Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Summary: After Metal Greymon defeated Etemon. Taichi was pulled into a dimensional hole and transported back to earth. But what if that wasn't what happened, what if the hole stranded him in a completely new world.

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Altered Fate.
Part VIII.
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Taichi here.

Last time we finally escaped from that blasted fortress, but not without seeing first hand just how dangerous this world really is. And to top it off, more digimons are out to get us; first it was Karatenmon, then Holy Angemon and his army of Starmons, now it's Majiramon and Vajiramon.

Luckily, Taiko and Bastemon took down Vajiramon, so I guess we're safe from him at least, still, the other angel like digimon her rabbit like friend scares me; they had the same look of hate on their face as Holy Angemon had.

Are they going to be our enemies as well?

----

Silence filled the makeshift hideout as Taichi kept a close eye on the outside world, scanning for any trouble that might come their way, besides the storm he could faintly hear on the horizon, a growing wind that promised both rain and thunder if he knew his weather enough by now.

Thankfully, they had emerged from the broken sewer lines below the city, and into Karatemon's forest, the trees offering not just coverage from above, but also a hiding tree, the hollow wooden structure hiding them from outsiders but masking its openings with some kind of hologram.

Titling his to side briefly, Taichi poked the fire with a stick as he sighed, the loneliness of guard duty getting to him as he had nothing to do but think about his friends, the current trouble he was in, and finally, about Taiko.

It wasn't easy spending time with her, constantly feeling slightly freaked out as the fact that she was him, from another always intruder into his mind when talking to her, eating around her and Tailmon or just walking to look for food, shelter or another place to hide.

Did this place fall under Hikaru's rule now that Karatenmon had been enslaved, he hadn't seen any other digimons around, or any signs of dark gear activity, not even a single trace of the little punk himself and all of his arrogant, emperor like attitude. "Can he even call himself a ruler if he only controls one digimon?"

"Who?" Tailmon entered into the conversation as she lifted her head, her eyes heavy with sleep blinked a few times before they focused on him. "You know, you should get some sleep, I can hear if anyone is coming our way?" The feline digimon added as she stood up, her tail waving back and fourth gently. "I've always been able to hear when someone else approaches."

Finding at least some distraction from his thoughts, Taichi turned his attention to Tailmon, a few questions rising up to mind as he watched the feline digimon before him. "Do you know, in your world, doesn't Hikari exist there?."

"Hikari?" Tailmon sleepily responded as her eyes struggled to stay open. "No, there's no one like her in our world, or anyone like Hikaru." Leaning down onto her front paws, the feline digimon remained silent for a few minutes. "Taiko wasn't an easy kid you know, I hardly thought she could be the child of light everyone had been looking for."

"But as I got to knew her, I saw why she were given that title, she has an inner light that guides everyone, with it's strong glare and heat."

Smirking as she looked over Taichi, Tailmon flicked her tail at him. "Much like you, I bet if you were just a little bit different, you've have the same trait as her." Rising up, she slowly moved over to sit next to him, ignoring just how tired she really was. "What I'm wondering about, is how my friends are doing, Ryo, Miyako, Ken, Daisuke, Jun, Iori, Michi, Sora, Yamato, Takeru, Jou and Koushiro."

The names causing Tai's left eye brown to rise up a bit. "Ryo, Daisuke, Miyako, Ken, Iori and Jun?" Then he grunted as he had at least known the majority of the names. "At least they don't sound that different from the ones I know."

"Well, I don't know much about your world, but I do know this." Standing up, Tailmon walked back to the fire and settled down, resting her head on her front paws once more. "You still haven't reached your full potential yet, you're reckless and relay to much on brute force."

Closing her eyes, the feline digimon sent out one last comment. "You have to learn to think before you act."

Her comment sending a flash of pain through Taichi as a memory of a large bone digimon flashed through his mind, and the shame of that one moment of weakness. "I'm trying, but even a genius can see that we need to become stronger to get through this battle."

Leaning back to continue his silent watch, Taichi still couldn't help but think about the past, present and future, wondering if things would have been different if he had done something besides charging head first into battle.

Sparing one quick look over at Taiko, he grunted as he noticed the rapid eye movement behind her eyelids, along with her sharp breathing.

As he continued to watch her, he froze as a faint whisper reached him, his head slowly turning around to face the direction of it, only to see a pair of eyes focused on him from the shadows above him, their unrelenting stare sending a shiver down his back. "Who, who are you?"

The eyes moving into a smug glare as a yellow glow lit up inside of them, the light filling Taichi's mind as he struggled to think, to form a sentence even as he felt the ground hit his back, how everything around him faded away.

----

"Taiko, we have to retreat now, we can't win like this, not against an ultimate stage digimon." The voice of Daisuke cut through her anger as she watched Nefertimon, Fladramon and Flybeemon, the messy haired boy pulled on her arm even as he yelled at her.

All of his effort though, were useless as she shook him off, glaring straight down at their current attacker, the horrid, mutated form lumbering towards them, those wire like arms, the bright white and purple armor, with a single eye on the triangle like head with the sharp metal horns, and the large crystal like purple eye for a lower chest al heading forward unconcerned. "No, I'm not backing down, that thing has Ryo and Michi, he has all of our friends!"

"He'll have all of us if we don't leave now." Miyako spat out as she held onto Iori, the young boy having gone down along with his partner Armadimon, the mammel digimon suffering massive bruise and even a large cut on his left back leg. "We can't help anyone if we die!"

"Shut up, we can win!" Clenching up her fist, she felt the faint smell and taint of darkness surrounding her, all the while her light powers dimmed in the presence of her dark emotions. "Nefertimon, attack him straight on, hit him with everything you have."

The sphinx like digimon obeying even as she knew it was wrong, Fladramon and Flybeemon joining her in a head on last chance desperation move, each of their strongest long range attacks powering up.

"Nile Jewelry!"

"Fly Spark!"

"Knuckle Fire !"

For a single second, it felt as if the world were just a mass of fire and smoke as all attacks hit the same target, an intense pressure pushing at them as the ground before them all were ripped part, then a loud scream and a sickening sound as their armor stage digimons fell to the ground, their newest enemy advancing once more, completely unharmed by the combined attack.

Rolling backwards with the force of the explosion, Taiko grunted as she slid to a stop, her body aching as Nefertimon impacted the ground besides her, the armor digimon glowing brightly before reverting into Tailmon. "Dammit, why can't we?"

"He's too strong for us!" Ken screamed out as he recovered from an unwilling impact with a rock, his left shoulder clearly dislocated, but still being used to cradle Leafmon, the baby digimon shivering as dust still flew in around them. "We have to retreat until we can fight him."

The Mutant digimon let lose with yet another cold and inhuman scream as it spread its arms out wide, the lone eye in its head glowing brightly. "Absorbent Bang!" A glowing golden colored five clawed hand erupting fourth, flying straight over her, and right into her friends behind her.

The shock of the action hitting her only a second later as Tailmon fell into her hands. "No, not them too." Her anger fading as fear and shock took over instead as the reality of the mutant digimons actions sunk in, leaving her numb and frozen in place as she felt her heart twist, the loss slowly kindling something inside of her. "No!"

The digimon merely looking down at her, the glow forming again as the claw hand shot out, this time heading right towards her, only to be stopped by V-Mon and Daisuke, with Miyako and Hawkmon right next to them, leaving her all alone of the battle field. "No, no!"

Feeling the hate come back again with a vengeance, Tailmon whimpered as she started to feel it enter her body, urging her to dark evolve once more. "Taiko, don't, don't give into your darkness!"

"Kill him now!" Taiko's eyes blazing with anger as she gave into her inner darkness. "He has to pay for this, he has to pay!" Her D3 whining in protest as darkness wrapped itself around it, and Tailmon, causing the white digimon to be obscured from view. "Make him suffer!"

Tailmon's scream of protest and fear fading as he eyes glowed bright red, the darkness twisting her body as she rose up into the air. "Tailmon, warp evolves too, Deathmon!" the massive demon like creature replacing her partner roared loudly as it stomped forward, crushing anything in it's path.

The sight of the demon lord digimon brought fourth a smirk on her face as Taiko turned her attention back towards the fight before her, Parallelmon looking troubled for once. "Yes, now crush him, kill him and delete his data."

Pumping her fist into the air, she froze as she blinked, momentarily confused, a part of her asking her why she was acting this way, way she had given into her darkness.

Then her questions vanished as Deathmon carried out her order, his death arrow ripping right through the mutant digimon in one perfect move, ending all opposition as Parallelmon fell over, digital blood pouting out of his chest. "You, you would kill me, along with your friends, just to win?" A cold laughter flowing from him as he spoke, his body cracking as data began to stream away him arms and legs.

The question from the dying digimon cutting right through her, causing her to fall back in shock and fear, her mouth opening up as she let out her loudest scream yet, the world around her shattering along with Parallelmon's laughter as he faded away along with everything else.

----

The first indication he had of something being wrong, came when he happened to look up from the fire, briefly spotting a shadow that shouldn't be there as a light bolt ripped across the sky, then followed by the sound of leaves getting crushed beneath several feet.

his eyes narrowing with anger as another lighting bolt illuminated the figures outside, a lone young boy with a devil like digimon by his side, leaving no doubt as to who it was that had dared to approach them. "Agumon, we got company." Speaking even as he rose, the messy haired felt strangely clam despite having lost the last fight against this male counterpart of his younger sister.

"Well, well." Taichi spoke out loudly as he took one step forward, Agumon by his side as ever, his eyes set with steel as he walked out into the rain, one hand having already moved down to confirm his digivice was present. "Back again so soon Hikaru?"

The young boy chuckling as he lifted his own digivice up, the ever present black gear gleaming in the light provided by a second bolt of light cutting across the sky. "You know me brother; I never give up once I set my mind on something."

Moving his attention from Taichi towards Taiko as she stepped out as well, he snorted as he glanced rapidly back and fourth between them. "I see, so you're just a copy of him." His smirk grew wider as he returned his focus at the older messy haired boy. "Good Brother, you're finally beginning to see it my way, the only one you can really rely on, is yourself."

"Big words from a small jerk that is unwilling to fight his own fights." Taiko spat back as she stomped forward, her hands clenched up tightly as her anger rose. "This time, I'll tear your little digimon apart, and punch all that pride out of you."

"Taiko." The name spat out by Tailmon as she landed on her partner shoulder, blue eyes narrowed as she didn't offer the other any of her attention. "Forget your dark emotions, and focus on the light, this time around, we need you to focus on the light!"

Hikaru merely sneered at the mention of that crest trait. "Bah, light, darkness holds the most power." Snapping one finger as he finished speaking, he simply focused on Taichi. "Karatenmon, kill the girl, Devimon, evolve will you, and destroy my brother's last hope."

Laughing as he shot up into the air, Devimon felt the dark powers flow into him once more, his body fading away as it was covered in a sphere of darkness. "Devimon evolves too, Megadramon." Shattering to reveal the massive cyborg dragon digimon, he hovered above them all, his claws snapping open as he started gliding around in midair. "I shall enjoy deleting you all!"

Not offering any words, Karatenmon flung himself forward, his sword flashing out in one brilliant move as he aimed to kill off Taiko as fast, but not as painlessly as possible. "Satori!" His eyes glowing as he used his powers to dive into his opponents' heart mentally, and see what they would do next.

Taichi, already ahead of Taiko, didn't even need to ask or order Agumon, the small reptile digimon already way ahead of him as he glowed with a brilliant orange light. "Agumon evolves too, Greymon." The massive dinosaur like digimon glowed brightly as the power of courage flowed into him, granting him new power and strength. "Greymon evolves too, Metal-Greymon." the second cyborg digimon emerging on the battlefield, light flashing off the massive metal arm. "I'll never let you delete anyone else, you hear me, never!"

Megadramon merely roaring in defiance as he shot out of the sky, one massive scythe like claw emerging from his right arm as he drew closer to Metal-Greymon. "Mega Death Scythe!"

The virus buster digimon roared back at the dark dragon as he lifted up his cyborg arm, the trident like claws gleaming as they aligned perfectly with his target in the air. "Trident Arm!" Before getting fired off harshly, forcing Megadramon to do a barrel roll to avoid getting hit, leaving him unable to attack anyone them as he had to move upwards to avoid a tree. "You'll never win, not against me!"

Doing a quick 180 degree turn, Megadramon snarled as he pulled back in his scythe claw, instead smirking as both booster claws slammed open. "Brave words, for a dead digimon that is, Genocide Attack!"

Metal-Greymon jumping upwards with a loud scream as several organic missiles were fired at him, the virus buster mentally roaring as he just instantly knew he would be hit by all of them unless he used up all is energy in one go by firing off his own missiles. "Taichi!"

Pulling his metal arm back, Metal-Greymon let out a bellow of pain as fire and heat filled the air, his flesh stinging and his arm screaming as each missiles tore into himself, knocking him down and backwards to crush into several tree and nearly break one of his wings. "No, I won't give up, not this time, I won't lose against you again."

"Well, well, just as easy a kill as the last time." Hikaru breathed out as he crossed his arms, only letting out a small laugh as he heard the first explosion rip through the air. "You know, I think I'll have Devimon rip out your heart this time around Taichi."

Dusting off some imaginative dust, the young boy didn't even offer the older boy any attention, choosing to show just how much better he was by letting Taichi know he were no danger to him at all. "Of course, I'll let you watch your friends die, again, just as I did with the last Agumon you had for a partner, and of course we can't forget Sora and Piyomon."

His Voice turning even colder and mocking with the last sentence, he finally opened his eyes and focused on Taichi. "You loved her, didn't you, just as Michi loved you, you always bring pain and suffering to others Taichi, but I'll stop it this time around."
Pure hate filling his voice and eyes, Hikaru fully faced Taichi, his mouth turning as a thin as a line. "You won't make a mockery of me again, I won't let you keep me down, I'll show everyone that I am the strongest chosen child, that I am a god!" One hand clenched up in front of him, the dark child threw his head back and laughed, each sound as warm as frozen hydrogen.

"You." The word nothing more then a whisper as Taichi spoke, his hands slowly closing as all other things slipped from his mind, his determination to win over this male copy of his little sister and save him fading, his concern for Agumon barely felt, all he could hear were an endless repeat of Hikaru's crimes, how he had proudly admitted to have killed, Sora, Piyomon, his own brother in this world, and Agumon.

"You're." Words failing him as something new flowed through his body, a feeling he had never felt before, it was more then the anger he had felt for Matt, or the hate towards Devimon and Etemon for all of their attacks, tricks and attempts to destroy them.
This was, it was hard to describe it, it felt as if he wanted nothing more then to reach out, and stop that laughter, to stop him once and for all, even if it meant, killing him. "You killed her."

Unseen to All, darkness whispered in around them, flowing up Taichi's legs as each passing second went by. "You killed Sora!"

Off to the side at the start of the fight, Taiko had turned away from Tailmon to watch as Karatenmon drew closer to them, his sword aimed right towards her neck. "I'll never know why they gave the power of light to me; I have never been good at controlling it, or my emotions."

Releasing some of her hold on her digivice, she smiled as she felt the calm and strength of her given crest flow into her with each passing second as the enslaved digimon drew near. "Go get him Tailmon, show him who is in charge around here"

Tailmon merely nodding as she jumped off Taiko's shoulder, flying through the air gracefully as light flared up around her, blinding everyone looking their as she vanished into a sphere of whiteness. "Tailmon evolves too, Bastemon!" The feline like humanoid digimon blinked as she watched Karatenmon stop before flying upwards, evading her attempt at drop kicking him as she finished evolving. "Hey, how did you!"

Karatenmon not answering as he held out his sword with both hands, spreading his wings out to the sides effortlessly, as several glimmers of light severed the only warning. "Ballistic Feathers"

Bastemon cursing loudly as she had to do a dive to avoid getting turned into a pincushion, her eyes flashing as she moved out of her dive and face Karatenmon, his wings glittering once more as he spread them out, no doubt wanting to try and blown her away with his long range attack.

Well, two could play that game, as Bastemon proved by lashing out with both of her hands, a powerful beam of ice flying off as she laughed. "Helter Skelter!"

Reacting far faster then expected off him, Karatenmon aborted his attack as the ice beam came closer, his sword glittering as he stuck out with it, cutting through the ice beam easily, his face never showing any emotion as he returned his attention to his opponent, just in time to get blasted back by a wave of energy.

Taiko, chuckled as she watched her partner pound lose on Karatenmon, turned around to check on her male counterpart just as he roared out a single word, and blinked as she watched him glare death at Hikaru, not even turning and acting as Metal-Greymon fell down from above, his metallic arm ripped to shreds, and his hide covered in painful look burn marks.

Her eyes narrowing as she felt it, the dark feeling coming from the boy before her, different from what Hikaru's darkness felt like, or even that she had felt back home, this wasn't anger, greed, pride or hate, this was pure loathing, and it was coming from her ally. "Taichi?"

Both hands clenched up hard enough to draw blood, darkness flowing up around his body, and a pale looking Hikaru who had stopped laughing as soon as Taichi had screamed, drew the fight to a close as Metal-Greymon struggled up from his landing place. "Taichi, don't, not again."

Taichi didn't even look like he was listening as he lifted up his digivice, the darkness flowing in and around it. "Evolve, Metal-Greymon, evolve!" His sentence lost as he was knocked off his feet by Taiko, the girl screaming loudly as they went flying backwards. "Get off me idiot, he has to pay for what he's done!"

Taiko glaring death right at him as she struggled with him, trying to get him to calm down and let go of his anger. "Moron, you were calling on the powers of darkness!" Getting tossed off, she slid to a stop as she glared at Taichi, watching the faint darkness floating around him. "He's using the same power, he nothing but pure evil, what do you will think happened to yourself if you also use it."

"He killed Sora, he killed my friends, he killed Agumon!" Taichi spat back as he narrowed his eyes, feeling the urge to destroy his opponent now focused on his female counterpart as well. "And if you get in my way again, I'll kill you." With the last word, he shoved her off him, the darkness flaring up around him completely. "Now, kill them all, Metal-Greymon!"

As he roared out the words, Metal-Greymon let out a pain filled scream as darkness flared up around him, wrapping around his head, arms and legs, and finally his whole body, leaving only his scream and sound of metal twisting and breaking to be heard, then it faded away, leaving only the darkness which faded away.

Red glowing eyes flared up as the darkness thinned, showing nothing but the bones of Metal-Greymon, even the metal arm had vanished leaving just the bone behind, the clawed fingers clacking loudly as they uncurled, the only organic thing left besides the eyes, were a dried up yellow orange colored heart, a faint thumping sound from the organ the only sound as Skull-Greymon took a step forward, his head turning to regard Megadramon in the air above.

"A dark evolution? But he didn't advance in level." Hikaru breathed out the words as he lowered his attention to Taichi, faintly taking in the sight of the terrified Taiko lying on the ground before the messy haired boy. "You think that changes anything; Megadramon can rip him apart in an instant."

Not replying straight out, Taichi merely watched Megadramon, and then started to chuckle, finally going into a full blown laugh matching the one Hikaru had used just seconds ago. "I don't have to beat Megadramon to win over you; after all, he's nothing without your power, Skull-Greymon!"

The undead digimon roared loudly despite not having any lungs or throat, lunged forward, battering away Bastemon harshly as she tried to stop him from running over Taiko, the messy haired girl screaming loudly at the sight, before getting cut off as a bone foot came down onto her, her voice cut off with a sickening thumb.

All the while Taichi laughed as he watched the fish shape missile get fired off, hitting Karatenmon perfectly, deleting him instantly. "You know, I think I'll do to you as you said you'd do to me. Flinging himself forward, Taichi barely knew what he was doing, before he had his hands around the younger boy's neck, squeezing them tightly together as they fell over. "This time you'll be the one to die, you little..."

"Taichi, wake up!"

----

Sitting up violently, Taichi felt his blood run cold as he saw the ash grey face of Taiko looking at him, along with a few faint wisps of darkness around them. "It was a dream?" Spinning his head around to see Agumon, he breathed out in relief as the orange reptile digimon regarded him with concern, and a bit of fear. "I, I dreamt that Hikaru was here, and I, I caused you to become Skull-Greymon again."

"We know, I dreamt something like that as well, it's this place, something wrong with it." Tailmon muttered out as she stalked around, her tail as stiff as it could get from worry. "I can feel the darkness closing in on this world."

Taiko shivering as she walked over to watch the sky through the hole in the tree, feeling even colder as she could literally see the darkness slithering in through the hole in the cloud shield. "What kind of a world has we ended up in, can we even get out of this place?"

"We'll have too." Taichi replied as he stood up, the darkness fading away from him. "There simply to much at stake for both of us, we can't afford to fail."

Agumon nodding in reply as he moved over to stare up at the darkness as well, his green eyes alit with determination. "Not to mention, we come to far just to give up now, we've beaten so many evil digimons despite the odds against us, and we can do so again."

Taichi grinned at his partner's confident speech. "Right on buddy." Then he grew silent, showing the brooding leader he had within him. "I just can't help but wonder when we meet Hikaru again, can I fight him without hesitation, even if he's not Hikari, he's still related to me, even of he's from another universe."

"We'll face that when get to it." Taiko cut in as she shoulder Tailmon, eyes half closed from tiredness and the fear from her dream. "For now, we should get out of this place, unless we want the darkness to attempt to infect us again."

A reply never coming as Taichi had stiffed again, watching the outside of the tree with anger. "We got a bigger problem then that to deal with." The messy haired boy finally spoke as he stood up, feeling a sense of deja vu as he felt Agumon by his side, and his finger pushing over his digivice. "You're the one who messed with our dreams aren't you?"

While he spoke the last part, a pair of eyes opened in the darkness above, the shadows around them uncurling itself into a round ball shaped digimon with bat like wings and a strange Devimon like feel to it. "I had hoped to corrupt you completely before she arrived, but I guess this should be enough for now."

"A Pico Devimon." Tailmon spat out, her body tensing up. "You used your evil whisper to influence us in our sleep, you stupid bastard."

Pico Devimon chuckling as he shot down, and then out of the hole in the tree, moving away as he could, freezing as a white blue overtook him, turning into Tailmon blocking his path. "So what if I am, I'm just doing what she told me, too, besides, the price makes it worthwhile."

Taichi and Taiko emerging from the tree had him smirk even more as he fluttered upwards, well beyond the range of Tailmon's claws and jumping attacks. "I kept my part of the bargain, now I want my payment."

"And you shall have it." A voice responded as across the clearing, Santiramon, the snake deva slithered across the ground as she hissed lowly, cursing the very fates who had interrupted her little dream attack, her eyes turning to the side to regard the forest around her. "You may have broken Pico Devimon's little spell children, but I shall still tear you in half."

Roaring upwards, her mouth snapped open, an orb of darkness flaring up with in it. "As for you little rookie, accept my power, and evolve!"

The bat ball like digimon letting out a howl of victory as dark energies flowed into him. "Pico Devimon evolves too Black Tyranomon!" As he spoke, Pico Devimon's body increased dramatically in size, a tail growing out of his back, as his wings twisted and became two clawed, overly muscled arms, his fur vanished and his skin grew out scales as his legs grew in size and gain three claws.

His mouth and upper head elongating as d shape razor sharp jagged teeth grew out of his reptile like face's mouth, several leather straps wrapping around his lower arms, along with red strips on his legs, arms and tail with green colored two tipped spine plates going from the top of his head to the tip of his tail completed the look of a black colored Tyrannosaurus Rex like digimon.

Roaring darkly as he advanced, he locked eyes with Agumon, and then Tailmon, his feet larger then either of the two digimons easily. "Now then, I believe, you wanted to fight me?"

"And I shall complete my mission as given to me by Makuramon, and eradicate the human from this world." Swinging her halberd around with her tail, Santiramon pointed at each of the two kids. "Even in the face of summoning the monster Millenmiumon to this world, I will not hesitate and lower my weapon against a human, now children."

"Prepare to die!"

TBC:

----

AN: Okay, long overdue chapter, but I went through a period of time where I could barely gain enough to write even this, and it shows, I didn't like this chapter, but all the same, I know it won't get much better then this.

Next time, I'll try and do better.

Also, I know some of you would like to see more of the alternate reality chosen children, but as the story goes, I can't press in much more about them without disrupting the flow of the story for now.