The Death of the Kaiser
The harsh mid-day sun filled the dark corridor of the airship. The light flickered back and forth as the ship quaked after taking a direct hit. Two boys were on the ground, trying their best not be shaken off balance.
One of the boys tried his best to shield his eyes from the bright rays. The room had been dark enough even without having his shades punched off of his face. That however made him a sitting duck for another smack, followed by a tackle to the ground. His beating would have continued if it wasn't for the worm like creature that dared call itself his partner.
"Are you alright, Ken?" the worm monster scurried over to his partner after tackling the other human boy.
"Don't touch me," he swatted the monster away. "How many times have I told you not to get near me? I don't need you! I never did, and never will!"
"Big talk coming for someone who was getting his face beat in," the other boy got to his feet, blond hair disheveled. His own partner, a hamster with batwings for ears, floated right next to him.
"Takeru, we need to help the others," Patamon, urged the blond.
The blue eyed blond looked out the hole that was created by the monster's attack. It had been the reason the ship shook. His friends were flying around in circles doing their best not to get hit. He looked over to the opponent facing him. He noticed the little green worm do it's best to try and convince its partner to stop the rampaging monster. It only took a moment for the boy to smirk.
Takeru gave a quick shout and the large hamster transformed into a golden armored Pegasus. "Back them up but lead it back to the ship," the blond ordered.
"What!?" the digimon exclaimed. "But it will destroy the ship, with you still on it."
"When you lead it back you also have to pick me up. Then we'll make our escape."
"Quit screwing around," Ken focused back on the boy. "You think I'm just gonna let you do whatever you want?" his voice cracked. Why was no one listening to him today; the day when he had finally made his perfect partner? It didn't make any sense.
"Oh, and you're gonna stop me?" the boy's question was rhetorical; his winged horse was already flying away.
Ken couldn't help but smirk at the blonds' defiance, "so it seems like at least one of you has a backbone. Finally decided to play the game correctly? Good, sacrifice the digimon on this ship and your, 'partner,' just for the chance to defeat me. Let me warn you however, that won't happen."
The blonds' stare became dull, "what kind of, 'game,' do you think we're playing?"
"A game of complete conquest," the Kaiser answered. "That's why I was given the dark towers and evil rings. But I must admit that you children have pushed me to improve my methods. So for that I guess you have my thanks."
"You have no idea of what's going on, do you?" Takeru sighed. "What of the partner you were given?"
Ken's eyes grew sharp, "that was the only mistake."
The sharp words pierced the small worm's heart as tears started to well in its eyes.
"And you're alright with all of that?" the blue eyed boy asked the worm digimon. "You don't have to stay with him, you know. Patamon did pretty well by himself whenever we had a fight. Heck, you digimon don't even need us kids for you to digivolve."
Tears ran down the green monster's eyes, "I just want the real, kind Ken back."
Ken gritted his teeth in annoyance at insect's crying. This hadn't been the first time he had brought up his past; a past that hadn't happened. He had always been a perfect human being. Kindness was something the weak used to band together to try and make believe that they were strong.
Pity washed over Takeru's features, "you two are pathetic. During my first adventure, I fought with Patamon a couple of times, but we were still able to make up with each other. If I learned one thing about having a digimon partner, it's that you have to be honest with them when something is wrong. Not just about the things you want from one another but also the things you don't like about them as well. When you think what they're doing is wrong, and if you're going to do anything about it."
A triangle beam of green light shot through the corridor. "Pegasusmon, good work," the blond gazed through the hole. A mismatched monster was hot on his partner's tail.
"We need to get out of here," the winged horse urged.
"But this place doesn't feel like it's falling out of the sky yet," the blond examined.
"That's because I made him aim for the water while I rescued the others. You're plan is nonsense, especially since we're still over the whirlpool."
"The others are safe aren't they?"
"They're waiting for you on some of the islands. Once we leave, all of us can regroup and try again later." Pegasusmon did his best to rush his partner.
"I keep telling you all to listen to me, so you had better start!" Ken snapped back to attention. He had been ignored for the last time. "When will you learn that you don't have a choice in this game? Your only reason for being here is to be defeated by me. I'm deleting you," he pointed at the blond, "your partner, and the rest of your friends, today!"
The corridor silenced at that sudden exclamation. The digimon stared in horror at the boy's words. The only thing that could be heard was a monstrous roar in the background. A flash of green and orange over took their sight. The floor between the two pairs had been disintegrated.
A chill crept down the Kaiser's spine at the sight of the attack's devastation. His head shook as he turned to look at his own creation. Chimeramon's eyes froze the boy in place. Had he really created that monstrosity himself? His senses rushed back along with the other child's voice.
"Let me tell you two more things, Ichijouji," Takeru mounted his partner. "First, if either of us dies here, it's for real. Second, there's no way a guy who can't even evolve his partner can kill me; be it him, his partner, or his pet monster outside."
"…Takeru" the flying horse couldn't help but be worried at his partner egging the other boy on.
"Being worried won't help us anymore," the blond explained. "You heard him yourself; we're playing for keeps today. Let's finish off this base." He directed his partner to the opening made by Chimeramon , "if you ever pull yourself together, I'll be glad to finish things with you then." The two made their way deep into the fly fortress.
Stunned by the boy's words and the fear crawling on his back, Ken could do nothing but watch as the two retreated further in. The dread from going into the whirlpool suddenly rushed him at once. His breathing sped up and his chest started to tingle and feel tight. His jaw clenched as his eyes shut as tight as they could.
Wormmon watched his partner suffer. He could feel all of the boy's anxieties radiate off of his body. Before he could even lift an appendage, the airship was hit once more. This sent him and the boy tumbling down the hole in the floor.
The airship's curved bottom meant that there was nothing but the gaping black hole of the center of the whirlpool below them. Ken couldn't help screaming at his watery doom. All of his most recent fears had been fully realized in only a matter minutes. It's not that he thought that screaming would help but he couldn't help it. His instincts kicked in and there was no longer anything else he could do.
His screams only stopped when he felt someone's arms come around him. It took all he had to be able to turn his head and look at the insect digimon that had saved him. It was large and humanoid, but their pair of bug wings was more than strong enough to get back to the flying base. It took the boy more than a moment to gather himself after touching solid ground once again, but his eyes never left the insect digimon.
"Are you alright, Ken?" asked the large bug-man.
"Who… who are you?" the boy shook.
"It seems you don't remember this form either," the digimon sighed. "I'm Stingmon," he quickly regained his composer as best he could; "I evolved from Wormmon."
"There's no way," Ken shouted. "That useless little digimon could never evolve into something like you." For some reason the boy was getting defensive of the new evolution and he didn't know why. "It's obvious that you aren't Wormmon. Wormmon's… Wormmon… …I" The boy clenched his teeth and held his head in pain. His mind felt as if it was going to split in half.
Stingmon watched the boy with a mixture of panic and frustration. He didn't know how to help him. He could only hold on to the boy beneath him.
Ken tried as hard as he could to shut his eyes even tighter. His adrenaline had gone down enough to feel some on the nicks he had got in the fall. As he moved his arm to check his sides, his fingers brushed against his digivice. He noticed that it was glowing and grabbed for it. As he stared at the screen the bright light grew and enveloped his vision.
Stingmon watched the light fade as quickly as it came. It was as if all of his senses had left him for only a second but as soon as he could see clearly again they all came back. The only difference he noticed as Ken who was still on his knees and unmoving. He watched the boy slowly get to his feet and undo the clasps of his cape. As the large shoulder pads crashed to the floor, the tattered cape fell into the darkness of the whirlpool.
Ken took a deep breath, "…that kid was right …I don't know anything. Not of this world, the darkness, you …me" he stared at the darkness beneath the ship. He promptly turned and moved to an intercom on one of the inner walls. He pushed the button "whoever is closest to the controls, I need this ship above this whirlpool, pronto. If anyone runs into the blond kid and his digimon, stay out of their way. Finally, Chimeramon, cease your rampaging at once." The monstrous yelling from outside quieted down.
"Ken…" Stingmon breathed. As the boy turned to him he noticed that he had changed. His eyes were different, but they still weren't full of kindness like the one's he remembered. "Do you still not remember anything? Even after seeing that light from the digivice."
For the first time in a long while, a look of sadness graced the boy's face, "nothing. It seems like the only thing that light did was clear away the fog that has been clouding my mind. More so than fog, what it actually blew away was my ego." He somehow managed to give a small smile.
"Then does that mean—" Stingmon was about to stop this whole Kaiser charade but Ken cut him off.
"None of this stops;" before Stingmon could even ask Ken continued, "not yet anyway. I don't know why I started this, why I forgot about the digital world, but I must have done all of this for some reason. I'm not saying I want to keep going around destroying and enslaving digimon but I'm not giving up on this base or Chimeramon. I understand if you don't want to help but I'll still be using the digimon in this base until we get to somewhere better to drop them off."
The green insect digimon was confused and unsure of how to feel. He had always hated how Ken had acted since he came back to the digital world. Even so, he too had encouraged some of his bad behavior as the Kaiser, even if his actions weren't taken into consideration. He had offered up himself for tests not out of worrying about the other digimon but for a chance to get closer to Ken.
"Fine I'll help you, only so you can remember your true self," even now, things aren't any different for Stingmon.
A large explosion could be heard from deeper within the air ship. "Alright then, it's about time we wrap things up for the day and get out of here," Ken managed a smirk. "Let's go find that guy and his partner and show them what we can really do."
Finding the boy wasn't hard. While the controlled digimon stayed out of the blonds' way, they easily gave away his location. Even then, Ken and Stingmon just had to fallow the sounds of destruction permeating the base. As the two turned the corner, they managed to spot the intruders right before they entered the main engine room.
"Stop right there," the brunette yelled. The blond stopped in his tracks and turned around. Suddenly having the boy's focus made him nervous. It wasn't the same as talking to Stingmon. This time he had no idea what to say. He only regained composure once Stingmon gave him a light nudge. "I need to tell you something," he took a deep breath; "I'm no longer the Digimon Kaiser."
The blond gave his winged horse a quick questioning glance. "What…?" He focused back on to Ken.
That wasn't it. Ken knew what he wanted to say but not how. "I mean, I lost my memory." The blonds' brow knitted further in confusion. "Wait… what I'm trying to say is that, I'm not the same person I was before. I've changed." Ken could feel the pause after his giving his earnest declaration. He didn't know if it was out of curiosity but the boy hadn't turned back to the door yet.
"I gave you a chance to speak earlier and you decided to hit me," Takeru wiped blood off his cheek. "However, seeing how Wormmon managed to evolve, you aren't attacking my anymore, and that I have bad judgment, I'll let you try again."
Ken went over Wormmon's evolution and how the holy light of the digivice removed the dark influence from him. He explained his lost memories but there were more holes than even he expected. "I only recall my actions as the Kaiser and nothing else. I don't even remember my family."
"Okay, stop," Takeru halted the boy. Anymore information and he might start forgetting things himself. "So you had a change of heart. Does that mean you'll stop going around enslaving the digital world?"
"Yes! I never want to repeat those actions ever again," Ken was glad that he could convince the boy of his new found sense of self. "I'm glad you believe me."
"Trust me; after you see mind controlled digimon on two separate, unrelated occasions, it becomes a really easy excuse to swallow," Takeru waved off. "Besides, as I said before, the Digimon Kaiser wouldn't have been able to digivolve Wormmon. That being said, what do we do now?"
Ken noticed the way he had asked that question. The blond was expecting something from him and it wasn't cooperation. "Now, we finish our fight from before."
"Why?" Pegasusmon gasped. "If you've really changed and aren't going to be the Digimon Kaiser anymore, why keep fighting us?"
"Because I'm still responsible for this base and that monster outside," Ken answered. "I won't let you destroy them just because I regret one misstep. I need to clean up my own mess with my own two hands."
"What a weird from of guilt and responsibility," Takeru assessed. "You're more upset about not understanding the things you did than the actual actions themselves. Fine," he chuckled, "that's what I wanted to hear anyway."
"But, Takeru," Pegasusmon stomped his hoof, "we've been given so many chances to retreat and you haven't taken any of them. I know that you think the others being safe means you can act as reckless as you want but what about me? I'm here to protect you but you keep insisting to pick a fight." The way Takeru was acting was making him feel uneasy. It was almost the same feeling Ken had been giving off in the walk way.
The blond looked at his partner and gripped his digivice. The flying horse started to glow and shrank down back to his hamster like form. "I know it's not fair but let me be selfish this time." Takeru stubbornness shocked the flying mammal. "I'll apologize to everyone afterwards but let's give this a go, together." Takeru was unyielding but still wanted his partner to be able to understand him. "I wasn't brought to this world just for you to protect me."
Ken watched the small creature start to glow again and fallowing a bright flash of light stood a muscular angel. "Well then, fallow me." He led them away from the central power room.
The four of them found themselves back at a familiar stairway. The accent to the outside deck was a long and quiet. The only thing that cut through the silence was a loud ping. The blond pulled out his D-terminal and checked the message. Ken couldn't help but fidget at the boy's typing.
"It's my friends you know," Takeru answered. "I wish they would leave, honestly," he huffed. "If I was in their place I wouldn't either, but I don't need this much kindness right now."
"You're really taking this in stride," Ken noticed. "I thought you would have fought me right there in the engine room."
"What can I say, you're stupid request spoke to me," Takeru answered. "Your selfishness reminded me of my own."
"You mean how you asked your friends to leave even though you're still in danger?" Stingmon questioned.
"Takeru originally wanted to bring just Tentomon, but Iori was already up when we decided to scope out your base," Angemon explained.
"I knew your base could fly so I was hoping we'd run into you in the air and Iori could wait until we mapped out the area," Takeru shook his head.
"But it wasn't flying and even then, your friends came for you anyway." Ken finished for him.
"Well, having them come was the backup plan if anything went wrong."
"You guys are a team yet you want to go and run off all by yourself, but I still don't get why?"
"If I had come with just Patamon and Tentomon then we're the only ones that have to worry about the risks. Then the risks I can take by myself also become greater."
An amused chuckle left the brunette's lips, "what an awfully selfish and a horrible sense of kindness."
"That was the original goal at least," the blond smiled. "But when I saw Devimon in a monitor in the holding area, something inside of me started to tighten. You know the feeling. It's like there's an irritating itch inside of you that won't let you sit still."
Ken's eyes narrowed at the blond.
"If you didn't feel that way, you wouldn't want to fight me. You want to see if you've really any different from the Digimon Kaiser. To see if you can still change yourself."
Their steps seemed to echo more with the boy's words.
"Words and feelings aren't good enough for you. You need results and you don't care how you get them. It was the same for me when you said you'd delete Pegasusmon. If I've really changed from the person who faced Devimon, then I wouldn't let that happen ever again. I'd defeat you no matter what, even if you've changed."
Everyone noticed that the blonds' features grew as sharp as his words, but the smile never left his face. Was he being affected by the whirlpool's dark powers like Ken had been?
Something inside of Ken knew that what he was witnessing was the boy's true feelings. To be motivated by the lost of something precious, was something he felt was familiar for him. The tightness in his chest started to be replaced by a rapid heartbeat.
"So just want me to admit that I was also looking for a fight from the start?" Ken also couldn't help but grin. The blonds' growing smirk was all the answer he needed.
The two pairs made their way into the harsh sunlight of the top of the airship. Not a single cloud littered the sky. The two digimon took to the skies, never looking away from each other.
"Is this alright, Ken?" Stingmon questioned. "I think the both of you should stop while you can."
"He's not going to stop, Stingmon," Ken explained. He didn't think he would smile in the sunlight like he was. "He's wants the same thing as me and this is the only way we're going to get it."
"You should really stop, Takeru." Angemon asked one final time. "The others are still down there, waiting for us."
The blond never once took his eyes off of Ken. He couldn't help but grin, "If they're safe then this has nothing to do with them. If they decided to stay and watch then let's give them a show; attack!"
With that, the fight began. The two digimon almost disappeared from sight as they soared through the skies, striking each other. The two took to no time warming up as they circled the ship's exterior twice over. They looked to be an even match.
With Ken now awakened to the digital world, he now understood how his partnership with Stingmon worked. It was his spirit and energy that helped pushed the monster forward. He had always thought that Wormmon was useless but the little monster managed to digivolve for his sake. It was his turn to help him and finish this fight as quickly as possible.
Takeru was so focused on the fight that he didn't even notice the incoming fist that connected with his nose. He staggered backwards and looked ahead to find Ken rushing at him with his fists clenched. He quickly raised his guard and fended off the boy's attacks. It didn't take him long to figure out the other's plan and decided to play along. It wasn't just the other digimon that needed to be defeated but the whole pair.
Unbeknownst to the dueling pairs, the chimera coasting in the air growled at the battle before it. Seeing two enemies releasing brutal intent stirred is dark blood. It growled at the fight before it in anticipation to join as well. With a roar it spread its wings and burst towards the fray.
Both monster and human looked towards the incoming amalgamation in time to separate themselves from an incoming beam attack. A burning line was drawn between the sets of partners. The monster's roars were strong enough to push the two boys towards the edge of the airship. The two could only cover their ears, and narrow their eyes at the overwhelming sound. While their senses were overloaded, the combined beast took this chance to launch another laser.
Before it had the chance to regurgitate another beam, Angemon and Stingmon struck its abdomen. The monster choked on its own energy for a moment but still managed to spit it up at the children's feet.
While the blast didn't connect, its resulting explosion forced Takeru's feet off the side of the airship. Within the light of the explosion he could make out a shape reaching towards him. He reflexively grabbed the given arm and realized that it belonged to Ichijouji. The desperate look in the boy's eye caught him off guard.
However noble Ken actions were; they weren't enough to save Takeru from the fall. In his haste, he didn't notice how far off the ship the blond was blown. They both no longer had any footing and quickly succumbed to gravity. Because the airship had recently emerged from the center of the whirlpool, not even water was below the two of them to soften the fall. Only darkness stared back at them.
A flash of light erupted from the skies that managed to steal the boy's attention. Chimeramon was charging another attack for the two of them. The only thing that came to Ken's mind was holding up his digivice in defense. Takeru fallowed suite but it didn't matter, for as soon as they got ready, the heat blast was upon them. Their true defense was their partners coming in at the last minute to take the hit for them.
The other chosen children and freed digimon watched as the two monsters were washed over by the strong attack; their faces tensed in anxiety. It was only made worse when the two Adult digimon reverted to their Child forms and the two human children fell without the slightest movements. They gasped as all four of them fell into the center of the whirlpool while Chimeramon roared in victory.
The whirlpool responded to its newest additions by spinning faster and radiating even more darkness. The shadows rose up and washed over the islands in a thin mist. The lingering spirits soon fallowed the darkness and gathered around the other children causing a chill to run down their spines.
Chimeramon looked down at the rest of its targets. It reveled in the spreading darkness as it dived at the rest of the children. Its mouth glowed with another attack but was stopped by suddenly slamming into a giant crest of hope.
Suddenly two beams of gold and violet erupted from the center of the center of the whirlpool. They twisted around each other until they tapered apart and landed on two islands on the opposite ends of the whirlpool.
Chimeramon scratched and bit at the crest in its path. The spirits similarly, had to deal with a mysterious violet crest banishing them away.
The chosen children looked back to find their fallen friend. Takeru was soaking wet and panting for air but he looked to be fine. His eyes looked dark and tired, but he managed to start taking steps towards them.
The evil spirits that had been repelled rushed towards the boy only to be reflected again by the same violet crest. One by one, they were eradicated merely by its presence. Before any of his friends could protest him still moving around, he made his way past them and out to an island that was closer to the whirlpool.
Chimeramon howled and roared at the golden barrier before him. He charged up another laser for the wall in front of him. He fired expecting the crest to brake like flimsy glass, but instead he got his laser reflected right back at himself.
The single chosen across the whirlpool gave the monster a quick glance before focusing on the blond on the island at the other end of the vortex.
Having dispelled the nuisances, the two chosen boys looked across the ever expanding whirlpool. No more words were exchanged as the two pointed the digivices to the skies. Violet and gold once again raced upward, and just as quickly fell back into the dark whirlpool. Two humanoid Perfect digimon rose from the darkness. An eight winged angle with an arm mounted sword appeared form the violet rays. A radiant insect knight holding a spear rested within the gold.
Everyone was amazed at the sight of the two Perfect digimon. Their power radiated to all the surrounding islands, purifying the evil mist. Not only the sky, but now even the air was clear. The sun shined down on the battlefield as everything started to quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the two boy's shouts.
It took less than a second for the two digimon to make contact. It only lasted for a moment but the resulting power exploded into an orb of pure light. It blew up everything that wasn't holding on to something. The swirling water expanded even further by the tremendous force. The quick execution resulted in the whirlpool to erupt towards the sky once the water converged back in on itself.
Even thought the sun was shining right down on them, water dropped from the sky. It took a while for the children to regain their senses but the roar of Chimeramon grabbed their attention. They watched as its large body retreated to the flying base. They noticed that the Kaiser was no longer on the island across the water. Even after all of that, he was able to get away.
After accepting tier positions, they looked for their friend. He was laid out on his back with Tokomon resting in one arm. His other was blocking the sun and the retreating digimon from view.
The blond glared at the digivice in his hand. Its black body and violet grips only made his scowl deepen. He had gotten what he wanted; he had confirmed his improvement, but he had still lost. The only thing he could do was groan as he rested his arm over his eyes.
Ken on the other hand was in a constant state of thought. His mind tried to encapsulate the last few minutes. He set the airbase on auto pilot and leaned back in his chair. The digivice in his hand was black with green grips. Had the blond really been tainted like he was? Not completely, at least. He wouldn't have been able to use the crest's power; his crest's power.
The boy used his free hand to rub at his temples. His mind was full of so much knowledge, but he couldn't connect any of it.
"Digimon Kaiser…?" Wormmon slipped back into old habits.
"Don't call me that anymore," the boy sighed. "Ken, is just fine. Even if I don't know who I am, I know that I'm not the Digimon Kaiser anymore."
"Really?" the worm started to jitter with excitement.
"Really," that was a fact that he had proved with his own two hands. "Well, I still need to figure out who Ken is," he smiled.
The boy looked back at his monitors. He watched the other chosen fallow on their mobile islands. They weren't trying to catch up but they probably still wanted his airship in their sights. That was fine by him; he wanted to meet them again. He needed to get his digivice back and they needed to defeat him. As long as this base was still flying and Chimeramon was still breathing, they hadn't defeated the Digimon Kaiser. He wasn't the Kaiser anymore but that didn't mean he was their companion. He wanted them to come out on top, but they had to work for it. As his grip around the device tightened, his smile grew wider. His fight with that boy, with Takeru, wasn't finished yet.
AN: This one-shot is about Ken and Takeru. I've stated before that this is a duo that really interests me.
I really didn't care for Ken's characterization in the anime. The Digimon Kaiser is not Ken Ichijouji, just a character that Ken was. He takes nothing away from the experience nor does it give us much of a look into Ken's character, just his past. When it did give us a look into his character, the anime didn't do anything with it.
So when I approach Ken, I like to mix his Kaiser image with his normal one as much as I can. I've never really been able to do that outside of writing close to cannon so maybe you'll and see a more open Au with him.
When it comes to writing Takeru and Ken I like to focus on their similarities. They are characters that are built up by the other people around them. Ken's jealousy of his brother and Takeru's search for independence set up the backbone of their relationship in my mind. Two people who have something to prove to the people around them and to themselves. Both of them are pretty sensitive to others so I feel like they can relate easily. It's also really flexible theme if I want that relation to be good, bad, or both. If digimon was more battle focused like a pokemon, I think those two would make the best rivals.
As for Takeru, I really wanted to show how why he handles different situations. To me Takeru is a character is able to smile through any emotion. That's why he able to smile even when being extremely aggressive.
Once again, I appreciate you getting this far with my story. If you want leave a comment, review, or just a exclamation. Half of these one-shot might just be extras of stories that I've completed but I'm glad I was able to give you something original for this chapter. I still have more side stories and originals to go so keep a look out for more.