Hey all, I've been bouncing this idea around in my head for awhile, thought I'd finally write it out. This takes place in season 2 in some random time. It's after the Christmas concert though. Ken is a good guy, and in my timeline none of the other drama has started yet. I'll probably being taking a few liberties and changing a couple things, but for the most part it will be sticking strictly with the show's characters, themes, etc. I'll mainly be sticking to the English names and such as well.

I've always thought Tai was a great character, so when they revamped the series with Season 2 I was quite excited to see how Tai would develop as an older leader. I was disappointed with the introduction of the new Digidestined (although I do like Daisuke/Davis) because I was looking forward to more character development with the original Digidestined.

I've also really thought that it would be a great focus to see the Digidestined themselves singled out and targeted, especially in the "safety" of the real world. The "bad Digimon" always fight the Digidestined head-on, but I thought it'd be a better focus to go after the kids themselves more since they're so vulnerable instead of just fighting their partners. So this idea was born.

Here's the intro, more chapters to come soon. Obvious disclaimer—I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. I welcome critiques, ideas and any errors you find. Enjoy.

*Warning—I do have a few violent/graphic scenes (not many in this intro) so be aware of that if such things bother you.

Prologue

"Hello…? Kari? Agumon? Anyone?" A chill swept through him, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. He hugged his arms tightly against himself, his bare arms prickling. He had no idea where he was, and no recollection as to how he got there. He was in a desolate landscape, painted in grays and black. He was alone, no other sign of life. His breaths came out in small white puffs.

"Courage…"

Tai whipped around. He could have sworn he heard…

"Courage…Courage…."

Whispers danced around him, taunting him. Tai could feel a heaviness in the air. It was a terrible feeling he had never felt before. It was dark, and evil.

Clenching his fists, Tai took a step forward.

"Who is there? Show yourself!"

"Courage…Digidestined…

Tai couldn't ignore the sense of alarm that was consuming him. He felt threatened.

Then as suddenly as he found himself there in the first place, the scenery around him shifted, and he found another scene before him.

It looked like he was in the Digital World, and the other Digidestined were there, looking worse for wear with their partners. Before Tai could call to them he noticed their eyes were focused elsewhere, they didn't even seem to notice him. Turning, he found…himself. This Tai was wearing a gray shirt, black jacket and black jeans. His eyes…it was his eyes that caught his attention the most. They looked wrong. It was almost as if they were devoid of life, empty of anything—dull and emotionless.

Kari stepped toward the other Tai, her hand outstretched.

"Tai, please stop this! This is wrong! I love you Brother!"

Sora stepped closer, her eyes filled with tears.

"Tai, what is wrong with you, why are you doing this?"

The other Tai just blinked. Without sparing a glance at the Digimon at his side he responded, his hand holding out a strange Digivice.

"Kill them."

Without hesitation Agumon digivolved. Tai was horrified when the light retracted to find Skullgreymon in his place.

Tai felt sick. What was this? A nightmare?

"No…stop! Kari move! Sora! Everyone!"

Tai could only watch as Skullgreymon raced forward. Before anyone could react, his massive foot came down on Sora, completely crushing her. The other Tai just watched with a passive expression as Biyomon screamed and threw herself at the monstrosity before being quickly deleted.

The others tried to fight but were immediately thrown back. The Digimon then turned toward Kari.

Tai felt his stomach lurch. He ran toward her, but he wasn't getting any closer to her.

"Run Kari! Run!" She did not look at him, her eyes locked onto Skullgreymon. Her eyes drifted to the other Tai. Despite the situation, she still held out hope and trusted that he would not harm her.

"Taichi?"Kari tilted her head at her brother, before turning back with wide eyes as Skullgreymon descended upon her.

Tai screamed as Skullgreymon grabbed Kari in his fist, bringing her up to eyelevel as Kari desperately tried to wiggle out of his grasp. Gatomon propelled herself at Skullgreymon, but he quickly disposed of her in one hit. Kari yelled out Gatomon's name in tears. The other Tai remained unmoving.

"KARI NOOOO!" Tai continued to struggle toward them, but it felt like everything was happening in slow motion.

Skullgreyman no longer hesitated before tossing the girl into his mouth.

Tai collapsed to his knees, feeling sick at the sound of bones crunching. In a rage he found his footing and raced at the other Tai, ready to attack him, no longer aware of the rest of his surroundings.

"How could you? HOW COULD YOU?"

Before he could reach his doppleganger, Tai felt something hit him, knocking him off his feet. Struggling off the ground and panting hard, he found himself alone yet again with no signs of the others or Skullgreymon, his face caked with tears.

"Courage…Courage…you will kill them all." The mysterious voices were back.

"Kill…kill…kill them all."

Tai narrowed his eyes at the whispers.

"Who are you? I would NEVER hurt my friends! Ever!"

The whispers turned into a scalding, mocking laughter that echoed endlessly around him.

The images of Skullgreymon killing his friends appeared, repeating again and again. Unable to process it, Tai could only scream.

Kari had awoken with a start, along with her parents as screams filled their apartment. Feeling dazed, she nearly fell out of bed. Registering that it was her brother, fear filled her heart and she stumbled to Tai's room, Gatomon at her heels.

With her parents trailing behind in alarm, Kari burst into Tai's room. Her eyes widened, seeing him thrashing around in his bed like he was being attacked, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Quickly making her way to his side she grabbed his shoulder.

"Tai. Tai. TAI! WAKE UP TAI!" she thought for a moment when he didn't respond. Seeing no other choice, she raised her hand and slapped him across the face, hard.

That did the trick. Tai gasped, sitting up in bed looking around wildly. Seeing Kari, he launched himself at her.

"Oh my God Kari you're okay! You're really okay!" He held her tightly, shaking. Gatomon was looking at them wide-eyed, not knowing what to do. Kari shushed him soothingly.

"Tai…shhhh. It was only a dream. Everything is okay now."

Images flashed in Tai's mind of what he had seen, and he quickly shoved Kari away and grabbed a trashcan next to his bed. Kari rubbed his back as he heaved into the can. All he could see was blood. So much blood. And the bone cracking seemed to continually resonate in his head.

"Oh my God. Oh my God." Tears burned his eyes as he tried to block it all out.

Kari assured her parents that Tai would be okay and herded them out—she knew they would be of no help with this.

"Tai? Are you okay?" She had never seen him like this before. Whatever he had dreamed, it must have been bad. He shuddered as she wrapped her arms around him.

"It's okay Tai. I'll stay in here with you until you fall back asleep."

Kari perched on the bed as Tai wordlessly laid back down. She stroked his hair and began to lightly sing, hoping to calm him down. She glanced at the clock—2:14 am. She sighed, knowing it would be a long night.

Tai awoke the next morning at the sound of Kari pounding on his door.

"Tai it's time to get up-time for school sleepy head. I have some breakfast waiting for you!"

He sluggishly pulled himself out of the comfort of his blankets and trudged to the bathroom. The rest of the night had been peaceful enough, but he had a restless sleep. Looking at himself in the mirror, he had to admit he looked pretty bad. He had big bags under his eyes, which were also bloodshot.

"Lovely." He said to himself.

Half an hour later, he took a deep breath as he left for school with his sister. He needed to get a grip. It was just a nightmare.