors are real."

"I have to stay here since I was left in charge of the castle," Sorcermon replied. "If I leave, that could bring the Forest Terminal into chaos."

"Then why don't you have Takuya take me if you're so scared of letting me go on my own?" Tokomon suggested.

"I have no idea where this Primary Village is." Takuya said with a sweatdrop running down the side of his head.

"I can tell you where it is. Every Digimon knows where Primary Village is," Tokomon replied.

"I don't know, isn't it too dangerous?" Takuya frowned.

"Didn't you say you were bored being locked up in this castle all day?" Tokomon huffed.

"That I did…" Takuya grumbled. "Alright, fine. I'll take you there if you want." He sighed at last.

Tokomon was grinning, but Sorcermon frowned. "Are you sure? Takuya is a mere human. He wouldn't last against those players if they decided to have their Digimon attack him."

"Is he just a human?" Tokomon asked, looking at Sorcermon. "Like you said before, sometimes the biggest things come in the smallest of packages."

Sorcermon chuckled. "That is true." He said mysteriously. "Alright, he can take you. But if trouble occurs, get out of the area."

"Um, alright," Takuya replied. Does… Tokomon know something about me?

Sorcermon gave Tokomon over to Takuya. Takuya picked up Tokomon.

"Primary Village is a little ways away from here. Normally one would ride on a Trailmon to get there, but all railroads had been shut down for the time being," Sorcermon explained. "I'd tell Kazemon to take you, but she's needed to keep the Forest Terminal safe."

"Kazemon? I don't think I've met with that Digimon yet," Takuya remarked.

"Ah, right…" Sorcermon muttered. "Don't worry about it. Just make sure you pack up some food for the trip."

Takuya raised an eyebrow, but he didn't press the issue for the time being. Tokomon was shivering with excitement for this trip, and it was making it hard to focus on who this mysterious 'Kazemon' could be.

"Okay, let's get some food and then go to Primary Village." Takuya said to Tokomon, who grinned up at him with a smile. Wow, I've never seen Tokomon look so happy. He must've really wanted to get out of here.

---

Takuya had a brown backpack filled with food with water bottles. Tokomon was hopping beside him as they exited the castle. "Okay, this should be enough to last us a few days."

"Great, we can finally get somewhere," Tokomon replied.

"So where do we go?" Takuya asked.

"Just follow me, I'll lead the way," Tokomon answered before he began running forward with his stubby little feet.

Takuya followed after, making sure he didn't lose sight of Tokomon. "Geez, you sure can move fast for such a little guy." He remarked with a smile.

The two moved for a while, going through the forest. For the most part, the Forest Terminal was quite peaceful. There were some plant-like Digimon, bug-like Digimon, and bird-like Digimon just living out their lives here.

As they were moving, Takuya became curious about a few things. He wasn't sure if Tokomon could answer those questions, but it might be a good idea to have a bit of a conversation with the small Digimon.

"Hey, um… Tokomon? I was wondering… I know Zoe and Koichi are friends of Sorcermon, but… how can two kids protect the castle of the Forest Terminal?" Takuya asked, feeling like he wanted to ask something to pass the time. "No offense to them, but I doubt two humans could protect that place on their own."

"They have their ways. If they haven't told you, then it's not my place to tell you," Tokomon replied.

Takuya groaned. Of course he would say that… He thought before he decided to ask his next question. "Okay, but why are they here? I mean, what is their reason for being here?"

"They have an important role to play in the Digital World," Tokomon answered. "When they came here about a year ago on a Trailmon, they were able to prove their worth of becoming what they are now here. Their will, desire, determination, and hearts had grown stronger together after overcoming a great evil. That is why the Celestials trust them to keep their remaining territories safe from the players while the Celestial they lost recovers."

"Alright." Takuya said, accepting this information. "What about their friend? Wasn't there someone who went missing? Who are they?"

"My memory's a bit hazy," Tokomon admitted. "I only know their name was Lobomon."

What? That sounds like a Digimon's name though. Takuya blinked, surprised. "Isn't that a Digimon's name?"

"It is, yes. Lobomon was a Digimon," Tokomon confirmed.

"So a Digimon they knew went missing? That's… kinda scary and yet sad…" Takuya frowned. "Was Lobomon a partner to one of them?"

"I doubt it," Tokomon replied. "Well, then again, I guess they are partners too. From what I know, they work together to get stronger."

"Ah… Okay." Takuya said, but something was niggling at him, telling him things were not as they seemed when it came to this Lobomon, and his two new human friends. "I guess that makes sense."

Then something else crossed his mind. "What about the Celestials? I only know their names, and just some stuff Sorcermon told me about them. Like, are they powerful Digimon?"

Tokomon stopped for a moment and looked back at Takuya. "You ask too many questions. I'm not your teacher."

Takuya rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry… I'm just trying to learn about this new world." Geez… Andy really rubbed off on me…

"All you need to know about the Celestials is that they are 3 angelic Digimon who govern the Digital World. Ophanimon is the Digimon of Love and Life. Seraphimon is the Digimon of Law. Cherubimon is the Digimon of Wisdom. Ophanimon governs the life, Seraphimon creates law and order, and Cherubimon gives wisdom and intelligence to Digimon so they're able to reason and speak with each other," Tokomon explained. "Of course, with one of them felled, and the other two missing, the Digital World is in chaos right now."

Takuya frowned. "Yeah, I can get a basic guess of how bad it is." He admitted. "But what about these players? I was told a bit about them by Zoe, but after that… I mean, don't they realize this is a real world? Surely someone has realized this, right?"

"I don't know. If you bought a video game and hooked it up to your device or something, would you believe it was a living, breathing world or just have dynamic AI or whatever it's called?" Tokomon asked. "Besides, I haven't met the players myself, so I can't say for sure if someone realizes this is a living, breathing world or just a game."

Takuya sighed. "Yeah, I probably should've guessed that." He admitted, rubbing the back of his head. I guess the whole conversation didn't end up a waste. I mean, I learned a bit about the Celestial Digimon, and who Zoe and Koichi's missing friend is. So perhaps I could help find this Lobomon.

The two of them kept going. Takuya just hoped it would be a smooth journey.

---

It had only been about 20 minutes for Andy since he started caring for Kokomon. Andy let out a sigh after he fed Kokomon and gave him some virtual pets. Kokomon looked at the screen, seeming to be concerned even though Andy was sure Kokomon had no reason to be concerned.

"There's got to be a way to get into the Digital World without the helmet…" Andy frowned, muttering to himself as his worries for Takuya began to resurface. "I can't save Takuya if I can't get into the Digital World… I still can't believe Ember sent him into the Digital World. I don't even know how dangerous that place is…"

Little Kokomon was bouncing around, as if trying to keep Andy's mind off of what was bothering him. Kokomon wanted Andy to be happy, not sad.

"Well, Kokomon, maybe if you see Takuya you might be able to help him or something," Andy said, not believing that Kokomon could actually hear him. "Then again… unless you have the ability to teleport a human out of the Digital World and back to here, I'm not sure if there's much you can do to help him."

Kokomon stopped bouncing and frowned.

"I don't know what to do. So much had happened… and I don't know how to get my cousin back." Andy frowned. "I wish there was something I could do to find Takuya…"

"Find… Takuya…?" Kokomon spoke up.

Andy's head snapped up to the screen. "What…? What did you say?"

"Find… Takuya?" Kokomon repeated. "Find…?"

Andy blinked. Even if the AI was programmed to talk, it shouldn't have Takuya's name in one of its pre-programmed scripts. "Can you… hear me?"

"Me!" Kokomon repeated with a grin. "Hear… me!"

Andy wondered if there was some kind of learning programming in the AI, to make them much more dynamic and feel more real. The AI could probably hear him through the mic, and was repeating after him.

"My name is Andy, can you say my name?" Andy asked, now knowing what a parent felt like when they hear their baby trying to talk for the first time.

"Andymon!" Kokomon cheered. "Name Andymon!"

Andy sweatdropped. "N-no, it's not Andymon, it's just Andy."

"Andy? Andy! Kokomon meet Andy!" Kokomon cheered while bouncing up and down.

Andy smiled, he couldn't help but feel proud at hearing his little baby digital monster saying his name and sounding so happy to meet him. "Andy likes meeting Kokomon too. Maybe Kokomon can help Andy get to the Digital World and find Takuya."

"Help Andy!" Kokomon cheered, bouncing up and down.

Kokomon then hopped over to his little bed and was digging something out with his face. Andy blinked, wondering what Kokomon was doing. Kokomon hopped back over to Andy, holding what looked to be some kind of little toy with a small screen in its mouth, Kokomon was holding onto the strap of the device.

The device was silver with a chocolate brown ring around the screen, and matching buttons. It had a matching strap and was shaped like an upside down pear. On the device was a scanner of some kind as well.

"What is that?" Andy blinked. "That looks kind of like Takuya's strange device, but also different."

"Come! Come into the Digital World!" Kokomon bounced happily.

The screen on the little device suddenly glowed brightly, blinding Andy. Andy shut his eyes and he felt like something was pulling him in. W-wah? What's going on?

"D-Danny!" Andy yelled, trying to wake his brother up, but there was no response from the sleeping ghost boy.

Andy yelped as he was suddenly taken into some kind of portal, going through a stream of colors.

As Andy went through the portal, his clothes changed from his blue pajamas into a white shirt that had dark blue lines around the sleeve ends, the neckline, and the bottom of the shirt. His pants were now white with matching lines around the pant bottoms and his shoes were a dark blue as well.

Andy yelped as he landed on the floor, groaning.

Something hopped onto his chest while he was a bit dazed. "Andy? Andy?"

Andy blinked open his eyes to see a face blinking at him. Andy's eyes went wide. "Wah!?"

Andy flipped back, away from the face. "What the heck!?"

The small face was revealed to be Kokomon, who had a bit of a pout on his small face. "Andy not like me?"

"Kokomon…?" Andy blinked, trying to wrap his mind around the fact he was looking at Kokomon… without a screen. "Wah- how… How did you get into my room?"

"Room? Not room, nursery!" Kokomon cheered.

"Nursery?" Andy furrowed his eyebrows before he slowly began looking around the area he was in.

Andy quickly realized he was not in his room anymore. Nor was there any sign of Danny. It really looked like a nursery, or at least a room in a nursery. Andy looked at the spot he came from, seeing a small, holographic screen before it disappeared.

"How… did I get here…?" Andy blinked. "Where am I?"

"The Digital World!" Kokomon beamed. "You said you wanted to be here! So you are here!"

"What? This is the Digital World?" Andy looked at Kokomon in shock. "How did I get here? I didn't have the virtual helmet."

"No need for helmet!" Kokomon bounced up and down. "Can come any time you want with that!" He bounced over to the device that was on the floor.

Andy looked at the device that Kokomon had before all that weird light show happened. Andy bent down and picked up the strange device to look it over. "What is it?" It definitely looks similar to Takuya's device, but it's definitely not the same.

"Dunno," Kokomon answered. "It showed up when you wished to come here!"

Great, so I and Kokomon don't know what it is. Andy frowned. It could be dangerous… but it might be the only way back to my world too… "Is there any way I can go back to my world?"

"Use that!" Kokomon said, bouncing up and down. "Use!"

"How do I use it?" Andy asked.

"Dunno, you figure it out," Kokomon replied.

Andy sweatdropped before he went to push one of the buttons on the device when the door suddenly opened up.

"Okay, Kokomon, time for-" It was some kind of swan creature, and she stopped short when she saw Andy.

Andy froze as well, not sure what to do. "Uh… h-hello?"

The swan creature blinked, taking in Kokomon's happy bouncing and the very nervous Andy. "H-how did you get here?!" The creature demanded, suddenly flaring its… her wings to look intimidating. "Are you a player!?"

"W-what? N-no, yes? I just-" Andy was very confused and had no idea how to answer that question.

"Player alert! We have a player here!" Swanmon shouted.

Suddenly the entire room was covered in red. Andy, alarmed and scared, picked up Kokomon and ran over to the window, jumping out of it.

"The player stole one of the babies!" Swanmon shouted. "Worse yet! The player stole Kokomon! The player stole Kokomon!"

"What's going on, Swanmon!?" A red and purple rabbit-like creature rushed in over to Swanmon. "You said a player stole Kokomon? How did a player get here? We had the barrier up!"

"I don't know! He just was in Kokomon's room and then picked up Kokomon and ran off!" Swanmon nearly wailed. "We have to get Kokomon back! Oh, this is such a disaster! Who knows what that player will do with poor Kokomon!"

"I'll alert the others," The Digimon said. "Stay calm, we'll get that player and Kokomon back."

"O-Okay… It… I just… Oh, this couldn't get any worse…" Swanmon groaned. I hope we can find that player before anyone else does…

---

Andy didn't stop running, but he was surprised to see all these little baby Digimon. Some of them looked at him curiously, some of them moved away, others started crying. Andy was also shocked to see what looked like colorful Easter Eggs growing on bushes and trees. He wondered if these were supposed to be the eggs of these babies. But Andy didn't want to get hurt by those monsters, especially since he didn't have Danny or Takuya with him.

Andy only finally stopped when he reached an open area that didn't have any babies or colorful eggs. He panted from all the running and hoped he was far enough away from the nursery.

"Fun! Fun! Run fast!" Kokomon cheered in Andy's grasp. "Run really fast!"

"I'm… glad you… had fun…" Andy panted before he sat down on the grass.

Now that Andy had a moment to think, he was trying to piece together on what just happened. Okay, so I was in the nursery with Kokomon… then a swan monster accused me of being a 'player', whatever that means. I mean isn't this supposed to be a game? But how am I physically here without a virtual helmet? Kokomon said that device was responsible, but how? And…

Andy frowned as he realized something. I just stole a baby from the nursery… that is not a good look for me. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitake mushrooms… Why did I pick up Kokomon?

"I… uh… should get you back…" Andy finally said.

"Too late." Kokomon said. "Already look bad to Swanmon."

"Y-yeah, I definitely looked bad to… uh, Swanmon," Andy agreed. "But that doesn't mean I shouldn't take you back. I mean you are still a baby."

Kokomon pouted. "No go back. Wanna stay with you. I wanted to meet you, and you're here now."

Andy couldn't help but notice that Kokomon seemed to be going back and forth between speaking like a baby, and speaking in a more complete way. "Well… I'm happy to meet you too, Kokomon. But maybe this isn't the right way to meet. You were still in the nursery, and I kinda just kidnapped you from it."

"Don't care. Too stuffy. I want to remain with you!" Kokomon pouted.

"But what if I go back to my world? What would you do then?" Andy asked.

"Find a way to remain with you;" Kokomon replied somberly. "I want to remain with you!"

Andy sweatdropped. "But wouldn't you rather be raised by a mommy and daddy Digimon rather than some kid who would sometimes take care of you?"

Kokomon responded by jumping from Andy's arms and up onto his head.

"Andy! Stay with Andy!" Kokomon cheered happily.

Andy blinked, feeling the little Digimon on his head and sighed. "You're going to be very stubborn about this, aren't you?"

"Yep!" Kokomon grinned while glancing down at Andy. "Not leaving Andy!"

Andy sighed. He didn't know what to do about Kokomon since he didn't want to be a kidnapper, and he knew the right thing was to return Kokomon back to the nursery. But at the same time, even if he went back with the intent on giving Kokomon back, the Swanmon, and whoever else was in charge of the nursery, would likely swarm him first and ask questions later. Swanmon accused him of being a 'player' and reacted quite hostile towards him.

"Alright, you can stay with me for now. But if Swanmon or some other Digimon that works at the nursery chases me down, I will have to give you back to them," Andy stated.

"Aww…" Kokomon pouted, but it was a compromise, so Kokomon didn't protest. "Okay…"

Andy looked around, still having Kokomon on his head. "So… this is the Digital World, huh? This does look like one of the places that was in the trailer…"

"Yup, this is the Digital World!" Kokomon smiled.

"Where do I even go?" Andy frowned. "I didn't expect to get into the Digital World until the game came out, or chased out of a nursery place."

Kokomon looked around as well. "Wherever you want to go! The Digital World is vast and amazing!"

I wonder if this is Kokomon's first time seeing the world outside of the nursery. Considering he's a baby, it likely is, and he's just excited to see the world. Andy noted.

Andy held up the device that apparently brought him here in the first place. Kokomon said I just have to use this thing to return home…

Andy had a finger over one of the buttons before pausing. But… since I'm in the Digital World, this might be a good chance to look for Takuya. I don't know if I can come back here again even with the device until the game fully releases, and that would take too long. But… on the other hand, that would mean Danny, Jazz, Mom, and Dad would be worried about me as well and not just Takuya.

Andy realized he had to make a choice. He could stay in the Digital World until he found Takuya, or he could go back home first and tell Danny, but wasn't guaranteed a way back into the Digital World. If only there was a way to send a note or something. With how big this world is, it might take days, if not weeks, to find Takuya.

"Okay… I'll figure out how to get back home later. I might as well see if I can find Takuya for now," Andy decided.

"Find Takuya!" Kokomon cheered. "Find Takuya! Find!"

"You don't know who Takuya is, do you?" Andy asked as he began walking.

"Nope!" Kokomon replied.

"Why do you want to find him?" Andy questioned.

"Important to you, Andy!" Kokomon replied. "Must be if you wanted to come here!"

"Yeah, he is important to me," Andy confirmed. "Also… are you going to be riding on my head the whole way?"

"Yep! Nice comfy place to sit!" Kokomon grinned. "Very soft too!"

"Well, good to know my head is apparently very comfortable," Andy sweatdropped. Good thing Danny isn't here, or he would never let me live this down.

---

Takuya sighed as he drank up his water bottle, and finished his lunch. "I've never had to walk this much…"

"If it weren't for these players, the Trailmon would be a good way to get around." Tokomon grumbled.

"Yeah, I won't take transportation for granted ever again when I get back to my world." Takuya agreed. "All of this walking makes me appreciate it more already."

"This would be so much easier if I could fly… flying is a great way to go anywhere without taking a Trailmon…" Tokomon grumbled.

Takuya remembered how much he wanted to fly, and how envious he was of Danny with his ability to fly around so easily.

"Yeah, I sure wish I could fly too." Takuya admitted. At least I wouldn't be relying on running around so much… I didn't even master flying while in my Agunimon form…

"On the plus side, we're almost there," Tokomon said. "Primary Village is just around the corner. You'll start seeing colorful eggs on plants and stuff. Don't touch them though, they're real Digi-Eggs, and with how high strung the caretakers have been around humans lately, they might assume you're trying to steal a Digi-Egg if you touch one."

"Good to know…" Takuya said with a sweatdrop. "Um… if they saw me with you… wouldn't I be assumed to be taking a baby Digimon?"

Tokomon hesitated for a moment before answering. "Yeah, probably."

"Oh, great… Now I have to deal with being assumed to be a kidnapper." Takuya groaned. "Although I can't really blame them." He reached into his pocket, feeling his transformation device. If only I could just pass off as a Digimon or something… I don't want to evolve unless it is self-defense though.

"But I'm sure I can just tell them you're not a player," Tokomon stated. "Just don't do anything stupid and you'll be fine… probably."

"Right… I'll keep that in mind…" Takuya said with a sweatdrop. "Welp, may as well get this over with." He sighed as he stood up, packing up the water bottle and the remains of his lunch.

Although it had been a long walk, Takuya hadn't seen any of these players yet. He wanted to say that he was pretty lucky, but a part of him wanted to see these players for himself, to see how bad they actually were.

Although… Takuya hadn't seen a player, he was about to sort of get his wish when he and Tokomon reached Primary Village. Takuya, at first, didn't see anything. But he saw Tokomon moving forward, and seemingly disappeared.

Takuya blinked before he walked up and put a hand up in front of him. He extended his hand, and it seemed to vanish into the area in front of him. Whoa… this must be the barrier that keeps the village safe! Takuya realized before he took a deep breath and stepped forwards into the barrier. Here we go…

Takuya felt like he was phasing through a wall, which reminded him of Danny and his ghost powers. Once on the other side, the boy's eyes went wide at the landscape around him. He could see trees and bushes that looked colorful, but the eggs on the trees and the ground really stood out to him, they were so colorful. This must be Primary Village! Takiya thought in amazement.

"Come on, don't lag too far behind," Tokomon spoke up, getting the amazed boy's attention. "You don't want to be caught alone."

"R-right!" Takuya quickly followed Tokomon.

Takuya looked around as he followed Tokomon. "This place is amazing! Look at all the Digi-Eggs! There must be dozens of them here!"

"Yeah, every Digimon that is born or reborn always comes here," Tokomon explained.

"Does that include the Celestial Digimon that fell?" Takuya asked.

"Yup," Tokomon confirmed.

"I guess it makes sense." Takuya sighed. "I mean, all baby Digimon have to start somewhere, and certainly not in the forest where any Digimon could find it."

Takuya looked around again, taking in the sights. It amazed him there was a place for baby Digimon, and that it was so vast. "This place is huge…"

"Oh yeah, the place has to get bigger all the time with more Digimon being born," Tokomon remarked. "Of course that also means the caretakers have to hire more Digimon to take care of the babies."

Takuya saw a lot of small, limbless Digimon bouncing around happily, giggling. Some were eating out of a small plate, others were crying or messing with each other, just like human children.

"Wow… Baby Digimon act just like human babies it seems." Takuya noted with some interest. "Do many baby Digimon lack limbs though?"

"Mostly. It's due to baby Digimon having very simple data," Tokomon answered. "When they start to digivolve, that's when their data and body become more complex."

Takuya was about to ask another question when suddenly, a large, humanoid, muscular lion landed behind Takuya with a small quake. Takuya spun around in shock.

The being behind him was a tall humanoid that had the head of a lion, but the body of a man. The hands had claws and the feet were like a lion's, but in a bipedal form. The humanoid had a tail, and had belts around its lower left arm. The being wore black pants, but nothing else. The being had a mane and also sharp blue eyes.

"W-wha…?" Takuya backed up a bit. O-Okay, and I thought that black-armored being from before was big! This guy is even larger!

"What are you doing here, human!? Are you here to take more babies!?" The man lion roared, holding out a sword at Takuya.

"N-no! I actually brought one here!" Takuya said as he held up his hands, gesturing to Tokomon at his side. "I have no intention of stealing any babies! Honestly!"

Tokomon quickly ran over before the man lion could attack Takuya. "He's telling you the truth, Leomon! Please, stand down! I brought him here, he can be trusted!"

The man lion that Tokomon called 'Leomon' looked down at Tokomon for a moment, then at Takuya. Takuya was starting to worry that since Tokomon was technically a young child to these Digimon, that this big, buffed lion man wouldn't believe what the child said, or would think Takuya tricked the child somehow.

However, Leomon did stand down, and sheathed his sword. "My apologies. We are all a little stressed right now due to a recent break in and kidnapping."

"A break in and kidnapping?" Takuya frowned a little. "I don't like the sound of that… Do you know who was kidnapped?"

Leomon frowned. "Come with me, both of you."

Leomon walked past Takuya, and headed deeper into the Primary Village. Tokomon and Takuya decided it would be in their best interest to follow him, so they did.

---

Inside a building, which was like a giant nursery for all the baby Digimon, Leomon had Takuya sit near a table. Tokomon had to be on the table due to his tiny size. Swanmon was sitting in front of Takuya as well. Leomon explained to Swanmon that Takuya wasn't here to cause trouble, though both of them were still weary of him.

"So what is a human child doing here if you're not here to take a baby for yourself?" Swanmon questioned.

"Ah… well… Tokomon wanted to come here, and Sorcermon asked me to bring the little guy here. I've been staying at the Forest Terminal for the last few days because I… got sucked here through some kind of portal." Takuya explained.

"You came here not by your own violation?" Swanmon asked. "And Tokomon isn't one of your slaves?"

Takuya felt something within him react to that strongly and it surprised him when he spoke up. "No! Why would I enslave a Digimon?!" He snapped before he realized what he had done. "I-I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me…" Geez… that was… weird… Why did I snap like that?

"He speaks the truth, as strange as it sounds," Tokomon spoke up. "He ended up in the Digital World without using one of those helmet thingies the players have been using. He doesn't have a Digimon to fight for him or anything, he's not a player, more like a lost child who doesn't know much."

Takuya got the distinct feeling he got lightly insulted.

Swanmon and Leomon looked at each other before they looked back.

"Okay… well, I suppose if that's the case, then we trust you won't cause trouble," Swanmon finally said. "Tokomon, you said you wanted to come here? You weren't on our list… so you likely already have a home, right? Why'd you want to come back here?"

"I didn't come here to be back in the nursery," Tokomon grumbled. "I came here because of the rumors I've been hearing about. About how some baby Digimon see these phantom humans."

"As odd as it sounds, I kinda wanted to see that for myself too." Takuya added. "I mean… Phantom humans? That sounds like something that would be an urban legend in my world." Unless you count ghosts, but that isn't really worth noting since ghosts are real…

"We've been seeing this phenomenon ourselves when we were taking care of the babies," Leomon informed. "We noticed how some of the baby Digimon would giggle, or bounce around happily, and seemed to be looking at something that nobody else can see. When we tried asking them about it, they only told us they're 'playing with a human' or if they don't know what a human is, 'playing with someone'."

"Maybe only baby Digimon can see these 'phantom humans'." Takuya suggested. "I mean, if you guys can't see them, it makes more sense if baby Digimon can."

"Not all the baby Digimon can see them, and we've noticed that the baby Digimon can only see one phantom human that seems to be unique to them. A Kapurimon can see a chocolate male human with glasses, and a red hat, while a Koromon can see a white female girl with blonde hair. And they can't see the other's phantom humans," Swanmon explained. "And we even asked other Digimon parents if their baby Digimon can see phantom humans. They told us they don't see any phantom humans, it's just the baby Digimon in Primary Village."

Takuya looked down in thought. "Maybe it's because this is where Digimon come from, and get reborn. This is like the starting point of their lives. As for why certain baby Digimon see phantom humans unique to them and them alone, I can't really tell you anything else." It almost reminds me of imaginary friends for human children.

"Maybe, but that's only speculation. The babies who can see these phantom humans didn't seem to be in danger, however, so we left it alone," Swanmon explained. "But that's all we know about it."

Takuya looked at Tokomon. "Does that satisfy you, Tokomon? Knowing the 'phantom human' rumor is true?"

"No," Tokomon answered. "Since it is true, I want to know why it's happening, and how. It might be dangerous to leave it alone…"

"Unfortunately, we are usually too busy with all the babies to look into it ourselves," Leomon stated. "If it's not endangering them, then we don't make it a top priority. And right now, our biggest priority is locating the player who somehow broke through our barrier and kidnapped one of the babies."

"What baby Digimon was kidnapped?" Takuya asked as he gripped his device in his pocket. "Maybe I can help get that missing baby Digimon back."

Leomon and Swanmon didn't look convinced that a human without a Digimon to fight with would be of much help, but then again, they were already swamped enough as it was, some help would be nice.

"Normally we wouldn't send a human child to look for one of our babies, but Leomon and I can't afford to leave Primary Village for long," Swanmon sighed. "If you can find this thief, and bring back Kokomon, that would be much appreciated."

"Kokomon?" Tokomon frowned. "Kokomon was the baby that was stolen?"

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume Kokomon is a very important Digimon, right?" Takuya asked, raising an eyebrow.

Leomon, Swanmon, and Tokomon looked very troubled.

"If you must know, Kokomon was the fallen Celestial Digimon," Tokomon answered.

Takuya's eyes went wide. "Seriously?! Then we have to get Kokomon back!" He exclaimed. "Do you know what this player looked like?!" Takuya's mind was racing. Who would take the fallen Celestial?! Aw man, this is really bad! Who knows what that player could do to Kokomon!

"That's why we've been stressing out." Leomon frowned. "We've already sent out Elecmon to look for the thief, but he's been having no luck finding them. The thief was fast, almost like they were trained for battle."

"That's really bad then." Takuya frowned. I never thought I would be using Andy's training in a real fight with a flesh and blood human… But… I guess now's as good a time as any to see if the training holds up against another human. "Did this player know about Kokomon's origins? Is that why they took him?"

"It's a big possibility. I caught that human in Kokomon's nursery room, nobody else's, and the thief didn't take any other Digimon. It was just Kokomon. They had to have been targeting him specifically," Swanmon answered grimly. "They must want the Celestial Digimon's power for themselves."

"Then I will help you get Kokomon back." Takuya said at last. "I won't let any Digimon's power be used for evil gains." Takuya was surprised at what he was saying, and yet… it felt like it was… something he had to do. "I… I know I'm just a human and that I don't have a Digimon to fight for me, but I can help you if you'll let me." I really hope I don't have to Spirit Evolve…

"Hehe, I like your warrior's spirit!" Leomon grinned. "Oh, what do we call you, human child?"

"Takuya. Takuya Kanbara." Takuya said with a grin. "Sorry about not introducing myself earlier." Heh… Warrior's spirit, huh? If only you knew…

"Takuya Kanbara, Swanmon and I will count on you to find this thief, bring him to justice, and bring Kokomon back," Leomon stated.

"If you find Elecmon out there, let him know the situation, I'm sure he'll be happy to help out too," Swanmon added.

Takuya grinned. "Thanks. And I will." He said before standing up. "If you can just point me in the direction the player ran, I can see if I can find them from there."

"From what I saw, they went northeast," Swanmon pointed out with her wing. "That had been a few hours ago now."

"Okay. Thanks. I will get on the search right away then." Takuya said. He then looked to Tokomon. "Tokomon, you'd better stay here, just for your own safety."

"No!" Tokomon shouted as he hopped down the table. "You're not going after this thief without me."

Takuya blinked, looking unsure. "Are you sure? I mean, you could get hurt or worse." And I don't want Sorcermon turning me into an ice statue if anything happens to you…

"Yes. I want to see what kind of person could be bold, twisted, and crafty enough to sneak into Primary Village to kidnap a Celestial Digimon while he was recovering," Tokomon replied. "Even if you leave me, I will find a way out on my own. Are you sure you want me to be out on my own, Takuya?"

Takuya paled a bit. "Um… then let's get going, Tokomon. If you really insist on coming, then I guess I can't say 'no'." Aw man… Way to rub it in, Tokomon…

"Be careful, there's no telling what someone like that player is capable of," Leomon warned.

Takuya nodded, though he felt nervous about facing someone who could be evil enough to kidnap a baby, even if they thought this was a video game.

Takuya then picked up Tokomon. "Well, I'll see you when I get back with Kokomon." He said to Leomon and Swanmon, trying to hide his nervousness.

As Takuya was walking, he couldn't help but think to himself. Seriously, what kind of evil, twisted, crafty human being could be so cruel as to kidnap a fallen Celestial Digimon while he's still a baby?

---

Andy giggled as he was feeding Kokomon some candy he found in his pockets, which he realized were not his PJs. Though Andy wasn't thinking about that right now, he was more focused on Kokomon's enjoyment of the sweets.

"You should probably stop eating now, too much candy is bad for you," Andy chuckled.

"Want more! More! More!" Kokomon bounced up and down happily. "Candy good!"

"Okay, one more, but that's it for a while. We need to find some real food," Andy said as he threw a piece of candy in the air for Kokomon to catch.

Kokomon bounced up and caught the candy before landing and chewing down on the candy itself. He was making lots of little happy sounds as he ate the candy.

"I guess baby Digimon are a lot like human toddlers," Andy noted as he saw Kokomon bouncing around happily.

"Baby Breath!" A stream of flames suddenly shot out towards Kokomon without warning.

Andy gasped as Kokomon barely jumped out of the way of the sudden attack. Kokomon yelled as he quickly jumped into Andy's arms.

Andy looked up, seeing a small blue-green dragon. The belly, front claws and rear claws were a cream-colored white and it had red horns and small red wings on its back. The eyes were red as well. Behind the small dragon stood a male human with red hair, brown eyes, and wore a white jacket with a black T-shirt under it and blue jeans as well as brown combat boots.

"Hey! What was the big idea!? You could've hurt this child!" Andy shouted at the person, coming to the conclusion that the smug expression on the person, standing next to the little dinosaur… dragon monster meant this person was responsible for almost hurting Kokomon just now.

"So what? It's a Digimon, and I want to make my Digimon stronger." The smug kid replied. "So you and I will battle it out."

"Battle?" Andy frowned. "Digimon?" I guess I am in the Digital World, but it just didn't cross my mind that these were Digimon until now.

Although Andy wasn't too familiar with what Digimon were, just looking at the differences between Kokomon and the little dragon standing beside the other person made it obvious that Kokomon was much weaker.

"Are you nuts? Kokomon is clearly weaker than your Digimon! This wouldn't be a fair battle!" Andy pointed out.

"So? All Digimon fight. And if Kokomon is your Digimon, wouldn't you want it to get stronger as well?" The kid retorted as he folded his arms. "I still can't believe your Digimon is at the In-Training level. It really should've at least been a Rookie by now. Dracomon was only an In-Training for like 3 minutes before I got him strong enough to digivolve. What were you doing? Just playing mama with your Digimon? That's pathetic! Your Digimon will never get stronger if you don't let it battle and digivolve."

Andy's mind was trying to wrap around all the information the kid was throwing at him. "Well, excuse me for not reading the Digimon manual. But Kokomon isn't mine, I just got here, and Kokomon decided to stick with me."

"Ah, so that Digimon is up for grabs then? This should be fun~" The kid snickered.

"What do you mean 'up for grabs'?" Andy frowned.

"Dude, how much of a noob are you? I know this is still early access, but come on, every player should know the basics by now," The kid remarked. "Digimon that don't belong to anyone are up for grabs. A player like me gets a starter Digimon to help them weaken other Digimon, then we use an item to catch them like in most monster taming games."

Andy furrowed his eyebrows, starting to get a clearer picture about what was going on. "What item are you talking about?"

The kid held up what looked like a dark ring. "This is what we use. Pretty nifty, huh? Just throw it at the weakened Digimon, and it becomes yours."

Andy looked at the dragon that the kid called Dracomon. "I don't see one on your Dracomon though."

"Dracomon is my starter Digimon, kid." The other boy smirked. "He doesn't need one of those nifty rings."

"That's right!" Dracomon agreed.

Andy flinched back. He didn't expect Dracomon to talk, then again, maybe he shouldn't be surprised since these Digimon obviously came in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

"Well I'm not going to let you use one of those things on Kokomon, he's just a baby!" Andy snapped. "Go catch another Digimon. Why would you want to waste your time training up a baby anyways?"

"Baby Digimon grow surprisingly fast." The kid snickered. "It's also very rare to find a baby Digimon, so they are obviously very sought after. Now, why don't you just put that Kokomon down so I can catch it? Unlike you, I'm willing to make it strong."

"No, if all you're going to do is make Kokomon battle for you, I'm not going to just let him get caught by you," Andy argued, holding Kokomon protectively.

"Well fine then, since you don't have your starter Digimon yet, I can just have Dracomon knock you out," The kid replied.

"What!? You'd have your Digimon attack another person? Isn't that going too far!?" Andy yelled.

"Come on, don't act like you're actually here. It's not like you can actually get hurt." The kid rolled his eyes at Andy's dramatics. "Besides, you're getting in my way. I need to get Dracomon strong fast so I can join the Beast Slayer Guild!"

"Beast Slayer Guild?" Andy frowned.

"Don't you know anything? They're the first group of people to take down one of the Celestial Digimon, they set up a guild in its castle at some place called Morning Star Rose," The kid informed. "And I want to hurry and prove me and Dracomon deserves to join the guild!"

"I'll be the strongest Digimon!" Dracomon grinned.

"And to do that, I'll need strong sparring partners for him," The kid continued. "Now either hand over that In-Training Digimon or be knocked out."

Dracomon began to approach Andy and Kokomon.

Andy backed away and turned to start running, but Dracomon jumped, using his little wings to glide a bit before landing in front of Andy.

"Wah?" Andy gasped

"Tail Smasher!" Dracomon spun around and slapped Andy's side with his tail.

"Gah!" Andy groaned as he fell to the ground in pain. Can't feel pain my foot! That freaking HURTS!

"Andy!" Kokomon gasped in worry.

"Please, stop with the dramatics." The boy scoffed. "You're not really here, so just hand over that Digimon."

"Do I need to smash him again?" Dracomon asked, standing over Andy and Kokomon.

"Leave Andy alone, you big bully!" Kokomon shouted before he spat out bubbles from his mouth at Dracomon.

The kid and Dracomon were surprised that the unclaimed Digimon was protecting Andy. "H-hey! Stop it!" The kid exclaimed, feeling like he was losing control of the situation. "Gah! Dracomon, attack that baby!"

"Tail Smasher!" Dracomon slammed his tail against Kokomon's face, causing the In-Training Digimon to be thrown several feet away.

"Kokomon!" Andy yelled in concern.

"Heh, that was easy. I guess In-Training Digimon are a bit too delicate in a real fight," The kid remarked as he began to walk towards Kokomon.

Andy pushed himself up, despite the pain on his side, he ran past the kid and stood in front of Kokomon. "Don't you dare hurt him! Or take him! Kokomon isn't yours to claim!"

"Get out of my way, punk!" The boy snapped. "You're really starting to get on my nerves!"

"I've dealt with school bullies who hit harder than your dinky little dragon," Andy challenged.

"Andy, you'll get hurt!" Kokomon spoke up in concern.

"You are really pushing it, kid!" The other boy growled out. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way. Dracomon, get this annoyance out of here."

Dracomon walked up to Andy, the horns on his head started to glow.

Kokomon quickly bounced around Andy and tackled Dracomon's jaw just before he shot out flames from his mouth, which barely missed Andy.

"Kokomon?" Andy blinked in surprise. "What are you doing? You're hurt."

"Can't… let you… get hurt…" Kokomon replied, looking weak, but also determined. "I want… to protect you, Andy."

Andy stared at Kokomon. He and Kokomon had only just met face to face for a few hours, and yet he felt like Kokomon was a close friend. He didn't want Kokomon to keep getting hurt for him. Unfortunately, without Danny or Takuya around, he and Kokomon didn't stand a chance against Dracomon.

"Kokomon…" Andy frowned. "We should run. We're too weak."

"We can't just run… we would always run away… fight back. We must… stand our ground," Kokomon replied.

Stand our ground… Andy repeated in his head. I'm always running away, aren't I? Every time a ghost decides to attack, I have to rely on Danny or Takuya to take care of it. The most I could do was give them advice or give them the tools they need to fight back. But I was always weak… I was always just human.

Dracomon was growling as he glared at Kokomon. "You'll pay for that!"

But they're not here now. Kokomon doesn't want to run away… and neither do I. I'm sick of running. "Kokomon," Andy spoke up. "I'm with you. I want to fight back too! No more running away!"

"Thanks, Andy…" Kokomon said as he faced Dracomon. "We… can beat these guys…"

Andy didn't see it, but the device in his pocket's screen began to glow. Kokomon's body began to glow a golden color.

"Kokomon?" Andy asked. "What's going on?"

"What the heck?" The kid was surprised too. "It couldn't possibly be evolving now, could it?"

Fractal code surrounded little Kokomon before it dissipated shortly after, revealing a new Digimon in Kokomon's place. The Digimon was a small rabbit-like Digimon that was brown in color, had pink markings along its ears, small hands, feet, and neck area. There were three horns on its head, and it had small black eyes as well.

"What the?" Andy blinked when he saw this new Digimon before him. "Kokomon…?"

"I'm not Kokomon anymore, I'm now Lopmon," The rabbit Digimon answered. "Thanks to your willingness to fight back, it gave me the power I needed to digivolve."

"You… digivolved?" Andy blinked. Is that… evolution for Digimon?

"Yes. It's when a Digimon gets stronger." Lopmon explained. "I'm now in my Rookie stage, so I can now fight back more evenly."

"You liar!" The kid accused. "You said you had no claim to that Digimon! But you made it digivolve just now!"

Andy looked at the kid. "Well, I guess you and your Dracomon just pushed us. Do you still want to fight?"

Andy looked at Dracomon. "Or are you too scared to battle against K- Lopmon now that he's stronger?"

Dracomon and the kid both looked pissed off. "No way, kid! I'm not gonna back down just because you made that Digimon evolve!"

"I will become stronger as well! We will get into the Beast Slayer Guild!" Dracomon added.

"Then bring it on!" Andy challenged.

"Gladly!" Dracomon shouted as the horns on his head glowed. "Baby Breath!"

Lopmon jumped up high to avoid the flames, using his big, floppy ears to glide in the air.

"Look out, Lopmon!" Andy called out.

Dracomon jumped up after Lopmon. Lopmon began to spin himself around. "Tiny Twister!"

Lopmon turned into a chocolate, mini-tornado which Dracomon was quickly caught up in.

Dracomon cried out as he was tossed to the side from the twister. He landed on the ground in front of his partner with a grunt. "Ugh…"

"Get up, Dracomon!" The boy snapped.

Dracomon pushed himself back on his feet. "You won't best me!"

Dracomon rushed at Lopmon after Lopmon landed. Lopmon yelped as Dracomon hit him with his tail again. The attack hurt, but at least Lopmon didn't get sent flying a few feet this time.

"Lopmon! Are you okay?" Andy asked in concern.

"I'm fine, don't worry, I can do this!" Lopmon replied.

"Baby Breath!" Dracomon shot out another burst of flames at Lopmon.

Lopmon quickly jumped again, but instead of gliding, he landed to the side and took a deep breath. "Blazing Ice!"

On the opposite side of Dracomon's flames, Lopmon shot out an air of cold ice at the little dragon.

The Blazing Ice canceled out the flames easily, creating a steam effect. Lopmon used the steam to hide himself from Dracomon easily before rushing at Dracomon from another angle. "Lop Punch!"

Lopmon used one of his big ears to punch Dracomon in the gut. This knocked the wind out of Dracomon as he fell to the ground. Lopmon jumped onto Dracomon's stomach. "Blazing Ice!"

Lopmon shot out the blast of cold air at Dracomon's face, freezing his head. Lopmon jumped off of Dracomon's stomach and ran over to Andy as the steam started to clear.

"Whoa… nice one, Lopmon." Andy smiled.

"Heh, thanks, Andy. I figured the steam would help me get a good sneak attack in." Lopmon smiled, blushing a little.

Huh… That's something I would've done myself. Andy noted, surprised that Lopmon thought to do that. And he's no longer talking like a baby, so I guess digivolving helped him mature too.

The kid was furious. "Get up, Dracomon! We can't let this newbie beat us!"

"I would suggest you stop now. Dracomon can't battle anymore, and if this goes on, his fractal code will start showing and he'll be vulnerable," Lopmon warned.

"Vulnerable to what?" Andy asked.

"To having his data consumed, and he'll be forced to be reborn back at Primary Village," Lopmon answered.

The boy looked pale in the face upon hearing that. "You've gotta be kidding me! A newbie beat me and Dracomon?! How is that possible?! You must've cheated! You hacked your Digimon!"

"I didn't do anything. I just wanted to fight back," Andy argued. "Why don't you just take Dracomon and go heal him or whatever?"

"Oh, I'll heal him, and we'll be sure to get stronger and take you two out!" The kid snapped as he grabbed Dracomon's feet and started dragging him away.

Lopmon frowned as he and Andy watched them go. "I feel bad for Dracomon. His partner is being too impatient to get strong. I worry for Dracomon's future."

Andy frowned as well. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Unfortunately I don't think so. Dracomon doesn't seem to want to leave him," Lopmon sighed.

"Okay…" Andy said, while he was worried for Dracomon, he was more curious about Lopmon. "Um… Lopmon, what exactly happened to you? Like how did you… uh, digivolve?"

"I got stronger because of your will to stand by me." Lopmon replied. "Your strength made me reach the next level. It's hard to explain other than that. I guess you could say it's like I got a growth spurt, in human terms."

"My will made you stronger? How?" Andy asked.

"I… don't really know. I just felt it flowing through me, and my body just couldn't take it anymore until I suddenly digivolved," Lopmon answered before frowning. "I guess that's how partner Digimon worked with the players. But I don't know too much about that. I was only born recently when players started coming into the Digital World."

"These players… I think they're people who got the Early Access demo for an online game called Ruler of the Digital World," Andy informed. "Back in my world, this place was advertised to be a big, open world game, with the Digimon as monsters we can catch and use for battle. Apparently the main goal was to take down these 3 Celestial Digimon, and become the ruler of the Digital World. But it looks like some people already took one down before the game even officially came out."

Lopmon frowned. "But… why would someone advertise that? This world isn't a game, it's real. I mean… I'm real, and you're real, right? Why would people treat this like a game? And why take down the Celestial Digimon? Aren't they supposed to govern the Digital World and keep it from falling into chaos?"

"I don't know. I don't know much about this world," Andy sighed. "I don't know what Celestial Digimon are other than… maybe they're considered gods of this world."

"That sounds about right." Lopmon noted. "Take down the gods/rulers of the Digital World, it shows power."

"But if people were able to take down the first Celestial before the full game is even out yet, that's really worrisome…" Andy frowned.

"What do you mean?" Lopmon asked.

"Right now, there probably aren't a lot of players in the Digital World," Andy explained. "But once the game releases in my world, there will be people flooding in here, all aiming to become the best, or the next ruler or something. The objective may change if all 3 Celestial Digimon fall. I doubt the game would stop selling just because the goal was met. Most likely it'll change to people being able to fight against, or join, with people who defeated the Celestial Digimon. That kid talked about joining with the Beast Slayer Guild, the people who defeated the first Celestial Digimon."

"That's not good. If there is a group already taking over, then things are getting worse." Lopmon frowned.

"What would happen if… all 3 Celestial Digimon were to fall then?" Andy asked.

"I don't know… but I don't think it's anything good." Lopmon frowned. "Um… it might be best if we go to a Digi-School before we do anything else. I have some inherent knowledge of the world and Digimon, but I still don't know a lot of things. You and I both need to learn the basics, otherwise we might get taken out by someone stronger than that player."

"You're right… but I also have to find Takuya too… and I have to get back home before someone finds out I'm gone." Andy frowned.

"You did mention that." Lopmon frowned again. "But where would he be? Do you even know how to find him?"

"No… unfortunately I don't," Andy sighed.

Both Lopmon and Andy's stomachs began to growl. Andy blushed. "I… forgot to eat dinner last night…"

"And digivolving made me hungry too…" Lopmon sighed. "Maybe we should head to the nearest town and see if we can get something to eat. Then maybe we can ask someone where the nearest Digi-School is. It's better to have knowledge than to go out there and not know anything, right?"

"That's true," Andy agreed. "I just hope Danny doesn't kill me for going missing for a while."

"Well, let's get going. We don't want to stay here for long." Lopmon stated.

"Yeah… um… do you know where the nearest town is?" Andy asked.

"That would be the Fortuneteller Village." Lopmon replied. "It's not that far from here."

"Gotta love your inherited knowledge," Andy chuckled.

"Yeah, it's definitely convenient for times like this." Lopmon smiled.

Andy bent down and picked up Lopmon. Lopmon smiled before he climbed up onto Andy's head.

"You still like my head, I see," Andy noted.

"What can I say? It's a comfy spot!" Lopmon grinned.

---

Titanic X: ZAFT: Glad you liked Lobomon's entrance! XD

DarkFoxKit: Yup, wolf boy's gotta make his entrance quite epic.

: DarkFoxKit: We're finally starting to show the Digimon in the story, something people's been asking for a while back. Hope you guys don't get too disappointed by our choices.

ZAFT: Hey, it had to be built up to, so the payoff is more than worth it. :3

pokemon fan 1991: ZAFT: Yeah. Tucker and Andy's partners are revealed here. :3 We felt they were good choices for the reboot. And yeah, you could say Ember has wolf-like Digimon drawn to her. XD

DarkFoxKit: Yeah, though I do worry that someone's gonna comment and say that 'Dorumon was better' or something. I guess I'll tackle that if it happens.

Kittylover05: ZAFT: Oh boy… Here is another meaty review from Kitty! XD

DarkFoxKit: 'Teacher of the Year's' episode… uh… kinda doesn't exist? I mean… you'll see what I mean later. But you're also kinda right in a way too. As for the prediction with Valerie… huh… okay, I guess you either didn't see, or didn't remember, what I said about regarding the Legendary Warriors and the DP cast. But it's a good theory if I hadn't already said what I said before. ^^'

ZAFT: Besides, Lobomon is male… ^^' But as to how he got there, that is a good theory too, but you will see exactly how he ended up in Amity Park for sure as the story progresses. Now, it's fine you like character dynamics and analysis, but the fun part is the plot too. :3

DarkFoxKit: I'm usually better with character dynamics myself, though my co-writer also has to put in the work to give me more to work with. Which is why I usually do better with a co-writer than if I was writing by myself. And we are still working out some kinks, like ZAFT does have a tendency to repeat after what I just wrote, which is why the narrative says something and then the character says the same thing. I can't promise you that that will be something that will be fixed any time soon, especially since we wrote like… 30 or so chapters in advance. ^^'

ZAFT: But we will try to make it less noticeable as the story goes on. ^^'

DarkFoxKit: It's also kind of my fault why the subtle isn't as… well, subtle as it could be, because I wanted to make sure everything is clear to both my co-writer and my audience. I can't tell you how frustrating it is when I've had reviews not understanding what was going on and thought the character or the plot was bad because I kept the motive or their thoughts too subtle. But yeah, you are right in saying it's down to personal taste, so what would be perfect for one reader, it's not so good for you. It's impossible to please everyone after all.

ZAFT: No, it's not bashing, it's constructive criticism, which is what we like to see. :3 I'm glad you said all of this, as it can help us improve. :3

DarkFoxKit: I mean I've watched tons of anime and shows, but I'm no director, or an animator. XP We will try to not be too obvious about how a character is feeling, but we make no promises. And I also understand where you're coming from, about wanting to analyze a character because you don't have too much information given to you, you can let your imagination run wild. After all, I got bummed out when Butch confirmed ghosts weren't actually ghosts, just monsters from another dimension. I preferred thinking of ghosts as ghosts, because it's more fun to think of the uncomfortable implications that Danny is half dead.

ZAFT: I guess Andy and Takuya don't want to be analyzed! XD And I have to agree with Kit, because it's more fun for the 'ghosts' to be… well… actual ghosts. XD

DarkFoxKit: If you want my opinion on it, I think Butch is wrong, at least for the ghosts that showed up in the first two seasons. They had actual backstories when they were alive, like Ember and Poindexter. You can't tell me they had always been just monsters from another dimension and expect me to just believe you. Season 3 I can see that being a thing, but why not have it where just some ghosts were born as ghosts and some become ghosts after dying? Don't try to erase the actual ghosts from the show, that's just stupid.

ZAFT: On topic, yeah, Jack and Andy's relationship is fun to write. X3 The two are such cinnamon rolls~ XD

DarkFoxKit: Hehe, I'm glad someone sees the adult Fentons as actual good people who care about their children. I've seen way too many DP fanfics where the parents were just depicted as either uncaring monsters, or neglectful parents.

ZAFT: That's part of why we made Maddie and Jack more like the good parents they are in this reboot. :3 Oh sure, they will have their moments of 'We hate ghosts' but at the end of the day, they are still loving parents. :3

DarkFoxKit: As for Jack's nickname for Andy, I had trouble trying to come up with a good nickname for him, and a friend of mine helped me out with that. Giving him the name 'Andyroo', and giving a backstory to that name. It was adorable, and it always embarrasses Andy when it's brought up. XD

ZAFT: Now, on for Tucker, we're glad you liked that he was given more spotlight in this chapter. :3 It was kinda fun to do that. :3 I will admit, we plan to have Tucker be more competent and involved this time around. And Andy's friendship with Tucker is nice too. :3

DarkFoxKit: I also agree with Tucker kinda getting the short end of the deal in most episodes, even in his own episodes. I mean 'What You Want' was really good, but then you have episodes like 'King Tuck', and I feel like all the characters became jerks to Tucker for no real reason other than 'plot'. I really hate it when characters become out of character just to serve a plot that could've been executed way better. Now, I can't promise Tucker will get a lot of spotlight coming up, because we have a lot of characters to juggle. In the end, we've decided to focus on mainly 3 characters to keep it from overwhelming us. The two are Andy and Takuya, and the third one has yet to be revealed, so we'll wait on telling you who the third one will be.

ZAFT: Ember nearly becoming self-aware was fun, but in the end, the obsession proved to be too great to owerpower. XD But yeah, to handle a Digimon, Ember needed a device to open a digital gate, so, we gave her one. :3 And no, Lobomon hasn't really seen her before, he just sensed she was a ghost and knew what she was.

DarkFoxKit: Desiree being besties with Ember… wasn't something that really crossed our minds before, but… that's an interesting duo.

ZAFT: If we need a new episode idea, that's one thing to consider. :3 And as for Andy and his gymnastics was fun to do! XD That boi can be quite athletic when he wants to be! :3

DarkFoxKit: Well, actually Andy himself isn't that athletic, it was mainly due to having a ghost in his body. People get ghost powers while the ghosts are overshadowing them.

ZAFT: As for how Takuya is related, Jack has a half brother who was Japanese by birth. That half-brother is Takuya's dad. :3 I didn't really think of that, but after I read your review, it gave me that idea. XD