Summary: The Dark Whirlpool, coupled with a spell gone awry, lands Buffy and friends in the Kaiser's Base during episode 19 of 02. Things go downhill from there. BtVS/Digimon 02.

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy nor Digimon.

A/N: In this timeline, season 5 of Buffy takes place in 2002 instead of 2001. I don't really think it would affect anything too much. Also, a lot of the dialogue between Ken and Takeru is paraphrased from the episode itself, in case you were wondering.

Willow blinked in disorientation, wondering why she was suddenly facing a black wall. They had been running from Glory, she had cast a transportation spell, and Glory was the one who had been the target.

The black wall provided her with no answers, and she looked around to see if any would be forthcoming from the other parts of this new, mysterious place. Unfortunately, the black floor and ceiling were just as unhelpful. Swallowing down the panic that was rising from the back of her throat, she began to walk down the eerily quiet hallway, and hoped that, if she did run into somebody, they would be a human of the friendly variety.

"It's all Willow's fault that we're here, you know."

"You've already said that three times." Their footsteps echoed throughout the empty corridor. "We don't even know where here is, anyway."

"Well we would knowif Willow had done her magic right."

"Seriously, Anya - this is not helping."

A huff. "But it's true. Will you not take her side for once?"

Sigh. "I'm not taking her - guh! Can we just drop this? The Xan-man has a headache."

"Fine, we will 'drop it'. But don't think for a moment that I've forgotten about it."

"Oh, I can guarantee you that I won't."

And so they walked on, and their bickering continued.

"This is so not good."

"I dunno. It's kinda cool here, and it looks like we've lost Glory."

Buffy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "We're in some kind of massive...floating...thingie, and there's a nausea-inducing whirlpool of mysteriousness right below us. I'm guessing hell dimension, which means we're going to be mobbed by a whole bunch of demons soon. So yeah, Dawn, it's very very not good."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Alright, we're in mortal peril. I get the point."

Buffy blinked, then sighed again. "How have you managed to get over the Glory trauma so quickly? Is this some kind of weird hormone-induced defense mechanism?"

"I dunno, " said Dawn, shrugging. Then she smiled brightly and pointed towards the very conspicuous opening to the giant room they were in. "Maybe that's the way out. Let's go!" Without waiting for Buffy to agree, she sprinted to the object of her attention.

"Just - wait! Dawn!" Letting out a noise of intense frustration, Buffy ran after her wayward sister.

Oh, this was just too good.

"You sure have guts, sneaking into the base of the Digimon Kaiser. Who, you may have noticed, has managed to control the Dark Power."

Hidden in the shadows, Spike's keen eyesight could make out the figures of two kids - pre-pubescent boys by the looks of it. He was aware that they were speaking a language other than English, but for some reason he could still understand them. He figured it had something to do with Red's magic, although the swirling mass of dark energy he could sense might also be to blame.

The other boy - the blond one - snickered.

"What?" cried the boy in the nerdy costume.

As Spike continued to watch, he considered whether or not to be happy with his current situation: on the one hand, messing with magic always made him feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, the dark energy was making him feel all warm and tingly inside, and there was even some entertainment to go with it. (And the possibility that one of the kids would kill the other, 'cause that would mean a free meal.)

There were also two creatures with them - demons, perhaps - who were far too cute for their own good.

"Ichijouji-san," began the blond kid, a sardonic smile on his face. "How long are you going to be under the impression that you're always right? Is it fun? You keep talking about the "Dark Power", but it's clear that you have no idea what it really means." A smirk. "You don't, do you? And because of that, you're going to end up getting hurt the worst. Stop acting like a child."

You know what, thought Spike. It may be worth it just for this.

Spike couldn't see the nerdy kid's face, but he could see the way he began to shake with rage. "You're nothing but a maggot!" he yelled. "Maggot! Maggot! MAGGOT!"

Not much for originality, this one is.

The blond one looked very amused. "Is that the only thing you can say?"

The other boy, enraged, shouted, "Shut up!" and lashed out with a...whip? Yes, it was definitely a whip.

The blond one touched his reddening cheek lightly, apparently unfazed by the attack. However, before he could say what was sure to be an incredibly amusing taunt, the spell of the scene was broken.

"Look, Buffy - it's Spike!"

The two boys' attention was instantly diverted to the origin of the cry, and Spike found himself once again wondering how to feel about the situation. On the one hand, his entertainment was being cut short. On the other hand - Buffy.

Hell, it wasn't even a contest.

"Hullo there, Bit." Then, putting on his most charming, innocent smile, he said, "Hi Buffy."

The two young women stopped in front of him, looking between him and the two kids. "Spike," Buffy acknowledged with a sneer. She jerked her head to the kids. "Wanna explain what's going on here?"

"Oh, just some kids having a bit of a tumble. Nothing sinister, I don't think."

She gave him her patented look of contempt. "So you see two preteens fighting, and you just, what? Stand there?"

Spike let out an indignant noise. "Uh, no. I just got here, myself." With exaggerated enthusiasm, he walked over to the two boys and stood between them. "Violence is very very bad. What on earth would your mothers think of you if they saw this?"

His stern expression - fake, of course - morphed into a grin as he looked back to Buffy.

She rolled her eyes.

"W-who..." began the nerdy boy. "Who are you?" He snarled. "How did you get into my base?"

The blond boy smirked again. "Maybe your base isn't as secure as you think it is."

"SHUT UP!" yelled nerdy-boy, raising his whip once more. Seeing the opportunity to make a good impression on Buffy, Spike ran up and confiscated the weapon before the boy could use it again.

It took a moment for nerdy-boy to realize that the thing was missing, but his mouth fell open when he finally noticed that his hand was empty. "W-wha...?"

"I said violence is bad, didn't I?" Spike held up the whip to examine it. "I've always wanted a whip, come to think of it."

"Okay..." said Dawn. "Am I the only one who feels like they're interrupting something big?"

"You're not." Buffy had made her over to the three of them, and pointed at the blond kid. "You," she said. "You look like the good guy - can you tell us where we are?"

The blond kid blinked. "You're, um, in the Digital World. In the base of the Digimon Kaiser."

She jerked her head at the nerdy kid. "Is that the 'Digimon Kaiser'?"

He nodded.

Spike snickered. "'Digimon Kaiser'? I've heard some daft bloody monikers over the years, but that just about takes the cake. Who were you trying to impress - your history teacher?"

Dawn shrugged. "Don't be too hard on him, Spike. He's only, like, eight years old."

The nerdy kid snarled, but didn't say anything.

Buffy continued, "Can you tell us what that whirl-pool thingie is?"

Blond-kid frowned slightly. "I'm not sure myself, to be honest."

She sighed and rubbed that bridge of her nose. "So the bat-pig thing - is that a demon?"

He blinked. "A demon? Why would you say that?"

The bat-pig thing huffed in indignation. "I'm not a demon! I'm a Digimon!"

Dawn had turned to the worm-like thing. "So...are you like...a Pokémon?"

Nerdy-boy seemed to have regained some of his composure over the course of the conversation, because he sneered, "Don't be ridiculous. They're NPC's designed to mimic human behavior - just data." He folded his arms over his chest. "What kind of fool thinks that demons, or Pokémon, actually exist?"

The worm-like creature looked dejected, but didn't say anything.

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm gonna end up fighting this kid in a few years?" asked Buffy.

"Because he's already evil with delusions of grandeur, and he's only eight?" chimed Dawn.

"I'm eleven!" yelled nerdy-boy. Then, more quietly: "Not that it matters - I'm still better than all of you."

Buffy's eyebrows went up. "Uh-huh." She turned back to Spike. "You're here, so you may as well make yourself useful. Go grab the evil kid." She looked at the blond kid. "You: follow me and fill me in on everything you know about this place." Then, looking at her younger sibling, she said, "You: try not to get yourself kidnapped by something."

"Hey!"

Sticking the whip in his belt, Spike did as Buffy told him, and had to resist the urge to pick the kid up and bite into his delicate little neck. He was not, after all, in the mood for excruciating pain.

"Let me GO!" ordered the boy, futilely attempting to struggle out of Spike's grasp.

"No can do." Buffy had already started to walk away; once he was sure she was out of earshot, he went into gameface and grinned. "That thing you said about demons not existing?" He yanked the kid towards him and leaned in real close. "Not quite accurate. And I think that Buffy may just let me have a little snack, given that she's not that impressed with your Evil Overlord routine."

Just as the boy's eyes went very wide behind his dark glasses, spike heard a cry of "Sticky Net!" from behind him. Something not unlike a spider's web hit him square in the back, and he turned his head to see the worm-like thing glaring at him. "You let Ken-chan go right now!"

Spike's grin went even wider as he flexed his back and arms, breaking through the strands of web that had wormed their way around his elbows. Then, dragging the kid with him, he walked over to the creature and picked it up one-handed, watching with amusement as its stumpy legs flailed uselessly in the air. "As cute as you are, I don't appreciate it when anyone or anything gets goop all over my jacket." He pulled his arm back and said, "Let this be a lesson to you."

The worm-thing went flying into the darkness of the corridor.

Spike went out of gameface and turned back to the kid, smiling amicably. "Now, why don't you be a good boy and come quietly with Uncle Spike?"

Swallowing, the boy nodded.

As Spike finally moved to follow Buffy, he decided that, near-death experiences and mysterious teleportations aside, today really was shaping up to be rather decent day after all.