Chapter 21

Ken sat typing at his computer doing his homework. Wormmon sat beside him on the desk, watching him type with sleepy eyes.

Wormmon looked up at Ken and saw him lick his lips and swallow. The little worm frowned. That was at least the fifteenth time Ken had done that exact same thing in the last ten minutes.

"ken? Is something wrong with your lips? You keep licking them." asked the worm after watching him do it again a minute later.

Ken shook his head. "No. I'm just thirsty" was the reply.

"Then why don't you get a drink?" continued Wormmon. Ken shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess I've been so wrapped up in getting my homework done, I haven't done so" Ken answered.

"Then why don't you now. Come on, just a drink. It won't take long"

pestered Wormmon. Ken chuckled and pet him on the head. "You just won't leave me alone until I get a drink will you?"

"No."

It has been three months since the final battle with MaloMyotismon. Ken and the others have been living happily, hanging out and goofing off. Everyday after school, he and Davis met and played soccer together.

But lately, Ken has noticed that he has been thirsty a lot, and the only time he was truly happy was when he was in the sun. 'Weird' thought Ken.

Ken stood up and walked into the bathroom, where he turned on the faucet. He cupped his hand in the water to make a puddle and started drinking.

Cool, fresh water trickled down his throat. He drank for several minutes, not wanting to stop. The water tasted so refreshing.

"Ken?" came Wormmon's nervous voice.

Ken stopped drinking and wiped his mouth, turning off the faucet. He looked guiltily at Wormmon.

"Sorry, I was thirsty" he argued.

Wormmon eyed him worriedly. Ken had drank water from the faucet for a good five minutes without pausing for breath. Something was going on and Wormmon was determined to figure it out.

Midnight. Wormmon was sleeping peacefully beside Ken when he noticed that he partner began to twist and turn in his sleep.

'Another nightmare' he lamented.

Several minutes later, Ken woke with a start. He got up and out of bed and walked over to his balcony. He frowned. It was still nighttime.

Ken stood there for several minutes looking out the window.

"Ken? What's the matter? Did you have a nightmare?" asked Wormmon, looking at ken upside down. He was still on the bed and the balcony was below his bed.

"The sun's not out" answered ken in a dream like state. His eyes were glazed over and he didn't seem to be himself.

"The sun? Of course not Ken. It's midnight. The sun isn't out at night. You know that" answered Wormmon, who was baffled. Ken tore his gaze from the window and walked over to the other side of the room, where he clicked on the light switch. The bright light stung at Wormmon's eyes, but Ken seemed unfazed by it. If anything, he was overjoyed with the new light. He smiled and crawled back into bed.

"This will have to do for now" whispered Ken before he drifted back to sleep.

The sun shone brightly the next day, after school. Davis and Ken met in the park as they always did. Wormmon and Veemon watched as their partners versed each other in soccer. Wormmon turned to Veemon and asked, "Veemon, does Davis ever wake up in the middle of the night to turn on the light?"

Veemon looked at the little worm as though he was crazy.

"No! I did that once while Davis was sleeping and he went berserk. Yeah...I still have the mark where he hit me with his shoe..."

Wormmon was stumped. Then why did Ken want the light on last night?

He decided that maybe it would be best if he asked Davis. Ken seemed to be acting normal now, but Wormmon didn't like it how Ken had been acting so weird the night before.

About an hour later Davis and Ken stopped.

"Good game Ken" said Davis.

"You too" replied Ken. They shook hands, as they always did.

"I'm going to pick some flowers for my mom, she wants to dry them out and make some popery." said Ken.

"Okay, I'll be over here" said Davis. He turned and walked over to Veemon and Wormmon and sat down. That was when Wormmon finally got the courage to say something.

"Davis?" he began.

"Yeah?" asked Davis, looking down at the little green digimon.

"Its ken. He was acting weird last night..."

And with that, Wormmon started explaining all that had happened the day before, and when he was done, Davis was just as worried as Wormmon.

"You mean, he was thirsty and then last night, he was crazy about light? That just doesn't add up" pondered Davis. Veemon looked over and watched as Ken looked through the flowers next to a tree, trying to pick some for his mom.

"Maybe...He's turning into a flower" the little blue mon mumbled.

Davis and Wormmon both sweat dropped. "Veemon! Ken is not turning into a flower! Stop being so silly!" scowled Davis. Wormmon nodded.

"Humans don't turn into flowers anyway" said Wormmon. he then looked up at Davis. "Do they?"

"No!"

"Well, that would explain his weird behavior!" Veemon pointed out.

Davis shook his head. There was no way his best friend was turning into a flower.

He stood up and walked over to Ken.

"Hey Ken, have you...what are you doing?" asked Davis as he sat down next to his friend.

"Re-planting these flowers. They're complaining that they don't get enough sunlight from where they are now. So I'm helping them" was the odd reply.

"They're complaining? Okay, you've lost me Ken. Stop goofing off and lets go play another game of soccer. besides, I thought you said you came here to pick them for your mom"

"I am. Right" ken quickly gathered several flowers in his hand and plucked them from the ground.

"Umm...Okay, ready to go home?" asked Ken.

Davis nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Ken nodded and as they started walking he licked his lips.

"He's doing it again Davis" whined Wormmon from below.

Davis looked at him and the watched as Ken licked his lips again.

"You thirsty?"

"Very" answered Ken quickly.

"Then let's go home and get something to drink."

Later that night, ken was in the process of falling asleep when Wormmon crawled up beside him.

"Ken?"

"Yeah?"

"Thirsty?"

Ken nodded.

Wormmon had a bottle of water with him. Ken drank from it until it was empty, which worried Wormmon. That bottle was just opened.

That was when Ken got up and walked out to the balcony.

"Want to watch the sunset with me Wormmon?" asked Ken.

Wormmon got down off the bed and sat beside Ken on the balcony. Ken leaned back and enjoyed the felling of the sunshine on his face.

"Hmm...Isn't this nice Wormmon. The sunshine, the cool breeze" sighed Ken.

Wormmon shrugged the best way a worm could shrug. "I guess so."

Ken stood up and went inside, Wormmon following. The two crawled into bed and without another word, they both fell asleep.

Wormmon woke up first, as usual. He was always the one to wake up first. Since it was a Saturday, there was no reason to wake Ken up. He stretched and yawned and glanced over at Ken. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. By the looks of it, Ken's skin was a light shade of green. Pale green. Wormmon looked around to see what kind of light was in the room. There seemed to be plenty to be able to see without imagining colors.

"Ken?" whimpered Wormmon, poking his partner awake.

Ken's eyes fluttered open, only to make Wormmon more worried. Ken's eyes were not the beautiful blue indigo they usually were, instead, they too were green. A dark green.

"Hello Wormmon" greeted Ken, completely oblivious of what was going on. "How are you this morning, huh?"

Ken stroked Wormmon's back affectionately. However, when he saw his hand and arm, he froze.

"Wormmon...where you playing with the paints again?" he asked as he looked over his arm. Wormmon shook his head. "Wait...I'm all green. My skin is green! Wormmon! Why am I green?" Ken was starting to panic.

"I don't know Ken, I really don't. Your eyes are green too" whimpered Wormmon. Ken sprang up from the bed and ran to the bathroom, where he stared at his reflection.

His hair was the same color, but his skin and eyes were, like Wormmon said, green.

"Ken honey? Are you okay? I heard you running about" came his mother's voice.

"I'm fine mamma!" cried Ken.

He ran back to his room and shut the door.

"Wormmon! What are we going to do? I can't be seen like this!"

"I don't know" mumbled Wormmon, sadly. "perhaps call Davis and the others."

"No, just Davis. I don't want the others to know."

With that, Ken grabbed his D-3 and e-mailed Davis.

Davis walked into his room, yawning. "Man am I stuffed."

"Now see, this whole time I didn't think it was possible for you to ever be full" joked Veemon.

Davis glared at Veemon, who smile innocently.

Beep!

Davis looked around his room to find the source of the beep.

Beep!

"I think its coming from your D-3 Davis!" cried Veemon. Davis turned around from where he was looking under his bed and spotted his D-3. He got up quickly and grabbed it, flipping it on.

"An e-mail...from Ken!" cried Davis happily. His smile vanished however when he read the e-mail that had been sent to him.

"What's the matter?" asked Veemon.

"It's...ken...he's...by the sound of it...turning into a plant" whispered Davis.

"W-What do you mean? You yelled at me yesterday for saying he was turning into a flower! What, suddenly I'm right?" demanded Veemon, a little outraged.

Davis didn't reply. Instead he grabbed Veemon and headed out the door. He was going to Ken's.

Ken tried to keep himself from panicking. Wormmon was currently on his lap being stroked by his partner as they sat on the bed trying to figure out what to do. As he sat there, his head bent low, some of his bangs fell into his face.

Ken looked up at the strand of hair, not really thinking of anything, when he saw that his blue hair was turning light blue.

"Wormmon..." Ken whimpered to his closest friend.

Wormmon looked up and watched as ken's blue hair went from blue, to light blue, then to light green, then to dark green.

"Wormmon...what's wrong with me...?What's happening?" Ken looked down at his hands. They were light green, along with the rest of his skin. 'What's wrong with me?'

Ken couldn't stop looking at himself in the mirror. Why was this happening to him? Just as he was going to go take a nap to relax his thoughts, someone knocked on his door.

Panic filled him. "Yes?" he called out tensely.

"Ken? Ken sweetie? You friend Davis is here to see you" came his mother's soft sweet reply. ken smiled.

"Let him in" And with that, Davis walked into the room while Ken made sure he was out of sight from his mother, he didn't want her to see him like this. When Davis walked into the room, he immediately saw Ken and held back a gasp.

His best friend was all green!

"Dude! What happened?" Davis exclaimed. Ken shrugged.

"I don't know...but you have to help me...I can't have Yolei seeing me like this! I'm talking her to Homecoming on Saturday!" Ken wailed.

"Relax Ken. She'll go with you. I know Yolei. She'll want to go out with you even if your a flower!" said Davis, finally bursting with laughter. Ken's green face turned red.

"Davis! This isn't funny! Please! We have to figure this out!"

Davis put a hand on Ken's shoulder. "Relax, I have it all under control."

"This is having everything under control? Davis, when I'm through with you will wish I was still the kaiser!" Ken threatened when he saw what was in front of him.

Make up.

"But Ken...Don't you see? This is the only way people won't see you being green! Put lots of that cream colored gook on you and you'll look fine!"

"I am NOT, repeat, NOT putting any make-up on!" Ken screamed.

"Ken, honey! What are you two doing in there?" came his mother's voice. Ken and Davis sweat dropped.

"NOTHING!" they both cried.

Ken sighed, looking at the make up in front of his on the floor. Davis had ran into the bathroom and grabbed all of his mother's make-up he could and came back here several minutes ago. Ken just prayed that his mother wouldn't notice that all of it was gone after he used it.

Just as ken was about to open the bottle of cream, the phone rang and Mrs. Ichijouji answered it.

Silence.

"Ken! You're friend Izzy is on the phone! Come and answer it!"

Ken panicked. he was going to have to go out there! His mother might see him! Ken grabbed a sweater and stuck it on, making sure his neck wasn't exposed, and the Davis grabbed a hat and put it over his face.

Ken ran out and picked up the phone, his mother giving him an odd look.

"I'm cold" he answered her unasked question quickly.

Mrs. Ichijouji nodded and walked away, making a mental note to turn up the heating in the apartment.

"Yes?" asked ken into phone.

"Ken. It's me Izzy. Sorry to bother you, but I have something going on in the Digital World and I was wondering if you knew anything about it."

"Aright. Shoot."