Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Being a Tamer ❯ You Just Might Get It ( Chapter 1 )

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Tamers or any characters associated with it. Digimon is the property of Toei Entertainment and Sensations Animation. This fic is purely for entertainment purposes.
Series Title: Being a Tamer
Chapter Title: You Just Might Get It
Chapter: 1 of 4
Focus: Lee Jaarin, Gazimon
Rated: PG
Season/Timeline: Digimon Tamers, eight months after the defeat of D-Reaper and two months after the fight with Locomon/Parismon in the sixth movie.
Summary: An innocent wish changes Lee Jaarin's life after she becomes jealous of Jenrya and Shiuchon.
Additional Notes: After noticing that Jenrya and Jaarin (the eldest Lee daughter) seemed pretty close in age, I have decided to make them twins. The Wild Bunch members called "Lilian" and "Rai" in this fic are better known as "Daisy" and "Curly." All other rules of my fanon, including Lopmon being female, apply here.

Lee Jaarin hated being a twin.

Actually, that was an untruth. She didn't hate Jenrya. She could never imagine herself even disliking him or being angry at him for longer than a few hours at the most. Sure they had disagreements and exchanged the occassional harsh words like any other siblings did, but when it came right down to it neither Jaarin nor Jenrya could imagine life without the other.

Jealousy, however, was another story entirely.

For as long as she could remember there had been some measure of competition between Jenrya and herself. Part of it came from the fact that Jaarin was five minutes older than Jenrya, a fact she liked to flaunt from time to time. But age difference or not, one always had to be a little bit better than the other, or have something that the other didn't. For instance, Jaarin got violin lessons and got to attend Taiyou Academy, a private school, instead of the the public elementary school that Jenrya and his friends attended, while Jenrya had his self-built computer system and his Tai Chi lessons. Their parents had also learned long ago not to get them identical gifts, either. So when their father went on a business trip to America, Jaarin got a basketball jersey and Jenrya got a Digimon video game.

Oh, and Terriermon. He also had Terriermon.

Jaarin had known about Terriermon almost from the first day that he had realised in Jenrya's bedroom. She had been home from school with a mild case of the flu, and had gone into her brother's bedroom to use his computer when she found the little guy at said computer, fiddling with the mouse. He'd tried to pretend that he was a stuffed animal, but that ruse only worked until Jaarin told him she knew he wasn't a toy. Terriermon spent the rest of the school day waiting for Jenrya to return by telling Jaarin about the Digital World and getting her to explain to him how the computer worked. Once Jenrya came home from school Jaarin made him explain the whole thing, and he in turn swore her to secrecy about Terriermon. After that Jenrya began taking Terriermon to school with him.

For a while Jaarin kept her promise, and told no one else in her family that the stuffed rabbit her twin had taken to carrying around was actually a living, breathing intelligent creature from a different dimension. She listened as Jenrya told her of his experiences as a Digimon Tamer, from his meeting Matsuda Takato and Makino Ruki to the first time Terriermon evolved to Galgomon. She also helped keep a protective eye on Terriermon whenever Jenrya couldn't be with him (although she did get a little enjoyment out of Shiuchon's dress-up game, as well as a few blackmail photos). But as time wore on Jaarin heard more and more about her brother's exploits as a Tamer, and saw the deepening bond between boy and Digimon.

And it made her jealous. Jealous that someone else had a bond with her brother that was just as deep and meaningful as the one she shared with him. Jealous that she didn't have a partner like Terriermon, and that she couldn't be out protecting Shinjuku from Wild Ones instead of hearing about it second-hand from Jenrya. It didn't particularly help when her brother and their younger sister came back from the Digital World and she found out that Shiuchon was now a Tamer, partnered to a Digimon that was nearly twin to Jenrya's partner. It made no sense; she was Jenrya's twin, so shouldn't she be partnered to the Digimon that was Terriermon's twin? Why would such a serious Digimon be partnered to such an innocent, carefree little girl? Eventually Jaarin saw the sense in it. Shiuchon and Lopmon balanced each other perfectly and if she thought about it, it was almost a role-reversal of Jenrya and Terriermon's partnership.

The digimon continued to be a separating point for Jenrya and Jaarin. All through the debacle with the D-Reaper Jaarin had wished that she was going into battle alongside her brother and sister, when the extent of her help went to reassuring Shiuchon as they watched Antiramon head off to join her teammates in battle. Aside from that she was just part of the background, another bystander who just happened to be the sister of two of the Tamers and the daughter of one of the members of the Wild Bunch.

After it was all over and the Digimon had returned to the Digital World, Jaarin prayed that their lives would return to normal. Things were a little tense around the Lee household for a while thereafter, especially between Jenrya and their father. He understood why their father had done what he had, and that he hadn't realized what affects the Shaggai program would have on the Digimon until it was too late. Forgiveness took just a little bit longer. Then there was Shiuchon, who could be heard in the middle of the night sobbing for Lopmon and Terriermon. And it didn't seem like anything could be done about the Digimon, at least not until Takato had stumbled across the open portal in the park about a month later.

It hadn't taken very long for all of the Tamers to be reunited with their Digimon. All of the Tamers and their families gathered at the site to welcome them back; even the twins Ai and Mako and their parents were there. Guilmon had been the first one out, followed by Culumon, Impmon and the rest of them. What followed was a melee of pure emotion; Guilmon had Takato pinned on the ground on his back licking his face exuberantly while Culumon flew excited loops around Juri and her family and Kenta held Marine Angemon and sobbed. Ai and Mako were clinging to both sides of Impmon, and the goblin Digimon was trying not to look as if he was enjoying it. As she watched her brother and sister reunite with their partners, Jaarin once again felt that twinge of jealousy in her heart, and wished that she had a Digimon partner.

No one had warned her it wasn't wise to make such a wish when there were Digi-Gnomes present.

It had been about nearly eight months since that day, two and a half months since the battle with Locomon and Parismon, and life for the Lee family had finally settled down. On this particular day Jaarin was at home with her brother and little sister, their parents off at work and running errands respectively while Rinchei was out with friends. Jenrya was in his room doing something or other with his computer while Shiuchon played with Terriermon and Lopmon. Jaarin decided to take advantage of the rare quiet and get some reading done; she'd been wanting to get this novel finished for a long time. But she'd gotten no further than halfway through a chapter when the phone rang. She overheard Jenrya answer it.

"Hello, Lee residence," he said into the receiver. There was a pause, followed by, "Hey, Dad, what's up? Really? That's fantastic! Sure we'll come; I know I don't want to miss this. Yeah. Yeah, we'll see you in a bit. Okay, bye." Jaarin heard him hang up, and then almost immediately yell, "Shiuchon!"

"What did Dad want, Jen?" Jaarin asked as Shiuchon came out of her room, followed by Terriermon and Lopmon. "I thought he was at work."

Jenrya nodded. "He is. He and the rest of the Wild Bunch have been working with Hypnos trying to find a way to extract the data of an absorbed Digimon out of another Digimon's body, to see if it's possible to bring Leomon back. They've done a few experiments on Guilmon and Renamon, and now Dad thinks they're ready to try it on Impmon."

"You mean Leomon is going to come back?" Shiuchon asked hopefully.

"That's what we're hoping," answered her brother. "Anyway, the Tamers all want to be there for this, so Shiuchon and I will be going out for a little while."

"Oh. Okay." Jaarin returned her attention to her book, hoping she hadn't sounded as disappointed as she felt. Jenrya, however, picked up on that.

"Hey, you wanna come with us?" he asked. "It's better than sitting around here alone." Jaarin looked up at him, eyes wide in genuine surprise.

"Sure; lemme get my shoes on," she answered quickly, kicking off her slippers.

"So, uh, just how long is dis supposed ta take?" Impmon asked, glancing at his surroundings with clear discomfort. No one blamed him for being uncomfortable, either; he was lying on a metal table under some sort of machine that, to the Tamers, looked like the child of a mating between an MRI machine and a movie projector. He had been strapped to the table to keep him from moving, and sensor wires were taped all over his body. Impmon turned his head and caught the fearful expressions on his Tamers' faces, and shot them a thumbs-up and what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Hopefully not very long," answered Janyuu as he looked over some computer readings with Shibumi. "The longest it took was about eight minutes, when we extracted the Fuugamon's data from Renamon." Impmon sighed and tried to relax as much as his anxiety would allow.

Renamon placed a hand on Ai's shoulder, causing both of the youngest Tamers to look up at the tall, vulpine Digimon. "Do not worry," she assured them. "I have undergone this procedure myself, and it is painless. Impmon will not be hurt." Ai and Mako relaxed at this bit of information, while Ruki shot her partner a Look. She had been there when Fuugamon's data had been removed from her partner and recompiled in the controlled Digital Field, and could tell from the expressions on Renamon's face that it wasn't exactly a painless experience.

Jaarin looked at her own twin. "Explain this to me again," she requested quietly. "Just how is this supposed to work?"

"Well you see," Jenrya explained "The machine Impmon is lying under right now is set up similarly to the one that Dad used to load the Shaggai program into Terriermon. Only instead of loading data, it will scan Impmon and extract all data that it reads as foreign, or not belonging to Impmon. Then that data will be extracted and shunted to that apparatus over there" he pointed to the cubicle-like object nearby "and recompiled in a controlled digital field into the Digimon that it used to be."

Dr. Rob McCoy stepped out from behind the "D-Box," the apparatus that would contain the digital field, having just finished making some adjustments on it. "We're all set. Is the subject ready?"

This earned the good doctor a frown from the younger twins. "His name is Impmon," Mako said.

"Right; I'm sorry," 'Dolphin' amended. "Is Impmon ready?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Impmon responded. "Let's get dis over wit!"

The scientists chuckled. "Well, if you insist," Janyuu agreed. He looked over at Lilian and Rai, and nodded at them.

The Indian woman typed a few commands into her computer. "Starting scanning sequence...now."

The machine whirred to life. A stripe of bright white light panned over Impmon as the scanning head read his data. When it was finished it moved back into place. "Scanning complete," Rai announced. "Beginning extraction of foreign data...now." The scanning head passed over Impmon once again, only at a slower pace and casting a bluish-green light as it removed all the data that the computer had read as not belonging to Impmon. The goblin-like Digimon grimaced as this was done; he didn't hurt like he had after going several rounds with Indaramon and then with the D-Reaper, but the procedure wasn't exactly painless either.

As soon as this was finished, Lilian went to work. "Foreign data extracted safely, at 100%. Beginning compliation and reformatting sequence...now." With a few taps on the keys, the data that had been taken from Impmon was sent to the D-Box. The Tamers, Wild Bunch and Jaarin watched as a digital field formed inside of it and something began to form from the data that was being loaded inside. Jaarin glanced over at Juri and noticed that the girl was holding onto her D-Arc tightly, her whole body tense with anticipation.

Finally the computer beeped and Lilian announced, "Compilation and reformatting sequence complete. Kill the digital field." Dr. McCoy nodded and turned off the D-Box. The Tamers waited for the digital fog to dissipate so that they could get a good look at their old friend.

But when the fog cleared, the Digimon that it revealed was not Leomon.

"Makuramon?" Jenrya exclaimed in surprise. The Tamers, except for Ai and Mako, stepped back a couple steps as the Deva exited the D-Box. "What is he doing here? Dad, I thought you were trying to recover Leomon's data!"

"We were!" Janyuu responded, looking over Rai's shoulder as she ran through the programs trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

Meanwhile the Tamers were preparing for a confrontation with the monkey Deva. Jenrya still burned with anger that he had tried to kidnap his little sister as a replacement for Culumon while Shiuchon feared him for the same reason. The others still bore ill will for the fact that Makuramon had kidnapped Culumon in the first place, and Juri was understandably upset that this Digimon was not her partner. Makuramon growled at coming face to face with the humans he and his master Zhuiqaomon so despised, and his anger only deepend when he laid eyes on the traitor Lopmon. In his opinion Zhuiqaomon should have killed her outright when she became the partner of that little girl instead of stripping Antiramon of her powers. Well, he thought no reason why I can't make up for his mistake. So he summoned a Treasure Ball and took aim at Lopmon and Shiuchon.

"Hey!" Suddenly someone had come between him and his target. It was a young human girl with short-cut, reddish-brown hair, her face filled with anger. She stood between them, arms spread out to block him from attacking.

"Jaarin, what are you doing?" asked Ruki. It had taken all of them by surprise when Jenrya and Shiuchon's sister had rushed forward and used herself as a shield between Shiuchon and the monkey Deva.

Jaarin ignored her. "Hey!" she said again to Makuramon. "I don't know who you think you are pal, but you aren't going to lay one finger on my little sister, you hear me? So you'd better just put that ball back where it came from!"

Makuramon fumed. How dare this human presume to stop him from attacking? From what he could tell, she wasn't even a Tamer! She had no Digimon to protect her. "Foolish girl!" Makuramon snapped. "You think you can stop me? You don't even have a Digimon to protect you! I could take you out right now if I wanted to! In fact, I think I'll do just that." He drew back his throwing arm, and the silver orb in his hand began to glow. Jenrya, Lopmon and Takato froze, remembering the attack that Makuramon had used to try to finish Antiramon off when they had battled against each other.

"Jaarin, look out!" Jenrya cried.

"Treasure--!"

Suddenly a bolt of blue lightening shot out of the D-Box, striking the ball in Makuramon's hand and shattering it. All heads swiveled in the direction of the box, which held another digital field.

The Wild Bunch was aghast. "How did that happen?" Dr. McCoy asked. "I thought I turned that thing off."

Takato shrugged. "The digital fields never needed a controlled environment to form before."

Nervously they waited for another Digimon to emerge, a Wild One or a possible ally for Makuramon. Instead, all that came out was a voice. "Makuramon, leave the humans alone. The quarrel between them and your master is no more."

The monkey Deva seethed. "Stay out of this, Qinglongmon!" he snapped back. "Zhuiqaomon-sama has nothing to do with this; it's just between me and those humans!"

"Are you aware, Makuramon, that if it had not been for the efforts of the humans you so hate, you wouldn't even be standing there right now?" This statement cause Makuramon to blink in surprise. But before he could answer Qinglongmon continued, "I will not put up with any of your arguments any longer. Makuramon, I hereby strip you of your powers and your level as a Deva, and return you to your Child form. Furthermore, you shall be banished from the Digital World unless I decide otherwise." A stream of blue light shot out of the digital field and engulfed Makuramon. The monkey Deva didn't have time to scream; his breath just caught in his throat as he felt his power taken from him. Was this how Antiramon felt when Zhuiqaomon-sama took her power away? he asked himself.

Everyone else in the room was shielding their eyes from the intensity of the light. Then, just as suddenly as it had come it disappeared. The occupants of the room turned their gazes to the spot where Makuramon had been standing. In his place, huddled on the floor in a shaking heap, was a scruffy-looking rabbit-like Digimon. A look in the empty D-Box told them that Qinglongmon had disappeared, his work done. Jenrya pulled out his D-Arc to analyze the Digimon before them. "Gazimon, a Virus-type Child-level Digimon. Primary attack is Paralyze Breath."

The tense atmosphere in the room seemed to dissipate as quickly as digital fog as the group tried to figure out what happened and Ruki explained a few vital things to Jaarin, like just who Qinglongmon was. Juri sank into a chair, holding and staring at her D-Arc while Culumon and Takato hovered by her protectively. "Leomon..." she whimpered.

"I don't get it, Dad," Jenrya said as he joined the Wild Bunch in looking over the schematics and readouts. "How could Makuramon have been brought back instead of Leomon?"

"Maybe," commented Shibumi "it was the way we went about it. When we tested the extractor on Guilmon and Renamon, we weren't looking for a specific Digimon's data. We just searched for foreign data, extracted it and reformatted the Digimon."

"Of course!" chimed in Dr. McCoy. "We didn't specify any parameters for the computer to search for! But how do we get it to differentiate between Leomon's data, Impmon's data and the data of another Digimon that Impmon absorbed?"

Jenrya looked over his shoulder at Juri. "Maybe if you copied and downloaded the information from Juri's D-Arc, Dad. It's got at least part of Leomon's data inside of it; it might help."

Janyuu looked at his son. "You may be onto something, Jen. We'll try that." He started over to Juri, but was stopped by Impmon. The goblin 'mon had unstrapped himself and was sitting up, and had pulled off nearly all of the wire sensors.

"Hold on dere, Pal," he said. "Whaddabout me ovah here? Dat data extraction ting's not exactly da most pleasant experience in da woild, and dere's no way in all da levels of da Digiwoild dat I'm gonna go through it two times in a row!" He stopped a minute to catch his breath. "We'll try it...in a couple-a days. When I'm feelin' up ta it. Believe me, I wanna get da big guy back as much as you all do."

The elder Lee nodded. "You're right," he admitted. "You go home with your Tamers, take the time to recover. We'll use the time to go over the readouts from this latest use of the data extractor." The Tamers turned to leave, Takato placing one arm around Juri's shoulders and reassuring her that they'd try again very soon.

"Hey, wait," Jaarin's voice made them pause. "What about him?" She was looking at Gazimon, who hadn't moved from his spot on the floor this entire time. "We can't just leave him there."

"And why not?" asked her brother. "You don't know what he's like, Jaarin; you didn't see some of the stuff he pulled. Believe me, we'd be a lot better off if Qinglongmon had just destroyed him instead of stripping him of his powers." Jaarin winced at the harsh tone her brother's voice held; she didn't think it was possible for him to hold a grudge against anyone, even for this long. Gazimon, overhearing what Jenrya had said, marveled at how Jenrya's opinion matched the one he had about Lopmon. Before she had time to think it over, Jaarin changed direction and strode over to where Gazimon was. "Jaarin, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Jaarin nearly snapped back at her twin. "Someone's got to show him that not all humans are bad, and you aren't exactly the perfect candidate for that right now." That said, she squatted down in front of the scruffy-looking rabbit. "Hey there. You all right?"

Gazimon looked, surprised to see that the girl who had been glaring at him in anger several minutes before was now looking at him in kindness. "Why should you care? I'm the one who tried to kill your sister and her partner, remember?"

From where he was standing by his Tamers Impmon shrugged and commented, "Eh, we all make mistakes." He smiled a bit as Ai gave him a gentle hug.

Jaarin nodded in agreement. "Impmon's right; you were angry and you weren't thinking straight. Why don't you come with us, and we'll try to think of something to do to help you?"

"Hmmph," Gazimon snorted. "The only way you humans could help me is to give me a one-way ticket back to the Digiworld. There's no way I'm going to stick around here." Almost as if it was responding to what Gazimon had said, a bright orb of light appeared in the air between him and Jaarin. Instinctively the girl reached out and cupped it in her hands. The light faded away to reveal a D-Arc, one with a grayish-silver strap and edging.

Jaarin was now officially a Digimon Tamer, with Gazimon as her partner.