Chapter Two: Welcome the Waking World

"Tai . . .Good morning Tai! C'mon sleepy head, get up!" said a voice.

Taichi 'Tai' Kamiya awoke with a start a few moments later, his body and sheets drenched in icy cold sweat. He ran a shaky hand through his matted hair and drew a shuddering breath.

'That dream was really intense,' he thought.

He looked around, and saw no one. He got up, and pulled on his blue shorts, black t-shirt, chain-mail vest, and his goggles.

'Ah, well. It was just a dream anyway," he thought, brushing the dream aside.

He quickly dropped to his knees and reached under his bed, searching until he found the 200g he had stored.

"Bingo!" he said, pocketing the money.

He ran down the stairs into the main room to grab a bite of breakfast before he left. While down there, he caught sight of a round, pink creature devouring food off of a plate.

"Hey, leave some for the rest of us!" he snapped, grabbing the plate away.

"I was eating that!" the creature grumbled. "Besides, it was YOU who was late for breakfast, not me. I was early."

"And I don't care," scoffed Tai. "Besides, Koromon, you've gotta stay in shape. We can't have the others outdoing you, right?"

Koromon sighed. "Yeah, you're right," it agreed.

"Good, we agree. So I'll finish the bacon!" he said gleefully, about to wolf down the strips of meat.

"Not so fast!" snapped the voice from before.

Tai whirled to see his mother brandishing a dish towel, one hand on her hips.

"Good afternoon, Taichi," his mother said, emphasizing the 'chi'. Koromon and Tai winced. "I see you're finally up. The sun's already reached high noon. Didn't you have plans to meet with Mimi this morning? She came by to see if you were up, but you, young man, were still off in never-never land. You shouldn't break promises like that. Girls can be pretty scary if you make them angry!"

"Tell me about it," Tai said to Koromon, under his breath.

Koromon sniggered, but Tai's mother had heard.

"Well, if you end up regretting your sleeping in, it's all on your head," she said, snatching away the bacon.

"Hey!" yelled Tai. "I was gonna eat that!"

"You slept past breakfast. Kitchen's closed. Sorry, come back for lunch," she said, dumping the bacon in the cat dish and washing the plate.

"Hey!" yelled Koromon. "I was gonna eat that!"

"Sorry, but it's Moshi's now," she said.

Koromon glared at his Digidestined partner, but said nothing.

Tai sulked for a little while but, seeing it was futile, left the hut, calling for Koromon. The pink blob hopped off the table and followed.

"Where're we going, Tai?" Koromon asked.

"We're going to see Izzy and Old Man Matius," he said, walking towards Matius' hut.

"Why we going there?" asked the perplexed Digimon.

"Because I need a scapegoat," smirked Tai.

"No," said Izzy, not even looking up from his laptop (yes, he still has one).

"But..."Tai began.

"No."

"But I..."

"I said no, Tai."

"But Izzy..."Tai whined.

"I will not be your scapegoat again, Tai!" said Izzy, glaring at Tai.

"Fine, if you won't agree willingly, I challenge you to a fight! Agu y Tento!" Tai said, pointing at Izzy in a classically Anime fashion.

Izzy sighed, but agreed, "Fine."

"All right!" cheered Tai. "If I win, you act as my scapegoat. If you win, I leave and take my punishment from Mimi like a man."

The two Digidestined held out their Digivices and their Digimon Digivolved to their respective Rookie forms.

"Let's go Agumon!" growled Tai.

"Get ready, Tentomon!" said Izzy.

"What's all this hubbub?" asked an aged voice.

The two teens whirled to see an elderly man in a white long-sleeve shirt and blue pants step out of the hut, followed by a gray-furred Gabumon. The man was tall and thin, his hair almost all gray, with a little blonde left in it.

"Uh, Matius, sir," stammered Izzy.

"I asked you what was going on," said the old man, scowling. His shaggy eyebrows knitted together into a frown.

"Um, we were, uh, about to do battle," said Tai, smiling weakly.

"Hm," growled Matius. "And why, may I ask, are you doing that?" he asked.

"Because I need a, um, scapegoat to fend off Mimi's wrath," Tai admitted.

"I see," said Matius, thoughtfully. "All right, you can have your fight. However, you must then battle Gray Gabumon and me to use Koushiro as your scapegoat, Taichi."

"No fair!" yelled an exasperated Tai.

"Sorry, but that's my final verdict," said Matius, leaning on his cane.

"Fine, but you're going down, Old Man!" snarled Tai. "Agumon, take him down!"

"I don't think so Tai! I know your strategy by heart! You can't beat me," said Izzy, looking smug.

"Really?" asked Tai, cocking an eyebrow. "Let's find out!"

"Super Shocker!" yelled Tentomon, firing off a bolt of electricity.

Agumon leapt above the bolt and stretched out his claws, prepared to slash the airborne bug.

"No way, Tai!" said Izzy.

Tentomon blocked the slash and flipped the reptile behind himself.

"Ha!" laughed Tai and Agumon.

"Pepper Breath!" roared Agumon, shooting a blast of fire at Tentomon.

The fireball hit Tentomon in the back, between the wing joints. The bug fell forward, falling right on its head. It bounced up a bit, and rolled forward onto its back before hitting the ground again.

"Argh!" growled Izzy, slapping a hand to his face.

"I win again, Izzy!" laughed Tai.

"You haven't won yet, Taichi," said Matius.

"Time to knock you down a few notches, kid," croaked Gray Gabumon, tracing a scar over his eye with one claw.

"We'll see, GG," said Agumon, getting into a battle-ready stance.

"GO!" the two DD chorused.

Gray Gabumon lunged, his claw ready, and slashed at Agumon. Agumon jumped high, and Gray Gabumon's claw crashed into the ground.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon yelled, high above Gray Gabumon.

The fireball streaked towards its stationary target.

"Gray Blaster!" roared GG, shooting a gray bolt of flame at the raging Pepper Breath.

The smaller blast shot through Agumon's fireball, streaking at the airborne reptile. However, Agumon rolled in the air, dodging the fire blast. The blast struck the rock wall behind him. Agumon dropped to the ground at a poor angle. Gabumon shot off another Gray Blaster, but Agumon used his currently strong leg to jump to the side.

Agumon then fired off two Pepper Breath's, so close that it seemed he had only shot one. As it neared him, Gray Gabumon slashed outward at the first blast, dissipating it. However, the second one struck him in the chest. He was knocked back a little, making him a prime target for the next two blasts. However, he leapt over the third.

As he rose in the air, he angled his head down, his horn pointed at Agumon.

"Horn Attack!" he yelled.

Agumon jumped up in the air with a cry of, "Claw Attack!"

The two shot through the air until they clashed. Agumon's claws caught Gray Gabumon's horn, stopping the attack. However, Agumon's attack was also stopped by the horn.

Thinking quickly, Gray Gabumon whipped his head up, tossing Agumon above him. At the same time, however, Agumon attempted to swing Gray Gabumon down at the ground. The two flew away from each other, and they crashed into the wall and ground.

Agumon landed against the wall, his feet barely bracing him with his claws digging into the stone. Gray Gabumon landed badly, but managed to roll up to face Agumon.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Gray Blaster!"

The blasts flew through the air, colliding, creating a huge bank of the gradually dissipating flames.

"Claw Attack!" roared Agumon, pushing off from the wall. He rocketed through the flames right towards Gray Gabumon.

But Gray Gabumon wasn't there.

The beast that stood there looked vaguely like Garurumon, but was far different. Its fur was brown, striped with green, as opposed to the white- and-blue of Garurumon. Also, its head was more reptilian that wolfish.

Gray Gabumon had Digivolved to Cynomon.

"Primeval Howling!" snarled Cynomon.

The Champion reared back, and released a blast of dull green energy from its mouth as it snapped its head forward. The blast crashed into the falling Agumon, who was sent flying back. He zoomed past Tai and struck the wall, collapsing to the ground.

"Agumon!" yelled Tai, rushing over to his fallen comrade. Then he whirled on Matius and Cynomon. "Matius, you cheat!" he snarled. "You know Agumon couldn't Digivolve, yet you had your Digimon become Champion! This battle shouldn't count!"

Matius sighed. "Maybe you're right. Perhaps it was unfair to have Gray Gabumon Digivolve." He sighed again. "All right, you can use Izzy as your scapegoat."

"Yes!" cheered Tai.

"What!?" exclaimed Izzy.

"Come on, Izz-man!" said Tai, grabbing Izzy's arm. "It's time to own up!"

"Own up to what?" yelled Izzy, as Tai drug him along.

A/N: Okay, a few things of note. First, who could Matius be in the Digiworld (Don't think you need 3 guesses)? Also, Cynomon's name comes from the Cynodont, an ancient mammal-reptile whose name means 'Dog Tooth'. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will come soon (I hope).