Word Count: 8,103/60,000||Chapters: 2/15
All of the Chosen who'd come on this mission currently existed in various stages that ranged from mildly confused to absolutely terrified. Part of Koushirou's confusion cleared up after the lifting of the Digimentals of Knowledge and Love were lifted. There were still a great many things that none of them knew about this situation, but each new event added another piece to the puzzle.
But at the moment, he couldn't quite figure out the piece they all wanted to the most.
He stared at his laptop, gaze flicking over to his Digivice intermittently, as well as to the new Digivice beside his: the one that belonged to Inoue Miyako.
I hoped I would be able to locate Motomiya-kun's device by using both of them, but I can't find anything. That worried him. They knew that he'd been abducted by the Digimon Kaiser. That had been easy enough to figure out.
What they had no idea of was why. Koushirou suspected at least one reason involved the fact that Daisuke, at the time, had been the only one with a Digimental, making him their best fighter against the Kaiser's plans.
But now they had two more, and exactly how that would affect matters remained unknown.
The first point to finding out was being able to rescue Motomiya-kun. Not to mention doing so was extremely necessary. They couldn't just let the Kaiser keep one of them prisoner.
There was another possibility, one that Koushirou didn't want to observe very closely. There wasn't a great deal that could make him shiver, but the thought that one of their own could be the enemy's soulmate sent shivers through him.
Laughter echoed throughout the area. Koushirou stood on his feet a moment later, clutching his laptop in one hand and Digivice in the other. Miyako grabbed hers back, standing back to back with Iori, the two of them and their partners scanning around for any sign of where the noise came from.
"You have no business here," someone said, the voice coming from above.
"There!" Sora pointed, and Koushirou followed her gesture to where an AirDramon hovered in the sky. Perched on it was a human, perhaps around Takeru or Hikari's age, dressed in a blue and white uniform, arms folded over his chest, staring at them, contempt written in every line of his body.
"The Digimon Kaiser," Miyako murmured, shuddering at the sight of him, fingers gripping harder at her partner's ruff.
Iori raised his head, green eyes flickering in anger. "Where is Motomiya-kun? What did you do to him?"
The Kaiser's lips thinned into a smile. "Nothing at all."
Not a single one of them believed that for so much as a second. Kaiser must have figured that out, given his cold laugh a heartbeat later.
"Not yet, that is. But before long, he'll be serving me. Quite willingly, I might add."
Absolute silence fell in the wake of that, broken at last by Hikari's half-stifled giggles. To Koushirou's ears, she sounded more startled than actually amused.
"You think he's your soulmate?" Hikari asked. She, Takeru, and their partners stayed mostly out of sight, a wise decision in Koushirou's opinion. It was the same reason he and Sora wanted to stay out of his way, at least until they ascertained if they could do anything to assist in breaking those Evil Rings.
The Kaiser's smile could be seen even from that distance. It didn't make Koushirou feel any better to see it.
"And why would you think he's not? Oh, let me guess." The Kaiser chuckled, his laughter far more amused than it had any right to be. "Because he is 'good' and I am 'evil' and that just can't be. Is that it?"
Miyako snorted. "I would say because you're trying to take over a world and he's not. At least I don't think he is."
"You'll have your evidence soon enough, in a way that you can't deny. But to begin with, let me show you the power that you're dealing with."
Words such as that struck fear to any Chosen who'd fought against the minions of evil for as long as Koushirou or Sora had. Miyako and Iori hadn't fought nearly as long, but they still tensed up as a small force of Digimon appeared, each neatly fitted with an Evil Ring.
"Destroy them!" The Kaiser snapped, cracking his whip in the Chosen's direction. "And hurry up about it. I have matters to deal with elsewhere."
Elsewhere. That must be wherever he's keeping Motomiya-kun. Koushirou took advantage of not being in the Kaiser's line of sight and started scanning with his laptop once again. There had to be some kind of way to find him. The Kaiser couldn't possibly have blocked everything.
He could hear what was going on even as his fingers flew over the keyboard. Miyako-kun and Iori-kun were doing very well, shattering those evil Rings as fast as they could.
What bothered him on a different level was that the Kaiser didn't seem upset by this. In his experience, that meant that something was going the way that he wanted it somewhere.
"Well, so you've beaten them all," Kaiser purred a few moments later, ones that held no fruit at all for Koushirou despite his best efforts. He looked up at another vague sound, his eyes rounding as he spied what it was.
From the Kaiser's hand there hung a cage and in the cage was V-mon, tied and gagged. There wasn't room for him to evolve, even if Daisuke had been there in the first place, and as far as Koushirou could tell from this distance, he looked absolutely miserable.
"Tentomon," he murmured, judging the gap carefully. "Do you think you could get there and get that cage away from him?"
Tentomon buzzed cautiously, checking the range out himself. "I can try."
It was a risk, but a calculated one, in Koushirou's opinion. They were somewhat to one side of the Kaiser, whose attention remained focused on Miyako-kun and Iori-kun. He might not realize Tentomon was even there until it was too late.
And it could get them the information they needed, such as where Daisuke was and if what the Kaiser taunted them about was true.
Tentomon buzzed faster, aiming right for V-mon and the cage. The Kaiser didn't notice him, at least so far as Koushirou could tell.
"Let him go!" Iori demanded. "And release Motomiya-kun as well!"
"Now why would I do that? Motomiya Daisuke is my soulmate, and I am his. He belongs to me." Kaiser sniffed. "And that includes his Digimon belonging to me as well."
"I wouldn't be so certain of that!" Tentomon buzzed, knocking into Kaiser's hand and grabbing into the cage. V-mon squealed, tiny paws straining at the bonds holding him. Tentomon swept back around to head toward Koushirou, moving with all the speed he could manage.
"How dare you! Bring that back to me!" Kaiser demanded. "Snimon! Bring me that cage and that V-mon in the cage!"
"Good work, Tentomon!" Koushirou declared, rising to his feet as his partner got closer. "Let's get out of here!"
Snimon hovered on Tentomon's trail, fast enough that Tentomon had to dodge swipes of those sharp-edged claws. Koushirou stared down at his Digivice and laptop, remembering the first time he'd helped his partner evolve.
Would that work now? He hadn't needed to do that in quite a long time. Now might not be the best time, not with Snimon that close.
"Red Sun!" Scarlet bright energy flashed from Holsmon's eyes, striking the Evil Ring around Snimon's arm and shattering it. Snimon hovered uncertainly, faceted eyes turning this way and that as the Digimon grasped its new freedom.
Kaiser growled words that Koushirou found himself quite glad that he couldn't hear properly. Tentomon perched next to him, settling the cage down on the ground. Koushirou lost no time in working at the lock… which didn't open.
"You'll need this, I'm afraid."
Half a dozen heads turned to stare at where the Kaiser held a key between gloved fingers.
"Nothing else can unlock that cage. So either hand him back to me or V-mon spends the rest of forever in the smallest place possible short of your collective intelligence."
Kaiser tilted the key for a moment before he slid it back into his pocket. "Now, which will it be?"
Koushirou raised his head to stare at their new enemy. He'd never fought a human before. The idea of what a human clearly as intelligent as the Kaiser could do terrified him on more levels than he could completely wrap his head around at the moment.
But if he'd learned nothing else from Yagami Taichi, it was that what terrified one should be faced head-on.
"There's no lock that can't be undone, with or without the proper key. We're not giving you V-mon and we are going to get Daisuke back." He refused to let himself think otherwise. Doing so would lead to endings that they didn't want to have happen.
Kaiser stared at him, silent for a few heartbeats, before he gestured again, more of his captive Digimon surging up around him and toward them. He said nothing else, just sent them ahead.
Koushirou did what anyone with a few grains of sense – and he had far more than a few – would do: he grabbed what he could hold and ran as fast as he could get his legs to move. Tentomon followed along, gripping onto the cage with his front claws. Holsmon and Digmon weren't that far away, slashing and striking and keeping as many of those Evil Ringed Digimon away as they could.
He didn't know how long it took before the sounds of combat faded off and there wasn't any more sign of the Kaiser's servants. All he could be certain of was that it took far too long.
Kaiser's teeth ground together as the so-called Chosen fled out of sight. His slaves would only follow to a point and without him there to think and give the orders, they would retreat eventually.
As irksome as it was, he didn't care enough about V-mon to want to chase them down. He wanted the little blue pest back more for the effect having him would have on Daisuke.
I'll send someone else to deal with this. He had several Digimon who would be intelligent enough to handle such a matter without his personal supervision. It was just a matter of picking one out.
He would manage on that score later. For now, he had other points to deal with: such as getting back to the base and beginning his efforts on converting his soulmate to work for him.
This might be something I can work with as well. He would have to be careful and clever, but he could do that very well.
He sent AirDramon soaring back towards the base, considering his future options. All of them were quite enticing.
Daisuke stared up at the ceiling. There wasn't really anywhere else that he could look. The bonds that kept him on the table meant he couldn't exactly check out the walls or floor that much.
Sadly, the ceiling wasn't all that interesting. He couldn't even see it all that well.
He let out a long sign and whacked his head a little against the table in sheer frustration.
This is the absolute worst day of my entire life. He hadn't expected to peak for worse days on the day that he found his soulmate, but there he was.
At least Kaiser hadn't touched him yet. The idea of touching Kaiser, of admitting that his soulmate was also the Digimon Kaiser, cemented his stomach with ice.
He didn't want to do that. He didn't even want to think about doing that. He wanted to think Kaiser felt the same way, refusing to let the bond fully flower when Daisuke remained against it.
He wanted to think that but he couldn't quite bring himself to not think it. He'd seen those ice-cold violet eyes staring at him possessively.
What made it all just a few notches worse was that right now, he didn't have more than the vaguest idea of where Kaiser was, or where V-mon was. Kaiser had gone off with his partner to face the others, and quite rudely in Daisuke's opinion, hadn't taken Daisuke along.
They can't stay gone forever, he told himself. Sooner or later they would come back and when they did, Daisuke would find a way out of this for himself and V-mon.
He closed his eyes and tilted his head a little in what he knew was a vain attempt to relax. When the Kaiser got back he was going to do something. He would have to wait until he wasn't tied down anymore but it would be something.
Footsteps echoed from just outside the room, brisk and firm. Daisuke swallowed, struck by the sudden realization that Kaiser could put an Evil Ring on V-mon and he wouldn't even be there to see it, let alone do anything about it.
That won't happen! The others won't let it! He had to keep telling himself that. As long as he was here, they couldn't fight. At least he didn't think they could.
Before he could go very far down that mental trail, lights flared up, bright and cold and searing, and he slammed his eyes shut, a faint whimpering sliding out.
A gentle gloved hand touched the side of his face in what he guessed was meant as a soothing gesture. Daisuke refused to be soothed, pulling his head away from the Kaiser's unwelcome touch.
"You shouldn't do that," Kaiser reprimanded. As Daisuke's eyes adjusted once more to the cruel light, he came more into focus. From what Daisuke could see of him, he wasn't that bad looking. It was just the whole 'taking over the Digital World' and being kidnapped that got under Daisuke's skin.
"Why not?" He kept his head moving as best that he could, but Kaiser didn't allow that for long. His hands closed on the sides of Daisuke's head and held him still. "You shouldn't do that!"
Kaiser smiled, staring down at him. Daisuke shuddered at the sight.
"Don't smile like that. You're creeping me out."
"You have no ability to lie, do you?" Kaiser sounded far more amused than he had any right to. "Do you ever stop to think before you speak, either?"
Daisuke shrugged. "What does it matter?" This wasn't even close to what he'd thought the first real chat with his soulmate would be like.
"Perhaps it doesn't." Kaiser released his grip and took a step back, still eyeing Daisuke as if he were a precious gem to be locked away. The comparison didn't make Daisuke all that happy. "You should know, your so-called friends have returned to the human world." A quick twist of his lips that Daisuke guessed was supposed to be a smile. "Without you."
Daisuke blinked at that. "Of course they couldn't take me. You've got me tied up here."
"Oh, I know. I can hardly miss that." Kaiser stayed far too close for Daisuke's taste. "But my point is that they didn't look for you. They got what they came for and left again." He tapped a forefinger against his lips. "They did take the time to retrieve your partner, though. And free a few of my slaves. But looking for you? That they didn't seem interested in."
Daisuke tried to wrap his head around what the Kaiser meant and shook his head when he couldn't get it. "V-mon's free, then!"
"Well, yes and no." Kaiser slipped one hand into a pocket and pulled out a finely carved silver key. "This alone will unlock his cage. So they'll have to bring him back sooner or later, and when they do, I have a Ring just for him ready."
Daisuke's breath caught in his lungs. He threw himself forward, the restraints keeping him from doing much more, and struggled until the bonds began to cut into his wrists.
Kaiser pushed him back onto the table with a finger and a frown. "Don't hurt yourself. I want you in perfect condition."
"Why? Are you going to try to put a Ring on me too?"
That earned a brief laugh from his captor. "An interesting idea. I should test to find out if that would work. But not today. No, today I want you in the best condition because this is our Meeting Day."
His gloved hand rested on Daisuke's wrist, just above where the numbers glowed emerald green. "This is the day we will celebrate for the rest of our lives as the day that we met one another. It is a special one, isn't it?"
"You don't really want me to answer that," Daisuke muttered. He'd had plans. A lot of them, most of which included at least asking if his soulmate wanted to come and meet his family, and maybe making plans to meet theirs. Being tied up here, and with the way that the Kaiser kept looking at him, hadn't been on his to-do list.
Kaiser smiled a sweet, savage sort of smile. "Oh, I do. But I am aware you don't want to answer. You'd rather not be mine. You'd rather be anyone else's. Such as one of those fools who have abandoned you to your future at my feet."
A quicker, more violent head-shake than before. "That's not what they did!"
"I told them that you're my soulmate. Do you think they would waste their time trying to save someone who will work for me when next they see him?"
Daisuke ground his teeth. "I'm not going to! Nothing you can do can make me!" He dared Kaiser to test that. He'd put any Evil Ring through its paces before it stood half - a third - of a chance controlling him!
Kaiser didn't move and that meant he was still far too close. That far too smug smile stayed the same as well.
"We'll see how matters work out on that score, Motomiya Daisuke." He regarded Daisuke with far more thoughtfulness than one might have suspected. Daisuke didn't like this at all. "You need dinner."
Daisuke squared up his shoulders. "That's right. So you need to let me go so I can go home for it." And once he got home, he would call up Hikari-chan and find out where V-mon was and they would get all of this sorted out in nothing flat.
Kaiser brushed that gloved hand by the side of Daisuke's face again. Daisuke shuddered; one movement and skin would touch skin, forming the solid bond he refused to have.
"Oh, no. I think you're going to stay right here and enjoy dinner with me."
All words froze on Daisuke's lips at that. He wanted to protest even more, but just nothing wanted to come. The sheer idea of having dinner with the Kaiser blew every thinking cylinder that he had. They were enemies, even if they were soulmates. Daisuke didn't eat with the enemy!
A wheeled cart, pushed by a pair of rock-like Digimon, entered the room. Daisuke stared at it in confusion that got worse when delicious scents caught at his nose. Dinner had arrived.
"You're in luck. Normally I have my own home to go to for dinner. But tonight I knew I would meet my soulmate and so I made other arrangements." Kaiser chuckled, and Daisuke found yet another sound he hated to hear coming from him. "Now, let's see."
Daisuke struggled yet again but it was starting to feel like his efforts were more for show than anything else. So if someone asked if he'd tried to escape, he could fairly well say that he had, but the bonds were too strong.
He wanted to escape. That hadn't changed. But as much as the thought angered him, Daisuke started to wonder if he could.
Kaiser had indeed informed his parents that he would be having dinner with his soulmate that evening, and he would bring whoever it was over to meet them that weekend. It gave him a chance to not just find out which one of the pretend-Chosen he would be bonded to, but he could make the first inroads on convincing them to join him.
Granted, the more time he spent around Daisuke, the more he wondered just how stubborn the other boy could be. Stubborn, dense, unyielding, brash, refusing to see sense…
Kaiser knew quite well they were soulmates, but the more time he spent around Motomiya Daisuke, the more he found himself attracted to that raging fire bound before him.
He put that thought in the back of his head for now, turning instead to pick a piece of the provided dinner and bring it to Daisuke's lips. Daisuke sealed those lips together and turned his head away.
"Not hungry," he murmured, just in time for his stomach to offer its own loud and rumbly opinion on the matter. Kaiser settled the food on Daisuke's lips.
"Open up," he ordered. "You're going to need all of your strength."
"I am?"
Kaiser wasted no time, but shoved the piece of braised beef into Daisuke's mouth, drawing out a muffled squawk.
"Now, chew and swallow that. I have more coming."
Kaiser hadn't often eaten with anyone except his parents and this was the first time that he'd fed someone like this. Part of it was sheer practicality: he didn't want Daisuke escaping, which meant keeping him restrained, which meant his prisoner had to be fed somehow.
Part of it was an odd sort of pleasure that welled up at the thought of sharing a meal with his soulmate.
He'd never put much thought into how finding the one bearing the matching counter would change matters for him. There were books written on the subject and seminars held around the world on a regular basis, open to all of those who had a counter. But the great Digimon Kaiser hadn't worried himself about it.
He'd had other matters to deal with. He'd presumed all along that whoever it was would share his goals and dreams and thus he would have to do little more than greet the other before they embarked on a grand spree of conquest.
Matters had changed a great deal in the last day. He thought it remained too soon to tell if they changed for the better or not.
At a minimum, he found Motomiya Daisuke quite amusing. He would definitely keep him around.
Hikari picked at the lock, the slender edge of the knife rattling around in there, but not having that much success. She remained glad she kept her hair short. She didn't need it getting into her mouth right now.
Thinking about that kind of thing gave her something else to occupy her mind instead of everything else that wanted to do so. She would get Chibimon out first. Then they would talk about Daisuke being the Kaiser's soulmate.
Chibimon confirmed that, at least.
"The numbers stopped," he reported once Iori, who had the smallest hands, reached in and got the gag out of his mouth. "That's a special thing, isn't it?"
"That's right," Takeru agreed. He had to keep a few steps away or Hikari swore she would stab him with the makeshift lock pick. Doing this was hard enough. Having someone hover over her made it ten times as hard.
"Is Daisuke going to be all right?" Chibimon wanted to know. Iori continued to work on releasing him the best that he could, getting the bonds that held him undone. It wasn't nearly as easy as it would have been if he'd been out of the cage, but they couldn't just let him stay like that.
Hikari wanted him done too. She would need all of the space she could get to even stand a chance at this.
They had so much to do and this was all Hikari could think of that they stood a chance of accomplishing. None of them knew where the Kaiser's base was. If Chibimon knew, he hadn't said anything. Daisuke was the Kaiser's soulmate and that couldn't be changed. They had two more Digimentals but would that be enough to wage a war like this?
They had to fight. Hikari just had no idea on if they had the right weapons to fight with.
To Be Continued
Notes: I have a long list of fics to update and it all begins here.
