Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Digimon Adventure 02
Title: Gift of Flight: Chapter 1: Grounded
Romance: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken
Word Count: chapter: 1,507||story: 1,507
Genre: Drama, Romance||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: This was written for the Advent Calendar Challenge, day #8; Diversity Writing Challenge, section H, #10, a multichap with at least six chapters; One Ship Boot Camp, prompt #6, service
Notes: This takes place in an AU where people on occasion are born with wings. Clearly, Daisuke is one of those people.
Summary: [1/6 chapters; Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken; 2014 Advent Calendar, Diversity Writing, & One Ship Boot Camp] Daisuke has wings. This makes him the perfect pet for the Digimon Kaiser. At least the Digimon Kaiser thinks so.

A net. Daisuke couldn't quite believe this was happening to him, but here it was all the same, wrapped around him tightly enough so he couldn't get out of it. He could wriggle a lot, and he did, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't get anywhere.

"Guys! V-mon!" He struggled harder, calling for any kind of help. He could see his D-3 and D-Terminal down on the ground, way out of reach, and struggled harder to get to them. All that happened was that the hanging net bounced a little.

He groaned, letting his head sag down a little, and yanked a few more times at the net, more out of frustration than anything else. Why did this have to happen? He'd just come to the Digital World to let his wings spread a little and he ended up in a net.

There were a lot of people who could be behind this. Any number of Digimon might want to give a chance at catching him, and they didn't all work for the Kaiser. And, of course, the Digimon Kaiser himself was the top on his personal list. Ever since Ken found out about his 'extra features', the Kaiser had made more and more personal appearances on their battlefields, and most of his attention fastened on Daisuke.

Has he got a thing for wings? He'd likely not be the first person, either. That was why he kept his folded and out of sight when he was on Earth. It wasn't the most enjoyable thing to do; his wings hurt if he had them wrapped up too long. But it made certain people didn't recognize him for being one of the rare few who had wings.

No one knew why some people had them and others didn't. Some families were a little more prone to it than others. That was what happened with his, or so his mother told him. Wings turned up in her family at least once per generation, but she'd missed it, and so had his aunt and uncle. When Jun didn't have them, she'd wondered if perhaps any other children would as well.

Then Daisuke came along, with the telltale marks on his shoulders at birth that signified wings to come.

He'd flown before he could walk. That wasn't unusual for fliers, really. When you could take to the skies, who wanted to stay on the ground?

"Well, what do we have here?" Of course. He shouldn't have even considered any other options. There the Kaiser stood on top of one of his AirDramon, arms folded over his chest, and with the most self-satisfied, smug look on his face, that made Daisuke want to punch it off of him so much.

"Let me out of here, Ken!" Daisuke seized the net and shook it as hard as he could. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I think I'm taking my new pet home with me," Ken replied without missing a beat, staring at Daisuke as if he'd never seen such a sight in his life. If Daisuke had been anywhere but in a net, he would've found a way to get out of there, fast.

As it was, he redoubled his glaring at Ken. "I am not a pet. I'm a person!" If this was about his wings, then Ken was going to get a severe piece of his mind. Two of them, if he had the chance.

"I think you might want to double check that. You're the one who is a prisoner, and my prisoner at that." Ken moved a fraction closer, his attention not having moved off of Daisuke for a moment. "Which means I decide what you are. And I say that you're my new pet."

"Well, you know, I say that I'm going to punch you in the face. What do you think about that?" Daisuke couldn't move his arms to fold over his own chest but he could still glare, and he did that very well at the moment.

Ken's smile sent chills down Daisuke's spine. "Then I think you're going to have to learn who your master is, and I think it's about time I taught you."

Daisuke muttered a few words under his breath that would've made his mother give him a stern look and possibly denied him dessert. "This is about my wings, isn't it?" He'd had a teacher like that a couple of years back, who hadn't wanted to have one of the Fliers in his class.

"They're a lovely accessory to what I want, but I would want you even without them." Ken's attention flicked behind Daisuke. "Cut him down."

"What the -" Daisuke didn't have a chance to see who was back there before the net began to fall. It didn't fall far before he landed on the AirDramon's head, a breath away from the Kaiser's boots.

"Let's go." Ken stomped once on the AirDramon's head, and the creature began to turn. A soft voice spoke up before they got very far.

"What about his D-3, master?" Wormmon wanted to know, poking his pod down to the ground. Daisuke agreed with that; the others could track him by it, and get him out of this!

Ken looked down at it, a thoughtful tilt to his head. "Have someone take it to area thirty-seven delta. Let the Chosen hunt all over there for him."

Daisuke's heart sank at once. He wanted to struggle more, maybe get the net to roll over the side. If he could get it open he would; he'd be able to fly to safety from there. But so long as the net remained wrapped around him this tightly, then he didn't stand a chance of getting out of there in one piece.

Ken bent over him, a very satisfied smile on his lips. "Don't worry, Daisuke. Before long, the very idea of escaping me won't even occur to you."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Daisuke grumped. "Because it doesn't. Not at all."

Ken's hand rested on his head, toying a bit with his thick reddish brown hair. "It should. And it will, eventually. Just be patient."

"Not going to be." Being patient wasn't in his vocabulary. He'd read the definition once and decided it really wasn't him. Action suited him so much better and wasn't anywhere nearly as boring.

Daisuke couldn't get himself out of the net, but he did wriggle just enough away so that his head didn't rest under Ken's hand anymore. Ken would put it back, he knew it, as soon as he wanted to. For now, he would do what he could to make certain that Ken knew he wasn't going to just roll over and be Ken's faithful little dog, no matter what happened. He'd find a way to get out of there and back to his friends, and absolutely nothing Ken could do to him would ever change that.

Ken's heart beat a little faster as they raced along toward home. He watched Daisuke carefully; he'd brought along other flying Digimon and positioned them around his personal AirDramon, wanting to make certain that Daisuke didn't do anything incredibly stupid like try to throw himself off in a bid for freedom.

So far he'd shown that much sense, but Ken didn't expect it to last. He would have to keep a sharp eye on his new prize, at least until Daisuke understood that this was all for the best. Given how stubborn he was, that would take some time. But Ken had time. Ken had all the time in the world.

It was unfortunate that Rings and Spirals wouldn't work on humans, not even Fliers. He'd tested it once before, though he doubted Daisuke would remember it. That very first time they'd crossed paths, on Daisuke's second trip to the Digital World. He'd tested a Ring that day, and it hadn't done anything at all.

A pity. It would've made this so much simpler to deal with. On the other hand, it meant that once he'd finished properly training Daisuke, there wouldn't be anything that the Chosen could do to 'fix' him.

As if he would need fixing. Ken had made up his mind moments after seeing Daisuke fly for the first time. Daisuke belonged to him. It was only a matter of time.

That time had come. Setting up the net had been simplicity itself. He'd set many of them in places he knew Daisuke liked to fly, and then he'd simply waited for the boy to spread his wings.

He knew the Chosen would try to find him. Let them search; he'd made certain that thirty-seven delta had some of his most powerful, dangerous, and bloodthirsty Digimon waiting there. If they got out in one piece it would be a miracle, and Daisuke wasn't going to be around to provide those miracles.

Satisfied that everything was going just the way he had planned, Ken reached once more for Daisuke's hair, and anticipated the events to come.

To Be Continued