Chapter 15

Struggling to get into a comfortable position , Ken groaned under his breath. His parents refused to let him be released from the hospital anytime early, so he had no other choice but to miss school and miss time with Yolei and the others.

Wormmon was curled up at his side, sleeping peacefully. It was mid-afternoon and there was no way Ken was going to be able to sleep. Reaching for a magazine on the counter beside his bed, Ken was surprised when he heard a loud bang of thunder from outside and he fell to the floor.

Thump!

"Ow..."he moaned. When he had fallen, he had taken Wormmon with him, and the poor little creature was now a pancake underneath Ken's weight. Ken grabbed his chest, breathing deeply as he winced in pain.

Thunder was not something he had expected. The last time he had looked outside it had been happy and sunny without a cloud in the sky. That just proved how many times Ken had looked out the window that day.

Wormmon, who had been asleep one minute, and a pancake the next, squeezed out from beneath his partner and looked up at him with worry.

"Ken...?" he asked. Ken didn't reply, instead, he only tried to continued catching his breath. The two laid on the floor for several minutes before Ken was finally able to calm down and catch his breath. Brushing back his hair behind his ears and out of his face, ken stood and climbed back into bed. But not before grabbing the magazine he had been reaching for.

Wormmon, who Ken seemed to have forgotten about, jumped back up onto the bed and rubbed against Ken's arm, trying to get his attention.

"ken?" he asked again. Ken finally looked down at his partner and smiled.

"Sorry Wormmon" whispered Ken, petting Wormmon affectionately. "I haven't really been myself today. I'm just sick and tired of being in here today you know? I want to go home, I want to go back to school before I get so far behind there's absolutely no chance of catching back up, and...I want to see Yolei and the others!"

"Why haven't they been in to see you?" said Wormmon.

Ken shrugged. "They have lives Wormmon. They don't have time to waste it all by visiting me all the time" was ken's reply.

Wormmon frowned. That was when the door opened and in came Mrs. Ichijouji. Wormmon his before he could be seen.

"hello Ken sweetie" she greeted warmly. "good news. The doctor says you can leave. I'd prefer if you'd stay over night, but I know you want to get out of here."

Ken nodded after giving his mother a hug and laid back on his pillow.

"I'll go and get the doctor and have him give you one last check and then you'll be released. Okay?" asked his mother. Ken nodded and his mother left. Wormmon poked his head out from underneath the pillows and blankets. He closed his eyes and sighed.

Wormmon sat and watched as his partner's chest raised and fell. Raised and fell. Then...unrepentantly, Ken began to wince in pain again, then stopped.

"Ken?" asked Wormmon fearfully.

"Can it Worm!" hissed Ken. Wormmon's eyes went wide in fear and shock. ken's voice wasn't sweet and gentle, it was harsh and deep. Wormmon backed away from experience, memories from the past flooding his mind.

"Ken-What's the matter?" asked Wormmon bravely.

"The problem is that my weakling counter-part has been controlling me for too long. This body has been his for too long. I want it back!" came the Kaiser's voice out of Ken's mouth.

"Well, you can't have it! This is Ken's body, not yours!" cried the little green digimon. he knew this wasn't ken who was speaking, nor was it really the kaiser, it was the dark spore that was still inside Ken's body. The spore was only using the Kaiser's voice.

Ken winced in pain once more and fell back onto the pillows and after several minutes, Ken woke up, in deep sweat.

"W-Wormmon" he called out, frightened.

"Yes?"

Ken put a hand over his mouth as he shivered. "W-Wormmon...D-Did...I say anything...do anything...It was so scary. I didn't know what was going on. I could hear voices in my head...everything was darkness around me...Wormmon...I'm scared..."whimpered Ken, grabbing his partner and hugging him tightly.

"It's alright Ken. I'm here. I won't let anything hurt you" reassured Wormmon. Ken nodded. "You did say something though." ken looked down at this with panic evident in his face. "But I knew it wasn't you. It sounded like the Kaiser. But I knew it wasn't him either. I think it was the dark spore that's in you."

At this, Ken felt his neck. Nothing.

That was when the door opened and Ken's mother and the doctor walked in.

"Oh! ken! What a cute stuffed animal! What is it, a green dog?" said his mother, seeing Wormmon. Ken sweat dropped.

"N-No. It's...a worm..." replied Ken.

"Mrs. Ichijouji walked over to Ken and looked at Wormmon closely.

"Oh...it's...nice..." she said, but Ken could tell that she didn't like the fact that it was a worm. "Did a friend give it to you?"

"You could say that" smiled Ken.

The doctor then stopped looking at his papers that he had been looking at ever since he walked in and smiled. "Well Ken, you look good to me. You're free to go. But feel free to call if you have any questions, problems...anything like that" he said. Ken nodded and threw the sheets off him and slowly got off the bed. Mrs. Ichijouji already had his things and they were able to go home.

"Ken!" cried Yolei the next day at school. She ran up to her boyfriend and hugged him lightly, knowing that if she hugged him too hard, his chest would start hurting.

""Hi Yolei" whispered ken. He kissed her own the cheek after returning the hug.

"I've been so worried about you! Joe called me about every afternoon to give me an update but that just wasn't enough. I would have come to visit but I was busy with school and the grocery store" rambled Yolei.

Ken smiled. 'Ah, the great sound of Yolei's babbling' though Ken. How he had missed it.

Yolei looked over at Ken and sighed. "Is there something wrong? Are you mad at me for not visiting. You just don't seem very talkative."

Ken looked over at Yolei as they walked down the almost deserted hallway and out the school. "Sorry, I haven't really been myself. I'm just sort of out of it." Yolei nodded.

'Should I tell her about what happened yesterday? Yeah...I had better, just so she knows what's going on if I lose control around her. But what if she thinks I'm crazy? Oh well, one more person to add to the list of people who think I'm crazy' Ken debated in his mind.

"Yolei, there's...something I need to tell you...could we go for a walk?" asked Ken slowly.

"Sure!"

With a long walk around the school a couple of times, ken finally told the whole story of what happened at the hospital. Yolei seemed shocked, but seemed to be taking it okay. She wasn't giving him any, 'You're insane' looks yet.

"ken...? Are you going to be okay? That dark spore isn't going to give you any more problems is it? Yolei asked.

Ken shrugged. "I really don't know Yolei. I hope not. If it does, and the darkness does take over me again, will you know that its not me, and that you'll be able to forgive me?" asked Ken, holding Yolei's hand desperately. She smiled.

"Yeah ken. I'll know that it wasn't you, but the darkness."

Trying his hardest to avoid the crowd, Ken walked down the aisle of the grocery store with a loaf of bread in his hand. His mother wanted to make a picnic for she and is father. It was their anniversary this weekend and they decided that instead of wasting money on a large expensive dinner, they would go on a romantic picnic for the weekend. The would be going to Kyoto park and stay for the weekend, and, not wanting Ken to be all by himself, he's staying at Davis'. Yolei whined and whined when she found out, saying it was her boyfriend after all. But his parents didn't want that and frankly, neither did Ken.

'I'm not ready for stuff like that yet' he thought.

Walking up to the cash register, Ken discovered that it was Yolei who was the cashier. He smiled when it was his turn.

"hey Yolei" he greeted.

Yolei looked up with wide shocked eyes. "Ken! Geez! I haven't heard from you in ever! Why haven't you called me?" cried Yolei, gaining several odd looks from the costumers.

Ken sweat dropped. "Yolei. I have several times in the last few days."

"No you haven't! Spill! Why haven't you called me?" she demanded. By this point, Yolei had grabbed poor ken's collar and dragged him over the counter where he now hung, everyone in the store watching.

"Yolei! It's called an answering machine!" cried Ken desperately. Yolei froze. She then slowly let ken back down and walked away, leaving ken and all the customers there to stare after her.