Much is speculation elaborating on what is seen in the episode “Ken 10,” supplemental trivia, and where necessary, retcon details from Alien Force.
Devlin’s story begins in an alternate universe where the Highbreed never attacked and Kevin never joined forces with Ben and Gwen. In this world, Ben only unlocked ten thousand of his alien forms and believed it to be all, Gwen recreated the Charms of Bezel and became a sorceress instead of accessing her Anodyte abilities, and Kevin learned how to shift between human and mutant form at will rather than absorbing the properties of matter. Gwen and Kevin never saw each other as anything other than enemies. Ben became known as the Hero of Heroes, Ben 10,000; and Kevin gained infamy as one of his most notorious enemies, constantly in and out of the Null Void.
Following one of his escapes, Kevin met a woman on a Saturn colony, Nina Fisher. With his reputation, she certainly knew who he was, but she was from a rough neighborhood and had to sidestep the law occasionally just to survive. She didn’t have too many hang-ups about him. You couldn’t quite say there was love in the relationship, but they did benefit each other. Kevin had a safe place to hide out whenever he escaped, and Nina had a source of protection. No one would dare touch her if they saw that Kevin had any kind of interest in her. They had a son, Devlin, who barely understood why his father was constantly in the Null Void-he all but worshipped his dad, and he couldn’t see that Kevin decidedly wasn’t one of the good guys. Kevin sporadically popped in on Devlin’s childhood until a major battle with Ben, where he was completely trapped within the Null Void with no means of escape.
Unfortunately, once he was imprisoned for life, that protection for Nina was gone. One day, she was killed-just a random victim of a casual crime, but something Kevin could have protected her from all the same. Devlin was left all alone.
Despite his imprisonment, Kevin was able to keep in contact with his son, and when he saw that Devlin was desperate for family, he convinced the boy to find Ben Tennyson on Earth, find where he kept the Null Void projector, and free him. Devlin didn’t waste any time, and he grabbed his few possessions and hopped the first transport to Earth. Devlin managed to make his way to South Dakota, where Ben lived, but he had little luck in figuring out just how to get into his compound.
That is, until by chance, Devlin witnessed the video footage of a battle in the city. Ben’s son Ken had just received an Omnitrix for his tenth birthday, and he’d begun helping out the family business. Devlin got the idea to go looking for Ken and try to get in through him, so when Ken was flying on his hoverboard the next day, Devlin caught up with him. Ken revealed that it wasn’t all fun being the son of Ben 10,000, as his dad didn’t trust him in battle. Devlin was surprised to hear this, and he found himself slowly befriending Ken. But he couldn’t let it distract him from his mission, and later that night, he made his first attack on the Tennyson compound. Appearing in mutant form, he was able to convince Ben he was Kevin, and the fear of apparently seeing his old enemy out of the Null Void again prompted Ben to put Ken in his room under lockdown while he fought. But during the battle, Devlin discovered that the Null Void projector was missing, and Ben had moved it after Dr. Animo broke in twelve years ago. His mission a failure, Devlin ran.
He met up with Ken again to find out that after the fight, father and son had gotten into an argument over the question of trust-not only did Ben not trust Ken in a fight, he also didn’t trust him enough to tell him that he’d moved the Null Void projector. Devlin realized this was the opening he was looking for, and he offered to help Ken look for it and protect it from “Kevin.” When they did find it in a room hidden by the Rustbucket, Devlin showed his true allegiance and changed to mutant form and released his father. Ken was shocked by the betrayal, and Devlin only just managed to convince his father that Ken had nothing to do with his revenge. Both Ken and Grandpa Max were captured and held as bait for Ben, who had to experience firsthand the dangers of Kevin’s new mutant form, the result of absorbing the power of every alien Ben ever captured. Ben was defeated easily, and Devlin tried to convince his father to stop, that he’d already proven himself stronger than Ben. However, Kevin didn’t want to simply prove he was better than Ben; he enjoyed this. He threw his son aside to attack Ben again, but Ben recovered and counterattacked, throwing him out of the compound. Devastated, Devlin ran off in tears, hurt to discover what kind of monster his father truly was.
He could have run away, and he started to, but the Tennysons were still in danger. Ken managed to hack the Omnitrix so he could rapidly shift morphs, and he jumped to his injured father’s defense. When Kevin tried to attack Ken, Devlin proved friendship was deeper than blood, and he attacked his father to save Ken. He apologized to Ken, swearing that this wasn’t what he thought would happen when he freed his father, and when Kevin went on the attack again, young Levin and young Tennyson joined forces and powers to fight him-the way it was supposed to be. Neither boy was a match for Kevin’s power, but seeing Ken get hurt angered Ben to the point that he turned into Way Big and pounded Kevin into the ground. Once Kevin was back in human form and apparently too beat up to fight back, Ben checked on Ken, who provided him with a containment device. But Kevin attacked the Tennysons before they could use it, intending to continue the battle. That was when Devlin tossed the containment device at Kevin’s feet, trapping him with a soft, sad, “Goodbye, Dad.”
The battle over, Grandpa Max arrived to pick up the containment device, and Ben and Ken shared a father-son moment. Seeing the kind of family relationship he’d never had and never would, Devlin turned to leave. But on a cue from Ben, Max stopped him from running off. Devlin could only think the worst-that they were going to put him in the Null Void too-and Ken ran over to shield his friend against his family. However, Ben had a different idea-they suggested that the Tennysons adopt Devlin, so long as both boys agreed to it. They did, and Devlin became a Tennyson, finally part of a family that would love him.
For the most part, Devlin is a pretty normal eleven-year-old: a bit cocky and sure of himself, a fan of hoverboards and anything else “cool,” and generally pretty happy. But underneath that are the currents of his constant family trauma. He has a deep need for acceptance and approval, which makes him fairly obedient in comparison to other kids his age, such as the more argumentative Ken. When he is accepted by someone, he gets protective of them, such as in his conflict between Kevin and Ken: hoping for his father’s approval, he was trying to follow orders, but already being Ken’s friend, he wanted to keep him out of Kevin’s plans. In the end, acceptance will win out over approval, and he will defend the people who love him as he is against the people who try to manipulate him for love. He’s also come to expect the worst in a situation rather than hoping for the best.
He can be a little manipulative himself, owing to his time spent on the streets between his mother’s death and his adoption. For the most part, he can act as though he’s lived a life like other kids have, as he was able to convince Ken that he was just a normal kid with a strict and distant father and that he was eager to help Ken prove himself to Ben by helping defend the Null Void projector. However, he has major issues regarding his father, which he can’t always hide, and he fears that he will only turn out to be a clone of Kevin.
Digimon personality-
Black Agumon is interested in the workings of people’s minds, and he’s always analyzing actions and thought patterns. He’d hoped to train in psychology under the celebrated Dr. Peckers, but upon being partnered with Devlin, he spotted the signs of long-term trauma and decided he would take this opportunity to get some practical training in. Unfortunately, for all he’s interested in the mind and emotions, he’s sometimes too analytical and can come off as unsympathetic. He doesn’t get that Devlin is his partner, not his patient; that sometimes he only needs someone to listen rather than offer advice; and what he needs is friendship more than therapy. Despite this, Black Agumon is still fairly quick to spot things he knows would make Devlin’s issues more difficult to overcome, such as not encouraging him to seek out Kevin immediately when he’s still dealing with the emotional abuse by his world’s Kevin. Indeed, when he first evolves to Chimeramon, his reaction is “This is going to make things tough,” while Devlin stares in horror.
As a human, Devlin’s abilities come down to street smarts and hoverboard racing. He knew how to get from Saturn to Earth, and then he managed to survive on the city streets of South Dakota before he met Ken. And, like most boys his age, he’s good with a hoverboard.
Mutant alien: Because Kevin’s DNA was still mixed with the original ten Omnitrix aliens when Devlin was conceived, Devlin inherited that form and is able to change from human to alien at will. In addition to super strength (scaled to an Adult Digimon for the purposes of the game), Mutant Devlin has most of the abilities of the original ten aliens, which he can combine together for more effective attacks. Notably, he has the speed of XLR8, the fire abilities of Heatblast, Diamondhead’s ability to morph his arm into a crystal weapon or shoot projectiles, and Stinkfly’s flight abilities.
It is unknown whether Devlin would have to worry about the possibility of being stuck in alien form the way his father was.
There was a flash of green light ahead as Ken used the Omnitrix to become Wildvine, swinging around the edge of the building and leaping back onto his hoverboard before switching back to human form.
“Cheater!” Devlin shouted at his adoptive brother.
He was so intent on teasing Ken that he didn’t see the wormhole he was flying right into, and he only realized there was trouble when he saw the tree right in his path. There was no time to avoid it, so he quickly shifted to mutant form and flew into the tree, knocking it down. It fell with a crash that startled some very odd birds into flying away.
“What planet did I land on?” Devlin asked as he shifted back to human form. With a start, he remembered his hoverboard, and he ran over to check on it, grimacing. Dented. He knew Ben would get him another one if it was too badly damaged, but this was the one thing from his old life that Devlin wanted to keep as long as possible.
“Hope that’s the worst of it,” he muttered. “Where am I going to get this repaired?”
“More interested in the state of your board instead of where you are?” observed an alien that looked like a small black tyrannosaurus. He gave Devlin an amused look. “I take it you’re used to new locations.”
“More or less,” Devlin answered with a shrug. “My adoptive dad travels around a lot-sometimes brings me and Kenny along when he doesn’t think it’s too dangerous.” And did Ken complain about that! Devlin had lost count of the number of times he’d had to tune his brother out when he began complaining that Ben didn’t trust them to handle anything.
The alien looked interested for a moment before nodding and sticking out a hand (paw? claw?) for Devlin to shake. “I’m Black Agumon.”
“Devlin Tenn-” Devlin started before something fell out of his pocket. It looked like a cell phone from about twenty years and far less alien tech in the past-he’d seen models of them in the museum. There was a black-and-red version of the Omnitrix emblem on it, but what really caught his attention was the name inscribed on it: Devlin Levin. Not Tennyson.
Black Agumon watched Devlin stare at the D-Comm for a moment before hesitantly picking it up and putting it back in his pocket. He too had seen the name, noticing how Devlin cut off his attempt to say his name before. He’d also noticed that Devlin emphasized he was adopted. It looked like this was going to get really interesting soon.
Why’d he have to be here? I thought I was done with him!
Who, Devlin?
…You’re rubbing your arm. What happened? Who hurt you?
…I don’t want to talk about it.
Devlin, whoever hurt you, they’re not going to do it again.
I didn’t think he was going to hurt me or my friend, and he did anyway. I’m not going to just sit around and wait for him to attack again!
Devlin, wait! You can’t run-
//sigh
If anyone sees some kind of red, mutant creature, don’t attack him. He’s my partner, and he’s scared out of his mind right now. I don’t know who this Kevin guy is, but I think I’ve got a pretty good guess as to why Devlin’s running scared now.
Much is speculation elaborating on what is seen in the episode “Ken 10,” supplemental trivia, and where necessary, retcon details from Alien Force.
Devlin’s story begins in an alternate universe where the Highbreed never attacked and Kevin never joined forces with Ben and Gwen. In this world, Ben only unlocked ten thousand of his alien forms and believed it to be all, Gwen recreated the Charms of Bezel and became a sorceress instead of accessing her Anodyte abilities, and Kevin learned how to shift between human and mutant form at will rather than absorbing the properties of matter. Gwen and Kevin never saw each other as anything other than enemies. Ben became known as the Hero of Heroes, Ben 10,000; and Kevin gained infamy as one of his most notorious enemies, constantly in and out of the Null Void.
Following one of his escapes, Kevin met a woman on a Saturn colony, Nina Fisher. With his reputation, she certainly knew who he was, but she was from a rough neighborhood and had to sidestep the law occasionally just to survive. She didn’t have too many hang-ups about him. You couldn’t quite say there was love in the relationship, but they did benefit each other. Kevin had a safe place to hide out whenever he escaped, and Nina had a source of protection. No one would dare touch her if they saw that Kevin had any kind of interest in her. They had a son, Devlin, who barely understood why his father was constantly in the Null Void-he all but worshipped his dad, and he couldn’t see that Kevin decidedly wasn’t one of the good guys. Kevin sporadically popped in on Devlin’s childhood until a major battle with Ben, where he was completely trapped within the Null Void with no means of escape.
Unfortunately, once he was imprisoned for life, that protection for Nina was gone. One day, she was killed-just a random victim of a casual crime, but something Kevin could have protected her from all the same. Devlin was left all alone.
Despite his imprisonment, Kevin was able to keep in contact with his son, and when he saw that Devlin was desperate for family, he convinced the boy to find Ben Tennyson on Earth, find where he kept the Null Void projector, and free him. Devlin didn’t waste any time, and he grabbed his few possessions and hopped the first transport to Earth. Devlin managed to make his way to South Dakota, where Ben lived, but he had little luck in figuring out just how to get into his compound.
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He met up with Ken again to find out that after the fight, father and son had gotten into an argument over the question of trust-not only did Ben not trust Ken in a fight, he also didn’t trust him enough to tell him that he’d moved the Null Void projector. Devlin realized this was the opening he was looking for, and he offered to help Ken look for it and protect it from “Kevin.” When they did find it in a room hidden by the Rustbucket, Devlin showed his true allegiance and changed to mutant form and released his father. Ken was shocked by the betrayal, and Devlin only just managed to convince his father that Ken had nothing to do with his revenge. Both Ken and Grandpa Max were captured and held as bait for Ben, who had to experience firsthand the dangers of Kevin’s new mutant form, the result of absorbing the power of every alien Ben ever captured. Ben was defeated easily, and Devlin tried to convince his father to stop, that he’d already proven himself stronger than Ben. However, Kevin didn’t want to simply prove he was better than Ben; he enjoyed this. He threw his son aside to attack Ben again, but Ben recovered and counterattacked, throwing him out of the compound. Devastated, Devlin ran off in tears, hurt to discover what kind of monster his father truly was.
He could have run away, and he started to, but the Tennysons were still in danger. Ken managed to hack the Omnitrix so he could rapidly shift morphs, and he jumped to his injured father’s defense. When Kevin tried to attack Ken, Devlin proved friendship was deeper than blood, and he attacked his father to save Ken. He apologized to Ken, swearing that this wasn’t what he thought would happen when he freed his father, and when Kevin went on the attack again, young Levin and young Tennyson joined forces and powers to fight him-the way it was supposed to be. Neither boy was a match for Kevin’s power, but seeing Ken get hurt angered Ben to the point that he turned into Way Big and pounded Kevin into the ground. Once Kevin was back in human form and apparently too beat up to fight back, Ben checked on Ken, who provided him with a containment device. But Kevin attacked the Tennysons before they could use it, intending to continue the battle. That was when Devlin tossed the containment device at Kevin’s feet, trapping him with a soft, sad, “Goodbye, Dad.”
The battle over, Grandpa Max arrived to pick up the containment device, and Ben and Ken shared a father-son moment. Seeing the kind of family relationship he’d never had and never would, Devlin turned to leave. But on a cue from Ben, Max stopped him from running off. Devlin could only think the worst-that they were going to put him in the Null Void too-and Ken ran over to shield his friend against his family. However, Ben had a different idea-they suggested that the Tennysons adopt Devlin, so long as both boys agreed to it. They did, and Devlin became a Tennyson, finally part of a family that would love him.
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For the most part, Devlin is a pretty normal eleven-year-old: a bit cocky and sure of himself, a fan of hoverboards and anything else “cool,” and generally pretty happy. But underneath that are the currents of his constant family trauma. He has a deep need for acceptance and approval, which makes him fairly obedient in comparison to other kids his age, such as the more argumentative Ken. When he is accepted by someone, he gets protective of them, such as in his conflict between Kevin and Ken: hoping for his father’s approval, he was trying to follow orders, but already being Ken’s friend, he wanted to keep him out of Kevin’s plans. In the end, acceptance will win out over approval, and he will defend the people who love him as he is against the people who try to manipulate him for love. He’s also come to expect the worst in a situation rather than hoping for the best.
He can be a little manipulative himself, owing to his time spent on the streets between his mother’s death and his adoption. For the most part, he can act as though he’s lived a life like other kids have, as he was able to convince Ken that he was just a normal kid with a strict and distant father and that he was eager to help Ken prove himself to Ben by helping defend the Null Void projector. However, he has major issues regarding his father, which he can’t always hide, and he fears that he will only turn out to be a clone of Kevin.
Digimon personality-
Black Agumon is interested in the workings of people’s minds, and he’s always analyzing actions and thought patterns. He’d hoped to train in psychology under the celebrated Dr. Peckers, but upon being partnered with Devlin, he spotted the signs of long-term trauma and decided he would take this opportunity to get some practical training in. Unfortunately, for all he’s interested in the mind and emotions, he’s sometimes too analytical and can come off as unsympathetic. He doesn’t get that Devlin is his partner, not his patient; that sometimes he only needs someone to listen rather than offer advice; and what he needs is friendship more than therapy. Despite this, Black Agumon is still fairly quick to spot things he knows would make Devlin’s issues more difficult to overcome, such as not encouraging him to seek out Kevin immediately when he’s still dealing with the emotional abuse by his world’s Kevin. Indeed, when he first evolves to Chimeramon, his reaction is “This is going to make things tough,” while Devlin stares in horror.
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As a human, Devlin’s abilities come down to street smarts and hoverboard racing. He knew how to get from Saturn to Earth, and then he managed to survive on the city streets of South Dakota before he met Ken. And, like most boys his age, he’s good with a hoverboard.
Mutant alien: Because Kevin’s DNA was still mixed with the original ten Omnitrix aliens when Devlin was conceived, Devlin inherited that form and is able to change from human to alien at will. In addition to super strength (scaled to an Adult Digimon for the purposes of the game), Mutant Devlin has most of the abilities of the original ten aliens, which he can combine together for more effective attacks. Notably, he has the speed of XLR8, the fire abilities of Heatblast, Diamondhead’s ability to morph his arm into a crystal weapon or shoot projectiles, and Stinkfly’s flight abilities.
It is unknown whether Devlin would have to worry about the possibility of being stuck in alien form the way his father was.
Reply
There was a flash of green light ahead as Ken used the Omnitrix to become Wildvine, swinging around the edge of the building and leaping back onto his hoverboard before switching back to human form.
“Cheater!” Devlin shouted at his adoptive brother.
He was so intent on teasing Ken that he didn’t see the wormhole he was flying right into, and he only realized there was trouble when he saw the tree right in his path. There was no time to avoid it, so he quickly shifted to mutant form and flew into the tree, knocking it down. It fell with a crash that startled some very odd birds into flying away.
“What planet did I land on?” Devlin asked as he shifted back to human form. With a start, he remembered his hoverboard, and he ran over to check on it, grimacing. Dented. He knew Ben would get him another one if it was too badly damaged, but this was the one thing from his old life that Devlin wanted to keep as long as possible.
“Hope that’s the worst of it,” he muttered. “Where am I going to get this repaired?”
“More interested in the state of your board instead of where you are?” observed an alien that looked like a small black tyrannosaurus. He gave Devlin an amused look. “I take it you’re used to new locations.”
“More or less,” Devlin answered with a shrug. “My adoptive dad travels around a lot-sometimes brings me and Kenny along when he doesn’t think it’s too dangerous.” And did Ken complain about that! Devlin had lost count of the number of times he’d had to tune his brother out when he began complaining that Ben didn’t trust them to handle anything.
The alien looked interested for a moment before nodding and sticking out a hand (paw? claw?) for Devlin to shake. “I’m Black Agumon.”
“Devlin Tenn-” Devlin started before something fell out of his pocket. It looked like a cell phone from about twenty years and far less alien tech in the past-he’d seen models of them in the museum. There was a black-and-red version of the Omnitrix emblem on it, but what really caught his attention was the name inscribed on it: Devlin Levin. Not Tennyson.
Black Agumon watched Devlin stare at the D-Comm for a moment before hesitantly picking it up and putting it back in his pocket. He too had seen the name, noticing how Devlin cut off his attempt to say his name before. He’d also noticed that Devlin emphasized he was adopted. It looked like this was going to get really interesting soon.
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Why’d he have to be here? I thought I was done with him!
Who, Devlin?
…You’re rubbing your arm. What happened? Who hurt you?
…I don’t want to talk about it.
Devlin, whoever hurt you, they’re not going to do it again.
I didn’t think he was going to hurt me or my friend, and he did anyway. I’m not going to just sit around and wait for him to attack again!
Devlin, wait! You can’t run-
//sigh
If anyone sees some kind of red, mutant creature, don’t attack him. He’s my partner, and he’s scared out of his mind right now. I don’t know who this Kevin guy is, but I think I’ve got a pretty good guess as to why Devlin’s running scared now.
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