Chapter 1

Fourteen year old Izumi Koushiro sat in his bedroom, casually surfing the net. The day was sunny and hot, and as he sat sweating on the tenth floor of the apartment tower, he felt a cool breeze rush past him. He smiled and looked up; there were no open windows in the house, because if there had been, it would have only let hotter air in to the apartment. He stared around quizzically for a moment, then turned his attention back to the screen, where a message was flashing before him. He opened it and it read: "Darkness is before you, hiding in the shadows, but soon to appear and show its face!"

"Who in the world sent me this?" Koushiro said, searching for a return address. There was none.

Seconds later, another message appeared on the screen. This one read: "Even the strongest light cannot pierce the eternal darkness!"

"What the…?" two more messages popped up on the monitor. The first read: "Darkness and shadow combine to create ultimate power!" and the second read: "Eternity is in the hands of those with power!" Koushiro stared blankly at the screen, tapped it a few times, then quickly packed up his laptop and ran out the door, headed to Yagami Taichi's house.

"Hikari, give it up already, I'm not telling you who it is!" Taichi cried. His younger sister, Hikari, pounced on him, grabbing hold of his wild spiky brown hair and yanking on it hard.

"Yagami Taichi, tell me or I rip your precious hair out and burn your goggles to dust!" Hikari said menacingly, her face barely an inch away from his.

"They're plastic, they'll melt, stupid! They won't turn to dust! And I won't tell you!" She yanked harder on his hair.

"Is it Yukira-san?" His face never wavered.

"Even if you were to guess it right I wouldn't tell you," he said, grinning evilly.

"So it is Yukira!" Hikari cried triumphantly. Taichi rolled his eyes and flopped backwards in his chair.

"Even if it was, what's it to you?" he said casually.

"It's blackmail material, that's what it is to me!" Hikari said, smiling evilly and attempting to cackle maniacally, which came out as more of a hoarse giggle.

"You do realize that if mom and dad were home, they'd have killed us by now, right?" Taichi said, smiling slightly.

"So what? This is fun! So who is it?"

"Hikari, give up!" Taichi cried. "I'm not telling you!"

"Tai! Hikari! Are you home?" called a voice form the living room. The door to Taichi's bedroom suddenly burst open to reveal a very sweaty and out of breath Koushiro, clutching his laptop as if his life depended on it. Without even explaining why he was there or why he had ran into their apartment like a madman, he sat down on Taichi's bed and flipped open his laptop. And again, without speaking, he pointed at the screen, where the four messages that he had received were displayed. Taichi and Hikari looked from the screen to Koushiro and back at the screen, then back at Koushiro.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Tai asked. "Because it's not funny."

"No, this isn't a joke, you idiot!" Koushiro cried. "I just randomly received these e-mails about ten minutes ago! Do they possibly seem familiar to you at all?"

"No, no they don't Izzy, because I didn't send them!" Taichi cried. "Ask Hikari, we've been arguing for the past two hours!"

"We have," Hikari added. "And Taichi's being stubborn!"

"I know you didn't send them!" Koushiro said. "Your e-mails always have a signature on them and I can always trace them back to you. These had no return address, no signature, not even a domain that they were sent from! There's nothing. But the way it's written…it sounds familiar!"

"Unless we're talking about catnip," said a small, white cat-like creature from Kari's feet. "I couldn't tell you if anything is familiar." She hopped up onto Kari's lap and nuzzled her Chosen Child partner, gently purring.

"Gatomon, you haven't even read the e-mails!" Koushiro said, slightly annoyed at the three of them. How could they be so casual! He knew something wasn't right, something was off, and it felt like his mind was in a fog.

"Well then hand them over!" Gatomon said. She read through the messages and giggled. "It's probably just a prank e-mail from a hidden domain!" Koushiro was starting to twitch.

"It's…not…a…prank…e-mail…I…think…it's…something…more…than…than…" he said through gritted teeth.

"Uh-huh, sure" Taichi smirked. "And aliens are invading China…"

"Has anyone ever told you that you act like a child?" Koushiro cried. "I thought you were fifteen, not two!"

"Hey, that was a cheap shot!" Taichi yelled back at him. "I do not act like a child!"

"Both of you shut the hell up," Kari said quietly. "I think maybe Koushiro is right. I'm getting this really weird feeling…"

Both boys stared at her; her eyes were completely blank and they had turned completely black.

"Kari? Are you okay?" Taichi said. She didn't answer, so he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her lightly. Still she did not answer.

"Kari! Kari what is it!" Taichi cried. She suddenly fell over, limp in his arms. She had passed out.