Small Town Bird in a Digital World [Luneth]

Buraimon had seen the lights of Terminus City glowing on the horizon for at least 3 days before he reached the metropolis. On the first night he had been curious about the strange glow in the horizon when he made camp on the Network Plains. The scent of his food had drawn the attention of local peasant digimon, but this was no problem, he shared his food in exchange for information.

That was the glow of the biggest city in the digital world, home to over a million digimon. Buraimon didn’t think such a civilization was possible, but he was determined to find out.

The second night was similar, with the city’s glow even brighter, and once again the peasants were drawn to his campfire, but closer to this fabled city, they spoke in more familiar terms of Terminus. In fact several of them told him that if he wanted to get there quickly he could catch a Trailmon and be there within hours, but this was a journey that he was determined to make on foot.

On the third day of travelling, Buraimon finally saw the silhouettes of the skyscrapers in the distance. Yes indeed, this was a city. But it took him the whole day to finally reach its outskirts. Here he made camp in the outer suburbs. In that night of rest, he was disturbed once and only once, by city urchins seemingly looking to take advantage of him in his sleep and commit thievery, but Buraimon was quick to draw his swords against them. He let them flee rather than destroy them, given that he supposed that they meant no malice, just opportunists seeking out a target.

Then on the fourth day, he continued toward the heart of the city, in awe of the structures about him. The closest to this that Buraimon had seen was the capital city of the DWR, and even then, this city was so many times more advanced and magnificent.

He reached the city centre at sunset on the fourth day, and at once felt his senses be overwhelmed. The lights were so powerful that they almost felt like daylight. His hearing was filled with the sounds of speech, vehicles and even some music. His sense of smell was filled with various vendor-carts cooking their street food.

“Truly incredible…” he muttered to himself, surveying his surroundings. He felt a little lost until he felt something pulling at his kimono from about his waist height.

“Oi, sorry, mister, just wondering if you’re standing in line?” a feminine voice asked. Buraimon turned to see a Gazimon with green eyes and long bangs of fur covering one side of her face. Buraimon blinked for a moment, then realized what she was asking.

“Ah, my apologies, I seem to have got lost in my thoughts. No, I’m not in the queue.” he answered her, and stepped aside so she could take her place in whatever queue was there. She took a step forward, hesitated, then turned to him again.

“So, I gather you’re new here?” she asked. Buraimon blinked, then gave her a wary look. Who was she to ask such a question? Eventually, he supposed that honesty was the best currency so decided to pay it.

“Indeed I am, admittedly I have never seen a city like this before.” he answered. “Even when the sun sets, the lights are so bright that it still looks like it’s day.”

“Ahh, country digimon visiting the city, eh? I get it.” the Gazimon said, a smile crossing her face. “How about you stay with me in line and I’ll shout you some dinner? This vendor makes some excellent kebabs.”

Buraimon was taken aback by this offer. He narrowed his eyes with suspicion. “Why would you offer me this?” he asked. “You haven’t even introduced yourself yet.”

The Gazimon gave a small sigh of frustration, but thankfully not at him, more at herself. “Right, right, sorry, we’re still strangers. Okay. I’ll be polite and introduce myself. My name’s Gaz. I’m a local Journalist. And since you seem like an interesting digimon, I’d be glad to offer to buy you dinner in exchange for you telling me your story.”

Ah, so it was an exchange of information. Buraimon lowered his guard, this seemed innocent enough, but he wanted to know more first. “I see. My name is simply 'Buraimon'. What do you mean that you’re a ‘Journalist’?”

“Well, it’s my job to gather news from sources and tell it to others.” Gaz explained. “How it works is that you tell me things you’ve witnessed, I write it down, and if my editor boss isn’t deciding to be an asshole then it’ll be put in the press and read by thousands of digimon that live here.”

Buraimon thought that sounded like a good opportunity. If this ‘Gaz’ wanted his stories and was willing to help him in exchange, then that would be fair in his view.

“Alright, I agree to this.” he said. “On condition that you show me around this city first. On my first step into it I was almost accosted by thieves, and I would very much prefer misfortunes like that not occur in future.”

“Ahh, I get it, you need a guide.” Gaz said, her smile being maintained. “Alrighty, that’s a deal.”

It seemed that in their conversation that they had advanced to the head of the queue. Now was the time to make their order.

“Two kebabs, please.” Gaz said. “I’ll have poultry and my friend will have…” she turned to him, “What do you prefer? Poultry or Mutton? They’re those meats at the back there.” she pointed to large rotating meat cylinders at the back. “Poultry is the white-brown one, Mutton is the red-brown one.”

“Mutton then.” Buraimon answered, thinking it looked more appetizing. Thankfully there was loud music being played nearby while they waited for their meals, and then once they were served they walked away. Buraimon found this ‘kebab’ meal quite delicious, pecking at the meat and vegetables alternately.

“So then, where are we heading first, Gaz?” he asked.

“Trailmon station, that’s the place you wanna be to get your bearings.” Gaz replied after swallowing a chunk of her meal. And thus they proceeded toward the station.