Digital Phantom Frontier

by DarkFoxKit

Takuya Kanbara was just a normal 12 year old Japanese boy, when he suddenly got a call to the Digital World. There, he meets new friends who were also called to the Digital World. They meet with some Digimon who are willing to guide them. But these Digimon seem to be hiding something from them.

9. Chapter 9: Trouble on Toy Island

DarkFoxKit: Here's a new chapter.

ZAFT: And we're slowly getting closer to the big reveal of what is different here~ XD

DarkFoxKit: Not that it'll change anything.

ZAFT: Now onto the chapter!

---

Chapter 9: Trouble on Toy Island

Lopmon was staring out at the edge of the island he was on. When he had landed on this island, it didn't take him long to realize where he was. Sure, he himself had never been on the island before, but he had heard about it from Patamon. It was a large floating island filled with toys, and stores filled with sweets. It was like a child's paradise. There was no doubt in Lopmon's mind that they were on Toy Island.

He figured Takuya, Koji, and Tommy all fell here too. He saw Patamon falling towards the castle earlier, who had been too much in a daze to fly away when they had been falling. He didn't know where Labramon fell, he just hoped she was alright. Lopmon ended up near some plushies, which broke his fall. He knew he probably should be looking for the others, but instead he was sitting at the edge of the island, contemplating.

Lopmon had been troubled since the incident on KaratsukiNumemon's mountain, or what was left of it. They had known about Grumblemon when the KaratsukiNumemon mentioned him, and likely their distrust of Legendary Warriors when JP blabbed about their identities to them. And yet, they chose to not interfere, to not warn the others about the possibility of the KaratsukiNumemon trying something while they were asleep. Maybe they could've prevented the entire thing altogether. But if they had interfered where it changed the course of what was intended to happen, Lopmon wasn't sure what would've happened to them.

But there was another thing that had been troubling the little rabbit. It would seem that spending time with the human children had caused them to start bonding with them. Of course, Lopmon knew logically it was inevitable if they continued to stay with them. It wasn't like they were treating the human children as idiots, or incompetent children. They were helping them any way they could, giving them information on Digimon or the Digital World, even helping them find their Spirits. But despite that, it still surprised Lopmon at how quickly they had bonded. How hesitant they had been when they were forced to choose between them or handing over their Spirits to Grumblemon. The fact that Grumblemon didn't just ignore them, and tried to capture them.

"Isn't that troubling you?" Lopmon whispered, seemingly to nobody in particular. "Maybe we've already interfered more than we should've. This was why I wanted us to stay away from them…"

But Lopmon knew it was impossible to stay away from the children. They had bonded too closely, and it was not possible to just distance from the kids.

"But… one day we're going to have to leave them… there's no escaping that…" Lopmon frowned. "Would it be better to leave now before the bond gets bigger, and thus harder to break?"

"Talking to yourself, huh?" A voice spoke up from behind Lopmon, causing Lopmon to quickly turn around.

"Who are you?" Lopmon demanded. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't look like you belong here."

The owner of the voice chuckled. "I could say the same to you."

Lopmon was looking at what looked like a white colored looking doll that had a smiling face, and two ears that looked like they were small sacks sewn onto the sides of its head. There were no hands or feet on the arms and legs, and it had the top of its head tied off in a knot. There was also a pin, or was it a nail, pushed through its chest and out the other side.

"Oh, I apologize, that was rude of me. I don't really have a name, not since I had been discarded by my last owner. But everyone calls me… Milk," The rag doll stated.

Lopmon looked at the self-proclaimed Milk. "... You're one of the ones sent here to sabotage our mission, aren't you?"

"Why would I reveal what I'm doing here?" Milk proclaimed with a sinister grin. "That would ruin all the fun, now wouldn't it?"

"It's pretty obvious that you… dairy products are here to mess us up," Lopmon pointed out. "You don't belong in this world."

"And neither do you," Milk replied. "Wouldn't it be better for the world… if you and those who came with you just… left this world? Your presence alone has already caused major interferences. It's causing the Legendary Warriors to change in their behavior, following an uncertain, and unwanted path."

"We're here because of the path set out for them now," Lopmon argued back. "It leads them down to a path of darkness. Is that what you want for them?"

"A path where they become the heroes? Where everyone is saved thanks to them? Where they can work together as true Legendary Warriors?" Milk answered back. "Why would you want to take that away?"

"Because that's not… who they are," Lopmon replied.

"And who are they then?" Milk asked innocently. "They can be who they want to be here. Why wouldn't they want to take advantage of the power they hold?"

"Because this isn't how it happened… it shouldn't be," Lopmon stated.

"Or should it? Is it because you're afraid of what will happen if they worked together from the start?" Milk replied. "After all, if the children continue following the path laid out for them, wouldn't it reach the best possible outcome for everyone? They'll become stronger, their teamwork would be in sync. They'll be able to truly save the Digital World. Something, I was sure, you and your friends had wanted too. So why try to stop it?"

Lopmon hesitated. "... Why do you care? You don't belong in the Digital World to begin with."

"Ah, but neither do you. At least, not in this way." Milk replied.

"But I have more personal stakes in this than you. What's your reasoning for doing this?" Lopmon asked.

"Who knows? Perhaps I'm just filled with bitter energy towards humans in general after being thrown out, discarded, and used for voodoo practices," Milk answered. "But instead of questioning my motivation and morality, you should question yourself. Is what you're doing really better for everyone, or just yourselves?"

"I don't need a rag doll to judge my actions," Lopmon hissed.

"And who is the big bad Cherubimon in this story?" Milk asked. "Oh, wait… don't tell me… you still don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Lopmon frowned.

"No, no, it's best you figure it out on your own~ That is, if you can last long enough to," Milk giggled a creepy giggle as his head twitched like it was glitching out.

Lopmon gasped as he quickly moved to the side, just barely dodging a sudden beam of purple light from the doll's mouth.

The beam missed Lopmon, but it hit a tree nearby, causing the tree to glitch out. Milk pouted. "Awww! You dodged! That ruined the fun!"

"Stop using that power here! You're going to break the world!" Lopmon snapped.

"Nothing a simple 'reset' can't fix~" Milk grinned ominously.

Lopmon narrowed his eyes. "Then I'll stop you."

"Blazing Ice!" Lopmon shot out an icy wind from his mouth.

The icy attack flew at Milk, who just moved to the side with a little spin. "Aww~ You missed~ Want to try again?~"

Lopmon ran forward and jumped, spinning around at Milk. "Tiny Twister!"

Milk jumped to the left, but the twister wound up hitting Milk on the face. "Owowowow!"

While Milk was recovering, Lopmon jumped onto Milk's body to pounce him to the ground. Milk just grinned at Lopmon before phasing into the ground, and out of Lopmon's grasp. Lopmon frowned before he jumped away. Milk floated back up into the sky, his head twitching again.

"You're too weak to do any real damage. You should know this by now," Milk giggled. "The fact you can't even digivolve says a lot about you. How do you hope to prevent those children from continuing down their chosen path if you can't even defend yourself?"

"That wasn't the point of the mission. We're supposed to guide them, not fight for them," Lopmon argued.

"And yet you've already had to fight with them, or for them in one case." Milk giggled again. "But now you're becoming more and more useless as the kids are getting stronger, like they should be."

Milk flew at Lopmon, grabbing him by the ears and threw him into the sky. Lopmon yelped as he was falling headfirst. Milk flew up to Lopmon and turned upside down to face him.

"Is this just a game to you!?" Lopmon snapped, not caring that he was falling. "Their lives are in real danger!"

"Are you sure this isn't a game that you feel you can't lose?" Milk responded back. "Maybe I'm actually doing the right thing here."

"No! You're only keeping them trapped here!" Lopmon snapped as he managed to turn himself around in the sky and spread out his ears to slow his descent. "I didn't come here to just let them go through this whole thing again until it breaks them!"

"Oh? Who said anything about breaking them? We're just trying to make them stronger!" Milk replied with a giggle. "And you will only hinder that~"

"Blazing Ice!" Lopmon shot out more icy wind at Milk.

Milk's feet froze as he moved up to avoid the attack. "My, my, seems someone's quite agitated. Maybe I hit a chord?"

"Just shut up!" Lopmon hissed.

"You are so easy to make agitated, aren't you, little bunny~" Milk snickered. "Well, I'd love to stick around, but I have some work to do back on the island. So enjoy your trip~"

With those words said, Milk flew back up towards the island, leaving Lopmon to fall. Lopmon frowned, seeing how he had no way back up the island. I'm sorry… you guys will have to do this without me.

Lopmon inflated his ears and let the wind carry him to wherever it will. He had no idea where it was taking him, he just hoped he wouldn't end up somewhere that would land him in more trouble.

---

Takuya grunted as he was pushed into what looked like a playroom, landing on his stomach with a grunt. "Ow…" He groaned as he sat up, rubbing at his stomach where he had landed on a small toy. "That hurts…"

"T-Takuya!?" A familiar voice spoke in shock.

Takuya's gaze snapped over at the familiar voice. His eyes landed on a small orange hamster-like Digimon with wings coming from the sides/top of his head. "Patamon?!"

"What…"

"What are you doing here!?" Both Takuya and Patamon asked the other at the same time.

"I fell here after we were blown away by Gigasmon's attack," Patamon answered. "The ShadowToyAgumon wouldn't let me leave for whatever reason."

"That stupid teddy bear brought me here." Takuya grumbled. "I swear, teddy bears are the worst!"

"Ugh, stop it, you're sounding like Lopmon…" Patamon groaned, rubbing his head.

"Lopmon's afraid of teddy bears?" Takuya blinked.

"Nevermind that," Patamon said. "This bear… do you remember his name?"

"Um… I think it was WaruMonzaemon." Takuya replied. "But there is another one called Monzaemon too, that chased me, Tommy, and Koji, wanting to play with us."

"WaruMonzaemon…" Patamon frowned looking troubled about something.

"What is it?" Takuya asked. "Do you know the guy?"

"Not personally, no," Patamon answered. "But… um… I think Monzaemon is WaruMonzaemon. Someone must've corrupted him. I'm just… surprised he took you here and not… I don't know, Tommy, since he's the youngest one in the group."

Takuya rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I actually stopped Tommy from being taken." He admitted. "But I guess I was the trade-off, considering I'm the one here right now."

Patamon frowned more as he looked even more troubled upon hearing that.

"What's wrong?" Takuya asked.

"N-nothing! I… uh… I mean that I don't like that you got captured," Patamon quickly said.

Takuya blinked before he sighed. "Yeah, well… To be honest, while I don't like it either, I'm kinda okay with it, if it means Tommy isn't here, all alone and scared."

"I think Tommy could've taken care of himself if he had to," Patamon sighed. "And he wouldn't be alone… I mean I'm here."

Takuya chuckled. "True, but to be fair, Tommy is just a young kid. I'd hate to think about him trapped here."

"Well… now you're trapped. What do you plan to do?" Patamon asked.

"Spirit evolve? I mean… WaruMonzaemon never took my D-Tector away," Takuya answered.

"Sure, you could do that. But… how confident are you in fighting off hordes of ShadowToyAgumon?" Patamon asked.

"I don't know… what are ShadowToyAgumon?" Takuya asked.

Patamon pointed out the window. "Look down into the courtyard. What do you see?"

Takuya blinked as he looked down from the window. He saw what looked like black grass covering the entire courtyard.

"Black… grass?" Takuya asked.

"No… those are ShadowToyAgumon," Patamon revealed.

Takuya grimaced. "Oooh… That's a lot of ShadowToyAgumon…" He gulped. "I… even as Agunimon I may not last that long against all of those guys…"

Takuya looked over at Patamon, and noticed that he had a lot of scraps and scratches. He thought that was from Gigasmon, but he didn't remember Patamon having all of those scratches.

"What happened to you?" Takuya asked in concern.

"I tried to escape a few times… didn't work out so well…" Patamon sighed. "I mean… maybe I could've escaped the ShadowToyAgumon, but… there's someone else here who's trying to keep me from flying away."

Takuya's face became serious upon hearing that information. "What? Who could be keeping you from just leaving?"

"Someone sinister…" Patamon frowned. "I can't escape without some help."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Takuya asked.

"Hold it!" Patamon spoke up. "Don't get all reckless now! You're not going to make it if you jump out of the window. And if you try going through the door, WaruMonzaemon is waiting."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Takuya grumbled. "If we stay here, we are just sitting ducks!"

"The easiest thing you could probably do is purify WaruMonzaemon," Patamon answered. "Maybe you could… try playing with him?"

Takuya blinked. "Seriously? You want me to play with that bear? But I'm not… I don't… know if it would work…"

Patamon frowned as he sighed. "You could try fighting him, I guess."

"Yeah, surely I should be able to take down a teddy bear!" Takuya said.

Takuya took out his D-Tector. While he was spirit evolving, Patamon looked out the window, wondering since Takuya was here, if Tommy was out there with Koji right now. Would the two even get along?

When Takuya was finished, he was Agunimon. "Alright, time to bust out of here!"

Agunimon made his way to the door and prepared himself for the fight to come. WaruMonzaemon stood there, looking at him.

"You're not allowed to leave," WaruMonzaemon stated.

"We'll see about that." Agunimon growled as he got ready to fight. I hope I can pull this off. Fighting in close quarters will be tricky…

Patamon stood beside Agunimon, looking at WaruMonzaemon, wondering who would make the first move. WaruMonzaemon just kept watching Agunimon.

Realizing WaruMonzaemon wasn't going to make the first move, Agunimon decided to do that instead. He clenched a fist and threw a punch at WaruMonzaemon, hoping to catch the other Digimon off guard.

WaruMonzaemon flinched back as the punch hit his chest. Though with Agunimon so close, this gave WaruMonzaemon a chance to swipe his claw into Agunimon's shoulder, digging into his armor.

"Move back!" Patamon called out.

Agunimon kicked WaruMonzaemon in the stomach to get some breathing room, but that also caused WaruMonzaemon's claws in his shoulder to be torn out, leaving a very bad gash that had penetrated through his armor. Agunimon's hand went to his shoulder, gripping the wound tightly.

Dang it… Why… Why does this feel familiar? Agunimon thought as he tried to push through the pain. I feel like… I've felt this pain before… gotten a wound like this before…

"Go back into your room," WaruMonzaemon demanded. "If not, I'll have to hurt you and drag you back in there."

"No way!" Agunimon hissed as he ran at WaruMonzaemon again, removing his hand from his shoulder. "I'm no one's prisoner!"

Agunimon tried different attacks on WaruMonzaemon. He tried using Pyro Tornado, but the tight corridor made it impossible for him to use the attack well. He was only able to make a small tornado, which WaruMonzaemon easily destroyed with his claw. Agunimon tried using Pyro Darts, which seemed to hurt WaruMonzaemon, but the attack itself was too weak to stop him. WaruMonzaemon charged at Agunimon and tackled him into a wall.

Agunimon grunted as he felt his shoulder flare with pain. Ow! My shoulder… He tried to keep the pain off of his face, but to no avail. It was clear he was in a predicament now.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shot out his air bubble at WaruMonzaemon to try to stop him or slow him down.

"That is enough! Heart Break Attack!" WaruMonzaemon shouted as he shot out the black heart bubbles at Agunimon and Patamon.

Agunimon couldn't dodge the attack, being pinned to the wall, and Patamon was not able to dodge due to the close quarters of the fight.

Agunimon was filled with despair as thoughts about failing, and losing everyone came to mind. Then that nightmare he had back at home, just before he left for the Shibuya train came back to him. Where he stood on a ravaged battlefield. Tommy, JP, Zoe, and Koji were lying on the ground. And a shadowy figure claimed them as his.

Then Agunimon thought about his baby cousins, and how these bad Digimon would come to their house and hurt them, just like they did with Tommy. And there would be nothing he could do about it. He saw them screaming out to him for help. Agunimon lost the will to fight, and transformed back into Takuya.

"I… I can't… save anyone…" Takuya whimpered as he felt the despair becoming too much for him. He couldn't help but cry now.

"Takuya…" Patamon frowned as he fell to the ground.

WaruMonzaemon walked over to Takuya and picked him up. He then walked over to Patamon and picked him up as well, taking them both back into the room. "Stay here."

WaruMonzaemon then closed the door.

"Takuya… hey… Takuya… try to snap out of it," Patamon spoke up.

Takuya was still crying, but the feelings of despair began to go away. "S-Sorry… I… I just… that stupid… I can't stop crying… Stupid bear…"

Takuya looked at Patamon. "Why… aren't you crying?"

"It's not the first time I had to face despair…" Patamon answered. "I… try not to let it take me over."

Takuya slowly began to calm down. "You've… faced despair before?" He asked as he sniffled, wiping at his eyes.

"I may not look it, but I am a lot older than you," Patamon answered. "I've been through a lot of things. But when you get hit with despair… you have to remember there's still hope somewhere. We may not be able to get out on our own, but I doubt the others would leave us here to rot."

Takuya was now feeling calmer and he sighed. "Yeah… Yeah, you're right. We just… have to hope the others can save us. Koji's strong, and Tommy's clever. And with Labramon and Lopmon, they are even stronger."

"... About Lopmon…" Patamon frowned.

---

"Are you sure, Labramon?" Koji asked.

"Yeah… the trail leads into the castle," Labramon answered. "WaruMonzaemon and Takuya's scent goes in there."

"Then we have to get in there somehow." Koji said as he eyed the brightly colored castle. "But that thing is… quite colorful."

"That castle?" Tommy asked. "It doesn't look so bad. It looks like a giant toy castle."

Labramon frowned as she looked at the drawbridge. "This smells like a trap."

"Well, we need to get in there to rescue Takuya." Koji said. "But I agree, we need to be careful because we don't know what could be waiting inside."

"Hey… is that Takuya up in that window?" Tommy pointed up.

Koji and Labramon looked up at the window, seeing Takuya's back at the window.

"Hey Takuya!" Tommy called.

"Down here!" Koji shouted.

But Takuya gave no response.

"I don't think he can hear us." Tommy frowned.

"Yeah, we're too far away." Koji agreed. "Let's see if we can get inside the castle."

"Are you sure we should step on the drawbri-" Tommy began to ask, but Koji was already running ahead. "Okay, I guess we're doing this."

Tommy and Labramon ran after Koji. But then they saw two black toy-like Digimon standing on the other side of the drawbridge.

"Who are they?" Koji asked.

"They look like ToyAgumon… but all black," Labramon said. "Something's not right."

"You mean the ToyAgumon aren't supposed to be all black?" Koji asked as he eyed the black ToyAgumon before them.

"We better move," Tommy said.

However, before they could do anything, the drawbridge underneath them began to fold up. They all yelped as they fell into the moat below. Tommy flailed around as he didn't know how to swim. Labramon pushed Tommy's back with her head to bring him to the surface, and Koji quickly swam up to the surface as well.

"We have to get out!" Koji spoke up as Labramon came up in front of Tommy.

Tommy held onto Labramon to keep himself afloat. "How? This moat is pretty deep!"

"Plastic Blaze!"

Toy fire balls started to rain down on them. The fireballs, while they looked like harmless plastic toys, exploded on impact.

"Duck!" Koji yelped before he took a deep breath and dove under the water.

Labramon and Tommy had to duck underwater to avoid the explosions. They started swimming, trying to get away from the drawbridge and the line of fire.

When they were back up in the surface, Labramon coughed a little. "I don't know why we're being attacked, but we have to find a way out."

"Is there a ramp out of the moat or something?" Koji asked.

Something invisible from behind them began to giggle before firing a beam into the water, causing a large wave to form behind them. Koji, Tommy, and Labramon all gasped in shock at the sudden appearance of the wave. They let out a scream as they were bombarded and forced underwater.

Dazed, and unable to tell which way was up, Koji and Labramon had trouble trying to swim back up, and Tommy flailed around underwater in a panic. Luckily for them, something else was swimming underwater. A black and white panda bear grabbed onto Tommy, Koji, and Labramon, and quickly swam into a secret hole into the castle's underground cavern. The Panda bear pulled them out of the water.

"Once again, I, Pandamon, have foiled my fiendish foes, the sinister ShadowToyAgumon." The panda bear, Pandamon, said.

Tommy, Koji, and Labramon took a moment to cough out some water and recover from nearly drowning.

"Did you take us here so you can hurt us yourself?" Koji hissed.

"Koji, if he wanted to hurt us, he would've just left us to drown," Tommy scolded before smiling at Pandamon. "Thank you for saving us."

"Can you please tell us what's going on here?" Labramon requested as her fur was soaked and dripping with water.

"I've taken you to my hidden cave under the castle," Pandamon explained, dropping the vigilante accent he was using earlier. "I've been forced into hiding since the ToyAgumon had been corrupted by Cherubimon. Now they are ShadowToyAgumon, and they plan to take revenge on any human child they find for abandoning them. At least, that's the story of their motivation. In reality, Cherubimon just brainwashed them into thinking all human children are bad, probably to hunt down the ones who came into the Digital World. And one other being had been seen around here, telling visions of humans and 3 Digimon coming here that don't belong."

Koji blinked. "Another being? What kind of being could be able to tell the future?"

"And is this being a Digimon?" Tommy asked.

"I'm not sure. They didn't seem like a Digimon," Pandamon answered.

Labramon frowned.

"They warned that the 3 Digimon that would fall here with the humans must be captured and taken out," Pandamon continued. "Though I don't know why."

"That's not good… I wonder if they captured Lopmon and Patamon." Labramon frowned.

"I don't know who they caught, but the fact remains we have to save our friend, and whomever else was captured." Koji said seriously.

Tommy rubbed his head.

Koji looked at Tommy. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… just… have a headache," Tommy answered.

"Okay… but if it gets worse, let me know." Koji said. "I don't want you to slow us down if your headache gets worse."

Koji and Tommy yelped when Labramon shook herself to try to dry her fur, getting water all over the place. Though she mostly did that to distract them.

"Sorry, I don't like having wet fur," Labramon apologized.

"Just don't get us soaked next time…" Koji grumbled. "I was already starting to dry off when you soaked us…"

"I apologize about what happened to you. Toy Island is supposed to be a children's paradise," Pandamon sighed. "Monzaemon remained in good spirits, but I'm afraid it would only be a matter of time before the ShadowToyAgumon does something to corrupt his poor, innocent soul."

"Monzaemon… was that yellow bear, right?" Tommy frowned.

"Yes. All he wants, more than anything, is to just play with others," Pandamon answered.

"I knew he wasn't such a bad guy…" Tommy said. "But then why did he… turn evil?"

"If something turned Monzaemon evil, then it clearly wasn't willingly." Koji huffed. "We need to find the one who turned Monzaemon evil, or at least do that after we rescue our friends."

"Are you sure it isn't Monzaemon who's evil and turned the ToyAgumon evil, not the other way around?" Tommy asked.

"I am sure… why do you ask?" Pandamon asked.

Tommy frowned. "... I'm… not sure either… I guess my mind's a little messed up from the Heart Break Attack."

"Try not to think about it too much, Tommy," Labramon said. "The point is we need to fight our way into the castle if we want to save our friends."

Koji nodded. "And we'll need you to stay focused, Tommy. Labramon and I can only do so much on our own."

"If you want to save your friends, I can take you to the castle's courtyard," Pandamon suggested. "But I must warn you that the courtyard will be swarming with ShadowToyAgumon. Are you sure you'll be able to face them all down on your own?"

"Can't you help us?" Labramon asked.

"I would if I could, but despite my Ultimate level status, I am a peaceful Digimon. I wouldn't last very long against an army of ShadowToyAgumon," Pandamon explained.

Koji sighed. "I guess it's just us three then." He rubbed his head with one of his hands. "We'll just have to be fast if we want to get into the castle."

"Are you sure about this? We may have to fight," Tommy said as they followed Pandamon through the cave.

"Then we'll fight if it comes down to it," Koji said.

"So you really intend to stop the ShadowToyAgumon?" Pandamon asked.

"We're a lot stronger than we look," Koji answered.

"If that is what you wish to do, I won't stop you. Just be careful, the ShadowToyAgumon have abilities they normally shouldn't have," Pandamon warned.

Koji, Tommy, and Labramon nodded.

"We'll be careful." Tommy replied.

"I wish you the best of luck then," Pandamon said as he pointed at stairs that were leading up to a door. "These stairs will lead you to the castle's courtyard. Be wary, the ShadowToyAgumon will be waiting for you."

"We'll be fine." Koji reassured Pandamon. "And thanks for the help." He added, not wanting to seem ungrateful.

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Tommy smiled, looking more sincere than Koji.

"We owe you for saving us and taking us here," Labramon agreed.

"Don't thank me, just stop the ShadowToyAgumon," Pandamon replied.

Koji, Tommy, and Labramon walked up the stairs.

"I never had to fight against toys before," Tommy remarked.

"I don't think any of us have to." Koji admitted. "I've never fought toys either, so it's a bit… weird for me to say the least."

"Just treat it as you would with any other battle so far," Labramon said as they stood in front of the door.

Koji nodded, as did Tommy.

"Okay, let's do this then." Koji said, trying to keep his nerves calm so as to not freak out Tommy.

The threesome emerged from the tunnel into the courtyard of the castle. Koji, Tommy, and Labramon all looked up at the castle, which loomed over them despite its lavender coloring.

"Couldn't they have picked any other color besides lavender?" Labramon asked. "If they wanted to make the castle look all evil and ominous, why not black and red? Or some other dark colors to represent the oh-so-evil edginess that these ShadowToyAgumon had become?"

"Maybe they hadn't had the time to give the castle a paint job?" Tommy shrugged. "I doubt making the castle look all evil and hostile was on their top priority list."

"Well, whatever the reasoning, we can't drop our guard just because the color looks so innocent." Koji warned.

They were quickly halted by a horde of ShadowToyAgumon.

"That didn't take long," Labramon said.

"Human children," One of the ShadowToyAgumon stated. "How thoughtful of you to gift wrap yourselves for us, and one of the troublemaking Digimon. We will take you into the castle so long as you cooperate and do exactly what we say."

Koji didn't like the sound of that. "We didn't come here to do what you want." He growled out.

"We came here to save our friends," Tommy added.

"That's too bad. Then we will capture you ourselves," The lead ShadowToyAgumon said. "WaruMonzaemon is too busy looking after the human child he brought here and the Digimon that don't belong, so we'll use what's left of this gift that an ally of our's gave us to handle you brats."

"What gift?" Labramon frowned.

"You'll soon find out," The ShadowToyAgumon replied before holding out what looked like a vial with glowing green liquid inside. "ShadowToyAgumon, prepare yourselves, we must absorb this power to take down the humans who have stolen the Legendary Warriors' powers!"

Koji, Labramon, and Tommy all prepared for a fight.

"That green stuff can't be good if these guys are using it." Koji warned. "We have to be careful if we fight these guys."

"What is that green stuff anyway?" Tommy asked. "It looks like the stuff that was covering the fractal code of the Woodmon."

Labramon was glaring at the glowing stuff. I know what it is… it's the only thing that really burns my nose… If I'm right, we're in for a tough fight if they use that.

Labramon jumped at the ShadowToyAgumon, trying to grab the vial from him. This caused a bit of a pile up. The other ShadowToyAgumon tried to yank Labramon away as she scratched against the ShadowToyAgumon with the vial. "Don't take that liquid! You don't know what it will do to you!"

"You just don't want us to be victorious!" ShadowToyAgumon replied. "Our ally would never give us something that would be harmful to us!"

"Who is this ally of yours then? Were they even a Digimon?" Labramon hissed as she struggled against the other ShadowToyAgumon.

"Labramon! We gotta help her!" Koji quickly said.

"Plastic Blaze!"

"Look out!" Tommy warned as both he and Koji fell to the ground to avoid the attack, which hit the wall, causing a small explosion. "We better spirit evolve!"

Koji was already ahead of Tommy, taking out his D-Tector from his pocket. "Way ahead of you." He said.

Koji held up his D-Tector and the white digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the energy of the Spirit entered his body. His eyes became red as his hair shortened and turned almost platinum in color. A white helmet covered his head as white and blue armor covered his body. He grasped the familiar beam sabers and swung them a few times before clasping them around his waist and firing off his arm laser. "Lobomon!"

Despite what was going on, Tommy looked at his D-Tector. I wonder if… this is real too?

Tommy squeezed his D-Tector. This isn't the time to hesitate. I can think about this later.

Tommy held up his D-Tector as the light green digital form of his first Spirit appeared on the screen of his D-Tector and he formed the familiar ring of fractal coding around his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. He lost his hair and his body became white as snow. His fingers became like paws almost and he gained a more cub-like appearance to his body. Green chest armor formed on his body and his feet gained green and red boots. A headband that had the image of a bear on it formed on his head, and he gained a shoulder pad on each side, but one was red while the other was gray in color. He slid down and landed as a mushy pile before he reformed and grinned, calling out his name. "Kumamon!"

Now that they were in their Digimon form, they could start fighting back.

"Howling Laser!" Lobomon shot out a beam of light at the ShadowToyAgumon, at least the ones trying to grab at Labramon, getting them off of her.

"That wasn't too hard," Lobomon commented.

But then, several more ShadowToyAgumon came into the area.

"There's no end to them." Kumamon frowned. "Labramon, let go! We can't fight them if you're in the crossfire!"

"This is more dangerous than you realize!" Labramon called as she grabbed the vial with her teeth, trying to pull it away from the ShadowToyAgumon. "Digimon can't handle this stuff without going berserk!"

Lobomon felt a chill run down his spine when he heard Labramon's words. If she was this desperate to get that vial away from the ShadowToyAgumon, then it had to be bad news. "Hang on! Let me help you!"

"If you won't let it go, then I'll just take it!" The ShadowToyAgumon hissed at Labramon.

Labramon frowned, and saw the ShadowToyAgumon opening its mouth. Labramon's eyes went wide, knowing what he was about to do. She quickly let go of the vial and ran away just before he shot out a small Plastic Blaze from his mouth, shattering the vial, and causing the contents to splatter at the other ShadowToyAgumon. Lobomon stopped when he saw this green stuff sprinkled on these ShadowToyAgumon, and they were absorbed into their bodies.

"W-what's… going on…?" Lobomon asked, feeling chills running down his spine, as if an instinct was telling him something bad was happening to the ShadowToyAgumon. It was unnerving, feeling something in his chest racing at the sight of that green stuff.

"What was that stuff? And what's it doing to them?" Kumamon frowned, getting just as bad a feeling as Lobomon was.

The ShadowToyAgumon were all writhing on the floor in pain. Labramon frowned as she stood beside Lobomon and Kumamon.

"That stuff they took… it's toxic to Digimon," Labramon warned. "It can mutate them, give them strange powers they normally shouldn't have. Or it could completely destroy them if it gets into their Digi-Core, they won't be reborn as eggs if you don't purify them fast enough."

"What? What is that stuff?" Kumamon asked, horrified by this.

"... Ectoplasm," Labramon answered.

As soon as Labramon revealed what the glowing green stuff was, the ShadowToyAgumon suddenly began glowing green, and their eyes turned red. They quickly started stacking on each other, creating what looked like a giant glowing green dinosaur rex, with horns on the side of its head, and on its nose.

"EctoGreymon." A voice spoke to Lobomon and Kumamon.

"Did… they just become a new Digimon?" Lobomon asked warily. He didn't like the glowing green dinosaur before him. Something about it just screamed 'wrong' to him, like it wasn't natural or something.

"Oh no…" Labramon gasped.

It wasn't just the strange Digimon before them. His very existence was causing the world around them to start glitching out. Fractal codes began showing themselves when they shouldn't. Pieces of the architecture started to turn into blurry bits of data. The clouds that got near them turned blocky, and began to blink in and out of existence.

Labramon paled as she looked down at her paws, seeing that they were starting to glitch up as well. Her body was starting to show a bit of fractal code, and parts of her body were starting to turn into bits of data.

This world… can't handle this power… Labramon grimly thought.

A white floating ragdoll had been watching this while invisible. "What a fool. I warned him not to use too much of it."

Meanwhile, Takuya was recovering from his defeat with WaruMonzaemon. He wasn't sure how to go about this, but then he sensed something was off. It was invading and burning. Then he saw Patamon's body didn't look right. His orange was blinking to black, his blue eyes started flickering to a strange neon green.

"Huh? What's happening!?" Patamon yelled, grabbing his head.

"I… I don't know." Takuya admitted. "But… things feel… wrong… like something… terrible is happening… But… What about you? What's happening to you?!"

Patamon quickly looked out the window and saw the strange looking Digimon. "What in all of the Ghost Zone…?"

The room they were in started to glitch out as well. The TV turned on, showing green static. The toys began to levitate off the ground. The walls and floor started to become blurry data. The furniture began to show their fractal codes.

"That's… too much ectoplasm…" Patamon hissed, grabbing his chest like he was trying to hold something back.

"Wait… Ectoplasm?" Takuya gaped. He remembered his aunt and uncle tended to mess around with some sort of glowing green stuff, at least last time he had visited before moving to Japan, but had been mentioned the glowing green stuff was really rare to find in the human world.

"Ectoplasm… very bad… for the Digital World…" Patamon warned as he gritted his teeth and struggled to breathe.

Takuya gasped, seeing that Patamon wasn't looking so good.

"H-Hang on… I… I… Someone will stop this…" Takuya said, trying to remain calm, but he was feeling his heart racing. What in the world is ectoplasm doing here in the Digital World?! I thought it was so hard to come by in the human world. How did someone find enough to bring here?!

Meanwhile, back in the courtyard, Lobomon picked up Labramon, seeing that she wasn't looking so good.

"We have to stop this thing! It's messing up the world!" Lobomon hissed.

"I can see that!" Kumamon replied.

The EctoGreymon looked down at them with its glowing red eyes. It opened its mouth, building up something inside.

"EctoBlast!" EctoGreymon shot out a large green ball of fire at them.

"Look out!" Kumamon shouted.

Lobomon and Kumamon jumped away from the massive attack. It exploded on the ground, leaving a crater. The crater itself was glitching out like crazy, more fractal code began appearing.

"We can't let that thing use that attack too much, it's going to rip the world apart!" Kumamon warned.

"No duh, I can see that." Lobomon hissed as he looked at the EctoGreymon again. He had to put Labramon down somewhere safe so he could fight back more effectively. But it didn't look like anywhere was safe.

Kumamon jumped as high as he could, knowing they had to do something quick, and Lobomon had to keep Labramon safe. Kumamon took a deep breath as the EctoGreymon started to open its mouth again.

"Crystal Breeze!" Kumamon shot out his icy wind as hard as he could.

The icy wind covered EctoGreymon's maw in ice, sealing it shut. Seeing this, Kumamon stopped using his current attack to switch to another attack. "Frozen Tundra!"

Kumamon turned his body into an icy stalagmite and tried to pierce through the EctoGreymon's chest, hoping that would be enough to reveal its fractal code. Unfortunately, EctoGreymon acted quickly. Despite its maw being sealed by ice, it was able to turn around and slam Kumamon into a wall with its powerful tail.

"Darn it!" Lobomon hissed. He was stuck on the defensive with protecting Labramon, and all he could do was watch as Kumamon fought this thing on his own. "I can't do much like this!"

Kumamon hissed from the wall, his body returning to normal. EctoGreymon then ran forward, charging at Kumamon. Kumemon yelped as EctoGreymon jabbed his horn into Kumamon's body. This horrified Lobomon for a moment, until he saw Kumamon's body dripping like liquid. EctoGraymon's horn stabbed through a liquified body, though that still hurt Kumamon a lot. Kumamon managed to melt himself onto the ground before reforming. But he laid on the ground, badly injured. He didn't look like he could keep fighting.

"L… Lobomon…" Labramon spoke up weakly. "Put… put me… next to… Kumamon…"

Lobomon didn't hesitate to hurry to Kumamon's side to do just that. Using his one free hand to hold up a light saber to block another physical attack from the EctoGreymon.

"What are you planning to do?" Lobomon asked as he kept the EctoGreymon at bay.

"Take care… of him… fight…" Labramon weakly answered. "Keep… fighting."

Lobomon nodded. "I'll see how long I can hold this thing at bay. Just… don't take too long with your plan." He said before turning back to the fight and giving it his full concentration.

EctoGreymon managed to break through the ice around its mouth and let out a roar that sounded echoey and unnatural. It charged at Lobomon with its horns.

Lobomon narrowed his red eyes before he pulled out his second sword and ignited its blade. He then held up his swords in a blocking move and caught the EctoGreymon's charging horn in between his blades.

EctoGreymon was large, and strong. Lobomon was having trouble holding the giant dinosaur back. He was being pushed, his feet being dragged on the ground. Eventually, EctoGreymon lifted up its head and opened its mouth.

"EctoBlast!"

Lobomon's eyes went wide when he saw the massive green flame building up in EctoGreymon's throat, ready to end his entire existence.

"Crystal Breeze!"

From behind Lobomon, a blizzard flew across him, freezing EctoGreymon's mouth in mid-attack. This caused the EctoBlast to explode within itself, making it fall on its back with a shaking THUD.

Shocked, Lobomon turned around, seeing Kumamon, still a bit injured, but fine enough to get back on his feet, standing there. Kumamon had an arm around his stomach, probably the spot where he was impaled earlier.

"T-Thanks…" Lobomon said shakily, having never expected to nearly be blasted to death. "Are… you okay though?"

"Okay enough… to keep fighting…" Kumamon answered, taking a moment to breathe. "Labramon used some kind of… healing move on me… it wasn't enough to… fully heal me… but she healed most… of my biggest injuries."

Lobomon wasn't sure if Kumamon fighting in his current condition was a good idea, but since he needed all the help he could get, he didn't protest Kumamon helping him. But I will keep an eye on Kumamon in case he starts to falter. Then I will take over more directly so he doesn't get hurt worse.

Labramon weakly pushed herself up as she looked up to see the EctoGreymon getting back up, and chomping down on the ice in its mouth. It wasn't over yet.

EctoGreymon let out another echoey, unnatural roar. It charged at the two Legendary Warriors again. Lobomon quickly stood in front of Kumamon, knowing the little bear wasn't going to be able to take another direct hit like that.

C'mon… This had better work… Lobomon thought as he readied for another round of combat. I need a move that can at least do some damage. Howling Laser takes too long to charge. I need a different technique… one that can help me turn this around…

Unknowingly, Lobomon's light swords began to glow slightly as he subconsciously pushed energy into them. I can't let this thing hurt Kumamon or Labramon any further!

Kumamon noticed the swords were becoming brighter. What's going on with Lobomon's swords?

Lobomon's eyes glinted as he then let out a shout and swung his swords, creating two shockwaves of pure light energy that were unleashed from the blades.

This blew back EctoGreymon enough to stop his charging.

"Whoa, what was that, Lobomon?" Kumamon asked, never having seen Lobomon use that move before.

Lobomon blinked as he stared at his swords. "I… I don't know… I just… didn't want you two to get hurt anymore and the next thing I know… My swords were pulsing with energy… and then that shockwave attack…"

"Can… you do that again?" Kumamon asked, seeing that the EctoGreymon was starting to recover from that.

Lobomon looked back at EctoGreymon and frowned. "Maybe… No time like the present to try it." He said as he got ready to fight again. He narrowed his eyes as he concentrated, and to his surprise, he saw his swords were beginning to glow brighter again. A grin formed on Lobomon's lips as he realized that yes, he could do that move again. With another shout, he let loose two more shockwaves of light energy at the EctoGreymon.

EctoGreymon growled at the shockwaves before it jumped up into the sky… and floated.

"It can fly!?" Lobomon realized in shock.

EctoGreymon wobbled unsteadily in the air.

"It's… not used to its powers…" Kumamon also realized.

EctoGreymon growled as it attempted to land on them to crush them.

"Use that shockwave on it now!" Kumamon quickly said, getting an idea.

Despite his wounds, Kumamon began running. He shot out his unspoken Crystal Breeze on the ground, turning most of it to ice. His boots took out his skis as he used the ice to move much faster with little effort.

Without any hesitation, Lobomon once more gathered energy into his swords before he unleashed two more shockwaves at the floating EctoGreymon, this time shouting out the new attack's name. "Howling Shockwave!"

EctoGreymon let out a roar of anger as the shockwaves prevented him from crushing the annoying Legendary Warrior just under him.

Kumemon reached the wall and jumped, melting parts of his hands to stick to the wall and tried climbing it. His wound hurt him, so it slowed him down more than he would've liked. Come on… I have to get up there…

Lobomon kept distracting EctoGreymon as Kumamon reached the top of the wall he was climbing. This may be our best chance.

Labramon looked up, seeing EctoGreymon was losing its patience, and Kumamon on top of the castle just behind it. It might already be too late.

Kumamon used his Crystal Breeze to create an icy ramp. He hoped this would give him the momentum he needed to finish this.

Kumamon took a few steps back, then he ran forward, taking out his skis again as he reached the icy ramp.

However, Lobomon had run low on energy from the time it took Kumamon to get to where he needed to be. He wasn't able to make any more shockwaves, and his blades were running low on power. This pause gave EctoGreymon the time it needed to swipe Lobomon into a wall with its tail.

Lobomon cried out as he hit the wall. The impact left an imprint of his body in the wall, and he felt his chest hurting slightly when he breathed in shallow breaths. Ow…

Kumamon's eyes went wide, seeing the EctoGreymon was opening its maw again for that deadly attack. He had no time to stop it this time, he wasn't going to be able to reach EctoGreymon before it could unleash the deadly attack on Lobomon. Kumamon was already in the air as he reached the edge of the icy ramp.

Lobomon's red eyes went wide as he saw the open maw with the glowing green fireball starting to come out of it.

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. Lobomon almost didn't see it, but something white and pink ran up his shoulder and jumped forward. Lobomon gasped.

"Retriever Bark!" Labramon let out the loudest sounding bark she ever did.

The loud noise broke EctoGreymon's concentration, causing the EctoBlast to go off to the side, barely missing Labramon and Lobomon, hitting, and destroying one of the walls of the castle instead.

"Do it!" Labramon shouted at Kumamon.

Kumamon, relieved to see Labramon just saved Lobomon with that stunt, put everything into this next attack. "Frozen Tundra!"

This time, Kumamon turned his entire body into an icy spear, and shot through EctoGreymon's back, piercing it. EctoGreymon let out an anguished scream as its fractal code began to show on its body, and showing the ectoplasm dripping from it.

Lobomon gritted his teeth as he pushed off the wall and landed on his feet. "So that's… this… ectoplasm, huh?" He hissed out between pain-filled breaths. He staggered forwards, reaching for his D-Tector and taking it off his person. "Time to… purify this thing…"

Kumamon landed on the ground, turning back into his original form, and rolling on the floor. "Ow…"

"Hurry, Lobomon," Labramon said before coughing a bit.

Lobomon nodded as he faced the fractal code of EctoGreymon. "Let the light purify you of this vile ectoplasm!" He said as he pressed the button on the side of his D-Tector, the screen showing the symbol for Light. "Fractal Code… Digitize!" He swung his arm, the scanner latching onto the contaminated fractal code and scanning it. The fractal code began to lose the ectoplasm, and the deed now done, the scanner went dark as Lobomon held his D-Tector to his chest. "Purification, complete!"

Kumamon managed to push himself up to his feet, and saw another fractal code coming out of the EctoGreymon.

"That must be the original corruption from Cherubimon," Labramon realized, already starting to feel better after Lobomon purified the ectoplasm part.

"I'll take care of it," Kumamon spoke up. "I hate it when toys go bad."

Kumamon held out his D-Tector, then he pressed the button on the side of it, the screen showing the symbol for Ice. He began swinging his arm, having the scanner latch onto the fractal code. "Fractal code… Digitize!"

It took about a solid minute for Kumamon's D-Tector to completely purify the contaminated fractal code, but he was soon finished as the rest of the fractal code went into the D-Tector.

Once the purification had been completed, EctoGreymon transformed back into the hundreds of ToyAgumon he was before. Though this time they were in different, bright colors instead of all black.

The world around them finally calmed down. There was no more glitching, no more pieces of data flickering in and out of existence, no more fractal code that shouldn't be showing. There was only physical damage to show that the fight even happened in the first place.

"I think… we returned… those ShadowToyAgumon to… normal…" Lobomon said, grimacing as his free hand moved to his aching chest. "Ow…" Do I… have a broken rib or something…?

"You two should turn back, let your Spirits rest," Labramon suggested in worry.

"Is that safe…? I… rather not… have a hole in my stomach… when I become human again…" Kumamon frowned.

"Trust me, you'll be okay," Labramon answered, seeming confident about that.

Lobomon certainly didn't feel like he could hold his Digimon form any longer. Fractal code surrounded him as he reverted back to his human form. Now as Koji, the boy fell back onto his butt. "Ow… I feel like a walking bruise…"

Kumamon did the same, fractal code surrounded him as he turned back to his own human form. His stomach hurt a little, but there was no visible injury there.

"I'm okay?" Tommy blinked, patting his stomach.

"Yeah… your Spirits take all the damages you suffer," Labramon explained. "You might still feel some phantom pains though. Just let your Spirits rest for a bit, and maybe eat some food to help recover energy faster."

"You look like you're doing better yourself," Koji noted.

"The ectoplasm was what was hurting me. Now that you got rid of it, I'm doing a lot better," Labramon explained.

"How did you know our Spirits took all the damages?" Tommy asked.

"I've done some research," Labramon answered.

Koji sighed. "At least that's some good news… It must take a lot of damage to actually hurt our human forms if what you're saying is true."

Tommy frowned as another thought started to creep into his mind.

"Oh gosh… what happened to us?" The ToyAgumon began asking.

"What happened to our castle!?" Another ToyAgumon shouted.

"Looks like they don't remember much about being ShadowToyAgumon," Labramon noted.

"Wait, what about Takuya? We have to go help him now! Who knows what that bear is doing to him!" Koji spoke up, quickly getting to his feet.

"What about our Spirits? We can't use them now," Tommy spoke up.

"We can't just sit here, he could be hurt from that fight too!" Koji quickly said.

Tommy frowned, but he was worried about Takuya too. "Then let's go see if he's alright."

The three of them quickly ran into the castle, hoping that Takuya would be okay.

---

Meanwhile, in the castle, Takuya saw the glitches had calmed down. Though during the whole thing, Patamon hid himself under a beanbag and refused to come out. Takuya looked out the window, seeing the courtyard looking quite destroyed. But the strange glowing dinosaur was gone, and instead of all black, he saw colorful looking Digimon on the ground.

"W-whoa… What happened? Where did all of these colorful Digimon come from?" Takuya wondered as he stared down at the piles of colorful Digimon.

Takuya shook his head. "Wait… does that mean… Koji and Tommy did it?"

Patamon crawled out from under the beanbag, his fur looking all messy. Though he looked to be normal again. He rubbed his belly warmer as if to make sure it was still there before sighing in relief.

"Oh good… I'm glad that's over," Patamon sighed in relief.

"Yeah, but… what was going on?" Takuya asked as he looked at Patamon. "It was like… the Digital World was coming apart or something."

"Like I was saying. There was too much ectoplasm in the area. The Digital World… and most data in general, can't function properly with ectoplasm. The ectoplasm eats away at normal data, and causes it to unravel. It affects Digimon too, which was why I was…uh, starting to look weird," Patamon explained in more detail now that things had calmed down.

Takuya furrowed his eyes slightly. "Would… Would that happen to us Legendary Warriors in our Digimon forms if we were exposed to ectoplasm like that?"

"That depends. I suppose if you were just facing down a foe with a lot of ectoplasm, you, theoretically, should be fine. Your Spirits are strong, and your humanity keeps you from being too badly affected by the external ectoplasm," Patamon explained. "But ectoplasm is deadly if it somehow gets inside of you, whether you're human or Digimon. Internal ectoplasm could hurt you if not destroy you, so be wary of that."

Takuya frowned a bit. "How do you know so much about ectoplasm anyway? Some of my family lives in a city called Amity Park that is supposedly haunted, but they know so little about this ectoplasm."

Patamon looked surprised by Takuya's comment. "What? … Did you say Amity Park?"

"Yeah?" Takuya replied. "It's a city in my world, so I doubt you'd know anything about it."

"... Who's this family you're talking about?" Patamon asked.

"Um… my aunt Maddie and my Uncle Jack…" Takuya replied. "Why?"

Patamon looked away for a moment, seeming to be quite shocked about something.

"Do you… know them or something?" Takuya asked hesitantly.

Patamon looked back at Takuya. "N-no, no, of course not. I… was just surprised since you… never spoke about your… uh… family before."

"I… didn't really want to because my aunt and uncle are a bit… eccentric to put it nicely." Takuya admitted. "I didn't want to be made fun of because they believe in ghosts and all that."

Patamon looked at Takuya curiously. "You don't… think ghosts are real?"

"It's… a far-fetched thing to prove, and… they're trying to break into another realm altogether." Takuya grumbled. "I've never seen a ghost myself, so how can I believe they are real?"

Takuya… is only 12 years old… so this must be… Patamon frowned. I see… he still has his normal life up until this point.

"Well, stranger things have happened. After all, you're seeing Digimon, and in a whole different world," Patamon replied. "Would it still be that far-fetched for ghosts and a world of ghosts to exist? Heck, maybe someone from your family will be able to turn into a ghost, like how you're able to turn into a Digimon."

Takuya grumbled. "That will be the day." He huffed, folding his arms. "Someone being able to turn into a ghost would be them basically dying. At least according to my aunt and uncle anyway."

"Well… you're… not wrong there," Patamon sighed, rubbing his head. "Do you have anyone else in that family you want to talk about? Maybe… get some stuff off your chest? We might be here for a while."

"I guess." Takuya sighed as well. "I'd rather not have to deal with my older cousin and her… tendency to psycho… err… to analyze me in a mental study. She is so annoying, pretending to be a know-it-all, when she is only a year older than me!"

"Heh… she definitely sounds annoying," Patamon chuckled. "Though, as… Lopmon would usually tell me, she likely does it because she cares a lot. She just… kinda does it a bit too bluntly."

"Tell me about it." Takuya huffed. "I love her, I really do, but her blunt nature can get a bit overbearing at times."

Patamon looked like he wanted to say something, but decided against it. "You said she's the older cousin? Does that mean you have other cousins?"

"Yeah, twins actually." Takuya said with a bit of a fond smile. "They are a year younger than me, and… well… they can be very annoying with their pranks on me."

Patamon covered his mouth as he snorted a little. "Heh… sounds like they're quite the troublemakers."

"Oh yeah, they're pretty scary when they want to be," Takuya said. "Though I haven't seen them since I moved to Japan. The last time I saw them, they were 6 years old. I wonder if they've changed at all over the years."

"Maybe, after all, time has a way of changing things," Patamon said. "Or they could still be the little 6 year old brats who love pranking you. I'm sure they miss you though, and would do what they can to help you if they knew you were in trouble."

"Yeah, I suppose so." Takuya agreed with a chuckle. "But I'd hate for them to be here in this place, with no way to defend themselves."

Patamon gave a small sigh. "Might not have a choice…"

"What?" Takuya asked.

"I mean it would be a bad choice to leave them here, right? At least they're not here," Patamon chuckled before sighing. "... Takuya… do you… regret getting on that train that led you to this world?"

Takuya frowned before he shook his head. "No. I don't." He admitted. "I don't regret it at all."

"I see… Then… do you think it might've been better to have gotten Agunimon's Spirit if you were older?" Patamon asked.

"What? No way. I mean maybe it might've been better if I was older and all that, but the Digital World needs help now, so it's good I got Agunimon's Spirit now," Takuya replied.

"... Yeah, I… can see where you're coming from," Patamon sighed.

Takuya frowned, noticing Patamon's melancholic reaction. "Is there something wrong?"

"Sometimes… reality doesn't work the way we want it to…" Patamon replied.

Takuya blinked in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

Patamon gave a sigh, but didn't give an answer.

---

Koji, Tommy, and Labramon were running up a spiraling stairs. It was quite high.

"We should be getting to the top soon," Koji said.

Labramon frowned in concern before she spoke up. "Wait, if you two are going to fight WaruMonzaemon… maybe you should try to find an alternative way?"

"Why?" Koji asked.

"Look at what his Heart Break Attack did to you and Tommy," Labramon pointed out. Especially Tommy. "I… don't know what will happen if you both get caught up in that again. And this staircase and hallway is too narrow to dodge the attack."

"But where could we go?" Tommy asked. "We don't know this castle very well."

"Not what I meant. I mean isn't there any other way we could handle WaruMonzaemon? Cherubimon wasn't the one who corrupted him, it was the ShadowToyAgumon," Labramon pointed out. "A Digimon that is significantly weaker than Cherubimon."

Tommy blinked. "So you're saying it's possible to purify him without having to fight?"

"Um… It's possible we could defeat WaruMonzaemon without combat. He is a big teddy bear after all." Labramon replied.

"What good will that do? I'm not gonna wrestle him to change him back," Koji huffed.

WaruMonzaemon stood in front of them. "Trespassers aren't allowed."

"Stand down, or we'll have to make you," Koji threatened.

WaruMonzaemon glared back.

Tommy frowned as he looked at WaruMonzaemon. He started to recall more about this bear. He remembered playing with him at some point. While he was still uneasy with WaruMonzaemon, maybe playing with him was the key to helping him. He just wasn't sure if Koji would go with it.

Tommy knew he needed to make a move before Koji did. "Hold on, Koji. Let me try something."

Koji stopped. "What could you possibly have in mind that could work?" He asked, skeptical at best.

"Let the kid do what he needs to, Koji," Labramon spoke up. "He's been helping you this entire time after all."

Koji looked skeptical, but nodded. He wasn't going to protest Tommy's idea, whatever it was. If Tommy was going to do something, he was going to help the kid with his idea.

Tommy stepped forward and looked at WaruMonzaemon. "Do you want to play a game?"

Koji balked. "What?! You want to play a game with him?!"

WaruMonzaemon looked intrigued. "What kind of a game?"

"Do you like playing video games?" Tommy replied, ignoring Koji.

WaruMonzaemon laughed. "I love video games!"

"Do you have a fighting game?" Tommy asked.

"I most definitely do," WaruMonzaemon replied.

"Perfect. We'll play a round of that," Tommy said. "If I win, you let our friends go. If you win, you get to play with us. How does that sound?"

WaruMonzaemon grinned. "Then you'd better get ready to enjoy being my playmates~"

"Tommy, what are you doing?" Koji hissed.

"I know what I'm doing," Tommy replied. "Just trust me. The big guy just wants to play, that's all he ever wanted since we saw him. I think it's about time we let him have what he wants."

Koji didn't like the plan, but at the moment, there weren't any other ideas he could come up with, and fighting this messed up teddy bear in close quarters would be a bad idea. "I don't like this… but if it's the best option we have, we have to do it."

WaruMonzaemon grinned before he gestured Koji, Tommy, and Labramon to follow him to another door, separate from the one where Takuya and Patamon were.

"I have a private playroom right here. This will be where we will fight it out in the game," WaruMonzaemon stated.

"Fine by me," Tommy replied.

"This is a one-on-one duel. Your friends aren't allowed to interfere, if they do, then I win by default," WaruMonzaemon warned.

Tommy nodded. "I understand. Koji, Labramon, just try to watch."

Koji growled, but he did nod. "Okay, but the moment something happens, we're coming in." He promised.

"If WaruMonzaemon tries to cheat or attack me himself, then that's free game for all of us," Tommy answered before he looked at WaruMonzaemon. "After all, if my friends aren't allowed to interfere, then you're not allowed to sabotage me either. This needs to be a fair game after all."

WaruMonzaemon grinned. "Fine by me~ But you won't win either way."

WaruMonzaemon booted up the TV, and turned on the game console. He took one of the controllers, and handed Tommy the second controller.

I hope you really know what you're doing, Tommy. Koji frowned, feeling anxious that he could only wait and watch.

While this was going on, back in the room Takuya and Patamon were, Takuya was bored. He wasn't sure what to do other than wait for Koji, Tommy, and Labramon to find him. He was hoping maybe when Koji and Tommy arrive, they could team up and knock out that annoying teddy bear. But he wondered what was taking them so long.

Patamon looked over at a bookshelf. "Hey, Takuya? Why don't you try reading one of these books to help pass the time?"

"What could these books be?" Takuya asked grumpily. "Most of them are possibly little kids' books."

"Well, you never know, some of those children books could be nostalgia," Patamon replied. "Besides, would you rather be bored out of your mind all day?"

"No." Takuya grumbled before he picked up one of the books. "I guess some little kids books being read is better than being bored."

As Takuya was looking through the books, Patamon knew this was the perfect opportunity to speak to the invisible resident they had here. He flapped his wings to fly up towards the ceiling, and glared at something. His blue eyes glowed green, which allowed him to see the invisible white ragdoll with a nail in its stomach floating there.

"I know you're there," Patamon whispered. "You can't hide from my eyes."

"Awww, you can see me~" The ragdoll snickered back in a whisper of its own. "How cute~"

"You're not a Digimon," Patamon hissed. "Were you the one responsible for summoning that giant, unnatural Greymon earlier?"

"Yes, and no," The ragdoll replied. "I did give the ShadowToyAgumon a gift to use in an emergency. I was hoping they could take out the annoying Labramon who didn't belong here. But alas, they got too hasty, and ended up using the whole vial, which resulted in that unusual Greymon. Not my doing, that was all of their doing."

"But you still gave them that vial in the first place," Patamon replied. "You know how dangerous it is to mix Digimon with ectoplasm, don't you? You could've destroyed this world if the others hadn't been able to stop that Greymon."

"Maybe, though at worst, I would probably get a huge scolding from my boss before they do a full reset to fix the world right now," The ragdoll chuckled. "Oh, by the way, you can call me 'Milk'."

Patamon wanted to make a comment about the name, but decided he had more important things to worry about right now. "You would like a reset, wouldn't you? It would erase all of our hard work."

"And there's a chance you and your annoying, meddling friends would have a much harder time meddling with the… process. The world won't be as generous anymore, you'd be more like us, unable to even be seen by the Legendary Warriors, let alone interact with them," Milk replied. "Oh, but you do still have something like that hovering over you, don't you? Maybe this is actually crueler~"

Patamon felt his fur puffing up. "You're twisted, you know that? Trying to turn those children into something they are not meant to be? That's cruel right there."

"It's not up to me, I'm just trying to do my job," Milk replied. "And how do you know this was not how they're meant to be? They are chosen by the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors. This path that's laid out for them is their true destiny, a destiny you are trying to stop."

"You think that, but it's not." Patamon hissed. "They aren't meant to be what they become due to this… world!"

"Whether you like it or not, you won't stop this progress," Milk hissed back. "You can try all you like, but we're not the only ones you should be worrying about, little boy. The master of this world has a much bigger influence on this place than you or I could ever hope for. You'll only just waste your time and tire yourselves out if you keep going down this road."

"It's something I'd rather do than have the children become what you want them to become!" Patamon hissed in a warning tone. "Now… what've you done with Lopmon? I saw you toss him off of the island from the window."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about him. I'm sure he'll find his way back to you sooner or later," Milk replied. "After all, you're still in the easy going 'tutorial' stage. But that won't last forever. So better enjoy it now while you still can. Perhaps I'll see you later, little boy."

With that ominous message, Milk flew through the ceiling, and flew away from the island altogether. Patamon frowned as the ragdoll left.

That one's going to be trouble… Patamon frowned.

"Patamon? What are you doing up there?" Takuya asked.

Patamon looked down before he descended and landed. "Was letting my wings stretch out since I've been here for a while now."

Takuya blinked. "Okay… If you say so." He said before looking back at the books. "It's kinda weird to be 12 years old and reading books for first graders and stuff to be honest."

Patamon looked at the pile of books for a moment before he sensed some familiar data nearby. He gave a smile. "Forget about the books. I think our friends are nearby."

"Huh?" Takuya blinked. "R-really?" He was beginning to feel a bit excited and relieved at the chance of a rescue.

Patamon ran over to the door and opened it up. "WaruMonzaemon's not here… I wonder if they're fighting him right now?"

Takuya headed over to the door himself, then he heard what sounded like shouting coming from another door nearby.

"Come on! You need to get back up!" Koji's voice shouted.

"If only I could heal you…" Labramon spoke up.

"Take that!" WaruMonzaemon's voice shouted.

"No! Quit kicking me! Ugh!" Tommy's voice yelled in distress.

"Uh oh…" Takuya gulped. "I think… they're in trouble…"

Patamon looked up at Takuya. "Well, what are you waiting for? An invitation? You're a Legendary Warrior too!"

Takuya's face became serious as he nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He agreed. "Let's go back the others up!"

Takuya rushed towards the door where he heard the fighting. He shoved it open, ready to Spirit Evolve, but he stopped short when he saw Tommy sitting in front of a TV, holding a game controller, laughing. While WaruMonzaemon… or rather, former WaruMonzaemon, who was now back in his yellow, less scary looking form, was sitting beside Tommy holding another game controller. What else was surprising was Koji and Labramon, mostly Koji. Koji was sitting next to Tommy, watching the game with intensity, something Takuya never thought he would see, especially after Koji kept getting fed up with Tommy's childish antics.

"Alright! That's it! I win!" Tommy cheered as he fit bumped the air.

"Aww, you managed to defeat me at the last second. Way to go, little friend," Monzaemon said in a good nature way.

"You came pretty close there, but dang, you play better than most kids I see at the arcade," Koji complimented.

"Yeah, way to go, Tommy!" Labramon smiled, wagging her tail.

"Um… What's going on here?" Takuya blinked, confused as heck. "Why are you guys playing video games?"

"Hey Takuya, hey Patamon!" Tommy greeted. "Well, I just won your freedom!"

"And WaruMonzaemon seemed to have turned into Monzaemon during the game," Koji noted, which surprised him.

"I apologize for kidnapping you earlier," Monzaemon apologized to Takuya. "But when this little boy decided to play with me, I remembered my true self, and became me again. I had a lot of fun playing."

Tommy blushed when Monzaemon began rubbing his head, even though he had a hat on. In a way, it also helped him, because after playing with Monzaemon, that uneasy feeling he had around Monzaemon finally went away.

"So you… just needed to be played with?" Takuya asked, still a bit confused. "I… guess that works…" Huh… I guess there are ways to purify Digimon without fighting them after all…

"Don't expect it to be this easy with other Digimon," Koji spoke up. "The only reason this worked was because Monzaemon was corrupted by the ShadowToyAgumon, not Cherubimon. So it was easy to get him to return to his normal state."

Takuya grumbled. "You always have to point out the worst case scenarios, don't you?" He huffed.

"Heh, well even so, sometimes it takes a young child to help someone. Being able to just be a kid can be good too, and help remind those who need it to take a break every once in a while," Labramon said before she looked at Koji. "Right, Koji?"

"Whatever…" Koji huffed, not wanting to admit he had been pushing himself, and the others, a bit too hard lately.

"You see, Takuya? Fighting isn't always the answer," Patamon chuckled. "Though I suppose this might be one of the few exceptions. There could be more in the future, so try to keep an open mind about it."

Takuya nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." He replied. "But hopefully we won't encounter any Digimon like that for a while."

"Are you okay though?" Tommy asked Takuya.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Waru- well, Monzaemon didn't treat me bad or anything. The only time I got hurt was trying to fight him to escape, didn't work out so well," Takuya answered sheepishly.

"We figured it'd be difficult to fight him in such a narrow hallway," Koji said.

"But what about you guys? I couldn't see the fight that well from the window, but Patamon and I saw you fighting with that big, green monster earlier," Takuya pointed out.

"Honestly, that fight took a lot out of us, we probably won't be able to Spirit Evolve for a little while," Koji answered. "Tommy got impa-"

"We had some trouble, but we were able to purify it, returning the ToyAgumon to normal," Tommy interrupted, not wanting Koji to tell Takuya how he got impaled as Kumamon.

Koji scowled at Tommy. "Why try to downplay what happened? We can't hide it forever."

"Hush," Tommy hissed back.

Takuya blinked, feeling like he was missing something.

Patamon cleared his throat. "Well, now that we're altogether, we should find a way off this island."

"Wait, what about Lopmon?" Tommy asked. "We haven't found him yet, have we?"

"Lopmon fell off of the island," Patamon revealed. "I saw him fall, but his ears should allow him to land safely somewhere."

"Huh?!" Tommy, Labramon, and Koji all gasped.

"Then we need to find where he landed!" Koji said seriously. "Who knows where he could be right now!"

"He shouldn't be out there alone…" Tommy frowned.

"Don't worry, guys, we'll find him, I promise," Takuya spoke up. "He's our friend too."

"Well, then we better see if we can find a way off of this island," Labramon spoke up.

"Monzaemon, do you know how to get off of this island?" Tommy asked.

"I think the ToyAgumon should be able to fly you down on one of their airplanes," Monzaemon answered.

"I don't know about this…" Koji said nervously. "But… if we have to find Lopmon, then we should go for it. I just hope these airplanes are not going to fall apart on us…"

"Don't worry, this island is being carried by one of the airplanes right now," Monzaemon assured. "The planes don't break easily."

"I didn't need to know that…" Koji groaned. We're being held up by ONE airplane!?

"Come on, we should go before Koji has a heart attack," Labramon sweatdropped. "Hopefully while we look for Lopmon, we'll find the others too."

"Agreed." Takuya replied. "I hope this won't backfire on us."

Everyone headed outside of the castle. They saw some damages as they were moving, most likely from the battle with EctoGreymon. Tommy just hoped he could keep himself together until they found everyone. He had been putting everything into the back of his mind to keep himself from freaking out and asking questions he may not want the answers to.

Labramon needed to tell Patamon about this development with Tommy, but they needed to wait until they could talk in private.

When they reached the exit, they saw Pandamon standing in front of the ToyAgumon.

"There you are," Pandamon said. "The ToyAgumon are now all back to normal, thanks to you. We'll probably be spending a long time rebuilding the castle and this courtyard, but we couldn't be happier."

"That's right, we owe you kids for saving us from Cherubimon's corruption," One of the ToyAgumon said, and Labramon wondered if that was the same one who had the vial of ectoplasm earlier.

"We just did what we had to do." Koji replied. "We weren't going to let this world fall apart because of some stupid evil Digimon."

"We're just glad that you're all okay," Tommy said.

"Hey, since you're here, could one of you help us get down from this island?" Patamon requested.

"Of course, we can do that easily." The ToyAgumon smiled.

"Then let's go." Takuya said. "We need to find a friend of ours, and we'd rather not wait around."

"Of course, follow me," The ToyAgumon said.

---

Takuya, Patamon, Tommy, Koji, and Labramon were sitting on the back of a huge airplane. The ToyAgumon was sitting on the pilot seat, taking off into the air.

"Whoa, this is so cool!" Tommy smiled. "So this is what it's like to fly!"

"Yeah, it's really amazing, isn't it?" Patamon grinned.

"Even more so when you're able to see it for yourself," Labramon agreed.

"I do have to ask, Tommy, how come you weren't scared?" Takuya asked.

"I'm not scared of flying," Tommy replied.

"I meant with WaruMonzaemon. You seemed really uneasy with him before," Takuya pointed out.

"Well, at first I was pretty uneasy with him. I just had a feeling he might be evil for some reason," Tommy admitted. "But then I realized that he only wanted to play. He may be an Ultimate Digimon, but he seems to have the mind of a child just wanting a friend to play with."

"I guess…" Takuya sighed. "But… Why would you think he was evil? Did… something happen or something?"

"I… don't really know… I seem to have two different memories of Monzaemon… among other things," Tommy answered, frowning a little.

"Two different memories?" Patamon frowned.

Labramon looked over at Patamon. "I'll… tell you more later."

Takuya blinked before frowning in confusion. "That's… quite odd… Why would you have two sets of memories?"

"I don't know… I think it might be…" Tommy began before pausing.

"Might be what?" Koji asked.

Tommy shook his head. "We should wait until we find the others. I don't want this to be on our minds until then."

"Probably a good idea," Labramon agreed, also not wanting Takuya and Koji to think about this either as that could potentially make things worse.

"Hey, if you look down, you can see the TV Forest from here," ToyAgumon spoke to them. "I can land you guys somewhere close to it if you'd like."

"Landing close to TV Forest would be a good idea." Takuya said. "This way we can find a place to rest after that."

Takuya wasn't sure what Tommy meant by having two sets of memories, he hoped Tommy was alright though. But they did need to focus on finding the others as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Zoe, Biyomon, Kokuwamon, and JP were riding on a log that was taking them across the river.

"If we weren't too tired to Spirit Evolve, we'd fly out of here…" Zoe grumbled.

"Let's just hope this river takes us to land soon… I don't do well with water," Kokuwamon sighed.

"We need a place to rest, and this river leads who knows where." JP grumbled as well. "It had better not lead us off a waterfall or something."

"The stream isn't strong enough for a waterfall right now anyways, so we should be good…" Biyomon said.

Suddenly, they heard a splash nearby.

"What was that?" Biyomon asked, looking around.

"I think something's swimming in the water," JP pointed out.

They saw a shadow swimming towards them.

"It's not a dangerous Digimon, is it?" Zoe nervously asked.

"I hope not…" Biyomon gulped. "But I don't know what Digimon that could be just by the shadow alone…"

"It's getting closer, we better prepare ourselves in case it's hostile," Kokuwamon warned.

The group nervously watched as the shadow got closer and closer, until it reached the leg they were drifting on. Then a small pink and brown arm came out of the water, grasping onto the log, before pulling up a familiar face.

"Hey… guys? A little help here…" Lopmon spoke up, holding onto the log.

JP grabbed Lopmon by one of his paws and pulled him up onto the log. "What are you doing here?" He asked Lopmon in concern.

Lopmon took a moment to breathe in some air before answering. "I ended up falling here, I guess. I was on a floating island, and I… fell from it. I used my ears to glide across the world, and I guess the wind took me here."

"You… fell from a floating island?" Zoe blinked. "Where… Where would this island be?"

"Somewhere way back there," Lopmon answered before shaking his head. "Wait, can't you two just Spirit Evolve and fly there? Why are we riding on a log?"

"Everyone's too tired and hungry to use their powers right now," Kokuwamon explained. "That fight with Grumblemon didn't exactly leave us all healthy."

"So we've been kinda stuck here, drifting for a while," Biyomon added.

"I was thinking about trying to catch a fish, but I doubt any fish would come near us as long as we're moving on this log," JP sighed.

"Great…" Lopmon sighed as well. "Well, we should be getting close to shore, I saw it while I was descending here."

"Anything is better than just drifting around on this log." Zoe grumbled. "I will be so glad to be walking on solid ground again."

"Have you seen the others while you were on that island?" Biyomon asked.

"Not really. I think they did land on that island though," Lopmon answered.

"Then that could be the first place for us to look… once we get our strength back," Zoe said.

After a few more minutes of drifting, they finally came up on shore in the shallows. The group pulled themselves out of the water, walking up onto the grassy land.

"Is that a field of sunflowers?" Lopmon blinked, looking at the tall sunflowers ahead of them.

"Obviously it is." JP noted. "Who knew they could get this tall in the Digital World?"

"Oh great, so we have to go through a field of sunflowers? We could get lost in there…" Kokuwamon groaned.

"Don't be such a pushover," Biyomon grumbled. "We should try, we might be able to find some kind of help. Someone's gotta be growing these, right?"

"I guess only one way to find out," Zoe said.

Lopmon gave a sigh. He hadn't expected to land where Zoe and JP were. He wondered if that was even a coincidence at all, or if someone manipulated the winds to take him here for whatever reason. Either way, he was stuck with them for now, he might as well help them find a way back to the others, and then try to figure out what to do from there. I just hope we don't get attacked by another one of those sabotagers before then.

---

Titanic X: ZAFT: Glad you think this is getting interesting. XD

DarkFoxKit: I don't have much to say, sorry.