Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, nor do I own Kingdom Hearts. I'm just a rather creative person with an overactive imagination.

Elemental Hearts - Inside/Outside

Chapter 5: Strength Within

"Ready?" Mickey asked kindly, setting up a small stack of wood in the center of a circle of rocks. "Just concentrate your power around you and focus on the spell."

Kouichi licked his lips and held the staff out at arm's length, tapping the top of the wood. "…Fira."

A blue-white burst of flame shot from the other end of the staff, and almost instantly the wood was ablaze. The blue color, fiercely hot, faded quickly as the wood became its fuel, but a crackling serge of heat ripple over their little camp. Kouichi, not really prepared for the force of the blast, was knocked backward, and Riku jumped in to steady him from behind.

"Easy there." The silver-haired boy grinned. Kouichi looked up at him with a thankful expression.

Mickey clapped with his gloved hands, his face scrunching up a bit in a wide, encouraging smile. "See? I told you you'd get it!"

Kouichi hoisted himself back into a firm standing position with Riku helping him from behind. There was a concerned expression on his face now. "But Mickey, it was… different…than yours. Weird."

"It's not weird." Mickey assured him, picking up some of the slightly-sharpened sticks he'd collected and stabbing something that looked like a squashed rutabaga on the end of each one, setting them up near the fire to roast. "Sometimes the magic changes slightly from person to person. Your Fire magic is the same as Riku's here."

"Really?" Kouichi blinked. He'd never actually seen Riku use magic, unless his unusual speed was created magically. Riku was strikingly fast, able to dart from one place to another with such shocking speed that it was nearly impossible for Kouichi's eyes to follow.

Riku seemed interested as well. "The Dark Firaga?"

"Not quite that yet, but it's close." Mickey nodded, turning one of the sticks a bit to expose the other side of the vegetable to the heat. "And I bet it'll evolve faster than you think. Kouichi's got a lot of potential in him."

Kouichi glanced at the mouse-king with a mild shrug and sat beside the fire, poking at the wood with a thin stick to stir up the embers. In truth, he didn't think he had what Mickey thought he had. It had taken him over a week to figure out the simplest spell Mickey had given him, and even then he'd managed to goof it up some how. It just wasn't working out for him, and those dreams weren't helping much.

Riku noticed the distant look in his friend's dark eyes and frowned a bit. "Hey, Kouichi, what's up?" He finally asked. "Is something bothering you?"

The dark-haired boy was silent for a long while, then a soft word escaped his lips. "Kai…ri…"

"Say what?" Riku jerked back at the familiar name.

Kouichi pulled his legs up and look down at his feet. "I've been having this… really weird…dream lately. It's always the same girl…red hair, blue eyes…she said her name was…Kairi."

Riku and Mickey glanced at each other, which did not go unnoticed by the second boy, but he said nothing as he looked up at them. "Riku…wasn't Kairi the name of your friend? The girl you knew…with Sora?"

"Yeah…" Riku put a hand to his chin in contemplation. "You described her spot-on, too. You sure you haven't met her before?"

"Positive." Kouichi shrugged. "I've never been away from Shibuya before, and she never came there."

Mickey crossed his arms over his chest with a thoughtful 'hm'. "Very strange," he muttered. "I wonder if…"

Before the thought could quite make its way from his mind to the air, a rustling snap jolted them all out of their thoughts. Riku took in a deep breath through his nose and shot to his feet, whipping out the Soul Stealer from its place.

"What is it?" Mickey asked, leaping to his feet.

"Heartless!" Kouichi gasped, jumping up and hoisting the Staff into his grasp. "I can taste it…they're all around us!"

"We're surrounded." Riku cursed lightly. "They must've snuck up, the dirty little bastards…"

The rustling grew louder and the snapping of branches closer. The three friends backed up against one another, keeping at least one eye out in every direction they could, careful to stay in the fire's softly-glowing, nearly-smothered light. Their eyes, now well trained to the darkness and the difference between shadows and Shadows, focused intently on the wiggling movements of the bug-like creatures, squirming up through the depths of the dark forest.

The group backed up a bit more. Kouichi bit his lip. "There's so many…"

"No getting away now." Mickey commented seriously.

"He's right." Riku muttered to Kouichi. "We've gotta fight 'em. Right?"

Kouichi nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess…"

"Then don't back down!" Mickey called, and leapt out into the circle of Heartless with his Keyblade ready in his grip. Riku shot off in another direction, raising the Soul Stealer for attack as the enemies rushed forward all at once.

A Shadow leapt at Kouichi, who raised the Staff with both hands to block its arc and slam it into the ground. More and more Shadows jumped into the attack. Kouichi jumped backwards, avoiding the flames, and pushed Lowemon's instincts in front of his own, trying to remember exactly how the staff had moved for him when he'd been the Warrior of Darkness himself.

Mickey dodged around quickly and easily, slamming his Keyblade into the Shadows, who disappeared one after another with bursts of smoke and white-yellow stars. Riku was using his speed to its best advantage, running rings around the Heartless and blowing them away with the Soul Stealer without much visible effort.

But it seemed, at least to Kouichi's eyes, that the more Heartless they struck down, the more popped up in their place. It wasn't like he could count all of them, trying to bash and block with his protective but not exactly active weapon, but they'd gone through a decent number already. His arm muscles were already starting to ache, and the fire…

The fire was disappearing! It was being trampled!

Kouichi snapped his head around. Their fire, their only bit of light in the World of Darkness on a night like tonight, was being quickly covered by the dust thrown up by the Heartless and the fighters themselves. Its light was fading, the flames were dying, and as it vanished the Heartless were getting more and more numerous, more and more aggressive and bold and…

"Fira!"

A blast of fire burst from the end of the Staff, scattering the Heartless and alighting the fire once again. Kouichi took advantage of this self-given opportunity, dashing forward into the light and planting his feet firmly.

"Fira! Fira!"

The white-blue flames burst out, blasting across the grassless earth and sending the Heartless scattering for cover, screeching all the way. The darkness started to fill with pale flashes of light and the squeals of the dark creatures.

Riku noticed the progress and smirked, sliding up next to the other boy with a light smirk of his own. "Nice job." He grinned, "Lemme give you a hand. Firaga!"

Another burst of flames, much larger and with more super-hot blue than anything else, blasted from the end of the Soul Stealer and into the crowd of Heartless. Mickey dodged in from one side, knocking the bunch of Heartless closer together.

"Alrighty, boys!" He called back in a pipey sort of cheer.

Riku grinned at his friend. "Ready?"

"Sure." Kouichi blinked once, twice, but leveled his staff in the same direction as Riku aimed the Soul Stealer.

"Fira!"

"Firaga!"

The two balls of flame melded in mid-air, slamming into the batch of Heartless with more force than ever before. Many of the creatures disappeared with a swirl of darkness and smoke, and those few that were left retreated into the shadows with rapid pulses. Riku could have sworn one of them stopped to shake their fist at them angrily as they disappeared.

"All right!" Mickey tossed the Keyblade up and caught it again in a bit of celebration. "Nice going, boys!"

"Hey, I didn't do anything." Riku smirked and motioned to Kouichi. "It was all Kouichi's idea, right, buddy?"

The dark-haired boy nodded somewhat anxiously, then wavered back and forth unsteadily. Riku lunged to support him as the smaller boy dropped forward limply with a mild groan, his dark eyes crossing haphazardly.

"Hey!" Riku exclaimed, his brow furling worriedly. "What's the matter?"

"I don't…know." Kouichi groaned, looking up past his bangs. "I just feel so… tired all of a sudden…"

Mickey came up to the pair and gently brushed the hair out of his eyes to look into them a bit better. "Hm. Looks like you wore out your body, pal. You just overspent your energy a bit."

Riku glanced at the King worriedly. "But he is going to be okay, right?"

"Of course he will." Mickey giggled just a bit. "All he needs is a little rest, that's all."

Kouichi groaned somewhat painfully and tried to take a few steps, but wound up stumbling several feet and lurching back into Riku's grasp. "…Sorry."

"Don't be. You did great." Riku grinned and helped the smaller boy back to his place beside the rekindled campfire. "Just get some rest, okay? We'll wake you when the food's done."

Kouichi dropped into the makeshift sleeping pallet, his legs numb and tingling, unable to hold him up. Mickey grinned as he pulled the cloak-blanket up to tuck it under his chin. "See? I told ya you'd get the hang of it quick."

The dark-haired boy gave a bit of a grin and a tired nod, then closed his eyes and slipped away into sleep.

TBC…

Okay, I know this one was basically useless. I just had to get it out. I hope you enjoyed it, somewhat, I wanted to show how Kouichi was doing with the magic, and this was really the only way. It came out…kinda awkward…

Yes, I am well aware that 'Fira' is technically a level 2 spell, but casting the spell "Fire" in English doesn't sound near as impressive when you're typing it as when playing the game.