Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any other characters except the one(s) I have created. If I did then . . . Well, that would be cool or prodigious or heck, if I feel like it, perfecto.

Author's Note: To mention my inspiration 'cause well - that's how the story came around. It was actually something I noticed Oikawa had on his laptop. Lets see how many of you clever and observant ones pick it up.

I published the prologue once, but then I wanted to do some editing and changing plot points etc. This is now an epic that deals with the basic digimon season timeline now changed by one instance - the Agumon card. How badly will one thing change a whole adventure? Will the future be the same? This centers around the 01 gang as they deal with new emotions and circumstances. Can they forgive Tai? Everything that is known about the three Digimon universes will intertwine, even some from 04 (but not for a while).

The idea is to go further with the classic season. To explore the elements that weren't totally addressed and should've. Most of them emotional, such as Matt's whole introverted thing, and romantic, would anybody ever try something romantic? As well as on the grand scheme of the adventure as in why them? This is my big summer fic.

Bottom Line: Alternate universe, entirely after a famous scene starting from the 01 episode "Its All in the Cards" - Myotismon arc. So, there will be romance, comedy, and other epic type stuff. There is a brief 02 cross-over. This is action/adventure and minor swearing.

*****

They stood before the gate that loomed before them. The gate that was supposed to lead them home. To him. To the vampire. To the eighth child. It all seemed so simple - plug in the cards and the gate would open. A key in a door, so trivial. But nothing was ever simple here, the Digital World that is. Every living thing was another puzzle box waiting to be deciphered. And that's what this is. A puzzle.

Except . . .

When putting a puzzle together, if a piece is wrong you try and try again until you get it right. But with this puzzle . . .

It's either all or nothing.

And nothing took you to another world.

They were scared, these Chosen children. They had to grow up in so very many ways. Dealing with each other, their power, and the saving the world bit. This is what they had been destined for and they accepted it as best they could.

And they did it incredibly well.

While in the past, they had enough time to figure out a logical plan before bounding after the target. Now, there was no time as everything was falling apart.

Literally.

The walls shook hard as more and more of Myotismon's castle came apart. Apparently the vampire digimon anticipated the Chosen's moves all too well from the way the castle was deleting rapidly. There was another problem too, a big huge, venomous, spider-like problem.

"Poison Thread!" Dokugumon's attack shot out towards the Chosen and their digimon. The deadly strands of web attaching themselves to the wall. A step closer and the acid of the thread could give someone a painful burn. The Digi-Destined jumped away avoiding the attack as best they could.

"I told you, you wouldn't be getting out alive!" hissed the viral insect digimon.

"Like we haven't heard that a million times," muttered Joe.

"A million too many if you ask me," cried Mimi as she hopped out of the way as another threatening thread came her way.

"We need to get that gate open!" shouted Matt. "Now!"

"Digivolve!" rang out Sora, when she suddenly seized up as another attack came her way.

"Not this time!"

Yokomon digivolve to Biyomon!

A pillar of light surrounded the small pink creature with petals as she evolved to a larger, but still pink, bird like form.

"Spiral Twister!" The attack cut the web away from her partner.

"Nice aim," smiled Sora. Her attention then turned elsewhere. Towards the corner of the castle where two boys bent over a large-stone table of some sort.

"Do something!" shrieked Mimi as Palmon digivolved.

They wanted to do something, the pair in the corner. But that something could result in something else. Something much worse than they could ever imagine. They remembered what their mentor said, Gennai, the cards must be in the correct order . . . or else they would be sent to another dimension.

Funny it seemed. That they would be scared of crossing into another world. Wasn't that what they did originally? They went from the real world to a digital one. But now the Digital World seemed so much like home despite the large number of trials they faced. The fear didn't come from the crossing over. The fear was rising from the place in their hearts that would tell them that they failed. That somewhere, the eighth child would be and they wouldn't.

And Myotismon would have won.

Two worlds lost.

That could never happen.

So here he was, staring down a puzzle as if it was the Reaper himself. Funny, he always liked puzzles. Simple and organized. A piece for every slot. But with this puzzle, the rules had changed. There was one thing different.

Nine slots . . . Ten cards . . .

A dummy card.

The sweat trickled down his forehead. His hands sat shaking ever so slightly above the keys of his laptop. His black eyes quivering. The order was correct, it all made perfect sense. There was no way he was wrong.

Except . . .

"I'm s-sorry Tai," whispered Izzy. "That's all I can do." He raised his gloved hand and wiped the sweat away. He looked towards his leader, their leader. The chocolate-colored hair boy's eyes never moved. They remained deeply locked on the cards.

Tai raised his hand and gently set it on the shoulder of his good friend and trustworthy advisor.

"Good job Izz, good job." The younger boy exhaled slightly.

"It's up to you Tai."

"I know . . . " The hand resting on the Bearer of Courage began to tremble slightly, but it remained unknown to the red-head.

The Agumon card or the Gomamon.

"Needle Spray!"

"Harpoon Torpedo!"

"Howling Blaster!"

The three champions' attack rang out in a harmonic chord of power, but were stopped as more thread sped towards their way. The deadly web wrapped tightly around them as the poison began to do its work.

"Garurumon!" shouted Matt as his crest glowed brightly blue.

Garurumon digivolve to Were Garurumon!

The crest had done its job as the champion evolved to his ultimate form of an upright werewolf-like creature decked in jeans and chains.

"Its time we danced," growled the ultimate as he lunged towards his prey.

"Pick one!" urged Joe. A huge crash then sounded from the corridor.

"We're caved in!" called Patamon flying back down to TK's arms.

"It's now or never Tai," gritted Matt.

Tai knew very well what was happening. The choice was simple - one or the other. It was decision between two answers with no way to pick the right one. There was no turning back now.

His hands gripped the sides of the stone table. His head bent in thought. It was all up to him. They trusted him that much. Even Matt. Everyone.

It's all up to you.

"Whatever happens . . ." murmured Izzy quietly. He couldn't bear to witness this brutal decision. Some choices were best left unknown.

It's all up to me.

"Poison Thread!" More threads, more danger.

"Hurry up!" cried Joe.

"You can do it Tai!" called out Sora.

"Boom Bubble!"

"Please!" whimpered TK.

I have to decide - think from the gut. A leader needs Courage. I can't be reckless. I can't just jump into this.

I can do this.

Another explosion as the side wall began to delete as well.

I can do this.

Tai shut his eyes. The tremor in his body becoming visible, yet no one saw. They were too wrapped up in their own fears, but they needed to believe in him - Tai. He could do anything. That line of faith was strong He was their leader.

Tai snapped. His hand shot out towards the two cards as he snatched the one - the one that would hopefully bring them home. Tai shoved it into the slot and it clicked. The table lit up in a white light accepting the nine cards, in whatever order that may be. The slots were filled, which was all that was needed. The same light glowed from the large stone gate and gave it a mystical glow.

The gate opened.

"Let's go!" screamed Tai. His commanding voice echoed above the chaos. The other Chosen didn't need to be told twice.

"You're not going anywhere!" shrieked Dokugumon getting another attack ready.

"Don't think so," shot back Were Garurumon as he body slammed the viral creature.

"We'll handle it!" called out Matt turning towards the battle his partner was in.

"Matt!" TK frantically cried desperately turning towards his older brother with a hand outreached. Sora grabbed the small hands and pulled the blonde boy towards the opened gate.

"He'll be fine, don't worry," reassured Sora without looking back. Her eyes locked on the target as she broke into a sprint with Biyomon swooping in along her side with Patamon as well.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god," whimpered Mimi fearfully. Tears stung her eyes as she bounded towards the gate with a de-digivolved Palmon in her arms. The vision of a skin-swapping world was strong in her mind.

"Come on!" urged Joe looking back towards the younger girl. The weight of his partner did little to slow him down.

The knot in Tai's stomach tightened as he saw his friends closing in on the gate. They could make it, they actually might make it.

"You first," commanded Tai as he literally grabbed Izzy by the wrist and flung him through the glowing door. The Bearer of Knowledge had little time to shout in surprise before he passed through.

"Izzy!" gasped Tentomon, but quickly followed suit. The others reached the Bearer of Courage.

"Get going!" ordered Tai once again. His eyes noted Mimi's tear stained face, but said nothing.

"It'll work out all right Mimi," Sora comforted, but her eyes were starting to verge on tearing. Mimi nodded with a sob caught in her throat.

"We'll go together," spoke up Joe as he grabbed the younger girl's hand. He gave her a small smile as they passed through.

"Any day now!" rang out Matt. His body remained tense and the dirt as well as blood on his face were highlighted by the crest.

"See you," whispered Sora as she too with TK plunged in the white light.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" came another call from the Bearer of Friendship. Tai smirked slightly as he turned to the gate and ran through.

I hope this works.

There was now only a small sliver of light being omitted from the rapidly closing doorway. Matt realized that the time to move was now.

"Finish it up!" he called to his partner. The ultimate responded gladly.

"Garuru Kick!" The blade of energy soared towards Dokugumon and tore into her body. She screamed in rage as her body was deleted.

The de-digivolved Tsunomon fell into Matt's arms as he was carried towards the gate.

"That was cutting it close," commented Matt. The blonde boy kept running, never slowing down. He couldn't, he had to make it.

The Bearer of Friendship oddly felt little fear. Perhaps the shock of it hadn't hit him or his faith in Tai was incredibly strong, despite what the others believed. Tai had proved himself - that was that. Now, the task lay before them. Matt felt the others could do it, but his own self-reliance was another story. There was no time for doubt. There was only one thought that mattered.

Run.

Run fast.

Run fast now.

The limber of body of the Chosen dove through the closing doors in one last moment. The light flowed around his body and his mind fell into unconsciousness.

The doors of the gate closed soundly. The castle continued to fall apart into deletion. Data was swirling into the sky as the gate ceased glowing its white, and seemingly pure light.

As the gate began to break down, so did the podium where the cards lay in their slots. One by one the cards went into deletion as well.

Except . . .

The dummy card. It burst into a tiny flame and shriveled into nothingness. The Bearer of Courage had unfortunately selected the fake.

The Agumon Card.

*****

Their bodies felt numb from the fall. Slowly, they moved their joints. They are alive. A good enough of a sign. But where exactly? Pairs of eyes fluttered open.

"Oh god . . . "

There was nothing to be said. The tears told plenty.

*****

Author's Note: I love writing action/adventure. There's so many levels for the genre to go. Dark, happy, heroic, etc. I'm probably swayed by watching Indiana Jones so many times as bitty kid. Harrison Ford . . . Homer like drool

Demi-V: Ew.

The emotions and actions the Digi-Destined are going through are a bit more amateurish than what they are like at the end of 01. Think about it. Most of them just got their crests to glow, Tai finally came back, and they just encountered Myotismon who is one of the most evil, and I mean EVIL, villains they had to face. Their emotions are going to be running high. Also, a lot of their turning point events have yet to occur as it comes around during the Myotismon arc as well as during the run of the Dark Masters. Things are different. They haven't totally adapted yet.

For the record, crossing over can occur in time lines. It's called Schrodinger's Cat dearies. Read up Quantum Physics or watch Back to the Future. Whichever.

Chapter two is right around the bend!