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: Captive: Chapter 12: Village
Characters: Ken, Daisuke
Word Count: chapter: 2,042||story: 26,177
Genre: Drama, Friendship||Rated: PG
Notes: This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It's also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.
Summary: [12/20, Ken & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.
Sleeping out in the Digital World wasn't as easy as it once had been. Ever since the Digimon Kaiser's arrival and conquest, those inhabitants who weren't strong enough to put up some kind of a fight developed the habit of sleeping in groups, with at least four of their number on guard at all times, rotating throughout the night. They very seldom welcomed strangers, no matter how harmless they looked.
Thus, once Wormmon had to return to the fortress, V-mon found himself in need of a place to rest while he could. He would know when Daisuke came out again; the bond that drew partners together would call him, no matter where Daisuke was. Something about the Kaiser's fortress or maybe an Evil Ring blocked it for now, but V-mon trusted that it would come again.
He'd searched around almost until the sky began to lighten up without finding a place he could trust. There were places that were safe, or as safe as they could be anyway, but those were all taken up by Digimon of various kinds.
Finally he found a small cave, which wasn't very far from a village of young Digimon. Unlike most Digimon villages, where all the inhabitants were the same kind, this one housed many different ones, ranging from Koromon to Pagumon. V-mon couldn't tell how they got along, but at the moment, he just wanted to get some sleep anyway.
To call this a cave was probably being more generous than the little depression in the hill deserved. His head scraped the top of it when he stood up as tall as he could and there was just barely enough room to keep any rain off of him, if it had rained at all. He counted himself lucky enough that it didn't, curled into a tight little ball, missing the warmth of Daisuke's room and the late-night snacks that Daisuke kept there for the two of them to share, and tried to sleep.
He had no idea of how long he'd stayed like that before he heard desperate high-pitched cries and his eyes snapped open.
The village? It rested on the other side of the hill, encircled by thick bushes and tall trees, and he hurried that way as quickly as he could, wondering what the problem was. He didn't like the sound of the noise; too much panic, not enough friendly sparring.
He didn't even have to get through the encircling trees before he realized what was going on. His heart sank the moment he saw the fleet of AirDramon, Unimon, and many other flying Digimon beginning to land, taking up positions of guard as they did.
Each and every one of them bore an Evil Ring or an Evil Spiral.
V-mon clenched his fists and looked around. He had to be here somewhere. And until the Chosen showed up, he was the one who had to do something about this. Even though he couldn't evolve. Even though Daisuke would be in the thick of this, somewhere.
"Very good toss, slave." The Kaiser's voice was unmistakeable and sent the familiar sensation of anger surging all through V-mon. And what had he said? He had to be talking to Daisuke. He never addressed any of his Digimon slaves like that.
V-mon's steps took him closer to the heart of the village, which was really nothing more than a small collection of woven huts like virtually every other Digimon village. There wasn't much space for him to hide, but he ducked down anyway, wanting to get a clear view before he barged in there. If he had the chance, he would find the Ring that had to be on Daisuke and smash it. Sure, his partner might end up bruised, but bruised and free would be better than not-bruised and enslaved.
He came up on them from behind. The Kaiser stood a little to the side of Daisuke, with Wormmon off to his side. Wormmon's antenna twitched and V-mon suspected the worm knew he was there. But he wouldn't say anything. V-mon made a promise that if this worked, he would find a way to get a nice treat to Wormmon after all of this.
Now he focused on Daisuke, trying to guess what was going on. It wasn't hard. One arm remained crooked up, holding something. That something became blindingly clear when Daisuke picked one of them from the pile and flicked it outward. A Yokomon had been bouncing away, shrieking in fright, until the Evil Ring Daisuke threw netted her around the middle.
At once she stopped in her tracks and turned toward the Kaiser. He gestured off to his left, and V-mon peeked up and over to see a collection of young Digimon, all with Rings on.
Why is he doing this? He could understand, sort of, putting Rings on Adult level Digimon and Spirals on Perfect levels, but why these little babies? They weren't useful, at least not the kind of useful that the Kaiser wanted. They were just babies.
"Now, I just praised you, Daisuke," the Kaiser nudged his captive in the shoulder. "What do you say when someone says something nice to you?"
V-mon hated that voice of his, so smug and arrogant. He hated it even more when Daisuke answered.
"Thank you, master." He didn't sound like Daisuke at all! Daisuke would never sound this submissive or this ...this obedient! Daisuke didn't obey anyone! He wouldn't have obeyed the laws of gravity if he didn't have to!
The Kaiser patted him on the shoulder now. "Good boy. Now, finish this up. Those idiots will be here soon."
"As you wish, master."
V-mon dug his face into the dirt to stifle his moan of pain. He knew why the Kaiser was doing this now. It wasn't just for the Chosen or to have more slaves. This was to hurt Daisuke. Somewhere inside of his mind the real Daisuke could see all of this and he would be screaming himself hoarse if he could. Not at all for how servile he had to, but for doing the exact opposite of what a true Chosen Child should do: protect others.
Daisuke started to lift another Ring, and V-mon couldn't take it anymore. He charged forward, tackling Daisuke from behind, sending the Rings he'd been holding scattering. Before he could even get to his feet, he lifted his head and shouted to the few Digimon still around there who hadn't been caught yet.
"Run! Get out of here! I'll keep them away from you!" He didn't care if he couldn't. He only cared that he had to do it.
He scrambled to his feet, turning back to the Kaiser and Daisuke in the same moment. Now he saw what he'd missed before and his heart sank even deeper. It wasn't an Evil Ring that clamped around Daisuke's arm this time. Now an Evil Spiral decorated it. V-mon thought he could see a few signs that could be resistance, but they weren't all that strong. This wouldn't be an easy fight.
The Kaiser turned his own cold gaze onto him. "And what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be hiding in a hole somewhere without your partner?"
"My partner's right here!" V-mon declared, pointing at Daisuke. "And I'm going to get him back from you!"
The Kaiser's laughed echoed all over the village. "Really? With one word from me, my slave here would put a Ring on you." A cruel smile tilted his lips upward. "Perhaps you'd like to see what kind of Digimon you'd evolve into like that? I know I would."
V-mon kept enough attention on Daisuke so if the other made a move for the Rings, he could get away in time. "Yeah, that's not going to happen. And his name is Daisuke!"
"Oh, I know. But I'm calling him what he is now. What he's going to always be." Ken ran his fingers through Daisuke's hair with a smirk of possessive pride that only grew worse when Daisuke leaned toward him. "See? He enjoys being my slave. It's what he was born for."
"You know, I've heard a lot of crap coming out of your mouth, Ken, but that's got to be the biggest load of it ever."
Ken and V-mon both turned to stare at the unexpected voice. There stood Pegasumon, with Takeru on his back, Nefertimon a pace or two away with Hikari, Miyako upon Holsmon, and Iori and Digmon.
And as if that wasn't enough – which it would've been in V-mon's opinion – Taichi stood with Greymon and Yamato with Garurumon. None of them looked even remotely happy about any of this.
Taichi, who'd spoken up, frowned at the Kaiser. "You know you're not going to win this. So just be as smart as you claim you are and give us back Daisuke."
"Would you just hand over something of yours to someone else?" The Kaiser sneered, gripping Daisuke's shoulder. "Slave, stay away from them. Stay behind me at all times."
"Yes, Kaiser-sama."
V-mon really, truly wanted to believe that there was anger and rage in Daisuke's voice, no matter what he said. He made himself believe it. His Daisuke was still in there and he wanted to get out. He probably also wanted to punch Ken in the face.
V-mon knew for a fact that he wanted to punch Ken in the face.
From the look on everyone else's face, there would probably be a line dedicating to punching the Kaiser once this was all over with. And the sooner that line got started, the better, in V-mon's opinion. He started to make another jump toward Daisuke, only for Wormmon to get in the way.
"Stay back!" The smaller Digimon declared, quivering all over. V-mon knew Wormmon would defend Ken no matter what, even if that meant protecting Daisuke from being freed. He couldn't do otherwise. V-mon didn't blame him at all for it. They might meet on occasion and not be enemies, but now wasn't one of those occasions.
"Let's get Daisuke out of there," Taichi said, looking at Yamato. Both of them were already mounted on their partners, and now they started toward the enslaved leader of the Chosen Children.
Ken's whip came out a heartbeat later, flashing towards first Taichi, then Yamato, keeping them back skillfully. "Come near my slave and both of your Digimon will become mine again. You remember what that was like, don't you, Greymon?" He sneered, keeping himself in between Daisuke and the others. "I know that I do."
Greymon growled low but said nothing else. Taichi ran a soothing hand down his partner's spine.
"Don't listen to him, buddy. We know he's nothing but hot air."
"And this 'hot air' has your former leader and is going to keep him. He's finally made himself properly useful to me." Ken didn't look over his shoulder as he addressed Daisuke. "Slave. Get on the AirDramon and back to the fortress. Stay there and wait for me to get back."
"Yes, Kaiser-sama."
Daisuke started toward the AirDramon. V-mon knew he had to get there first; if Daisuke went back, they might not ever find him again. It would all depend on if Ken wanted to bring him out to show off, and they couldn't count on that forever.
He wasn't the only one who realized that; Yamato and Taichi started for Daisuke as well. Ken snapped his whip and more of his enslaved Digimon, the ones he'd brought with him, marched forward.
"Keep them away from my slave!" Ken ordered. "He is to be protected from them at all costs!"
V-mon didn't bother going for Daisuke. Not directly, anyway. He moved back from Wormmon, eyes flicking over to the waiting AirDramon. He thought Wormmon guessed what he had in mind. The other Digimon didn't make a move, though.
"I won't let you get through here," he said, and V-mon knew Wormmon did know. And he was doing what he could to help, little though it was.
"I don't expect you to," V-mon said. He didn't wait another moment, but charged toward the AirDramon, going at an angle, dodging among the fighting Digimon, and hoping that he could get there before Daisuke did.
To Be Continued