Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.

[Signs]

(Thoughts)

Summary: Abandoned by the others, after he made Greymon digivolve into SkullGreymon, Tai seeks a meaning to his new life. Not as a Digi destined, but as a Digimon.     

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 Twist of fate

Part II

The power of courage, the cat boy shows his claws

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A desert. That was what Matt was looking at, a barren wasteland with no life at all. There was no one but him around, him and the body lying on the ground before him. Lifting his hands, Matt bit his lib from fear as he felt it run down the skin of his wrists. Blood. He could guess it; he had felt it before, the warm and sticky feeling. His gloves were soaked with it, and even if everything was covered in darkness, he could clearly see it on his gloves. Out of a morbid curiosity he looked down, he already knew what he would find lying on the rough sand. A pair of broken goggles glinted from under the blood soaked messy brown hair. "Taichi?" The name rolled off his tongue in a painful way, it hurt to say his name out loud. "Taichi, forgive me, I wasn't strong enough. Not strong enough." Breaking down, Matt cried as he wrapped his hands around the still warm body in front of him. 

The sand swirling up around him and then it parted for the darkness coming for him. Red eyes, the color of hot metal opened in the center off the darkness, the pupil-less eyes piercing through his heart, into his very soul. "You can not escape host! You are mine. In your darkness, your dissolution, I found a chance." Reaching out a hand, it grabbed the blond haired boy in an iron grip treating to break his ribs. "You only exist because I will it, you are mine to play with. There's is no escape from me." Matt's scream was caught off as the darkness took over his body again. 

Matt's eyes snapped opened, or was it Matt. The boy with the blond hair stood up and lifted his hands. "You can never escape, do you hear me. You can't escape from the darkness you invited in." A sick laughter filled the clearing, a laughter that told of a being of endless evil and cruelty. "You and your 'friends' are mine to order around." The same darkness that had been inside him, floated out from Matt's body and seeped into the other children's and their digimon's bodies.

As the laughter continued, Matt's body stood completely still as the evil behind their attack on their leader left Matt's body for a moment. Towering over them, two large transparent arms grabbed the blond hair boy's face and forced him to watch as its evil infested the other children. "Behold my host, how your friends grow closer to becoming my slaves." Around the campfire, the eyes of the other digi destine opened as one. All of them were completely black, as if the soul behind them were no longer there. "Tomorrow, tomorrow we march on Etemon, I need his power like I need the power off every digimon you slay. Each kill bring me one step closer to rebirth."

"TK?" Matt voice filled with fear, spoke silently as he saw his little brother, his eyes just as vacant as the others, as devoid of life. Or were they, Matt increased his struggle as he saw the faint flicker of hope behind the younger boy's eyes. "TK, fight him. Don't let him win. Please." Matt's scream filled the dark night as his eyes became blank as well.

**************

Gennai looked from his computer screen, he had almost forgotten how it felt to be this tired. But, he had run into a problem again. Tracking the remaining six digi destined had become impossible lately. The signal from their digi vices would vanish from his screen every now and then, only to reappear in a different location. But they seemed to be going in the correct direction, straight towards Etemon's base.

Turning around on his chair, Gennai stood up and began to walk towards the back end of his lab/cave. It was time to consult with the creators of the crests. But it would have to be done carefully. The true danger to this world was still recovering from their battle, and would surely be on the lookout for anyone trying to contact the four guardians.

Shivering as the light vanished from his lab, Gennai continued through the darkness that separated his lab from prison off the one he need to speak with. Stopping as he felt the presence of the four guardians. He slowly looked around for any sign of the dark ones. "Baihumon, Azulongmon?" His voice though low, carried through the darkness and echoed all over the place.

Slowly, a small blue flame formed, then it parted and a large transparent image of a dragon type digimon hovered in the air above him. Four eyes slowly opened under the large mask covering the head of the digimon. "Gennai, it's good to see you old friend."

Next to the dragon Digimon, a lion digimon slowly faded into view. Several scars lined the blue and white fur and colored it a deep red. "Speak fast Gennai, I need to rest, and to heal." Four wary eyes looked through the mask covering his head, and a loud wheeze followed each of his breaths.  

Gennai looked at the lion digimon and nodded. "Very well Baihumon." Standing still for a second, Gennai looked up with dead serious eyes. "The holder of Courage has fallen and the number of the chosen broken." Lifting his hand, Gennai held up a broken digivice. "While no longer a human child, Taichi Yagami, holder of the crest of courage has been reconfigured into a digimon."

Azulongmon gave a loud sign at it and then looked at Baihumon. "So that was the cause of the feeling we had the other day." Moving his head to face Gennai, Azulongmon's eyes narrowed. "This human, Tai. Can he still use the crest he was destined for?" 

Shaking his head, Gennai looked away. "I tested it the other day. Tai is becoming more in tune with his digimon self. The last time I held up the crest near him in his sleep. It barely glowed at all."

Baihumon growled and stepped closer to Gennai. "The crest was tuned to work only with the chosen one." Looking back at Azulongmon, he gave a soft sigh. "But, if the boy were to hand over the digivice and crest to someone he trusts to have the same courage, it is possible for the crest to become tuned to the new one."

Azulongmon lowered his head to loook at Baihumon. "What will happen to the child?"

Baihumon looked away from both of them. "Giving up the crest will end his life as a chosen child." Starting to fade away, the lion type digimon gave a long and sad look at Gennai. "If he gives up the crest when he's a digimon, it is possible that he will forever be a digimon and bonded to the new holder of courage."

Fading away completely, both Azulongmon and Gennai felt a great sadness as they heard the last words ringing through the darkness. "If he chosen to give away the crest, he will also give up the last part of him that links him to his former human life." 

Azulongmon shifted and looked far away into the darkness. "Gennai, will the human child be able to handle himself if he chose to give up his crest to another one?" 

Gennai slowly looked down onto the black ground. "I don't know, his desire to overcome this problem is keeping him going. But his spirit is… not as strong as it once were." Turning around, he looked over his shoulder. "There is also the problem with the other chosen to deal with."

A long silence filled the void as the two old digimons looked at one another. Finally, Azulongmon lifted his head and began to close his eyes. "I fear, that events are about to shift further out of our control." Fading away, the great dragon digimon opened his eyes and gave a serious and powerful look at Gennai. "Continue to guide the Children, but don't meet with them. As for Chimon, Guide him and warn him off the danger in giving up his crest" 

**************

Tai sighed as he leaned back on the branch. It had been a long day, and frankly, he was glad that Gennai had allowed him to leave the house for the first time since he had become a guest there. It wasn't that he didn't mind the part of staying in the house. It was nice, roomy and warm, just like his home on Earth, but it just didn't feel like his old home. Slowly his mind drifted off and the face of a young girl, with short brown hair and a warm smile filled his head. Man, he missed his sister. Lifting his new arms, he stared at the soft fur and ran a finger over it and gave a oft purr as he felt the tingling sensation from it. If all cats felt this way, it was no wonder that Miko always purred when given a small rub by his sister.

Lowering his paw, he looked up through the crown of the tree and followed the clouds as they moved across the sky, with the memory of his sister had come the memory of Sora and his other friends from back home. He had asked Gennai about the other chosen Children, but he hadn't said much other then the fact that they were fine. Seemed Matt had become the leader after the rather harsh mutiny against him. Still, as much as he missed them, he also felt a little joy at one thing, now he no longer had the burden of leader ship on his back and he could once again let his mind wandered, to think about everyday stuff. Instead of wondering endlessly about the next day, if he was going to screw up and get one of the others killed.

Looking around, he began to wag his tail as he wondered what they were going to eat when he got back. Gennai had been rather busy lately, and the job of making food and cleaning the house had mostly fallen to Tai, but he didn't mind it. One didn't live with his mother and her bizarre creations, without learning how you were not supposed to cock. The one good thing about this mess he supposed, was no more of his mums cocking. But today, he didn't have to do anything. Gennai had simply looked at Tai doing breakfast, and said that he should try and relax, and not worry so much about gettng used to his new body. Moving his tail in front of his eyes. Tai grinned as he simply relaxed. It was nice to have a day off.

He had no idea how long he had been lying there, when he heard the sound of loud huffing. Sitting up and looking down, he was rewarded with the sight of three Palmon's running past the tree. Even from where he was sitting he could see that all of them had a look of pure terror on their faces.

As the digimon passed under the tree Tai was sitting in, the noise coming from the Palmon's died off. Liftinhg his head and feeling his ears turn, he picked up the sound of heavy feet hitting the ground could be heard and then another digimon, looking a lot like Ogremon became clear as it ran up to the three. Brown in color, with a tiger striped loincloth and the same color cloth around one wrist and both its ankles. It was holding the bone that had nearly hit the plant digimon before, in his right arm. Looking around the area as it stopped under the three, it pointed the club up at Tai when it spotted him. "Hey you. Did you see where those palmon's ran off to?"

"Why?" Looking down, into the angry eyes of the strange digimon, Tai began to tense up. The memories he had of Ogremon was less then great, he had tried to kill him and the other kids at the time he had met him. And this guy looked just like him, and his attitude was just as bad. "Who are you anyway?"

Slamming his club into his free hand. The Ogremon like digimon snorted at the question. "I'm Fugamon. Those Palmon's entered my domain without paying tax." Slamming his club into the ground, he puffed out his chest. "No one enters my domain without paying tax." Lifting his club and pointing at Tai with it, he gave an evil laugh. "Now tell me where they are."

Tai grumbled as he spotted the same kind of personality he had met to often back on earth. This guy was nothing but a big bully. Using his size and strength to frighten others into doing what he wanted. Standing up and glaring down at the hulking digimon, he snorted at him. "Yeah, I saw where they went, but there's no way I'm telling you."

Fugamon's left eyebrow rose at the sudden anger in the smaller digimons voice. But he was still a champion digimon and much bigger then the other one before him. Grinning, he pulled back his club. "Well, We'll see about that." Giving a loud war cry, he slammed his bone club at the side of the tree. "Heavy Stick!"

Tai gave a loud yell of surprise as the tree wobbled from the force, before it gave a loud groan and fell over. Tumbling over the soft grass as he landed, he rolled clear off the fallen tree. As he stopped, he gave a loud groan and slowly stood up to face Fugamon. "Hey, Stop that."

Pulling back his club, Fugamon gave a loud grin and tossed it at Tai. "Heavy Stick!" Seeing the cat like digimon ducking under the club, he jumped into the air and prepared to scrape off the fur under his foot.

Ducking under the club, Tai looked up just in time to duck out of Fugamon's way as he landed where he had been standing a little while ago. Ducking the following series of punches by falling on his back and sliding down the hill. He began to grumble. It would help a lot if he knew how to use his attacks. But no, he still couldn't even get as much as a small glow from his hands. But there was no way he was backing down now, even without his powers, he could still give that big brown lump a few cuts and bruises.

Fugamon grabbed his club and began to run towards the still fallen digimon. "Goodbye loser." Jumping up, he aimed his club down and prepared to whack the cat digimon into the ground. "Heavy Stick!"

Tai looked up and watched as time slowed down. Slowly at first, then faster, his right hand shot up and then he felt it. In the back of his mind, he felt something he hadn't felt before, a strange warm feeling ran through his veins, and then his claws shot out from the tip of his fingers as they glowed a bright yellow. "Fire Claw!" A loud boom filled the place and both Tai and Fugamon went flying backwards from the force of the two attacks connecting.

Sitting up, Fugamon growled and lifted his club over his head. "So the little furball has a fancy claw attack." Glaring death across the five-meter distance between them at the smaller digimon, he began to power up for another attack. "Eat this loser, Heavy Stick!"

Tai simply looked as Fugamon stood up. His whole body was tingling. The rush of the power running through him was over whelming and he couldn't really focus on the battle correctly, then he noticed Fugamon throw his club as he stared at him. Feeling his claws extend from the tip of his fingers, he blinked as his saw his bracers starting to glow with power as well. "Burning Aura!"  As he yelled out his second attack, he flung his arms out to the side and felt the sudden drain of power as a small, but powerful fireball formed in less then a second. Then it shot through the air and right at the on coming club. As it hit it reduced Fugamon's club to a pile of ash, before hitting the evil Digimon and throwing him backwards through the air.

Sitting up from where he had landed, Fugamon gave a wide-eyed look at Tai, then his eyes shifted to the pile of ash that used to be his club. Jumping up, he gave a scared look over his shoulder and began to run off, down the path he had come from in the first place. Looking over his shoulder he shook his hand in the air. "I'll get you for that. Just you wait."

Tai pulled himself up to his feet and gave a proud smirk as he saw the much larger digimon retreat. "So what, I'll be ready for you!" Then he felt his adrenalin rush wear off. Feeling the ground move under him, he sat down hard on his backside and began to laugh. Well he did, until he saw the three palmon's peeking at him from behind a tree. "Hey, did you see that. I won. I defeated him, I defeated Fugamon."

Slowly, one of the palmon's stepped a out from behind the tree. "Thank you." Looking at the other two plant type digimons, she seemed to build up some courage. "I'm sorry, but, who are you, we haven't seen or heard of a digimon with you appearance before."

Tai lifted up one paw and began to point it at himself, when he stopped. (Hey, what am I gonna tell them? Hi my name's Taichi, but you can call me Tai, I'm a human turned digimon.) Slo9wly looked at the three faces looking back at him, two of them hiding behind a tree. Tai slowly lifted out his paw. "I'm Chimon, nice to meet you."

Looking at the paw, the palmon who had asked stepped forward and slowly stared at it. "Is there something wrong with you paw?"

Tai swaet dropped and pulled his paw back. "Sorry, I'm just used to shaking hands with a friend." Looking quickly at the two hiding palmons, he crossed his arms over his chest. "So, what was that all about? He didn't seem to friendly if you ask me."

The palmon shook her head. "Fugamon a bully, he beats up all the rookies who don't pay him a monthly fee for being in his area." Sniffing, she turned around to hide her tears. "Last week, him and his two allies attacked our forest town and stole all out food." Stepping over to her two friends, the palmon looked over her shoulder. "Fugamon found us as we were looking for fruit in the forest and demand a payment for stealing his stuff. We didn't have anything to gove him, so he said he'd beat us up."

Tai shook his head. "I'm sorry about that. I think I scared him off for now, but I don't understand why you don't just take a stand." Looking at the three plant digimons he smacked one paw into the other. "I'm sure if your whole town banded together, you could beat him in an instant."

The palmon shook her head. "We are not fighting type digimons, our attack's defensive only." Turning to look at Tai, she gave a small smile. "Look, I'm glad for your help, but I fear you only angered Fugamon." Half cold eyes turned full of worry. "I suggest you look out for him or his buddies."

Tai nodded and turned around. "Thanks for the warning, and you look out too."

The palmon nodded and then looked at him rather strangely. "We're having a meeting tomorrow, all the digimons in the forest that Fugamon and his friends have attacked. Why don't you join us?" Behind her, the other two palmons nodded with big shiny eyes on their faces.

Tai looked around and lifted up a paw to scrarth his head. "I don't know, I hang out with a friend and I was really not supposed to get involved in anything." Lifting his head, he noticed the downcast look on the other two palmons face he felt his resovle breaking down slowly. "Well, I guess I could try to speak to him."

**************

Fugamon grumbled as he pushed aside the branch in front of him. Clearing it, he stepped into a small clearing. "Hey, guys. Come out." Slowly two shadows moved and stepped into the light. "I have a score to settle. Seems those annoying Palmon's has gotten themselves a little protector."

The largest of the shadows grinned and lifted a hand. "You mean we can finally get to destroy that village?"

Fugamon nodded. "But remember, this Chimon is mine."

**************

Gennai looked up from his papers when he noticed the sound of the lake parting, it wasn't long before the main door opened, and a rather glum looking Chimon stepped into the room. "Ah, Taichi, tell me. How was your day off?"

Tai looked up as he plopped down at the table. "I learned to use my powers. I ran into someone called Fugamon…" Tai slowly gave a very good retelling of his fight with the virus digimon.

Gennnai looked down at Tai and sighed. "Tai, there's something I have to tell you." Slowly turning around the papers he was sitting with, he looked at Tai. "When you accessed your powers, you speed up a process. I talked with some friends, and studied the data I collected from you." Allowing Tai the time to look at the papers, he thought of the best way to describe what he had found out. "You're not a completely digimon yet, the process of turning you human data into pure digimon code is still taking place." Giving his words time to sink in, he fiddled nervously with the crest before him. "I can't tell you when the process will be completed, but I fear that I have only helped in speeding it up."

Tai dropped the paper and looked up at Gennai with fear in his eyes. "You mean that?"

Gennai nodded. "It a long shot, but I may be able to change you back into a human. But it has to be before your change is complete." Handing over the crest he looked down at Tai. "My study show that with your digimon powers activated, you are very close to crossing the final line. But, even if you do that, the crest will prevent you from crossing over completely."

Tai looked down at the seemingly innocent crest and quickly slid it over his head. "Trust me Gennai, this thing is not leaving me again."

Gennai shook his head sadly. "Tai, there may come a time where you for some reason has to give your crest to another person. If you do that, then I will no longer be able to help you." Tai looked up at Gennai with a scared look on his face and held on tightly to his crest.

**************

Tai looked up as he followed the lone Palmon trough the forest. He hadn't gotten much sleep last might, as he spent most of it thinking about the stuff Gennai had told him. "If I give up the crest, I'm a digimon for life."

"Excuse me?"

Tai turned his head and gave a short yelp as he noticed the palmon staring at him. "Ah, nothing. I was just thinking out loud." Returning to staring at the ground, he felt like smacking himself over the head.

The palmon blinked and returned to walking trough the forest, only talking to the feline type digimon when they should change direction. While Tai had once liked to talk and be surround by other, this was one day he wouldn't mind some peace and quiet. It was a good half an hour later that the palmon stopped and looked around nervously. "Chimon, do you feel something as well? Like something is spying on us."

Tai looked and spun around as his cat ears picked up the sound of buzzing. "Get down!" Charging out of the bushes, a large insect type Digimon headed straight towards them.

Screaming, the Palmon turned around and pointed at the digimon. "It's Yanmamon, he one of Fugamon's friends. Watch out for his thunder ray attack." The Palmon yelled as it began to run away.

"Thunder Ray" Blasting the ground, Tai and the Palmon went flying through the air. Making a very painull landing on the ground, Tai stared up in time to see the large insect like digimon grab the small plant digimon and fly off.

Jumping up, Tai started to run after them, ducking under a few tree branches or jumping over a bush to keep up with them. It took a lot from him, but Tai somehow maneged to keep up with the much larger Digimon. After a while, it suddenly stopped flying and seemed to drop it victim. Having to go through a bush to get to the Palmon, Tai stopped when he stood up on the other side, all over the clearing Digimons were lying on the ground. Some were still moving, but a lot of them were lying still or starting to break apart into digital information. And right in the middle of this carnage stood a very familiar form. "Fugamon!"

Fugamon lifted up the defenseless palmon in his hand and grinned. "Hiya kitty cat." Holding out the palmon, Fugamon made a big show out of squeeching her. "You really think you can get away with attacking me?" Clenching his hand tighter together around the small plant digimon, he lifted his hand up over his head. "Well guess what, we are gonna have a little rematch, just as soon as I finish with this little wimp." Finally crushing the plant digimon's neck, Fugamon gave a loud battle cry and tossed the smaller digimon aside.

Landing on the ground with a dull thud, the palmon gave one last twitch, then it became completely still. A second later, a dull light formed around its whole body, only to brighten as the small digimon's body began the first part of the reconfiguring process.  

Tai slowly stared as the small palmon broke apart into a million small pieces of data and floated away with the wind. Then he heard the mocking laughter, Looking up, his eyes grew cold as everything was blotted out. The only thing on his mind was killing Fugamon. He had to pay for all the pain he had caused today. It was fine if he had problem with him, but to take out his anger on others. Over something a stupid as a lost fight. "You won't get away with this!" Tai found himself shaking with anger, no, not anger, but raw hate, the purest form of anger he could think off, nothing more then the desire to kill the one who hurt you.  

Fugamon grinned and pointed finger at the small digimon and gave a loud snort. "What was that? Between me and the guy's, you don't stand a chance." Cracking his knuckles, the bigger digimon took a step forward. "Didn't you hear me, this was only the beginning of my payback. They will pay for you insolence."

Tai uncurled his fingers and began to tremble with his anger. "I won't let you, I WON'T LET YOU KILL ANOTHER ONE!!" Any other words were lost, as the small catlike digimon became a blur. Ducking under the kick Fugamon made. Tai crunched on the ground, then he flew upward in an uppercut, hammering a fist right into the underside of the much larger virus type digimon, giving a strange war cry as he felt his enemy's head snap back from the force of his punch. Still moving up, Tai spun around in the air, and delivered a circle kick, that would have made Bruce Lee proud, to the underside of Fugamon's mouth, giving a sadistic grin as two teeth went flying through the air before breaking apart in a shower of digital information.

To the two other virus digimons, it looked like all hell broke lose. Fugamon stumbled back under the angry attacks made by Tai, completely unable to defend or attack against the faster and more agile form of Chimon. Then they looked at one another and began to step back. They had seen that type of anger before, it was a look only a few digimon's could give, and most of the time, it was the ones who had survived the raids on their villages and came looking for revenge who had that look. It belonged to someone looking for nothing more then the chance to give back all of the pain he or she had suffered.

Finally, Chimon broke off his attack by jumping of his opponent's body to land on his hands and feet a good deal away from him, standing up; he stared at the heavily bruised Fugamon stumbling back from him. Blood were running down the bigger digimon's chest, and the bruised head and arms from the countless cuts he had given him. But it was not enough to stop the anger inside him. He wanted more, he wanted… Pulling his hand back, Tai growled as he felt his claws shoot out once more, this time they glowed a bright yellow, almost on the point of becoming white from the power in them. Running forward, he jumped into the air and hammered his arm through the air. "FIRE CLAW!!" Following his hand's downward moment, a half circle of fire formed in the air where his claws moved through it, as the hand stopped it's downward motion, his attack shot towards his target.

Fugamon took one last step backward and lifted up his arm to protect himself. Then he felt what he had given to the many digimon's he had sent back to primary village for reconfiguration. Pain, and lot of it, it was a brief, but very painful kind, as the fire claw attack moved through his arm in slow motion and cut it in half, then he felt the burning sensation on his face as it impacted it and cut through his skin. Then it all became black as he gave one last mighty cry. 

Chimon stood completely still as he stared at the data flowing away into the horizon. "I… I killed him." Falling to his knees. Tai gave a small sob. He had actually killed someone, it was one thing to watch his digimon kill another digimon, but to do it himself. He was a child for crying out loud, he should be at home, talking with his sister or playing soccer in the park with his friend. Not in some world full of monster, ribbing another living thing to shreds. He was a child damn it. Silently, Tai curled up into a ball and began t wish for the one who could make it all go away, the one who made all of his nightmares go away. Feeling his eyes overflowing with tears, Tai flung his head backwards and to face the tree covered sky and cried out for his sister. "Kariiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!"

*************

Running a glove covered hand over his chin, the tall digimon looked at the last moments of the battle. "You were right about this Chimon, Gatomon. He has potential. And such a deep sorrow for something so natural as killing another, tell me, who was this Kari he called out for?" As the white cat started to answer, he moved his hand in a way that meant for her to shut up, before him, the battle rewound until the image stopped moving. Giving a low chuckle, the digimon wrapped himself up in his cape and turned to face his servant. "Tell Demi Devimon to prepare my carriage at once. I'm going out tonight." Looking at the frozen Image of Tai's hate filled glare, he gave a loud laugh. "I'm going out to recruit this one myself."   

*************

Minor epilogue. Not the end of the story folks, calm down.

Elecmon stared as a new egg formed on the ground. It had formed exactly ten minutes after the other ones. It had to be the work of a evil digimon on another rampage. Giving a glance towards the horizon. He silently wished for his friends TK and Patamon to have good luck on their quest to rid the digital world of the evil forces destroying it.

************

Tbc.