Title: Crafted For Command
Characters: Ken, Daisuke||Romance: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken
Chapter Word Count: 1,564||Story Word Count: 1,564||Chapter Count: 1/12
Genre: Drama||Rated: R
Challenge: Diversity Writing, I11, 9-14 chapters; Three-Sided Box Challenge, 12 chapters, 1400-1600 wpc; One Ship Boot Camp, #23, modulate; Chapter Set Boot Camp, #27, 12 chapters; Novella Masterclass (Wild Card)
Notes: This is both a breeds AU & one where the events of canon occur when the 02 Chosen are teenagers and older. Specifically, Miyako is seventeen, Ken, Daisuke, Hikari, and Takeru are sixteen, and Iori is fourteen.
Summary: Daisuke doesn't follow orders very well. The Kaiser intends to change that. To make it even worse, he's doing a very good job of it and Daisuke has no idea of why.

"Wake up."

Daisuke didn't want to, but his eyes opened anyway and he blinked, absolutely lost on where he was. Where had he been?

Right. The Digital World. Fighting the Kaiser. Then something had sorta blown up near him and everything turned red, then black, and now he was… he was…

Apparently in a very deep pit of trouble.

Kaiser stood in front of him, hands on his hips, whip hanging off of his belt, a smirk on his lips that Daisuke hated the sight of right away.

"That's a good boy," Kaiser praised and Daisuke wondered why in the world he liked the sound of that when he hated the Kaiser so very much.

Daisuke drew breath to demand to know what was going on, where he was, and what the Kaiser thought he was doing. He couldn't get a single word out before Kaiser pressed a gloved finger against his lips.

"Be quiet. You weren't given permission to speak."

What's that got to do with it? Daisuke wanted to ask but it was as if his voice no longer worked. He checked himself over as quickly as he could. No Ring. No Spiral. Did those work on humans? If they did, Kaiser hadn't ever tried it before. And since he couldn't find one now, even if they did, that wasn't what was going on now.

Kaiser's finger remained where it was, but now he tapped it on Daisuke's lips.

"I know that you're confused and have questions. I'll tell you what you need to know. I've learned something very interesting about you, Motomiya Daisuke, and I want to make certain that it's true."

Confused didn't even begin to cover everything. He jerked his head around again, pulling it away from the Kaiser's touch, trying to find V-mon and his friends. He came up with nothing.

Was he the only one who'd been caught? That didn't look good in the slightest.

Kaiser cleared his throat and Daisuke turned back to him as if his head were on a string.

"I want you to pay attention to me and only me. There's no one else around for you to listen to anyway. I'm the only one allowed access to this room. Not even Wormmon can come in." He cupped the side of Daisuke's face with one hand. "It's just you and me, Daisuke."

If Daisuke could've spoken – and his voice remained oddly frozen – he would've declared how much he hated that fact. All he could do was stare at the Kaiser, though, and let his eyes do the talking.

"Are you aware that not all of your Chosen friends are as human as they appear?"

Daisuke blinked, tilting his head. Then he shook it carefully, since Kaiser seemed to be expecting an answer. He'd never heard of anything like that. He wasn't going to believe it just on the Kaiser's say-so, either.

A gesture and a screen appeared behind Kaiser, where Daisuke could see it. "Watch and learn, then. I've gathered some very interesting information."

The screen flickered, then resolved into an image of Taichi and Yamato lounging together by a river. Daisuke didn't recognize it, but he also spied Gabumon and Agumon with them, so it was probably somewhere in the Digital World. He wasn't sure of what they were doing nor could he hear them, but Yamato raised up one hand and if Daisuke could've rubbed his eyes he would have.

Because as far as he knew, people's hands didn't just burst into flames like that. They should've jumped and screamed and done… something. Instead of Yamato trailing one hand in the air, a bit of fire following behind, and Taichi smiling.

The scene shifted over to Sora, and this time he recognized where she was: the area that Birdramon patrolled. Only now they were patrolling it together, which wasn't so unusual. The older Chosen visited their partners whenever they could, usually when the younger ones kept the Kaiser distracted.

Only he'd never, ever seen Sora-san flying while she was in the Digital World, and doing it as easily as if she did it every day of her life.

Again the scene shifted and this time it showed Koushirou-san, chatting with a powerful lion-like Digimon, in a place that Daisuke didn't recognize, but it had a lot of baby Digimon there. Then the two of them turned to what looked like a row of targets, set up out of range of the babies, and the lion Digimon raised up one fist, blasting his attack, Fist of the Beast-King, toward one of them.

That wasn't so unusual either. This time, what set it apart was that Koushirou did a version of the same attack, red-gold flames incinerating one of the targets, and the lion Digimon nodded, resting one hand in pride on Koushirou's shoulder.

Last and not at all least, he saw Jou-san. He looked like he was just in his room, or a place Daisuke guessed was his room. Underneath his table there rested a small refrigerator, but instead of pulling out a soda of some kind, there was a vial in Jou's hand when he stood back up, one neatly labeled.

The screen moved in on it and Daisuke had time to read it before it changed. Understanding it took a few moments longer.

Blood? He's drinking blood?

He wanted to shake his head even more. This didn't seem like anything at all he wanted to believe about any of his friends.

Why wouldn't they tell us? I mean, I can get not telling us here, because of the Kaiser, but why not at home? He would've asked all of that out loud if he'd been able to. Then the Kaiser touched him again.

"They are part Digimon, part human. I've taken samples from all of you to determine precisely their lineage and their types. I can instruct you in that another time: when you've learned your place properly." He smiled and that drove at least some of the worry and confusion out of Daisuke. "But let me continue. Not only are they of Digimon breeding, but so are you."

Daisuke blinked again. Then he shook his head, far more furiously than before. He didn't care what the Kaiser had in mind. Those images were probably faked anyway. He knew who he was. He knew who he wasn't.

But the Kaiser wasn't going to let it drop that easily. "What I learned from the scans of you I've done turned out to be very useful. You're special, Motomiya Daisuke. More so than any of the rest of them."

His hand rested again on Daisuke's cheek, then slid downward to cup his chin, turning his head so that Daisuke looked right at him.

"You won't believe what I've learned if I told you. So I will demonstrate instead. This will take time. Days. Perhaps even weeks. I doubt any longer than that. You're not that stubborn."

Daisuke determined that he would be, no matter what. Perhaps that showed in his eyes, since the Kaiser chuckled.

"These are my orders, which you will obey."

No sooner did he speak, than Daisuke noticed something strange about his voice. Stronger, deeper, commanding. Everything in Daisuke urged him to listen and to obey.

"You will only leave the fortress if I not only grant you permission, but have you on my leash. Leaving otherwise is not an option."

Kaiser's hand moved downward from Daisuke's chin to rest on his chest. Daisuke's heart beat faster at the touch. He told himself it was because he was furious. He wasn't sure of how convincing he was.

"You'll speak only when I ask you a question or give you an order. When you do speak, you'll be respectful of me. No insults. No trying to get around your orders." His hand moved again, splayed now across Daisuke's stomach. "You will only go to places in the fortress or out of it that I order you to go to. I won't have you roaming around unleashed."

He moved his hand away from Daisuke, who at once told himself that he didn't miss the contact.

He knew he lied on that one right away.

"Do you understand your orders?"

Of course I understood what you said! What makes you think I'm going to do what you want?

What came out of his mouth was a single word. "Yes."

Kaiser smiled. "When you address me, you will call me master. Now, do you understand your orders?"

Part of Daisuke, the part he was most familiar with, ached to scream and resist. The rest of him, a part that he'd never even known existed and wasn't sure why it was making itself known now, luxuriated in the thought of orders and control and being ruled.

"Yes, master." He even sounded like himself to his own ears, only he wasn't saying what he wanted to say!

Kaiser fisted his hand in Daisuke's shirt and pulled them closer together. Only now did Daisuke realize that he hadn't been restrained at all this whole time. He'd been too surprised and far too confused to even notice until now.

And now Kaiser's actions spun every other thought out of his mind.

He gave no orders. He demanded everything.

Kaiser's lips landed on Daisuke's and kissed hungrily, as if Daisuke held the very breath of life within him.

To Be Continued

Notes: The M-rated portions will come in due course. Gotta set things up first.