Digital Phantom

by ZAFT Convoy

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

74. The Flow of Time

ZAFT: Wow, skipped a week due to Kit being busy with another co-writer on their birthday.

DarkFoxKit: That entire week was filled with writing and other things. I completely forgot about updating this.

ZAFT: Well, here we are now though, so let's get to the chapter!

DarkFoxKit: And these early mornings have been killing my sleep schedules. I've been going with my parents to my dad's hospital visits at 7 to 8 AM appointments, and I'm not a morning person.

---

Chapter 74: The Flow of Time

The morning sun began rising in the Digital World. But even though the morning just started, Takuya, Tommy, JP, Zoe, Koji, and Koichi were already wide awake and moving. They already said their goodbyes to the other kids, wishing them the best of luck with their new guild.

"Candlemon Village should be at the bottom of this ravine," Koichi informed the group as he pointed down a ravine.

"That's a long way down." Zoe frowned. "Are you sure there's a village down there?"

"Yeah, I remember seeing a village there. It's pretty small though," Tommy confirmed.

"There's some fog nearby, we better avoid that area," Koji remarked.

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, good idea." He agreed. "Besides, we have to get down there to see if the Candlemon are okay."

"There's some stairs leading down there," JP pointed out. "At least we won't have to climb down."

"Couldn't you and Zoe just fly us down there?" Tommy suggested.

"We could, but it would be best to save our energy for if we really need to Spirit Evolve." JP replied.

"Besides, we don't want to go down there as our Legendary Warrior selves, that might be a bit much," Zoe chuckled sheepishly.

"Let's just hope we don't waste too much time getting down there," Koji sighed.

"Guess we better start moving," Takuya said.

As the group began walking down the stairs, Tommy looked down for a moment, before looking up. "Hey guys? … The incident with Katsuharu and the others made me realize… I shouldn't keep quiet about this."

"About what?" Koichi asked.

"About… what Sir Michael may have done before, when I was still with him," Tommy said somberly. "Katsuharu and Teppei may not be the only ones to accuse me of being a monster working for Sir Michael. The Candlemon might be… another group. They were the first ones Sir Michael targeted, thinking they were tricking new players with hospitality. And it was the first time I spirit evolved into Kumamon and fought the Candlemon to try to save Sir Michael and his group."

Koji frowned. "Then we'd better be on our guard." He said seriously. "We can't just assume the Candlemon will be so welcoming to us if what Tommy is saying is true."

"Wow… That's…" Takuya frowned. He was now beginning to see what Tommy had been going through, and it seemed like the poor kid had a lot of things to make up for, things that were not exactly his fault, but things that he did.

"Maybe you guys should go on without me, I might just cause more trouble and inconvenience," Tommy sighed.

Koji shook his head. "No. You're sticking with us." He said. "We're not splitting up, not with that fog in the area."

"Besides, we're all in this together," JP added.

"You may have done some things you regret, but that doesn't mean you should run away from it," Koichi said softly. "The only way you'll be able to make it up to those you wronged is by facing them."

"And if they give you a hard time, then we'll make sure they know you're with us," Zoe promised.

Tommy didn't know how to feel. He was grateful they were all so supportive of him, but he also felt guilty that he was always worrying them about what he did. His past with Sir Michael was quickly catching up to him, and certainly not in the best of times.

"Besides, you're one of us, Tommy. A Legendary Warrior." Takuya added. "We wouldn't be the Legendary Warriors if we just left you to handle this on your own."

"And you've changed since your days with Sir Michael," Koichi pointed out. "Try to keep that in mind, you're not the same, scared, lost child that you were back then."

"Yeah, you helped me control my Beast Spirit when nobody else could." Takuya smiled.

Tommy looked up at Takuya and gave a smile of his own. "Thanks, guys. I really do appreciate it."

"Hey, guys? What's that light down there?" Zoe called as she was looking down.

"What light?" Takuya asked.

Everyone looked down and saw some kind of green electricity sparking near the bottom of the ravine.

"Is that… normal?" JP nervously asked.

The sparks of electricity then opened into a Digi-Portal. They saw what looked like people coming out of it, but they were too far to tell who came out.

"I… I don't think that is normal." Takuya replied. "But… who came out of that Digi-Portal? I can't tell from this far away."

"We can't assume these guys are friendly until we get a closer look." Koji said.

"Then let's hurry!" Koichi quickly said. "They may not even realize the dangers of the fog!"

The group began hurrying down the stairs.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the ravine…

"Oof… ouch… ugh… that was a rough landing… why'd we land on rocks this time? That's twice as painful…" Sam groaned.

"Do you usually land like this?" Dash whined. "Maybe I should've used the helmet?"

"How did we even get here in the first place?" Andy questioned.

"What did you say when you held up the D-Arc?" Danny asked.

"Take us to where Takuya was," Andy answered.

"Why say that and not an actual destination?" Valerie asked.

"I thought it'd be faster…" Andy grumbled.

"You weren't thinking, bro…" Danny groaned. "Now we're all in a pile at the bottom of a ravine."

"I was thinking… and that brought us here," Andy said.

The group slowly began untangling from themselves.

"That portal ride was really rough," Dash said. "But wow… I'm physically here? I'm not just a digital avatar?"

"Yeah, the Digi-Portal is one of the rare ways of getting here physically," Patamon answered, stretching himself out.

"That or a Trailmon." Salamon said, stretching out as well. "But this is faster than a Trailmon."

"And a lot more of a mess." Sam grumbled.

"It's a rough ride for sure, maybe we should think about taking Trailmon now that they're up and running again, eh?" Lopmon suggested.

Suddenly, a green spark appeared again.

"What's that?" Dash asked, moving away from the spark.

"Uh… is that what we just came through?" Biyomon questioned.

"Whoa!" Tucker and Kokuwamon suddenly came out of the portal that was created by the spark.

"Wah!" Andy yelped as Tucker landed on him.

And Danny had to catch Kokuwamon.

"Oooof!" Danny grunted, barely keeping Kokuwamon off the ground. "Geez… Tucker wasn't kidding when he said you were heavy… Uh… no offense…"

"None taken," Kokuwamon said.

"Tucker? What are you doing here? I thought you were staying behind, and… how did you get here without a D-Arc?" Andy asked as he pushed Tucker off of him. I'm going to feel all of this in the morning.

"Ah, yeah, time is slower here, remember? I was trying to get the clock synced with the Digital World, and I realized… the clock isn't going to work if I didn't bring it into the Digital World with me," Tucker sighed.

"We came over to your house, and I detected a Digi-Portal was still open in Andy and Danny's room," Kokuwamon explained.

"It was still open?" Valerie frowned.

"With time moving slower here, it's taking longer for the Digi-Portal to close," Salamon realized.

"Well, that's just great." Sam huffed. "So… we need to figure out how slow time is in the Digital World. If we're gone too long, we'll miss school and other events."

"I think that's the least of our problems right now, Sam," Biyomon pointed out. "We need to figure out where we even are."

"Yeah… why aren't we at the Forest Terminal, or Seraphimon's castle?" Tucker asked.

"Because a certain someone decided to say the destination wrong," Danny grumbled.

"Don't make me throw a rock at you," Andy grumbled back. "I already told you, I knew Takuya wasn't likely to still be at Seraphimon's castle, so I figured if I said to go to Takuya it would take us to where he is now, so we wouldn't waste time looking for him."

"But… where is he?" Lopmon frowned.

"How should we know? We just have Andy here to guide us to him, since he decided to not say a real destination." Danny grumbled.

"What if we're lost? What if we're nowhere near anyone? We'd have to walk, and that would waste more time!" Dash frowned. "I don't have Labramon with me, so I don't have protection from wild Digimon!"

"And we're at the bottom of a ravine, we could be stuck down here for all we know." Tucker frowned.

"We don't have time to be stuck!" Sam hissed.

"Okay, everybody calm down!" Andy shouted. "We're going to keep a cool head, and look at where we are before we start panicking. Maybe Takuya is nearby and we just can't see him."

The group nodded at Andy's words, realizing he was right.

"Okay… but how will we look for him?" Danny asked.

"Patamon, Biyomon, and I could scout the area for any sign of Takuya." Kokuwamon suggested.

"I could as well with my hoverboard," Valerie suggested.

"Wait a minute guys," Andy spoke up as he looked ahead, then looked down at his D-Arc. "There's signs of life over there."

"Really? Do you think it's Takuya and the others?" Danny asked.

"Maybe… no wait, there's a lot of lifeforms over there," Andy noted.

"Um… I don't mean to alarm you guys, but is that fog I see?" Dash nervously asked.

"Fog?" Everyone looked up.

After the last fog incident, the group were cautious.

The fog was thin, however, but it didn't look like normal fog. It wasn't green like the last one, but it wasn't a natural color.

"Do you think… it might be leaking from the Ghost Zone again?" Sam asked, troubled.

"It definitely feels like it," Lopmon hissed.

"This… this fog is more of a cyan and purple color…" Danny noted with a frown. "I… I don't like it. It feels… different from the last fog as well…"

"Then we better stay away from it," Valerie warned. "Who knows what that fog could do to us."

"We might need to get closer to it, because the lifeforms are near it," Andy stated.

"Is that a good idea?" Dash frowned.

"The only way we're going to find out where we are is to talk to the locals, they might know what's going on with the fog too," Andy pointed out.

Danny sighed. "Okay, but if things start to get weird, or you all start to feel off, we're leaving the area."

"We'll stick close to you all," Patamon said.

"And stay close together," Salamon stated.

The group nodded before they began walking towards the signs of life Andy was seeing on his D-Arc. They soon came up to some huts, and some candle-like beings hopped around.

"Are those… Digimon?" Dash questioned. "They look like giant birthday candles with a face."

"I think anything and everything can be a Digimon here," Tucker said.

"I think these guys are kinda cool." Sam remarked with a grin. "I've never seen a candle Digimon before."

"Do you think they're friendly?" Andy asked.

"I think I've heard about these guys," Biyomon said. "They must be the Candlemon tribe."

"Yeah, they're supposed to be protectors of an ancient artifact that was hidden here long ago," Kokuwamon stated.

"An ancient artifact? Do you think they might assume we're here to steal it then because we're 'players'?" Andy frowned.

"Hmm, you make a good point. Perhaps only a few of us should talk to the Candlemon first, make sure they don't attack right away," Patamon remarked.

Danny frowned, but nodded. "Okay, but who will go, and who will stay?"

"Maybe the three of us should…?" Salamon asked, looking at Patamon and Lopmon.

"Maybe, we'd have the best chance of getting the Candlemon to listen," Patamon answered.

"Huh? You mean me too?" Lopmon asked, pointing at himself.

"Wait, sending Digimon to talk to other Digimon is a good idea, but why not all of you? Why only you three?" Dash asked.

"We have a way to talk down potentially hostile Digimon," Salamon answered.

"Biyomon and Kokuwamon can be our back up in case things go wrong," Patamon explained.

Kokuwamon and Biyomon nodded.

"It's true, since Patamon and Salamon can evolve into Celestial-type Digimon." Kokuwamon replied.

"Then why me?" Lopmon asked.

"Because… your… innocence might help them lower their guard," Patamon answered.

"What kind of answer is that?" Lopmon grumbled.

Andy bent down to Lopmon. "Just go on and talk to them, Lopmon. I'm sure Patamon and Salamon have a good reason for it, and we don't have a lot of time."

Lopmon frowned, but nodded. "Okay, Andy."

"Let's go." Patamon said to Salamon and Lopmon.

As Patamon, Salamon, and Lopmon walked towards the Candlemon, Salamon whispered to Lopmon. "If the Candlemon starts to bow, and treat us with respect, or call us by a title, just go with it, alright? If they respect us, that'll help our case, and make sure they don't attack our partners."

"Uh… okay, I guess? But why would they do that?" Lopmon asked, confused.

"Just trust me," Salamon replied.

"Greetings, Candlemon from the Candlemon tribe!" Patamon spoke up with authority in his voice.

One of the Candlemon, one that looked like it had a mustache on its face, turned to see the speaker. "Hmm?"

The other Candlemon looked as well, and were surprised. Lopmon blinked as he heard some of them whispering to each other about how they couldn't believe who was talking to them.

"Well, what do we have here?" The lead Candlemon smiled. "It's been a long time since we had the Celestial Digimon visit our humble tribe! What brings you three here?"

Lopmon leaned over to Salamon and whispered. "Celestial Digimon? Is the fire on their head frying their brain or something? Or maybe they think we're Celestial Digimon because of Patamon?"

"Just go with it." Salamon whispered back. "It seems this could work in our favor if we do."

"We understand that there is an anomaly going on in the Digital World as of late," Patamon stated. "We noticed an unusual fog near your village. Is there anything about this fog you can tell us? Anything at all?"

The lead Candlemon frowned. "We just noticed it a few days ago ourselves. All that we know is that when a few of us went to check it out, they never returned. But we have seen them in the fog, still as statues, so we know they are here, but not able to move."

"The river that flows in the fog stops moving too. It's a problem because that stops our river flow as well, which could dry up our village," Another Candlemon stated worriedly.

"So… it appears this fog causes time to stop," Salamon noted.

"That could explain why time is slowing down in the Digital World," Lopmon remarked grimly. "Time is slowly coming to a halt."

"Do you know where the source of this fog is?" Patamon asked the Candlemon.

"Sadly no, we do not." The lead Candlemon admitted. "We just know it's been seeping over our area for the last few days."

"Perhaps you should evacuate before the fog engulfs your village, otherwise you'll soon be stuck in time yourselves," Salamon suggested.

"We cannot just leave our sacred village after so long, Lady Salamon," The lead Candlemon replied. "Especially since we feel we must stay here to await the one who was chosen by the Legendary Warrior of Ice."

"What? But why do you need to wait here for him?" Lopmon questioned.

"This was where we guarded the Spirit of the Warrior of Ice, it's only a matter of time before the one chosen will return," The lead Candlemon answered. "And it will be here where we wait."

Lopmon frowned, he didn't understand why anyone would want to stubbornly remain in a place that would soon be engulfed in this dangerous fog for a slim chance someone who had the Spirit of the Legendary Warrior of Ice would come back here. Especially since soon this place wouldn't be safe for anyone to come.

"Has any other Digimon tried checking out the fog?" Patamon asked.

"There were a few Digimon who tried to check it out when the fog first started rolling in," The lead Candlemon answered. "I believe there was a Palmon, a Betamon, and a Labramon who went to go check the fog."

"Labramon?" Lopmon frowned. Don't tell me it's the same Labramon as Dash's partner!

"We don't know what happened to them after they went to check out the fog." The lead Candlemon sighed. "I only hope they made it out safely."

"How deep into the fog did they go?" Lopmon asked, worried for Labramon, and for Dash's sake.

"Those three? They went in before the fog got too thick for us to see," The lead Candlemon answered. "I don't know if they got out before the fog stopped them in time, I'm afraid."

Patamon cleared his throat. "We will worry about that later. We have to tell you something. Some humans want to come and investigate the fog. But they are our friends, they will do you no harm. Will you allow them to come into your village?"

"Humans? As in players?" The lead Candlemon asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Hmmm… I remember the last time my tribe encountered players. It didn't end well for us. How can we be sure you speak the truth?"

"It is true that many players have caused trouble for Digimon all around the Digital World," Salamon spoke up. "But not all players are trying to hurt Digimon for their own gain. Some players are working to try to help Digimon, and fight back against the other players. The humans who want to help are with us. And do you think we would allow them to come here if we believed they had any ill intentions?"

"No, I do not." The lead Candlemon admitted. "Very well, we can let them into our village, but we will be keeping an eye on them."

"Don't worry, once you get to know them, I'm sure you'll like them as much as we do~" Lopmon smiled.

"That is quite the high praise for these humans coming from you, Lord Lopmon, especially after what those players did to you," The lead Candlemon complimented.

Lopmon blinked in confusion. "Huh? Did what to-"

"Yes, Lopmon has a big heart for these humans," Patamon quickly spoke up.

Salamon nudged Lopmon, telling him 'go with it' without saying a word.

Luckily Lopmon got the message. "O-oh! Yes, I do have a big heart for them! These humans helped me after all!"

Patamon looked back at the others. "You can all come over now!"

"Looks like we've got the green light," Danny noted.

Danny, Andy, Sam, Tucker, Valerie, Dash, Biyomon, and Kokuwamon walked into the village. The Candlemon were looking at them.

"Hello everyone," Sam greeted, hoping to break the metaphorical ice.

"Ah, you must be these players the Celestials have told us about." The lead Candlemon said with a smile. "Welcome to our village."

Danny, Tucker, Sam, Valerie, and Dash were a bit confused on the whole 'Celestials' thing. Andy knew Patamon was a Celestial Digimon, though he hadn't been sure about Salamon. He refused to believe his sweet little Lopmon could be Cherubimon, especially considering Cherubimon had a problem with humans, enough to send the rogue Warriors after them.

"This is a nice village you have," Valerie complimented. A bit weird that literal burning candles are living in huts, and near a river.

"Yes, this has been the Candlemon village for many generations," The lead Candlemon explained. "We were tasked to watch over a sacred artifact."

"Oh? Are you… sure it's okay to be telling us this?" Dash nervously asked.

"Well, the artifact isn't exactly here anymore," Another Candlemon replied.

"A group of players came here a while back, and somehow, one of them got their hands on the artifact." A third Candlemon grumbled.

"Oh, that's terrible, I can't believe they would do something like that." Sam frowned. Actually… yes I can, especially players who think this world is a video game…

"So why stay here then? Don't you know you're in danger?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah, if you stay here, you are 100% going to be engulfed by the encroaching fog," Kokuwamon agreed.

"We're waiting for the one who has the artifact to return." The Candlemon leader replied. "We can't just up and leave until we know the artifact is safe and sound."

"Why would someone who stole the artifact return?" Biyomon questioned.

"Because of what the artifact is," Patamon replied. "It's not just an artifact, it's the Spirit of a Legendary Warrior."

"You mean a player got their hands on a Spirit!? " Tucker gaped. "Oh man! That's definitely bad news for us if we ever encounter this player!"

"Tucker, will you calm down?" Andy sighed. "There are only supposed to be 10 Legendary Warriors, right? We know at least 6 of the holders, and the other 4 are the rogue Warriors. Surely there's a misunderstanding somewhere."

"You mean like you had before, Mr. 'Super scary hacker player'?" Danny teased Andy.

"Shut up, we are never bringing that up again. I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. But do you see where I'm getting at here? Misunderstandings happen quite frequently, and look at all the trouble that causes," Andy pointed out.

Lopmon giggled before he climbed up onto Andy's head. "That's okay, I believe you're not a super scary hacker player."

"Thanks, Lopmon," Andy grumbled.

"So you're saying that someone we might know may have been the one to steal the Spirit from here?" Valerie asked.

Salamon looked up at Valerie. "You can't steal a Spirit. The Spirit wouldn't allow just anyone to take it. It would have to choose that person for the person to be able to take it."

"But what if there was a way for someone to take a Spirit that didn't choose them?" Danny asked.

"We likely would've heard of such a method. No pompous player wouldn't be showing off and bragging they have the power of a Digimon," Patamon answered Danny.

Danny looked down in thought. "That's true." He conceded. "I understand where you're coming from, but it's still not impossible. Stranger things have happened here."

"But like Andy said, it should be someone we've met before at the very least, right?" Sam pointed out.

"How about we ask the obvious question then?" Andy suggested. "Candlemon, which Spirit did they take?"

The Candlemon had been staring at Lopmon who was on Andy's head, like it was the most unexpected sight they had ever seen. They noticed Andy asked them a question, so they quickly shook their heads.

"You mean, you don't know which Spirit was taken?" Lopmon asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Forgive us, we just didn't expect you to… be on a human's head," The lead Candlemon answered before clearing his throat. "The Spirit that was taken was the Legendary Warrior of Ice."

That got the group confused.

"The Warrior of Ice? Isn't that Kumamon?" Danny asked.

"Uh… maybe it's the Beast Spirit then? I don't think Tommy ever got a Beast Spirit," Andy suggested.

"Beast Spirit?" The lead Candlemon asked. "I don't think it was such."

"Wait… are you saying an 11 year old boy, who looks like he's 8, took the Spirit away from you?" Valerie frowned.

"It was definitely a young human boy," One of the Candlemon stated. "He came here with another group of humans before."

"You see, children, we invited these players to see if we could make peace with them. Perhaps work something out. But they attacked us. There was one little boy, who may have been the youngest in the group, who didn't have a Digimon partner to fight back with," The lead Candlemon explained. "We managed to outnumber these foolish players, however, and began to overpower them. Their leader, who wore a black armor outfit, pushed the boy into the river. The boy managed to find the cavern where the Spirit was lying dormant. We didn't think the boy would be able to take the Spirit, however, so we focused on the players who attacked us. However, the boy came back in order to save his fellow players, and that was when the Spirit decided to come out of the cavern and floated in front of the boy."

"It floated in front of him?" Dash blinked. "Why would it do that?"

"I have no idea, but I assume it was to judge if the boy was worthy or not." The lead Candlemon replied. "After that, the boy was able to use the Spirit's power, so it's clear the boy was judged worthy of having its power."

"Wait…" Tucker spoke up. "We never actually knew much about these Spirits. We just kinda assumed anyone could take these Spirits and use their powers. I know they have some kind of defensive mechanism, but I thought that was for their wielders after the person took them. Not that they had to judge if they were worthy."

"That's… true, we never asked how that worked, did we?" Sam frowned.

"Is that true, Patamon? Is that how the Spirits work?" Danny asked his partner.

"Yes… the Spirits are sentient. They aren't known as the Legendary Warriors just to sound cool, they really are legendary for a reason," Patamon answered.

"I'm afraid I don't know too much about that myself…" Dash frowned. "I only knew that Takuya was able to turn into a Digimon somehow… but isn't that basically the same thing as having a partner Digimon?"

"We… kinda always thought so. Or at least… I did," Andy said, looking up at Lopmon. Takuya turned into Agunimon long before we even knew what a Digimon was. So I never really thought about it, even when we met with those other kids who can turn into Digimon too. But… It's kind of awkward to think about it now. They were chosen by Spirits of Digimon who defeated a great and powerful evil. It's not like having a partner Digimon at all.

"So what does it mean to be chosen by a Legendary Warrior then?" Valerie questioned.

"Don't… think about it too much," Salamon said, sensing her partner's unease. "It won't help."

"Ah, but it's quite the conundrum, isn't it?" The lead Candlemon remarked. "We should be angry that the boy took what we had been guarding for many generations. And yet, I couldn't be more proud that the Spirit finally found someone worthy enough to use its power after all this time. Not even Lord Cherubimon's call was enough to wake it from its dormant state. That boy must be someone really special. I just hope he breaks away from those players he was with."

Danny looked uneasy as well. "So… The Spirits… must be… picky or looking for certain qualities in their… um…. Chosen then…" Wow… I'd hate to actually meet one of these Spirits, like the actual Digimon, not the kid using it… Technically I already met the kid.

"Danny, I think you should stop thinking this line of thought," Patamon spoke, also feeling his partner's rise of anxiety. "Remember, Takuya is your cousin. It doesn't matter if he was chosen by a Spirit, it never did before." This is why I don't want to tell him who I really am…

Danny smiled awkwardly at Patamon. "Yeah… You're right. I know Takuya well enough to know he means no harm."

"But you have to wonder, out of everyone… why did the Spirits choose these particular people?" Valerie questioned. "Maybe… we shouldn't be…"

"Valerie, that's enough, don't think about it anymore," Salamon spoke up.

"Are you okay, Sam?" Biyomon asked, worried about her partner.

"Y-yeah, yeah I am… it's fine," Sam said. "I just… didn't expect the Legendary Warriors to be… that important."

"Of course they are, that's why they've been guarding Seraphimon's and Ophanimon's castles after the fall of Cherubimon," The lead Candlemon pointed out. "They keep everyone's hopes up while the Celestial Digimon go into hiding from the other players."

"This… just turned very awkward…" Dash admitted.

"Tucker, try to focus, we have other things to worry about right now," Kokuwmon said.

"Right… yeah… the clock! I need to look at the clock!" Tucker remembered before he took out his PDA and began to check it. "So I left a clock in the real world, while bringing another in here. I uploaded them both to my PDA so I can compare the time between the two."

"That's brilliant, Tucker." Andy smiled, glad for the distraction. "Can you tell what the time differences are?"

Tucker paled as he looked at the two times.

"What's the matter? How bad is it?" Valerie asked, noticing the look on the boy's face.

"Not even an hour has passed in the Digital World, and yet it's already been half a day in our world," Tucker answered grimly.

Danny paled as well. "Aw, crud…" He gulped. "That means 1 hour here is one day back home, if my math is right…"

"Then we can't stay here too long." Valerie noted before looking at Tucker. "Good thing you came here, Tucker. We'd be gone for more than a week if not for you telling us that time difference."

"But we still don't know where Takuya is, or how to fix the time problem!" Sam pointed out. "We're still going to be back at square 1."

"How are we going to check the fog without getting stopped in time ourselves?" Dash asked.

"That's a good question…" Andy frowned.

There was a sudden splash of water coming from the fog. That quickly caught everyone's attention.

"Did… a sound just come from the fog?" Lopmon asked. "I wasn't the only one who heard it, right?"

"No… We all heard something like that." Sam admitted, feeling a bit nervous now. "B-but what made the sound?"

There was what sounded like coughing. "What the heck happened?"

Dash's eyes went wide as he recognized that voice. "Labramon? Labramon is that you!?"

"Dash?"

"Labramon! Get out of the fog!" Dash called.

"If Labramon was in the fog, how is she able to move? Or speak?" Danny questioned.

"Do you think it is Labramon?" Andy asked.

"Who else could it be?" Dash replied. "I know her voice anywhere."

Before anyone could answer, Danny let out a small gasp when the familiar blue mist came out of his mouth. And he saw something moving in the fog that was definitely not Labramon, because it was floating, whatever it was.

"What was that in the fog?" Patamon frowned. "That didn't feel like a Digimon."

"I… I don't know…" Danny admitted. "But it felt… um… familiar to me, and not in the usual sense." He said, trying to hide the fact it had been a ghostly presence he was sensing.

"Dash, back away from the fog," Andy quickly said. "Now!"

"But what if Labramon's in danger? She's in there with that thing!" Dash pointed out.

"Candlemon, all of you back away from the fog too, we don't know what's out there," Salamon ordered the Candlemon.

The Candlemon tribe saw no reason to doubt Salamon, so they did as she instructed, trusting her words. They all quickly backed away, moving further away from the area. Sam, Biyomon, Tucker, Kokuwamon, Valerie, and Salamon all began backing away as well. Danny and Patamon were backing away, but they saw Andy and Lopmon hadn't yet, as they were trying to get Dash to move away.

"Dash, you need to move away, you're going to get caught up in the fog, it's getting closer!" Andy shouted.

"Let me digivolve and grab him," Lopmon quickly said.

"Andy! Lopmon! Dash! Get out of there!" Danny called worriedly.

"Labramon's in there, I can't just leave her," Dash said. "Remember when you went into the fog to save Valerie, Andy? Now it's my turn."

"Dash! That was when the fog was taking people somewhere else. You'll be frozen in time if you go in there!" Andy pointed out.

"I don't care! She's my partner!" Dash shot back. "I'd risk being frozen in time if it means saving my partner Digimon!"

Dash ran forward.

"Dash!" Andy yelled as Dash ran into the fog.

"We just lost Dash!" Lopmon called.

Danny ran forward and grabbed onto Andy's arm, knowing how his brother was, he wasn't going to take a chance and let Andy go after Dash himself.

"Andy… We can't risk anyone else getting stuck in time…" Danny said softly.

Andy frowned at Danny. "But we can't leave him in there!"

"Andy, it's…" Danny hesitated. He wanted to keep Andy safe, but at the same time, Dash was also important to the group.

Andy remembered when Freakshow took control of Danny, and Danny fired a weak ghost ray at him. It kept him from getting hurt, but it was enough to push him with a lot of force. Andy didn't know how far the fog went. But if Labramon was able to move, then if they could push Dash enough, he might be able to get out of the fog. It was a flimsy hope, Andy knew, because they didn't know enough about the fog or how far it stretched out. But it may be their best chance.

"Fire a ghost ray at Dash," Andy suddenly instructed Danny.

Danny blinked. "What? Andy! Valerie is watching, and I don't know if my ghost ray would get frozen in time!" Danny hissed to Andy. "And why would I fire a ghost ray at Dash anyway?!"

"I can stand in front of you to block Valerie's view of you. And the fog may not immediately freeze time. We have to push Dash with enough force to maybe get him through the fog from the other side," Andy quickly explained. "If Labramon is able to move in there, then the fog may not be that big."

Danny blinked at Andy's words. "A-are you sure about this, bro?" He asked softly.

"No, I'm not, but it's our best chance of maybe saving Dash," Andy answered. "Now hurry before the fog reaches us."

Danny gulped, but nodded. "O-okay… Just… make sure Valerie doesn't see me doing that." He said as he slowly powered up an ecto-ray.

"What are you two doing!?" Valerie called out. "Hurry and move away!"

Andy moved behind Danny and gave him a hug while Lopmon lifted up his ears, hoping to cover Danny more. Danny fired a weak ghost ray from his hand. The ghost ray went into the fog. There was a loud sound before a splash.

"D-Dash!?"

"H-hold on… I've got you!"

"He's moving!" Andy noted.

"Swim! Labramon!" Dash's voice called out.

"Great, now come on!" Danny grabbed onto his brother's arm and pulled him and Lopmon away from the fog.

"We're almost there!" Labramon said.

"Is it just me or do they sound closer?" Lopmon blinked, looking back.

"T-they do!" Tucker realized. "And it's about time! I was worried!" He then blinked. "Wow… I never thought I'd be worried about Dash of all people before."

Sure enough, Dash and Labramon could be seen emerging from the fog, swimming towards the group.

"At least the river isn't moving… that'd be a rough ride…" Dash chuckled.

"Dash!? Labramon!? How are you moving through the fog?" Andy called out, surprised to see them moving out of the fog just fine.

"I don't know, but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth!" Dash called back.

"Come over here, we'll pull you two out of the water!" Sam called.

Dash and Labramon made their way to the group, with Valerie and Sam reaching down to pull him and Labramon from the water.

"Thanks… it's never fun swimming with wet fur," Labramon thanked before shaking herself.

"Ack! You're getting water on us now!" Biyomon huffed.

"I'm just glad you're okay, Labramon," Dash said in relief.

"Yeah… we heard there was this weird fog going around, so a couple of friends I've made in the Flame Terminal wanted to go check it out. But we ended up getting caught in the fog," Labramon explained. "I'm not sure why I was suddenly able to move though…"

"Wait… what's that on your neck?" Valerie asked, pointing at the shiny thing hanging on Labramon's neck. "Was that there before?"

"Huh?" Labramon looked down. "N-no… Not that I know of…" She replied, looking at the thing in confusion. It looked like a golden gear with the letters C and W in the center of it, and it was hanging from a leather lanyard around Labramon's neck.

Andy and Danny walked over to the group. Andy bent down and picked up the strange thing, looking at it. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."

Lopmon hopped down from Andy's head to get a better look at the strange object himself. "It doesn't feel natural…"

"Labramon, Dash, when you two were in the fog, did you see anything unusual in there?" Danny asked. "We saw something moving in the fog earlier, and it… set off some alarms in our heads."

"No, I didn't see anything unusual." Labramon replied. "I just remember being frozen in time and then I felt something slip around my neck and then I could move. I fell into the water, and I heard Dash calling me. Suddenly, he was pushed by some green beam right into me."

"Green beam? Was there a ghost in the fog?" Valerie frowned.

"That's possible," Patamon said. "After all, the last unusual fog was from the Ghost Zone itself, was it not?"

"Is it alright to remove that… medallion thing from your neck, Labramon?" Sam asked. "It might help us discover something if we can study it."

"Sure. I don't think I want this thing around my neck any longer." Labramon replied. "Something about it feels… off to me, and I don't like it."

Andy removed the medallion from Labramon's neck. He stood up and looked at Tucker. "You might be the best man to look into this."

"Are you sure? It might be ghostly, so wouldn't the tech in your parents' lab be better for looking into this thing?" Tucker asked.

"We don't know if it is ghostly, just that it's… unusual," Andy answered. "Besides, Danny and I aren't engineers, so we wouldn't know what to do with it."

Tucker frowned, but nodded before he took the medallion. "Okay, I'll see what Kokuwamon and I can find out about it. I doubt we will, but who knows?"

"Hopefully it'll tell us something about how to get rid of this fog at least," Lopmon sighed.

"Ah, looks like we have more guests coming!" The lead Candlemon spoke up suddenly.

"More guests? Who'd come way out here with that fog so close?" Valerie questioned.

"Is that the young boy who was chosen by the Spirit of Ice?" One of the Candlemon asked in surprise.

"What?" Andy and the rest of his friends questioned.

"What are the chances of that, huh? Like 1 in 900 or something?" Dash gaped.

"You don't want me to answer that," Kokuwamon sighed.

"Well, that would be close enough of an answer then." Dash sweatdropped.

"But is Takuya with them?" Danny asked.

"Do you guys remember how we even got here? I said to 'take us to Takuya'," Andy pointed out.

"Great, thanks, now we've been caught with our pants down," Sam huffed.

" You don't even wear pants," Tucker pointed out.

"You did not just say that!" Sam snapped back.

"What do we say? What do we say?" Dash panicked. "I shouldn't be here!"

"Don't you dare go back into that fog!" Andy shouted.

"Let's just say we're here for Takuya and go home!" Danny quickly said.

"But what if he's needed here? Isn't he a Legendary Warrior now too?" Valerie pointed out.

"But we can't just leave him here, c-can we?" Danny frowned. "I don't know anymore!"

"All of you stop panicking!" Patamon shouted. "It's alright, okay? They're people, just like you are, and you've talked to them before! … Except Dash. But they're not scary, and they're not going to eat you alive if you're a little casual with them, alright!?"

The group actually stopped arguing at Patamon's shout, every one of them looking embarrassed.

"Wow… I guess… we did let the stress get to us…" Danny admitted sheepishly.

"Yeah… So what if these kids were picked by the Spirits to wield their power? They're still human, like us." Sam admitted.

Andy frowned as he watched the group trying to convince themselves. That's not going to last long… Let's face it, now that we're more aware of what Legendary Warriors actually are , that's going to keep being in the back of our minds.

"Uh… so… um… any advice on how to talk to them?" Dash worriedly asked.

"I don't know, I've never met them myself." Labramon frowned. "Well, not as Labramon anyways. I think one of them defeated me when I was being a bully in my past life. Uh… maybe I shouldn't be here…"

"No, you are fine, Labramon," Salamon stated. "You even helped save the Flame Terminal village from Firamon. You are not your past."

"Right… I just hope the Legendary Warrior knows that…" Labramon gulped nervously, some of Dash's nervousness spilling to her.

"They're just… teenagers, like us, so… they shouldn't be too hard to talk to," Tucker said, chuckling nervously. "Though most of them are older than us…"

"Tucker, you joked with them before. Don't get nervous now," Kokuwamon said.

Tucker nodded. "Uh, right… I'll remember that."

Sam took a deep breath and let it out. That usually helped her calm down when she was about to talk to important people. She had a lot of practice with that. Although… the rest of her friends didn't. She hoped they would be okay.

"I think I see them," Biyomon said, pointing with her wing.

Indeed, they saw 6 human children approaching the Candlemon village. Takuya blinked when he saw his cousins and smiled.

"Andy! Danny!" Takuya called as he waved at them, running down to meet the group.

"You know them?" One of the Candlemon asked.

"Y-yeah, sort of. One of them is our cousin," Andy answered. "The one running to us."

Andy looked over at Danny. "I told you we'd find him quickly."

"Yeah, but not like this." Danny sweatdropped. Aw man… after what we learned, things will be quite awkward for a while…

Takuya, not knowing about the group's unease, ran up to his cousins. He wrapped both of them into a hug. "I know it hasn't been that long, but a lot has happened since I saw you two."

"It's been pretty long for us, cuz," Andy said, trying to stay casual.

Takuya pulled away from the hug. "What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"A week has passed since we last saw you," Andy explained.

"Like… almost a week," Lopmon explained. "And a lot happened over that week, wait until you hear about it~"

"Now's not the time, Lopmon," Andy grumbled.

"Wait… I've been gone a week?! " Takuya gaped. "B-but it's only been several hours here!"

"Yeah, about that," Danny started.

"Time has slowed down in the Digital World," Patamon explained. "Our local tech expert just informed us an hour in the Digital World is a day in the real world now."

Takuya paled. "R-really? Then… that means I've missed a week of school!"

"You've been gone for a week and all you can worry about is school?" Danny deadpanned.

"Priorities, man," Andy sighed.

Takuya frowned before he looked back at the other Legendary Warriors. "I think you should tell us everything you know."

Zoe, JP, Koji, Koichi, and Tommy were greeting the Candlemon while Takuya was talking to his cousins. So they didn't hear the news that they hadn't been to the real world in a week yet.

"So, you're that young boy who was chosen by Kumamon," One of the Candlemon noted to Tommy.

"Uh… yeah? Um…" Tommy frowned. "I'm sorry about what I did back then… I don't know how I can make it up to you, but-"

"Don't worry about it. The Spirit of Ice finally found its chosen wielder, we're just glad that it's in good hands!" The lead Candlemon smiled. "We've been worried about you since you left with that group."

Koji frowned. "Why would you be worried about Tommy with those other players?"

"Because if someone like this boy was chosen by a Legendary Warrior, then being with those players is bad, because they only wanted to use his powers for their own selfish reasons," The lead Candlemon explained. "The boy needed to know how to use his powers, and grow to be a good, strong Legendary Warrior. But as long as he was with players like them, who would attack us with little provocation, then I feared what the Warrior of Ice would be forced to do."

Tommy nodded. "You had every right to worry about that… I did a lot of things I regretted because I stuck with them for so long…"

The lead Candlemon frowned. "So I see… It's regrettable what you had to do, but hopefully, now that you are with the other Legendary Warriors, you can turn that around and do the good you were supposed to do."

"Yeah, me too, they're helping me learn more about my Digimon self," Tommy agreed.

"But you were brave enough to leave that group in the first place. That took a lot of courage, Tommy." Zoe smiled.

Tommy tried not to blush.

"Hey," Koichi spoke up. "Look, the people who fell out of the Digi-Portal… I think we know them."

That got the other's attention. Takuya walked back over to them before turning around to face the other group. Danny, Andy, Tucker, Sam, Valerie, and Dash walked over to them as well, with their Digimon partners by their side.

Danny stood in front of Takuya. Andy stood in front of Tommy. Tucker stood in front of JP. Sam stood in front of Zoe. Valerie stood in front of Koichi, and Dash stood in front of Koji. Both groups of 6 looked at each other for a moment. Andy's group wondered exactly how these other 6 were chosen to be wielders of the Legendary Warriors. What exactly made them so special.

"Guys, I think we need to hear them out, because they discovered something that… might be really bad for all of us," Takuya said, being the first to break the silence between the groups.

"What could be so bad?" JP asked.

Takuya swallowed. "Well… remember that fog Sorcermon mentioned, how it is having time stop in certain areas? It's… doing more than that…"

"What else could that fog be doing?" Koji grumbled. "Besides being an annoyance to us?"

"It's… slowed time down here in the Digital World." Takuya replied. "Like an hour here is a day in the real world."

"What? Is that true?" Koji frowned.

"It is," Tucker answered. "I can confirm it's true. We came here to experiment with it after Takuya… didn't come back for almost a week in our world."

"It's been… a week ?" Zoe paled.

"None of us went back home… for a week!?" JP yelled.

"Oh no… Dad's going to be so mad…" Koichi groaned.

Koji had no snarks for once, as he looked pale himself. "Dad's going to ground us for sure…"

"Our parents will never let us out of their sight!" Zoe exclaimed.

Tommy paled. He had been missing once before, but now… he doubted his parents would ever let him be alone ever again, not even in his own room. He had no idea how he was going to fix this problem.

"Why did you wait a week before coming to get us?" Takuya frowned.

"We had our own things to deal with, and we didn't know what was going on with the Digital World either, we were only guessing," Tucker explained.

"Great, so how will we get ourselves out of this mess?" Koji grumbled. "We can't just say we were in another world to our parents."

"The best story we can probably come up with is that we were kidnapped or something." JP frowned.

"I don't know how I'm going to explain this to my parents… I went missing before… this is going to make things worse…" Tommy frowned worriedly.

"If it helps, maybe you could say you got lost…?" Dash suggested.

"I'm not sure if that's any better," Labramon sighed.

"I think it might be in our best interest if we all returned home, reassure our parents that we're all okay, and then communicate by our phones or D-Tectors and figure out what to do from there," Koichi calmly stated.

"At this point, that's all we can do." JP sighed.

"We'll just have to see what happens then." Koji grumbled.

"Andy, how did you and the others get here?" Takuya asked.

"I asked the destination to take us to you," Andy answered.

"Wow, that's a first time someone used the Digi-Portal to take them to a person," Koji chuckled.

"It worked, didn't it?" Andy huffed.

"Yeah, but not in the way we expected." Danny grumbled. "We were dumped here, in the middle of a ravine!"

"Would you have rathered we were dumped at the top of the ravine?" Andy grumbled.

"Candlemon, do you have anything like a screen we can use?" Salamon asked. "We need it to get them back to their world."

"Sadly, no. This village does not have such a device." The lead Candlemon replied sadly.

"Okay… then we better get somewhere that does," Valerie said.

"We could fly back to Seraphimon's castle. It'll be quicker that way, and with you guys there, we won't have to worry about players mistaking us for wild Digimon," JP suggested.

"What? So… we'll all be flying back together?" Dash asked, blinking.

"Unless you want to walk all the way back, which would waste a lot of time, yes," Koji answered.

"What else would we be doing?" Zoe said sarcastically. "Flying is going to be much easier for us to get back to the castle. We can't waste any more time here than we already have."

"Can you carry… all of us though?" Tucker asked. How strong are you guys?

"I can digivolve and help lighten the load," Biyomon offered.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea, Biyomon," Sam agreed.

"Perhaps I should digivolve as well," Patamon said. "This way we don't get too weighed down."

"You can already digivolve, Patamon?" Salamon asked, surprised to hear that.

"Yes, I can." Patamon replied. "But it's been a while since I last did, so it may not be so easy to reach my Champion form a second time."

"I can also help with carrying everyone." Takuya smiled.

"Huh?" The others looked at Takuya, as far as they knew, Agunimon couldn't fly.

"You'll see~" Takuya grinned.

"We better get going before we waste anymore time," JP said.

"For once, I agree with you," Koji sighed.

The Legendary Warrior groups who were going to fly took out their D-Tectors. Zoe, JP, and Takuya lifted up their hands while the rest of the group stepped back.

"Execute! Spirit Evolution!" JP and Zoe called as fractal code surrounded them. When the code dissipated, it revealed the two Human Warriors of Thunder and Wind.

"Beetlemon!" Beetlemon stood there proudly, wings open.

"Kazemon!" Kazemon was revealed hovering in the air.

"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!" Takuya cried as the fractal code surrounded him as well. When the code dissipated, there was a Digimon that the others had fought before. "BurningGreymon!"

"WAAAH!"

"IS HE INSANE!?"

"I DON'T NEED TO DEAL WITH THIS RIGHT NOW!"

Andy, Danny, Tucker, Sam, Valerie, Dash, and their Digimon partners all ran in a panic at suddenly seeing BurningGreymon, scattering across the village, though were still careful to avoid the fog.

"Takuya, maybe you should've told them before going into your Beast Form?" Kazemon sweatdropped.

"Yeah… I probably should've…" BurningGreymon agreed with a sweatdrop of his own.

"You have to admit though, they can run fast," Beetlemon chuckled.

"Guys, it's okay! I'm not going to lose control!" BurningGreymon spoke up.

Danny and Patamon looked out from their hiding spot near one of the houses. Andy and Lopmon had dived into the river to avoid a potential fire attack from BurningGreymon. They slowly lifted their heads up from the water. Andy got attacked twice by BurningGreymon, he didn't want to deal with an enraged BurningGreymon a third time.

"It seems you may have spooked them," Candlemon remarked.

"Yeah…" BurningGreymon admitted. "I… did attack them when I lost control beforehand…"

"Um… so this is normal, right?" Dash asked, the only one who never got attacked by BurningGreymon out of the group, though he only ran because everyone else did.

Koji sighed before he walked over to Dash and Labramon. "Yeah, don't worry, the big guy may be big, but he's just a big doofus."

Dash chuckled at that, feeling a little more comfortable.

"You didn't have to word it like that, Koji!" BurningGreymon pouted, his wings drooping.

Kazemon noticed Sam and Biyomon were on the roof of one of the huts, she decided to fly down to them. "Hey, don't be scared. He won't hurt you."

"Are you sure? I've seen BurningGreymon destroy a town before in his rampage…" Sam frowned.

"We rather not get caught up in that… we're not strong enough to face him," Biyomon shivered.

"Don't worry. He's in control now. Besides, he's just a big lovable lug." Kazemon giggled.

"Why is everyone saying that about me?" BurningGreymon grumbled.

"Because you are," Beetlemon chuckled before he noticed the boy with the Kokuwmon was hiding near the cliff, curled up.

Deciding to help the boy out, because he reminded Beetlemon of himself, Beetlemon floated over to Tucker and Kokuwamon.

"Hey… so, I see you have a mechanical partner," Beetlemon said. "That's cool, I helped some Kokuwamon before in the past, when they were being oppressed."

"You did?" Tucker asked, surprised.

"I remembered hearing stories about the Legendary Warrior of Thunder help free my people in the past," Kokuwamon confirmed.

"Yeah, and you know that I won't let that big lug hurt you if he did go out of control again, right?" Beetlemon assured.

Kokuwamon nodded before looking at Tucker. "He's right, Tucker. Beetlemon isn't just a strong Digimon. He's one of the strongest Human Spirit Legendary Warriors physically."

"That's… pretty impressive," Tucker complimented.

"You look like a smart kid," Beetlemon said.

"Y-yeah, I was able to figure out how much time is passing between here and the real world," Tucker confirmed.

"Really? Maybe you can help me make a new drone then," Beetlemon chuckled.

"You made a drone?" Tucker asked, now interested as Beetlemon helped him up to his feet.

"Yeah, at least, I had one until it was destroyed." Beetlemon grumbled.

Koichi walked to another hut when he saw Valerie and Salamon running into it to hide. Valerie felt embarrassed that she was hiding from BurningGreymon, but her last experience with him hadn't been the best.

"It's okay to feel scared," Koichi said gently. "But I promise, Takuya is in full control of his Beast Spirit now. You don't have to be scared of him."

"I'm not scared of him…" Valerie huffed, but she didn't come out of hiding.

"C'mon, Takuya has had control for a while now. You don't have to hide." Koichi said. "Besides, even if he did go out of control, I could handle him easily."

"Why would you care about what happens to us? We're not… Legendary Warriors…" Valerie said quietly.

"Valerie…" Salamon frowned. "That doesn't mean you're not important."

"Salamon is right. You don't need to be a Legendary Warrior for us to care about you, or to be important to the Digital World. From what Takuya said, you're all working hard to help the Digimon, and that alone already makes you one of us," Koichi stated.

Valerie slowly began to emerge from hiding. "You… think so?" She asked nervously.

"Believe it or not, even we, who are chosen by the Legendary Warriors, have our own doubts too. We often question if we're really worthy of the Spirits we hold," Koichi explained softly. "We're humans just like you, even though we're also Digimon too. You're human, but you're linked to your partner. That makes you just like us too. Now come on, don't stay holed up all day, I'm sure there's more you still want to do in the Digital World after all."

Valerie emerged from hiding completely. She looked at BurningGreymon warily, but the draconic Digimon didn't really look that intimidating with the way he was pouting.

Tommy looked at the boy and Lopmon in the river. Despite seeing that BurningGreymon wasn't attacking, they were still reluctant to leave. Tommy remembered Andy, and how he cared enough about Tommy to have his sister watch over him for a time. And Tommy managed to save Andy and Lopmon from going down a dark path. The young boy decided to walk over to Andy and Lopmon.

"Hey… Andy, Lopmon, remember me?" Tommy asked.

Andy and Lopmon looked at Tommy, and Andy looked down. "I remember you… but I'm surprised you remember me. I haven't really done much for you."

"You've done a lot more than you know," Tommy said.

"You saw us at our worst, that's… kind of embarrassing…" Lopmon frowned. "Especially…"

"Especially what?" Tommy asked.

"... You're a Legendary Warrior. We… didn't really know what that meant until recently… We must seem like arrogant kids compared to you. And now we look like cowards because we freaked out at seeing BurningGreymon…" Andy sighed. "I've been targeted by BurningGreymon before, twice… and almost died."

Tommy blinked. "What do you mean by 'we seem like arrogant kids compared to you'?" He asked, confused. "You're a kid, just like me, right?"

"But we're not Legendary Warriors. We kept talking about how we'd help the Digital World, and stop the bad players from messing everything up," Andy sighed. "But you guys… this is already your job. We must've sounded like arrogant kids…"

"No…" Tommy frowned. "You don't… I liked the goal you set out to do. You were even going to do it with us, weren't you? Wasn't that the reason why we were going to form a guild at Seraphimon's castle? What… changed? You already knew we were Legendary Warriors, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but… we didn't know what that meant… not really…" Andy sighed.

"We're just ordinary Digimon compared to you guys… doesn't it just seem pretty dumb of us to just announce we were going to do your jobs for you?" Lopmon added.

"Huh?" Tommy blinked. "You're making it sound like we're… different, than you guys, Andy."

"Aren't you? We can't become Digimon. We weren't chosen by any Spirits," Andy replied.

"You don't need to be chosen by a Spirit to be helpful to the Digital World," Tommy said. "And… trust me, I've made a lot of mistakes… and did a lot of bad things that I regret doing. I'm trying to better myself, and improve. Just because Kumamon chose me doesn't mean I'm perfect, you know? And it doesn't make me any less human than you are. The same can be said for Takuya. It took him a while, but… he finally learned to control his Beast Spirit. I was able to help him with that."

"You?" Andy blinked. "You helped him control his primal instincts?"

"Yeah. All I had to really do was remind him of who he was." Tommy replied before blushing a bit. "And I did it while as a human… So, you see, you don't need to be a Legendary Warrior to be special. What's important is what you do with what you have. And you have Lopmon, don't you?"

Andy looked at Lopmon, and Lopmon looked up at Andy, giving him a smile. Andy gave a small smile back at Lopmon. "That's true… I'm sorry, I'm acting really… immature when I should be more of a role model…"

"It's okay. Everyone has their weaknesses," Tommy said. "Now come out of that river before you catch a cold."

Tommy held out his hand, and Andy took it. Tommy pulled Andy out of the water, and Lopmon hopped out as well.

"Wow…" Danny said as he and Patamon walked up to BurningGreymon on their own. "You… really have control over this form now?"

"Yeah, and it's much better than being a raging beast all the time." BurningGreymon admitted before his wings drooped again. "But seriously! I'm not a ticking time bomb!"

Seeing how BurningGreymon wasn't going to lose it, Patamon flew up to his face in order to shout at him properly. "And how were we supposed to know that? You just up and transformed in front of us, when the last time we saw you, you were a ticking time bomb! A really big, angry, flaming time bomb, you big stupid Birdra dragon mon!"

BurningGreymon growled a bit. "You do realize you're acting childish, right?"

"Can you blame me? You gave us all a heart attack!" Patamon huffed.

"He's right, you know, you really scared us," Danny agreed, not quite calm just yet. "We thought you were about to torch this entire village!"

"Well excuse me for wanting to show you I had control!" BurningGreymon huffed back.

"This is one of those moments you're supposed to tell first, not just show !" Danny grumbled.

"You just wanted to scare us, you big meanie!" Patamon yelled.

Upon hearing Patamon's words, Lopmon busted out laughing. "Oh my gosh! Patamon is acting like his childish self! This is too funny!"

"Shut up!" Patamon snapped.

The other Legendary Warriors managed to bring the others back together, having calmed them down and reassured everyone that BurningGreymon wasn't about to lose it.

"So if Takuya has control, then that's a good thing, right?" Tucker asked.

Beetlemon nodded. "Yeah. Not only is it easier to use his Beast form, but it also adds more options to his fights."

BurningGreymon felt his face slightly heating up. Which was impressive since he was literally a beast of fire right now.

"Jeez, next time warn us before you do something we all thought was gonna explode in a fiery rage," Sam huffed.

"Okay, I promise I won't surprise you guys like that again," BurningGreymon apologized.

"Well, since that's all settled, we better get the rest of the fliers ready for take off," Koji said.

"Just you wait, someday soon, I'll be just as cool, and burn just as hot as you!" Biyomon spoke up as she raised up her wings and fractal code surrounded her body.

"Biyomon, digivolve to…" The fractal code dissipated, revealing her Champion form. "Birdramon!"

Sam smiled. "Nice to see you again, Birdramon!"

BurningGreymon was impressed, Birdramon was almost as big as he was. He wondered how much bigger Birdramon could get.

"Patamon, I believe it's your turn," Danny called.

"Yes," Patamon agreed. "We'll find a way to restore true peace to the Digital World."

"And we'll start by working together," Danny said.

"Who knew Danny could be so cheesy?" Tucker grinned.

"I think he sounds pretty cool." Dash complimented.

Tucker, Andy, Valerie, and Sam stared at Dash.

"What? I can admit it when someone says something awesome!" Dash huffed.

Fractal code surrounded Patamon. "Patamon, digivolve to…" When the fractal code dissipated, it revealed his Champion form. "Angemon!"

"Whoa! He looks like Piddomon, but… cooler!" Beetlemon said in awe.

Salamon smiled, happy to see one of her old friends was able to digivolve into his Champion forms. But she gave a small frown. She was still unable to reach her true Champion form. She didn't blame Valerie, but she worried about what this could mean for them in the future if she was unable to access her true Mega form.

"I'll go with the cool electric beetle." Tucker smiled.

Beetlemon chuckled before he picked up Tucker, and Kokuwamon clinged onto Beetlemon's side.

"Personally, I don't think pink fairies are my thing," Sam said as she got onto Birdramon.

"That's fine, I don't think flaming birds are my thing either," Kazemon chuckled.

Angemon picked up Danny and Koichi. "Going up."

Kazemon picked up Koji. "Hey there, handsome~ Guess I'm returning the favor after you saved me from that Woodmon."

Koji rolled his eyes. "That was 4 years ago."

BurningGreymon growled a little at hearing Kazemon's words to Koji. Why does Koji get to go with Kazemon?! … Oh right, I'm one of the fliers.

BurningGreymon looked down to see who was left. Valerie was able to get on her hoverboard, so she didn't need to ride anyone. Dash and Labramon were getting onto Birdramon. So that left Andy, Lopmon, and Tommy.

"Andy, Tommy, Lopmon, you three better climb on my back." BurningGreymon said as he knelt down and folded his wings enough to let the three climb on.

Andy blinked, and so did Tommy. They looked at each other. They were surprised they ended up riding together.

"Uh… after you?" Andy gestured.

Andy was still a bit nervous around BurningGreymon. Tommy nodded before he climbed onto BurningGreymon's back.

Lopmon jumped onto Andy's head. "Don't worry, Andy. If BurningGreymon loses it, we can stop him. We did it before, we can do it again if we need to."

"Yeah, of course," Andy replied.

Andy carefully climbed up onto BurningGreymon's back.

The Candlemon were watching all of this with interest.

"Legendary Warriors, and players chosen by the Celestials… perhaps the Digital World may not be doomed after all," The lead Candlemon noted with interest.

BurningGreymon felt Andy and Tommy settle between his wings and smiled to himself. "All set back there?"

"Yeah, we're all set!" Tommy called back.

"Just don't take off too suddenly!" Andy called.

"This coming from the guy who did all those crazy stunts on a moving train?" BurningGreymon chuckled.

"And riding on Birdramon to boot!" Sam called.

"Guys, please stop bringing that up!" Andy groaned.

BurningGreymon chuckled again. "Until you do something crazier , we won't." He replied.

"We're ready to head back!" Valerie called.

"Then let's go!" Beetlemon called out.

BurningGreymon stretched out his wings before taking off into the sky. The others soon followed.

"Chief, do you think they can really save our world?" One of the Candlemon asked the lead Candlemon.

"If anyone can, it's those guys." The lead Candlemon replied with a smile. "They weren't just chosen by the Spirits. Those kids have good hearts, and they respect this world. They will do more than save it. They will change it for the better."

"I hope you're right."

"They just need to learn to work together. I'm sure once they get that figured out, they'll be unstoppable." The lead Candlemon said confidently.

---

It was quite the sight, seeing BurningGreymon, Birdramon, Kazemon, Beetlemon, Angemon, and a human on a hoverboard flying together. Even if Theodore saw them now, he would know not to mess with them, especially with so many in a group.

"Was it true what they said before?" Tommy asked Andy.

"Hmm?" Andy looked at Tommy. "About what?"

"About you doing crazy stunts on a moving train," Tommy explained.

Andy sighed. "I was… desperate. I don't make a habit of doing things like that for fun. Some people close to me were going to be taken away if I hadn't done what I did."

Tommy frowned, wondering what happened.

"What about you? You said you helped Takuya control his Beast Spirit as a human. But how did you do that if he was on a rampage?" Andy asked.

"I… I was so sick of running away, I just didn't think about what I was doing. Takuya needed my help. That's all that I knew, and running wasn't going to help him." Tommy replied. "I ran up to him and talked to him."

"You did?" Lopmon blinked, surprised. "Wow, you're just as crazy as Andy."

"Lopmon, please…" Andy sighed.

"What? It's true, isn't it?" Lopmon pointed out.

Tommy chuckled. "He has a point, you know. We do seem to have a lot in common."

"I guess," Andy replied, though he hesitated to compare himself to someone who was chosen by a Legendary Warrior. "I"m surprised though. Takuya is my cousin, so it'd make sense why I would do something like that to help him." Especially since he was one of the people Freakshow was trying to take away. "But why did you do that? What is Takuya to you?"

"He's my friend." Tommy replied. "And… maybe a big brother figure too… Takuya was the first person to truly help me when I was lost in the Digital World. The person I thought who wanted to help me just… wanted to use Kumamon's powers for his own selfish gain."

"I see… Well, I'm glad if Takuya took anyone under his wing while he was here without the rest of us, I'm glad it was you," Andy said.

Tommy blushed. "You're just saying that!"

"Well, you are pretty important to Takuya too, so… isn't that a good thing to say?" Andy chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe that means you could be Andy's adopted nephew," Lopmon giggled.

"Lopmon, can you not?" Andy begged.

Tommy laughed for a moment. "You know, sometimes I'm envious of people like you. Having their own Digimon partner, I mean. Being able to become a Digimon is cool and all, but I don't really get to have someone to talk to, or share my problems with when I'm alone and feeling down."

"Don't you have any friends or someone in your family you can talk to about anything?" Andy asked, since he usually had Danny, although there were those dark times after the lab accident when Danny refused to interact with him for a month.

"Unfortunately, no, I don't," Tommy sighed. "I don't have any real friends at school. I've had other people who I played with, but they wouldn't hang out with me afterwards. And my parents have been smothering me lately… which will get a lot worse when I get back home… and my brother… He's way older than I am. He can't really understand what I'm going through… and he's not… easy to talk to."

"Oh… I guess that's why you clung onto Takuya like you did," Andy realized.

"Yeah." Tommy admitted. "I just… he was the first one to show any kindness to me in this world, so I latched onto him. Plus, he's only a few years older than me, so that made it easier to relate to him."

"I can hear you guys, you know." BurningGreymon remarked from in front of them.

"Good, now you can hear all the embarrassing compliments they say about you~" Lopmon grinned.

"I could make this flight like a roller coaster~" BurningGreymon grinned back.

"Don't you freaking dare!" Both Andy and Tommy quickly said.

The two looked at each other for a moment before laughing.

"I guess that's also why I ended up sticking with Sir Michael for as long as I did. Before I met Takuya, Sir Michael was the closest thing I had to a friend, and a safeguard against the rest of the Digital World," Tommy sighed. "But never again… I refuse to be used like a slave to someone else."

"Nobody should treat a Digimon like that anyways," Andy agreed. "I hope… one day we can have Sir Michael see that."

Over with Angemon, who was carrying Danny and Koichi, Danny was looking over at Andy.

"Is he the younger twin between you two?" Koichi asked.

"Huh? Oh… Yeah, Andy is the younger one." Danny replied. "What about you? You and Koji look alike, so I'm assuming you're twins as well, right?"

"Yes, we are. I'm the older twin brother," Koichi confirmed.

"Hehe… Two older brothers talking, who would've guessed?" Danny chuckled. "Is Koji a handful like Andy is for me?"

"Oh yes he is," Koichi answered. "Well, Koji isn't a troublemaker. He's a good brother who studies a lot back at home, and practices kendo on a daily basis with our father. But ever since we came into the Digital World, he tends to do things on his own that gets him into trouble. I was pretty livid when I found out he went into the green fog and ended up all the way in America in the real world, and he didn't bother to tell me."

Danny laughed. "I remember! I saw his Digimon form before. If not for him, we'd have been in real trouble. So I'd say it was a good thing. Andy can be a good brother too, he just does crazy things to protect his family."

"I can say the same about Koji. 4 years ago… something happened to me that… well, isn't really easy to talk about," Koichi sighed. "But Koji did some pretty crazy stuff to bring me back from it. While I don't like that it put him in danger, I'm also grateful that he did that… because I think he was the only person who could've."

"Wow…" Danny whistled. "I think Koji and Andy could give us both a run for our money in the 'family love' department, given what they have done for us."

"Well, I'm pretty sure we'd do the same. I mean fighting against the mastermind's control over me is one way to show I still have my brotherly love for Koji," Koichi said.

"What? You too?" Danny blinked.

"Me- wait… did something like that happen to you too?" Koichi asked, looking at Danny.

Danny gave a sheepish nod. "Yeah… I… like you, don't want to talk about it, but I was pretty much in a similar situation where I had to fight Andy. I was trying to fight it off, but it was difficult."

"... Wow… both of us have been through a lot, huh? And our brothers fighting to bring us back. We seem to have a lot more in common than I thought," Koichi remarked.

"You have no idea," Angemon stated.

"Have you seen something like that before, Angemon?" Danny asked.

"I may have witnessed an event or two like the one you're describing," Angemon answered vaguely.

"You know, it's funny that you have a Patamon as your partner. I think there was a Patamon who was helping us out 4 years ago," Koichi remarked.

"Really?" Danny blinked, surprised. "What happened to that Patamon?"

"I assume he…" Koichi paused as he looked at Angemon. "Um… took care of his own business after everything was over."

Angemon nodded at Koichi discreetly.

Danny sighed. "I'd have liked to meet this Patamon. He sounds like he was a close companion of yours."

"He was a friend, and he helped us when we needed it," Koichi answered. "Just like I'm sure your Patamon did."

"We had a rocky start," Danny admitted. "But… I'm glad we became partners."

---

Before long, the group landed near Seraphimon's castle. Everyone got off, the rest degenerated back to their Rookie or human selves. They hurried into the castle.

"I don't know what we're going to tell our parents, but we'll try our best to do as much damage control as possible," Zoe said as they were running through the castle.

"I just hope my parents will let me be on my own again so I can even come back to the Digital World," Tommy sighed.

"Once we leave, we shouldn't come back to the Digital World until we have a lot of free time," Koji stated. "Until then, we need to stick with phones, D-Tectors, and computers to communicate with each other."

"What about the rest of us?" Valerie asked. "We're not exactly in your… Legendary Warrior club."

"We'll need your help as well." Koichi said. "This is apparently too much for us to handle alone. This fog seems to be coming from this Ghost Zone we've been hearing Takuya, Danny, and Andy mention. And since there is a portal to this Ghost Zone in the basement of their house, we'll need to keep you involved."

"Then… instead of the Legendary Warrior club, let's call this Team Digidestined!" Lopmon said. "Eh? Eh? Cool name, right?"

"You are never giving up on that name, are you?" Andy questioned.

"Don't tell me you didn't like it!" Lopmon pouted.

"I like it," Dash said. "Besides, isn't it about time we made our own guild with our own name? We are in this together, aren't we?"

"I can't believe the jock is making the most sense here…" Valerie grumbled.

"Hey! I can make sense when I want to!" Dash pouted.

Zoe looked thoughtful for a moment. "That… actually sounds kinda cool." She admitted.

"Really? You like that name?" Koji asked.

"Why not? It sounds cute, and it's also fitting." Zoe smiled.

"I suppose it can't hurt to use 'Team Digidestined' for a guild name," JP chuckled. "We can always change it later, right?"

Andy blinked as he looked down at his D-Arc, then he nodded. "Yeah. We'll keep in contact with you guys, and let you know if we find anything."

"So… if you're going back… should we stay here?" Biyomon asked.

"Do you want to, Biyomon? I got used to having you around." Sam frowned.

"It might be in our best interest to stay with our partners, considering how dangerous their world is," Kokuwamon said. "And… if we stay here, there's a chance that fog will catch up to us too."

"So… could I go with Dash then?" Labramon asked.

"That would be nice…" Dash said as he pet Labramon's head. "There were so many times I wished I could've had you with me… I feel a lot braver when you're around."

"What do you think, Andy?" Takuya asked. "I mean, they do raise some good points."

Andy took a moment to think about it before he gave his answer. "I think it might be a good idea. We can't risk losing our partners to the fog in case we have to come back here. And Dash may need Labramon to protect him from potential ghost attacks. And having our partners with us when we come back to the Digital World will make it easier for us to not have to find them. But that means Labramon has to either act like a stuffed animal or a normal dog in our world, Dash, she can't talk or show her powers to other people. Otherwise she might get taken away by the government."

Dash nodded. "Okay, I think we can make that work."

Labramon grinned. "Good thing I look like a regular dog for the most part then~" She wagged her tail happily.

"Will you be alright with my actual dog?" Dash asked.

"You have a dog?" Danny asked, surprised.

"Y-yeah… a big, tough looking dog," Dash quickly said.

"I'm pretty sure I can learn to get along with whoever you have at your house," Labramon chuckled.

Dash smiled. "That's good to hear." He said.

"Okay, is everyone ready to return home and do some damage control?" Koji asked as everyone stood in front of a screen.

"Better late than later, right?" Zoe said.

Takuya sighed. "Let's get this over with. I don't want to be in even worse trouble than I already might be."

Tommy sighed, he wasn't looking forward to this either. The last time he interacted with his family, he sort of stormed off into his room. At best, his family would think he ran away from home out of anger, which wasn't ideal. He just hoped he could salvage the situation.

"Okay, you guys go on ahead first, since you live in Japan, the rest of us will go after," Andy suggested.

The other Legendary Warriors nodded.

One by one, they each held out their D-Tectors and said where they wanted to go, getting sucked into the Digi-Portal. Once the last one, Zoe, had left, it was time for everyone else to head back to Amity Park.

Andy was in front of the group. Even though Takuya, Danny, and Valerie were capable of getting everyone back, it seemed like there was an unspoken agreement that Andy would be the one to do it. Andy lifted up the D-Arc. "Take us to Amity Park in Fenton Works."

The Digi-Portal opened and sucked the rest of the group in.

Veemon and Wormmon had been watching from down the hall.

"Maddie, they're coming back now," Wormmon informed Maddie, who had been keeping touch with them.

"Better get dinner started, I'm sure they'll be hungry~" Veemon smiled.

"Thank you, Wormmon, Veemon!" Maddie said from her screen. "Jack and I appreciate you letting us know they are coming back."

"No problem, we know you guys were worried about them," Wormmon chuckled.

"Yeah, but to think time is slowing down in the Digital World, and none of us had noticed." Veemon frowned. "I wonder what could be causing it?"

"Hopefully it'll be solved soon. It'll be difficult for our partners to come back here knowing time is passing by quickly in their world," Wormmon stated.

"Well, we can't just sit here and wait for them to solve it, right? Let's go see Sorcermon, maybe there's something we can do." Veemon suggested.

Wormmon nodded. "Yes, it may be better than just sitting back ourselves."

"Be careful, I don't want anything bad to happen to you two and we wouldn't know about it," Maddie said.

"We'll be careful, Maddie. I'll keep an eye on Veemon as well," Wormmon promised.

---

The group went through the portal. Danny regained his white and red shirt with blue jeans and red and white sneakers. Patamon was at his side. Takuya was next to Danny, but his outfit didn't change.

Andy regained his black and blue shirt, red jeans, and blue and white sneakers. Lopmon was at his side.

Sam regained her black tank top and black and green skirt with combat boots. Biyomon was at her side.

Tucker regained his red beret, yellow shirt, and army green pants with brown boots. Kokuwamon was at his side.

Valerie regained her yellow top and skirt, and white shoes. Salamon was at her side.

Dash regained his red and white jacket, black shirt, and blue jeans. Labramon was at his side.

They all came out of the Digi-Portal. Andy and Lopmon landed on their bed, Danny and Patamon managed to steer themselves to Danny's bed, while the rest of them scattered on the floor.

"Hey, we managed to avoid getting into a pile this time!" Danny cheered. "I call that a win!"

"Whoa…" Labramon stood up and looked around. "So this is what the real world is like? It doesn't look too much different from the Digital World. It's just… it feels like something's missing."

"That would be the fractal code. The real world isn't made of code like our's is," Kokuwamon explained.

Labramon sniffed the air before hissing and rubbing her nose. "What's that smell?"

"Probably ectoplasm… Amity Park, where we are now, gets attacked by ghosts on a daily basis, so there's usually residue of ectoplasm in the air," Patamon answered.

"It stinks at first, but you get used to it," Salamon said. "Especially if you go through the world of the ghosts."

Labramon growled like a real dog. "I already don't like the smell, but if I see a ghost, it won't be so lucky."

Takuya groaned. "Why did I have to land on the floor so hard?" He whined.

"Maybe we should start putting cushions on the floor for when we use the Digi-Portal," Danny suggested.

"Either that or put some soft rugs on the floor," Andy remarked. "Is everyone okay enough to walk?"

"Yeah, I should be fine," Dash said, getting to his feet.

"Nothing I'm not used to myself," Valerie answered.

"We should probably check out the time," Sam said. "How much time did we miss?"

"And if we still have the weekend to enjoy ourselves," Tucker added.

"Don't you have a clock on your PDA or something?" Biyomon pointed out.

Tucker blinked. "Oh yeah. I do." He remembered as he took out his PDA. "Let's see… We flew back, so it took way less time… I think… Yeah, we should have Sunday off. We were gone all of Saturday."

"Ah… no wonder it's so dark," Kokuwamon said. "It's already night time."

"Yes, it is," Maddie spoke up when she opened the door. "Hello, everyone. I'm glad to see you all made it back safely. Especially you, Takuya, you've been gone all week!"

Takuya blushed. "I… didn't know time would slow down that much…" He admitted. "I just assumed it was the faster rate it normally was…"

"Well, at least you made it back," Maddie sighed. "Dash, Sam, Tucker, Valerie, you all should head home. Your parents called a few times earlier, they're worried about you. We told your parents, Dash, that you were being tutored by Jazz. And Tucker and Sam were hanging out with Danny and Andy. Pamela and Jeremy didn't take that too well."

"What else is new?" Sam grumbled. "But yeah, we should head home."

"Oh, and Valerie, your dad called. He said that he'll be home late from work, but he wanted you to call him as soon as you head home," Maddie informed Valerie.

Valerie nodded. "I can do that."

Dash smiled. "Yeah, thanks for covering for us, Mrs. Fenton."

Maddie looked at Labramon. "Is that your Digimon?"

"Yeah, this is Labramon." Dash introduced. "It's okay, she knows."

"Ah… then hello, ma'am," Labramon bowed slightly.

Maddie gave a smile at Labramon. "She's quite cute."

Dash huffed. "She's cute, but she's also tough."

"Alright, come on, Mr. Tough Guy, we need to get going," Sam grumbled.

Sam, Dash, Tucker, and Valerie all proceeded to head out of Danny and Andy's room and down the stairs. Their Digimon partners were right behind them.

Lopmon waved goodbye to the group. "Bye you guys!"

"We'll stay in touch later," Valerie said as she picked up Salamon.

Sam picked up Biyomon, and Kokuwamon got onto Tucker's back. Tucker yelped a little, trying to keep his balance. Dash picked up Labramon, he gave a small smile. The group walked out of the house.

Jack and Jazz rushed into the room after seeing the others leave.

"Takuya! You're back!" Jazz ran at her cousin, giving him a hug. "We've been worried about you!"

"Ack! Jazz! You're making it hard to breathe!" Takuya gasped.

"Haha! Jazz definitely inherited my hugs~" Jack grinned proudly. "Are you boys all okay?"

"Yeah, aside from a few things, nothing really went wrong," Andy answered. "We did discover what's causing time to slow down in the Digital World."

"What is it?" Maddie asked.

"There's a strange fog that may have ghostly properties engulfing parts of the Digital World," Patamon answered. "Whatever gets into the fog seems to freeze in time."

"Yeah, it's really weird." Danny admitted. "The first odd fog we encountered was green, but this one is cyan and purple."

"So you think some ghost might be behind this?" Jazz asked after releasing Takuya from her hug.

"I knew it, ghosts always cause trouble for everyone," Jack growled.

"I don't think ghosts are responsible for this," Lopmon said. "We think it's more likely that the fog is leaking from the Ghost Zone, because the Ghost Portal you made might've weakened the walls between the worlds."

Jack and Maddie paled when they heard that.

"I… didn't think about that…" Jack admitted. "To think… our life's work may be threatening the Digital World…"

"Why did you two decide to make the Ghost Portal?" Patamon questioned.

"We didn't really think about the why too much. It was just our passion to make a gate to the world of the ghosts," Maddie admitted. "When we were college students, we had a passion to prove others that ghosts existed. At first, it was to prove to our peers and our professors that ghosts existed. The college was going to stop funding our project if we didn't prove we had a reason to do what we were doing. So we attempted to make a portal to the Ghost Zone."

"Unfortunately, it didn't work, and poor Vlad got caught up in its radiation," Jack sighed. "I got a little too excited to wait until Vlad moved out of the way to turn on our prototype."

"Ever since then… Jack and I got married, and we started working on a new portal, hoping to make this one work," Maddie continued. "We moved to Amity Park when we heard that there had been a lot of ghost sightings here, so we figured it was the perfect place to build our new ghost portal."

"It just became our life's work after that, we didn't consider the consequences as we were working on the portal," Jack added. "When we finished the portal, we've been so excited to see the fruits of our labor that we wanted to turn it on immediately."

"But it didn't work… at least, not at first," Maddie said, before she and Jack slowly turned to Danny.

Danny looked down, feeling awkward that everyone was now looking at him.

"... There was… an on button inside the portal…" Danny finally said.

Jack and Maddie both looked at each other, their eyes widening.

"Did we turn on the button?" Jack asked Maddie. "I mean, I know we plugged it in but I don't remember if we pushed the button or not."

"Why do you have the on button inside the portal to begin with?" Lopmon deadpanned.

"It was supposed to keep the kids out so they didn't accidentally turn on or off the portal themselves," Maddie answered.

"Yeah… lot of good that did," Jazz grumbled.

"We had forbidden all of you to go into the portal, we didn't know Danny was gonna go in there," Jack sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"It was stupid of me to go in there like I did… I thought since the portal didn't work, there wouldn't be any harm to look inside…" Danny admitted, looking down. "I mean it was my first time being able to see what the inside of the portal, when it was inactive, looked like." And Sam dared me, but I'm not telling them that part.

"You are lucky you came away with a small shock, Danny! It could have been far worse!" Maddie scolded.

Patamon and Lopmon all began choking on the air upon hearing that. They never actually heard how Danny told his parents about what happened in the accident, so to hear that they thought Danny escaped from the portal with a 'small shock' was rather shocking in its own way. Danny and Andy quickly put their hands on their partner's heads to try to quiet them down.

"I-I know, I know… and I'm sorry," Danny apologized. "At least I'm alright now."

"And very lucky." Jack said. "But this only shows the dangers of not following lab safety procedures."

"Erm… okay, so we should probably get back on topic," Andy cleared his throat. "The point is that the Digital World needs our help because something in the Ghost Zone is leaking out into the world."

"We've never traversed the Ghost Zone, it's too dangerous. "Maddie frowned. "We have the Specter Speeder, but it's still untested to see how well it would do in the Ghost Zone."

Andy, Danny, and Takuya all looked at each other. Of course their parents were unaware of their little adventures in the Ghost Zone, along with the Specter Speeder.

"Y-yeah…" Takuya said nervously. "You.. should probably get on that then. Just for… ease of mind…" Aw man… this is so awkward…

"None of us are going into the Ghost Zone," Maddie said sternly. "We don't know if we would be able to make it back, and we're not going to have you kids become parentless."

"We will try to do our best to investigate in our lab," Jack promised.

There might be… another way… but… it's risky. My parents may not even listen. Andy looked down nervously, but he knew he had to at least try. "What if we had a ghost of our own to check out the Ghost Zone?"

Maddie blinked. "How would we do that? We can't just catch a ghost at a whim. They're very slippery and can find a way out of traps."

"No one knows how ghosts can escape anti-ghost traps so easily." Jack grumbled. "It's a challenge to catch a ghost that can work out how to escape traps."

"What if, and hear me out, we don't catch the ghost, but we talk to the ghost and see if they'll help us?" Andy suggested.

"What? What kind of ghost would just talk to us?" Jack asked like it was the weirdest thing in the world.

"The ghost boy," Andy answered, getting Danny's attention as well. "He's proven that he can be talked to, and reasoned with. And he's been fighting against other ghosts to protect the city, so-"

"Absolutely not," Maddie and Jack both said.

"Mom, Dad, if this is about when the ghost boy was doing bad things, we already showed you that he was under mind control," Andy quickly pointed out.

"While that is true, that is not what we are referring to." Maddie replied. "Remember the ghost invasion and what that ghost boy did to you?!"

Danny grimaced. I really dislike how clever Walker was in that plan…

"No, I don't remember that, because I was being overshadowed by the real mastermind of that incident!" Andy shouted back.

Maddie sighed. "Well, whatever the reason, we will not go to the ghost boy."

"Maybe he's not so dangerous now, Andy, but one day he'll become stronger, and who knows when his ghostly instincts will kick in? He won't need to be mind controlled to do all those bad things," Jack stated.

Andy frowned.

"Dinner is on the table. Jack and I will start working in the lab to find a way to fix this," Maddie said, her voice leaving no room for argument.

The kids watched as Maddie and Jack left their room.

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

"I'm fine," Andy grumbled. "I just… really hate that our parents shut us completely down when it comes to working with ghosts… Don't they realize this is bigger than their stupid prejudice against ghosts?"

"I think… we need some time to try and convince them otherwise." Takuya admitted. "Maybe… They just need a bit more time? I don't know…" He ran a hand through his hair. Man… talk about a messed up ending to an adventure…

"This isn't the first time their refusal to accept that the ghost boy isn't some evil jerk nearly cost us dearly," Andy said grimly. "Because they didn't want to help the ghost boy when Freakshow was controlling him, I had to take matters into my own hands."

"I hate to agree, but Andy's got a point. If your parents had listened, we could've mitigated the dangers of facing Freakshow head on while he's escaping on his train," Patamon said. "We all could've worked together to save Danny and Takuya, and maybe even caught Freakshow before he tried to escape on his train."

"If only they could listen to someone… someone who knows what they're talking about." Lopmon sighed.

"And yet we get dismissed because we're kids." Takuya grumbled.

"It's unfortunate, but the older people get, the harder it is for them to change what they know," Jazz sighed. "I get where Mom and Dad are coming from. They grew up researching the limited knowledge people had of ghosts, and most of that knowledge were either myths, or people who had bad run-ins with ghosts who were likely very mischievous, or angry and vengeful."

"Not to mention they have the Fenton genes," Danny pointed out. "Which, as we all know by now, makes them stubborn by nature."

"Yeah, and it shows in each of us as well." Takuya admitted. "But boy, we have our work cut out for us."

"At least you have it the least, cuz," Danny chuckled.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't kick in at the worst times," Takuya grumbled, remembering how he treated Kumamon before he knew it was Tommy.

"So…" Jazz cleared her throat, intending on changing the subject. "Did you learn to control your Beast Spirit, Takuya? That is why you went to the Digital World, remember?"

Takuya grinned a bit. "Actually, I did. It wasn't easy, but I managed to get it under control. Although I did have some help from one of the other Legendary Warriors with that."

"Yeah, the youngest one," Andy remarked. "I still can't believe he was brave enough to do that."

"I know, right? He really reminds me of you," Lopmon agreed.

"But then the flame boy here had the bright idea of evolving into his Beast Spirit, without telling us he had control now." Danny grumbled. "It scared us so bad that it made Patamon go into child tantrum mode for a bit."

"Can you blame me? The rest of you were so scared that Andy and Lopmon nearly drowned themselves in the river," Patamon huffed.

Jazz crossed her arms as she looked at Takuya. "Really?"

"It… may have been a bit of a prank too…" Takuya admitted sheepishly. "B-but can you blame me? I wanted at least a bit of payback for pranking me several times since I came back here!"

"Again, we nearly drowned ourselves to make sure you didn't target us this time!" Lopmon repeated.

"I said I was sorry, jeez," Takuya grumbled.

Andy gave a sigh. "Well, whatever, at least we know you have control over your Beast Spirit now. What I want to know is…"

Andy furrowed his eyebrows as he remembered seeing Takuya spirit evolving straight into his Beast Spirit instead of slide evolving from Agunimon like he did before. Takuya's reaction to spirit evolving into BurningGreymon was concerning, and Andy had forgotten about it due to seeing BurningGreymon and thinking he was about to burn them all.

"... Does it hurt… like, a lot, when you spirit evolve into BurningGreymon?" Andy asked.

"Oh yeah, you were screaming pretty loudly when you spirit evolved into BurningGreymon. I thought that Agunimon decided he wanted to fire you from being his wielder," Danny chuckled a little at the pun.

Takuya groaned. "No puns, Danny!" He then sighed. "As for your question, Andy… What do you think happens? I'm turning from a human into a dragon. What part about that isn't painful? At least I'm bi-pedal still, unlike Koji. His Beast Form is quadruped."

"I don't know, it's not like I can just transform into a different being myself," Andy deadpanned. "I only have my imagination to go off of. So, let me get this straight. When you're spirit evolving into BurningGreymon, your entire being gets changed drastically to fit the draconic being that is BurningGreymon, and you're getting burned alive while this is going on? Hot fudge sundae on a hot summer's day, Takuya! Are you trying to hurt yourself!?"

"The fire doesn't hurt! And… I'm still… me when I become BurningGreymon! It's just… hard to describe…" Takuya admitted. "I just know what it feels like."

"Does it hurt when you slide evolve into BurningGreymon as Agunimon then?" Jazz asked.

"Not usually," Takuya answered. "But it would take longer to become BurningGreymon if I had to turn into Agunimon first, and then slide evolve."

Takuya then looked down in thought. "Actually, when I slide evolve from Agunimon into BurningGreymon, it's more like a smooth transition. Like… I'm slipping on another skin or something."

"It's probably due to the fact he's already a Digimon, and he's just changing the code a bit," Patamon said. "As a human going into the beast form directly, however, the data has to change a lot and drastically."

"I'm… glad you can control your Beast Spirit, Takuya, but I rather you didn't just… go into it recklessly, especially if it's that painful." Jazz frowned.

"I'll definitely try to keep that in mind." Takuya admitted. "I guess I didn't think that whole thing through clearly when I did."

"Well, now we're here… how about we get some dinner?" Lopmon suggested. "I'm pretty hungry."

"Yeah, we should also catch Takuya up on what's been happening in the past week, right, Mr. A-List?~" Andy grinned at Danny.

Danny groaned. "You had to bring that up, didn't you?"

Takuya blinked. "Just… what did I miss?" He asked, not getting the joke.

"We'll talk about it as we eat," Andy chuckled.

---

Titanic X: DarkFoxKit: Well, glad you like that Takuya can control his Beast Spirit. It was a long time coming.

ZAFT: And it was a riot too, but the journey was well worth it in the end~

Akhemphi: DarkFoxKit: Your idea definitely got us talking about what we could do for the future. We're not entirely sure how people will react to the idea. But here's hoping it turns out well. And it's interesting you mentioned the whole plot elements of Human vs Beast, considering Andy has Lopmon as his partner, who is the Beast Celestial Digimon.

ZAFT: Yeah, but it could work if we do it. It would be more fun too because more torment for Andy~ XD It would make Andy more unique I think, so I'm fairly certain people may like it. As for gong the slower route of getting his ghost powers, if we do do that, it would be fun to give Andy a more unique outfit too.

DarkFoxKit: I'll be honest, I'm not really into the whole outfit design thing, so unless ZAFT is good at the whole fashion thing, don't expect too much in that department. ^^' It's why I had Andy's outfit similar to Danny's in the first place.

ZAFT: I'm not that good at it, but I can come up with different outfits somewhat… ^^'

DarkFoxKit: We'll come up with something I'm sure, if we need to. Also, heh, Andy being more like a mage is the idea. I've noticed in the show, Danny seemed to rely a lot on his punching and kicks, as well as his Ghost Rays, which he tends to spam. Danny is definitely a warrior, he can take hits and dish them out. What I like to do with Andy is have him be more different and strategic than his brother, so him being more of a mage definitely makes sense. He can't hit as hard as Danny, and he prefers to dodge than tank the attacks because oh boy do ghosts hit like a truck to him.

ZAFT: XD But in all honestly, you bring up some good ideas for us to consider. We appreciate that. :3

pokemon fan 1991: ZAFT: This was the idea with Tommy, to delve into how Sir Michael treated him and made him somewhat be afraid of his Digimon form.

DarkFoxKit: And it shows the consequences of what happened. Tommy wasn't completely guilt free from his time of working with Sir Michael, he was bound to hurt some people before he finally defected from Sir Michael's toxic mindset. It's funny, because somehow Tommy became one of our deepest and complex characters unintentionally, and I really grew to enjoy writing for him because of it, even though this story was supposed to focus on Andy, Danny, and Takuya.

ZAFT: But it shows how the others react to Tommy and his issues too, giving the boy much needed support and help. :3 So I'd say it was a win-win for us and the readers. :3

DarkFoxKit: As for Guilmon and Psychemon, I just went with some Digimon at random. I like Guilmon, he's one of my personal favorite Digimon. And I like Gabumon, but I didn't want to use Gabumon here, so I went with a subspecies instead. I guess they're like the inversion of Agumon and Gabumon. Anyway, glad you enjoyed this chapter.