Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ My Heart is a Battleground ❯ Chapter 12

Chapter 13

 

Derek and Minomon were sitting in the middle of the woods. “You're almost as big as FanBeemon now.” Derek mentioned.

 

“You really look up to that brother of yours, huh?” Minomon squeaked, “That's good! You can be just like him now. Fighting monsters, saving entire dimensions, making new friends.”

 

“Just like… Jason…” Derek trailed off.

 

=-=-=-FLASHBACK-=-=-=

 

Derek sat at the dinner table with his father, two empty seats across from where they sat.

 

Derek grumbled, “Can I eat yet?”

 

“Were waiting for your brother,” Mr. Striker said sternly, “He seemed confident in himself, but it's clear he was afraid to leave us.”

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“We need to be sure that he and FanBeemon are alright,” his voice cracked and he brought a napkin to his eyes, “There's no guarantee that they'll come back at all.”

 

Derek sat there, his childhood innocence blocking the harsh truth from crossing through his mind. They waited in silence for a much longer time. It was nearly midnight when a bright flash came from a room upstairs. A couple minutes more, and someone appeared at the top of the stairs.

 

Mr. Striker jumped to his feet, “Jason!?” He asked hastily.

 

“No,” said the boy as he descended the staircase. He was about 16 years old, a Japanese boy with a sweater and a digivice that was very different from Jason's, “My name is Ryo Akiyama. Jason and FanBeemon accompanied me and my partner on our quest to stop Milleniummon.”

 

Mr. Striker extended his hand, and they met with a handshake. “He's told me about you, and Monodramon as well,“ he said, “Tell me… Are Jason and FanBeemon alright?”

 

Ryo lowered his head slightly. “Milleniummon is a very powerful foe. I've faced him many times in the past. Other children with partners have helped me in some of those battles, too. I do my best, but not everyone comes out perfectly okay.”

 

Mr. Striker frowned, “What are you saying?”

 

Ryo spoke up reassuringly. “They're both fine… relatively speaking… But he's not ready yet. First let me explain just what went on during that battle.”

 

Mr. Striker sat down at the table; he motioned Ryo to have a seat as well. “What is it that you need to tell me?”

 

“Well,” He began, “We finally found the area that Milleniummon was using to get at the world's core. It was in the middle of a large desert. We tried to ambush him, but his connection to me made that impossible. So we had no choice but to jump straight into battle. Monodramon and I bio-merged to Justimon right away, while CannonBeemon, FanBeemon's Ultimate stage, circled at a safe distance to provide siege support. Soon—“

 

“Hang on,” Mr. Striker interrupted, “What was that about you and Monodramon… bio-merging?”

 

“It's something I learned in another dimension. Basically, my partner digimon and I become one in body and mind to achieve the Mega level of Digivolution.”

 

“That sounds very…”

 

“Trust me, you get used to it after a while. Now as I was saying, we were in combat with Milleniummon, who was much bigger than us. Before long he grabbed us right out of the sky. Jason and CannonBeemon did the best that they could, but an Ultimate level just couldn't do anything to him. Milleniummon's manhandling eventually caused enough damage to separate Monodramon and I. He then used this opportunity to take Monodramon and use what little of him was left inside my partner to absorb him and integrate Monodramon's power into his own.”

 

“Is that why your partner isn't with you?” Mr. Striker asked.

 

Ryo nodded sadly, “This happened before, but this time he used it deliberately to digivolve to ZeedMilleniummon. The event alone created enough energy to open dimensional rifts in the sky. He then announced that his new plan was to destroy all worlds by opening a black hole in the middle of these dimensional crossroads.”

 

“I don't get it…” Derek spoke up. He had been listening to the conversation.

 

“It means he wanted to kill everything with a giant vacuum.” Ryo explained. He continued, “Now that I was powerless, I ran over to Jason and FanBeemon. They were exhausted from the battle, too. Things only got worse as ZeedMilleniummon began opening a black hole in the middle of the desert. I explained to Jason that our only hope was to give him my power, so that FanBeemon could reach the Mega level. He agreed and I gave all the power that was left in my digivice to his. Jason and FanBeemon bio-merged. They fused together to become TigerVespamon. Before anyone knew what happened, they used their lightning speed to fly past the black hole and behind ZeedMilleniummon. They finished him off by driving their energy lances into the back of each head, and balance was restored to the multiverse… for now.” Ryo had finished the story, and waited for Mr. Striker's response.

 

“That's a pretty amazing tale, I'd very much like to congratulate my son.”

 

“Sir, I have to ask you something,” said Ryo, “Have you ever found it strange that your son's digimon partner was so feminine-like?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I mean… Digimon don't truly have genders, but… They still have gender-coding as part of their personalities and appearances,” He looked up at Mr. Striker, “Look, I've seen a lot of Digimon Tamers on my dimension-hopping journey. Not many of them have opposite-sex Digimon.”

 

“I know they don't have real genders, which is why FanBeemon's gender-like traits have never bothered me.” He raised an eyebrow, “What are you trying to say, exactly?”

 

Ryo got up from the table, “Uh… H-Hold on a sec,” he said. Ryo yelled up from the bottom of the stairs. “FanBeemon! Bring him down here!” Muffled speech was heard from another room on the second floor.

 

“Come on, no more stalling.”

 

“No, I can't. I don't want them to see me like this.”

 

“Be a man!”

 

“Hey, alright! Quit pushing!”

 

Another teenager came down from the stairs with FanBeemon following. Jason's head hung low. His father ran over and engulfed him in a hug. “Jason! Oh, thank God you're safe! We've been waiting for HOLY RAPTOR JESUS YOU'RE A GIRL!” Mr. Striker jumped back in shock when he realized that he was hugging something with breasts.

 

“Yeah, that's what I said,” Jason looked over at her little brother, who was staring with his mouth agape. “Don't worry, kiddo. This was just a freak accident, I'm still your brother.”

 

Derek jumped from his seat, slowly walked over to Jason, and then hugged her tightly. “We missed you,” was all he could say.

 

Jason smiled and patted him on the head. FanBeemon landed and Derek greeted her with a hug, too. “Jason,” their father interrupted their heartwarming moment, “What in the world happened to you?”

 

Jason looked over at Ryo, they exchanged a nod and Ryo spoke up, “I can explain it better than he could.” Everyone turned their attention to him. “Organic matter is converted to its Digital World equivalent, data, when it travels from this world to theirs. The technique of bio-merging takes advantage of this. Think of it like this: On a computer, FanBeemon would appear as a special type of file: fanbee.mon. Jason would appear as jasonstriker.hmn. Digivolution from Rookie straight to Mega requires a lot of energy. The digivice can download energy into a digimon based on the Tamer's willpower, but that isn't enough for Mega level. The way bio-merging works is by using the digivice as a conduct for the Tamer's own life force. In order to achieve and maintain a Mega form, the Tamer and Digimon combine using a type of file compression. On a computer, fanbee.mon, jasonstriker.hmn, and a folder containing files for the digivice and all of its functions would be compressed into one folder called biomerge.digi. The file fanbee.mon would then receive data from jasonstriker.hmn and expand to become tigervespa.mon.”

 

Derek was sitting there with a blank expression of his face. “By using the digivice to combine, I act as a battery for FanBeemon's super-powerful form,” Jason explained in simpler terms.

 

“Ooooohhhh”

 

“You still haven't explained why my son is female,” Mr. Striker said impatiently.

 

“Right,” Ryo continued, “So, in the file for FanBeemon, there's coding for her personality and slight variations in appearance, resulting in what appears female in physical form. Jason's coding didn't match, so when they combined the digivice automatically altered Jason's coding to be compatible with the file in use, FanBeemon's. Apparently emotions and thoughts aren't the only things that need to be synchronized before bio-merging is possible. Gender-specific coding also has to match, but I was never aware of this until today. In past adventures, every time someone bio-merged with their partner, both of them were the same gender. After the battle when Jason and FanBeemon separated, Jason's form had changed to reflect the coding. And when we returned to this world, his DNA was reformed as if he had always been a girl. So the only thing male about him is his mind and soul.”

 

“Have you tried simply recoding those parts manually?” Mr. Striker asked.

 

“I can't. The immune system becomes a very strong security program when a human is converted to data. And the digivice acts as an external organ and combines with the immune system, giving it even tighter security. The digivice is the only thing that can access Jason's core coding. Even if I could, there's no telling what would happen to Jason if I tampered with his coding. He could end up missing half his head, or with a terrible disease. Or he may altogether cease to exist.”

 

“So you're saying Jason's stuck like this?”

 

“NO!” Jason's outburst startled her father, “I'm going to find a way. I'm leaving tomorrow to scour the digital world for the source of these digivices, and I'll figure out how to return to my original state.”

 

“Now just hold on there, Jason,” Mr. Striker said, “You're not going back there until you get your life here sorted out first. School starts in a couple weeks and we need to figure out what we're gonna do about your situation.”

 

“Exactly!” Jason replied, “If I find a way to return to normal before school starts, we won't have anything to worry about!”

 

“Jason…” Ryo said, “There's no way you can search an entire world for an ancient magic and succeed in less than two weeks.”

 

“Now listen,” Mr. Striker spoke firmly, “Running off without a clue isn't going to help. As your father, I strongly advise that you follow my advice and figure out a plan before you do anything that could—“

 

“In the last week…” Jason began counting off on her fingers, “I flew into a hurricane, I've been forced to kill an old friend, I've taken a good look into the past, I deciphered an alien language, I was held at gunpoint by a pixie,” he then threw his arms into the air, “and to top it all off, I sacrificed my manhood so that you jerks wouldn't be mangled in a dimensional rift and crushed into a singularity with the rest of infinity. I am not a child anymore!” She yelled, pointing at her father, “The only advice I'm taking now is advice on the battlefield.”

 

“Jason!”

 

“Jason!”

 

Both Ryo and FanBeemon grabbed Jason at each shoulder, lowering him into an empty chair.

 

“Calm down, you're still a little rumbled from the battle,” Ryo said.

 

Jason looked over at her partner. “Give it time,” FanBeemon said, “…It'll get better.”

 

Jason shrugged them off with a grunt. She got up and began walking to the stairs. “I'm going to bed.”

 

Jason soon disappeared from view, and a door was heard shutting. “Derek, it's late, you should get some sleep, too.” Mr. Striker said to his youngest.

 

“Okay…” Derek yawned. He waved goodbye to Ryo and went upstairs as well.

 

But before turning in the direction of his bedroom, he hesitated and went over to his brother's room. He cracked the door open to see the girl slouched at her computer desk, her head buried in her arms. Derek walked over and put his arm over her, hugging her meaningfully. She seemed to stiffen up, but otherwise didn't respond. After a while, Derek let go and went back to his room.

 

=-=-=-END FLASHBACK-=-=-=

 

“Derek…?” Minomon nudged his Tamer.

 

“Huh!?” Derek was freed from his deep thought.

 

“Come on, let's get some firewood.”

 

“'kay…” Derek got up and began walking with Minomon in his arms, and one thought was still stuck on his mind. `Just like… Jason…'