DarkFoxKit: Hello, everyone. Apologies for being a little late with this one. Yesterday was pretty busy and hectic for both of us.
ZAFT: My dad was running errands all over yesterday and I went with him. ^^'
DarkFoxKit: I was out eating and grocery shopping with my parents, but the tiring part came when we had to haul some heavy things to the house, that wasn't fun. But hey, we're here now. Let's hope you enjoy 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 51: A Game War
"Look out for that claw!" Tommy yelled as WaruMonzaemon was running at them.
Danny and Takuya tensed up before their dodge training from Andy kicked in. Danny dove to the left while Takuya grabbed Tommy and dodged to the right in a roll.
"Geez… I really need to find a way to thank Andy for his training." Danny muttered.
Takuya looked at Tommy. "Are you okay, Tommy?"
"I'm fine… but we have to get out of here," Tommy quickly said. "This room isn't big enough for you to fight in, you'll likely cause us to suffocate from all the toys you'll end up flaming."
Takuya frowned, but he knew Tommy was right. "Yeah… good point…" He admitted before looking at Danny. "Hey, Danny! We need to book it!"
"R-right!" Danny replied as he ran over to them.
WaruMonzaemon began running at them. Takuya had Tommy's hand, and hurried downstairs with Danny right behind him.
"You won't get away from me again!" WaruMonzaemon shouted.
"Isn't there a quicker way out of here? He could catch us if we just keep running like this!" Tommy warned, remembering how he only got away because he used his ice skiing.
Danny frowned. He knew how they could get out quicker, but it wasn't worth the risk. As far as he knew, using his ghost powers only sparingly without any issues was due to pure luck.
"I could Spirit Evolve into Agunimon. I'm much faster than I would be as a human." Takuya pointed out. "But I don't know if I'll have time to even try."
Suddenly a wall next to the stairs opened up, or at least a piece of it. The 3 stopped in surprise, seeing a ToyAgumon there.
"Quick, this way!" The ToyAgumon held out his hand.
"What? Isn't that one of the ShadowToyAgumon?" Tommy asked, confused why this one was all colorful.
"Long story short, we saved the ToyAgumon." Takuya explained quickly.
"You won't get away!" WaruMonzaemon shouted as he began rushing at them like a freight Trailmon.
Knowing they didn't have time for questions and answers, Takuya, Tommy, and Danny rushed into the wall with the ToyAgumon, who quickly put the piece of wall back. WaruMonzaemon ran past the wall, thinking the children were still running down the stairs.
"You saved us," Tommy said in surprise.
"We know a few secret passageways in this castle," ToyAgumon explained. "But even so, it's only a matter of time before WaruMonzaemon realizes we're no longer at his side, so you better hurry and get away."
Takuya, Tommy, and Danny all nodded.
"Do you have any way we can escape unseen?" Takuya asked ToyAgumon.
"Not any guaranteed way. The best you can hope for is to get through the stairs while WaruMonzaemon is looking for you," ToyAgumon replied.
"Isn't there any way to cure WaruMonzaemon from his corruption though?" Tommy asked.
"You'll probably have to deal enough damage to him to knock the fractal code out of him, then have a Legendary Warrior purify it," ToyAgumon answered. "But unlike us, WaruMonzaemon is powerful on his own. Mercurymon made sure of that."
"Great…" Danny grumbled. "So our best bet is we either fight WaruMonzaemon, or we run, and both are risky at best."
"Either way, we're going to get caught." Takuya pointed out.
The group heard some crashing noises outside.
"You better go. WaruMonzaemon is likely fighting with my brethren right now, this is the best time for you kids to get away," ToyAgumon quickly said.
"You guys can hold out by using that giant robot form, right?" Danny asked hopefully.
"Ah… no. We were only able to make that form due to Mercurymon's blessing. When we were purified, we also lost that blessing," ToyAgumon explained.
"Then we better go now!" Takuya quickly said.
ToyAgumon removed the piece of the wall, and the 3 ran out back onto the stairs.
As they were going down the stairs, Tommy asked, "How did you guys save the ToyAgumon? Last I saw them, they were still ShadowToyAgumon."
"Takuya managed to purify the ShadowToyAgumon as Agunimon." Danny replied. "Um… I may have helped in a way too… But Takuya did the hard part!" Danny quickly added.
"What did the ToyAgumon mean that we had to knock the fractal code out for a Legendary Warrior to purify it?" Tommy asked. "I thought something in the castle may help purify them."
"It's… an ability only those Legendary Warriors with a D-Tector can do." Takuya replied. Or a D-Arc, not that Tommy knows that…
"It reverts a Digimon to their normal form." Danny added. "Um… so I assume anyway. I just saw Takuya use his D-Tector, and then the ToyAgumon were back to normal."
The D-Tector? That's what purifies them? Tommy blinked. So it doesn't have to be a Legendary Warrior, the D-Tector could've purified them?
"Do you think you'll be able to knock the fractal code out of WaruMonzaemon then?" Tommy asked.
"You mean him or me?" Danny asked.
"Both of you," Tommy said.
"Why both of us? I don't have a Digimon partner with me," Danny pointed out.
"You must've been able to do something without a Digimon partner if you made it this far," Tommy pointed out.
Why does this kid sound like Andy? Danny grumbled.
"Um… Let's not worry about Danny right now. He can handle himself." Takuya quickly said, trying to break Tommy's attention from Danny. "He handled himself well against the ShadowToyAgumon, so don't worry."
Danny sighed in relief. Thank you Takuya… I don't want to be questioned over and over again…
'He can handle himself'. He must be able to turn into a Digimon. Tommy concluded. That excuse is usually given if someone is capable of using powers of some kind.
"You still haven't answered my question," Tommy pointed out.
"Look, I will try to explain it later. Right now we have to get out of here first and foremost." Takuya insisted, his tone showing no room for arguing at the moment.
"Explain what? I was just asking if you think you can knock the fractal code out of WaruMonzaemon, what's to explain?" Tommy questioned.
"To answer that, yes, it can be done." Takuya replied. "But what I meant was I will explain how Danny can handle himself later."
"I don't need an explanation for that," Tommy said as they made it down the bottom of the stairs. "I just need to know if you can fight. Because if you think you can help Monzaemon, then do it. We're no longer in that cramped room."
Takuya came to a stop, letting go of Tommy's hand and turning to face the stairs. "You're right. Someone does need to help Monzaemon." He took out his D-Tector. Takuya then spoke to Danny, but without looking at him. "Danny, please get Tommy to safety if things start to go badly in the fight."
"You can count on me, cuz," Danny said.
Takuya then got ready. He held out his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. Takuya swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his canine teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"
Now evolved, Agunimon was ready to defend Danny and Tommy from WaruMonzaemon.
They ran into a much bigger area in the castle. They saw WaruMonzaemon beating up a lot of the ToyAgumon, who were on the floor, groaning.
"Traitors! All of you! I can't believe you're turning on me to help those players! Did you all forget what those players did to us and our home!?" WaruMonzaemon shouted angrily as he clawed at several ToyAgumon. "Did you forget what Master Mercurymon told us!? How could you turn your backs on one of the true Legendary Warriors that hasn't been tainted by humanity!?"
"Stop hurting them!" Tommy shouted.
WaruMonzaemon did stop, and turned around when he heard Tommy's voice. He was surprised to see Agunimon, another Legendary Warrior there. Though he wasn't sure why Tommy wasn't using his own Legendary Warrior's Spirit right now.
"You leave those ToyAgumon alone!" Agunimon hissed angrily. "They did nothing wrong!"
"They did nothing wrong!?" WaruMonzaemon snapped. "They betrayed everything we stood for by helping you humans! And you! You must be that other human with the goggles and red jacket! So you have used the Spirit of Agunimon!"
Agunimon was taken aback by this. He hadn't expected WaruMonzaemon to realize who he was. "W-What… How…?"
"Don't play dumb with me! You weren't the first human I've seen turning themselves into a Digimon!" WaruMonzaemon snapped.
Tommy paled a little, worried that WaruMonzaemon was going to reveal that he was Kumamon to Takuya.
Agunimon, for his part, also grew a bit pale in the face, realizing that WaruMonzaemon must've seen another Legendary Warrior. But who? Who did he see becoming a Digimon?
"Agunimon, stay focused!" Danny exclaimed, snapping the Warrior of Flame out of his thoughts.
"R-right…" Agunimon replied, but it was clear something was bothering him.
WaruMonzaemon then gave a sinister grin. "Now the question is… would you go down the same way as he did?"
Before Agunimon could react, WaruMonzaemon launched at him. "Bear Claw!"
Agunimon gasped as the Bear Claw slashed into his shoulder armor. It was quite a powerful attack. Danny pulled Tommy away to avoid getting hit by the crossfire.
Agunimon hissed in pain as WaruMonzaemon yanked his claws out. There was a clear penetration through his armor, and blood could be seen dripping from the wound. Agunimon kicked WaruMonzaemon back as hard as he could while using the momentum of his kick to jump back as well, putting some distance between them. He panted as his hand went to his shoulder, gripping it to keep it from bleeding out.
Damn it… This Digimon… is no joke… Agunimon thought to himself.
Danny and Tommy looked at Agunimon in worry, seeing how the Bear Claw attack was able to rip through his armor. Tommy winced, he remembered getting hit by that Bear Claw himself. Even with his malleable body, it left quite a wound on him.
WaruMonzaemon pulled back his claw, grinning. "You're not as soft and squishy as the last one. You should be a lot easier to handle."
Agunimon gritted his teeth, showing his sharp canine teeth. "You'll find I'm not so easy an opponent." He replied back.
In response, WaruMonzaemon ran at Agunimon again, his Bear Claw drawn back for another blow. Thinking fast, Agunimon removed his hand from his shoulder and put his arms up in a defensive move, fire flaring from his body. It became the reddish orange, yet transparent, orb that both Danny and Tommy were coming to recognize more. "Plasma Sphere!"
The Bear Claw smashed into the sphere. WaruMonzaemon growled before he began to slowly slide his claws across the sphere, making a horrible noise.
"Cute, but what are you going to do if you just hide behind that sphere?" WaruMonzaemon questioned. "And how long can you hold this up from an Ultimate level Digimon blessed by Master Mercurymon himself? Not long I can imagine~ I just have to take my time to cut through this sphere you trapped yourself in."
Agunimon grinned though. "Really? I think you'll be surprised~" He said cheekily before the Plasma Sphere began to change, becoming more and more conical as more fire flickered from Agunimon's armor. Agunimon then began to spin around, drawing the flames of the Plasma Sphere towards himself. "Pyro Tornado!"
"Whoa… since when could he do that?" Tommy asked in awe.
"Not sure… I don't recall seeing him doing that before," Danny answered. "And I've been with him for a while."
I wonder… was it like with me and the ice skiing? Was it an inherited knowledge? Something he thought to experiment during the spur of the moment? Tommy wondered.
WaruMonzaemon let out groans of pain from the flames, but he stood his ground. The flames did burn quite a bit of WaruMonzaemon, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. During the Pyro Tornado attack, WaruMonzaemon ignored the pain, and reached out at Agunimon with his claws and grabbed his chest, running him into a wall to stop the attack.
"T-Takuya!" Danny and Tommy called out in concern.
"Ugh…" Agunimon grunted as he hit the wall, feeling his shoulder searing with pain from the impact. Ow… My shoulder… Using his free hand that wasn't stinging with pain, Agunimon gripped at the claws holding him against the wall. He concentrated on his power of fire and fire coated his free hand. "Let go… of me!"
Agunimon thrust his flame-covered fist at WaruMonzaemon's face.
WaruMonzaemon grunted as he let go of Agunimon. "Not bad… you're quite the pyromaniac. Good thing my fabric doesn't catch on fire so easily."
Tommy frowned, seeing that Agunimon was already wounded and tired, and WaruMonzaemon didn't show a lot of signs of slowing down. Not only that, WaruMonzaemon had yet to use his ace in the hole. He may not be able to do this alone.
Tommy looked up at Danny. "Isn't there anything you can do to help him?"
"Well…" Danny frowned, looking at his cousin in concern. "I want to, trust me, I really do. But… well… my… thing is that it's not exactly the same as Takuya's thing. In fact, if I were to use it in battle… I'm worried that it'll mess up more than just my opponent… it could hurt Takuya, the ToyAgumon, you, and who knows what else."
"What?" Tommy frowned. What kind of 'thing' is that?
"Look, I'm not saying I don't want to help. I really do, but… my… um… thing… is more… dangerous… to use." Danny tried to explain awkwardly. "I don't want to risk it unless there is no other option."
At the rate this is going, you may not have a choice. But if it's really as dangerous as he says it is… there might still be an alternative way to beat WaruMonzaemon. It might be playing a bit dirty, but… Tommy thought to himself.
"What's the matter? Are you already all tuckered out?" WaruMonzaemon taunted Agunimon. "Come on, you may have been burnt out, but I'm still warming up!"
Agunimon narrowed his eyes. "We'll see who gets worn out first!" He snapped back, but Agunimon was aware it was just a bluff on his part. His opponent was right; he was getting tired. It was only due to quick thinking that he was holding his own so far, but even that wasn't enough. I can't risk using my other Spirit though… Who knows how badly things will go if I try to use it while exhausted…
Agunimon wasn't sure if he had a choice though. He ran up at the bear, pulling back his fist. "Pyro Punch!"
WaruMonzaemon moved to the side, making Agunimon miss and wobble a little.
Danny feared he may not have a choice but to use his ghost powers to help his cousin after all. While he knew the risks, something in his chest was screaming at him to help his cousin.
Maybe I don't have a choice… I might have to summon the beast… Agunimon growled. I can't let him take Tommy again…
"Hang on!" Danny called out.
WaruMonzaemon grinned. "Let's finish this. Heart Break Attack!"
WaruMonzaemon shot out a dark purple heart at Agunimon.
"No! Don't let that hit you!" Tommy warned, seeing how Agunimon wasn't paying attention to WaruMonzaemon.
Agunimon turned and gasped before the attack wound up hitting him. Suddenly, he felt like nothing mattered anymore, like it wasn't worth fighting. Agunimon felt like everything would backfire on him if he tried to help someone. The times he had used his Beast Spirit had almost hurt those he cared about, and he was sure his own family didn't want to be around him because of that. They were only pretending to want to be around him, he was sure of it.
The Legendary Warrior looked down, suddenly feeling helpless, like he couldn't protect Tommy, or even Danny. Danny, he was sure, hated him because of his Digimon side. And if Danny hated him, there was no way Agunimon could protect Danny, and he had failed in protecting Tommy…
A cocoon of fractal code surrounded Agunimon, turning him back into Takuya as the boy lost the motivation to hold onto that form.
"What the heck just happened!?" Danny frowned in shock and concern.
"He was hit by the Heart Break Attack…" Tommy frowned. "I've had experience with that. It makes you lose the will to fight, you feel like everything and everyone is against you, and you just fall into despair."
Danny winced, as that attack reminded him of Spectra, someone who fed off of misery. "Oh no… that means that Takuya… can't fight back? Would he do the same to us?"
"He's done it before…" Tommy warned.
WaruMonzaemon grinned. "Well, that's one down. Who wants to be next?"
Tommy stepped forward.
"Tommy? What are you doing?" Danny asked.
"What I should've done earlier. Danny… Can you make sure the ToyAgumon are okay?" Tommy requested. "I'll see what I can do to keep WaruMonzaemon busy."
"What? No, I promised Takuya I'd keep you safe. You can't fight that thing alone," Danny warned.
"I'm not going to fight him. If he wanted to kill me, he would've done so a long time ago." Tommy replied. "I promise. I'll be okay. The ToyAgumon needs your help more than I do right now."
Danny frowned, but nodded. "Okay… I don't like it, but… I'll… I'll trust you know what you're doing…" Danny then turned and made his way to check on the ToyAgumon. Danny hated leaving Tommy to deal with WaruMonzaemon, but the boy seemed to have a plan of some kind, so he had to trust Tommy. And if he's anything like my brother… I feel sorry for WaruMonzaemon.
"Okay Tommy, you ready for another round before you become my permanent playmate?" WaruMonzaemon grinned.
If Takuya had been in his right mind, he would've thought that statement was very strange. But he could barely comprehend what was being said right now.
"Yes, but I won't be fighting you this time," Tommy stated, knowing Takuya wasn't in any state to comprehend their words right now. "Instead… I'll be challenging you to a video game. We'll be playing Digimon Party, on the Toy Island board, with 20 turns. The one who gets the most toys in the game at the end of those 20 turns is the winner. If I win, you'll have to stop trying to kidnap human children, and leave us alone. If you win, you get to have me, Takuya, and Danny."
WaruMonzaemon frowned. "And why should I take this challenge?"
"What's the matter? Afraid that you'll lose at your own game?" Tommy taunted. "I guess if you think a little kid can beat you at a video game, you're not as tough as you say you are."
Danny, who was helping the ToyAgumon, could easily hear Tommy's challenge to WaruMonzaemon thanks to his ghostly hearing. He was not sure if he should be laughing at how Tommy was mouthing off to WaruMonzaemon, confused as to what Tommy meant by 'fighting this time', or worried about Tommy taking on WaruMonzaemon at all for that matter. Wow… If I wasn't confused and worried at the same time, I'd be laughing my butt off at how this little kid is mouthing off to an Ultimate level Digimon…
WaruMonzaemon was quite annoyed by the taunt. But if the kid wasn't going to fight, and instead play, it would go against his nature to say 'no' to that, even if he wasn't as playful as he used to be. "Fine then! I'll take your challenge and beat you. I'm the king of Digimon Party, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into, kid!"
"We'll see about that," Tommy said.
"But…" WaruMonzaemon went over to Takuya and picked up the boy like a ragdoll. "He's coming with me. To make sure you don't escape during our game time."
"You're using Takuya as a hostage?" Tommy frowned.
"No, just… insurance purposes." WaruMonzaemon replied with a sinister grin. "I won't hurt him, I promise~"
Tommy looked at Takuya. The pieces are all in place… I just hope that it works. It's up to Takuya from here…
"Fine… let's get back to your room and start the game," Tommy said before he looked over at Danny. "Good luck."
Danny looked at Tommy. "Yeah… you too…" I get the feeling they'll be alright. But for me… I better get Pandamon. He knows how to treat Digimon better than me.
Takuya didn't really know where he was. He looked around, seeing he was in some kind of forest. There were trees of different sizes, shapes, and species all around him, as well as different bushes and shrubs. It looked like something out of a fairytale almost, but not as sparkly or shiny. Takuya looked around to his left, and saw only trees and a cliff face on one side. To his right, there was a river nearby.
In a daze, Takuya walked over to the river, seeing his own reflection in the slowly-moving waters as he looked down, unsure of why he was even looking at his own reflection in the first place. Why…? Why… am I here? What was I thinking, taking on WaruMonzaemon…? He's too strong… Takuya thought as he stared at his reflection, reaching out to touch it.
The moment Takuya touched the river, his reflection got distorted. Takuya watched with bored interest before he pulled his hand out of the water. When the water settled down, instead of seeing a perfect copy of himself staring back, he saw Agunimon looking back at him instead.
"Wow… I didn't think I looked like that…" Takuya muttered unhappily. "I guess I'm more of a monster that people should avoid than I realized."
"Is that how you see yourself? A monster?" The reflection talked back to Takuya in his own voice.
Takuya felt a bit of a jolt of shock run through him, but he didn't think it was that important. "Why would I not? I hurt everyone I care about when I tried to use the power of the beast." Takuya replied. "I hurt everyone, Andy, Danny, Sam, Tucker, their Digimon partners… Only a monster would do that."
Agunimon came out of the water, and was now staring face to face with Takuya. "Because a monster wouldn't feel bad about hurting them like I do now. Why would a true monster feel bad about hurting anyone?"
Takuya blinked, then frowned. "They wouldn't feel bad… They would enjoy it… And… a part of me…" He trailed off. "I…"
"There is a sadistic beast inside everyone. I'm no exception. Neither is Danny, or Andy, or my aunt, or uncle. I have seen their darker sides," The reflection stated as he walked behind Takuya, now having their backs at each other. "But what about that makes me a monster? Humans, Digimon, ghosts, they are all capable of hurting each other. And they are all just as capable of feeling no remorse or feeling guilty about it."
"That's true… Anything or anyone that is conscious of their own actions feels bad…" Takuya agreed. "But… I… when I used the Beast Spirit, I don't have any memory of what I did… So does that mean I shouldn't feel bad about my actions when I hurt them?"
"What do you think?" The reflection asked, using the second person point of view instead of the first person this time. "It's normal to feel bad when you know you've hurt them. But the issue isn't about if you should feel guilty, but what you should do about it."
Takuya perked up. "And the best way to prevent it again is to gain control…" He said. "I can't lose control. I need to find a way to channel that primal instinct… That's why I've been training… That's why I need to train. To get stronger, to get better control."
Takuya found himself standing on top of a tree branch, and Agunimon, his reflection, hanging upside down in front of him. This should've struck him as odd, but it felt normal to him.
"Do I still fear that my friends and family hate me? That Danny is afraid of me for being a Digimon?" Takuya's reflection asked.
"No… I shouldn't…" Takuya admitted. "If Danny was afraid of me, he wouldn't have stuck around when he found out I lost control. He would have run away."
"Then I shouldn't worry about that. If anything, I helped Danny see that I love and care about him when he needed it the most," Agunimon said as he walked past Takuya once more. "So… what about Tommy? What's my obligation to him? Did I truly fail him?"
Takuya frowned before he shook his head. "No… I didn't. If anything… He… I… I helped him get out of that situation with WaruMonzaemon. And I tried to help him when Grumblemon had him as a hostage. I didn't fail him that time either. Someone else rescued him, yes, but I still helped him out."
"Then what am I worried about? Why am I doubting myself and thinking I'm a monster when there are people who need me right now?" The reflection questioned. "I chose myself for a reason."
Takuya's eyes went wide when he heard that. "I… I chose to protect Danny that day I first used the Spirit… It… I didn't care what happened to me, what mattered was Danny, helping him and protecting him. Andy, Jazz… Uncle Jack and Aunt Maddie… when they all needed my help, I just… acted. I didn't care what they thought, because they needed me. Just like Tommy and Danny need me now…"
Agunimon gave a small chuckle before he turned back to Takuya. Both of them were standing in front of each other. And instead of Agunimon standing in front of Takuya, it was now Flamemon.
"Then stop hesitating. Follow your heart. You know what the right thing to do is," Flamemon stated. "After all… we are the same… I am you. And you are me, Takuya Kanbara."
Takuya blinked before he chuckled as well. "Yeah, you're right. I might be Agunimon, but Agunimon is also me. The Spirit is a part of me now, and I can't change that. But I can change how I feel about it. It never bothered me before." He then looked down. "After I got my Beast Spirit, it began to become clear to me how dangerous my own power can be… but…" Takuya then looked back up. "I shouldn't let that stop me, not as long as I use it to help others who need me."
"Then go for it, use my powers… use your powers to save those you care about," Flamemon said before he turned into Takuya himself. "I know I can do it."
Takuya nodded at his own reflection. "Right… I know I can, because I have to."
"Because I can, and because I want to," The reflection added. "Wake up."
Takuya blinked open his eyes. He sat up, finding himself on a bean bag. And he was in a familiar room full of toys.
"Alright, that's it! I got all the toys!" Tommy cheered loudly.
Takuya looked over, seeing Tommy and WaruMonzaemon seeming to be playing a video game of some kind. H-huh? What's… going on?
"No fair!" WaruMonzaemon cried out. "You can't have beaten me like that!"
"I won the last 4 mini-games, so I was able to collect enough candies to trade them in for the toys," Tommy remarked.
"You must've cheated somehow! You couldn't have beaten me in those mini-games!" WaruMonzaemon snapped.
"I don't cheat in video games," Tommy replied. "It's all skill. And that means I won."
Takuya blinked, listening in. Did… Wait… Tommy challenged WaruMonzaemon to play video games? Is that what happened?
"No fair! I am the best at Digimon Party! You can't be better than me!" WaruMonzaemon exclaimed, clearly not happy about the turn of events.
"Well I did, and that means you'll have to stop trying to take players to enslave them, and you have to let us go," Tommy stated. "That was the deal."
WaruMonzaemon was silent for a few moments before he began to chuckle darkly and sinisterly. "You really thought I would let you go? Just like that?" He then looked at Tommy. "You should know better than to just trust someone's word, little boy."
Takuya, realizing WaruMonzaemon wasn't going to just let them go, knew he had to do something. He reached into his pocket, taking out his D-Tector. He didn't want to take another risk of Tommy getting captured again if they tried to run once more. Maybe… I can do a sneak attack…?
Takuya invoked his fractal code around his left hand and gulped. This was his first time trying to Spirit Evolve silently. Execute…
The coding surrounded Takuya before it dissipated, revealing Agunimon in Takuya's place.
Slowly and silently, Agunimon got to his feet and crept up on WaruMonzaemon and Tommy, making sure to stay on WaruMonzaemon's side of the room.
Tommy noticed Takuya had spirit evolved into Agunimon. He was inwardly smirking, but he made sure to look scared. "What do you plan to do to me?"
"I will make you my permanent slave, both you and the other boy like you~" WaruMonzaemon sneered evilly.
Behind WaruMonzaemon, Agunimon had fire appear around one of his fists. He felt his Digi-Core racing in his chest at what he was about to do, but he knew there was no other option. It was either he did something, or he and Tommy remained WaruMonzaemon's slaves. Well… It's now or never…
Agunimon didn't even make a sound to let WaruMonzaemon know he was there, not even a grunt, but the pain WaruMonzaemon felt certainly let him know someone was behind him. Behind WaruMonzaemon, Agunimon had thrust his flame-covered fist into WaruMonzaemon's back.
There was still that hole in WaruMonzaemon's back when Tommy had attacked him directly with Kumamon's icicle body. Some of the flames went into the hole, causing some of the inside of WaruMonzaemon to get caught on fire as well.
"You underestimate us humans, WaruMonzaemon. I figured you wouldn't keep your word, which was why the game was meant to stall out the Heart Break Attack while the Spirit helped Takuya snap out of it," Tommy stated while WaruMonzaemon was burning. "Checkmate~"
Agunimon blinked. Was that Tommy's plan all along?
The ring of WaruMonzaemon's fractal code came out of the bear, showing the darkness around it.
Agunimon knew what he had to do. He held up his D-Tector. "Time for you to be cleansed by the flames and return to normal." Agunimon declared as he pressed the button on the side of the D-Tector. The scanner at the top lit up as the symbol of Flame was shown on the screen. Agunimon swung his arm, dragging the scanner across the fractal code. "Fractal Code… Digitize!" The scanner cleansed the code of the darkness, and when the last bit of darkness was gone, Agunimon held his D-Tector close to his chest, the scanner going dark. "Purification, complete."
WaruMonzaemon had returned to being Monzaemon, hopefully for real this time. To Agunimon's surprise, Tommy was worried for the bear.
"Monzaemon? Are you… okay?" Tommy asked in concern. "Do you… still want to enslave me?"
Monzaemon groaned a little as he looked at Tommy. "Why would I do that…? I just want someone to play with."
Agunimon blinked. "You… don't want to make anyone your slave… right?" He asked cautiously. I… Does Tommy really care about Monzaemon? But… why? After what he went through… I thought…
"No… that's bad," Monzaemon replied. "I just want to play."
Tommy smiled a little. "I think he's just fine. Thank you, Agunimon."
Agunimon nodded. "Yeah… No problem." He said, but he felt a bit awkward for having pulled a sneak attack like that. Geez… I hope I don't feel this way each time I have to do that…
"I feel tired… gonna take a nap now…" Monzaemon yawned before he crawled up to the nearest bean bag to curl up on.
"Come on," Tommy said quietly to Agunimon.
Agunimon nodded and followed Tommy out of the room quietly, with Tommy making sure to shut the door softly and quietly.
"Do you actually care about him?" Agunimon asked as they were walking down the stairs. "Even after all he put you through?"
Agunimon allowed himself to turn back into Takuya, wanting to save energy in case they may need to fight again. "I mean that Heart Break Attack… he used it to keep you here, didn't he? I just got hit by it once, and… it was pretty horrible."
"Well…" Tommy began as they continued walking. "I guess I just grew to like him. He may have done some horrible things, but he did take care of me. He didn't torture me or threaten me to be his slave. He let me play with his toys, and seemed to want to talk to me despite feeling sad and depressed. I wanted to make sure he could be purified, because I feel like he wouldn't have gone as far as he did if the players who took over his home hadn't done what they did. And this Mercurymon didn't convince him all players were bad people."
"That's true…" Takuya conceded. "But I still… I guess I'm having a hard time with this. I mean… Monzaemon was mean to you, and all, but yet you still wanted to help him…"
"He isn't the first to be mean to me, yet still be someone I ended up caring about…" Tommy quietly replied back.
Takuya blinked, wondering what Tommy could mean. "I… guess… that makes sense…" Wow… Tommy's been through so much and yet… he still found it in himself to care about Monzaemon… I don't know if I could've done that if I was in his place… "Oh… do you mean Sir Michael? Do you… actually care about him?"
"I guess I do… in a way…" Tommy admitted. "He was my friend, and… I can't help but still think of him as one despite hunting me down. Maybe I'm just foolishly sentimental… I hung on to our friendship despite knowing what he saw me as…"
Takuya frowned. "What did he see you as?" Did Sir Michael see Tommy as something other than a little kid? I mean, what else could Tommy be seen as?
Tommy sighed. "I…"
"Takuya! Tommy!"
Tommy was thankful for the interruption as Danny called out to them. Takuya was surprised to see Pandamon was with Danny.
"I brought Pandamon. I explained to him what was going on with Monzaemon," Danny explained.
"Forgive me. I didn't know Monzaemon had been corrupted as well," Pandamon apologized. "I thought it was only the ToyAgumon, and Monzaemon was just someone they ignored."
Takuya sighed. "It's okay. He… Monzaemon had everyone fooled for a while. At least until we saved the ToyAgumon, Then they explained it to us as well…"
"So you were able to purify Monzaemon?" Danny asked.
"Yeah. I managed to keep WaruMonzaemon distracted for Takuya to snap out of the Heart Break Attack and hit him hard enough to knock the data out of him," Tommy stated.
He really is a lot like Andy… It's gonna be a scary world if these two ever decide to team up… Danny inwardly gulped.
"That has me relieved," Pandamon said. "That means that we can finally start recovering after the incident with Mercurymon. And find a new home for us to settle down in."
"Yeah, I hope you can find a new home." Takuya said as he looked at Pandamon. "I can't imagine not having a home to return to."
Danny shivered a bit; he didn't want to think about that either, and for very good reason.
"For now though… would you 3 like a ride? I'm sure you'd rather not have to wait until we can land to leave," Pandamon suggested.
"A ride? To where?" Takuya asked.
"Do you have a destination in mind?" Pandamon asked.
Takuya looked down in thought. "I… Well, Danny and I do have to return to the Flame Terminal…"
"Do you mean the village?" Pandamon questioned.
"Yeah," Danny answered. "We need to meet up with some friends there. We should let them know we found Tommy."
"Tommy, do you mind coming to the Flame Terminal with us?" Takuya asked.
"No, I don't mind," Tommy answered. "I was looking for Jazz after we got separated, but I don't know where she could be right now, so the Flame Terminal is as good a place to look as any."
Takuya frowned. "I hope we can find Jazz soon. It's been… a while since we last saw her…"
"Well, let's meet back up with the others first. Then we can figure out what to do next." Danny suggested.
"I will pilot the plane!" A ToyAgumon volunteered.
"The plane?" Takuya blinked.
Danny, Takuya, and Tommy found themselves sitting in a life sized toy airplane. ToyAgumon was at the wheel. "Better hold on, this thing can take off!"
The toy airplane took off into the sky.
"Whoa… look at the view from up here!" Tommy smiled.
Danny grinned at seeing Tommy smiling. "Yeah, it's amazing isn't it? Everything looks like ants from up here!" He agreed. Reminds me of when I go out flying in my ghost form…
"Yeah, and like a toy diagram!" Tommy grinned back.
"I'm glad to see you're safe, Tommy," Takuya said. "When I heard you left the castle and Forest Terminal, I got really worried about you."
"Sorry… I felt like I didn't really belong with the others…" Tommy admitted. "And I felt like I needed to travel for a bit to find myself, as well as Sir Michael."
Takuya blinked. "You... didn't feel like you belonged with the others? Why would you say that?" I wonder if something happened with the other Legendary Warriors that made Tommy feel that way…
"Take a wild guess," Tommy grumbled.
Danny looked back at them, Takuya hadn't quite informed Danny of the other Legendary Warriors because Takuya felt like it would've been an invasion of their privacy if he just told everyone he knew who the other Legendary Warriors were.
"Being the only one who isn't like them… it starts to get to one's self esteem," Tommy said, keeping vague in case Danny didn't know the full story. "When you're a kitten in a den of lions, the kitten will start to feel like maybe it doesn't belong there."
Takuya grimaced. "I… guess that makes sense…" He admitted. Wow… if Tommy feels this way because he was around the others due to them being Legendary Warriors… I feel… kinda bad for him…
"But why haven't you gone home yet?" Danny asked. "I would've thought Takuya's… friends would've tried to get you back home or something."
"It's complicated," Tommy answered. "I plan to go home soon. But… I don't feel good to just leave Jazz here, which was why I came b- why I stayed here." Almost slipped up there.
Takuya and Danny looked at one another. They had to admit, that was a very valid reason for not wanting to leave right away.
"Okay… You're right. Just leaving without finding Jazz would be a bad idea." Danny admitted. "I get why you wanted to stay, but that was still reckless, just wandering around to find her."
"Tommy, when we meet up with the others, we'll see if we can figure out what to do about Jazz." Takuya reassured Tommy.
"Yeah, thanks. And I know it was reckless, but that's not going to stop me. Trust me, you're not the first person to tell me how dangerous it is here. But I managed to get this far," Tommy pointed out to Danny.
"That's true," Danny admitted. Despite being a little kid, he was able to make it this far on his own.
"But I do have a couple of questions," Danny spoke up. "How did you get separated from Jazz? And how did you end up on that toy island in the first place?"
Tommy frowned as he thought about how to answer those questions. He could try to tell a convincing lie, but that could make things difficult if they find Jazz, and she tells them a different story than he told them, and that would make him suspicious. So in order for him to get the best possible outcome, he would have to tell the truth without giving them the entire truth.
"We were being chased and attacked by a couple of rogue Legendary Warriors," Tommy began. "Zoe was there. She's… a friend of Takuya's. She was helping us fight them off. But Grumblemon was giving her a hard time with that Beast Spirit of his. And there was another Legendary Warrior called Ranamon, she's the Warrior of Water. She has this ability to drain one's energy with a rain cloud. Jazz's Floramon managed to digivolve, and that helped, but when we were getting away, we came across this green fog. We had heard about how some Digimon went missing lately, and that green fog may have been the cause of it."
Takuya and Danny both frowned at the mention of the green fog.
"That sounds familiar…" Danny noted.
"And another rogue Legendary Warrior to boot?" Takuya grumbled. "Those guys sure like to appear wherever we go."
"Oh, but it's great that Jazz's partner was able to digivolve." Danny smiled. "So what happened after you found the green fog?"
"The fog engulfed us," Tommy answered. "I…" I was suddenly in a town I wasn't familiar with. I came walking out of the fog to see Andy and Lopmon covered in that black mist. I knew that Lopmon was going to dark digivolve soon if I hadn't stopped them. But… "I ended up on Toy Island."
"So that fog transported you to Toy Island?" Danny asked, surprised.
Takuya frowned. He wasn't sure if he believed that, but then again, none of them knew what exactly happened to anyone caught up in that green fog, so it was the best explanation Tommy had for them. "Seems possible to me." He admitted.
"It… might not be that simple. I probably got lucky because…" Tommy hesitated. Maybe Kumamon somehow protected me? "... I'm not really sure why exactly. But I don't think most just get teleported to another part of the Digital World once the fog engulfs them."
"So, you're saying anything could've happened to you?" Takuya asked, feeling shivers run down his spine at the idea of random things happening to Tommy.
"It's likely," Tommy answered. "How many Digimon have you met that had went through the green fog themselves already?"
"But that means… anything could've happened to Jazz too," Danny worriedly pointed out.
Takuya paled. "Crap… We really need to find her now!"
"Wait, you said we should wait for the others before we find her. She could be anywhere," Tommy pointed out. I really do hope she and Floramon are okay though… I don't know what happened to them. They weren't with me when I ended up in that town.
Takiya took a few breaths to calm down. "Yeah… You're right… Panicking will do no one good, and it won't help us find Jazz right away."
"I better text to the others and tell them about this," Danny said as he began to text on his phone.
"Who else did you bring with you?" Tommy questioned.
"Andy, whom you already have met, and two others who are also Danny's friends, Sam and Tucker." Takuya replied. "We had to split up to… find some others as well…"
"So you brought… a whole group?" Tommy blinked. "Were you planning to make your own guild?"
"That… never crossed my mind," Danny admitted. "We came here to look for some people who have been missing. Like my sister, Jazz, and another friend of ours."
"Yeah, we… never intended to form a guild or anything like that." Takuya added sheepishly. "We've never even talked about it to be honest."
"You probably should though," Tommy said.
"Why's that?" Danny asked.
"Think about it. I mean… after you find everyone, I have a feeling you'll be coming back here a lot, so why not make a home base for everyone to gather in where you can make plans and stuff while you're here?" Tommy suggested.
Takuya and Danny looked at one another before looking back at Tommy.
"Technically… we already do…" Danny said. "Well… kind of… Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Andy, Takuya, and I all meet up at… um… the place where Andy, Jazz, and I live, at our house in the real world."
"But… maybe a base in the Digital World wouldn't be a bad idea either…" Takuya mused. "Even if it's just a temporary place to go if one of us is in the Digital World, it would be easier to find them than just searching all over the place."
"And it'll help when someone like me, who isn't a part of your group who can just meet up with you in real life so easily, to go there to talk to you guys," Tommy added.
"That's true too." Danny nodded. "I can't believe we never thought of that."
"Well, once we meet up with the others, we can talk about it." Takuya agreed. "It would be easier for everyone I think."
Danny nodded. "Yeah, but that begs the question; where would this base be located?"
"Why not the Flame Terminal?" Takuya suggested. "That was where we met up with mostly everyone, and we spent a lot of time trying to fix the Trailmon station there."
Tommy chuckled, seeing how they were already planning to have a home base set up. At least it got their minds off of Jazz for a bit.
"We finally made it…" Dobermon said as she stopped.
Turuiemon stopped as well, putting Andy down.
"This is the Continent of Light?" Dash asked.
"No… this is the ocean that leads to the Continent of Light…" Dobermon sighed.
There was the sea ahead of them. Dobermon and Turuiemon were standing on the beach.
"So… how will we get to the Continent of Light then?" Dash asked. "If it's all the way across the ocean, we can't just get there by walking."
"That's a good question actually…" Turuiemon admitted.
Dash got off of Dobermon, and as soon as he did, both Dobermon and Turuiemon degenerated back into Labramon and Lopmon, both of them looking quite exhausted.
"Aren't there any boats, or some kind of transportation to get across the sea?" Andy asked.
"Not since Ophanimon went into hiding. They had to cut off most transportation to keep players away from the other two Celestial castles," Labramon explained.
"So we either swim or fly across…" Andy remarked.
"Well flying is out of the question, and do you really think we'd be able to swim that far? Our arms would fall off before we even got halfway to the horizon!" Dash pointed out.
"Well… we could attempt to build a raft…" Andy said.
"A raft?" Dash asked, raising an eyebrow. "As good an idea as that is, would a raft stand up to crossing the ocean?"
"Do you have any better ideas?" Labramon asked Dash, who rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Um… not really…" Dash admitted.
"If you don't want to do the raft idea, we could try asking for help," Andy suggested. "I'm sure there are plenty of Digimon who'd like to help us, right?"
Dash and Andy had spent the next several minutes getting doors slammed in their faces by the Digimon.
The 4 of them were walking along the beach after getting rejected several times.
"Nobody here wants to help us! They don't want anything to do with players!" Dash groaned.
"Must be because they live closer to the Continent of Light, they're paranoid the players will come after them next," Lopmon guessed.
"Well then that does leave us with one option, we build the raft. Or actually, two options, we either build the raft, or we go back to the others," Andy said.
"We came all this way, I don't want to go back now," Dash huffed.
"Okay, get your arts and craft mode ready then, we're building a raft," Andy said.
Dash groaned. "Alright, we'll build the raft. It's better than just trying to swim across…"
Lopmon grinned. "We're building a raft! This will be fun!"
"Um… I'm not sure how well I can help… I don't have any fingers…" Labramon awkwardly stated.
"You can help with the labor work," Andy said. "Bring the logs we'll need for the raft."
Labramon grinned. "That I can do."
Dash grinned a bit. "Looks like we have some work to do then, so let's get on it."
Andy, Dash, Lopmon, and Labramon worked for a good while building their raft. Dash gave Lopmon and Labramon some food he had packed in his backpack. Andy couldn't help but watch as Dash was petting Labramon as she was eating. It was so strange seeing the big, bad Dash Baxter showing his soft side, especially to someone like Andy who used to be one of Dash's favorite punching bags at school.
The other Digimon living near the area were looking out their windows, watching these two players with their partner Digimon making a raft, and seemed to be taking good care of their partners. Despite slamming the doors in their faces, the players didn't get their Digimon to attack or raid any of them for food or materials. This got some of the Digimon curious.
A brave young Digimon was the first to come out of hiding and approach them, which was a Syakomon. It was a clam Digimon, which had teeth on the edges of its shell. Though the real body was a green gooey thing inside the shell. Andy, Dash, Lopmon, and Labramon looked at the Syakomon curiously, but they continued working on their raft. Soon, more Digimon started coming out of their houses, wanting to see these players up close.
Dash and Andy were surprised when some of the Digimon started to help them with the raft. Some of the stronger Digimon helped bring out logs to them, while others were giving them more food for the journey. Lopmon and Labramon explained to the other Digimon that Dash and Andy were 'good players', and wanted to make sure their friends were okay, which was why they were building the raft in the first place.
Thanks to the Digimon's help, they were able to finish their raft by nightfall. The raft appeared to be quite durable, and it had a sail attached to it.
"Are you sure you children should go out at this time? It's already dark," A Veggiemon asked.
"We've kept our friends waiting long enough," Andy said. "But thank you for the concern, and for your help. Really, we appreciate it."
"We'll be sure to be careful though." Dash added with a smile of his own. "You've helped us greatly."
Lopmon was waving one of his small paws. "We'll be back soon! We promise!"
"And maybe we can pay you guys back," Labramon added.
"Just be sure to make it back safely. It's rare we have players as nice as you," A Gekomon replied.
"And please, do let us know if Lady Ophanimon is okay," A Shellmon said.
The Digimon pushed the raft onto the water, with Andy, Dash, Lopmon, and Labramon on the raft. They opened up the sail, letting the wind carry them further out.
"I'm glad we were able to show the local Digimon we meant them no harm," Dash remarked. "Though in the end we still ended up using the raft."
"Probably for the better… we don't want another Airdramon incident where the Digimon giving us the ride gets shot down," Andy said, still feeling bad about what happened to Airdramon.
"Airdramon?" Dash asked. "You mean that big dragon that got you guys to the Flame Terminal? What happened to him?"
"He got shot down by Megadramon," Lopmon answered softly. "He was turned into a Digi-Egg after a while."
Dash flinched. "I… Wow… That's… harsh… I mean, I know Digimon can be reborn, but… to lose memories of your past life… It's like dying for a human…"
"It is," Labramon agreed. "It's why we try to avoid death. We may be able to reincarnate, but we wouldn't be the same being as we were before."
"Unless you're a Celestial, apparently," Lopmon remarked.
Labramon looked at Lopmon. "... I guess sometimes a Celestial could potentially lose their memories and become someone different if the situation was… bad enough for them."
Lopmon cocked his head to the side. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No reason…" Labramon replied, looking away from Lopmon.
As the raft sailed across the ocean, they could no longer see the mainland they came from. It was… rather scary how there was nothing but water ahead of them.
"I've never been this far out in the ocean before, especially not on a raft," Andy remarked. "I'll admit, it's kinda scary."
"Tell me about it. Just floating for days on a raft in the middle of the vast ocean, surrounded by powerful Digimon and at the mercy of the weather, it's so much fun~" Lopmon grinned.
"H-hey! Don't go describing it in such detail!" Dash groaned. "I'd rather just get to land as soon as possible…"
"Sorry, seems Lopmon has a bit of a chaotic nature," Andy sighed.
"Like you don't?" Dash questioned.
"I don't…" Andy raised an eyebrow. "Do I?"
"Do I need to point out the dragon prank again?" Dash raised an eyebrow of his own.
"That wasn't me being chaotic, that was me trying to control a situation," Andy huffed.
Labramon laughed. "I have to hear about this prank of yours, Andy!"
Lopmon grinned. "I want to hear it as well!"
"Do you really want to hear about that prank?" Dash grumbled.
"It's nothing that complicated," Andy said. "All I did was sell a lot of our family's junk in a garage sale, used the money to buy a big two suited dragon, had my brother wear the bottom half while I wore the top half, went to Dash's party, had Takuya and Tucker use some special effects, had Sam as back-up, and pretended to be a big, roaring dragon at the party."
"... Yeah, that wasn't complicated at all," Lopmon sarcastically said.
"You said you bought the dragon suit during the garage sale you had, right?" Dash said.
"Yeah, so? I had to return it later," Andy remarked.
Dash pointed at Andy. "Then how do you explain that time you turned into a dragon during the school dance? That was before you had that garage sale!"
Lopmon and Labramon looked at Andy for an explanation, curious now as well.
Oh… I had forgotten about that… Andy frowned. "Have you been thinking about this since it happened? That was months ago."
Dash looked away. "So what if I was?" He muttered.
I guess it scared him more than he would like to admit. I guess I can't blame him for that, but… "But why? The others who were with you at the time seem to think it was only a prank. Why didn't you?" Andy asked.
"I was right in front of you when it happened," Dash explained. "Kwan and Calvin didn't get a good look when you started transforming. That was far too real to have been a cheap special effect like the one you used for my party."
I guess Dash is a lot smarter than any of us thought. Andy noted. I guess that proves grades don't always show how one's intelligence could be.
Andy looked at Lopmon for a moment. Lopmon shrugged.
"Well, since you're already this deep into the Digital World, and the world of ghosts, I might as well tell you," Andy decided. "You're right, I did actually turn into a dragon that night. A ghost dragon to be more precise."
Dash's eyes went wide. "So I was right… It wasn't a prank!" He exclaimed. "But… How? How did you turn into that ghost dragon? And can you still turn into a ghost dragon?"
"No, if I could still turn into a ghost dragon, do you think I'd be using a raft to get across the ocean?" Andy replied. "Listen carefully. It wasn't because of some weird genetic mutation, or some ghost dragon bit me and it passed off onto me like lycanthropy, nor was it because of another ghost overshadowing me. It was due to an artifact. You might remember you saw an amulet around my neck when you were… having your fun with me in the bathroom, right? That amulet is what turned me into a dragon. It reacts when the wearer is under a lot of emotional distress or anger."
Dash grimaced. "So it was my fault that the amulet activated then? I… guess I kinda had it coming in some way or form, but a ghost dragon? That is some way for me to learn a hard lesson… How did you get that amulet around your neck?"
"It's a long story," Andy sighed. "And not one I'm ready to share right now. But just know the amulet is gone, so I can't turn into a dragon anymore."
"Awww, I'd like to see you become a dragon," Lopmon whined.
"No you wouldn't. I didn't have much control of myself, I was like BurningGreymon," Andy pointed out.
Dash blinked. "BurningGreymon?"
"Yeah, that's the Beast Spirit of Agunimon." Lopmon replied. "BurningGreymon is a really powerful Digimon, and he really kicked the butts of Andy and friends!"
"Really? He was that powerful?" Labramon frowned.
"Ugh, you didn't have to word it like that," Andy grumbled.
"What? It's true!" Lopmon pouted.
"You mean that Digimon I saw in Amity Park during that ghost invasion?" Dash asked, raising an eyebrow. "How did he get into the real world?"
"He has his ways of traveling before worlds," Andy replied. "Like how Lopmon was able to come into the real world with me."
"I wonder what the real world is like. Is it any different from our world?" Labramon curiously asked.
"There's… differences, though it's very much similar to our world. Just… with no Digimon in it," Lopmon said. "And a lot more humans. And apparently some ghosts too."
"Wow, it sounds interesting. I'd like to go there someday, at least to see what it's like for myself." Labramon sighed.
"I still wonder how you're able to take Lopmon with you to the real world," Dash said. "If I try to log out, I just disappear from the game. I can't take Labramon with me."
"It's… complicated," Andy sighed. "I don't exactly log out like you do."
Dash raised an eyebrow before Andy dug into his bag and gave Dash a chocolate bar. "Want a snack?"
Dash took the chocolate bar. "Thanks."
As Dash began to eat the chocolate bar, Labramon looked at Andy. "Is the reason Lopmon can leave the Digital World related to how you get here, Andy?"
"What do you mean?" Andy asked, surprised Labramon was mentioning it.
"Unlike with Dash, you're actually, physically here, aren't you?" Labramon pointed out.
Dash nearly choked on his candy bar upon hearing that.
"What? How can you physically be here? It's a virtual world, isn't it?" Dash asked.
"No, it's called the Digital World, silly," Lopmon said.
Andy frowned. "It might be best if I don't reveal everything right now to you, Dash. I don't want you feeling responsible if something happens."
Dash frowned, but if Andy wasn't going to explain completely, he figured it was best to not pry right now. The old him would have pestered Andy for sure, but he was no longer like that, or at least he was trying to avoid going back to his old behaviors.
"Okay… I'll accept that for now." Dash said at last.
As the raft kept on sailing across the ocean, Andy decided to ask Dash a question. "Hey, Dash? What made you decide to become a football and basketball player?"
"To be honest, football was my own choice. My family wanted me to stay active in the off season though, so they insisted I join the basketball team as well." Dash replied. "It's kinda rough doing two sports, but at least the two are not in the same season, so it's manageable, at least activity-wise. But having the grades to stay on both teams is the hard part."
"Okay, you have a passion for football, that's commendable," Andy said. "So tell me… why did you decide to become a bully?"
"I… I… guess it was an outlet for my stress…" Dash sighed. "I… just felt so frustrated whenever I would fail a test, I needed to let out my anger and aggression, and… it channeled into becoming a bully… I… never really thought about why I became a bully, but now that I am thinking about it… bullying being an outlet for my frustration at low grades seems to be the most likely reason I did. And bullying others seems to get me more popular, it felt like I was getting more respect the more I did it… so I also started doing it to keep my reputation up as well. I couldn't show any weaknesses if I wanted to remain on top."
"I see, that's what you wanted to change," Labramon noted.
"Why'd you decide to target me and Danny mainly?" Andy asked.
"Because… you two were the dorkiest of dorks. You were both an easy target. With nerds, at least, we have to treat them a little better because they 'help' us with our homework," Dash explained. "But with you and… Danny… neither of you two fit the nerd stereotypes, and your grades were average, and your parents were considered crackpots before ghosts were revealed to be real. And both of you were so meek… it also ticked me off."
"Why would that tick you off?" Andy questioned.
"Because neither of you even tried to fight back or stand up for yourselves," Dash grumbled. "I know neither of you were strong, but still… it felt like you just let us do what we want instead of trying to do anything about it. That's what I mean by 'easy targets'."
Dash then sighed. "And it made me feel good. I shouldn't have felt good about it, but I did. I felt I could get away with it, and for a long time, I did… I should've stopped at some point, but I never did. I was enjoying it too much. I guess it took that dragon incident for me to start to see how badly I was treating you two."
"But it wasn't just the dragon incident, was it?" Labramon spoke up. "It made you realize what being helpless was like, but you didn't know how to change, or if you even could, until you came here, and Coronamon tried to kill your avatar to use it for rebuilding the village."
"Yeah, and when you saved me… and mentioned that you wanted to change too," Dash added. "It made me realize that maybe I can change. I can have a friend who would support me even if I'm not the King of Casper High."
Labramon smiled and blushed a little. "Aw shucks, I didn't do that much."
Lopmon giggled. "Dash has a soft side~"
"Do you want me to lick you to death?" Labramon warned Lopmon.
Lopmon clamped his small hands over his mouth. "Never mind…"
Andy chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you've decided to try to be a better person. If you want my honest opinion, while I'm not quite used to this new you yet, I'm liking him more than the old Dash who would try to drown me right now for the fun of it."
Dash blinked. "You… like the fact I'm changing…?" He felt a bit awkward at that moment, not only because of the fact Andy liked his efforts to change, but also because it, well… It was awkward.
"I mean I like not getting beaten up or having my head underwater, so yeah," Andy replied. "You don't need to beat the living daylights out of someone to be respected, you know. If you need to do that to be respected, I highly suggest thinking about what you want to be respected for. Besides, after Valerie got kicked out, we decided to approach her. So it's not as hopeless as you might think to not be a part of the popular crowd."
Dash smiled. "I guess you're right. And I'm… actually relieved Valerie found others to support her." He then grimaced a bit. "Kicking her out like that… wasn't my best moment… or even one of them…"
"But maybe you can apologize to her when you see her," Lopmon suggested. "I'm sure she would appreciate it, right?"
"It might be complicated and tense around them, and it's up to Valerie if she wants to forgive him," Andy said. And knowing Valerie… she can hold a grudge since she's still on a warpath with Danny's ghost half, even if she spends most of her time in the Digital World.
"I hope she will, but if not, then that's up to her as to why." Lopmon remarked. "But we have to find her first."
"We should at least get some information when we get to the Continent of Light." Labramon suggested. "Maybe ask around as to if any of the Digimon there saw her."
"Yeah, let's hope it's not too far…" Dash frowned. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could fly?"
"Yeah, it would…" Andy agreed as he looked up at the night sky, he couldn't help but imagine Danny flying freely in his ghost form, or Sam riding on Birdramon. Wouldn't that be nice? Maybe it would've been smarter to go back to the others instead of venturing on by ourselves like this.
They saw a lot of colorful fishes swimming in the ocean.
"There are fishes in this world? Or are they Digimon?" Dash asked.
"Fishes exist in this world," Labramon confirmed. "In fact, some Digimon rely on these fishes for their techniques."
"Huh… so if there are non-Digimon animals here, this world is more similar to the real world than I first thought." Dash mused as he eyed the fishes.
Suddenly, the fishes swam away in the opposite direction, or going down deeper into the ocean's depths.
"Did something spook them?" Dash asked in worry.
"Uh… Dash, you might want to look up," Andy said in a worried tone.
Dash looked up from the water, and was surprised to see green fog ahead of them.
"Why's there green fog all the way out here?" Labramon frowned.
"And why is it so thick here?" Lopmon worriedly asked.
"I don't know, but I don't like this…" Dash said nervously. "We can't go back, and we can't just head in any direction either…"
"But going into the green fog is dangerous," Labramon warned. "I don't know why… but the closer we get to it… the more uneasy I feel. It's like going into the maw of a monster."
"Me too… I feel a sense of danger… it feels familiar somehow though, like I've felt it before, and it's not pleasant," Lopmon warned.
"Digimon disappear when the green fog engulfs them, right?" Labramon frowned. "Maybe it would be wise to get out of here."
Andy frowned as he looked at the green fog. "Maybe… but… if we run now, we might not ever come back here. What is this green fog? Why are Digimon afraid of it? Why does it make Digimon disappear? And… has the fog swallowed up the Continent of Light? What if Valerie and Salamon came through here and were swallowed up by the fog? That might be why nobody's heard back from them."
"So… you're saying we should take the chance and go into that fog if we want to find Valerie and Salamon?" Dash asked. "That doesn't sound very safe…"
"But we do know Valerie and Salamon came this way, so it's highly possible they did get swallowed up by this fog." Labramon pointed out.
"So what should we do?" Lopmon frowned. "If we go through there, what if we just end up like Valerie and Salamon? Our friends would be worried sick about us."
Andy frowned as well. "You're right… there's a good chance we might not be able to return if we end up wherever Valerie and Salamon did…"
"B-but… couldn't Valerie just log out?" Dash asked.
"She can't, she's like me, she's physically here," Andy informed before he took out his cell phone and began texting.
Dash blinked as Andy texted someone on his phone. "Who are you texting right now?"
"I'm sending a text message to Danny and Takuya," Andy answered. "I'm letting them know that I'm going to be going through the green fog. That way if we don't make it back out… at least they'll know what happened to us, and maybe find a way to rescue us if it comes down to it."
Dash frowned, but nodded in agreement. "I guess the others knowing about what we're doing isn't a bad idea. I don't like going into that fog, but… if we have to do it to find Valerie and Salamon, I guess we have to."
"You don't have to, Dash," Andy said. "You and Labramon can go back now, while Lopmon and I swim towards the fog. You're not physically here, I don't know what effects this fog will have on you if you were to get engulfed by it. This is a real danger, Dash, I don't want to risk it with you."
"How is that any better for you? If you get lost, there's no way out for you," Dash pointed back out. "I've already come this far, I'm not backing out now."
Andy looked at Dash. "Are you sure? There's a good chance you may not be able to log out once we go through, and that could put your body into a coma."
Dash hesitated.
Andy frowned as he looked at his phone. "I can't send the message, something's interfering with my phone."
"It could be the fog," Lopmon suggested. "Something about it interferes with data, including your phone."
"So unless one of us goes back, the others won't know about us going through the fog," Labramon noted.
Andy looked at Dash and Labramon. "You two… both of you go back and tell the others."
"What? But that would leave you and Lopmon to the fog," Dash pointed out.
"Yes, I know. But that's fine, we can take care of ourselves. Like I said, I don't want to risk it with you going in there, Dash," Andy warned. "You may not be able to return to your body if something happens to your avatar."
Dash finally sighed. "That's true… And… to be honest, I do feel like going in there would be a bad idea for me." He admitted. "Alright… Just… please be careful…"
"And make sure you and Lopmon come back, we don't need two missing C- Digimon," Labramon said firmly.
"We'll do the best we can to get back," Lopmon said. "I'll keep Andy safe."
Andy picked up Lopmon and stood up. "I'm counting on you and Labramon to make it back to the others safely, Dash."
Dash nodded. He couldn't believe Andy was about to actually swim into that dangerous fog. He… actually never seen either of the Fenton twins acting this brave before, it was… admirable.
"Don't go getting yourself killed," Dash replied back.
"Heh, glad to see you're worried for me," Andy chuckled before he turned towards the fog. "Ready to see what lies beyond that fog, Lopmon?"
"You bet! Let's go into the green unknown!" Lopmon cheered.
"I wonder if you're coping or just reckless…" Labramon muttered.
"Sometimes… when life confronts you, it's best to take the Bullmon by the horns," Lopmon chuckled.
Andy smiled back at Labramon and Dash before he dove into the water. Lopmon stayed close to Andy as Andy was swimming towards the fog. As they got closer to it, the green fog began to swallow them both up.
"Come on, we should get out of here before the fog gets to us next," Labramon said to Dash. I hope they know what they're doing…
Dash nodded. "Okay, back to shore we go then." He adjusted the sail so the wind would push the raft back to shore, away from the fog. Dash looked back at the fog bank as he and Labramon began to sail away from it. Be careful, Andy, Lopmon…
Titanic X: ZAFT: The next chapter is here, so enjoy~ X3
pokemon fan 1991: ZAFT: Good observation about WaruMonzaemon. As for how Spectra makes children miserable, I don't really know, but that is a good question. :3
Yeah, Tommy's story is kinda like Danny's right now. It's kinda cool to see how the two are so similar but handling it differently. XD
DarkFoxKit: Personally, about the Spectra thing, I think she thrives on natural depression. But I think she's able to also absorb artificial depression. I think some of her powers also make the people she touches miserable when she absorbs their misery, so it would feed her well until she bleeds them dry.
Tommy definitely seems a bit similar to Danny in that regard, but he's actually supposed to mirror Andy. Andy helps people because it's the right thing to do, he's just less obvious about it than Danny is. Andy prefers to think and strategize, understand the situation before going into it. Danny dives head first into it, like Takuya does. Tommy thinks and strategizes like Andy. See if you can spot any more similarities.
Also, I had no idea what 'miasma' was, until ZAFT told me. The fog idea is actually from Digimon Survive.
ZAFT: Yeah, it wasn't inspired by the Digimon 2020 anime, although I can see why you assumed that. XD
Son Sandy: ZAFT: Glad you can review again! And boy, do we have a lot to answer! XD So, first off, I'm glad you like what we are doing with Dash. The natural character growth is what we were hoping for. :3 And Tommy with Takuya is too much fun to not write! XD All three boys are too much fun to not write! I swear, we have three cinnamon rolls on our hands! Takuya is the spicy one, Andy is the sweet one, and Danny is the frosty (due to ice core) one! X3
DarkFoxKit: Andy often underestimated himself, and that trickles into his partner since Lopmon shares a link with Andy. Because of that, Lopmon refuses to believe he could be a Celestial Digimon at all, even if he was outright told he was. But that's what makes Andy and Lopmon so lovable, they're humble, even to a fault, and that gives them room to grow.
Andy wanted to try his best to support Danny, and let him know he's not alone, especially when he feels like he was. Like when Maddie told Danny he was nothing but an evil ghost, or post human consciousness. Andy has an understanding of the human psyche, like Jazz does. He shares a similar interest in psychology, though he doesn't plan to become a psychologist like his sister. This gives him the understanding of how much this could damage Danny's psyche, and cause problems in the future, not to mention the strain it would inevitably cause between them and their parents. So Andy is carefully trying to weave between them, keeping his brother afloat and supported, while also trying to find ways to get their parents to be more open minded about ghosts not being just evil post human consciousness. And while I respect Jazz, she doesn't usually do anything about this herself, and Andy can see that. Which is why he's been trying to take matters into his own hands, but that does overwhelm him at times with stress, hence why he came close to losing it earlier and almost dark digivolved Lopmon. Sometimes Andy forgets about his own mental health.
ZAFT: Andy really needs to take better care of himself. XD As for Andy's little fear… It will be fun to see how this plays out. I feel bad for Takuya and Danny after WaruMonzaemon's antics. XD
And boy, would Andy be a menace with ghost powers~! X3 And I mean that in a good way! Good to see you bring up the prophecy again too!
DarkFoxKit: Anyone who's read We Are Phantoms can see how Andy would do if he had ghost powers. Though that only showed the tip of the iceberg. I plan to expand more on what Andy could do with ghost powers at some point. Now, I'm not entirely sure how well I'd be able to do that in this story exactly, because I'm also focusing on the Digimon, and the Digimon partners. It would be too much to also have to focus on the ghost powers on top of all that. Though right now I'm focusing mostly on the characters, and we split them into 3 major characters, 4 maybe. The big 3 being Takuya, Andy, and Tommy. The 4th being Danny, though he's usually associated with Andy. By focusing on these characters specifically, it makes it easier to tell the story without it feeling all over the place. But it does cause the other characters to suffer a little as they get put to the side. Though I guess that's the price when we have too many characters. ^^'
The whole prophecy thing is an interesting one. Patamon feels like he has a duty to stop the ruins of the worlds, but he doesn't know how to go about it. He believed the best thing to do is to get rid of the key source of the ruination. But he ended up bonding with said key source, so that became a whole lot harder and more complicated. So he ended up leaving Danny, trying to figure out what to do. But I'm sure Patamon will come around eventually.