Sorry for the delay. I couldn't think of anything using the prompts I was given, until I realized exact what I could do with one of the prompts. Anyways, made a couple of tweaks to the last chapter (just grammar and some wording) so hopefully, the quality of this story's better now
"Now, to test you," Ken said, his reliable whip in his hand.
He needed to test how well this boy could handle anything. And a couple of whips shouldn't be that harmful. Well, at least compared to what those kids might throw at him. They were certainly merciless to the slaves that Ken happened to send out, which meant that they probably wouldn't hold back from this boy.
And there was also that matter. The one where the boy just so happened to know about the Digital World. Ken would just have to question him on that later, though.
"What are you going to do to me?"
"You'll see." And he lashed the whip out, expecting to leave a bruise on the boy's cheek.
But he caught it. The boy caught the whip, and no one ever caught the whip. Maybe this was a good choice after all.
"Sorry, natural instinct," the boy apologized. He then let go of the whip, allowing Ken to retrieve it. "Want to try again?"
While there was fear in the boy's eyes, there was also some kind of determination. No matter, the boy asked Ken if he wanted to try again – which was a question that was never asked – and Ken was certainly going to try again.
And this time the whip made contact with the boy's cheek. The satisfying smack proved it.
But Ken expected to find the boy at his knees from the pain. Yet he did the opposite.
While it did look like the boy took damage from the whip – why else would his hand cover where he was whipped – he wasn't forced down. And while the hit wasn't strong enough to draw blood, it should've been able to force him to topple over, or knock him to the ground, depending on how strong the boy was.
"Anymore?" the boy asked, his voice quivering a bit.
"No. But I'm going to need you to stop asking question and to start answering them."
-0-0-0-
Kouichi didn't like the rude and abrasive tone his capturer had – it reminded him too much of that time – but he followed because he was scared.
His capturer could harm him again; like he did with that whip...what was the point of that again? To test him, wasn't it?
Kouichi sighed and brought his hand up to his cheek. Both it and his right hand were sore from the whip. And while there wasn't any blood, it was painful.
Actually, it seemed that all his capturer left him with was pain. Two strokes of a whip, done intentionally, and bitter responses. It doesn't seem like his capturer wanted to help him save this Digital World, or at least what Kouichi guessed to be one.
And wasn't Kouichi supposed to be answering questions at the moment? Yet there weren't any thrown at him, despite his capturer making it clear that he was the one who was going to ask the questions now.
"How did you get here?" the figure in front of him finally asked, with his abrasive tone kept.
Kouichi was going to ask what he meant by 'how did he get here', but he was told very sternly to not ask questions. It would be better to answer anyways. Even if he wasn't sure of the details himself.
"I just entered, through my mind…or Hell…whatever that place was." It sounded like a lie to him, even though he knew that was exactly what happened. And it didn't seem like the kid, if he could call him that, was buying it. Though, he continued.
"There were complications from the last world I was –"
"This doesn't answer why you know of the Digital World!"
He should've asked that in the first place. But Kouichi knew better than to talk back. Especially since that whip was still in his hand...
"I…well, how I got there is fuzzy. But for the longest time I was an evil Digimon and then my brother saved me, and then I helped them save the Digital World and then…well, I…died."
Kouichi expected another outburst (his capturer seemed to like doing that) or some kind of answer, but there was nothing. No words. Just a mouth opened wide in surprise.
Can't ask questions, he reminded himself, despite wanting to ask what was so surprising. Even if the Digital World got heavily remodeled in the short time he was gone, people would surely remember those legendary heroes, even if he probably wasn't a part of it.
"Nonsense! But –" a grin formed on the capturer's face "- you prove more useful to me than you did before."
Uneasiness filled Kouichi. While he hadn't given much thought to what was said when they first met – he was too busy trying to figure out what was going on – but now he was able to. And serve of use could mean a lot of different things. Like for instance… Kouichi didn't even want to think about that.
"You are to call me Master, for you are my servant. And you are to obey my every command. Talking back to me," He smirked, "well, I'll just let you find out for yourself."
Master? He just couldn't. It reminded him too much of that situation, the one where he was Duskmon. Cherubimon was his master then and he forced him to do all those horrible things and it caused him to think that he was someone who didn't deserve anything. Like the brother he should've enjoyed, but couldn't. The friends he should've enjoyed as well, but just couldn't.
"Don't get K– I mean Master angry like that," a voice said.
Kouichi turned around to face the speaker, who happened to be a Digimon he couldn't recognize. He knew he saw it before, but he just couldn't remember the name.
But then he turned to face his capturer ('Master' was reserved for speech) and realized exactly how angry he was. As if he noticed Kouichi's anger from the title master.
"Wormmon!" he spat, lashing his whip out.
Kouichi narrowly avoided getting hit. Even though the whip was meant for the Digimon Wormmon, his capturer didn't seem to care who got hit with the whip.
The whip missed Wormmon by a longshot, mainly because it was still by the door frame, but it was still successful in doing its purpose. Which was sending a jolt to Wormmon, apparently.
"I had enough of you two! Wormmon, show this boy the ropes."
Wormmon did what it was told and took Kouichi away from Ken, going outside instead of staying indoors.
-0-0-0-
It was official. Wormmon was way better than its 'master'. Way better.
While it didn't say anything about his status to its 'master', nor did it share any personal events, it asked Kouichi questions, nicely. And things that Kouichi could actually answer, like his name.
Though, the any knowledge of the Digital World question was a tough one. Judging by his capturer's reaction to everything, the story either made no sense or he was just shocked by the fact he wasn't the first human in the Digital World.
"It's okay if you can't answer it. I know my Master probably put you in enough pain," Wormmon said, noticing the long time it took for Kouichi to answer.
"Ah no, it's okay. I guess you could say I know the basics," Kouichi responded, not knowing how to answer correctly. But Wormmon wasn't showing to be much of a threat, so there was room for a little white lie.
"I should probably tell you about those kids now," Wormmon said, fiddling with its two front legs.
"Those kids?" Kouichi had no idea what Wormmon was talking about. Though, considering its job was to show him the ropes, he'd probably tell him about them anyways.
"I get it, you aren't familiar with them. Don't worry, I'll explain."
And it did explain, better than his capturer would have. Wormmon went from how there were always these five kids that would ruin its 'master's' plan and they were really kind to their partners…like they were.
"Like who were?" Wormmon asked. It just then hit Kouichi that he said that last bit out loud.
"Oh, no one," Kouichi said, laughing a rather fake laugh to cover it out. Despite Wormmon being the kindest thing to him since he came to this Digital World, he couldn't bring this up. It was just too confusing.
"Oh…" But Wormmon didn't give it much mind. It got up soon after it spoke, waddling off to who knows where, leaving Kouichi to think for himself.
But to be honest, after everything that happened, from the first Digital World to the second, Kouichi didn't want to think. Instead, he wanted out.