Ken stood on his balcony, thinking, with Leafmon by his side. He wondered, Did I well and truly kill Osamu, when I rejected the destiny I inherited from him? Why had he stayed, in the first place? He was gone now, no matter the answer, so Ken knew it was futile, and depressing furthermore, to think about it. But still he wondered. Should I have let Osamu stay? He'd be what, fifteen now? Still plenty of life to live. But I have my own life! A little selfish streak in him wanted it to stay his, too, instead of at the beck and call of dead older brothers. Still, is this how the Guardian of Kindness is supposed to feel?
A shape materialized before him. It was Osamu, Osamu as he would look now, had he lived that long. A ghost. Ken. Ken, don't worry.
Osamu? Do you forgive me?
What's there to be sorry for? Any apologies should be on my part, for making you carry the burden of my destiny for so long. Instead of apologizing, accept my thanks.
I was selfish and foolish to stay on as long as I did. Ken, thank you for doing for me what I would not do voluntarily. Thank you for cutting the tie to your destiny I had established. Thank you for setting both of us free from the one who made us Emperors.
Y-you're welcome. Ken said, stuttering slightly in his surprise.
I'll have to leave soon. Dead brothers are supposed to stay dead, after all. I was lucky to get this one chance to see you again. Osamu's ghost sighed. I just wish it could be longer, or that I could come back. He shook his head. But there's no use in wasting precious time complaining. Any brotherly things we need to catch up on?
They spent the night talking about said brotherly things, constantly wishing that they had more time. Perhaps if they'd grown up as normal brothers they'd have had such midnight sessions frequently, instead of the one night they had. Of course, it was more likely that they wouldn't. Such things as sibling rivalry and strictly enforced curfews would probably eradicate bull-session time even more effectively than a trifle like the death of one brother. No matter how trite and harsh it sounds, their enforced and rivalry had probably pulled them together.
As dawn broke, Osamu's dim form faded. I'm sorry I can't stay longer, Ken. I'll be watching you, though it's sad that that's the closest we can get. Make me proud. He dematerialized completely.
Oh yes, brother, I will.
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So what of the Digimon Empress? Lachesis said, echoing Atropos's question.
Clotho took a handful of rainbow-dyed wool and threw it in the air, where it clumped into three human shapes. There are three major possibilities. Inoue Momoe and Chiziru, and Motomiya Jun. All three are high-school girls, making them the appropriate age, and all, more importantly, are sisters to a Digidestined.
Are you sure these are the only choices? None of them looks particularly inclined to evil.
Unfortunately, yes.
Atropos leapt upon this problem with relish. I told you and I told you and I told you so. Letting these pitiful humans decide their fates was idiotic, I said, and now I'm vindicated. If you two had listened to me, and directly interfered, we'd have a perfect couple now, Emperor and Empress, and the two requisite Digidestined would be on the way to kill them properly, instead of the chintzy halfway method Ken used on Osamu.
Please be a bit less vindictive, Atropos dear. Lachesis interrupted primly, in defense of Clotho.
Oh, no, Lachesis, we can thank Atropos for saying that, Clotho replied. Noticing their somewhat surprised expressions, she explained. I believe you said something to the effect of, we'd have a perfect couple now, Emperor and Empress?'
Atropos nodded.
Well, why can't we still? Why don't we persuade one of the former Emperors, doesn't matter which one, to turn back to evil, and then use him as bait to attract a suitable Empress? Both the Inoue Digidestined and the Motomiya Digidestined are associated with the Digidestined of Kindness; it'll be a simple matter to dangle one of the Emperors in front of a Empress-canidate's nose. All three tend to crush on people easily, which further helps our task. All the meddling we'll need to do is convincing Oikawa's group to re-recruit an Emperor.
You're obsessed with not meddling, Clotho. Atropos grumbled, but agreed.
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Oikawa couldn't help but worry that his carefully laid plans would nonetheless fail. The Emperor plan had failed... first the one made a power grab, and then the other turned good, of all the random things. And that plan had been perfect! This one had flaws from every angle... or perhaps he had just gotten better at spotting flaws over the years.
First he had to grab Ken, the second (and less reliable) of the two Emperors. Then he had to extract Ken's dark seed, the tool that had enabled Oikawa to control him. Then he had to round up a few dozen kids and implant seeds in them. And after that... well, he had to hope that no parents noticed some of the more unpleasant side effects of dark-seed implantation.
And there was not a bat's chance in hell of the latter happening.
If only he could go back to the days of the Digital Empire... things would be so much simpler. But Osamu was dead... he'd had to kill him, after that power play... and Ken was even further out of his reach. He'd somehow managed to neutralize the control the dark seed had over his thought processes.
It was too bad humans couldn't be reborn, as Digimon could. It really was too bad. If only he could ressurect Osamu... he had been so promising. Asn if he did that, Osamu would be loyal out of sheer gratitude. Oh, it would be so nice to have one of his human toys back, to conquer the Digiworld for him...
Oikawa sighed, and set about refining his plan. Would there be any way to refine the dark seeds, and make their invasion of the children more gradual? That might null some of the side effects. Turning to a computer, he hooked into his Digiworld databases. These were chock-full of as much information as he could steal from Gennai and co.'s databanks. He keyed in the search terms dark, power, control, and pressed the button.
First result—Dark rings. Second result, dark spirals... on and on. The first fifty results were all concerned with the various ways of bucking the control systems Emperor Ken had used. They were useless to him... he was seeking new knowledge, and he'd half-designed all those systems himself!
Result #51 seemed even more useless, a fluke or search error in all likelihood. What possible relevance could a historical treatise on the Etemon/Datamon rivalry have? Still, perhaps they had used some sort of novel control system on their servants. Oikawa dutifully read through the treatise.
He was rewarded, although not in a way he'd anticipated.
At that point, Datamon made a clone copy of Takenouchi Sora, the Digidestined of Love. This copy had the potential to be fully human, and would become Sora if given her crest.
Fully human! If it was possible to create humans in the Digiworld... then it was possible to create bodies for old ghosts lying around. Old ghosts that went by the name and title of Ichijouji Osamu, first of the Digimon Emperors...
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Jun sat in her room, silently sobbing. Or at least she thought she was silently sobbing... in reality, her sobs were all too audible. And they were annoying the other members of her family to no end. Eventually, her brother Daisuke came in the room and decided to vent said annoyance.
Honestly, Jun, he said witheringly.
Honestly what?! she replied, tears running down her face. I have plenty to cry about, thank you very much.
Like what? was his reply. That a teen idol you had a crush on and blackmailed into going on one date with you has decided to be even more blatant about the fact that he doesn't like you and start going out with a girl he actually likes for a change?
Jun blinked, and began to cry even more furiously... and loudly. Daisuke sweatdropped, thinking, Maybe I was a little harsh...
Jun suddenly brightened. Ken had just entered the room, reminding her that there were plenty of cute, talented guys in the world. And this particular cute, talented guy was good friends with her brother, so she'd be seeing a lot of him anyway...
_______________________________
Oikawa stood triumphantly in the middle of his Digiworld lab. Lying on a lab table was a perfect version of the late Ichijouji Osamu, looking as he would if he'd lived to fourteen. Paraphrasing the history he'd read, Oikawa said dramatically,
At that point, Oikawa made a clone copy of Ichijouji Osamu, first of the Digimon Emperors. This copy had the potential to become fully human, and would become Osamu if given his crest.
Oikawa proudly withdrew a small chip of some material or object. It was the exact reverse of the Crest of Kindess, dark purple with pink tracings. The crest was Sadism, and perfect for a tyrant. He held it high over his head and bowed to a nonexistent audience. Then he placed the crest in Osamu's cold hand.
It let out a strangely cold miasma of purple darkness. Somewhat paradoxically, Osamu's body began to warm. His eyes blinked open. At first their stare was somewhat zombielike, but it gradually gained awareness as the miasma spread. Osamu sat up and point-blank asked Oikawa,
Why am I alive?
Oikawa was somewhat taken aback. He hadn't anticipated quite this reaction. Nevertheless, he collected himself enough to respond, The job of Emperor is open again.
Osamu gazed back noncommitally. This really wasn't the reaction Oikawa'd anticipated. He was rather nervous... what if Osamu didn't accept? Feigning nonchalance, he continued, It's the only reason I brought you back. I've no use for you if you don't accept; unless you do, I'll kill you and use this body for a useful purpose. Surely he could think of one.
Osamu pondered this. On the one hand, he'd in effect promised Ken to not do anything like this. On the other hand... he'd be alive again. Maybe he and Ken would have a chance to be brothers... and besides, he was destined for this job.
The crest of Sadism's influence was penetrating further, leaving Osamu with only one effective choice.
I accept, he replied. Now, where's my old throne room? I expect that it's in need of some repair.
TO BE CONTINUED...