I return! Sorry it's been so long, but the holidays are a busy time for me. So, from me to you, happy (insert your winter holiday of choice. Mine is Christmas…) and hope you have a good one. So this update is a long one.
This will be an interesting chapter hopefully. Or it could be a complete disaster. I shall be trying something a little bold. I will try not to have anyone too out of character, but I will be pushing it in this chapter. Mostly, this should be the most troublesome chapter to write because I am trying to accomplish something I've always wanted to see. But everything from here on out, should definitely remain more strongly in character. Don't give up on this story just because of this chapter.
I hope you like this update, but I will understand if you don't. Either way, here it is.
Davis, leader of the younger generation of Digidestined, owner of the Digi-eggs of Courage and Friendship, and possessor of Tai's original goggles, couldn't believe his eyes. While he wasn't as bad about the whole "there must be a better way than destruction" thing as Cody or Yolei, he wasn't heartless either. Granted, some digimon deserved to be shown who was boss, like MaloMyotismon, but most of their fights resulted in few fatalities. And unless the victims were obviously pure evil, a certain level of pity and regret followed. Those tamers weren't following that mindset at all.
The beginning of the fight had been impressive. Even after all this time, the awe that gladiator-worthy battle between powerful digital creatures inspired within the youth was immense. The knight, his crimson cape trailing behind his fighting figure, gave off an aura of heroic courage. The golden fox-lady, with her atmosphere of mysticism that enveloped her armored figure, seemed to personified confidence and poise. The robotic rabbit, similar and different to the Rapidmon that fought beside Magnamon against Kerpymon, demonstrated a wider variety of traits as the dark-haired boy combined cards with his strange digivice. Even the black-winged warrior possessed impressive skills, though Davis felt a sense of mistrust towards the digivolved version of the being who caused problems the night before. Still, their duels with the megas were exciting to see, regardless of the digidestined's personal feelings towards one member.
But as they continued, something seemed odd. First off, the opponents were not obviously under the control of the usual objects of mind control. There were no dark rings or spirals. There were not black gears like in the days of the older kids. And there were no control spires left that could have been transformed into digimon. Thus, these digimon were acting on their own will as far as could be determined. But they didn't seem like traditional evil digimon. One was even a vaccine, nearly unheard of as being evil. Even more concerning was their words about humanity. He wondered what could give these digimon such a low opinion of human kind and what all their tiny references meant.
Finally, something told Davis that the fight was far more serious than most that Veemon usually participated in. There was an air of wildness, of feral destruction, to the tamers' partners. It was a subtle feeling. He glanced towards Kari, wondering if this was how she felt when she sensed evil or darkness and if she was sensing anything now. She stood near T.K., her eyes locked on Fatemon and Dianamon, and a slight frown decorated her features. He looked himself and felt his mouth open in shock.
The white and blue armored mega lay on the ground, face down. The virus type obviously was victorious, but he didn't look like he planned to stop. A quick check showed the others were in similar states of winning and not intending to quit. Davis could honestly see that they were going to kill Marsmon, Valkyrimon, and Dianamon.
"Wait!" he shouted as Fatemon raised his sword.
He sent the boy a sideways glance, "What is it, Hedgehog? I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"You're not going to… kill them… are you?"
"That was sort of the general plan. Stop the psychotic digimon and all that," he answered nonchalantly. "Now if you excuse me, I'd like to…"
Unfortunately, the short conversation was just enough for Dianamon to take advantage of. She whipped her double crescent-bladed weapon around from her position on the ground and caught the virus in the stomach. Without missing a beat, she took aim at Sakuyamon.
"Arrow of Artemis!"
The Biomerged data type was caught by the unexpected projectile in the back. Her shout of pain and surprise caused the domino effect of distracting Gallantmon from Valkyrimon's prone form; the feathered creature knocked out by the knight's last attack. Dianamon snatched up the white avian creature as Marsmon fell back to rejoin his teammates.
"You possess unexpected power," the vaccine type remarked. "When next we duel, we shall be more prepared. And I shall hopefully gain an opponent more worthy of my abilities."
"I'll show you 'worthy'," snapped Rika's voice. "You're the ones retreating."
Marsmon corrected, "It is not my decision. We were instructed to fall back if we encounter the unforeseen. But we shall meet again."
"Unless you humans choose to leave our kind and our world in peace," added Dianamon kindly. "Release the bonds that tie these foolish digimon to you and never return here. Only then shall we leave you alone." Her sapphire eyes darkened and her tone turned cold. "And if you continued to be a threat to our world and digimon, there will be no mercy for any of you."
She and Marsmon, still supporting the recovering Valkyrimon, pulled back into the shadows of the bordering forest. In a matter of seconds, it seemed as if the trio was never present to begin with. Gallantmon gently began assisting an icy Rapidmon up. Fatemon directed a furious glare at Davis.
"Thanks ever so much for your help, Hedgehog," he snapped. "I'm sure Fox-face appreciates getting shot. Do you actually think before you stick your nose into another's fight? We were doing great until you interrupted."
"But… you were going to kill them," explained the digidestined. "And you didn't seem to care."
The Biomerged digimon separated into their more usual components and Rapidmon dedigivolved into a shivering rookie. Impmon continued his rant at the boy.
"Hey, they started it! If a bunch of insane digimon wanted to crush you and your Smurf, would you honestly just sit around and let them? I wouldn't think so, unless you have a real death wish. Even Braniac, one of the greatest anti-fighting promoters that ever existed, figured out eventually that psychos don't respond to some weird 'peace and love' speech. What did you think we were going to do, slap their wrists and send them on their way?"
Davis swept his gaze over the tamers. While they looked a little uncomfortable with the purple rookie's phrasing, they weren't denying or arguing with his implication that they had intended to kill their opponents. Even Henry, holding his cold partner, did not speak out against it, though he at least seemed uneasy with the conversation. The green-eyed virus seemed too comfortable with it and seemed angry that he'd been prevented from finishing.
"But they're living things," the goggle-wearing digidestined gasped.
"So are you, but if you'd rather that I let them kill you next time, be my guest. Because they'll be back. They'll keep coming until either they take us out or we take them out. That's how it always works."
"Calm down," urged Takato, but the arguers ignored him.
"There must be a way to stop them without doing that. They didn't seem to be actually evil or anything. Though I'm beginning to wonder about you," Davis glared.
"Really? You can actually think?" retorted the virus type. "I thought you were here just for decoration."
"Yeah, and I think we can't trust you," snapped the boy angrily, his temper flaring dangerously.
Veemon gently tugged on his partner's arm, "Um… Davis?"
"You act like a big shot, but all you've done so far is make trouble," he continued. "And now you're saying you have no problem killing digimon."
"If they're intent on doing the same to me," growled Impmon, his voice gaining an odd tone.
"So," the digidestined shot a look at the tamers, but kept his anger directed at the purple creature, "does this mean that your group's policy is destroying digimon without remorse? Are you all that heartless? You," he met the digimon's emerald eyes," sound to me like some kind of murderous monster!"
Impmon's reaction was unexpected. From what he'd observed of the digimon so far, he thought that the virus would respond with an insult, a smart remark, or a snide observation. What actually occurred was the rookie jerked back as if slapped. His very expressive face went blank for a moment. Davis realized that after his emotional outburst, an awkward silence fell over the group. The boy wondered if his impulsive temdencies once more caused him to say something wrong.
Impmon's pale face then twisted into fury. His red gloves tightened into fists by his sides, shaking with restrained anger. The digidestined wondered if the virus would launch himself at the human.
Two small shapes slammed into the boy, unbalancing him and causing him to crash to the ground. Twin brown-haired children pounded tiny fists on him with angry precision. They may be adorable normally, but young kids lose their appeal when they attack.
"You're a big, mean, stupid-head!" screeched Mako, whacking the older boy on the chest.
"And you can't talk like that," Ai added, grabbing a hold of Davis' hair. "It's mean and wrong and you're a bad, bad boy cause you're saying mean things. We won't let you do that!"
Veemon, Takato, Jeri, and Kari dove into the fray, dislodging twins from digidestined. Ai came loose with a handful of hair, earning a yelp from the older boy. Mako kept trying to kick his target as Takato held him around the middle.
"Stop it," instructed Jeri, she and Kari holding the young girl. "Don't do this."
"He's mean," declared Ai, sending a piercing glare at the older boy. "He was yelling mean things and… and he can't… and he…" The four year old began crying in frustration and anger. "He can't say… say that about…"
"You're ugly and stupid and stinky," her brother shouted, demonstrating that he'd picked up a few things from their partner. "And you're icky, yucky, smelly, and mean."
Davis simply stared as Veemon helped him up. While he'd yelled at the pair's partner, he'd not expected them to react this strongly. Of course, he'd never dealt with children this young before.
"Calm down," soothed Henry. "It's alright."
"Wow," Patamon sighed. "You really did it, Davis."
The youth started to turn towards the small orange creature, but he met the gaze of the tamer holding Ai. Jeri's expression was a mixture of hurt, pity, and disappointment. His mother and older sister could do that look when he really messed up. The girl couldn't be that much older or anything like that, but she could pull off the "that was extremely immature and how could you be such a bone-head and honestly, you should know better" expression like a pro.
"That was, officially, the most insensitive thing you've ever said," T.K. informed him. "You can't just randomly call someone heartless and not expect a reaction."
He glanced at the Digidestined of Hope, feeling guilty now for his earlier rant. Even if the pair shared a rivalry, Davis still respected his opinion. Sighing, the goggle-wearing youth turned to apologize to the virus.
Impmon had vanished.
The look on the purple creature's face at Davis' words caught his attention. The fury in his emerald eyes seemed impressive and intimidating, but there seemed to be a hint of another emotion. A feeling that Ken knew intimately well. Shame lurked on the digimon's expression.
As the two young children tackled the digidestined, Impmon shot a quick glance around the faces of the humans and digimon, pausing on Jeri's and Leomon's for an instant. Then, while most of the group was focused on the screaming twins or the stunned Davis, the purple creature leapt into the branches of the nearest tree.
"Oh dear," muttered Wormmon.
Thinking about what he'd seen, heard, and what Destiny hinted earlier, Ken realized, "He's the one, isn't he? The one who's kind of like me."
"Exactly," answered the prophetess, startling him since he didn't notice how close she was. "Both he and you know the guilt that the past may hold."
"Davis isn't a bad guy. He was one of the first to give me a chance on their side," he defended.
"I know, but Impmon has already ended up on the Digidestined of Digi-Eggs of Courage and Friendship's bad side with his earlier actions. Given time, their relationship would have improved," explained the dark-haired girl. "But this event created more tension and now the words spoken in anger served to bring pain of the past."
"I know how that feels," Ken frowned. "So you think we should talk?"
She nodded, "It would do you both some good."
The dark-haired boy noticed Davis tying to spot the missing digimon. It was actually kind of funny, how he kept glancing around randomly in the hopes that the rookie would reappear. The young twins began to look panicked.
"Wormmon, I have a favor to ask," he sighed slowly to his partner.
"You made him go away," Ai whimpered, her eyes accusing the older boy.
"I… I…" babbled Davis, but Renamon interrupted.
"He just needs to blow off some steam," the fox assured. "He'll be back when he won't set fire to someone's head." Icy blue eyes left no doubt in the digidestined's mind whose head would be aflame.
Mako nodded slowly, "He did promise to always come back. And we weren't being bad, so he has to come back. It'll be alright."
Abruptly, the Digidestined of Kindness knelt down near the young boy in Takato's grasp. Carefully, the dark-haired youth set his insectoid partner in the small tamer's arms.
"If you and your sister will watch Wormmon for me, I'll go check on your friend," he smiled at the child. "I'm fairly sure he won't set my head on fire after all."
Ai, freed from Kari and Jeri's grasp, joined her brother and agreed, "Okay, we'll take care of him. But you'll be nice to Impmon, right?"
The older boy nodded to her and the twins' expressions relaxed. Renamon glanced at Rika and Davis could tell something passed between them, even if not a word exchanged between girl and fox. The yellow rookie stepped towards Ken, her tail flicking behind her.
"I'll lead you to him and ensure nothing tries to attack," she assured, reminding the group that they'd already encountered aggressive digimon and likely more lurked out of sight.
As the pair stepped out of sight, Davis felt the urge to ask, "So, Renamon can find Impmon?"
"Somehow, she always knew how to locate him," Rika responded coldly.
"You're mad too," he sighed, secretly hoping she wasn't intending to take revenge on him.
"Well, you kind of said we're all heartless murderous monsters," reminded Terriermon. "And they say I have no tact, but that was just rude."
"I get why you reacted that way, Davis," began Takato slowly. "But we do care about the fact we're destroying living things. We're not happy about it, but we've learned that some fight has no other solutions."
Henry continued, "I used to hate the idea of having Terriermon fight any digimon. And I never wanted to harm them anyway. But sometimes, to protect those who need it involves destroying the threat to them."
"And most digimon in our reality attack, not because they are under the control of another, but because they want to destroy what they attack," explained the goggle-wearing tamer. "No black gears or dark rings. Just an instinct to kill digimon to gain power and possibly harm humans too."
"In order to combat that mindset, it is necessary to be similarly ruthless at times," Leomon remarked. "Because they do not cease their efforts in many cases until their destruction, that is our goal of battle. They do have a chance to return as a digi-egg in most incidents, but this does not mean we take pleasure in the deaths."
Destiny added, "Different realities often result in different types of practices, evolving from necessity and different circumstances. Stranger and harsher things exist because different rules create different solutions. Some understanding can go a long way in easing your interactions."
After a few moments of silence, Tai asked, "I can see how the accusations could hurt, but is there a reason why Impmon reacted so strongly?"
"Well, yeah, there's a reason," sighed Takato, eyeing the original goggle-head carefully and respectfully. Then he looked at Davis, "You kind of did the equivalent of calling Ken the Digimon Emperor again and claiming he'll go back to enslaving and torturing digimon."
Davis flinched at the idea. None of the Digidestined would be that cruel to the dark-haired boy. He was their friend and it would hurt him beyond imagining to not only be reminded of those events, let alone suggest that he hadn't changed from that person. And the tamer just described the earlier outburst, shouted in anger and ignorance, as having done essentially that. Definitely not representing the power of Friendship with that act.
"I really blew it, didn't I?" he moaned.
"Yep," answered Terriermon, earning a glare from Henry.
Ai, gently rubbing Wormmon's head as her brother held the green digimon, nodded, "You were really, really mean."
"So you better say 'sorry' when he comes back," suggested Mako.
The older boy nodded, "I plan on it. Any other topics I should avoid?"
"Well, it's probably best not to talk about Rika's old personality, Megidramon, my first digivolution problems," counted the rabbit digimon, marking topics off on his fingers, "Destiny's missing partner, and the whole Beelzemon-Leomon-Jeri-D-reaper fiasco is better left alone, and…"
"That's enough, Terriermon," interrupted his partner.
Gatomon suggested, "I know it is likely none of our business, and the whole curiosity and cat thing means I shouldn't ask, but maybe since you know all about us, you should share with us. At least go over the mess Davis kind of brought up."
"I don't know," frowned Takato. "That's sort of problematic. I say that's up to Jeri, Leomon, and Impmon to decide. Jeri?"
The brown-haired girl exchanged a look with her leonine champion before sighing, "Okay, but none of you get to hold this against him. It's in the past and he isn't the same as he was then."
An angry sounding snarling could be heard as the boy and yellow fox came through the underbrush. A short distance from the voice, Renamon stopped.
"I don't think my presence will help him this time. He would only snap at me and attempt to address me with a flirty statement in an attempt to distract from what just happened. Neither would be useful," she sighed, glancing at the digidestined. "But I think you might be able to get through to him. There is more to you than is obvious to most, I believe. Even if your personality seems opposed to Impmon, I can tell there is something that you share with him."
There was something impossibly observant those icy blue eyes. Destiny already seemed to know too much, but the rookie beat her on the whole vibe of "all-knowing."
Even creepier was when she faded into shadows, leaving the former Digimon Emperor alone. But he could hear the purple virus type close by and the boy followed the sound.
"Stupid, brain-dead, stinking human," growled Impmon, punching the trunk of the tree he currently hid in. "Next time, I'll let him get eaten or killed. Moronic digi-dork. Idiotic loser. Stupid creep. 'Monster.' 'Killer.' Why can't I leave it all behind?"
Ken frowned as he approached the upset virus. At first, the rant sounded to be directed at Davis, but now his frustration seemed directed inward. The dark-haired boy recognized the tone. He'd used it himself before whenever the reality of his past actions became hard to ignore. The Digidestined of Kindness might not know the circumstances of rookie's history, but he was willing to assume that this was what Destiny referred to.
Somehow, he didn't think that the impulsive and hot-tempered digimon would be the type to open up about what was troubling him, regardless of that Renamon seemed to think Ken would be able to do it. Impmon seemed too proud to even admit that anything was wrong. The boy needed to be less direct than to simply ask.
Sitting himself underneath the tree, Ken slowly commented, "You know, even if Davis is likely to act or speak without thinking, he's generally a forgiving and accepting person. I should know. He was one of the first to take me back after everything."
He didn't look up into the branches to see the purple creature's reaction. But the angry muttering was dying down, except for a final snort of "mindless Hedgehog," and the digimon no longer punched the trunk. Impmon was listening at least.
"There really wasn't any reason to. I… did some things I regret," sighed the boy, unsure how to continue or even if he should.
The soft, sincere whisper of "join the club," however convinced him that here was someone who would understand. Not that the dark-haired boy's friends didn't try to be understanding, but none of them could really know exactly what it was like. Even Wormmon, the closest to having an idea of what went through the youth's mind, didn't live with the knowledge of knowing what atrocities that had been committed and remembering the lack of caring he'd felt at the time he acted as such.
Ken took a breath and began, "When I first came to the digital world and met Wormmon, I was with an older boy. He was my friend and I tried to keep him from being hit by something an old enemy of his sent out. I got hit instead by these Dark Spores. Everything went downwards from there." Considering the girl's words from earlier, he wondered what Destiny knew about Ryo, but continued his story. "A lot of stuff happened, but the Dark Spore slowly affected my thoughts and emotions. I eventually started calling myself the Digimon Emperor."
"That's it? You gave yourself a dumb title?" asked Impmon. Ken glanced up to see the rookie sitting on the branch, staring down at the boy. For a moment, he seemed distracted by the retelling of the digidestined's past; his earlier anger temporarily forgotten. "I've heard worse."
"What I called myself is nothing compared to what I did. I began enslaving digimon, stealing away their free-will, and treating this whole world like a giant computer game. I'd grown cold, heartless, and distant. I saw other people as beneath me and digimon as simple programs for me to use and manipulate as I saw fit. I ended up hurting everyone, including the other Digidestined."
Through the narration, Ken kept his voice neutral and distant. It was hard to recount his actions of those days still. He'd skipped over his brother's death and other events to keep it simple. Destiny told him to speak with his fellow 'lost soul,' but not what about. All he could hope was that he was right in his decision of what to say.
"I wanted power," a soft voice sighed from above. "I wanted power, but I… didn't want to go for the smart choice. I wouldn't go back to Ai and Mako. I was too bitter and stupid to go back. I was too proud to admit I might be wrong and to try again. I figured the choice was to be a mindless digi-slave or to go it alone."
The dark-haired boy saw Impmon staring into the distance. The tone of self-hatred had returned, but the rookie seemed calm enough. He wasn't attacking any vegetation now at least.
The digimon shook his head ruefully, "I never should have made that deal."
"What deal?" he prompted carefully.
"…The deal that ruined everything," Impmon answered after a few moments. "See, this stuck-up creep hated humans and any digimon who aligned with them and he had about twelve ultimates that worked for him. One of them, Chatsuramon, approached me. He offered me what I wanted: power. But there is always a cost for power and this one was… high. But in the end, I accepted. I agreed to be their tool so I could digivolve. I agreed to be a killer and I proceeded to destroy any digimon I ran across just because I could. That bone-headed Hedgehog wasn't far off in calling me a monster." The digital creature met the boy's gaze. "What did it take for you? What pulled you out of that darkness before it was too late?"
Ken closed his eyes, cringing at the memory of that day, "I created a real monster, Kimeramon, and couldn't control it. The Digidestined, who'd been helping to stop my efforts for a while, were forced to clean up my stupid mess again. But that time, Wormmon was helping as well. He knew that he couldn't save me on his own. He just wanted the old me back, the real me. In the end, he sacrificed himself to help stop Kimeramon. I thought that I could start over, press a giant re-do button and try again. But the others explained the digital world isn't a video game, digimon aren't just programs, and everything I did and was doing was real. Somehow, it broke through whatever the Dark Spore did to my mind. I realized truly what I did to all those digimon, to my friend. It took a while to get back to… me, but I found my partner and eventually even joined the Digidestined to make up for what I did."
"Losing a friend? I'm sorry," muttered the digimon softly, looking miserable. "Even if you got the little guy back, I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
"It was bad," Ken acknowledged.
"Chatsuramon wanted me to kill specific individuals, you know. Not just whatever I found. Who he wanted dead was why I had some trouble with the decision. He wanted the tamers and their partners destroyed. At the time, I wasn't big on humans, but I wasn't positive that I could go that far. He showed me an image of… well, I agreed finally."
Ken briefly wondered what Chatsuramon had shown the rookie to convince him, but Impmon was still talking.
"I attacked them. They never deserved that. When one of them tried to talk sense into me, to stop my heartless attack, what did I do? I kill him. I broke a little girl's heart by killing her partner in front of her and laughing about it. I didn't care about her pain, only the power. Goggle-head and Pineapple-head eventually, after temporarily turning Dino-boy into a mindless beast, stopped me. They intended to kill me for what I did. But… she begged them not to. I stole her partner away and she still couldn't stand to see another death. That's what snapped me out of my power trip: Jeri giving me my life back."
The Digidestined of Kindness asked, "You killed Leomon?"
"It took forever to repair all the harm I did that day," nodded the purple being from his perch. "No one could imagine what would happen to her and I wish I could take it back. The only good thing is that I finally went back to the twins after that. They're great and welcomed me back as if I was the greatest thing they'd ever known. The others were harder, but they really believe in second chances."
Ken nodded, "The Digidestined are like that too. So, Jeri and Leomon eventually were reunited at least." As hard as talking about this sort of thing had to be, he was feeling better. Chances are they rookie did as well, even if his pride would never let him admit it. "I'm glad for them."
"They almost weren't. After I killed him, I made it so there was almost no chance of him to come back. That was why it hurt Jeri so bad: she thought he was gone forever and she would never see Leomon again. Trust me, it was hard to get him back." The virus gave a weak smile, "But it was worth it to know that some of the harm I'd done had been reversed." Impmon jumped down from his position, landing beside the boy. His emerald eyes studied the human with a hint of… understanding? Acceptance? Respect? "Ever wonder if you'll fall back into your old ways? Ever think you might become that person again?"
Ken shook his head hard, "No, I won't turn into him again. Even if I started slipping into darkness, my friends will stop me. They won't let history repeat itself."
"If I ever turned back into that heartless creature, all I can hope is that they would be willing to do whatever it took to keep me from hurting them. But I won't let it happen and neither will you," assured Impmon. "We have partners that depend and believe in us. We can't go back because they need us." He regained his now-familiar smirk, "Besides, idiotic Goggle-heads need someone to balance out their stupid heroics."
"Let's get back to the others," suggested the digidestined. "I left Wormmon with Ai and Mako. I'm sure he would like to be rescued by now."
"The bug will live," the rookie dismissed. "The munchkins'll take care of him. But doubtless Hedgehog will end up getting into some kind of mess soon. I guess you're right and we should go keep them out of trouble, Your Majesty."
For some reason, the reference to the Digimon Emperor persona did not trouble Ken nearly as much when it came from Impmon. He didn't mean it in an accusatory, angry, spiteful, insulting, or even apologetic way. The virus wasn't upset about the boy's past crimes nor was he trying to avoid bring up a painful topic. He was simply giving the digidestined a nickname, just as he did for everyone. The digimon was acknowledging the events, realizing it was part of human's life and now it was over, and managed to do it without a hint of pity or condescending. Impmon's life was no better so he could not really judge Ken. The name he selected wasn't who the virus saw him as; it was who the boy had conquered to become the person he was now. The amazing thing was that all this was conveyed by a few words.
Though not one that normally would respond to a nickname like this (Davis would be more likely to answer in this fashion, but he did pick up a few things from the goggle-wearing youth), the Digidestined of Kindness, "After you, Killer."
A look of surprise morphed to understanding on the digimon's pale face. He grinned at the human. Neither noticed a flash of yellow fur from the listening rookie sliding back into the shadows.
I've always thought that a conversation between Ken and Impmon would be the coolest thing ever. They both served similar roles on the shows, so I just wanted to see them interact. Unfortunately to do that, I was forced to make Davis temporarily act like a jerk. Sorry… I also ended up pushing things a little to get the rookie to open up to, essentially, a stranger. Thus, Ken had to start the conversation off. Still, things should become more interesting soon. Let me know what you think. Thanks.