As Darkness ensues....

AN: Yup, it's me again. Nope, I dun own digimon ::sniffles:: but I do own GOGGLES!!!!!! Ones that every1 wants but they can't have mwah ah ah ah! Teehee. ^_^ And I own Ken-chan. HE'S MINE MIYAKO! ALL MINE! NOT YOURS, MINE. SO GO TAKE A HUNK OF CHEESE AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR-uh, nevermind...

Silence. The sound of it was nervewracking. For some odd reason, not even his feet made a noise as he walked along the winding black and white checkerboard path before him. Glacing around, he noted a deep navy sky around him, and not much else. As the path came to an end, he looked down below him. An ocean. The waves began to crash, and the sudden noise startled him, causing him to take a step back. *"Welcome to my land..."*

"Who...?"

*"You are the one I've been searching for...the one that can bring destruction..."*

"What do you mean? Who are you?!"

*"Yes, you are...you are the one...and I have you now..."*

"What are you talking abo-" A sharp, seering pain ran up the back of his neck, and he clutched it as he sunk to his knees. The agony began to spread throughout his body, and he shook violently.

*"Yes, that's right...others can activate what is there..."*

"ARGH!"

*"That's right...suffer...Ichijouji Ken..."*

******

"Ken? Can I say one thing?" Ken turned his violet eyes to the auburn- haired boy sitting next to him.

"Go for it."

"You look like shit."

"Arigatou." He grumbled, rubbing his already red eyes.

"What happened?"

"I didn't get much sleep last night." Unconsciously rubbing the nape of his neck, he turned his attention back to Daisuke. "I think it was a nightmare, but I can't even remember."

"Well, you should go home and get some sleep...you look horrible."

"I feel horrible."

"Then get moving! If you need your beauty sleep, go get it." Daisuke winked, and Ken nodded slightly, then yawned.

"Alright, I'm going..."

******

Takeru glanced over at Hikari, who was quieter than usual. "Hikari?"

"Hai?"

"Nostano?" Sighing, she replied,

"Nanimo." And leaned back a bit. Takeru nodded, respecting her wish to keep whatever was bothering her to herself.

"You do know that if you want to talk, I'll listen."

"I know, but there's nothing to really talk about. I'm fine."

"If you say so..." He was caught off guard by Hikari resting her head on his shoulder. Flushing instantly, he coughed and gulped. She grinned at his obvious embarrassment.

"Don't be so uptight, Takeru."

"H-h-ha-ha-hai..." Closing her eyes, she muttered,

"I should really take my own advice..."

******

The brunette and the red-head walked alongside Daisuke as he dragged home from school. "Daisuke-kun, what was wrong with Ken-san today?"

"Yeah, he looked really out of it."

"He said he didn't get much sleep...probably was up studying too late."

"Well, you could take some pointers." The brunette grinned, as he growled,

"Are you implying I don't study?"

"I'm not implying it, I'm saying it, because you know for a fact you don't..."

"Fuu!" He folded his arms and pouted. "Well, Rei, what do you think?"

"I think you should be more like Ken-san...oh, he's so kawaii!!!"

"Could you please not swoon while I'm around? It makes me sick..."

"I think Daisuke's jealous..."

"Am not!" he argued, as he glanced up to see Yamato and Taichi approaching. Fuu leaned over to Rei,

"Now Yamato is worth swooning over..." She corrected.

"No way! Ken is soooo much cuter..."

"Are either of you going to fight over me? I'm feelin' neglected ya know..."

"Fine. Daisuke-kun or Taichi-san?"

"Taichi."

"No way! Daisuke-kun's too cute. And he's tanner..." Grinning, Daisuke put his arms around his two school friends.

"Why thank you for giving my already large ego another big boost."

"Anytime, sugar." The red-head winked, and then motioned to Fuu. "But we do have to get moving."

"Awww, my fan club is leaving?"

"Sorry, we've got a lot of work...we'll call you later."

"Sure, later." After a wave, Daisuke finally found himself confronted by Yamato and Taichi. "Hey guys, what's happening?"

"There's a major problem, we just came from Koushiro's..."

"What is it?" The two exchanged glances and Yamato nodded for Taichi to proceed.

"Daisuke, the digital world...it's gone."

******

"Let me get this straight..."

"What's to get straight? Look at my computer screen." Koushiro pointed at the monitor which was flashing a bright red ERROR across the screen. Miyako seemed to not comprehend it.

"But it can't just have....disappeared...can it?"

"Well...it could just be outside interference...which I highly doubt...try opening a digital gate." She pulled out her D-3 and raised it to the screen.

"Digital portal...open!" The light started to engulf her, but suddenly, crackling noises began to erupt.

"Miyako! Stop!" Koushiro tried to reach out to her hand, but sparks began to fly at him and she began to scream.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

"Throw down your D-3! Do it now!" With one quick motion, she flung it from her hand and dropped to the floor. Koushiro knelt down next to her and gasped, "are you alright?! I never expected anything like that to happen!"

"Koushiro? I can't believe it...the digital world is..."

******

Takeru and Hikari were dashing towards Koushiro's apartment. "Miyako sounded really frazzled...I wonder what this is all about..." Hikari zoned out, deep in thought,

"This can't be about that dream...no, it's gotta be some minor glitch or something..." They both bounded up the stairs and finally arrived, panting, at Koushiro's front door. After Mrs. Izumi let them both in, they rushed to the room and found everyone else already there with stern looks on their faces. "Mimi-chan? You're here?"

"It was supposed to be a suprise, but the suprise was on us."

"What are you guys talking about? What's going on?"

"Miyako-chan, are those burns on your face?"

"That was from my incompetence. Miyako basically proved my theory that something terrible happened to the digital world. It's vanished." Hikari's heart stopped. The dream! It had to be thousands of screams that had echoed then all died out simultaneously...the thought of it chilled Hikari to the bone,

"Hikari!"

"Huh?"

"Are you ok?"

"What...what happened to our digimon?" Everyone went silent.

"I can't tell you that...I don't even know what happened, all I know is this is very bad...but there's more."

"Great, can you actually give us some happy news, Koushiro?"

"I would if I could, but I can't..." He brought up an e-mail and explained, "I got this in my inbox moments before it happened...it's a letter from Gennai. Getting to the important part, it basically says 'help, we're in danger, and so are all the worlds.'"

"So what do we do?"

"That's where you guys come in, because I am drawing a blank."

"We can't travel there, that's for sure." Miyako grumbled, "as of right now, there really is nothing we can do." Daisuke growled,

"So we just sit around like a bunch of idiots?! There has to be something we can do!"

"Well, I have a contact that I'm sending the e-mail to. If it's encrypted, this person'll find it."

"This person?"

"They're a well-known hacker on the web, I'm talking elite of the elite. But no one knows who they are, whether they're male or female, or what have you. But this guy is good, and I'm leaving no stone unturned. I'm going to work as best and fast as I can. I just wanted to inform you all of the severity of the situation. Wosrt case scenario...well, I don't even want ot think about it. Best case scenario, I figure this out and we make it right. We'll just have to wait and see..."