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.
Fandoms: Digimon Adventure
Title: Out of Line
Characters: Daisuke, Vamdemon, Piemon
Word Count: chapter 1: 1,108||story: 1,108
Genre: Adventure, Drama||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I19, a multichapter with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Written for the One Character Boot Camp, prompt #30, seize
Notes: This takes place in my breeds-verse and will lead into an alternate timeline for 02.
Summary: During Vamdemon's invasion of Odaiba, he finds something strange about one of the children suspected of being the Eighth Child. While Daisuke isn't the Chosen that he's looking for, he is something special indeed, and finding out what it is could tip the balance in the war.

Very few people in Odaiba understood what was going on with the monsters that currently roamed the area, snatching up everyone that they saw and gathering them together. The ones who did understand didn't really have the time to explain it to anyone else, since they were too busy running from the monsters themselves, or fighting them, depending on if they had their own personal monster with them or not.

Motomiya Daisuke didn't have a personal monster and he also didn't understand what was going on, aside from the fact that one of those ghost monsters had a grip on his arm and was dragging him away from his parents and sister.

"Let me go!" He battered at the creature holding him with his other arm. "Let me go right now or else!"

"Be quiet and you'll be done sooner," the ghost told him, still dragging him along. Two of its buddies kept his parents and Jun back, and the farther the one ghost dragged him, the less he could see of them.

That really didn't make this any better. He didn't like his sister, of course: he didn't know anyone who had a brother or sister who actually liked them. But he didn't want to get taken away from them either. How was Jun going to know how much he didn't like her if he wasn't around to tell her that all the time?

But no matter how hard he tried to get away, he still found himself shoved into a line with a lot of other kids about his age. There weren't any parents in sight there either. Just a lot more monsters standing here and there in the line, keeping an eye on the kids.

Daisuke looked up and down the line, shuffling along whenever someone at the head of it moved. He couldn't tell from here what was going on there. The closer he got, though, the more monsters he could see, and all of them looked worried about something.

He moved around a corner and now he could see the head of the line. What caught his eye first was what looked like a little cat standing there, standing on her hind legs, shoulders drooping, but head up enough so she could see each kid in the line. Every time one came up to her, she shook her head, and the kid was urged on by the monsters.

Then Daisuke saw what was standing next to her, and absolute terror closed a clawed hand around his throat.

Vampire.

He'd snuck out of his room one night a while back and watched a vampire movie on the family TV. This one didn't look exactly like the vampire he'd seen there, but it was close enough. This guy wore the same type of fancy outfit, with a long cape and high boots. What really sealed the deal for Daisuke was that he had fangs. Sharp ones, though not as big as the nightmares Daisuke had after watching that movie. But he didn't doubt that they could bite him just as well.

The monsters watching didn't seem to care that he wanted to get out of there. He wasn't the only kid staring at the vampire in fear, either. Most of them were, and the ones that weren't...well, Daisuke didn't know why they weren't, but he kind of envied them.

So many of them stared at the vampire and he didn't look back at any of them, all of his focus turned on the cat next to him. Daisuke really felt sorry for her. He didn't know who they were looking for, but whenever they found that kid, they were in for a lot of trouble.

Ever so slowly, Daisuke drew closer to the cat and the vampire, and each step he took, he took with even less enthusiasm than the one before it. That wasn't like him; he normally ran headlong into whatever was going on and let the chips fall where they wanted to. But the closer he got to that vampire, the less he wanted to be there. Every inch of his skin crawled and he made certain to look at anything but the vampire.

It won't be that bad, he told himself. It'll be just like everyone else. I get up there and she shakes her head and then I go away. The line of rejected kids led out one of the other doors and he couldn't see where they went. It counted as 'away from the vampire' and that was good enough for Daisuke.

Then only a few kids were in front of him. Then just two. And one.

"Not him," he heard the cat say, and was too surprised at the sound of a cat talking to do anything else but start to move on, thrilled that he'd gotten away without any harm.

He hadn't taken two complete steps away when a mesmerizing voice spoke. "Stop."

And Daisuke did just that. His body decided in the space of one word not to obey him at all, but to listen to that voice. His stomach dropped out of sight and his throat closed even tighter, the fear too strong for him to move even if he'd been capable of it.

At least until the voice spoke again. "Come here, boy."

"I told you he's not the one," the cat spoke up, every bit as confused as Daisuke was. Well, maybe almost as confused. Daisuke wasn't going to start comparing notes with it.

"I know what you said." It was the vampire. The vampire had control of his body. Daisuke didn't know if he wanted to scream and try to run away or shrink as best he could and pretend he wasn't there at all. It didn't matter that he couldn't choose, not when his body simply walked over to the vampire and a set of gloved fingers tilted his head back and ice-blue eyes stared down at him.

Daisuke stared back, hoping that whatever the vampire wanted, he would decide Daisuke couldn't give it, and would let him go along with the rest of the children who were even now being dismissed as 'not the one' by the cat as well.

"Take him there," the vampire ordered after a few silent moments of staring, nodding toward one of the other monsters. This one wore a rich red robe and carried a huge scythe, which didn't make Daisuke any happier. "I'll inspect him more closely later. Make certain he's there when I'm ready."

"Yes, Vamdemon-sama," the scythe wielding ghost bobbed in a bow, then took hold of Daisuke and guided him away.

To Be Continued

Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.