Wormmon watched hopelessly as ken slept. What was it going to take to get ken to realize that he had to do something. Otherwise they'd be here for the rest of their lives?

The little worm sighed as he settled himself into a more comfortable position. Ken shifted in his sleep and opened his eyes slowly.

"Morning master..."

"How long have I been asleep?" croaked Ken, rubbing his eyes. Wormmon didn't respond, he was too much in shock. He silently watched as Ken's pale peachy skin changed into a dull gray. It was as though the color was being sucked out from his skin.

Ken looked up at his partner and scowled, wondering why he hadn't answered. He was completely oblivious to what was going on.

"Well?" snapped Ken.

Wormmon flinched and looked at Ken. "U-uh...y-you're skin..." choked the worm.

Ken raised an eyebrow and looked down at his hands and arms. He too watched as they turned gray. Ken's heart leapt up into his throat as he sat up and looked over himself.

"W-What's going on?" squeaked Ken in panic. Wormmon shook his head, unable to answer that question.

The room suddenly filled with freezing air. Ken grabbed his black robes from the end of the bed and wrapped his body with them. Huddling into a protective ball, Ken began to cry once more. He was getting even worse...Turning into an even worse creature of darkness...

Yolei looked up into the darkening sky, rubbing at her arms. It was getting colder.

She turned to her two friends and asked, "Are we getting closer Tentomon?"

Tentomon, who was flying just a little ways ahead of her and Hawkmon, turned around and looked at her. "We should be. According to my calculations, he's in the North. here in the wasteland somewhere. He's not too far from here."

Yolei beamed with delight as Tentomon turned back around to look ahead of himself. The wind picked up and the gray sand stung at their eyes.

"Uh..." groaned Yolei.

"Oh my! Whatever is that in front of us?" asked Hawkmon.

"Ah! That's Darkness Tower! That is an old Digimon Castle that has long been deserted. Ancient digimon ruled here, but after a great war, it was abandoned. And it feels as though someone is here..."

Yolei looked at the mechanical bug at this. "What do you mean? Is it Ken?"

"It very easily could be. I wouldn't doubt it. I know there's a digimon in there for certain, along with something else." was the reply.

"It's Ken and Wormmon!" cried Yolei with joy.

The three of them continued to make their way towards the castle. When they reached it, they all looked straight up at the door and Yolei gave a whistle in shock.

"Wow..." she marveled.

"Well, what are we waiting for, we didn't come here just to stare, let's get going" huffed Tentomon. The three of them used all their strength to push open the enormous black doors and peeked inside.

Yolei didn't waste anytime. She had to find Ken. She walked inside.

"Yolei! Wait! Don't rush into thing Yolei!" warned Hawkmon. "You know nothing ever good comes out of rushing things."

Yolei ignored him and found a staircase. The wind howled and the castle shook.

That was when she heard it. A cry of despair. Yolei made a dash for the staircase and ran up them two at a time. Following the cries, Yolei soon found herself in a large master bedroom with a balcony.

"Yolei!" came a small cry from the bed in the corner of the room. Yolei looked over to see Wormmon sitting on the bed next to a pile of shivering covers.

"Wormmon! KEN!" she cried. She ran over to the bed and hugged the ball of covers she knew was Ken.

Ken scrambled to sit up, untangling himself from the sheets. "Get off me?" he cried in surprise. When he saw Yolei's hurt expression, he couldn't help but give a small blush on his gray cheeks.

Yolei frowned when she saw him, giving him a pitying look. Ken looked away. "I don't want your pity!"

"I'm not trying to give it to you...I'm trying to give you my friendship" whispered Yolei, taking ken's hand in hers.

Ken looked at her, shocked. "Why?"

"Because you are a great and wonderful person Ken."

"No I'm not" Ken denied, shaking his head.

"Yes you are!" Yolei spoke earnestly.

"How would you know? You hardly know me!" retorted Ken.

Yolei sighed. He did have a point. "Because I just know..."

Ken sighed. Without realizing it, he grabbed her hand. A warm, happy feeling took over him. It felt safe, it felt soothing. He blushed. He liked her. She liked him. What did this mean?

"Yolei! There you are!" called Tentomon from outside the doorway. Hawkmon bounced on the bed beside her as ken wrapped his black robes tighter around him. Yolei turned back to look at Ken and smiled. A smile soon crept onto his face as well. Ken began to feel tingly again, like the night before, but nothing happened. Yolei bravely moved closer to Ken, and Ken did the same thing. As a gust of air filled the room from the balcony window, blowing their black hair in all directions, they kissed.

It was a long and passionate kiss. They wrapped their arms around each other, enjoying the feeling of being so close to one another. They separated, Wormmon, Hawkmon, and Tentomon had tears in their eyes.

"You cannot have him!" boomed a loud and cruel voice. Yolei and Ken looked up at the ceiling as the voice bounced off the walls. "He is too important for us to be taken away by the likes of you!"

Ken unconsciously grabbed Yolei and hugged her tight. "Leave me alone" hissed Ken. Yolei was unsure as to who Ken was speaking to, but when she noticed that he was hugging her, he knew the answer.

"You'll have to go through me if you want anything to do about Ken!" vowed Wormmon, walking next to Yolei and ken. Tentomon and Hawkmon agreed.

Ken grabbed his head tightly the darkness began to swallow him up.

"Ken!" cried Yolei as she looked back at the bed. The darkness took her off guard, making her fall to the glass like floor with a loud unhappy thump.

'Join us Ken...We promise you a life without pain...' spoke the darkness inside Ken's mind. Ken pulled at his hair in hopes that the voice would go away, but to no avail.

"Sticky Net!" cried Wormmon, not knowing exactly who he was shooting at.

"You do amuse me" spoke a the laughing female voice of Arukenimon.

Yolei looked up from the floor to see Arukenimon standing above her, her hands crossed across her chest with a smug look on her face. She was looking at Ken was crouched into a tight ball on the bed, fighting a mental battle.

Yolei growled. Arukenimon laughed. "Well! If we haven't gotten ourselves another little beast! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were the monster" Arukenimon snickered.

Yolei continued to growl, but Ken's voice made the growls get caught in her throat.

"Y-Yolei...F-forget about me..." ken struggled to say, the darkness surrounding him. Yolei watched as his skin turned a deeper gray. He fought hard for breath, but he kept on speaking. "I'm not...w-worth it..."

Yolei shook her head, not wanting to believe what she was hearing. "No! No Ken!" cried Yolei in protest as she scrambled to her feet and onto the bed next to him.

"You are worth it. You are a great and loving person!" Ken snorted. "You are! I won't leave you Ken! I don't care what happens to me, I'll stay with you!"

"You children are so foolish saying things like that" criticized Arukenimon. Yolei and Ken looked at her. "Remember, that's how Ken got into this whole mess to begin with."

Yolei sighed, what was she going to do? She looked at ken. She couldn't just leave him to the darkness...Not alone.

Alone. No. He won't be alone.

Yolei looked up at Arukenimon defiantly. "Fine. If you want Ken. You're going to have to take me too!"

"Yolei!" cried Hawkmon in complete shock.

Arukenimon smiled. "So that's what you want? You want to be with ken, however Ken will never be free of the darkness. So, what is a girl in love with him to do?"

Yolei answered her question for her. "Become part of the darkness as well."

"Please Yolei! You're not thinking straight! Think of what you are doing before you do anything rash!" begged Hawkmon at her heels, his wings clamped to her pant leg. He had tears in his eyes. He didn't want Yolei to become part of the darkness.

" It's a little late for that Hawkmon!" snapped Yolei.

Arukenimon laughed. "You are just getting to be more and more like a little monster, snapping at your own digimon."

"So, what will it be?" yelled Yolei, ignoring Arukenimon's comment. "Will you make me a part of the darkness?"

"As you wish girlie!" yelled Arukenimon. The darkness around ken left and went for Yolei, who began to scream.

"Yolei!" cried Ken when he saw what was happening.

"V-Laser!" cried a voice at the doorway.

"Queen's Paw!"

"Star Shower!"

"Rock Crackin'!

Arukenimon was caught off guard by these sudden attacks and was hit directly in the back by them.

"Ahhhh!" she cried in pain. She turned around after the blast was over and scowled. The darkness that had been surrounding Yolei backed off, making Yolei fall to the floor, where Hawkmon went to her side.

The darkness vanished as Arukenimon became cornered. All the other digidestined and their digimon had burst through the door.

"Yolei!" cried Kari in worry in panic as she ran over to her friend. Cody and TK in hot pursuit.

"Ken!" cried Davis, running over to the bed. He then turned to glare at Arukenimon. "Change him back!" Arukenimon ignored him. Ex-V-mon then grabbed her by the throat and choked her, and Davis repeated his order.

"F-Fine!" choked Arukenimon. ken's slumped over and exhausted form slowly shrunk back to its original size as his hair shortened again and turned blue indigo. His black robes disappeared and his Tamachi uniform replaced it.

Ken slowly raised from the bed, picking up Wormmon in the process.

He smiled at everyone. "Thank you" He then looked down at Yolei and knelt down beside her as the others backed off a bit. "You...You really was going to risk your life for me...You were willing to be trapped by the darkness for eternity just for me..."

Yolei smiled up at him and nodded. "Of course I did Ken! I love you!"

Ken smiled back. "I love you to."