I have returned! Cue dramatic lightning strike :3 for cereal though I am sorry for my absence. All typical author excuses apply: busy with work, uni, life etc. as well as writers block :/ so not fun. Unfortunately this is not the long promised Ishitikai sequel...it is in production I swear! I'm just not ready to publish it yet whereas this little work wouldn't let me rest until I finished it. This work is MOSTLY finished so I'll post a chapter every few days or whenever I can access a computer (surprisingly difficult in my homestead). As per description this is a yaoi, not hardcore in any sense of the word as the most action will be of the kissing variety...however if anyone thinks this should be M instead of T let me know and I will change it immediately. I always said I wanted to write a taito and I finally have (whoop!) but I will be publishing more sorato stories soon for those who were hoping for another one of those. Also the old adage of if you don't like don't read is very much in force here. If you want to flame because you think my writing style is sub-par or a scene was rubbish yadada that's fine you're entitled to your opinion and I'd love to hear it so I can improve but please don't bash yaoi or the pairing because that's just not cool. Reviews are much appreciated and treated like gold so please do comment. Enough chatter from me and on with the fic!

The air was surprisingly pleasant this morning. The usual dense fog that made it impossible to go anywhere without a mask was absent for at least a further mile then it had been yesterday. The young teen expertly traversing the dense forest narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the newly revealed ground. It did not fall within his known area and that could only mean trouble…but there may be a new source of food out there. Lord knows he was tired of guck, the yellow and purple fruits that were the only thing he could eat and not throw up. They tasted like bitter watermelon, and though that was fine for a time, he had grown sick of the predictable substance. He named it guck simply because that's what it looked like on the inside, a big gucky mess that was edible but not appetizing. He stopped abruptly, both his steady movement and his current thoughts on guck, and cocked his head to the side. A few soundless moments later he heard the distinct crunch of heavy movement on the underbrush and quickly ducked behind a tree, bracing himself against it and cautiously peering around to see the source.

A large dinosaur like creature was trouncing through. It had a large, black horn sticking out of its snout and several black plates along its back. Black plates covered each of its four knees and formed a protective outward curve around its head; each of the spins on this curve had two red stripes. The rest of its body was grey and it reminded the teen of a triceratops despite the fact it only had one horn. He encountered many of these creatures and knew it would move on eventually. In his boredom he had begun naming them and recognised this one as Chuck. He smiled and waited for the creatures loud noises to fade into the forest. Despite his fondness for the creatures they did not reciprocate and would try to kill him on sight; hence the reason for hiding.

The teen ruffled his thick bush-like mane of brown hair and shook his head. With a grin of determination he readjusted his goggles and checked the simple handmade supplies in his bag. He had a small knife fashioned from a stone he had found, useless in a fight but perfect for cutting through the hard stems of the guck, a small swatch of cloth containing a portion of guck in case he was gone for a long time and the strange device he always kept with him. Looking at it hurt his head a little but it also comforted him in times of stress.

He couldn't recall how many days he had been here or how he ended up in this strange place. In fact he couldn't even remember his own name. All he does remember is waking up in the cave he now calls home with a cool, colourless egg bigger than his head resting on his chest and the device grasped tightly in his hand. He knows this place isn't home, though he can't remember where he lives or if he has any family, but he does remember all the usual things about home. Things like indoor plumbing, great food including pancakes and bacon, football, school, buses…all of it. He wondered if the world had ended or something and this was what was left; it didn't seem likely as he didn't recognise any of the plant life or creatures that weren't animals.

Sighing in annoyance at the dull ache in his chest that always surfaced when he thought of those things he continued his trek into the unknown, deep brown eyes memorizing every turn and change in order to find his way back. After a short time of walking he stumbled on a small clearing. He strained his head back and stared at the oddly coloured sky with a smile. It had been some time since he had a view like this. His appreciation was interrupted as he once again tilted his head to listen to the forest. Something was coming, but it didn't sound like any of the things he'd ever heard here before. It was moving faster than anything in this forest was capable of and getting closer to the clearing. Realising it may be dangerous he quickly hid in the thick foliage and waited for whatever it was to pass. A few seconds later a large wolf-like beast broke through the forest and landed in a deep crouch in the clearing. It had smooth white fur laced with jagged blue stripes and keen, alert eyes that took in its surroundings carefully. That isn't what interested the teen though, creatures he'd seen enough of, it was the distinctly human rider on its back that stole the show. The person was wearing all black combat gear and an unmistakable gasmask over their face. The person slid off the wolf thing and gently stroked the creature's snout before clicking a device attached to his gasmask, which must have a communicator or something, and speaking.

"I've breached sector 17-A, no sign of target so far, beginning advanced search." He said; it was a he for sure as his voice was smooth and deep. After a few moments the person removed their mask. The teen hiding from sight felt a sharp pang ripple through his head at the sight of the person's sleek golden hair, smooth pale skin and deep, cobalt eyes. He clutched his head and grit his teeth waiting for the pain to pass still watching the blonde who was taking a wrapped parcel out of his bag.

The pain did pass but something replaced it that scared him more. He was crying, thick tears streaking down his face and making it difficult to keep quiet. Why did it hurt? Why did his chest scream out in pain by just looking at this guy? The feelings, intense and suffocating, passed away slowly and soon his usual persona returned. He wiped away the tears from his eyes in puzzlement and wondered what he should do next. That's when he realised the person in front of him was no longer relaxed. Instead he was holding an odd black gun that had a deep blue streak across it and was aiming it right at the teens hiding place.

"I know you're there. Show yourself or I'll have Garurumon deal with you." His tone was authoritative and confident, his features unreadable and cold. The teen realised running would do no good, that creature was too fast; he'd have to hope this person was friendly. Slowly, with his heart hammering in his chest, he stepped out from his hiding place and tried to look cheerful. The blonde's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open in shock, the gun slipping from his grip and landed with a clatter on the soft grass.

"Tai?" He said finally, after what felt like years. The teen's own eyes widened as the name struck him like a bolt of lightning screaming at him, telling him it was his. The blonde smiled at him, it was radiant and honest, and flew at him gathering him in an almost painful hug.

"You're alive!" He said with obvious joy. Tai didn't know how to respond. The once carefully guarded expression of the blonde had disappeared to be replaced with unbridled happiness, tears pricking the corners of his eyes threatening to fall. He pulled back and gently gripped Tai's arms keeping them close while looking at the brunette questioningly. "Where have you been? I…we all thought you were dead. What have you been doing? Where's Agumon?"

"Uh…I've been here?" Tai answered uncertainly. The blonde blinked and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "What? Why didn't you contact us? Did you not have the resources?"

"No I didn't really have anything to contact people." Tai replied lamely. The blonde pulled back and his trusting smile was replaced with a concerned frown. "Tai, where is Agumon?"

Tai shuffled from side to side feeling slightly uncomfortable at the closeness of the teen in front of him and averted his gaze from those incredible blue pools. "I…don't know what an Agumon is." He said bluntly.

The teen let him go as if he had been burned and took a few steps back. The wolf creature behind him quietly moved closer to the blonde and eyed Tai with suspicion. "You don't remember?" The wolf asked causing Tai to nearly leap out of his skin.

"It talked!" He exclaimed. The blonde bit his lip and buried his right hands fingers in the wolf's fur. "Tai…" he began, almost fearfully, before continuing in a quiet voice. "What's my name?"

The quiet clearing, which had been so peaceful at the start, breathed despair and desperation; for some reason Tai wanted to give the right answer, to make that pitiful, hurt, anxious look leave the blondes face. Something deep down inside him was tugging at him, begging him to not hurt the person in front of him for any reason. Yet the rest of him was only confused and try as he might to conjure a name for the fragile soul standing before him he could not find one. He creased his brow in confusion; nothing in the blondes expression spoke of fragility, yet that's what he knew was hiding just beneath the surface, as though he had seen it a thousand times. But there was no choice but to be honest. Tai prayed his honesty wouldn't hurt as much as his instinct told him it would.

"No…I don't."

The blonde took an involuntary gasp of air and a look of complete and utter despair flashed across his features before the cold detachment he had sported when he first arrived returned with vigour. The wolf had dropped his eyes in defeat and watched the blonde ignoring Tai altogether. Tai bit his lip and scratched the back of his head; he wished the blonde would go back to how he was before, so open and trusting. As if disapproving of his thoughts the blonde spoke. He did not meet Tai's gaze as he did so nor did he look away from the ground.

"It's Yamato. Yamato Ishida. Your name is Taichi Yagami and you are…were the leader of my group; the digidestined."

Tai paused waiting for him to continue, when he didn't Tai raised his eyebrows and smirked. "You sure?"

Yamato glared at him and his cocky air dissipated immediately. "I think I would know."

"Ah…yeah. So, if I'm your mighty leader why am I stuck in this forest of the bland?"

"I don't know. I'm sure we'll find out more once we get to base."

"Wait, we? I'm going with you?" Tai said with a perplexed look then turned his attention to the wolf. "On that?"

"That is Garurumon and I'd prefer you didn't talk about him like he was some sort of object." Yamato replied flatly while stroking Garurumon's long snout. Tai held up his hands in defeat and laughed nervously.

"Okay okay, got it. I don't see why I should go with you though."

"Didn't realise you were so attached to this place."

"It isn't that but, well it kinda is but, uh…how am I going to make it through the fog?"

Yamato paused and sighed. He went into one of the bags hanging off Garurumon and tossed Tai another mask just like his. "Always be prepared."

"Thanks I guess…" Tai mumbled. He thought about trying to run but that look in Yamato's eyes promised he wouldn't get very far. He started to put the mask on but Yamato held up a hand to stop him.

"Before we go I want to know how you got here."

"Oh well I sorta woke up and I was here."

Yamato looked thoughtful for a moment then turned to face Tai. "Show me where."

…

The wind whisked past them in a flurry of smog and indiscernible black hazes that must have been trees or rocks. Tai kept subconsciously glancing at the bag behind him jostling with Garurumon's swift strides to keep an eye on his egg. He didn't know why he cared but he knew he couldn't lose it. He couldn't see further than a few inches in front of his face yet Garurumon was running at full pelt. He didn't understand how the wolf could do it or how Yamato didn't even feel tense. Tai's arms were wrapped securely around the blondes waist and he wasn't about to let go.

After he had shown Yamato the cave he had woke up in and gathered his things they had left his makeshift home for good. He wondered if he'd miss guck or not. He bet not. Yamato had taken several pictures of the place saying something about a guy named Koushirou being able to use them. Tai had shrugged it off and said a short goodbye to all his monochromon friends. Yamato had told him that was what they were called and that they were digimon. Garurumon was a digimon too, apparently, and there were many more besides them. He had also told him about the digital world and a few other things, but nothing about his teammates or Tai's time with them.

They came to an abrupt halt and Yamato dismounted almost as quickly once Garurumon crouched down. He turned and held his hand to Tai who took it thankfully and slid off the wolf landing on shaky feet. Yamato didn't let go of his hand as he led him to a plain looking rock-face and started working on something. Tai vaguely noticed a bright light behind them and jumped when a weird creature sidled up next to him. He couldn't see it well in the fog but knew it was too small to be Garurumon. He tugged on Yamato's arm insistently but Yamato ignored him and the rock-face split revealing a dark entrance. Yamato dragged Tai inside and the opening closed behind them. They walked in darkness until they reached another door, this time metal, and Yamato scanned his hand on the scanner opening it. Light spilled out and made Tai close his eyes against the glare. When he opened them again the metal door had closed behind them and Yamato was removing his gas mask.

The small creature that followed them in looked like a cross between a dog, lizard and unicorn. The fur on its back was similar to Garurumon but its features were entirely different. Tai gave Yamato a questioning glance and Yamato sighed. "That's Gabumon, the child-form of Garurumon."

Tai nodded pretending to understand and Yamato just turned away from him. They entered through a long corridor that opened up into a bustling room about half the size of a football stadium. There were small tents and parapets that were a dull grey/green scattered about; they were bunched together closely and the path between them was winding and hard to distinguish. People of all ages and sexes bustled around everywhere but, for the cursory look Tai had as he walked, they were all Japanese. Most of the tents looked like makeshift homes but the further they went stalls started to appear sporting food, clothes and other goods. They were not being sold but rather being given out; Tai had no idea what the criteria was to get them. As they passed most of the people waved or greeted Yamato by calling his name but he only gave them a curt nod or half-wave as a response. They also looked at Tai like they'd seen a ghost and whispering was rampant. They finally reached a parapet near the centre that dwarfed the rest of the tents and, after Yamato talked to a young man with keen eyes and dirty blonde hair, led him inside.

"What are all these people doing here?" Tai asked with interest. Yamato gave him a tired glance and pursed his lips.

"They're casualties…"

"Eh? They aren't dead."

"No, they aren't. But if they hadn't been sent here they would be."

"Sent here? From where?"

"Home."

Tai blinked at him and he shrugged. "Earth."

"Wait wait wait! We aren't on earth?"

"No. This is the digital world."

"So you're telling me I'm not even on the same planet anymore!?"

"You are. Just the other side."

"Thankyou that makes perfect sense." Tai replied sarcastically. Yamato pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"Look, Izzy will explain it to you. That's Koushirou's name around here, got it?"

"Okay. Suppose I believe you and this is some sort of side…parallel…other earth whatever, who sent those people here?"

Yamato turned to him just as he stepped onto a crude elevator and narrowed his eyes. "You'll find out."

The elevator, which jostled worryingly on its ascent, opened into a room with a long table in its centre. It was obviously meant for meetings and the like. The four occupants, two girls and two boys, all stood from their seats when they stepped out of the elevator and all their eyes went wider then a kittens in the dark. Tai's head hurt just to look at them, his gaze flying from each face in quick succession, but he managed to only let the throbbing ache manifest itself as a wince. The pain passed gradually, floating away leaving him feeling confused and slightly amused at their expressions once more.

"It really is you…" One of the male teens with the broad rimmed glasses, exceptionally pale almost sickly skin and blue hair breathed.

"When you said you had found Tai I honestly thought you were joking." One of the girls who had brown honey hair that cascaded down her back and mischievous honey eyes said with barely hidden emotion.

The other boy, who had short, slightly spiked red hair and inquisitive, analysing onyx eyes said nothing; only his grip on the table tightened. The remaining girl, with orange hair boarding on blonde or red in sections and fiery red/orange eyes walked around the table toward them never taking her eyes off Tai's face. She approached him slowly like she was afraid he'd disappear and tentatively placed her hand on his cheek.

"I can't believe it." She said softly, her fingers tracing his skin making him feel a little uncomfortable but mostly astonished. She gently removed her hand when she noticed his perplexed expression and held it against her chest. Tai waited for one of them to speak but none did, all staring at him as though he'd just walked through a compactor and come out whole. He hid his nervousness by plastering a wide grin on his face and put his hands on his hips.

"So…do I know you guys?"

"Let me get this straight. You, me, everyone here and two others that aren't here are the digidestined and each have a 'digimon'. This is the digital world and we are stuck here because of this Myotismon thing and Yukio Oikawa, head of DWECO, or digital world to earth communication organisation. Am I right so far?" Tai queried.

"That's right." Sora encouraged with a smile.

"Okay. Then this Yukio guy is responsible for all these people, and us, being trapped here. This involves the head honcho Myotismon somehow too…and I used to be your guys leader until I…died?" Tai said unsurely.

Koushirou nodded his head and leaned forward. "You saved us all. If it wasn't for you all those people out there would be dead and earth would be a wasteland."

"I'm a hero? Well at least that's good news." Tai joked. "Want to explain what happened?"

Koushirou closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Tai knew all their names now. Mimi, the girl with honey brown hair, hid her face with her bangs and bit her lip. Joe, the blunette, looked downcast and fiddled with his watch. Sora, the girl with red eyes that bled with sadness right now, placed a comforting hand on Tai's shoulder. And Yamato, who hadn't bothered to sit down and was staring at him from his position leaning against the wall opposite, turned his head with an angry 'tch' and tightened his grip on his folded arms. Koushirou began speaking in an informative, cut off voice and his gaze never left the table.

"It began after we defeated the dark masters. We thought it would fix the distortions, and it did…for the most part. We made two mistakes; the first was believing we'd gotten rid of Myotismon for good and the second was agreeing to grant DWECO access to the digital world. DWECO seemed to legitimately want to create good relations between digimon and humans so we let them in, and they did, at least the majority of their staff. It was their leader we should have been cautious of. They needed us to create the portals using our digivices so they could maintain relations with digimon. No-one else had that power…and that is what Yukio wanted. No, when I look back on it he wanted, and still wants, far more than just that. When we wouldn't hand over our digivices for testing they went to the digital world to find their own method. That's when they found the core."

"Core?" Tai interjected. Koushirou nodded and started typing on his laptop.

"At the time we defeated Myotismon we knew little to nothing about digimon composition, especially the rare vampire type that Myotismon is. Just like with human vampire folklore vampires in the digital world are difficult to kill. When we eliminated Myotismon his data dissipated into our, earths, atmosphere and re-entered the digital world through the distortion rifts. This data, unbeknownst to use, reformed in what remained of Myotismons castle as an egg. Unlike other digimon this egg is small, blood red and slightly jagged."

"How do you know that if you didn't know it existed?" Tai asked.

"Because I saw it. We all did…when you died."

"Can you stop saying that? I'm alive!"

"I-I'm sorry." Koushirou said quickly. Regaining his composure he continued. "Myotismon's egg was found by DWECO but they had no way to revive it. From what I understand from the team's encounters with Yukio Myotismon could communicate with him in his egg form and instructed him on what to do." When Koushirou said encounters his eyes briefly flitted to Yamato, an action Tai noticed, before refocusing on his laptop. "DWECO started capturing digimon and Yukio, unbeknownst to his team, fed their energy to the egg; but it wasn't enough. From what I understand Yukio fed his whole team to the egg but even that didn't meet the energy requirements. They needed more so, with the aid of Myotismon and his minions, Yukio repaired Myotismon's portal into this world. He took the egg through and ended up in Odaiba, specifically Odaiba mansion, and that's where these people are from. All the people from there and several areas close-by were used to awaken Myotismon. Just like before they went into a comatose, hypnotic state and their energy was fed into Myotismon. We found out and made our way there just in time to witness Myotismon's revival. Only this time since he had less power supplies the people he used were dying, just like Yukio's team had."

"How did we save them?"

"We didn't. Hikari and T.K. did." As soon as Tai heard the name Hikari a sharp, twisting ache full of uncontrollable emotion rocked through him. He doubled over and held his head in his hands. He felt Sora's comforting arms around him and heard the others speaking. He shook his head when the pain finally alleviated and smiled up at them. "I'm fine, really. It happens sometimes."

"What does?" Joe asked with all the air of a doctor. Tai sighed and rubbed his temple. "Look I'll fill you in later, just finish okay? I'm tired of being in the dark."

The others hesitated and shared worried glances. It was Izzy who broke the silence. "You sure?"

"Positive!" Tai replied cheerfully as all the pain was gone. Izzy eyed him suspiciously but continued.

"Hikari and T.K. used everything they had to send us, the people, Yukio and Myotismon here, to the digital world. Their crests work differently from ours…I don't know how they did it. I'm still trying to get an answer. Once we were here Hikari and T.K. gave their remaining energy to restore the people's vitality and prevent them from dying…but used themselves up in the process. Thanks to Patamon and Gatomon they didn't die but they are in permanent comatose states. The only way to wake them up is to find the core and give its energy back to the people."

Tai noticed Yamato's shoulders slump in defeat and, for an instant, their eyes met and Tai could see the unspoken pain the blonde was hiding. Izzy, who hadn't spotted the exchange, carried on regardless. "Myotismon was reborn, but he needed time to assimilate the energy he had accumulated. Yukio went back to Myotismon's castle with the weakened Myotismon to hide and wait. We couldn't let Myotismon finish assimilating the energy. We had to do something but our options were limited and we had all these confused, scared and on occasion hysterical people to deal with. You really shone in those days, you and Yamato both, getting the adults to listen to you and finding this place..."

"You were the one to convince them. Tai just made them trust us." Yamato added kindly. Izzy gave him a half-hearted smile and shook his head.

"It's not important now. This place was indispensable in keeping people alive. You see, only we have digimon, all the others have no means of defence. We were desperate to go finish Myotismon but we couldn't leave all these people here, defenceless and without supplies. So I made a few rough calculations and estimated we had about eight months before Myotismon was fully restored. In that time we made this place inhabitable, learned where the clean sources of water were and how to forage for food. Unfortunately Myotismon's revival had an unexpected consequence, the poisonous fog. It doesn't affect digimon but any human who consumes it will have their energy sent to Myotismon. A few of the people who were taken had mechanical knowledge so I worked with them to develop gas masks from the supplies Andromon brought us as well as…weapons. They only stun and have limited power reserves but we had to make them, us six couldn't gather enough food for everyone and we needed them to be self-sufficient for when we left. Sometimes I wonder if I should have brought such a thing into this world. This all took far longer than anticipated and we ended up leaving a few days late. Little did we know those few days would cost us dearly. We fought our way to Myotismon through hordes of his minions and finally broke through. But we were too late. Myotismon had finished absorbing all the energy and digivolved into VenomMyotismon only he was slightly different from last time. He was smaller, retaining his features from VenomMyotismon but only about the same size as his prior form. At first I thought that meant he was weaker, unfortunately this form was called DeiMyotismon and was far more powerful than his previous forms. Add to that the fact that we were down two members and you can imagine how well it went. We were losing, badly, and our digimon were spent. It was all happening so fast I couldn't keep track of everyone's injuries. You and Yamato used the last of your energy to digivolve Wargreymon and MetalGarurumon into Omnimon. He managed to weaken DeiMyotismon and cut his chest open revealing the egg fused inside him but DeiMyotismon subdued him and Omnimon devolved into Koromon and Tsunomon. It looked like we were doomed; we had come so far for it to end there. DeiMyotismon was on his knees and the skin over the slash across his chest was healing…that's when you did something reckless."

Izzy paused and it looked like he couldn't continue, his shoulders tense and features remorseful. Sora gave him an encouraging smile and gently turned Tai's head to face her. "You ripped out the egg. We were all screaming at you, begging you to stop, but you just jumped head first into the fray like you always do. Your crest glowed so brightly as you pulled. Our screams were lost in DeiMyotismons roars and suddenly you and he both were swallowed in this deep red light. It was so dark and thick, like blood, and we all thought you had…" Sora took a deep breath before soldiering on. "It rained on us. Thick and red and…when it cleared you were gone and DeiMyotismon was frozen, his face a picture of horror and the egg missing from the gash in his chest. We had no choice but to escape after that. The place was overrun with DeiMyotismon's minions who were following Yukio's every order and we were spent from the fight. We had won the fight but as long as Yukio is around the war isn't over."

Tai silently digested all of the information he had just been given. Slowly, like piecing together a particularly difficult puzzle, he spoke. "So you guys thought I exploded?"

They all flinched. The looks of despair and anguish drifting across their faces and he swallowed hard. He tried to imagine having someone he cared about, someone he looked up to, exploding before his eyes and literally coating him with their blood. He shuddered and felt upset for them. He smiled broadly to cover the tension and held Sora's shoulders. "But it wasn't me. You thought it was, but it wasn't. I promise it wasn't."

The shock on her face melting into a sad smile and tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "Yes. Yes…you're right."

"Izzy! I brought the equipment you wanted!" Tai just gaped at the weird beetle thing that had come buzzing in from the window and sighed.

"Just what I need, more names to memorize." He joked.