ZAFT: Another Monday update. *Is eating popsicle*
DarkFoxKit: Thankfully we're being consistent with the updates again. Too bad we can't just use a bot or something to update the chapters every Monday for us.
ZAFT: Yeah, but it is better to do it manually, at least to me. ^^'
Takuya: Is that popsicle good?
ZAFT: This is mine, not yours, flame boy.
Andy: I can't wait for summer to be over and for it to cool off. I especially can't wait until it gets nice and cold again.
Takuya: I find it weird that you like the cold, considering… well, aren't you supposed to be more of a 'fire' guy like me?
Andy: Whoever told you that was lying or incredibly misinformed.
DarkFoxKit: Ahem… let's get to the story.
(Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title)
Digital Phantom!
(Shows several forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton and Patamon, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Takuya Kanbara, Andy Fenton and Lopmon, and Jazz Fenton)
Falling into destiny
(A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky and cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that)
Reaching across new boundaries
(Andy Fenton appears with Jazz beside him. Takuya Kanbara appears behind him as well, the form of Agunimon appearing behind Takuya himself)
Let our stories come together
(Andy is shown with the form of Phantom beside him, his twin brother Danny Fenton behind the ghost boy)
Growing stronger
(Andy looks on at Phantom fighting before running to help the ghost boy by taking out his Fenton Rod)
Our pasts intertwine
(Six glowing orbs of light are shown, each of a different color (red, teal, lavender, dark purple, white, and yellow) before the red orb speeds towards Takuya)
Showing our future
(Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire as Plasmius fires off ecto-rays at him, only for a glowing orange orb to appear around Agunimon and deflect the beams)
As we evolve
(The blasts speed past the screen as Tucker is shown with a Fenton Wrist ray being fired at a ghost, Kokuwamon shown behind him)
Let's go… EVOLUTION
(Sam is shown with her Fenton Lipstick, firing it at a different ghost, with Biyomon shown behind her)
As our worlds collide
(Jazz is shown beside Andy, the form of Lopmon behind Andy while a shadowed form is behind Jazz)
We stand as one
(Jack and Maddie Fenton are shown, with the Fenton Works logo behind them as it glows green)
Growing strong
(Ghosts are shown flying all around Amity Park as the shadowy form of Walker is shown atop a building and sneering down)
As we move along
(Danny is shown walking down the street with those closest to him appearing one by one; Andy and Lopmon, Patamon, Tucker, Sam, Takuya, and Jazz)
CHOU… SHINKA!
(Fractal code is shown before it dissipates to reveal Agunimon lunging out of the dissipating data, fire around his left fist)
Let's go… EVOLUTION!
(The group is shown facing down Plasmius, who looms above them with hands outstretched as a dark form appears behind Plasmius himself)
Nothing will stand in our way!
(Andy, Lopmon, Danny, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, and Takuya all appear with ribbons of fractal code streaming out from behind them, a swirling green orb behind the ribbons of fractal code)
Digital Phantom!
Chapter 46: Walker's Plan
Andy was frowning as he was looking at the TV in the living room. Not only did he get crappy sleep last night, but his parents had a lot of questions about why he wasn't going to his room to sleep. Andy, of course, had to make up excuses like he was giving Danny some space again. It took a lot of convincing for him to keep his parents from checking in on Danny, because then they would see a man lion cub sleeping on his bed.
Now it was morning, and his parents left to go to the town meeting at City Hall. Apparently the mayor was going to make an important announcement regarding the ghost invasion, and of course, the town's local ghost hunters had to go there. Maddie insisted that they kept the Ghost Shield on the house to make sure their children were safe from the ghosts before they left. Not that Andy had any arguments.
Right now, Andy was waiting for the town meeting to show live on the television. He was anxious to see what was going to happen, he just had a bad feeling. Lopmon and Patamon were on the couch with him. Patamon didn't want to be in the same room as Danny right now.
"What do you think will happen?" Lopmon asked, curious as to why Andy was so tense.
"It's just a local government meeting. Nothing exciting happens during those." Patamon grumbled, remembering his own such meetings from before when he was Seraphimon.
"Did you have a lot of those in your past life?" Lopmon asked.
"Yes…" Patamon sighed.
Ever since Patamon had spilled the beans about being a Celestial Digimon, Lopmon tended to ask a lot of questions. He truly was a curious child. Andy hadn't really said much about it himself, although that could be because of the lack of sleep the boy got.
"Was there ever a time you had to stop a fight from breaking lose?" Lopmon asked Patamon.
"At least once." Patamon admitted. "But it was only due to the Digimon in question being stubborn and more than willing to engage in a fight with each other."
"Regardless… I doubt Walker's going to just ignore this town meeting," Andy spoke up. "He's the type of guy who likes being in charge… I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up overshadowing the mayor next."
There was a knock on Andy's door.
"... Do you think that's a ghost?" Lopmon asked.
"Doubtful, a ghost wouldn't knock. And they wouldn't be able to get to the door with the shield up anyways," Andy said before he stood up and walked over to the door to open it.
Andy saw Tucker and Sam, they quickly came inside before Andy closed the door.
"Hey, what's going on? Where's Wulf?" Andy asked the two.
"Wulf ran off after we released him from the collar." Tucker replied. "But I think we'll be seeing him again soon."
Sam grumbled. "But getting licked by a ghostly werewolf is not fun. I swear I will need a shower when this whole thing is over. Ghost saliva is not pleasant to smell."
"Tell me about it," Both Andy and Lopmon agreed.
"If it weren't for the stupid curfew rule, I would've called you and Danny about it last night," Sam sighed.
"I see you found Patamon," Tucker noted, seeing the little orange Digimon on the couch.
Patamon only rolled his eyes.
"Still moody though I see," Tucker remarked.
"Patamon's… been through a lot, don't mind him," Lopmon said.
"Okay, let's review. Wulf was on the run from Walker, and now he's free. Walker overshadowed more people at the school according to Dash. Danny and Takuya came back here and turned on the Ghost Shield, I can only guess they were on the run from Walker and his goons," Andy listed off.
"You guessed?" Sam asked.
"Danny and Takuya were out cold by the time we came back home," Andy explained. "They haven't woken up yet to tell us what happened."
Sam frowned. "I wonder what made them want to conk out before you got back here."
"I don't know, but it must've been intense." Tucker mused.
"We'd probably better wake them up." Sam sighed. "Just so they don't miss the town meeting being broadcasted on TV."
"I'm sure they'll wake up soon, it's almost 10," Andy replied.
"Oh, I almost forgot, Wulf said something about Walker wanting to imprison Danny," Tucker said.
"Which is pretty obvious," Sam grumbled.
"But judging from what we know, I don't think Walker is trying to take Danny back into the Ghost Zone… or me," Andy said. "If that were the case, he would've already tried to by now. Instead, he's going around, doing all these convoluted things in our town."
"It's possible the whole ghost kateer thing was to keep an eye on your parents, to see what makes them tick, and how competent they actually are as ghost hunters," Patamon added.
"That's actually… clever…" Tucker admitted, although he was clearly reluctant to, for obvious reasons. "Given how determined Walker is to get back at Danny, it's kind of impressive he has planned something this complex."
"But what is he trying to do exactly then?" Sam asked.
Nobody had an answer to that. They all looked at each other, trying to see who would be the one to say it.
Then they heard voices coming from upstairs.
"I can't believe we fell asleep that easily…" Danny's voice grumbled.
"You're telling me… I fell asleep on Andy's bed again too…" What sounded like Takuya's voice could be heard as well.
Patamon frowned and stiffened when he heard Danny's voice. He wasn't sure if he was ready to look at Danny right now, especially after what he almost did last night, and what he still planned to do.
"Did Andy ever come home last night?" Danny's voice asked in concern.
The two of them were finally downstairs and looked in the living room. They were surprised to see Andy, Tucker, Sam, and Lopmon all looking at them.
"Morning sleeping beauties," Sam greeted.
"Huh… Takuya's Flamemon again? Haven't seen that since the Digital World in Breezy Village," Tucker chuckled.
"I used up too much of my energy last night…" Flamemon grumbled. "The fight wore out my Human Spirit…"
"We can kinda see that." Sam remarked with a smile.
"How long did we sleep in for?" Danny asked as he yawned.
"Depends on when you two came home and passed out last night," Andy said. "But I'd say for about 9 or 10 hours."
"That long?" Danny frowned.
"What happened to you two anyways?" Lopmon asked.
"We found out what Walker's up to, at least, to an extent anyway, and after that… we got spotted." Flamemon grumbled. "We then had to fight all of these overshadowed people, and it drained us, especially me."
"We probably wouldn't have been spotted if it wasn't for flame boy over here jinxing us." Danny retorted.
"Hey, that's uncalled for," Flamemon pouted. "We weren't paying attention when we should've."
"You two had to actually fight Walker and everyone he overshadowed?" Andy frowned.
"Yeah, but there were too many of them, that's why we had to come here and turn on the Ghost Shield," Danny sighed. "Walker and his goons aren't that strong on their own, but they outnumber us 10 to 1."
"That explains why there was a Ghost Shield on the house when we came home earlier," Lopmon remarked.
"From what I can tell, Walker's been overshadowing everyone around me," Danny said. "I think that… he's trying to turn everyone in town against me."
"Or us," Flamemon added.
"That's gotta be it!" Andy realized. "He's not trying to put Danny in prison, he's trying to turn his own town into a prison!"
Danny looked pale. "What?! I-I mean… Yeah, Walker did mention… something of that nature, but… if that happens then…" Danny recalled Shamanmon's words to him, how it would seem the world was against him. "Shamanmon… his prediction of my future… Is… Is this what he meant?"
"Could be, his predictions are a little vague," Tucker mumbled.
"We only have one piece of business today."
"That's the mayor!" Sam pointed out.
Everyone went quiet as they turned their attention to the TV.
"And that piece of business is defeating the ghosts that threaten our town." The mayor continued. "And to do that, I'm calling for a vote to cede all ghost policing and security decisions to Maddie and Jack Fenton."
"Why do I get the feeling that's not going to go down well…?" Flamemon muttered before he gasped as he saw the mayor's eyes seeming to flash red for a moment. "Wait! Did you guys see that?!"
"I saw something in the mayor's eyes changing," Lopmon agreed.
"It was fast, but I saw it too." Danny nodded.
"I didn't see anything." Tucker frowned.
"Me neither," Sam replied.
"It either happened too fast for human eyes to see, or it's too subtle for human eyes to notice," Andy guessed. "Perhaps only Digimon and other… um…"
Andy knew Patamon and Lopmon knew about Danny's secret, but Danny himself had yet to know this.
"... extremely keen eye people can see it." Andy said instead.
The mayor seemed to return to normal, but Flamemon, Lopmon, and Danny knew better. Patamon had seen the eye color change too, but hadn't said anything about it.
"But mostly to Jack Fenton, the competent Jack Fenton." The mayor added, which seemed off to everyone in that room watching it.
"Excuse me, sir? But I'd rather Maddie and I were treated as equals for this," Jack stated.
The mayor didn't respond to Jack, and instead continued on with his speech. "And we've located the ghost responsible for all the terror inflicted on our town."
The mayor held out a picture of Danny Phantom, as clear as day. It showed Phantom looking like he was about to fire a ghost ray at one of the students, really making him look like a villain. Everyone in the room gasped.
Danny picked up a remote and turned the TV off. He had seen enough. "Okay, just so you all know, I was using the ghost ray to force a ghost out of Star, I wasn't actually trying to hurt her."
"Glad you can be so open about it despite Lopmon and Patamon being here," Andy said casually. "Speaking of them, maybe you should tell them now?"
Danny groaned. "I knew I would have to, but I didn't think it would be like this…" He sighed before steeling himself for what was about to come. "Lopmon, Patamon… I think you should know something, something very important…"
"You're the ghost boy, right?" Lopmon said.
"Uh… you already knew?" Danny asked self consciously.
"We kinda figured it out when we saw you. You don't look that different in ghost mode," Lopmon pointed out. "Compare that to how different Digimon can look when they digivolve, but we can still recognize them."
Danny frowned a little. "Yeah… I guess that is a good point." He admitted before looking at Patamon, wondering how the little orange guy would take it.
Patamon wasn't looking at Danny, he didn't even say anything.
"Patamon?" Danny asked in a worried tone.
Andy, Lopmon, and Flamemon knew this was hard for Patamon due to his mission, and Danny supposedly being this ghost boy from a doomed prophecy.
Tucker and Sam looked like they wanted to say something, but Andy shook his head at them.
"What are you?" Patamon finally asked. "You're clearly not just a ghost, but you're also very clearly not human either."
"I'm… what the other ghosts call a 'halfa'." Danny admitted at last. "I have all the powers of a ghost, but I'm also a human. It's like a… human with ghost powers, like a superhero or something similar. I don't know much about how a human can become like me, but… I just know I'm half alive, and half dead…"
"How is that possible?" Patamon asked. "A human can't be half alive and half dead. It goes against the very laws of nature and life."
Patamon frowned as he looked away again. "No, I suppose that doesn't matter. You wouldn't be able to answer that."
"Patamon?" Danny asked. "I'm… sorry… but… do you hate me?"
Patamon didn't give an answer to that, instead, he flew up. "I'm sorry. I need some time alone. You try to deal with this ghost invasion yourselves."
Patamon flew up the stairs.
"Patamon!" Danny called in worry.
Andy stopped Danny from following Patamon by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Give him some time… I don't think he hates you. I think he's going through some things he has to figure out on his own."
Danny frowned a little. "I guess… but I'm still worried about him… I mean… I know ghosts and Digimon don't like each other but… will that really turn Patamon against me? The revelation I am half ghost?"
"Does Patamon really hate ghosts that much?" Tucker questioned.
"No, that's… not it." Lopmon frowned. "I don't hate you just for being half ghost, Danny. It's not instinct for Digimon and ghosts to hate each other, if that was the case, you and Takuya probably wouldn't get along as well as you do. The only reason Digimon and ghosts dislike each other is because they hurt each other, data hurts ectoplasm, and ectoplasm hurts data. It's more of mutual fear than hatred."
"Well, that's… kinda comforting…" Danny admitted with a small sweatdrop. "But if that's the case, then why is Patamon acting like this? I just don't understand…"
"Look, we just give Patamon the space he needs for now. Right now, we have bigger issues, namely Walker and his goons." Flamemon pointed out. "After this is over, then we can talk to Patamon more about his reactions to Danny."
"It is a bit much to process, even I'm still not sure how to think about this," Lopmon admitted. "Since you can fight your own battles though, I guess you don't really need Patamon to go with you."
Danny frowned at hearing that. "That doesn't mean I don't need Patamon though… and besides, with the way things are going, I'm not sure if I can even leave this house. After that stunt Walker pulled, I'm going to become public ghost enemy number 1 on top of everything else!"
"Danny, calm down!" Flamemon said as he grabbed Danny's shoulders. "It's okay! We'll get through this! Walker might be clever, but he can't hide from a Digimon's senses so easily. And I'm a Digimon, meaning if we can expose Walker, we might be able to turn this plan against him."
Danny did calm down a bit, but he frowned. "Remember Spectra? She hid from your senses."
Flamemon groaned. "Of course you would bring that up…"
"Besides, I don't think finding Walker is going to be the problem here," Sam spoke up. "It's obvious he took over the mayor."
"And that still leaves the problem of leaving this house," Danny groaned.
Tucker walked over to Danny, giving him the Fenton Thermos.
"What's this for?" Danny asked.
"I figured you'll need it for your battle against Walker," Tucker said. "It might've helped if you had this earlier when you and Takuya went to go face him before."
Danny sighed. "Do you really think this will be enough?"
"You have to do something, Danny. If you don't, who will?" Sam asked.
Andy and Flamemon looked at each other and nodded.
"Besides, you'll have us as backup. We've faced some tough situations before, we can get through this," Flamemon promised.
"I may not have ghost powers like you do, but I don't need them in order to help you with this, bro," Andy said.
Danny looked at Andy and Flamemon before he finally slowly nodded. "Okay… Maybe… Maybe we do have a chance then…"
"And don't forget us." Sam said as she and Tucker also stepped up.
"Yeah, we're in this together as a team." Tucker added proudly.
Danny looked at them, he remembered why they were a team and nodded. "Thanks guys."
"Come on, let's get to city hall and expose this corrupted politician for who he truly is," Flamemon grinned.
Andy, Lopmon, Sam, Tucker, and Danny all nodded at Flamemon's words.
Danny looked up at the stairs one more time. We'll deal with Walker, then you and I will have a talk, Patamon. A talk… that I've been postponing for too long.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Danny asked. "Obviously, trying to fly in there and tell everyone I'm on their side isn't going to fly."
"Literally." Flamemon grinned.
"Shut it…" Danny grumbled.
Sam chuckled. "Well, Danny does have a point. Anything he tries to do, Walker will counter."
"Yeah, but what if we reveal Walker is overshadowing the mayor?" Tucker offered up. "I mean, surely there must be some method of giving away that Walker is overshadowing the mayor."
"It's not like we can just force Walker out of the mayor's body, right?" Flamemon groaned.
"I mean I might be able to, if I can hit him with a ghost ray. But something tells me that's not going to be so easy, and it'll probably make me look bad," Danny sighed.
"We can use Agunimon," Andy suggested.
Everyone looked at Andy in surprise.
"Andy… are you being serious?" Danny asked. "I mean… I get not having me do it, but… isn't Agunimon… well… not exactly human? That could be a problem and make him look like the bad guy as well."
"What other choice do we have?" Tucker pointed out.
"Can he even take a ghost out of a body though?" Sam asked.
Andy rubbed his face for a moment. "You don't even know what I'm suggesting. Of course I'm not going to have Agunimon try to take Walker out of the mayor's body! What I mean is he can get close to the mayor and hold him. People have seen Agunimon running around the town before, and he looks human enough to not be mistaken for a ghost. And he's even helped Mom and Dad before, they'll likely be confused about what he's doing to shoot first and ask questions later."
"I get it!" Flamemon realized. "And if I can get close enough, I may be able to sense Walker much more easily!"
Danny grinned. "Andy, I'm liking this plan of yours."
Sam chuckled. "Of course. Andy's plans always seem to make sense."
"Then about the rest of us?" Tucker asked.
"Well, since you can hack into the security systems pretty easily, I'm gonna need you to hack into the cameras. Shut them all down, the less people watch this, the better. Only bring them back online when we expose Walker had been overshadowing the mayor," Andy instructed Tucker.
Tucker nodded. "You can count on it."
"And what about me?" Sam asked.
"You have an influence on mob mentality. While this is going on inside city hall, your job is to try to let the citizens know the mayor was being taken over by the ghost who's truly behind all of this, and not a ghost child. Try to come up with the logic that a ghost child was likely scared and trying to defend himself from the 'scary world'. People are more likely to believe that than Phantom trying to free someone from another ghost," Andy stated.
Sam grinned. "Incite protests against Walker via the citizens? I like it!"
"Of course you would." Flamemon said cheekily.
Andy frowned a little. "As for me and Lopmon, we will be in the crowd. We won't fight unless the situation calls for it. We're going to be back up in case something goes wrong. But for the most part, Lopmon will be with me in case we have to fight. And I will see if I can convince my parents that Agunimon is on our side, and the ghost kid isn't evil."
"I think this plan has a good chance of working." Tucker praised Andy. "Who knows? We might throw Walker's plans out of whack with this."
"Don't get too confident, Tucker." Danny warned. "Even the best laid plans can fail."
"Okay, seems like this is the best we've got right now," Andy said. "Let's get going."
Everyone nodded as Danny took the Fenton Thermos from Tucker, and they started heading out of the house.
As they did, Andy rubbed his head for a moment. He saw images of the towns people shouting angrily and fearfully, and Danny as Phantom looking horrified at something, and he flew away from the town. Andy saw his parents firing their Fenton guns at Danny Phantom angrily as he was flying away.
Andy shook his head, blinking, he wobbled a little, then fell down the front stairs from the sudden images. Flamemon had to catch him before he could hit the ground.
"H-hey, are you okay?" Flamemon asked Andy in concern. "You… looked like you zoned out there for a few seconds."
"Andy?" Lopmon frowned in concern as well.
"Did you get dizzy or something?" Sam asked.
Danny frowned as well, not sure what caused Andy to suddenly fall like that.
"Sorry… I…" Andy frowned as he was back on his feet. "I'm not sure what happened. I suddenly saw… something, I think. It looked like Danny was flying away while our parents were shooting at him, and a crowd of people shouting at him."
Tucker, Sam, Danny, Lopmon, and Flamemon all looked at one another.
"I… think we need to be careful when we get to town hall." Flamemon said at last. "This… thing with Andy… may not be a coincidence… The last few times he has… seen… these images… things have almost happened to each of us…"
"What… you think he can see the future or something?" Sam asked.
"That's ridiculous. Digimon seeing the future is one thing, but a human?" Tucker questioned.
"Didn't Shamamon mention something about Andy being a lot like him though?" Lopmon asked.
"That shouldn't be possible though…" Andy frowned. "Right?"
"We can't rule it out, but regardless, whatever is happening with Andy seeing these images in his head, we have to be careful." Danny said at last. "Flamemon is right, and we can't drop our guard."
"If those were future visions, what does that mean? That our plan will fail?" Tucker asked in worry.
"No," Andy said, shaking his head. "If they are future visions and not some weird dream due to a lack of sleep I've got, I'd say they're more of a warning. I don't think these futures are set in stone, we can change them."
Flamemon nodded. "Yeah. I remember you saved me from something before back in the Digital World, and I would've been hurt or worse if not for that."
"Then we need to take these warning visions seriously." Danny remarked. "Why do you think we might fail though?"
Andy shook his head. "I don't know. But… we better be wary that Walker might have a backup plan in case his current one fails."
"But I guess there's no way to know until we go through with this, right?" Lopmon frowned.
"So what should we do then?" Sam asked.
Andy looked at the group before giving a firm look of determination. "We do it. Whatever Walker has planned, we can't let him go through with it, and we can't let the 'what ifs' stop us either."
Lopmon smiled. "Yeah! Andy's the man with the plan!"
Flamemon smiled as well as he started patting Andy's head. "That's my cousin!"
"Don't pat my head…" Andy grumbled.
Flamemon stopped patting Andy's head. "Sorry…" He said sheepishly.
"Let's get going, guys. The more we stand here chatting, the more time Walker has to put his plans into motion." Danny suggested.
Although worry settled in Andy's stomach, he wasn't going to let that stop him. He just hoped things wouldn't turn out as bad as he feared.
The people of Amity Park have been watching the TV announcement about what the mayor intended to do. Mikey, the nerdiest of nerds at Casper High, was watching with a frown. He couldn't help but think to himself. If I was as powerful here as I am in the other world… this wouldn't be a problem.
Dash was watching the television too. I wish Labramon could be here. I feel useless, not being able to fight back against these ghosts.
"Order! Order! All in favor of declaring martial law, and allowing the completely competent, Jack Fenton and his wife, to mobilize a massive ghost hunt, please say-"
The mayor was in the middle of his decision when the TVs all over Amity Park suddenly shut down.
"H-hey! What happened?!" Mikey blurted out, confused at what was happening.
Dash was also surprised. "What gives? How did the TV cut out so suddenly?"
At city hall, Tucker had his PDA plugged into a router, which was broadcasting all over the city. "Okay, the signal is shut down. It's under my control and I can reboot it at any time." He told the others on his cell phone.
"Copy that. Good work, Techno Brain," Andy's voice replied on Tucker's phone. "The Phantom and the Fire Armor will be going in. Black Night will start doing her thing with the crowd."
Tucker grinned. "Copy that, Choco Bunny." He tried to keep the laughter out of his voice.
"Who picks these dumb code names?" Tucker heard Lopmon complain.
"Shhh! No talking here. Anyways, we're moving out, Techno Brain," Andy replied.
"Copy that, Choco Bunny. I'm standing by to bring Walker to the big screen." Tucker stated.
Danny was carrying Andy in his ghost form, keeping them both invisible. Andy was holding onto Lopmon. Danny flew them into the City Hall and put them down in the crowd. Andy began moving through the crowd to get to his parents.
"Sir, all the cameras stopped working," One of the bodyguards whispered to the mayor.
The 'mayor' frowned at this news. "Then find a way to get them back up and running." He whispered back. "We need those cameras operational."
Andy had to wait before he could get his parents' attention. There needed to be chaos before he could let himself be known, otherwise they would ask what he was doing here, and how he got here.
Danny was watching Takuya, who was now Agunimon again, while still invisible, waiting for him to get closer to the mayor.
Keeping to the darker parts of the town hall, Agunimon crept closer, trying to get to the mayor unseen. So far, so good… Agunimon thought to himself.
Agunimon was just under the stage. All he had to do was jump and grab the mayor. Everyone was in place. Now was the time to spring the plan into action.
Danny dropped his invisibility. "I might be too young to vote, but I'm casting one anyway."
Everyone looked up, seeing the 'evil' ghost boy above them like he didn't even care there were humans in the area. Panic began to build in the room, but no one ran away screaming, like they were frozen in fear.
"Please, listen to me," Danny said, trying to sound as harmless as possible. "I didn't come here to hurt or scare anyone. I'm on your side. I didn't want any of this. The one who's been causing everyone trouble and panic lately is the one who's talking on the stage, the one who's trying to make you all believe I'm some kind of monster."
"Who are you going to believe? This clearly non-human entity that's floating above you all, or me, your mayor who has everyone's best interest?" The 'mayor' questioned.
"That's right! You're not fooling anyone, ghost kid!" Jack shouted at Danny.
"Dad, Mom!" Andy spoke up, surprising his parents.
"Andy?" Maddie and Jack blinked.
"Don't attack him! The ghost kid just wants to help," Andy said.
"Why should we not attack?" Jack asked with a frown on his face. "It's clear that the ghost kid is behind at least some of the panic in this town."
Below the stage, Agunimon waited for his chance to move into action. He could hear Andy talking with his parents thanks to his enhanced hearing, and he felt worried Andy may not be able to convince them to not attack.
"How is that clear?" Andy questioned. "You saw a bunch of ghosts flying around. How does that prove this one ghost kid is behind it all? Why would these ghosts, wearing a cop uniform, be following some ghost child's orders to scare the town?"
Maddie and Jack blinked. Now that they thought about it, the ghost kid did seem a bit young to be commanding so many ghosts.
"You… do have a point, son…" Jack conceded. "But if that's the case, then who would be commanding these ghosts if not the ghost kid?"
"And even if there isn't a clear proof that the ghost kid is behind it, that doesn't mean he isn't. You can't judge a ghost's age by looking at them. For all we know, he could be thousands of years old, he just looks like a kid," Maddie pointed out. "Besides, we can't apply our own logic with the logic of ghosts. We need to take him down now before he has a chance to do more harm!"
"No, wait a minute," Andy spoke up. "Who pointed at the ghost kid being the one behind this? If he wanted to hurt us, he would've done so already instead of trying to talk to everyone."
Maddie hesitated. It was true, the ghost kid hadn't attacked them, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to. "That may be, but we can't just trust his word. Ghosts lie all the time, you know that Andy. For all we know, the ghost kid could be planning an attack right now!"
"Mom, look at the one who pointed fingers at the ghost kid," Andy calmly said.
Maddie frowned before she and Jack looked over at the mayor, as he had been the one to say it was the ghost kid who was behind everything.
Agunimon knew that was his cue.
As soon as Jack and Maddie were looking at the 'mayor', he jumped out from under the stage and moved into action. "Got you now, ghost!"
"Wah?"
A lot of people were confused by Agunimon's sudden appearance.
"Isn't that the being who helped us with the Wisconsin Ghost?" Jack blinked.
"What's he doing here? Why'd he grab the mayor?" Maddie frowned.
"Let go of me, you digital beast!" The 'mayor' shouted. "Bodyguards, what are you doing!? Get him off of me!"
The two bodyguards tried to hit Agunimon with their baton sticks, but Agunimon hardly felt it.
"I need you all to see, this isn't the mayor. A ghost has taken over him to try to paint me as the bad guy!" Danny spoke up.
Everyone was confused now. This… being… had come out from under the stage and was apparently claiming the mayor was a ghost, and the ghost kid was claimed to be behind the events of the last few days. Who could they believe? This was not what they had expected during the town meeting.
Danny raised up his hand, his ghost ray glowing in it.
"Don't you dare!" The mayor growled.
"Don't worry, everyone!" Danny spoke up, hearing some of them chattering in fear when they saw his hand glowing. "This won't hurt the mayor, I'm only going to shoot the ghost out of him."
"A likely story." Maddie frowned. "We can't let him attack the mayor!"
"Mom, please, if you keep jumping the gun, then nothing is going to get resolved," Andy spoke up, hoping his mother would listen to reason.
Maddie frowned before looking back at the 'mayor' and Agunimon. From what she knew and had witnessed, this odd being was only in the area if a ghost was attacking, but instead of attacking the ghost kid, he was after the mayor… "I don't know… it seems too… convenient, but…" She trailed off, considering Andy's words.
Jack was frowning as well. He wanted to believe in his son, but from his eyes, it really looked like the ghost boy was going to attack the mayor.
Danny fired his ghost ray, making a lot of people gasp, and as soon as the ghost ray hit the mayor… the ghost ray went through him, and a ghost came out.
Everyone who was watching gasped.
"You see? The mayor was taken over by a ghost," Danny announced. "He's the real mastermind behind this invasion."
Agunimon felt the mayor go limp in his grasp, only to gently set the mayor down on the ground. He then got back to his feet and glared at Walker before a small smirk made its way onto his lips. "Not so clever now, huh? Your plan has been blown wide open."
Walker frowned. "Don't think this means you've won just yet. I've gotten more tricks up my sleeve."
Danny frowned, as did Agunimon. That doesn't sound good… Danny thought to himself.
"Whatever tricks you have planned, we'll still stop you." Agunimon said firmly.
What could he be up to now? He's been exposed, what else could he do? Andy frowned, suddenly getting a bad feeling.
Suddenly, Andy felt a hand grabbing his ankle. Andy let out a gasp, and before he could do anything, he and Lopmon were suddenly intangible and pulled under the floor.
The one who had grabbed Andy's foot was Bullet, and he was sneering at the boy. "Nice try, but this is the end of the road for you, boy."
While Andy had been grabbed, Danny and Agunimon were facing down Walker, neither of them aware of what was transpiring.
"Andy!? Where did Andy go!?" Agunimon and Danny heard Maddie yelling.
"He was taken by a ghost!" Jack frowned, having seen Andy being dragged down into the floor. "It was a set up to get us distracted!"
Agunimon growled, "Shit… This was a set up!" Just not in the way Maddie and Jack are thinking!
Danny paled at hearing Andy had gone missing. "How can we find him?! If Andy's gone missing…" Danny was clearly looking panicked.
"Calm down! There's a way to find him." Agunimon reassured Danny calmly. "I just hope our tech expert can come through for us."
"Hey! Ghost!" Jack shouted, pointing his bazooka at Walker, while Maddie was pointing her own bazooka at Danny. "What the heck is going on!? Where did you take our son!?"
"You bring him back here right now! Or so help me you will learn to fear a mother's wrath!" Maddie warned angrily.
Agunimon decided to try something. "Wait!" He exclaimed, holding up his hands. "Andy wasn't taken by this ghost, as this one has been around me the entire time. I can assure you, he is not a threat." Agunimon felt his Digi-Core racing as he said this; he was taking a big gamble on Jack and Maddie not shooting him.
"What are you!? And why are you helping these ghosts?" Jack demanded Agunimon.
Walker was grinning to the side, watching the 'betrayal' unfold.
Tucker was quickly hacking into all the cameras in City Hall, trying to find where Andy was taken. He finally got into one that was in the boiler room, under City Hall. He saw Andy and Lopmon standing against the overshadowed Paulina, Kwan, Calvin, Ishyiama, Mr. Lancer, and… Dash? Tucker frowned, wondering if Dash got overshadowed at some point.
"I found Andy and Lopmon! They're under City Hall!" Tucker's voice said to Danny and Agunimon, so only they could hear him. "But they're surrounded by overshadowed people… and I think one of them is Dash…"
Agunimon frowned to himself, but he knew he had to get out of the situation with Jack and Maddie first before he could go after Andy and Lopmon.
Danny and Agunimon needed to do something, but they were currently facing the adult Fentons, who believe they were working together… which they were, and that they were evil, which they weren't.
Meanwhile, Andy and Lopmon were looking at the overshadowed people. They weren't trying to hide it anymore, he and Lopmon could see their glowing red eyes, and the bright ghostly aura around their bodies. Except for one…
"What are you trying to pull?" Andy frowned, not sure who was in charge here or who pulled him under, so he just looked at the general group.
"What do you think, kid?" 'Calvin' spoke up with a sinister smirk. "Since your troublesome brother managed to expose Walker, we're doing Walker's back-up plan. He had a feeling you'd be the most dangerous one with how much you think. So he had to be one step ahead of you."
"Me?" Andy questioned. "What did I do? I don't have anything special like Danny does."
"Sometimes it's not the one with powers we have to look out for," 'Calvin' stated.
"Whatever it is you're planning, it's not going to work," Lopmon spoke up. "I'm here to keep Andy safe from the likes of you!"
"Oh? Is that so? Well then, let us see how well that will work out for you, little bunny~" 'Calvin' sneered evilly.
"Andy, let's see how this poser ghost likes getting hit by the power of Turuiemon!" Lopmon said to Andy, determination in his voice.
"Yeah!" Andy nodded in agreement.
Lopmon's body glowed for a moment, but then green fog appeared around his body for a second, making Lopmon cough and his body stopped glowing.
"Lopmon? What's wrong?" Andy asked in concern.
"My body hurts… it feels like I'm being stung in all directions…" Lopmon groaned.
Andy frowned before he pulled out his D-Arc, and saw there was an 'Error' message on the screen. "What's wrong?"
I saw green fog surrounding Lopmon when he tried to digivolve… Andy noted to himself. Was that… ectoplasm? Did that stop him from digivolving?
"Oh? Didn't you know?" 'Calvin' grinned. "There's a reason why Digimon don't show up in the Ghost Zone."
Andy glared. "So your ectoplasm and ghostly aura are keeping him from digivolving?"
"You are smart. Yes, that is the case." 'Calvin' grinned sinisterly. "Too bad for you he can't become stronger right now~"
"Oh, you sneaky spooks! If not for the ectoplasm, I'd… kick your butts!" Lopmon grumbled.
"You can't keep us here," Andy stated. "Even if Lopmon can't digivolve, he can still fight."
"And what are you going to do about it?" 'Calvin' asked. "With your powerful friends, you're deadly. But without any of that power, you're as weak as a kitten."
"Are you sure about that?" Andy questioned as he reached into his pocket and took out his Fenton Rod, extending it. "Maybe I'm not as powerful as a Digimon or a ghost, but I can still put up a fight if I need to."
The other ghosts looked shocked at the Fenton Rod Andy pulled out, and most of them scattered, except for 'Paulina' and Dash. 'Paulina' launched herself at Andy, showing she was likely the most aggressive one in the group. She tried to grab Andy, but Lopmon jumped at her head, biting at her with his teeth.
"AAAAH! Get off of me, digital beast!" 'Paulina' shrieked, trying to dislodge Lopmon from on top of her head. She grabbed Lopmon, trying to pull him off. While she was successful, it also caused a decent chunk of hair to be pulled out as well. "OW!"
Seeing his chance, Andy pushed a button on the Fenton Rod, causing the tip of it to spark with green electricity. I hope this works… Mom and Dad made sure their inventions were harmless to humans, so maybe…
Andy slammed the Fenton Rod into 'Paulina's' stomach. The electricity seemed to have went through her body, but wasn't shocking Paulina herself, instead, it forced one of the ghost guards out of her body while electrocuting him.
"It worked!" Andy smiled.
Paulina groaned, looking dazed and confused as she held her stomach. "What? Huh?"
Paulina looked up, seeing the ghost that had been overshadowing her. "AH!"
The ghost looked like he was about to overshadow her again, but then suddenly, there was a bright blue light that came from behind and sucked the ghost into a… Fenton Thermos? The holder of the thermos capped it, revealing the one who held it was Dash Baxter.
"Wow, I didn't think this thing would work so well." Dash commented as he looked at the thermos with a grin on his face.
"Dash?" Andy blinked in shock.
"Hey, Andy." Dash smiled sheepishly. "Your, uh… parents gave me this Fenton Thermos when I 'joined' the 'Ghost Kateers' and I told them I knew where some ghosts were. They thought it would help keep me safe."
"I'm… glad you have a Fenton Thermos with you, but what are you doing here?" Andy questioned. "I thought you were overshadowed!"
"Yeah, so did the other ghosts," Dash chuckled. "Seems they're pretty bad at telling if someone is overshadowed if there's a lot of them at once. It was pretty easy to blend in. I was following them to see what they were up to, and I saw the one in Calvin's body taking you and Lopmon down here."
"That was… really brave of you," Lopmon complimented. "I don't know a lot of other humans who would even dare to blend in with overshadowed people."
"Wait, what's going on?" Paulina spoke up, sounding confused.
"Paulina, you need to get out," Andy said. "There are ghosts here, and they're not exactly friendly."
"Andy!" Danny Phantom shouted as he flew down into the boiling room, startling the group.
"Except that one," Andy quickly amended to Paulina. "He's more of a mother hen."
"I-I am not!" Danny exclaimed, his cheeks turning a bright green with his blush.
Dash blinked. "Either it's a trick of the light, or that ghost boy is blushing…"
Paulina couldn't help but smile. There was something relieving to see a ghost, something inhuman, appear so… human, and how someone else could just tease the ghost like they were human.
"Also, I do have some friendly advice," Danny said as he looked at Paulina. "Run!"
The other overshadowed people started to surround them. Paulina didn't waste time getting out of there.
Dash, Danny, Andy, and Lopmon were all standing in a group, looking around at the overshadowed people.
"So, who's first?" Danny quipped as he held up a glowing green hand covered in ecto-energy.
"Can't say I've ever fought with and against a ghost before," Dash admitted.
"There's a first time for everything," Lopmon remarked. "Though I think our chances are pretty good, don't you think?"
"I don't know though, it might be tough if one more shows up, don't you think?" Andy joked.
Danny perked up as he saw something coming in from above. "We actually may get more help." He said before something smashed through the floor and landed in front of the group.
A grin was on Danny's face. "About time you got here, Agunimon!" He exclaimed. "Way to make a 'smashing' entrance."
"Yeah, sorry it took a while." Agunimon replied. "I had to convince… um… Jack and Maddie to get everyone else out. Let's just say they were hesitant to believe me… when I said I wasn't with the ghosts…"
"Let's hope we can salvage the situation," Andy said. "After we take out these other ghosts, and rescue the people they're overshadowing."
Dash was looking at Agunimon. "'Agunimon'... Aren't… you a Digimon?"
"Explanations will have to wait, Dash, here they come!" Andy warned.
'Mr. Lancer', 'Ishiyama', and 'Kwan' were all coming at them. They gave inhuman roars as they reached out with their hands like they were claws.
Dash managed to block 'Kwan' with his own hands. "Kwan! Please snap out of it!"
Andy had to block 'Mr. Lancer' with his Fenton Rod, though it was difficult to push him back since 'Mr. Lancer' had some ghostly strength, though it paled in comparison to his brother's ghostly strength. Danny did say these ghosts weren't that strong on their own.
'Ishiyama' was trying to attack Agunimon, using her own hands like claws. Agunimon raised up his armored forearms and blocked the clawing motions with his armor. He gritted his teeth, realizing 'Ishiyama' was followed closely behind by 'Calvin', who then got around 'Ishiyama' and tried to punch Agunimon. But the Digimon was able to dodge the punch by throwing 'Ishiyama' back when he thrust his arms apart, throwing the principal into 'Calvin'.
Danny took this time to fire his ghost rays at the overshadowed people while they were distracted, forcing the ghosts out of them. Once they were out, Danny used his own Fenton Thermos to suck in the ghost that had been in Ishiyama, while Dash used his Fenton Thermos to suck in the one that had been in Kwan.
"Nobody takes over a friend of mine," Dash stated to the Fenton Thermos.
But that still left Bullet, who was out of Calvin's body. Bullet glared as he began to form his ecto guns and pointed them at the group. "Don't think this is over yet, kids!"
"Look out!" Lopmon yelled.
Bullet began firing the ecto guns at them.
Agunimon saw the incoming ecto-energy blasts and immediately put his arms up in a defensive move as fire flared around his form, moving out to surround the group before becoming that reddish-orange orb of his. "Plasma Sphere!"
The sphere kept the group protected from the ecto bullets. Though with Bullet continuously shooting at them, the shield could only hold up for so long. Agunimon could see his shield was starting to crack.
Andy frowned when he noticed the shield was cracking as well. Dash was crouching down in fear, while he had helped them fight against the overshadowed people, he couldn't do much against a ghost who was going all out, and he was still a human child.
"Your digital shield won't last much longer against my ecto bullets!" Bullet shouted as he kept firing his gun.
"He's right…" Agunimon grunted out. "I can't… keep it up… much more… Any ideas on how to get this guy would be nice right now!"
"Andy, I don't think the floor is…" Lopmon began to say since he was the smallest of the group, so he noticed the floor easier than the others.
Andy looked down and noticed the same thing. "D- Um… Phantom, I need you to do something."
"What?" Danny blinked as he floated closer to Andy.
Dash was surprised at how comfortable Andy appeared to be to let a ghost fly that close to him. While he knew this ghost kid was helping them, he wasn't all that comfortable with letting the ghost get that close to him.
Andy began whispering to Danny. "The floor doesn't seem to be protected by the barrier. Do you think you can phase under the floor and get Bullet from behind while he's distracted with us?"
Danny grinned. "One Phantom Surprise coming up~" He said cheekily before he turned intangible and phased into the floor, emerging on the other side of the Plasma Sphere.
Slowly, and still intangible, Danny floated up behind Bullet. Once he was behind the other ghost, Danny returned to tangible form and grinned, giving Andy the thumbs up from behind Bullet.
Andy rolled his eyes, and just waved at Danny to hurry and do it before he was spotted.
The Plasma Sphere was almost shattered, and Agunimon noticed Danny behind Bullet. "Wah? When did you-"
Bullet frowned before turning around, surprised to see Danny. "What the? How-"
Danny held out the Fenton Thermos to suck Bullet in, but Walker, who had overshadowed the mayor again, came through the wall and tackled Danny away before he could catch Bullet.
Agunimon had to dissipate the sphere before it could break, and he felt exhausted. His body hadn't quite fully recovered from last night's battle, and he hadn't gotten a chance to eat anything since then. He struggled just to keep from turning back into Flamemon.
"What's wrong?" Dash asked, seeing Agunimon on his knees.
"He's still weak." Lopmon frowned.
"Sadly… I… didn't get anything to eat since last night's battle…" Agunimon admitted. Dang it… this couldn't get any worse… I'm exhausted, and Walker is still up to no good…
"Walker…" Danny frowned after dropping his Fenton Thermos. "Of course you'd take over the guy who makes the rules…"
"I'm not finished with you yet, kid," the 'Mayor' replied.
More of Walker's ghost guards tackled Agunimon down, and pinned him to the ground. Dash tried to get them with the Fenton Thermos, but he was hit by one of the baton's energy, which tied up his hands and feet. "What the!?"
Andy and Lopmon ran to avoid getting caught, but they knew they had to do something.
"Tiny Twister!" Lopmon spun around, creating a small twister of himself, and slammed into the ghost guards to get them off of Agunimon.
Feeling the guards' hands gone, Agunimon got back to his feet. "Thanks, Lopmon!" Agunimon grinned. While he was still somewhat exhausted, he still had some energy left to fight, but he had to be careful about which moves he used now, otherwise he would become Flamemon again for sure.
Andy was shoving the ghost guards away from Dash with his Fenton Rod.
"Whoa, didn't you had such moves, Fenton," Dash commented in surprise before Andy broke the energy cuffs with his Fenton Rod.
"Comes with trying to survive in the Digital World for several days, and dealing with ghosts," Andy chuckled.
Dash grinned back as he got to his feet. "Well thanks… I guess I owe you one for that."
Agunimon kicked away another ghost that tried to tackle him again. "Compliment each other later! We have the big bad to deal with yet!"
"Where's the ghost boy?" Lopmon asked as he ran back over to Andy.
"Looking for this?" Bullet grinned, holding out a Fenton Thermos at Danny's face, who was on the ground.
Agunimon, Dash, Andy, and Lopmon were too far away, they wouldn't get to Bullet in time to stop him from sucking Danny into the Fenton Thermos. A part of Andy wondered if the thermos would consider Danny ghostly enough to suck him into it, after all he was also still half human. But the logical side of Andy also knew that if his parents' other inventions worked on Danny, and indicated him as a ghost even while in human form, the Fenton Thermos would definitely do the same.
Fortunately for the group, and Danny, the ghost boy was rescued by someone as they knocked Bullet away, causing him to drop the Fenton Thermos.
"Wulf!" Andy and Danny shouted in surprise.
"What are you doing here?" Andy questioned.
"Helpanta amiko. (Helping friends)" Wulf said at last, before trying to say one word in English. "Friend."
That got both Danny and Andy to smile as they heard the word 'friend' from him, they knew he was on their side.
"Will somebody tell me what's going on? What's that werewolf creature doing here?" Dash gasped.
"I think he's here to help us," Agunimon replied, having heard the word 'friend' too.
"Another ghost is helping us? I think it's official… I may be nuts." Dash remarked, but he was chuckling as well.
"Tell that to Labramon when you see her again," Lopmon chuckled.
Wulf grabbed onto Bullet with his claws, his claws going through Bullet's stomach and raising him up to make sure he couldn't move or phase out of his hold.
Seeing this, Danny took advantage of the situation and grabbed onto the Fenton Thermos before sucking Bullet into it. "That just leaves-"
Walker, still in the mayor's body, flew at Danny and grabbed onto him.
"Hey! Let me go!" Danny shouted.
Walker looked down at the other group, seeing the exhausted Agunimon, the normal, average human with the blond hair, and the dangerous human with a digital pet running towards him. Walker grinned, seeing his back-up plan was almost ready. He just had to take out some unwanted players. Walker fired out a strong ghost ray at the group, knocking Agunimon back, and knocking Dash into a wall.
Andy and Lopmon looked back at them for a moment in concern.
"Now it's time to turn the town you live in into your own prison~" The 'Mayor' stated before he released the mayor's body, leaving his unconscious body going limp on Danny.
"Andy, we need to move!" Lopmon stated. "Danny needs our help!"
"Ugh… You stupid… Walker! You will not get away with this!" Danny swore.
As Danny was trying to get the mayor down harmlessly, Walker grabbed onto Andy and lifted him into the air. Lopmon gasped as he tried to jump at Walker, but Walker turned both of them intangible, making Lopmon go through them and hit the wall instead.
Andy struggled around as he tried to hit Walker with his Fenton Rod. Walker hit Andy's hand, making him drop the Fenton Rod.
"Think you can get your precious one back from me, ghost boy?" Walker grinned tauntingly at Danny as he was flying up to the ceiling to make sure only another ghost could go after him.
Danny glared before he looked down at the mayor's limp body and sighed. He floated down, putting the mayor's body on the ground gently before standing back up and then taking off after Andy and Walker. He flew up, turning intangible and flying through the ceiling. Hang on, bro! I'm coming for you!
Agunimon finally regained his sense of awareness, having been dazed for a few moments. "Ugh… W-Where's Andy?" He asked as he sat up, rubbing his head.
Lopmon fell to the floor, and started running up the stairs.
"Lopmon?" Agunimon asked.
"Walker took Andy up! I need to get to him!" Lopmon shouted, looking very anxious that his partner was taken away from him.
Agunimon felt his face grow pale at hearing that, Shit! He swore mentally before he got to his feet. "Hang on… I'm coming with you!"
Agunimon ran after Lopmon, not sure what he could do to help but ready to try.
"H-hey, wait for me…" Dash groaned after being slammed into a wall earlier, but he wanted to see if there was something he could do to help, and he wobbled to the stairs, but he stopped when he saw the mayor on the floor and sighed. I should help him.
Meanwhile, Sam was riling up the crowd outside. "You're all about to see the true mastermind in all of this. The one who took over the mayor, and who's behind this ghost invasion!"
There were TV crews and paparazzis everywhere. Jack and Maddie were in the crowd as well, they helped everyone evacuate, because they believed Agunimon would save their boy. But they were getting anxious.
"Jack, maybe we should go back and find Andy. I know that Agunimon man helped us before, but I have a bad feeling about this." Maddie frowned.
"I agree, Mads." Jack stated. "We can't just leave our boy to be saved by someone we barely know."
The two of them began going through the crowd of people, heading back into City Hall.
At the same time, Walker was back in the building of City Hall, still carrying Andy. Andy was still trying to get loose.
"What are you trying to do?" Andy demanded.
"You'll see, boy~" Walker sneered at Andy from above. "I have something special planned for you~"
"Andy!" Danny flew up into the City Hall, but was surprised to only see Andy and no Walker. "Bro, are you alright?"
"Danny…" Andy replied, sounding worried. "I need your help… can you come closer?"
Danny floated closer, not sure if Andy was hurt or what. "S-sure… Are you okay?"
Andy wasn't facing Danny, and seemed to be shaking. Danny was getting more concerned. "Andy?"
Andy turned around, and gave Danny a malicious grin as his normally emerald green eyes were now a glowing, unnatural green. "Gotcha punk!"
'Andy' grabbed Danny and used his ghostly strength to hold Danny's arms tightly around him.
"W-Walker?!" To say Danny was shocked and horrified would be an understatement. "Get out of Andy's body!"
"Not until I'm finished," 'Andy' replied. "There's all types of prison, kid, and if I can't have you in my prison, then you can have your prison here."
'Andy' moved his hand forward, using telekinesis to open the door and let the people see what was going on inside. 'Andy' looked at his hand for a moment, seeming a little surprised, but shook it off. He had to stay focused.
Danny tried to get free, but to no avail. "Darn it…" He swore to himself.
Agunimon and Lopmon managed to get to the first floor from the basement, just in time to see what was going on.
"Shit…" Agunimon swore as he got those feelings of heat and cold running down his spine. "Walker's overshadowed Andy!"
"Andy!" Lopmon yelled as he started running towards them.
Maddie and Jack stopped cold in their tracks, seeing that ghost kid who Andy kept trying to assure them was not an evil ghost, was holding him hostage. At least in their perspective. The paparazzi and TV crew were taking pictures and filming this as this was going on. Not even Tucker would be able to do anything here since those were separate cameras. Sam looked on in horror, not having expected this turn of events.
"Help me! This ghost kid is trying to hurt me!" 'Andy' called out to the crowd, then he pushed Danny back, making it look like Danny was dragging him since he kept his feet a millimeter off the ground, giving it that 'dragging' look, then he used telekinesis to shut the doors.
'Andy' grinned maliciously at Danny after the damage was done. "Now they'll never trust you."
"Think again, you cop-wannabe!" Agunimon hissed as he ran towards Danny and 'Andy'. "He still has me! Now leave that boy's body!"
"And why would I do that?" 'Andy' asked. "When you'll just go all out on me the moment I do?"
"Andy!" Lopmon called out.
Andy's eyes turned back to normal for a moment. "Lopmon?"
Then his eyes turned unnaturally green again. "Shut up, you annoying digital pet!"
"Lopmon! Andy's overshadowed!" Agunimon warned. "Some of what he's saying may not be what Andy would normally say!"
"I know he's overshadowed!" Lopmon snapped. "I'm trying to help him get un-overshadowed!"
"Get him out!" The real Andy begged. "I can't keep him back!"
"If you try anything, I'll make sure you'll regret it!" Walker spoke up in Andy's body.
Danny managed to get out of Walker's hold, and tried to fire a ghost ray at him to get him out of his brother's body, but Walker moved his hand, and a wave of ghostly telekinesis pushed them all back, including the ghost ray.
"Whoa! I didn't know Walker's telekinesis was that strong…" Danny groaned.
"It normally isn't," Walker admitted. "It seems this body has some benefits for ghostly power~"
Agunimon grunted as he got back to his feet. "C'mon… There has to be a way to get Walker out of Andy's body…" He muttered, his mind racing for a plan.
'Andy' grinned as he floated up, showing his ghostly aura. "Do you really think you can get me out now? I'll make sure to show you the hell I've created for you!"
'Andy' shot out ghost rays at Danny and Agunimon. Agunimon and Danny tried to dodge, but there was that invisible pressure pinning them down, they couldn't move. Both of them got shot. Agunimon had it worse as his digital body wasn't that great at resisting ghost attacks.
Agunimon could feel the ghostly energy burning through his armor and singeing his skin through his black bodysuit. He tried to move, but it was clear he was still trapped by Walker's energy pinning him down. Damn it… I… I may have to… use it… my other Spirit…
While Walker had control over Andy's body, Andy himself was conscious, he could see what Walker was doing. No, stop it! Stop hurting them!
Walker was aiming another ghost ray at the weakened Agunimon, wanting to finish him off. "You won't be a thorn to me ever again!"
'Andy' shot out his ghost ray.
NO! Lopmon, protect Takuya! Andy mentally shouted.
Despite not hearing Andy himself, Lopmon jumped in front of Agunimon, trying his best to deflect the attack by curling his ears around his body.
"L-Lopmon…?" Agunimon asked weakly. "G-get out of here…! You… won't last… Please… just… run…"
Lopmon hit the ground hard after being hit by the ghost ray. "Andy… wants to… protect you… I felt it…"
Agunimon's eyes went wide. "A-Andy… He…" Agunimon looked down, gritting his teeth. Dang it, Andy…
Danny saw Andy's face, his right eye was their normal emerald green while his left eye was glowing that unnatural ghostly green. He was struggling to stop Walker from the inside. His right hand came up and tried to push down his left hand, which was powering up another ghost ray.
"What's this?" Walker questioned in surprise.
"I won't let you keep hurting them!" Andy snapped.
"C'mon, bro! Fight back!" Danny exclaimed, seeing Andy's one emerald eye was normal. "Please, fight back against Walker!"
"You won't be able to fight back for long! Humans are weak and vulnerable, they are easy to overshadow!" Walker growled as he was fighting against Andy's right hand.
"Maybe I can't get you out, but that doesn't mean I'm alone in this fight. You're the one who's alone here!" Andy snapped back.
"Even if you manage to get me out, what good is that going to do? I've already ruined your brother's reputation beyond repair. Now he's going to be hunted down, and unwanted, by the very people he cherishes!" Walker sadistically responded.
"... Even so, you're not going to use me anymore for this sick plan of yours!" Andy shouted. "WUUUULF!"
As if on cue, green claws phased through Andy's stomach. Walker let out a gasp while Andy himself grinned.
"H-how…?" Walker began asking.
"Seems you gave me enough ghost powers while overshadowing me to have a ghost sense. Too bad you weren't paying attention," Andy stated.
The claws began ripping Walker out of Andy's body, freeing the boy from the warden himself. Andy was tossed over to Danny, who quickly caught Andy.
Now with Walker out of Andy's body, the ghostly pressure around Agunimon vanished, allowing him to get to his feet. Now pissed off, Agunimon had fire appear around his fists as he slammed them together, facing Walker. "You're in for it now, you cop wanna-be!" He hissed, showing his sharp canine teeth in his anger.
Walker hissed as he tried to stop Agunimon with his telekinesis again. Agunimon felt a bit of pressure, but he was able to power through it. Without Andy's body, Walker's telekinesis was too weak to stop an angry Legendary Warrior.
"Let's see how you like this!" Agunimon snapped. "Pyro Punch!" He punched as hard as he could, letting the fireballs from his fists fly towards Walker's face.
Walker was flung all the way into the ceiling. The fiery punch left a rather nasty burn mark on the warden's cheek.
"Andy, are you okay?" Danny asked Andy in concern.
Lopmon managed to run over to Andy and Danny as well. "Andy, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine…" Andy replied. "Just… a little dazed. Are you two okay though? I didn't expect Walker to be able to use my body to power up his own ghost powers."
"I'm fine." Danny replied. "Just… a little beaten up, but I'll live."
"I'm okay… just… a bit shocked at what happened…" Lopmon replied. "I feel bad though… things seemed to just… fall apart…"
Agunimon made his way over. "Andy… I'm glad you're okay…" He said, but it was clear he was the worst off of them. Burns covered his armor, and patches of his black bodysuit were gone, exposing his skin and some minor burns that were bleeding a bit.
"Takuya… you don't look so good though…" Andy frowned, paling. How could I have let this happen? Not only are they hurt because of me, but now because of me, Danny's seen as a bad ghost…
Before Agunimon could answer, Walker phased through the ceiling, and came up from the ground. He grabbed onto Agunimon and Danny. Wulf rushed in and grabbed onto Walker with his claws, trying to get this corrupted warden off of his friends.
Maddie finally broke down the door, she was not going to let this deceiving ghost kid take her boy away from her. She had a special bazooka in her arsenal. She was tunnel visioning on the ghost boy so much that she didn't even notice the werewolf ghost and the other ghost were fighting.
"Danny, look out!" Lopmon warned, being the first to notice Maddie aiming at Danny.
Danny saw his mother aiming the bazooka and gasped. Aw, crap! Not now!
"Time to send you back to where you came from, you ectoplasmic manifestation of post-human consciousness! This is for hurting my baby boy!" Maddie snapped.
"No! Mom, wait!" Andy shouted.
Wulf, seeing this, ran in front of Danny while still holding Walker. The energy from the bazooka hit Walker, and created a green vortex that began sucking in the ghosts. Wulf had his claws dig into the ground, knowing what this would mean for him once he and Walker were sucked into that vortex. He recognized the scent, it was a Ghost Portal, it would take them both back to the Ghost Zone.
"Wulf!" Danny shouted.
"No! Wulf!" Andy shouted as well.
"FRIEEEEND!" Wulf shouted back, knowing he wouldn't be able to last much longer. "We'll meet again!"
"N-no!" Agunimon shouted. He hadn't expected this! Wulf… saved me… And I can't… even save him…
Wulf smiled at Agunimon. "Friend… keep other friends safe!"
"Feared on Earth, and wanted in the Ghost Zone, you've lost, ghost kid! LOST!" Walker shouted as well.
With those last words said, both Walker and Wulf were sucked into the Ghost Portal, and the portal disappeared along with them.
With Walker and Wulf gone, Maddie had her attention on Danny, who was still too close to Andy. She aimed the bazooka at Danny.
"You will never step foot in this town again, I'll make sure of it. This is too good for someone like you," Maddie growled venomously at Danny. "I ought to take you into the lab and dissect you for all you're worth after what you did."
"Mom! Stop!" Andy shouted. "Don't hurt him!"
Maddie wasn't about to listen though, as her mind was in mama bear mode and she didn't want to have anyone hurt her baby boy. "We'll have a talk about this at home, Andrew Fenton." She said in her 'no argument' tone.
As for Danny's part, he was actually shaking now. His own mother wanted to… do what to him? He hadn't expected her to be so serious about it though…
Jack ran into the building himself, holding his own Fenton Bazooka. "There you are! You dirty scum! We thought we could actually trust a ghost. How foolish of us, we should've finished you off from the moment we saw you, you disgusting putrid ectoplasm."
Danny felt this thing in his chest twinge at those words. Dad too? Is… this… No… Shamanmon's prediction… It… came true…
Agunimon watched this all unfolding in front of him. He wanted to do something so badly and yet… He clenched his fists as he looked down, feeling frustrated. I… If I try to intervene… it would make things worse for Danny… I… Can I… risk it?
Andy, for his part, didn't know what to do. His mom shut him down, clearly words weren't going to work right now. But he needed to help Danny get away.
Andy looked at Agunimon, and Agunimon looked at Andy. Both of them had one desperate plan left in mind.
Agunimon ran at Jack and tackled him down, and Andy tackled his mom with Lopmon's help, getting both of them to fall, dropping their Fenton Bazooka. This gave Danny the chance to escape. Danny was staring at them, but his fight and flight kicked in and he quickly turned intangible and flew out of the City Hall. But he didn't stop, he flew away… further and further away. He had to get away, away from the town, from the ones who had loved and raised him… from the ones who hated and wanted to experiment on him.
Agunimon sensed Danny leaving, and while he wanted to look back, he didn't dare do so, lest he get caught off guard. Agunimon felt bad for Danny, for what happened and what he was possibly going through. Danny… I… I wish I knew what to do to help…
This is all my fault… Andy thought to himself in despair as Danny flew away.
Titanic X: ZAFT: You will see what happens~ X3
Kittylover05: ZAFT: Thanks for the review, kitty! X3
DarkFoxKit: Thank you for talking about Patamon. We put a lot a of work into Patamon's character here, and what he was about to do to Danny, and how Danny himself stopped him from 'pulling the trigger' to say, even if he didn't realize it. Patamon had indeed gotten too attached to Danny, and that was keeping him from finishing Danny off right there and then. I will say though, the prophecy is not Dan, as the prophecy mentioned the ghost boy is an adolescent, which Dan isn't. But I'm glad that you love Danny and Patamon's dynamic~
Andy doesn't know about the close call Danny just had, or what Patamon had planned to do. If he did, he wouldn't have left Patamon alone with his sleeping brother. And you're right in saying this will come back and bite Patamon in the butt one day.
ZAFT: You really are looking forward to Control Freaks, huh? XD No spoilers for that, but you will enjoy how it goes down~ X3
As for the defense mechanism thing, it was an idea I had originally for the first version of DP, and it seems to work out because ghosts are dangerous to humans, so why not? XD As for the hypothetical scenario, the defense could be controlled, but it depends on how hostile the ghosts are. XD
DarkFoxKit: Since it's rare we get reviews talking about the Digimon side of things, I appreciate that you're talking about what happened in the Digital World too. We wanted to use the episode of Digimon Frontier as a base and guide for this part, but writing it in our own way. Ranamon, I've never seen, bloodbends anyone, so I don't know if she's actually capable of such a thing. She's also just a lot lazier than Grumblemon is about things, which is why she left him to do most of the dirty work. She lacks the bloodlust that Grumblemon has with 'killing' the players, so she's more mischievously playful than malicious, but she does have her malicious side. She just hadn't had a reason to use it yet.
Tommy has trouble fessing up because he's afraid of how the others would react to him being Kumamon, especially after things got out of control, and they all think he's a bad guy. He doesn't quite understand that he's a Legendary Warrior, and they saw him as a Rogue Warrior. He thinks he's just a Digimon that was apparently a bad guy in a past life. So he has no way to really explain himself without understanding the situation. And he also doesn't want Sir Michael to get hurt, even on his behalf. Nor does he trust the Rogue Warriors to not attack him even as Kumamon.
Not just anyone can use the D-Arcs and D-Tectors. While it hasn't been tested yet, they only work for their chosen wielders. So if someone were to grab Andy's D-Arc, they can't just use it to get into the Digital World or force Lopmon to digivolve. It just wouldn't work for them as it was tailor-made for Andy.
ZAFT: Glad you liked Zoe here! She didn't get much love in the canon, so here she is getting more attention~ X3 Zoe and Jazz as big sisters… Oh gosh! That would be awesome!
DarkFoxKit: We haven't had the time to flesh out the other Legendary Warriors yet, we hope to change that soon though. And also, I see Jazz as someone who gets side lined a lot. She has potential, but she's more the 'back-up' rather than the main frontliner, as was stated towards the end of Secret Weapons. I felt like there was more she could've done, and would've been able to do. And her seeing herself as just being a burden, or not really helping her little brothers, made her unable to do the best she could in that battle. Floramon had to remind her that she didn't have to be perfect, just to be there for them, and that's what triggered Floramon's digivolution. The digivolution in each Digimon partner is all about their human partner's growth, which we're trying to reflect in this story, and it's always been one of my favorite aspects in the Digimon anime.
ZAFT: You will see how Zoe gets involved more. XD Thanks for the long review~ We look forward to the next one! :3