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Black Agumon
Data Size: 20 Level: Rookie
Summarized Analysis: Aside from much darker colored hide and a less friendly temperment, this Agumon is not much different than their vaccine counterparts.
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"One of these days I'm going to have to update this thing," Izzy muttered. "My daughter could have told me that much."
"The Digimon Analyzer is over thirty years old you know," Tentomon said. "Even for such an advanced program as this, that's a long time."
"Once this is all over, that'll be the first thing on my to-do list."
Tentomon sluggishly flew into the air until he was along side the man. Both looked at the screen, where a picture of a black-skinned Agumon was depicted alongside the information of the analyzer. It almost exactly matched the other, save for the fact that they had no idea of its temperment just yet. Both it and the girl that Izzy remembered from their last meeting had been asleep ever since that event in the Digital World. During that time, the first and second team of Digidestined had been trying to piece together exactly had happened. So far, they hadn't figured out much. As usual, Izzy was expected to know exactly what was going on, but so far he had been silent on the whole subject. The others were anxiously waiting outside, but Izzy seemed to have forgotten everything outside of his lab at the moment.
"Should we call her parents?" Tentomon asked as Izzy tapped a pen on his desk in a methodic one-two pattern.
"...Yeah," he answered. Tentomon waited for him to say something more, but he didn't.
"Well, I'll just go do that then," he said before turning to fly towards the vid-phone. He paused to see if Izzy would say something in reply. Again, nothing. Tentomon gave up and flew over to the machine, leaving Izzy by himself.
It can't mean what I think it does, he thought. He leaned back in his chair and looked over at the main table in his lab. On it, two objects were placed methodically in the center. They were the two devices that the digimon had arrived with, presumably to give to the girl. Despite them being right there plain as day, Izzy couldn't believe they were there- especially the crest.
Our crests don't have any power in them, yet they suddenly sprang into being. This girl, who supposedly hasn't made a connection with a digimon, suddenly acquires a tag and crest of her own, and even gets a new model digivice unlike anything I've ever seen. Izzy remembered a day long ago, when he was taking care of Poromon for Yolei. That was also the day that he and Ken first connected on some level. They had talked about advanced theories in various fields of science, particularly psychology. Izzy had told him about his theory on the D3's, and how his came into being as a response to young Ken's need for a powerful weapon against the original model digivices. It was this act of forced evolution that also caused the second team of kids to acquire these newer models when the time came, as a way to combat the Digimon Emperor. The whole thing was a bit complex, and it took Azulongmon a while to explain it to the younger Digidestined when he first appeared to them. Ken had later relayed the information to him, though he knew most of it already. It was to be expected. Everything evolves to grow stronger.
And that's what this was all about. As much as he didn't want to admit it, they may have witnessed the greatest threat ever being born.
****
"Is she hurt?!" shouted Mrs. Yasushi through the vid-phone. Her and her husband had been watching their son and Betamon on the battling field, when they had gotten a message to call Mr. Izumi's lab. She had nearly had a heart attack when she heard that Naki had been caught in an "accident". She was even more worried when she heard that neither Patamon nor Salamon were with her.
The Tentomon she was speaking with, which she remembered meeting the last time they were at that lab, tried to keep her calm. "Please ma'am, don't worry!" he pleaded. "She's not injured or anything- just winded. However, something good may have come out of this."
"What do you mean?" she asked, suddenly very curious about what exactly happened.
"I'll explain it when you arrive," the Tentomon told her. "Come as soon as you can, please."
"Yes, yes of course!" she replied quickly before breaking the connection. She ran back to where her husband was talking with Tohru and Betamon about how well they did. When she arrived, the young boy had a smile as wide as the Tokyo Tower was tall.
"Mom, guess what! We placed first!!" he cheered. "Betamon and I are going to the city finals!!" Tohru and Betamon waited anxiously for their mother's response.
"Oh, uh, great job honey!" she said, trying to sound enthusiastic. Mr. Yasushi immediately noticed the odd tone in her voice. Something wasn't right. Tohru, being too excited to notice how worried she was, took it as an insult.
"Is something wrong dear?" Mr. Yasushi asked.
(It's about Naki,) she whispered. Both parents got worried looks, while Tohru simply grew angry.
"Um...why don't you get us some hot dogs son," suggested Mr. Yasushi, who handed his son some yen. Tohru saved his anger for later, and calmly took the money and headed to the nearest hot dog stand with Betamon following. When Tohru was gone, Mr. Yasushi asked her what she meant. His wife relayed the news she had heard to him.
"My god...is she alright?"
"Mr. Izumi's digimon said she's not injured, but he said we should go to his lab as soon as possible."
"Did he mention anything about Patamon and Salamon?"
Mrs. Yasushi gasped. "He said they weren't with her." Her hands clasped tightly around her husbands. "You don't think they were..."
"If Naki was caught in an accident of some kind, they must have gotten separated. They would never let her go any place dangerous by herself."
"Are you sure? What if they were caught in the same accident?"
Mr. Yasushi thought for a moment. "Hmm... you go ahead and go to the lab. I'll go to the Digital World and look for the digimon. Take Tohru with you."
Mrs. Yasushi nodded. "Okay dear. Be careful." After a quick kiss between them, her husband ran off towards the nearest computer terminal. Tohru saw this from his hiding spot nearby.
(Why does Naki have to ruin everything?!) he complained. (We win the competition, and Naki has to get hurt just to get more attention!)
Betamon looked at him like he was nuts, but didn't say anything. He may have been Tohru's partner, but he didn't have a clue why he acted the way he did. Naki had told him once it was a "brother-sister thing", but Betamon never did figure it out. As far as he was concerned, it was better just to let Tohru complain. It would get out of his system eventually; it always did.
Unfortunately, Tohru had no intention of forgetting this. As far as he was concerned, his sister had gone too far. She had to pay.
****
(Naki...)
"Unnh...whose there?"
(It's me. Your digimon.)
"My...my digimon! Y-you're real!"
(Yes. I'm as real as you are.)
"But...what's happened to us? Why can't I see anything? My whole body is numb."
(Don't worry, we're just sleeping. You and I have had a hard afternoon.)
"Well...what do we do now?"
(Your body should be fine soon. I'll wake up as soon as you do. We are very closely tied.)
"What do you mean? I know digimon and their partners are close, but I've never heard anything like that before."
(You and I aren't like everybody else. We are something else Naki.)
"Something else?"
(Yes. You have become what you want to be, in your deepest wishes.)
"You mean I've changed?"
(Not really "changed". You've just become what you were destined to be. That's what being a Digidestined is all about after all.)
"...Digi...destined? What is that?"
(It means that it is your destiny to change the fate of two worlds. The responsibility has fallen on you.)
"Responsibility? Change worlds? You must be joking."
(I've never been more serious. With me at your side, you and I will do what you've always wished to do.)
"And what's that?"
(We're going to save the digimon from humanity.)
****
The door to Izzy's lab had been closed for a long time, and the other Digidestined had begun to worry. The "child" of Knowledge was known to zone out for hours at a time when a particularly weighty problem was plaguing him. At the moment, the group was deciding who would go in and check on him at the risk of annoying him and prolonging their wait.
"He likes you best Cody," Ken reminded the young lawyer.
"No, he tolerates me the best," the young man replied. "He likes Mimi the best."
"What do you mean by that?" she said, showing off her "amazing mental capacity" that the others knew all to well.
"Uh, nevermind," Cody said simply. "Just a joke."
"I wonder why he's taking so long," said TK. "Those two can't still be asleep."
"I don't know," said Gatomon. "They're probably as tired as the rest of us, especially after such a big ordeal." The white-furred feline supressed a yawn and leaned into Kari as she nuzzled into a comfortable position.
"We still don't know what's causing this," said Kari sadly as she looked down at her best friend. "I think it's getting worse too." She looked around the room at all the digimon. All except Agumon, Gabumon, and Veemon were asleep. The three not sleeping looked like they would be hard-pressed to walk across the room. It was a miracle that the digimon in the room hadn't reverted to their in-training stages, but like Gatomon they had digivolved permanently (but only to their rookie levels).
Tai suddenly was inspired to try something. He reached over to Agumon and took his claw into his hand. The digimon looked at him with confusion, but Tai's eyes were closed in focus. Seconds later, the center of his chest was glowing a deep crimson as the symbol of Courage appeared.
"What the heck is he doing?" Davis asked in a mixture of surprise and awe. Nobody answered, as they were watching to see if it would work.
****
A sharp light shone from the main desk of Izzy's lab, disturbing the deep thoughts of the scientist. Slowly he looked over to see what the source of the light was. On the table, he saw the black-colored crest begin to glow immensely. It was too difficult to look at directly, so Izzy had to approach the desk with his eyes shielded by his hand. Once he reached the desk, he picked up the tag and crest. Rather than feeling the warmth he expected to feel, his hands grew icy cold.
This is not good.
****
(Do you feel that Naki?)
"What is that, Agumon?"
(...)
"What's wrong? That is your name isn't it?"
(I don't remember ever being called that before, actually. It feels kinda strange.)
"I'm sorry. What do you want me to call you then?"
(Don't worry about it. Just call me Agumon I suppose.)
"Okay...Agumon. Now, do you know what that warmth is?"
(No, I don't.)
"Well, whatever it is, it feels good. I can feel the numbness going away."
(Good. I'm anxious to get to work.)
"I'll get to introduce you to my parents! We're going to have so much fun together!"
(...)
"Oh no...my parents! I forgot about Patamon and Salamon! Oh no...I'm in so much trouble!"
(Worry about that later. It's time for us to wake.)
****
As the glow on Tai's chest faded to nothing, the others let out a unanimous sigh.
"Did it work?" asked Matt. All eyes were on Agumon.
The orange digimon yawned. "I don't think so. Sorry Tai."
Tai sighed as well, but he patted his friend's claw in consolation. "Don't worry about it pal. I guess our crests aren't as strong as they used to be."
Agumon sighed as well. "Yeah, I guess not."
The sliding door to Izzy's lab whooshed open, and Tentomon flew out with a fair amount of speed, considering he was close to passing out. The digimon said excitedly, "The girl and the digimon are waking up!" The humans picked up their digimon, sleeping or not, and ran into the lab as Tentomon led them to the waiting room where the two were sitting. Izzy was standing up with his arms crossed as he waited for the others. As everyone piled into the room, the girl and the dark-skinned Agumon watched with interest.
"Who are all these people, Mr. Izumi?" the girl asked drowsily.
"These are some friends of mine," Izzy answered simply. "They helped me find you and your Agumon."
The girl realized that she should introduce herself properly, so she stood up and bowed methodically to the group. "Hello. I am Naki Yasushi."
Cody smiled at this display of etiquette, and bowed the same way. "It's a pleasure to meet you, young lady." The others added their own greetings in varying levels of properness. After a quick run down of the names of each individual, Izzy had everybody sit down.
"Naki, would you mind explaining to us how you came to meet this Agumon?" Izzy asked in the professional manner his job entailed. "Just yesterday you were telling me that you didn't have a digimon partner of your own."
Naki nodded. "Yes sir, I know. But today, something strange happened when I was in the Digital World." She looked at the Black Agumon, who was busy looking at each person with much interest. "He called out to me for help."
"Really?" Izzy answered. "What did you need help for?" he asked the digimon. At first the digimon didn't realize he was being addressed, so he didn't answer until Izzy got his attention. He seemed reluctant to speak, as if he were shy.
"Please, tell us what the matter was," said Agumon. "You can trust us. We won't hurt you."
The Black Agumon eventually nodded. "Very well." His voice was much deeper than Agumon's, making him sound a bit threatening to the others. Naki didn't appear frightened however. The dark digimon continued, "I was trapped in the Dark world for a long time."
"Why were you there?" Gabumon asked curiously.
"I don't remember how I had gotten there, or why I was there," he answered. "I just knew that I was surrounded by evil monsters who were trying to get me. It was horrible."
"How did you manage to contact Naki?" asked Joe. "As I understand it, it's very difficult to reach the Digital World from the Dark Ocean."
"It is," confirmed Ken. "Almost impossible without a digivice."
"Yes. I never was able to contact Naki until today, when her digivice appeared to me."
"Her digivice appeared to you?" repeated Yolei. "Why didn't it go to her instead?"
The Black Agumon shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps because I wasn't in the Digital World the device automatically went to me to help free me."
"Makes sense to me," said Davis. "Good thing you got it too. I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life in the Dark Ocean."
Black Agumon's eyes thinned. "Yes. Neither would I."
Izzy reached into his pocket and pulled out the digivice and crest. He held up the digivice so that the others could see it, including the Black Agumon. It was definitely a digivice, evidenced by the digital screen on it and the buttons located around it that triggered its functions. Unlike the original models or the D3's, this digivice was shaped more linear, like a cell phone from the turn of the millenium. It seemed to be like a combination of the D3 and D-Terminal into one device.
When everyone was done admiring it, he handed it to Naki. "Do you know what that is?" he asked.
She looked at it silently for a long time, but she couldn't answer. "No sir. It looks kind of like a digivice, but it's different."
"Yes. I was examining it with this crest for a while, and I saw that it was a completely different model than the ones everyone else has."
The Black Agumon looked confused. "Crest?"
Izzy held up the black tag and crest in his hand for the digimon to see. "Yeah. You mean you don't recognize this? It was around your neck when you appeared."
This seemed to confuse the digimon even more, but he didn't comment on it. He simply looked at it curiously and seemed unsure of its presense there. "How can that be here?"
"That's what we want to know," Tai replied. "If it means what we think it means, then Naki isn't just a normal kid with a digimon. She's a Digidestined!"
Naki looked at him. "How do you know about that?"
"We're all Digidestined!" answered TK. "Or at least we used to be. Ever since the battle with Malomyotismon twenty-five years ago, we've lived normal lives like everyone else." Something about this seemed to make Black Agumon anxious, which his counterpart picked up on.
"So...what does it mean if I'm Digidestined?" she asked in confusion. "Agumon told me all about what my job is, but what does it mean? What makes me different from everyone else?"
"Well, for starters, you can digivolve your Agumon to Champion. Since you have that crest with you also, you can probably even reach the Ultimate level! Nobody has done that in a long time."
Naki was familiar with digimon, and she remembered how awe inspiring the true Ultimate level digimon was to her. It's power was immense compared to Champion level digimon. Supposedly an Ultimate could swat dozens of Champion digimon around like flies, but such power was unimaginable to her. She had always considered her parents' digimon to be powerful, but the highest they could reach was Champion. As she thought this, a strange feeling flowed through her. A feeling of...pleasure.
She wasn't a freak anymore, and she was going to show everybody what she and Agumon were made of.
****
NEXT: (Coining some lines from DBZ...) The sleeper has awakened. A Digidestined unlike any other, has been born. Stay tuned to see just what Naki is going to do now that the destiny of the digimon of the world is in her hands, and find out what the original Digidestined have to say about this new girl and her mysterious digimon.
