Ken: This one's a little bit longer, isn't it?

Dragon Lady: *nods* I think so. Maybe people will be a little bit happier about that…^^;;

Ken: Yeah…maybe.

Dragon Lady: Anyway…I worked really hard to put this out as soon as possible…

Ken: Because Dl's not sure when the next time she can update this story is…

Dragon Lady: Um yeah…I might be grounded kind of soon…^^;;; So…yeah. I worked hard to put this out, anyways.

Ken: Warning. Kensuke, and more of Dl's stupid spells.

Dragon Lady: Oh come on, they're not really *that* bad…are they?

Ken: …

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Magical Game

By: DigimonDragonLady

Daisuke was coming to slowly. At least…he thought he was. He could have sworn that he'd just opened his eyes, but he could still only see black. He couldn't tell if he was awake, or still asleep. Wherever they were was pitch black and you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face to know if you were moving it!

"Am I…is this what death feels like…?" a hesitant voice chimed out.

Daisuke blinked. Well…he was pretty sure he blinked. That had been exactly what he had been thinking himself. That this was death. "Hikari?" he asked.

"Daisuke!!" Hikari sounded very relieved to hear his voice. "Is that really you?!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm me. Are you all right Hikari?"

"Yes…" she answered, sounding very unsure of herself. "Unless I'm really dead…and then, I guess not…"

Just then Daisuke began to hear other voices joining theirs.

"What is this place?"

"Are we still alive?"

"Why is it so dark?"

And finally, "What the hell happened here?!"

"Ken?" Daisuke's heart leapt up. "Ken!!!"

"Of course," he growled back. "Who did you think it was, the Easter Bunny?" he sneered. "And did I say you could call me Ken?"

Daisuke ignored that. "All right Ken, whatever. Just keep talking and maybe I can find you…" he tried moving slowly. He wasn't even sure if he was standing on solid ground.

"You're going to try moving in all this darkness?" Ken asked in shock. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Of course," Daisuke answered cheerfully. "I'll just follow the sound of your voice. After all, we're all going to have to move sometime, otherwise we're going to be here…wherever here is…for a long time, right?" he pointed out. "Try and see if you can move to me too."

"I…I can't."

"Why not?" Daisuke asked. He turned towards where Ken's voice seemed to be coming from.

"I…" Was that a quaver of fear that he'd just heard? "You might be crazy enough to move, Motomiya," he replied airily. "But I'm staying right where I am."

Daisuke managed to look past the words and see the real reason. 'Ken's…scared?' He was surprised for a minute, but then again, on second thought, it wasn't strange at all. 'Ken would be scared, he doesn't have any idea what he's done. Come to think of it…neither do I…but right now just as long as Ken's alive, nothing else matters…' If this was even alive. 'Maybe together, we can reverse whatever happened to this spell…'

"It's okay Ken, don't move then. I think, I think I'm almost there."

The other Chosen Children were holding their tongues during the entire conversation between Ken and Daisuke. Maybe they realized that their only hope of returning home, lay with The Chosen Child of Courage and friendship, and the Digimon Kaizer. If getting home was possible for even two enchanters.

While lost in thought he bumped into someone…Ken? And they both nearly stumbled and fell. "Oh sorry! Ken, right? Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"That's good. Take my hand okay? We'll bee fine, I'll protect you Ken."

"I don't need you, of all people, to protect me, Daisuke Motomiya," Ken replied scornfully. Never the less they both fumbled for each other's hands. Daisuke could feel Ken trembling, and he squeezed his hand reassuringly. Nothing would happen to his soul mate. He'd make sure of that.

* * *

"How is everyone else?" Daisuke asked, making sure not to release Ken's hand. The voices of the remaining Chosen Children rang out through the dark.

"I'm all right."

"Fine here."

"Same for me."

"I'm good."

"Well, I think it would be a good idea for everyone to have a partner…" Daisuke grinned wickedly to himself. "Iori? Takeru? Where are you two?"

"Over here," answered two voices at once, and Daisuke struggled to discern their locations.

"Sounds like you two are the closest. Do you think you can get together somehow?"

"I can try," Takeru answered.

"I think so," Iori responded.

"Good," Daisuke nodded, even though no one could see him, it was a habit. "Hikari? Miyako?"

"Here, Daisuke," their voices rang out.

"It seems to me that you two are farther apart…but I want to ask you to do the same," he frowned. "Miyako? Do you think you can make it to Hikari?"

"Yeah sure, no problem," Miyako said quickly. "Don't worry Hikari, I can find you."

"Okay…" Hikari agreed, but she sounded a little unsure.

Daisuke waited patiently as his four team mates struggled to find each other in the pitch black darkness. "All right, Iori and I are okay," Takeru called out.

"Gotcha, Hikari," Miyako's voice rang out.

"Okay, obviously we're going to have to formulate some sort of a plan…" Daisuke murmured. "Light would be good." It was times like this he wished he had Jun to help him in the Digital World. "But any magic that's done inside a spell cast by Ken and myself is going to have to come from both of us together…" he frowned over this. Ken just wasn't as experienced as he was; not that it was his fault, he hadn't had anyone to teach him how. "Do you know any simple light spells Ken?" he asked.

"Um…fire spells…" Ken murmured.

Daisuke sighed. That's what he had been afraid of. Most in-training wizards could very quickly gasp the concept of fire, and most of them didn't go much farther if they didn't have a teacher to help them. While it might seem like fire was extremely difficult to an in-training wizard, it was really one of the most simple spells to call upon.

"No good." He could tell Ken was depressed by this statement. "Hey, no problem, Ken!" he told him with an only slightly forced cheerful optimism. "We'll figure something out, don't you worry."

Ken muttered something about not being worried, but his voice didn't hold the conviction it previously had. Daisuke slipped his free arm around Ken's waist and pulled the Kaizer tightly to him, but he didn't release his hold when he felt Ken stiffen in surprise, only held him closer, and comfortingly.

"I will figure this out Ken, I promise you that. Just trust me all right?" he whispered the words.

Ken relaxed against him a little. "I do trust you Daisuke…" he murmured softly, so that Daisuke was sure only he could hear it. "I don't know why exactly, but I do."

Daisuke smiled a little. And then he got an idea. Even if Ken wasn't aware of his enchanter power, he should be able to do such a small basic spell…it was one of the first he should have had the easiest time picking up on…a useful one too. "Do you know a calling spell, Ken?" he asked on this sudden inspiration.

"Just a basic calling? Of course I do." Ken's voice held that "don't insult my intelligence" tone again and Daisuke was tempted to laugh, but he refrained.

"Good. Then we can call for light," he said.

"Just like that?!" Ken was appalled by how easy Daisuke thought this would be.

"Just like that," Daisuke answered firmly. "With my enchanters magic I don't think it will be all that difficult…"

"But…you don't know what light source the spell with provide us! It could be dangerous!"

"What did I say about trusting me Ken?" Daisuke smiled confidently. "Besides, if we're in any world in existence I have a pretty good idea about what the spell will provide."

There was a brief silence as Ken thought this statement over, and then, "The sun?! You think our spell is going to call the sun?!"

"Worth a try isn't it?" Daisuke responded, unperturbed.

"And what if we're not on any world?" Ken asked. "What if we're between?"

"Well, then we'll work with that knowledge. At least we'll be knowing something then right? So are you going to help me or not?"

"I really don't have much of a choice, now do I?" Ken sighed.

"I'm not going to do anything that I think could get any of us hurt Ken, you know that. As an enchanter sworn to the Digital World it is my duty to defend it, and all of the Chosen Children, against any and all dangers."

"Right, right," Ken grumbled. "So how are we going to do this?"

Daisuke was quiet, in thoughtful silence for a minute. It wasn't going to be easy, working with Ken on the spells. Partner wizards weren't uncommon, but they had to know each other and their partner's style very well before they could even begin to accomplish a spell together. Daisuke was really, extremely lucky that he hadn't killed himself and everyone else when he threw his power into Ken's spell. He still didn't understand why it had brought the rest of the Chosen along…but sometimes you never completely understood magic.

Partner wizards, or any other level of magic using people, had to be perfectly in sync with their other from the very first word. They had to be in tune with one another. No mistakes, no one person going faster than the other. It was going to be difficult.

Daisuke and Ken both wisely realized that they didn't know each others magic well enough to partner a spell, but any magic inside the first spell, that had been a miraculous partner spell effort, had to come from both of them together. Daisuke could only think of one way and that would be to use their soul-mateship to their advantage, but…was Ken ready for that?

"We could mind merge. That's the only way I can think of…" Daisuke answered slowly, and reluctantly.

"Mind merge?" Ken asked curiously. "I wasn't' aware that magic people could do that…I guess I don't know as much as you do…"

"Oh not normal wizarding partners," Daisuke answered. "Only one special kind of pair is able to pull it off without killing themselves or going insane." Daisuke could sense the confusion coming from Ken, and the other Chosen Children, of course, were completely lost. "I can explain it later Ken…if the merge itself doesn't…" Daisuke assured him.

"What do I have to do?" Ken asked.

"Don't think about it," Daisuke said softly. "Listen to your heart. That's all that matters. Don't pay any attention to what your mind tells you. Thoughts can be deceiving. Just listen to your heart, and follow me."

* * *

Daisuke could feel the deepest power of their hearts flowing and melting together. He could hear his heart beating in his ears…or wait…was that Ken's heart? There was a strange jolt, not painful, but not completely pleasant; aside from the fact that Daisuke felt…whole. Like he had been missing some important aspect of himself for his entire life until that point. He also felt very open. Any secrets that he held wouldn't be secrets to Ken.

~Daisuke?~

A hesitant voice rang through his thoughts. Daisuke started. Even though he had somewhat known to expect it, hearing Ken's voice inside his head had surprised him. ~Its all right Ken. See? Our spell will be easier this way.~

~Okay…~

Daisuke could see many things about Ken that he normally hid about himself, not that the Kaizer had ever been open with the Chosen before, but Daisuke could tell that Ken tried hard to forget these things himself. Hidden thoughts, feelings, emotions and memories not his own echoed like ghosts through his head. And Daisuke knew that Ken could see the same things about himself when he spoke to him.

~Is it always going to feel like this Daisuke?~ he asked.

~I don't know…~ Daisuke answered. ~This is something that can only happen between us Ken.~ Daisuke told him gently. ~Do you understand why?~

~…Yes…~ And then, ~Thank you, Daisuke. For risking your life to save me…~

~You're welcome Ken.~ Daisuke gave his hand a small squeeze. ~To me, you are worth any risk. Are you ready for this? The others are waiting on us.~

A spell appeared in Daisuke's head with a small questioning feel attached to the end of it. ~Is this right?~

Daisuke smiled as he looked it over. ~Very good.~

Without another word, they both began to speak the spell aloud, focusing their thoughts, and minds, and hearts as one to complete it. Ken was a little hesitant at first, but at Daisuke's gentle, mental encouragement his, his voice gradually rose in certainty and volume.

And their voices seemed to fill every inch of the surrounding darkness with the sound, smell, feel, and even taste of raw and powerful magic. "Taht fo rednow gninrub thgirb, llif ruo dlrow htiw ruoy thgil."

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Ken: And yes dl, the spells are pretty stupid.

Dragon Lady: *blushes* Sorry…

Ken: And it was another cliff hanger…so now when you're grounded for weeks people are going to be extremely peeved at you. _

Dragon Lady: Sorry!!! I'll do my best to shy away from restriction…but I think its pretty unavoidable at this point…-_-;; *sighs*

Ken: Meanwhile, your grades AND your fan fiction is suffering.

Dragon Lady: ^^;;; Well only some grades are suffering…*grumbles about geometry class* The rest are pretty good…unfortunately its Geometry that my mother is concerned about…-_-;;;

Ken: Of course. *is sarcastic* Why I wonder, would she be worried about your grade in such a pathetic, useless subject as Geometry? I mean, where is math going to get you in life?

Dragon Lady: *irritably* Oh shut up genius boy. _ Anywho…I suppose if I'm grounded from my home computer I can use the one at school…I'll see what I can do. ^^;;;

Ken: *tiredly* Review please.