Word Count: 6,979/82,250||Chapters: 4/47
Each of the three screens before Kaiser displayed something different. One of them centered on an amber lozenge containing V-mon. A second flicked between various television portals, the ones that the Chosen preferred to use the most. He'd staked out all of them over the last few days. If the Chosen made any moves into the Digital World, then he would know about it.
The third one displayed Motomiya, slumped against the wall of the room Kaiser chose to exact his captive's punishment in. Until now, he'd kept it for occasional use in testing his Rings. It hadn't taken long to modify it for this new, far more interesting use.
He could see what Motomiya had in mind. It was simple, as befitting the fool. Motomiya thought he could sleep his punishment away and emerge unscathed.
He would soon learn that doing so wasn't possible under the Kaiser's watch.
But Kaiser waited for just the right moment to teach that lesson. Waited until he could be certain that Motomiya slept, deeply and soundly. The sort of sleep that would recharge one and bring about sweet dreams.
Not this time.
He touched one button on his keyboard. Immediately Motomiya jerked awake, his eyes wide, looking around. While Motomiya couldn't hear anything in the utterly soundproofed room – Kaiser arranged it so that he couldn't even hear his own words, let alone anything else – Kaiser could read his lips effectively. He wanted to know what was going on.
He should have known. Kaiser made it plain, after all. He was to obey Kaiser's orders implicitly and he'd been given no orders to sleep. He was to be punished.
It was almost a shame to interrupt his sleep. He'd looked so peaceful. But Kaiser refused to let a pretty sight interfere in his training. Motomiya couldn't be allowed to think he could do as he pleased. That would defeat the entire purpose of avenging the slight to Kaiser's pride.
Motomiya settled himself back down after checking for water from the faucet again, clearly dismissing the shock as some sort of fluke or aberration.
I really didn't think he would find the faucet so soon. The longer he disobeys, however, the later it will be until he drinks.
He intended to keep Motomiya there only twenty-four hours, unless the idiot somehow screwed up and infuriated him even more. So far Kaiser found his antics mildly amusing. This would serve as a good lesson, however. He'd told him to obey and he meant it.
Kaiser waited a little more. Just when he judged Motomiya on the verge of sleep this time, he sent another shock searing through him. Motomiya yelped, leaping to his feet, and looking around again, mouthing what could only be the Kaiser's title.
Kaiser sent another shock, this one meant to warn: there would be no sleep. There would be no escaping his well-earned punishment.
He checked the time, displeased when he saw how late it was getting. He had only a few minutes until dinner time. While he had little worry for how his parents felt – he suspected they had even less for how he felt – they would probably get intrusive if he didn't at least turn up for the meal. And he did have homework. Which wouldn't take long for him to complete, either, but it was all part of keeping up the facade.
Kaiser stared at Motomiya for a few moments. He won't have to worry about that while he's here. I'm sure he would consider that a pleasure, if he thought about it.
The more he considered it, the more a slow thought crept through his mind: why should his prisoner have even a scrap of freedom that he didn't?
Why should he stay in the human world when all of his interest and everything that genuinely mattered to him and everything that needed his attention was here?
Kaiser turned another thought over in his mind. Taking proper care of his new acquisition wouldn't require being there in person – Wormmon could see to the feeding if necessary and he could come here often enough to ensure the training took. But he wanted to be there, to watch as Motomiya crumbled underneath his assault and came to accept his new position in life. That would be a beautiful sight to see, one that he truly didn't want to miss.
And truth to tell, there wasn't anything in the world of humans that he genuinely wanted or needed. The Chosen wouldn't suspect his identity, not with the one of them who knew about it safely locked up. Though he also couldn't dismiss the thought that if he vanished shortly after Motomiya did, the Chosen might consider the two events connected.
But what could they do about it if they did? They couldn't find his base. They wouldn't be able to locate Motomiya's devices. So long as those items were here in his specially shielded fortress, no signals would get out. He would have to hide them before he returned for one last visit – he would want to say farewell, after all, in his own special way – but after that…
Kaiser made up his mind. He set up a quick program that would ensure Motomiya would be shocked whenever he attempted to sleep, each one being more intense than the last. He wouldn't be gone very long, but lessons had to be taught thoroughly and well, and the sooner the better.
Ichijouji Ken stepped out of his room. To the outward eye, he looked like any other studious boy of his age. Perhaps a bit more elegant and attractive than most – Ken didn't care about his looks but he had a mirror and a very well functioning brain – but no one would have thought for a heartbeat that in the last few hours he'd kidnapped another boy and now had him locked up in a secret base being shocked to keep him from sleeping, all to avenge a slight to his pride.
So far as he was concerned, if people judged only by appearances, then they deserved whatever it was that they got for that.
Ken plastered a smile on his face and strolled down the hallway to the kitchen. Both of his parents were there, talking quietly about something, and his father looked up as he entered.
"Hello," his father said, almost as if he didn't know who Ken was. The worried look in his eyes told a different story.
Ken didn't care to read that story, though. He approached closer, that same false smile on his lips.
"Good afternoon. I'm sorry if I'm late. I was busy studying."
His parents nodded, his mother starting to bring out the dinner dishes.
"Of course. That's just what I was telling you, dear," she said, giving his father a careful look. Ken mentally rolled his eyes. They played this same song and dance whenever he stepped out of his room. He would be so very glad to finally put an end to it.
Meals with the Ichijoujis were tense affairs. His parents talked to each other and tried to talk to them. He brushed them off with vaguely worded sentences concerning his studies and occasional extracurricular activities. They knew nothing of his real hobbies. They would probably be absolutely horrified if they knew.
There were brief moments when Ken wondered if it should bother him that they wouldn't support him in his real endeavors. But those moments were so brief that he at times believed they didn't even happen and he just thought he should be upset by that fact.
As always, most of his thoughts lingered on the work in the Digital World. It might get somewhat easier once he'd made more progress on teaching Motomiya how to be both obedient and useful. But there were still points that he would need to take care of himself.
Such as the issue with higher powered Digimon. The incident with Andromon just a few days previously still lingered in the back of his thoughts. His Ring had worked quite well, up to a point. Something would have to be done to ensure that those events didn't happen again.
Perhaps his new captive could assist in that, to some degree. He would need more information, for one thing.
"Ken, dear?" His mother's worried voice pulled him out of his personal musings. "Did you want some dessert?"
He glanced down at his plate, realizing he'd already finished everything. He'd hardly tasted any of it.
"No," he said. "May I be excused? I have more work to do."
He didn't wait for them to grant permission. They wouldn't turn him down when he was going to be 'studying'. He headed back to his room, closing and locking the door behind himself.
He could hear them whispering again. They weren't as quiet as they thought they were. He couldn't hear everything that they said, but he knew they whispered and he could easily guess it was about him. It almost always was, when they whispered. They'd only really started to pay attention to him when he'd started scoring highly on his tests and outperforming everyone physically. If it wasn't for that, they wouldn't have cared about anything else that he did.
Yet another reason to leave. He didn't need to sit around here and be ignored by people who only noticed him when he did something they wanted.
Ken paid no more attention to his parents once he knew they whispered about him. Whatever they had in mind, it meant less than nothing. He had too much that he needed to do.
He cast his gaze briefly around his room. He didn't need any spare clothes. He only wore his uniform in the Digital World. None of the books were important enough. He wouldn't miss anything else.
It took only a few minutes to get the rest of his preparations set up. A message that would remain behind once he'd made his final crossover. Careful reprogramming of the gate between worlds so that it would close after he'd crossed. The Chosen might not realize who he was until it was far too late, but if they showed up here, they might actually be foolish enough to attempt to use his gate to cross to his fortress. Sealing the gate so only his device could use it would ensure that wasn't possible.
After all, he had a precious new toy in his fortress. He wasn't going to let anyone take it away from him.
There. Everything was taken care of. Time to go.
Notes: I wonder if anyone has noticed something yet...
