A/N: Okay, so basically: Japanese names are for future selves, and English dubbed versions are for the younger selves, okies? Okies.

Summary: (Season 1) Mistakes are dangerous things. Is it even possible to walk straight into the future, just like that? The digidestines didn't think so. Until now.

Disclaimer: Do I look like I'm rich enough to own Digimon? (eyes scruffy jeans)

Warnings: Um…dodgy, confusing plot line? Potential slash. Nothing heavy.

I'd like to think I've improved as a writer since this was written; but comments would be appreciated nonetheless.

Chapter two: Simple…or not

Matt felt this had gone on long enough. This man didn't seem dangerous, and they had been trying for months to find other people and failed, surely they could take the chance now?

He stepped out from behind the tree, TK following beside him.

"Uh…excuse me…"

The man didn't look up, but kept writing on the sheet of paper, before replying.

"Little late in the day for a field trip, isn't it?"

Matt was taken aback.

"Field trip?"

"Oh, Jesus! Don't tell me you ran away from home and are hiding out here!"

Matt was a little put out by this, as the man was still was not looking at him.

"Umm…no, sir. We didn't run away."

The other children had begun to come out of their hiding places, Sora and Tai having a little trouble untangling themselves from the 'killer branches'.

The man sighed in relief.

"Thank God for that. I still shudder at the thought of the Motimiya scandal…"

He smiled slightly, piled the paperwork back into the briefcase, shut it and stood up carefully, before raising his eyes to meet Matt's.

His eyes widened, and he stumbled back a step and fell against the tree. His eyes flitted from Matt to TK, to the other children now gathered around the tree stump.

"Oh, God."

He murmured, his left hand moving to his hair and running nervously through it.

"Oh, God."

He straightened up, rubbing his hand across his face tiredly, seeming suddenly very subdued. TK spoke up.

"Excuse me, sir?"

The man smiled shakily down at him.

"Yes?"

"Who are you?"

The man chuckled, his eyes watching each of them.

"Beauty before age. You first."

Matt took charge of the operation.

"I'm Yamato. Matt. This is Izzy, or Izumi…"

"Hello."

Izzy nodded to him.

"…Mimi…"

"Hi there!"

"…TK…"

"Hi mister!"

"…Sora…"

"Hello."

"…Joe…"

"How do you do?"

"…and Tai."

Tai simply nodded his head curtly, eyes narrowed at the man. Matt felt in accordance with the boy, for once. This man was an enigma, for now.

The man stared around at them all, before smiling slightly and reaching out to shake Matt's pale hand with his own dark one.

"My name is Tai Kamiya. But you guys can call me Taichi, to avoid confusion."

Matt blinked.

"What?"

Tai and TK asked in unison. 'Taichi' shook his head disbelievingly, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"You heard."

Tai balled his fists.

"Either you're lying, in which case I'll pound your head in, you're joking, in which case it's not funny, you're telling the truth, in which case it's a coincidence or…we're in one hell of a mix up."

Taichi smiled.

"Last one, I'm afraid. Without any more ado, yes, I am the same Tai as you see several feet below me. A bit more mature, perhaps…but not much."

Kari giggled feebly.

He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. Matt noted he seemed to do that a lot. He wondered briefly what natural disaster had occurred to make Tai cut his hair sometime in the future…

"I suppose you had better come with me…the network will shut down within three hours, and I really have no time to 'observe habitats' anyway. If you would like to follow me.."

"Wait a minute!" Tai exclaimed, outraged "You can't just expect us to come along quietly without some sort of explanation!"

Taichi smiled lopsidedly, and Matt realised (without much conviction) where he had seen it before. Well, it was obvious now…

"I understand that, Tai," he chuckled "but if you can't trust yourself who can you trust?" Tai opened and closed his mouth, then glared.

"Sense of humour hasn't improved."

Matt muttered. Taichi laughed openly at that.

"Neither has yours, believe me." Matt frowned.

"What is that supposed to-?" he began, but Taichi had already turned on his heel and was leading them back through the trees.

After fifteen minutes later (and a loud 'Ouch!' as Tai hit Izzy round the head for giving an exact time) they came upon…

…a TV.

In the middle of a forest.

"Well, at least it's not a fridge this time." Joe muttered.

Taichi laughed, leant down, and fiddled with a dial on the TV.

A primly pronounced and falsetto female voice spoke from the machine.

"ONU network services, terminal 56, location file island, 04:34 hundred hours; please state user identification."

Taichi sighed.

"I hate this system." He muttered, before enunciating clearly to the machine:

"Director T-C.K, classification: head of ONU. Pass code: G1atek6eepe9r."

There was a short silence, before the voice spoke again.

"Identification accepted. Please submit travel details."

"It's like a bloody travel agent crossed with the secret service…"

Taichi muttered under his breath as he keyed in a sequence very fast on the remote control on top of the TV, before replacing it.

"Due to the presence of underage visitors, parental permission chips must be submitted."

Taichi sighed.

"Override, code TC14352ALPHAone."

"Accepted. Please have a pleasant journey. The department of digital transportation shall be closing visiting hours at 05:00 pm. Please place a hand on the terminal."

Uncertainly, they all placed one hand on the TV, Matt clasping TK's hand in the other.

There was a small beeping noise, then all vanished in a whirl of colours and shapes.

A/N: So, any thoughts? Constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks for reading!