Author notes: Okay, I'm am officially a sad human being. I started out as Ash, the Animorph author. Then it was Star Wars, then Pokemon and now this. My first Digimon fanfiction. Where will it end? Heh, heh, good question. Anyway, I got hooked on Digimon about a year and half after I started watching Pokemon. At the beginning, I was pretty much under the impression that would be indeed, "Poke-Spawn". Fortunately, I found that I was mostly wrong. Sure, with a name like "Digimon" with evolving monsters and non-such it can be a bit misleading but the plot is pretty damn different. I like the show mostly because I think the animation kicks arse and the characters are pretty groovy. So here's the fic. Try not to kill me for it (; Also bear with me, when I started working on this I hadn't seen more then 10 episodes of Digimon so I'm still trying to figure stuff out and It may not be up to date when it comes to the plot of the show.

Disclaimer; Matt, Tai and all other characters and monsters of Digimon, do not belong to me. Actually, I'm not exactly sure who they belong to but they ain't mine.

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Tai Kamiya lifted himself to his full height as he glared with angry contempt into his opponent's eyes. "It's not my fault we're lost!"

The other smirked, a mixture of coolness and untouchable arrogance crossing his face, "You're the leader! Now correct me if I'm wrong, but that involves YOU leading US. And YOU lead US in the wrong direction!"

"So," Tai spat, clenching his fists to his sides, "Are you going to blame me for everything? Is it my fault that the sky is blue? Or maybe you want to blame me for the grass being green! Hell, while we're at it, why don't you blame me for getting stuck in this stupid world in the first place!"

The boy standing across from him suddenly nodded in distinct agreement, "At least then I'd know who to kill!"

Tai growled and suppressed the urge knock that cocky grin of his nemesis' face . Why did he always have to do this? Everything Tai did he'd be there to contradict. Everything Tai said he took as a personal vendetta. What did Tai have to do to impress him?... Beat the next 300 foot tall evil Digimon with his bare hands? Tai was beginning to think so.

"Oh, gimme a break you two! Can't you get along for an hour without arguing?" Came the voice of Sora Takenouchi from the nearby fire where the rest of the Digidestined children were seated.

"No!" Came the boys' reply in an almost synchronized unison.

Sora rolled her eyes, "Thought as much." She said. Then she turned back to the fire in defeat. It was a lost cause anyway. Trying to stop the two from fighting was like trying to stop the sun from setting.

Tai shot a long, agitated look at his opponent. Yamato "Matt" Ishida. Matt pretty much considered himself the walking monument of cool. Ever since he and the other kids had been thrown into the DigiWorld, Matt had made it his quest not to listen to a word that Tai said. Tai was pretty sure that Matt wouldn't really care too much if Tai happened to conviently fall off a cliff or something to that facsimile...as long as it didn't involve his younger brother T.K. Who, it seemed, was the only one Matt even care about.

Matt tossed a hand in the air to put an end to their disagreement, "Not worth it anyway." He said and went to take a seat beside T.K, who was contently playing with his Patamon.

Tai let out his breath in a long hiss, the tenseness of the confrontation rushing from his body. Tai suddenly felt very tired. The group had risen early that morning and had started to walk. And walk. And walk some more. And just to be careful, they walked even more. They'd walked so far that Tai didn't even know where they were anymore.

"Tai, why don't you come join us?" Izzy asked, looking up from his computer long enough to cast his friend an almost worried glance.

"Nah," Tai replied, "I think I'll go for a walk. I need some time to think."

Sora smiled, "You okay Tai?"

"Yeah, fine. Why wouldn't I be? I'm just perfect."

"If you say so, Tai."

Tai turned his head to gaze into the forest at the edge of their tiny campsite, "No, seriously, I think I'll go take a look around. ‘See if I can find anything that will help us figure out where exactly we are."

"You're going alone?" Tai's Digimon, Agumon, asked nervously.

Tai shrugged, "Why not? I'm a big boy, I can take care of myself."

"Just like with Shellmon right?" Matt said, voice laced heavily with sarcasm.

Tai gave Matt a withering stare, "Shut up Matt."

Agumon looked up at his partner, "Matt's right, Tai. You shouldn't go off by yourself. If you meet up with an evil Digimon, you'll have no way to defend yourself. If you go, I'm going with you."

Tai smiled at his small Digimon friend. Agumon was more protective of him then Tai's own mother. And Tai needed the protection, trouble seemed to follow him wherever he went. "Sure, Agumon. You can come."

Boy and Digimon turned and walked into the heavy forest without even sending a glance back at their friends. Tai had his own reasons for leaving. Getting away from Matt being very high on that list. Tai DID need to think though. As the leader of the small mismatched group, it didn't take him long to realize that it came with a lot of responsibility. Responsibility wasn't exactly something Tai was used to. He was just a kid, he couldn't save the world!

"Tai?" Agumon's voice asked from behind him.

"Yeah, Agumon?"

"Are you okay?"

"Fine. Why?"

"You're running."

Tai stopped in his tracks, as he realized he was, indeed, running, "Oh."

Tai let out a long sigh and leaned heavily against a nearby tree. It was finally happening. The stress was getting to him. This was too much to handle. Tags and crests and evil monsters who wanted to kill him...this was WAY too much. He needed out.

"Tai?" Agumon asked again.

Tai blinked, "WHAT?" He roared, his voice so violent that it even surprised him. Agumon recoiled, frightened, and then looked up at his partner with utter shock. Tai ran his hands through his hair and sunk to the ground.

"I'm sorry Agumon," He said, gazing over to his surprised Digimon, "I'm just tired. The whole walk here, us getting lost, Matt yelling at me...I'm just kind of losing it."

Agumon gave his friend a sidelong look, " I couldn't tell."

Tai sighed loudly, closing his eyes, "I'm really sorry."

Agumon leaned forward to pat his friend gently on the knee, "Hey, it's alright. You just miss home. It's understandable."

Tai wrapped his arms around his knees and silently put his head on top, "How did I ever end up here?"

"You never felt like you were destined for something great, Tai?" Agumon asked, walking over to take a seat beside his partner.

"You're kidding right?"

Agumon opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then closed it again, staring suspiciously at the forest around them. Tai felt a chill run through him. Agumon only got like this when there was something bad hanging around.

"Agumon? What is it?" Tai asked, nervously, "Is it a Digimon?"

Agumon shook his head in reply, "No. I don't think so. It's something else..."

Without even thinking, Tai shot to his feet. He didn't know what was out there, but he and Agumon were all alone and as much as he would put all the confidence in the world on his Digimon friend, Tai wasn't sure how good their odds would be against an evil Digimon without the back up of the others. "We should go back. Personally, I don't want to meet up with whoever is out there."

"Good plan." His friend replied, already heading off in the general direction of their campsite. The only thing that stopped the Digimon was the realization that the boy he had been sworn to protect was no longer behind him.

Tai stood perfectly still, frowning noticeably at the air around him , "What is that?" The boy asked.

"What's what?"

"That smell..." Tai said, a yawn stretching across his face, "It's making me kind o' sleepy..."

Shock rippled through Agumon's mind, like a stone thrown into a calm pond and the Digimon ran quickly back to his friend who had sunk slowly to the ground, "Tai no! Don't inhale that! Tai, you can't fall asleep. Do you hear me?"

Tai curled up against the tree, fighting his heavy eyelids to no avail, "I'm...just...so...tired."

"TAI!" Agumon cried, taking Tai by the shirt and violently shaking him, "Don't give in!"

Tai's eyes gently closed as he fell asleep in his Digimon's arms, "Can't..."

Agumon looked down at his sleeping friend with rising dread. He knew what was out there now. And if he didn't do something soon they'd both be dead.

Clutching Tai tighter, Agumon lifted his head in outright defiance. He had been assigned to protect Tai and he was damn well going to do it. Even if it involved going up against *him*

"Well," Agumon called, "Are you out there?"

Agumon didn't receive an answer. Just the rustling of leaves and the long, whistling of the wind through the trees. That was answer enough. He *was* out there. Agumon could feel it. Could feel it in every bone in his body. It terrified him like a nightmare come real.

The Digimon looked down at the Digidestined human lying in his arms and knew the evitable was going to happen. There was no stopping it. There was no stopping *him*.

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"NO! TAI!" Matt cried as he shot up from the nightmare plaguing him. His eyes instinctively trailed their way to his younger brother T.K and Matt was relieved to find that the boy was still curled up beside him, his Patamon asleep on his head.

But after making sure T.K was safe and sound, Matt found himself looking over the other children sleeping peacefully around the fire. Matt didn't know why he did it. Why should he care about the others anyway?

Matt didn't exactly know the answer but it had never stopped him from taking a once over of all the Digidestined kids whenever he woke up. Matt's blue eyes went silently around the circle going from human to Digimon and back again.

T.K....Joe ...Sora ...Mimi. ..Izzy, who sat on guard...

Tai? Where was Tai?!

Memory hit Matt as he remembered the boy had went off walking in the woods after yet another argument and hadn't returned yet. Matt's nightmare took that instant to come flooding back and the blonde boy couldn't stop from gasping in horror.

"You alright Matt?" Izzy asked, in a sleepy voice from his post on the other side on the fire.

"Yeah, fine," Matt replied quickly, "Um, has Tai come back yet?"

Izzy frowned, creases of worry forming on his forehead, "No. I'm sure he's okay though. Agumon's with him."

Matt struggled to keep his voice at an indifferent tone, "Who said I cared?"

Izzy shrugged, "You shouldn't be so hard on Tai, he's trying you know. It isn't exactly easy to be a leader."

"Yeah, well, it's not rocket science either." Matt retorted sarcastically.

Izzy lifted his eyebrows in an expression he usually acquired when he was trying to figure something out. "It's almost morning. Someone's going to have to go look for Tai..."

"Are you insinuating something Izzy?"

"Yes," Izzy said, lowering his eyes to rapt at his computer once more, "You're the one who scared Tai away, so I think you should go look for him."

"And who put you in charge?"

"Somebody has to take Tai's place, and as you said, it isn't rocket science." Izzy answered, shrugging.

Somewhere between the haunting nightmare and general premonition of wrongness that was ringing through his head, Matt found himself agreeing.

"I knew you would." Came a voice behind him.

Matt's head swung around to find that his Digimon, Gabumon, was wide awake and watching the conversation through covert eyes. Now those eyes held what could only have been pride. To Gabumon, it was progress. A few weeks ago Matt wouldn't have listened to a word Tai Kamiya said, but now he was going off into the forest to save the kid. Matt could see why Gabumon was proud, the others would think he'd gone nuts.

Before turning off into the forest, Matt turned to Izzy, a small blush running onto his face, "Uh, Izzy...can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, Matt."

"Can you, uh, just keep an eye on T.K while I'm gone? Y'know... Make sure the kid doesn't do anything stupid? My mom would kill me if he didn't come back in one piece." Matt said, his words stumbling over themselves. He hated showing weakness. Especially when it came to T.K. But Matt wasn't going to go galloping off into the forest unless he knew that there was SOMEONE watching out for his brother. Matt would have left Gabumon, but something told him that he was going to need his Digimon for this adventure.

Izzy, thankfully, just nodded in understanding, "Of course Matt. We will all look out for him. Don't worry."

Shocked, Matt found himself smiling, "I won't," Then he gestured to his Digimon to follow, "C'mon Gabumon, let's go find leader-boy before he gets himself killed."

Izzy watched as Matt and his Digimon partner disappeared into the trees and sighed. He hoped at least, that when Matt went in, he'd actually come out. The last thing everyone needed was to find out that Tai and Matt were...uh, gone.

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"TAI!" Matt called, his voice echoing through the thick trees, "HEY TAI!!! Where are you?"

Nothing.

"TAICHI KAMIYA!!! YO TAICHI?! You out there?" Matt tried again, listening intently for any sign of life in the pretty much dead forest.

"Where could they be?" Gabumon asked, already worried, even though they had only started their search an hour or so ago. "We should have found them by now."

"Hey Taiiiiiiiiiii! If you don't come out I guess *I'll* have to be leader!" Matt taunted, trying to coax the boy out... wherever he may be. "That ought to do it."

Again, all they were greeted with was the quiet of the denseness around them. He hated to admit it, but Matt was getting worried. Sure, it seemed as though he hated Tai with an all consuming passion, but truthfully, he thought Tai was a good kid and didn't wish any harm on him at all. It was Matt that was the problem, not Tai. Matt had always been somewhat anti-social. He didn't deal with relationships of any kind very well. And here was Tai, a poor kid just trying to make nice with him and all he could do was shoot him down.

Matt hadn't really understood what he had been doing to Tai until the night before. As Matt had stood across from younger boy, locked once more in a deadly glare of contempt, he saw that the things he said actually HURT Tai. Matt kept forgetting that even though Tai could have an ego that rivaled the size of a small planet, Tai was just a little kid and words could injure him just like anyone else. Matt needed to unload all his held up bitterness on someone and Tai always seemed to be lucky one to feel his wraith. It really shouldn't be that way though, Izzy WAS right. Tai *did* try.

With a renewed sense of purpose, Matt yelled out again, "Taichi! Answer me! Please!"

Gabumon frowned and sniffed the air, "Odd."

"What?"

"No, it couldn't be..."

"WHAT is it?"

"It's trouble. Big trouble, that's what it is." His Digimon answered, eyes sweeping around in alarm.

"Well, there's a good sign. It means Tai can't be far off." Matt said, feeling the fear rising from deep down inside him at the strange tone of his friend's voice.

"I think you're right, Matt," Gabumon said, pointing a large paw to the nearby tree at the edge of their view, where a barely visible tuft of brown hair was peeking up over the massive roots.

Relief flooded through Matt like wild fire, "It's Tai!"

Running over to the tree, Matt leapt over the tree's low branches and gazed down at Tai who was fast asleep up against the trunk. Matt sighed. He'd gotten all worried and Tai was out here SLEEPING the entire time?

"This isn't good." Gabumon said, looking at Tai with barely controlled concern.

"Why not?" Matt asked, "We found the dunce. He came out here and fell asleep. Go figure."

"This isn't natural, Matt."

"Tai being stupid enough to fall asleep in the middle of strange forest isn't natural? He he he, Now that's a matter of opinion." Matt answered.

"So where's Agumon?"

"Good question."

"Matt, Agumon wouldn't leave Tai alone and vulnerable like this if the world was coming to an end. You see those two. They're inseparable. Agumon has vows, it's his job and his life to protect Tai. He wouldn't just abandon him. I'm afraid something has happened." Gabumon replied, with an expression that told Matt that his Digital partner knew something that he didn't. Matt hated the feeling.

Matt knelt down and pulled Tai up, shaking him by the shoulders, "Hey, Tai, rise and shine. You can't sleep all day."

Tai didn't even flinch under Matt's assault, "Hello TAI! WAKE UP!" Matt screamed in the younger man's ear, then, realizing that Tai wasn't opening his eyes, frowned deeply, "Tai?"

"Like I said before," Gabumon said in a sober tone, "This isn't natural."

"I think I'm beginning to agree with you," Matt said, "C'mon, let's pick up sleeping beauty here and get back to the others, I'm not in the mood to be a snack for some half-crazy Digimon out for an easy meal."

Matt sparred a long look at Tai and then turned to Gabumon, his Digital partner just shrugged, "I'm afraid I'm too small to carry anything as big as Tai."

"Yeah, I'm sure you are," Matt agreed sarcastically as he bent down and scooped the sleeping boy over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "Oi. Tai, man, you need to lay off the burgers."

Once Tai was secured somewhat comfortably, Matt nodded to Gabumon, "Onward and forward!" Then he frowned, "Uh, which way did we come from?"

"I think we came from a northerly direction." Gabumon replied.

Matt gestured wildly with his free hand, "And which way is north?"

His Digimon frowned, "You don't know which way north is?"

"I come from the Suburbs. The only direction I know is the way to the nearest McDonald's." Matt answered.

"What's a McDonald's?"

"Ah! Never mind! Can we go? Tai weighs a tonne."

"Alright...alright...I believe we came from over there." Gabumon replied, gesturing with a paw to the clearing in the nearby trees. "If we leave now we should get back by---"

"Back by when Gabumon?" Matt asked, turning his back to look at his friend...only to realize that Gabumon was no longer behind him. Matt's mouth fell into a deep frown, fear fluttering in his stomach. "Uh, Gabumon?"

Where was he? His Digimon was just here! He couldn't have just disappeared off the face of the planet in two seconds! "Gabumon? Where'd you go? C'mon, this isn't funny. Come out!"

Matt's heart leapt when there was no reply. First Agumon and now Gabumon...What was next? Actually, Matt had a pretty good idea. This was bad. This was very, very bad.

Unfortunately, Matt didn't have enough time to contemplate his predicament, because suddenly it was if the ground beneath him had given away and both he, and the still sleeping Tai, plummeted into the darkness. The last thing Matt saw before the black took him was the sun disappearing permanently from his view.

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Someone was calling his name. Tai knew he needed to wake up but he was just so tired...

Images slowly flooded through his vision...A dark room. Torches lit up along the walls. The end of the room held a creature that seemed to have surfaced from hell itself. It was speaking to him...Tai couldn't quite make out what it was saying but terror was slowly swelling in him as the monster crossed the room towards him. It was then that Tai realized he wasn't alone. Matt stood beside him, blue eyes shining in fear as he gazed upon the huge Digimon.

Tai felt himself step forward, compelled by the same senseless courage that drove him through all aspects of life. The creature sneered at him and raised a massive claw.

"Now, Taichi Kamiya, Guardian Of Courage...You will die." It said, voice booming and echoing through the empty room.

Tai looked around for Agumon and saw his friend in the corner. But it didn't feel like Agumon...there was something...different. "Agumon! Help me!"

Agumon made no move to help Tai. He just stood with nonchalant eyes as Tai faced his death. The monster let out a long wave of energy that sent Tai sprawling to his knees, and as the boy lifted his gaze in horror, he watched the claw descend towards him. Tai squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the inevitable to happen.

Suddenly he heard someone cry out his name, and felt his body suddenly shoved violently across the room, Tai looked on as Matt took the hit full on and flew into the wall like a broken toy.

"NO!!! MATT!" Tai cried, running to the older boy's side. "God, Matt...Why'd ya do that?"

"To save your life, you idiot," Matt replied weakly, "I guess you owe me one..."

Matt was dying. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. Tai drastically tried to remember his first aid training. NO! This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. He was the leader, *he* should have died, not Matt. Matt needed to live. Matt needed to take care of T.K. This was all Tai's fault.

"Matt, you can't die on me." Tai begged.

"I don't think I've got much choice in the matter...Tai..." Matt whispered, "Someone's gotta watch out for T.K...Tai, promise me you'll look out for him..."

"I promise...I swear...Matt DON'T DIE ON ME! PLEASE!"

But nothing Tai could say would bring the older back to the realm of the living. Matt's blue eyes rolled back in his head, and his body went limp. Tai felt a single tear run down his face as Yamato Ishida died. And somewhere deep in his mind, a familiar chorus of voices sang the same words over and over...

Your fault...Your fault...Your fault...

"MATT! NO!"

Tai's eyes flew open and he found himself gazing into a huge mass of blonde hair. Very familiar blonde hair... These were followed by a pair of blue eyes and a mouth caught up in a permanent smirk. Matt was alive!

"He lives." Matt said sarcastically. Then he frowned, "Bad dream?"

Tai nodded, trying to keep a straight face despite warring emotions , "You could say that." Tai then took the time to look around. Matt seemed to be the only other person there. ‘There' being some weird underground tunnel.

"Where are we?" Tai asked.

Matt shrugged and helped the younger man up, "Your guess is as good as mine. Basically, I found you taking a nap in the middle of the forest and then we fell down this oh, so conveniently placed hole, got knocked out for God-only-knows how long and here we are."

"Where are the Digimon?"

"No idea. One minute they were here. The next they were gone."

"Hunh. Surprise, surprise. Can this get any better?"

"Why Tai, Is that a hint of sarcasm I hear from you?"

"No, I'm just stating the obvious. The obvious being that this really sucks." Tai answered, surveying farther down the tunnel.

Matt followed his gaze, "Can't go back up the hole, so that looks like our only option."

Tai nodded, and began to make his way down the tunnel, "Only one option...Why do I get the distinct impression we're being set up for something?"

Matt almost smiled at this, "That's the great thing about one option, we're going to find out."

"That's encouraging."

"So," Matt said, as they continued down the hallowed out path, "You want to...uh, tell me about that dream you just had?"

Tai blinked in shock, Matt actually wanted to talk about this with *him*?, "Ur, it was nothing...Just the usual ‘evil Digimon out to kill us all' type of a dream. Nothing special...Why?"

Matt looked away, eyes distant, "You yelled my name."

Tai tried to hide the surprise on his face, "Oh. I just...well...uh, listen, it was nothing. Just a nightmare. Forget it, okay?"

Matt shrugged, "Whatever."

Trying to dispel the tension, Tai pointed to the upcoming wall, "Look a door!" He cried, running ahead to pull it carefully open. Peering inside, all he saw was darkness.

Matt walked up beside him, "Well, you going in? Or are we going to stand here and wait for someone to dig us out?"

Tai scowled and stepped inside, followed directly by Matt, who tried to penetrate the darkness by squinting.

"I can't see a thing in here..." Matt said, just as the door slammed shut behind them. Tai ran to it and pulled the handle only to find it locked. He conveyed this to Matt by a loud groan.

"This was a great...hunh?" Lights magically flicked on in the room and Tai hit the floor. What was that? There was millions of them!

Tai heard Matt laugh, "Tai, you look like an idiot, get up."

Tai lifted his head to look up and found that the millions of people and killer Digimon he thought he saw were in reality, his own reflection. Matt laughed even harder at the younger man's expression, "It's a hall of mirrors."

Tai flinched, "Gah! I hate these things. When I was young, a psycho carnival clown thought it'd be fun to lock me in one at the fair. They still give me the creeps."

Matt rolled his eyes, "Tai, they're just mirrors."

"Yea, lotsa, lotsa mirrors." Tai answered, "What's it doing down here anyway?"

"Maybe that clown of yours was actually a Digimon."

"Hah, hah, real funny. Let's just get out of here. I'm sick of looking at myself already."

"Maybe *you* are. But just look at this hair!"

"Now you're pushing it."

Matt headed off into the mirrors. The one million reflections of him all laughing at Tai. "C'mon, this is just getting fun!" He called, disappearing around the corner.

"Yeah, some fun." Tai said under his breath as he trudged after the other boy. *************************************************************************************************

Coming up soon in part two...More sarcasm! And do you really think this peace will last? It's Matt and Tai, people come on! Plus, what DID happen to Gabumon and Agumon...*g* Only time will tell... *evil laugh* ‘Til next time, my fellow DigiDestined (; Peace+luv; Ash