Wake Up, Mighty Lion

Rex pressed the button. To the shock of everyone present in the stadium, his body slowly but surely began to deteriorate. Bits of data one by one left his body, floating away like a swarm of butterflies before swirling around and concentrating themselves like a tropical storm. Rex’s arms and legs were already completely gone, and on his torso was a large hole growing bigger and bigger as the data storm grew in size.

“O-Oi! What’s going on? What are you doing?” Zain, having completely lost his grasp on his partner, asked with a shaken voice.

“Relax, I’m not dead yet,” Rex closed his eyes and answered with a serene smile. “You’re about to see something amazing… Well, maybe see isn’t a good word, but…”

Rex’s lower jaw disappeared before he could say another word. And before Zain could react to it, his entire body was completely gone, becoming one with the binary whirlwind left on the field. But the surprises didn’t stop there, just as the boy had predicted.

The data storm, as if having a mind of its own, covered Zain’s entire body in an instant.

“W-What’s going on, folks?” AIDE once again raised its voice, but in a situation that even a machine like itself couldn’t predict. “A large malfunctioning of data has erased challenger Rex’s avatar! I just double-checked his life signals in the real world, and they’re still completely fine, but what is this strange phenomenon? And now it is affecting challenger Zain too! Will the pair be disqualified before the game time is even over?”

True to the commentary, the data stream was slowly but surely eating away at Zain’s body as well. Since it was an avatar, he of course felt no pain even as his hand was slowly disintegrating before his eyes, but seeing your own body become nothing was never a comfortable situation.

“Is this what he felt? How… odd.” The thought crossed Zain’s mind when his right eye faded away, while he repeatedly opened and closed his remaining palm as if to feel his own body.

In the end, Zain’s avatar had also completely disappeared as well, merging entirely with the growing data. His eyes at the moment saw only darkness, but in a strange turn of events, Zain noticed that his brain in particular was still in perfect condition, perhaps even more than perfect.

“Hey, Earth to Zain!” Another voice sounded right beside him, but at the same time as far away from him as possible. “You still there?”

Realizing the familiarity of the voice, Zain responded in thoughts. “What the hell did you do?”

“I told you right? Something amazing,” even though he wasn’t able to see anything, Zain could still tell that his partner was letting out a mischievous grin. “Take a look at this.”

Zain’s senses started to return to him. First, his skin felt the wind on the field. His nose detected the faint earthy smell of the grass. His ears heard the erupting cheers from the crowd. His eyes were blinded by the sudden return of light. But at the same time, something felt… different. As if he wasn’t himself anymore, but he couldn’t figure out why.

“W-What an unbelievable turn of events!” Before Zain could ask himself any further, AIDE’s deafening cheer had already interrupted his train of thoughts. “After both challenger Rex and Zain disappeared from the stadium, their remnants gave birth to a completely new face! A new challenger, arising to the competition!”

“A new challenger… Whoa, whose voice is this?” ‘Zain’ spoke, but as soon as his throat made the necessary sounds, he realized that he was truly not himself anymore. His voice was clearer, more digital, and for some strange reason, sounded disjointed, as if it was two people talking at the same time.

He couldn’t see himself at the moment, and if he had a mirror, Zain couldn’t even tell what the current reflection was. The body had the same height and muscle bulk as Zain, but his hair was shorter, yet no less wild, while the brown color made the resemblance to a lion’s mane even more uncanny. Gone were his crimson eyes, now ‘Zain’s’ irises shone a bright amber, and his complexion turned paler as well – the same as Rex’s.

“Well, what do you think? Cool, eh?” Rex’s voice sounded from inside ‘Zain’s’ head.

“What… exactly is this?”

“A fusion. We can’t alter our avatar’s data, but when I was messing around with the codes, I realized there was a loophole that we could use. The thing I did just now was to initiate a forced log-out for both of us and create a new avatar with both of our stats combined when we log in. And by tricking the system to think the avatar represented both of us, we were logged into one body.”

“Then what you’re saying is…”

“Basically, this thing here’s got both our strengths combined. With my brain and your brawn, we won’t lose to anyone!”

“Heh,” a smirk formed on the avatar’s face, as Zain was the one who planned to say out loud. “Interesting indeed. Let’s see if what you said is true.”

“Hey, ref!” The avatar called out toward AIDE. “We’re still Rex and Zain! Let’s get the match going!”

“Wait, hold on,” before the AI could signal the continuation, the new body had already raised his hand for a pause yet again. “We’re both Rex and Zain, but at the same time, we should need a new name. ‘Rex and Zain’ sounds like a mouthful.”

“Oh, I got one!” Inside the shared consciousness, Rex happily declared.

“Buzz off, kid, I have the perfect name already,” Replying to him was Zain’s thoughts.

“Say them at the same time on the count of three?”

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three!”

“Bit!”

“Leo!”

“To all of you inside this cage! We are your hope! Your dream!” On the outside world, the avatar boldly declared, striking a pose with his finger pointing at the sky. “And to all of you pulling the strings on this show! We are your despair! Your regret! We are the undisputed King of the digital world! Bitleo is our name! Be sure to carve it into your minds!”