Chapter VI: Unfinished Past

The present is the funeral of the past, and man the living sepulchre of life.

--John Clare—

Ryo had arrived in the said castle, floating in the middle of the ocean with Paildramon by his side; Myotismon guided them inside the castle. He had leaded them to a room that seems to be the castle's garden. It was huge but it was quite dark inside and had the scent of roses everywhere while its blue petals were floating all around the room. "Welcome to my castle, Tamer." A voice that came from nowhere welcomed Ryo and Paildramon. "I see. You found yourself a strong digimon for me to play with"

"Who are you?" Ryo felt stupid talking to the air that made him a little bit tenser than from before. He heard a chuckle from nowhere as a figure can be seen from a far. "I'm right here, Tamer." A young boy around the age of 11 was sitting in a chair, the one that looks like the chair you can see in the King's Throne Room. Ryo seemed to be left with awe. The boy wore the outfit of the Digimon Emperor, only that his hair wasn't spiky but instead his hair was flat and straight. It was even longer than the usual length of his hair. Ryo can't even compare who has the longest hair, the boy or Angemon. "Ken?" the other boy gave Ryo a smirk in his face "Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not Ken."

"Then, who are you?"

"I'm the Digimon Emperor"

"But Ken was the Digimon Emperor so that means you're Ken"

"Well yeah but I'm not him as you can see. I'm his other self."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"To let you know a little secret about your old partner that is if you win against our fight and maybe I will let you see him."

"Ken is here?"

"Of course. If he isn't here I wouldn't be standing here right in front of you"

Ryo was more determined than ever so he just played the Emperor's game. "So, how do we play your little game?"

"The rules are simple each players must have one digimon with them. The digimon must fight to the end, for short a death match. After the opponent's digimon is down, the player who lost the game will die with his digimon. So what do you say, Tamer? Do you accept or decline?"

"I accept."

"Excellent."

"So where's your digimon?"

"Patience, my friend." Then the Digimon Emperor snapped his fingers then a figure stood next besides him. "Ryo meet Ken. Oh wait, you do know each other already." The Digimon Emperor was laughing evilly.

"What are you going to do to Ken?" Ryo demanded a very damn explanation from the Emperor but then the Digimon Emperor just gave him a wide evil smile. "He's my digimon" Ryo turned his hand into a fist. "What do you mean by that? Ken is just... is... just..."

"Ken is a what, Tamer? Human?"

"Of course. Can't you feel anything even a person like Ken you use for your evil plot"

"Me? Use him? What do you know about him anyways? You left him 11 years ago."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know" There was sarcasm in the tone of the Emperor's voice that angered Ryo more.

"Ken, show our guest here for what can you do." Then some sort of dark energy around him covered Ken's whole body. "What's going on, here?" Ken started to grow taller, a bit taller than Ryo and much body built and his hair grew longer as long as the Emperor's which was tied into a ponytail. His hair turned into crimson and his eye color had changed too. His eyes were small and hollow; his right eye was green as his left eye was colored gold. Ken's outfit changed too. Now he is wearing a black trench coat (A/N: If you know Sephiroth from FF7 or Kenren Taisho from Gensomaden Saiyuki, Ken's outfit is like that okay)

"This is my invincible digimon, Shimeramon"

"Ken turned into a digimon but how is that possible?"

"Like I told you, you know nothing about Ken. So will you continue the fight or shall you surrender and admit you lost."

"I... I... will... not... fight... you... anymore...I can't fight, my partner"

Kouken: Hey, people I have a question: What do you think would happen to this weird story? Do like to know? Well... that's a secret you would know it sooner or later. Please review...

Ryo: Hey I need so clothes here

Kouken: (Hands the monkey suit) Here

Ryo: I don't like that

Kouken: Oh well... Hey, being naked is not that bad...

Ryo: Well... yeah it is if nobody was watching you being naked

Kouken: You mean me?

Ryo: Not really. (Looks out the window)

Kouken: (Looks out the window) Oh, you mean your fangirls. I invited them here.

Ryo: Why?

Kouken: I have predicted that this was going to happen (Hands Ryo the monkey suit) so would you wear this now. (Ryo gets a huge gun and aims it at Kouken) Well... see you later on, folks. By the way Shimeramon is an invented digimon of mine. "Shi" means "death"