Daichi: I think this can work...

Verity: We don't own anything more than the last time we were asked.

12211221

His parents were curious about the egg that had suddenly appeared. All they knew was that the night Ken had reappeared, the egg came as well. But they didn't pry. And he was fine with that. All he could do was sit. Sit and wait for him to hatch.

But time passed, and the DigiEgg still didn't hatch. It was a full week later when they started worrying. There were no signs of life, despite it being in perfect condition.

In sadness, Ken thought back to all the times that Wormmon had been there for him, until he reached a blank space in his memory that hadn't been there before. Or, rather, he hadn't paid any attention to it. But he knew something was there, he could feel it. It was just out of his reach.

When he broke through to the memories, guilt immediately encompassed him. He'd promised his partner that he'd continue to be kind, and not a year later turned around and became the Digimon Emperor. Some friend he was.

"Wormmon... I'm sorry... Just please, please, come back. I'll be better this time, I really will." Unnoticed to him, the Crest of Kindness began to glow. There was a crack, and a small Digimon with a leaf on his head popped out.

"Ken...? Ken!"

He couldn't help it. He cried.

12211221

Leafmon settled rather nicely into life in the Real World. Ken's parents even treated him like a part of the family. The only real problem was the little issue of food. As is well known, young Digimon eat a lot. So, basically, they were running out of food.

It was a few days later when his parents left to buy more, if only because Leafmon had eaten it all. Ken and his partner were just sitting in front of the television when there was a knock at the door. Walking to it, he saw the DigiDestined who had given him the DigiEgg.

"Hey, Ken, I just thought I'd check up on you. See how you're handling it."

"It's fine. Why are you really here?"

"I just told you. I wanted to make sure you were all right."

Patamon shrugged. "Well, that and we had nothing better to do."

"Patamon!"

"What? I like Davis, but you know he can be a bit much." T.K. sighed.

Ken hadn't noticed when Leafmon arrived, only dimly recognized his presence. "Ken, what are they doing here?"

"I don't know, Leafmon."

Patamon flew down. "So... Leafmon, huh? Nice to see you again."

Ken watched them for a moment before turning back to T.K.. "Are any of the others here?"

The other boy shook his head. "They don't even know I'm here, or that I helped you last week. Yolei and Cody actually think you're beyond redemption."

"But you don't."

"When I first found out you were the Emperor, I did some research. 'Know thine enemy' and everything. We're actually not all that different. In fact, in several ways, we're the same."

"I bet you didn't try to take over the world."

"True, but when everything started going downhill for me, I was four. The area around my house was wrecked, my parents were going through a divorce... my brother's older than me, and he handled it... not quite as well."

Ken blinked. "Your brother? The one with the Gabumon?"

"That's him. I wasn't really there, but apparently he gave in to his loneliness, and it took Gabumon biting him to snap him out of it. Really, I'm not making this up." Ken supposed he hadn't done well hiding his surprise.

"But neither of you did anything too drastic."

"Are you sure about that? How's your face healing up?" Instinctively, his hand reached for a spot that had fallen victim to a particularly nasty right hook.

"Trust me, I've had worse... and it isn't like I didn't deserve it."

"True, but... I wasn't fighting then just because you were the Emperor."

"But why-?"

"I guess you could say I was trying to lay some old demons to rest."

21122112

When T.K. left a bit later, his parents came in. "Ken, who was that?"

"That was T.K.. I know him from something that happened while I was away."

"Is he a friend of yours?"

Remembering how he had shown genuine concern for him, the former tyrant couldn't help but smile.

"Not really. But... but maybe one day."

2121212112

Daichi: This takes place sometime before Veemon Digivolves, and the next one will take place afterwards.