Ken stood alone.  Before him lay something so new and mysterious, and he wasn’t afraid. 
But he was alone. 
	Ken sat up in his bed. It was morning, and he vaguely remembered a dream he had.  He 
rubbed his forehead and pushed away the covers to get up.
	"Ohh-auuuug!", said a little voice. Minomon poked his head up from underneath the 
covers Ken had thrown aside.  Ken looked worried at first, then smiled to see his little friend 
was just fine. He picked up Minomon with both hands and sat him in his lap.
	"Sorry, my friend... I’m not used to sleeping with a Digimon in my bed.", he said with 
his voice slightly hoarse because he had just woken up. Minomon’s eyes brightened, which was 
his way of a smile.
	"It’s s’okay, Ken... Good morning."
	"Good morning."
	It was a Tuesday.  Ken was still recovering from what had happened to him Saturday 
night. The realization of what he had done, the loss of Wormmon. His eyes brimmed with tears 
as he held his Digimon back in his arms again, but he blinked them away. 
	"Ken, honey!", His mom called from the living room. "I’m going to work now... You can 
stay home and take your time getting things together. I’ll be home at 3:00 and your father 
should be back by five.  I’ll see you later... I love you, son."
	Ken waited until his mother was out the door and down the stairs before climbing out 
of bed and getting himself dressed.  He decided that he needed to spend today studying so he 
could get back on track for when he returned to school. He has his reputation for being cold 
and perfect, although, now looking back at himself, he hated it.  He wanted to be himself so 
badly... but his true self couldn’t do anything right.  
	Ken shook the thoughts out of his head, sat down at his desk, and pulled out his 
advanced trigonometry book.  He flipped through it, trying to find the place where he’d last 
left off... but he couldn’t. The formulas and theorems didn’t make sense to him. It was all 
so confusing.  
	Minomon crawled onto Ken’s desk where he found him with his head rested in his hand; 
drawing sketches of Digimon. 
	"I just couldn’t get focused...", he told Minomon when he found out he was being 
watched.  Ken’s gaze turned to his Digivice, which lie on his desk by his computer. 
	"You can’t avoid it much longer, Ken.", Minomon said softly. Ken turned to look at his 
Digimon. He knew Minomon was right.  He grabbed his Digivice, and a shine swept across the 
screen as he picked it up.  
	"Digiport... open!"
	
	The next time Ken opened his eyes, he was in the Digital world with Wormmon at his feet.
Ken and Wormmon walked together through the Digital World. Everywhere 
they went, Ken saw the ruins of a battle, the remains of dark rings, and tall and menacing 
control spires.  If the Digidestined saw him here, Ken knew they wouldn’t accept him or believe 
his real story.  He would never be able to apologize, and that only made him feel worse.  
What was his purpose here?  Surely he was not a Digidestined. So far his only purpose was to 
make others miserable. He sighed a deep sigh. 
	Wormmon knew what Ken was thinking, and he wished there was some way he could help. But 
he didn’t know how; just like before. Some Digimon partner I am, he thought.  I can never help Ken 
when he really needs me. What good am I?
	The two of them silently walked along in the deep jungles. After turning a corner, 
their path was suddenly blocked by a huge-leafed plant.  Ken walked up to it and brushed aside 
the leaves. Wormmon followed. When he broke through to the other side, Ken gasped. Before him 
was a cliff, and a river running in a valley below, and a mountain scene. Far off in the
distance he could see the desert.
	"It’s so beautiful.. it feels like I’ve been here before.", Ken said with wonder. He 
squinted his eyes, and suddenly the flashback of his dream came to him. "In my dream... I was 
standing here..."
	"It wasn’t a dream, Ken.", Wormmon said softly. "Try to remember..."
	Ken looked down at Wormmon, then back at the ledge of the cliff. "I’m trying..."
	

	Ken stood alone. Before him lay something so new and mysterious, and he wasn’t afraid. 
But he was alone. 
	"Where am I?", he said softly. 
	"You’re here, you’re here!!", said a friendly-sounding voice. Ken turned around, and 
into his arms jumped a wiggly green creature.  Ken gasped.
	"Who... who are you?"
	"My name is Wormmon, and I’m your Digimon."
	Ken kneeled down so Wormmon could stand and Ken could get a good look at him. 
	"A Digimon? My... my Digimon?", Ken stammered with disbelief. Then, a horrible sinking 
feeling set in. "You can’t be mine... I used Sam’s toy to get here... So you must be Sam’s." 
He looked at Wormmon sadly as he thought that nothing like this would ever happen to him. 
	"Sam?", Wormmon said, looking confused. He then changed back to being cheery and 
excited as he replied, "Nope! I was assigned to protect one Ken Ichijouji! I’m your Digimon...
and that means I’ll be by your side always. Your friend for life."
	"For life...? You mean forever and ever?"
	"Forever and ever."
	Ken smiled and laughed. He hugged Wormmon. 


	When his past came back to him, Ken fell to his knees by Wormmon like he had done 
years before. 
	"This is the spot where we met...", he said with his voice cracking like it did when 
he was emotional. Both of them were brimming with tears. "Oh, Wormmon... I.. I don’t deserve 
you... You were there through the good times and bad..."
	Wormmon rested against Ken. "I told you... forever and ever.", was all he said. Ken 
hugged Wormmon, and for a few seconds, all his bad memories were gone.  It had all never 
happened, and Ken and Wormmon were at a new beginning of their destined partnership.  

	"Ah... how sweet, Emperor-boy", said a sly female voice. Ken looked up and saw a tall 
woman wearing a mysterious red outfit. He gasped when he recognized her. She had been in his 
room a night ago, on his computer! Why didn’t he remember that until now? 
	"How did you get here? Who are you?", he asked. She looked at him and laughed. 
	"I don’t have to answer any of your questions. Here you stand, Emperor-boy, without 
your fancy clothes and without anybody to defend you except for that little caterpillar.  
I shall do away with you right now." With a sneer, she plucked a hair from her head, and 
Ken watched in amazement as it stood on it’s end  perfectly. "Spirit Needle!", the mysterious 
woman called out as the hair whisked from her fingers and slipped into one of his nearby 
control spires.  What happened next made Ken’s mouth drop open, and he felt as if he couldn’t 
move. There was a glaring light, and his control spire shifted into a Digimon: Snimon. 
	"Twin Sickles!", the Snimon called out as he sent an attack heading straight for Ken and 
Wormmon.  Wormmon moved in front and took the attack, then fell on the ground, hurting. 
	The woman laughed again and turned to leave. Before she did, she gave Ken her last 
regard, "You’re so pathetic and weak... do you think Sam would be proud of you now?" 
	That comment hurt Ken deep down.  He picked up Wormmon in his arms, and gently ran his 
fingers over him. "Wormmon... wake up... I can’t lose you again..."
	Wormmon opened his eyes, and a determined look came into them. 
	"You never will." 
	Then, two things happened at once; Snimon wound up for another attack, and Ken’s digivice 
began to glow.
	"Wormmon digivolve too.... Stingmon!"
	Ken stared in disbelief when he saw his Digimon’s champion form. Wormmon had digivolved! 
Just like the other Digidestined’s Digimon. 
	"Go get him, Stingmon.", Ken yelled out as his Digimon easily stopped Snimon’s attack. 
Now they both knew they had a purpose in the Digital World; to erase all of the evil they had 
caused.