Date Started: June 17th, 2005
Date Finished: June 28th, 2005
Date Revised: March 7th, 2006

Summary: Daisuke and Jun spend the night alone in their apartment during a blackout, with only the piercing cry from the Chosen's digivice to keep them company.

Blackout

From: Izumi Koushiro
To: Motomiya Daisuke, Takaishi Takeru, Hida Iori, Inoue Miyako, Yagami Hikari
Message: Digital World Activity
Time: 1:12:15 a.m. Tokyo

Everyone meet up at the Village of Beginnings. A possible tragedy has occurred in the Digital World, and I expect each of you to be there with me to investigate. This cannot wait until daybreak.

A blackout…

Those were the first words that entered his mind as he faced his blank computer screen. The screen was dark, the lights were out, and pushing the power button did nothing. At his side, his hand shook while the rest of his body quivered. Within his palm he held a small device that beeped quite sharply, at a consistent pattern.

Daisuke gripped his digivice tightly. He needed to get into the Digital World. He was needed. V-mon was calling. He needed to be there with his partner. And he needed to do it now.

His eyes were becoming adapted to the darkness, and he vaguely made out where the exit from his room was. Still, he wouldn't budge. The power would come back any minute, and he'd be able to travel to the Digital World. He knew it.

Still, the darkness remained. It was long past midnight now, and no lights came through his window. Daisuke let out a gasp suddenly. Through various uncomfortable steps, and after accidentally kicking his bed and desk a few times, he made it to his windowsill and opened up the curtains. The buildings surrounding his were also pitch black.

He noticed a few small lights penetrating through several windows from the neighboring apartments. He guessed they were lit candles or oil lamps, but more possibly just standard flashlights.

He sighed noticing one apartment building in particular was also without power. Hikari… I hope you're alright. His digivice remained beeping. It was now louder than ever without any background noises to cover up its constant beep.

A loud shriek interrupted his thoughts. He froze in place, quickly gathering himself and overanalyzing his situation. He turned around and ran outside his room, towards where the cry had come from. His digivice now provided what minimal light he needed to get around his household. He shouted out in response. "Jun!"

He could hear his sister's whimpered replies in the bathroom, likely the door was closed and she had hurt herself once realizing she was in pitch darkness. He pushed the door open and found his sister inside, wrapped in a towel after her shower, her hair a wet mess, and a blow-dryer in one hand. She looked over at Daisuke, and pleaded, "Tell me the lights are coming back."

Daisuke sighed. "I wish I could. The entire block is blacked out."

Jun noticed the light from her brother's hands almost instantly. She wasn't very familiar with Daisuke's doings in the other world, but she knew though this wasn't a good sign. "Hey… your thing, it's rather loud."

"How observant of you to notice," Daisuke grumbled. "Get dressed, we've gotta get me to a working computer. And fast!"

He left his digivice with his sister to provide light, and slowly walked over to a nearby cabinet, rummaging through it in search of a lighter. His family didn't have any flashlights, but they had candles around their living room. And Daisuke intended to turn them on if the lights didn't come back soon.

From: Yagami Hikari
To: Motomiya Daisuke
Message: Where are you?
Time: 2:39:44 a.m. Tokyo

Daisuke, what's holding you up? A virus has spread upon the newborn hatchlings in the Village. We need your help here until Koushiro figures out what to do about this. V-mon said he came through to the digital world, but you didn't follow, what happened?

Jun finished dressing. Daisuke received his still beeping digivice. The lights were still out. One by one, the candles in the Motomiya living room were lit up. An unnerving feeling ran up Daisuke's spine, and he shuddered in response. It was slightly painful…

Jun noticed, and frowned at her brother, "What's wrong?"

Daisuke looked towards his sister. She was visible, but the light that made her so was only moderate. Shadows covered most of her facial features, and he was sure she saw him in much the same way.

"Something really doesn't feel right," he said, and started walking towards the phone. "I've gotta get in touch with the others."

He slammed the receiver down no later than he had picked it up. He swore, "Damn! The phone's dead."

"Daisuke, calm down, I'm sure your friends are alright. This just must be some electrical glitch or something. I mean, like you said, the entire block is out."

"It's never just a glitch!" Daisuke spat, and pointed to his digivice, its sound echoing throughout the apartment, "V-mon wouldn't be calling me for help so soon after he entered the digital world if it were something as simple as that! I – I've gotta get to Hikari's."

Jun quirked a brow. "The electricity is gone. I'm willing to bet the elevators aren't working either."

"I'll take the stairs."

"What if the emergency lights are out, too?"

"I'll take a candle with me."

Jun sighed. "That's not enough light. I guess I'll just have to go with you and we'll try to go about with a candle each."

Daisuke nodded, and after picking up a candle for himself, started for his apartment door. Jun was already there. She twisted the knob, and pushed. The door wouldn't budge. She blinked at the resistance. Again, she tried to open the door, and still it wouldn't open.

"Uh… Daisuke," She called him over. "Is there a reason the door won't open?"

His eyes widened. "What do you mean, 'won't open'?"

"Just what I said, the door won't open."

Daisuke moved his sister aside, and took her place at the doorway. He placed both hands at the knob, turned, and pushed as hard as he could. It remained closed.

Jun frowned at him. "I think the alarms are malfunctioning. We're stuck here for now."

He turned rapidly to look at Jun. While his rational side knew that this was more than faulty fire alarms at work, now there was a panic in his eyes as his mind wandered. "Stuck! I can't be stuck here! V-mon needs me!"

"He'll be fine," Jun tried to reassure him.

"Yeah, yeah… V-mon is tough, he'll be fine for a little while," Daisuke said, though he sounded unconvinced himself. Suddenly his face lit up, "Of course! I can't believe I hadn't thought of this sooner!"

He picked up his backpack from the living room couch, and rummaged through it as Jun looked on. Within a minute he had pulled out his D-Terminal. He unclasped it and stared at the monitor. Three words haunted the screen: No Signal Detected.

Daisuke continued to stare. After a moment, he let the item drop lifelessly back into his backpack. He fell onto the couch afterwards, sighing in defeat.

From: Yagami Hikari
To: Motomiya Daisuke
Message: Daisuke?
Time: 2:57:13 a.m. Tokyo

Daisuke, please hurry. V-mon has been infected, we thought he was simply feeling a bit depressed because you were gone, but he's taken a turn for the worst. It's just as bad as the newborns. Koushiro is still unsure what to do, please come quickly!

"Jun, does your cell phone detect any signals?" Daisuke asked, not for the first time. He sat in his place on the sofa, his sister on the other end right beside him.

She shook her head as once again she looked at the device in her hand. The screen remained blank.

Daisuke clenched a fist in frustration. He was trapped in his own home, unable to go to the digital world, and without any ways of contact to anyone even on the other side of his apartment door. He couldn't imagine what else could possibly go wrong.

After a frighteningly long silence between himself and his sister, Daisuke frowned deeply at his digivice as it continued to shriek madly over their living room coffee table. Despite where his thoughts drifted, they were always brought back to the horrors he knew awaited him in the digital world.

"I'm sure they're fine, you know," Jun said. She knew that her words had been a lie, as her brother's digivice wouldn't have been calling for his help if that were not so.

Daisuke seemed to ignore her words, and tried to find his own in attempt to express his concerns. "This… it hurts. My friends… the other Chosen, I mean, I don't know if they're inside the digital world, or like me only their digimon made it through. There's no way to contact them… no way for them to contact me."

He stopped for a moment, taking in a deep breath. His words were too depressing. He then continued, "What if only our digimon are inside, being hunted by some evil would-be virus, trying to call for help from their Chosen, but we can't do anything from here…"

"Daisuke…" Jun began; her brother's words frightened her. But as she started to speak, she noticed that Daisuke was even more terrified than she was.

"You're talking nonsense," she tried to reassure him.

"I can't do anything from here…" He echoed his words, his voice seemingly cracking. "Nothing but… helplessly stare at my digivice."

From: Yagami Hikari
To: Motomiya Daisuke
Message: Please respond!
Time: 3:20:56 a.m. Tokyo

Daisuke! Please! What's happening? We need you here in the digital world! V-mon needs you! He's dying, Daisuke! He's dying here without you! Please get here as soon as possible! There's little time left! Takeru is in shock, afraid this might happen to Patamon as well. Iori is in tears, and Miyako and Koushiro are still clueless as to the cause of this. We need you, Daisuke.

And Daisuke finally collapsed in his worry. His will broken, he turned to his sister for help. And Jun looked back over her brother. His eyes threatening to break into tears, by physical or emotional stress, she couldn't tell.

Upon seeing his strained eyes, Jun did the only thing she could. She spread her arms to welcome a distraught Daisuke into a comforting and soothing hug. No words were said as he buried his face into her shoulder, letting his tears flow. He hated being so helpless… so useless.

The candles burned, their small flames giving birth to shadows that surrounded the living room, closing in to the weeping Chosen and the sister he sought for comfort. From his own Digivice, the deepening echoes haunted Daisuke's ears. And from their only source of light, the shadows slowly began to consume the siblings...

The night went on, the light burning and the shadows growing. And Jun simply sat on the couch, her little brother wrapped in her arms. He sobbed into her shoulder, and time slowly passed as seconds became minutes, and the minutes turned into an hour, and then became another. She herself was growing tired, and her brother's sobs were beginning to weaken. The ringing of the digivice had slowly faded. Similarly, Daisuke's sobs silenced over time. And Jun fell asleep.

The cry for help had finally ended.

From: Yagami Hikari
To: Motomiya Daisuke
Message: Where were you?
Time: 4:49:31 a.m. Tokyo

Forgive us, Daisuke, we tried. We really did. We can't seem to get back into the real world. I haven't received any word from you or from Taichi, nor could Takeru get anything from Yamato. I'm not sure what happened, but I really hope you're alright. We'll try leaving again to check up on you soon.

Jun's eyes slowly opened to darkness. The sun had not yet come up, and the light given off from the candles had long since gone out. Curiously to her, the light that the digivice had provided seemed to have faded as well.

Her brother lay still in her arms, unmoving, and oddly cold. She frowned, reminding herself to next time lay a blanket over him when they fell asleep like this. She prepared to slowly move him, so she could get off the couch, when the darkness disappeared.

Daisuke's eyes remained shut. He remained still, unmoving. But the lights flickered on.

End notes:
- The "Tokyo" after the time of each message is referring to the Time Zone the Chosen live in.