JLGJT Productions Presents...

Digimon Adventure 03: Tapestry!

This journey, this adventure, is not traveled by one alone, but is a tapestry woven from many stories. Now, in this coming day of new hopes and new opportunities, the tapestry of the adventures of the DigiDestined continues to be woven...

Part 1: Illuminating Courage and Light

Date: February 15, 2004

Time: 7:00 pm

Place: Just outside Kamiya apartment, Odaiba...

Kari Kamiya looked around nervously; she already knew she had been out later than she had planned, and what would her parents say if she had brought another Digimon home with her for no apparent good reason. He would only stay a night, otherwise her parents would flip. Being a boarding house for Digimon was certainly not in their plans, and she didn't want to give that impression.

Kari sighed wearily before knocking on the apartment door, making sure the two Digimon were behind her. Her mom opened the door, her expression a mixture of relief and irritation. "Oh good, you're home! We thought you were coming home with Tai, why didn't you call?" she asked.

"Sorry mom, T.K. and I got caught up in something after we left Oikawa's apartment, and by the time we got a chance to get dinner it was already late..." Kari modestly began to reply.

"Oh never mind the story. Tai's in his bedroom and Dad's on the couch watching a baseball game. I also need you and Tai to help me with a project for a few minutes, so when you two have a moment, just tell me all right?" Mom explained.

"Uh, sure Mom. Just let me get in the door first..."Kari stated, continuing her modest expression as she quickly dragged the black Agumon into the apartment and down the short hallway to Tai's room. As Gatomon followed them in, Mrs. Kamiya did a double-take in her daughter's direction, but she was already out of sight. Gatomon disappeared down the hallway too as the mother scratched her head in confusion.

Something didn't seem right, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She looked over at her husband, but he was blankly starring at the television screen and sipping from a soda can, unresponsive and unobservant. Curious, the mother then peaked down the hallway, but saw nothing, presumably because Kari had already entered into Tai's room. She turned back to the kitchen, still scratching her head. Maybe all this exposure to Digimon was making her see things...

"So wait? Run that by me again?" Tai was asking. Tai, Kari, Tai's partner Agumon, the black Agumon and Gatomon were all in Tai's room, door tightly shut. Kari was trying to explain to Tai where the black Agumon had come from, while the black Agumon and Tai's partner where looking each other over with curiosity and Gatomon just looked over the whole scene with a nervous smirk on her face.

"OK, so we were battling two intruders that represented programs Giman made or something like that with a whole bunch of Digimon as our allies, and coming with Gennai and Leomon is this little black Koromon, like a regular Koromon but colored black, you follow?" Kari began explaining at high speed.

"I guess..." Tai replied with a smirk. Kari usually didn't talk very much, and certainly not at a rapid pace, so it was a little hard for him to follow what she was saying or believe a word of it.

"All right, so these program avatars had used these glowing green crystals to knock out our Digimon and were just about to get us when Gennai used this fruit from one of the 'Trees of Light' growing in place of the Destiny Stones. Leomon eats it, instantly Warp-Digivolves to a Mega form even more powerful than SaberLeomon, and destroys the intruders. Enough of the energy released in the process is captured by the black Koromon to Digivolve it into the black Agumon!"

Tai scratched head, running his fingers through his "big hair" hairdo. Kari's story seemed a little out there, but since her eyes didn't seem to be lying to him he accepted it anyway. "So... what's it mean to me?" he finally responded weakly when Kari stopped talking.

"If we help the black Agumon get his memories back, it might mean one more ally for our side in the Digital World. And if this Digimon does ever become BlackWarGreymon again, he'll be working for us, not against us!"

"OK, that I get, but why'd you have to bring him here? Mom would flip if she finds out he's here!"

"Because he needed to see your partner. He remembers talking with him, and I thought it would be a good memory aid."

"All right, but if Mom finds out, I'm just going to stay that this was your idea, not mine!" Tai warned with a "good grief" look.

"Well, he's only staying one night, so it shouldn't be a problem if we're careful. Also, Mom wants us to help her with something, so we need to go help her as soon as possible."

"Oh good grief!" Tai exclaimed, throwing his arms down at his sides in exasperation. "What about the guest you invited, how are we gonna keep him from being discovered?"

"Let Agumon and Gatomon figure that out, Mom'll get upset if we don't do what she wants."

Tai sighed and said, "All right, it's probably some new recipe she'll want us to tastetest..."

"Well, Mom didn't say, so I'll guess we'll find out once we start it..." Kari replied, opening the room door a crack and peaking out. She could see down the other end of the hallway her mom, washing something in the sink.

"Anyone looking?" Tai asked.

"No. But we should be quick about it." Kari answered.

"All right, can you two think of someway to hide him in case mom or dad come peeking in here?" Tai turned and stated to the two partner Digimon. Their unsure looks didn't exactly hearten Tai, but he could do no better, particularly with the black Agumon now going around and observing everything in the room with rabid curiosity.

"Well, whatever you do, see what and how much he knows." Kari added. The black Agumon suddenly looked up at her with a hurt look, probably because he didn't like being talked about in such a manner. The other Digimon fidgeted nervously, and Kari, seeing the awkward situation she had placed herself in, quickly dragged Tai out of the room and closed the door behind her, leaving the three Digimon alone in the room.

The "regular" Agumon and Gatomon met in the center of the room, first looking at each other, then at the black Agumon, who was muttering something that the other Digimon couldn't make out as he peeked into one of Tai's dresser drawers.

"You sayin' something?" Gatomon asked, hoping to get a clear response from the black Agumon.

"No." the black Agumon curtly replied, not even looking up from his examination. He had talked very little after the battle, and then only a few words at a time. Both Gatomon and Tai's partner knew BlackWarGreymon hadn't been much for talking, and they figured the black Agumon that was his supposed reborn form would be no different. They needed a way to pry into his mind without turning to aggressive measures that would drive him away.

"Oh, well, Tai would not like you messing up his drawers, so maybe you could come over here and we could talk instead?" the Gatomon tentatively offered. The black Agumon looked back at Gatomon, paused to think, then looked over at his orange counterpart. Tai's partner gave an encouraging smile, and the black Agumon finally pushed the drawer shut and slowly walked over to the Gatomon.

"Here, let's sit on the bed, it's more comfortable than the floor." Gatomon continued, leading the two Agumon over to Tai's bed. She hopped onto the bed, then helped the other two up onto it. Quickly, the three Digimon were sitting on Tai's bed, the black Agumon between his orange counterpart and Gatomon.

What followed was an increasingly awkward minute of silence as none of the Digimon said a word, the black Agumon fidgeting uncomfortably in his place and the other two Digimon having increasingly doubtful expressions on their faces. Tai's partner Agumon could still see in the eyes of his black counterpart the same awkwardness, confusion, frustration and yearning for answers that had been in BlackWarGreymon, only now it was without the angst and pent-up power that had made the artificial Digimon such a "loose cannon" in the first place. This supposed reincarnation of him was simply lost, confused and shy about even himself.

"So... what do you want to talk about?" was Gatomon's very awkward attempt to break the silence, said only because she couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"What is there to talk about?" the black Agumon replied blandly, staring down at his feet because he felt too embarrassed to stare at Gatomon or his orange counterpart.

"Well, it could be about what you remember."

The black Agumon gave a sidelong glance at Gatomon then sighed heavily. In a way, he both did and didn't want to talk about it. Finally he began speaking, reluctantly but carefully: "It's... it's only bits and pieces of something. I remember talking with you..."(pointing to his orange counterpart) "... and fighting against you and a couple others a number of times..." (pointing to Gatomon) "... but I just... its only flashes and bits of sound. In a way, I just existed, only wanting to fight but wondering if there was more to my existence than that. I had a lot of power, was uncontrollable. Eventually I thought I found the foe that defeating would give me the peace that I wanted, but he said that I was too look elsewhere. I keep searching, but what I had been told about my origins I couldn't escape from. Something kept pulling me back toward it, and it took every bit of energy I had just to run away from it. Eventually, I found what it was: the true source and origins of my fighting desires."

The black Agumon turned to face his orange counterpart before continuing: "You and two others offered me a way out. Somehow... it gave me what I needed to see it as it was: utterly evil and deceptive. I tried to prevent it from harming others... you were there and looked like what I had looked like... but I didn't know it meant that evil source would almost destroy me. At that moment, I thought I had found what I had been seeking, but then I lost it again. I was trapped in some kind of unstable limbo between this world and the Digital World after that, but something changed and I, or at least part of what I had been, escaped into the Digital World, and I think you could guess the rest. I mean... it's all mixed-up and uncertain in my mind, I don't even know if any of it is real or not."

Gatomon and the orange Agumon flashed knowing smiles. They knew "the rest of the story", but didn't feel the need to tell it, figuring it was better for the black Agumon to learn more about his previous self when he was ready to accept it for what it was.

"So... wait, you two actually believe my crazy story?" the black Agumon exclaimed with obvious surprise, the confession having loosened him up noticeably.

"Of course we do. You said yourself that we were witnesses to all the events you described." Gatomon replied with an obvious good-sense tone to her voice.

"But... does that mean you'll actually help me?"

"Why do you think Kari invited you over to see me? She wouldn't have done so if she didn't think seeing me would've helped." Tai's partner said to answer his black counterpart's question.

"Then... maybe you could tell me what I should do."

Both of the partner Digimon had to stop and think about what to say; this was something they had to get right the first time, because not doing so could jeopardize their gains so far.

"Well... it's not our job to tell you what you should do with your life, that's your decision alone, but maybe we could help you decide." Gatomon responded after a moment of silence.

The black Agumon continued his thinking for a moment, then said "I don't know, I... it seems like that... you have something I really want. You have a purpose in life, you have those that you protect. When I think about it, it's that kind of purpose I really want to have."

Tai's partner smiled with relief; they were slowly winning him over. "You mean, you want a human partner to protect? Is that what you want?" he replied.

"I guess. Or something to protect, something to give a purpose like that."

"Well, we don't know about a human partner, but I'm sure that when you go back, you can ask Gennai and maybe he can find you something." Tai's partner Agumon continued encouragingly.

"You think so?"

"I know so."

After a moment, the low-level tension that had been present seemed to dissipate and the black Agumon finally seemed to believe. A smile, the first either of the other two Digimon had yet seen, spread over the black Agumon's face. "Thank you." he finished with gratitude.

Tai's partner offered to shake hands with his black counterpart, and as the latter accepted and shook, smiles on the faces of both Agumon, Gatomon smiled too and breathed a small sigh of relief. This battle had been won, and they were well on the way to making this reborn former foe a solid ally.

Time: 7:20pm...

"Sounds like something is going on in your room, Tai. You sure everything's OK in there?" Mrs. Kamiya said, ear catching snatches of noise from behind the closed door of Tai's room.

Both Tai and Kari looked up from what they were doing and listened as well, concern having flashed across their faces. They both caught sounds of animated conversation and movement, probably from a game the Digimon were playing.

"Should we go check on them?" Tai asked her sister.

"Nah, they're fine. Something inside tells me everything is all right." Kari replied confidently through a smile.

Normally, Tai had good reason to at least be skeptical of his sister's claims, but this time his spirit agreed with her words. "Yeah, all right, we'll check on them later. They should be fine." he said, a smile slowly creeping across his face. He was happy, but he couldn't quite place why...

The first threads in the tapestry are in place, but more stories are yet to be told and threads to be woven. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon!