"Hmph...stupid porcupine," the yellow dinosaur-like Digimon grumbled as he continued to claw at the ground in front of the various huts dotted around the area. Mere minutes ago, he had been inside his own hut, puzzling about what the heck these Penguinmon expected him to do. While he was within the walls of the space he and his supposed partner were given, he had heard some kind of annoying grunting and the sound of something dragging along the dirt. When he'd come out to investigate, there it was: just a small but long trench leading through the area. When he followed the trail to its source, he noticed a familiar, silvery-quilled back disappearing into one of the nearby huts, a log being dragged through the doorway. His eye twitched at the sight, but ultimately decided against making a scene about the whole ordeal. At the very least, it meant that that boastful Herissmon had gotten his own dumb log instead of saying how he was "too important to do such a menial task" or something along those lines. Now, Agumon found himself digging at the damaged earth, attempting to get it to look as closely to how it did originally as he could. The patchwork was rough--one could easily tell that the earth had been shifted around, but at least the hole was getting covered. "Thinks he's so freakin' important and great. Like he's something so special...." The irony was completely lost on the little lizard. Instead, he dove into his physical labor, preferring this over trying to figure out how to decorate a room probably. Though as he continued to plow away at the dirt, he couldn't help but wonder how Blucomon was doing in his own hut...or if he even [i]was[/i] in his own hut. Well, for now he supposed it didn't matter. He resumed his focus on his work, deciding to consider this a form of physical endurance training. As he worked, however, his mind continued to wander again. He started to think about this task of theirs...and just what kind of person this partner was going to be. [hr] Rain continued pounding on the window of the room. As the constant beats resounded through the room, Hideaki Saitou found himself seated at his usual spot--his desk, with books piled up on one side and papers on the other. On the other side of the desk, directly across from where he was seated, was the computer monitor he consistently used for research purposes. However, at the moment, the monitor was off and the keyboard had been unplugged and tucked away neatly into the topmost drawer beside him. Directly in front of Hide was a pair of books. The first, a large, beefy textbook was open to approximately the halfway point. The notebook lay open beside it. His right hand carried a mechanical pencil, neatly filling out the paper with notes transferred beautifully from the paragraph he'd just been reading from the book. However, the tedium was certainly starting to wear him down, little by little. After a particularly lengthy paragraph caused him to reread it four separate times, he finally let out a frustrated sigh, leaning back in his chair. He looked back at stack of text and notebooks lined up neatly beside him. He still had an entire other subject to attend to after this one was finished. He was more than happy to put in the work, but this was simple tedium at its finest. Was there anything he could- Suddenly, a light in front of him nearly blinded him as the monitor sprung to life of its own accord! Hide squinted at the screen as he tried to get readjusted to the new light source while simultaneously reaching to turn the monitor back off again. In his confused state, a sudden ringing broke the weather-centric ambience in the room, actually causing him to jump slightly in his seat! He reached down to the pocket of his uniform, quickly pulling out the phone and peering at it. Just as he was pulling it out, he received a few different notifications from a few different sources, all mentioning that the sender was unknown, and that there was no message previews. But most pressing, of course, was the actual phone's ringing itself, with the typical "Answer" and "Decline" buttons on display. Deciding that his mind was already starting to wander as it was, he figured that this was as good a time as any to break for a few seconds. After all, maybe this was exactly the simple, short distraction he needed to refocus his mind. He answered the phone, bringing it up to his ears. However, just as he began to speak, he stopped as static filled his ear. "Wh-?" he started, but was soon interrupted as electricity began to suddenly crackle all around him! Hide pulled the phone away from his head immediately, but it didn't matter. The electricity was already circling him, apparently bringing some kind of dense fog with it!? What in the world was going on!? He opened his mouth to call out to his family...but it was quickly drowned out in his ears by the sound of...wait. Was that...the ocean? His eyes widened as something flicked into his mind, like a distant memory he had long since forgotten. Ocean waves, darkness...and a friend? No, it wasn't his friend. It was someone else's friend. There was a hand...or was it a claw? No, that didn't make sense. Surely it was a hand. A deal.... And then, just as suddenly as the ringing had begun, it stopped, and the fog around him faded. However, when he looked up...he did not recognize his surroundings, and he was now seated on some sort of bedding, rather than the desk he had been working at moments before. [hr] "Finally...." Agumon muttered as he patted down the final bit of dirt in front of his own hut--one that happened to be adjacent to Herissmon's. He, of course, had left the bit in front of Herissmon's own hut completely untouched. Next time he saw that hedgehog punk, he was gonna- Suddenly, there was a light emanating from behind him. His eyes widened and he spun around on his heels so that he could face his hut. A bright light shot from within...before finally fading away. Agumon couldn't help himself; a grin formed on his face and he immediately stepped through the leafy doorway and back into the hut! What he expected to see, he wasn't really sure. But the human in front of him...didn't seem all that special to him. He was taller than himself, and the Digimon around him, but he looked...awfully frail. So wait a second.... "You're...my partner?" Agumon said aloud, tilting his head a bit. The yellow dinosaur Digimon stood there, puzzled for a moment, looking at Hide quizzically. Meanwhile, the human was just getting his bearings, looking around him. It wasn't long before he noticed the leaves shifting aside...and a small, yellow dinosaur with a verdant, judgmental gaze scanning him up and down. Then it spoke. Hide jumped back in alarm as this dinosaur spoke to him. "P-Partner?" he repeated, in a tone that utterly betrayed his own confusion. "Well, I guess I can't be picky." Agumon said, crossing his arms. "But you can consider yourself a lucky one, to get partnered up with the strongest Digimon around!" He paused at that. "W-well, y'know, with...obvious exceptions." Hide simply continued to stare dumbfoundedly at this new arrival. However, something seemed to dawn on him rather quickly. "Oh...I see." Hide said, letting out a sigh of relief. "This must be a hallucination. Or maybe I fell asleep and I'm in some island paradise or something." He shook his head. "But I don't have time for this. I need to get back to work." And with that, he immediately allowed himself to climb back into his bedding, laying his head down and closing his eyes, as though ready to drift back to sleep. He wasn't sure if that's how this worked or not, but it was worth a try. "W-wait a second!" Agumon exclaimed, quickly rushing over to his bedside. "You can't fall asleep, we've got important things to do! A-apparently! Look, I dunno, just...." He reached his claw out, grabbing hold of Hide's hands, causing the human to jump a bit once more. Those claws felt awfully real.... And then he was suddenly tugged, bringing him right out of bed! "H-hey, wait a second, little guy!" Hide called out as he desperately fought to regain his balance. "Don't call me 'little guy,'" Agumon grunted, shifting a quick glance behind him. "My name is Agumon." Then, without another word, Agumon pulled on Hide's arm, half-dragging the poor human out of the hut, Hide still stumbling behind him.