Digimon(2).EXE

By Wolf O'Donnell

WARNING! May contain Alternative Universe situations and out-of-character experiences. Upon reading this, you hereby agree that you forfeit all your rights to sue me and that I cannot be held liable for any psychological or physical damage caused by the fact that I use British English spelling and that this fanfic contains NO graphic depictions of a heterosexual and homosexual nature. Digimon is copyrighted by Bandai and Toei Animation Ltd. Wolf O'Donnell is copyrighted by Nintendo Ltd, although that might have nothing to do with the fanfic. Digimon(2).EXE is based on Rockman.EXE, which is copyrighted by Capcom Ltd. Constructive criticism is very welcome.

* * * * *

Transmission 03: Kids in America

Three friends sat together. Alice, Ruki and Takato all sat within the small cafe with one incredibly large ice cream sundae on the table. It was larger than Ruki's head and thicker than Takato's head. There was chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate sauce, nuts, cream and to top it off, a few red, fresh strawberries.
"Whoa, that's huge!" exclaimed Takato, as he looked at the bowl in front of him. "You sure the three of us can finish it?"
"With your appetite, I don't see why not," retorted Ruki. She looked towards the brown-haired boy and began to wonder where exactly Takato managed to put it all. He ate like a pig. Why wasn't he as round as one? "Really, Takato, you should stop eating so much. If you bloat up then I won't be your girlfriend anymore."
A frown appeared on Takato's face. That sentence didn't make sense to him.
"But you're not my girlfriend," he told her.
This surprised Alice.
"What?" she exclaimed in complete disbelief. "You two broke up... again?" Alice couldn't believe those two. They managed to get together during the Power Plant Incident when the Syndicate shut off the Orbital Space Ring's power, broke up soon after that, then they managed to get back together a week and a half after that. They had broken up a second time after Takato went off to the Earth and then got back together right after the Juggernaut Virus incident. A week after, they had broken up again, only to get back together again.
Keeping track of their relationship was a hard job.
"First you're together as a couple, then you're not," began Alice, "why don't you make up your minds?"
"It's not my fault," replied Takato with a mouthful of icecream. (Chocolate, if you're wondering). "Ruki's the one that keeps breaking up with me."
"If someone wouldn't be so dense, perhaps I would stick with that person," scowled Ruki angrily.
Alice sighed. So this was why they were so reluctant to get together and to speak to each other. She had suspected something, but she had no idea that it had come to being separate again.
"I wonder when Jenrya is going to get here?" she wondered out loud.

"You remember when we first met?" asked Jenrya, as he walked with Ryo down the street.
For a while, the brown-haired youth didn't reply to Jenrya's question. It was as if he didn't hear the Chinese boy.
"Yeah, I remember, Jen," replied Ryo with a nod of his head. "You were so shy, it was so cute!" He could remember seeing the red blush on Jenrya's face. "I had never seen anybody become that red before."
"Hey! You weren't exactly Mr. Confident either," retorted Jenrya in his own defence. "If I remember correctly, the only thing you could do was make one syllable noises."
"Back then we were both so clueless."
Jenrya nodded silently in agreement. He could remember denying his sexuality earlier on. He could remember denying that he had feelings for Ryo. It was blatant to everyone around them but to him and Ryo themselves.
"Remember when I went out with Alice?" he asked Ryo. "Was that a case of major denial or what?" He could remember feeling incredibly uncomfortable with Alice. All he had done during that date was talk about Ryo. "It was wrong of me to go out with her, just to prove that I wasn't gay. I used her and that was so..."
"Yeah, but she saw through everything, Jen," interrupted Ryo, as he discreetly took a hold of Jenrya's hand and held it tightly. "Alice is a smart girl, you know."
"Yeah, I know," replied Jenrya with another nod of his head. He could remember her breaking off their relationship. "I was lucky that she was so understanding. She's a great friend."
"Uh huh, she sure was," agreed Terriermon from Jenrya's D-Tector. "Say, you remember Summer Camp?"
"I sure do," replied Ryo happily. "It was when we all met up together. When we first met."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The sun shone brightly and the breeze blew gently through the leaves of the trees. This was the Earth and this was where they all met.
Jenrya had recently been given his D-Scanner by his father. His father worked as a scientist for the Officials, the guys who kept the Orbital Space Ring running. His full, real name was Lee Jiangling (surnames always came first in Eastern names) but he liked to be called Jenrya or even Jen. His friends always called him that. Well, actually, he only had one friend, two if you counted his virtual one.
The young dark blue-haired boy looked down at the D-Scanner. Within it was his only friend a D.I.G.I.M.O.N or Digitally Integrated General Information Manager and Online Navigator. His went by the name of Terriermon and was a wood-style vaccine-type Digimon. Jenrya lifted the lid of the mobile-phone-like D-Scanner to reveal the screen on its underside. On screen, Terriermon looked like a long-eared bunny with beige and green fur, just like Jenrya's favourite plush toy. In fact, his father had deliberately programmed Terriermon to look exactly like Jen's favourite plushie sot hat the kid wouldn't be scared of the Digimon.
"Well, Terriermon, we're here," said Jenrya timidly. He then turned the D-Scanner around and slowly moved it round in an arc to show off the Summer Camp to his Digimon.
"Wow, this is one neat place," stated Terriermon. "I don't see many computers though. What are you going to do out here? DigiBattle against other Digimon Operators?"
Yes, that was a possibility. However, Jenrya was far too timid to get to know the other guys around him.
"Maybe," replied Jenrya quietly. "No. I'm just going to be hiking, camping, maybe swimming and even playing soccer with the other kids." Well, he hoped that he would be able to play soccer with the other kids. He tended to get left out of games.
"Jenrya? Jen is that you?"
That voice sounded familiar. The half-Chinese, half-Japanese boy turned his head by forty-five degrees and saw a very familiar face. He had not seen that face in a long time.
"Takato?" he exclaimed in complete disbelief. He couldn't believe it. Jenrya rose to his feet and looked on in disbelief. It was the same scruffy brown hair, the same blue shirt with the hood, the same beige, three-quarter cargo pants. "I... Man, it's been ages since we've seen each other."
He rushed straight towards Takato and greeted the youth with their secret handshake. It was every bit as outrageous as the secret handshakes kids normally come up with and was just as potent.
"I haven't seen you since you and your parents moved to Inphynitio," stated Jenrya.
"Yeah, it's been a long time," agreed Takato with a nod of his head. "How've you been?"
"Pretty good," replied Jenrya with a smile. "How's about you?" The look on Takato's face worried him. He had never seen Takato look so worried and nervous before. "Takato, what's wrong?" he asked his old, best friend. Jenrya received no reply from the brown-haired kid.
Guilmon, Takato's Digimon, had to answer Jenrya for him.
"Takato's been bullied lately," replied the fire-style, virus-type Digimon. "There's this girl at camp that likes to pick on kids that are weaker than her."
"Ever since I arrived two days ago, she's been picking on me," stated Takato, nearly breaking down into tears.
These were the days before Jenrya took up Kung Fu lessons, so he wasn't very confident and nor was he capable of defending his friend from the advances of a bully. It was because of this that Jenrya had nothing to say and no words to comfort his old friend. Jenrya remained silent, unable to think up of a single word. He could not think up of anything to save his friend.
The only thing that Jenrya could think up of to say was, "Have you tried staying out of her way?" Yet from the look on Takato's face, Jenrya knew the answer to his own question. He had never seen Takato so miserable before. "Don't you worry, Takato. Stick with me and you'll be all right. She can't possibly beat the both of us up."

The brown-haired kid looked towards the dark blue-haired kid with azure blue eyes. He then glanced over towards the brown-haired kid sitting next to the dark blue-haired one and then back towards the dark blue-haired kid. From the talk around camp, he had heard they went by the names of Jenrya and Takato and that Ruki had it in for them. He saw the one called Jenrya look up and then glanced back down at the marshmallow he had toasting near the fire. He didn't want to be caught staring at the kid, after all.
"Is something wrong, Ryo?" asked the kid's Digimon.
"Shh, be quiet, Monodramon," hissed the brown-haired kid through clenched teeth. The counselors had stated that D-Scanners weren't allowed, yet he had smuggled his in. After all, it was a birthday present that his parents had bought for him and he cherished it very much.
"Huh? You say something?" asked the brown-haired girl next to him.
Ryo turned round to look at her. Brown hair, brown eyes and a cute smile on her face.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I was just wondering what happened to those two," stated Ryo quickly, as he gestured discreetly towards Jenrya and Takato.
"Those two? Well, Ruki doesn't like them," replied the girl. She sighed. "It's a shame, really. I kind of like the brown-haired one. He's cute." The girl sighed again. "I just hope that he'll be okay. Oh! Yeah, my name's Juri by the way. What's yours?"
"Ryo," came the reply.
A smile spread across the Juri's face. She then sidled back and gestured towards the blonde girl next to her, a girl whom was dressed in Gothic style black.
"Ryo, this is my friend, Alice," announced Juri, as she gestured towards the blonde girl. "Alice, this is Ryo." She then glanced back towards Takato and sighed again. Though she was young, about eight years old, she still knew the concept of love.
"It's nice to meet you," stated Ryo politely.
"Yeah, likewise," replied Alice in a dismissive tone of voice.
Ryo felt kind of awkward in the silence that followed. It was the sort of silence that make one wishes that they were somewhere else and not within the silence.
"So, Alice, what do you think of those two?" he asked. "It's not really fair that they should be hurt like that, right?" Perhaps he should befriend them. After all, he was charismatic enough to have a load of friends (none of whom were at the camp, by the way). "Right?"
"I guess that Ruki is a jerk," replied Alice non-chalantly.
More silence. Ryo felt awkward again. Juri was staring intently at Takato. Alice was being moody. And Monodramon had to keep quiet or else be confiscated by the counselor. The youth decided to have a look around and see who else was there. Perhaps he could see a familiar face if he looked hard enough. And sure enough, he did. It was that of Ruki and she was glaring at Jenrya and Takato.
The brown-haired youth had no idea why Ruki could hate those two, especially someone like Jenrya. Ryo found himself liking Jenrya with every look of the dark-haired youth. He had no idea why. It was like some kind of gut feeling that he and Jenrya would get on very well together.
There was suddenly more silence and Ryo found himself being overwhelmed by it. Ryo could remember what his parents had once told him. Find some common ground. He had used that technique with Monodramon and the two of them had become best of friends.
"So, do either of you have D-Scanners yet?" asked Ryo curiously.
"Oh, yeah, I have one," replied Alice. "Do you?" She received a nod in reply. Interesting. "What style and type is your Digimon? Mine's a normal-style, data type. His name's Dobermon."
"Mine's a normal-style, vaccine type," replied Ryo. "His name's Monodramon and he's the coolest."
Juri laughed.
"No way!" she protested at Ryo's comment. "My Leomon is the coolest. He's a normal-style, vaccine-type as well, but he kicks arse!" Juri went on to describe how he was strong and quick, brave and wise, and how he wielded one mean looking sword like a pro. "So, when did you get yours?"
"A week ago on my birthday," replied Ryo. "You?"
"I had to save up money before I could buy mine," replied Juri quietly. "But it was worth it."
They continued to discuss their Digimon and to say how theirs was the coolest and greatest. They even went on to discuss what DMDs each one had and which was their favourite ones. Ryo liked the Goliath DMD. Alice liked the Cannonball DMD. Juri liked the Hyper Speed DMD.
"Your DMDs are all weak," exclaimed Alice, as she heard Juri's list.
The girl shook her head with a smug smile on her face.
"No they're not," she said. "Let me tell you a secret. There's a glitch in the DMD System not many people know about. If you activate certain DMDs in a certain order, they'll merge into one bigger and more powerful DMD." She saw the incredulous look on their faces. "It's true!" They still looked at her funny. "Look, I'll prove it to you," stated Juri sternly. "If either of you have your D-Scanner with you, let's have a duel."
Ryo looked sideways towards the counselor.
"Are you nuts?" he asked her. "He'd confiscate them if we brought them out now."
"You're right," agreed Juri with a nod of her head. "How's about we have a DigiBattle later tonight, after lights out?"
"Yeah, sure," agreed Ryo with a nod of his head. Out of the corner, he saw Ruki rise up from her seat. 'I wonder what she's up to?' he thought quietly to himself, as he watched Ruki walk straight towards Jenrya and Takato. He really wanted to rise up and defend the two, but he found that for such a small girl she cut a rather formidable figure. "I hope those two will be all right," he found himself muttering under his breath.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Ryo opened the door for Jenrya and ushered Jen in first. The two entered and were greeted with a rather sour looking bunch of friends.
"Well, if it isn't the love birds," said Ruki bitterly, giving the two of them only a peripheral glance out of the corner of her half-lidded eyes. "I bet you're loving this, aren't you?"
Jenrya looked at Ruki and then towards Takato and then at Alice. This was insane. They had agreed to meet in a little ice cream shop in the Administrative Region of Inphynitio, which happened to be in between the Administrative Regions of Spyrol and Dyjitopia. He had technically come all the way from a neighbouring administrative region to visit Takato and Ruki and this was how he was being welcomed?
"What's her problem?" he asked Takato.
"Ruki's being difficult, again," replied Takato.
It was times like these when Ryo wished that they would just meet in a chat room and talk to each other there. But no... they had to meet each other physically in the Real World.
"Being difficult?" he asked.
"Takato's the one that's being difficult," snapped Ruki sharply. "He's so thick he forgot our anniversary."
This got a frown from Ryo. Anniversary? He could have sworn that Ruki wasn't the type to care about that sort of thing, but apparently he was very wrong. Ryo wanted to point out that she didn't seem to be the type that cared about anniversaries, but after taking another look at her, he decided that would have been the worst possible option. He merely turned round to look at Jenrya with a frown on his face and then back towards the others.
"This is going to be difficult," sighed Jenrya.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"This is going to be difficult," sighed Jenrya, as he sat within the bed. He shared a bunkbed with Takato and was graciously given the top bunk by Takato. "We can't face Ruki." She had demanded them to meet by the lakeside. There, she would pound the snot out of them. "She'll cream us."
Takato lay awake on the top bunk, staring up at the wooden ceiling of the cabin house.
"Yeah, but if we don't go, we'll be branded cowards by the rest of the camp," stated Takato. "Even worse, she may come after us."

The stars twinkled brightly in the night sky above her. Juri looked up and sighed. It was such a beautiful night sky and yet, even though the moon and stars shone brightly in the velvet of the night sky, her home– the Orbital Space Ring, did not shine. She would have thought that such a peaceful place like the Orbital Space Ring and its four administrative regions would have shone just as brightly.
"Do you think they'll show up?" asked Juri, as she sat there in the darkness.
"I'm sure they will," replied Leomon, her Digimon. "I could hear a curiosity in their voices, a determination to challenge for a challenge. They'll come."
Suddenly, Juri heard a rustling of leaves. She stood up and turned her head to face the direction of the noise and waited. The period of silence was agony. It was almost as if fate had decided to draw out the length of the night towards infinity. She hated that. The girl saw two boys emerge and not one amongst them was Ryo. Juri recognised them, however. She recognised them as Jenrya and Takato.

To be continued...