Reality by hyakurei
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
What is the Digimon Kaiser?
Is it an entity that was born into existence by the Dark Seed implanted into Ichijouji Ken's neck? The Dark Seed had slowly exerted its influence into the boy's mind ever since it came into contact with him, gradually increasing his intelligence and corrupting his thoughts down darker paths. While this would explain the creation of the Digimon Kaiser, it was not, in fact, the trigger for the change. It was merely the catalyst that cemented the Digimon Kaiser's birth.
What had instigated the decision to give birth to the Digimon Kaiser was the death of Ichijouji Osamu - Ken's older brother.
The moment that Osamu had died, a part of Ken's heart died along with him. It was a section of himself that had believed that everything would always turn out alright in the end. A part that held faith in the purity of the world that he lived in. When that part of himself died, shadows started to creep in around the edges of the world, darkening it just a little bit. But to Ken, it felt as if his whole world had turned grey.
Ichijouji Ken was no longer the Ichijouji Ken from a day ago. This was an Ichijouji Ken without faith in the world. A child that held onto no hope for the future. He started to hate himself and everyone around him, and in consequence, felt hollow inside.
A seed of darkness was implanted.
When the Dark Seed lodged itself into his neck, it was merely a physical manifestation of that which already existed.
He forgot what it felt like to be happy and to be sad. He cast away all emotions he deemed unnecessary, and was left with only the ability to feel anger. Anger at himself for letting Osamu get killed, anger at his parents for neglecting him all those years, and most of all, he was angry that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of that horrible empty feeling inside of him.
Eventually, he came to a realization.
Reality was cruel.
So why not just get rid of it?
Thus, Ichijouji Ken immersed himself into the Digital World and discarded all of his inhibitions. He built a network of Dark Spires and an army of Digimon and set out to conquer the Digital World. He settled himself into his new life and started slowly drifting further and further away from his life in the human world, willing himself to forget everything that he was attached to there. When all had settled down, he finally erected the final touches. He built impenetrable barriers around his own mind, detaching himself from the truth and horror of what he was doing, and firmly entrenching the thought of this world being nothing more than a video game into his mind. Nothing was real to him anymore. Not the human world. Not the digital world.
After all, if he didn't believe that it was real, then he wouldn't have to suffer from all the pain that he was causing to himself and to everyone around him. If he just didn't believe in it, then no one would truly be hurt. If he believed enough in it, then Osamu would still be alive...
So Ichijouji Ken believed that the Digital World was just a game, and poured all his remaining belief into one single thought:
'Ichijouji Ken is not real.'
And the next time Ichijouji Ken looked into a mirror, Ichijouji Osamu was staring back at him, and all was right in the world once more.
A/N: I might continue on with this line of thought for an eventual confrontation with the Digidestined in the future, but for now, this is complete. Thank you reading!