Author's notes:
First of all, I want to thank the kind Anon for the great review. It was a great motivation boost for me. As for the story, the plot finally thickens. It's time for our first real trip to the digital world.
Hinata once saw a dragon.
Actually it was a pair of dragons. They flew right over Tokyo with their black leathery wings. He could see them far away as there were no clouds over Shinokawa on that day. They had shiny red eyes and roared loudly. They made him shudder in fear on one hand but on the other hand they also fascinated him. Deep inside, he had always known that the fairy tale beasts were real.
The only thing that surprised him was their foreign look. They were not long and thin like normal asian dragons but buff and stocky like western ones.
Maybe even dragons take holiday trips to other countries once in a while.
"That was just a small airplane", his mother told him when he told her about them the next morning. "The roar was just a modified bike."
"But mom, they were carrying a carriage, like in those old movies."
His mother shook her head and laughed it off.
"It was just a dream, Hinata."
Then she patted his head.
"You know, I heard the dragons as well", Akio suddenly whispered to him later that day, while they brushed their teeth. "I looked at the street first, so I didn't see them but I can also say that there definitely wasn't any bike on the street either."
"Fo' 'eal?", Hinata asked with his toothbrush still in his mouth.
"Yes, without a doubt and don't talk with a full mouth."
"What do dragons want in Tokyo, there aren't any princesses to kidnap."
"Or to eat", his older brother added.
"Yikes, don't say that."
"Well with a roar like that, I doubt they're vegetarians", Akio teased him back.
A howling wind blew snowflakes over glaciers, while an aurora borealis painted the night sky green.
A modern city that looked like it sprung straight out of a steam punk novel hovered over the ground.
A white beach was filled with exotic palm trees, small waves from a clear, blue ocean crashed into the white sand.
A deep jungle was illuminated with colourful plants and had a small path that wanted to be explored.
All of this places held their own secrets, they were all part of the digi world.
All of this places also left Hinata staring at the screen in awe.
For Demidevimon, the places didn't feel particularly special. He had visited similar locations before, multiple times in the hundreds of years he lived. They had lost their charm a long time ago. Except for the beach, this always-sunny place had never triggered any positive feelings inside his cold heart to begin with.
"I guess it's futile to inquire which gate you're going to pick, child."
Said kid finally snapped out of his stupor when he heard his partner's voice.
"Can we at least visit two in one go, please?", Hinata begged with an especially strong emphasis on please.
"No", came the immediate and slightly sharp answer. Hinata's shoulders sank. Demidevimon sighed. He had the dreading feeling that this kind of discussion would repeat itself over and over.
"Kid, we don't have enough time for two visits today and if you don't hurry up I might have to cancel our visit all together."
"Okay..."
The boy still pouted but he seemed to understand as he straightened himself up. DemiDevimon silently congratulated himself on reading every book on children's psychology he could get his hands on in preparation for his fight against certain chosen nuisances. His efforts had been fruitless until now.
"I still can't decide..."
Maybe his efforts continued being fruitless.
"Try to eliminate a few choices at least. First, do you have winter clothes on hand?"
"No, I dunno where Mom put them."
"Only three to go."
"I dunno where she put my swimming trunks either."
DemiDevimon silently cheered. Albeit not very subtly as Hinata remarked, apparently he looked like he just drew the big price from a raffle.
"Honestly, I'm not surprised you don't like water. You don't look like you can swim very well", he continued further.
"Ts, I can swim but I wouldn't advise going for a swim in the digi-ocean nevertheless because you don't notice a Megaseadramon until it swallows you as a whole."
"Is it a champion?"
"Worse, an ultimate."
After another five minutes of arguing and some nudging on DemiDevimon's side ("the mechanical city is constantly under construction"), Hinata picked the gate that lead to the jungle. Then, the packing began. The boy managed to stuff his lunch box, his camera plus extra batteries, some comic books and two water bottles into his small backpack.
"Hey, we are going to a rain forest, right?"
"I assume so."
To his digimon's shock and disgust, Hinata ran back to his room only to return with a bright yellow raincoat.
"I remembered where mum put it this time", he announced proudly while weaving it in front of him. DemiDevimon wished he didn't remember. The shade remained him of a field full of sunflowers in full bloom. He loathed both, sun and flowers. Today might have been the first time in his very long live he wished for sunny weather in the digi world.
Hinata held his digivice tightly and took a deep breath. He was nervous and excited.
"Digi-portal, open!", he proclaimed with a surprisingly steady voice.
The bright, blinding light reappeared from the screen and consumed the two of them. Hinata could see hundreds of lights flickering around him before he found himself landing right on the ground rather harshly.
"Remember to land on your feet next time, boy", his digimon stated dryly while hovering above him.
"You can fly, that's unfair", said boy answered even drier.
Once he pushed himself up, Hinata could lay his eyes on the world of wonders in front of him. It was even more fascinating and beautiful than the little glimpse he saw on the computer screen.
A humid heath was in the air and he could taste the smells of the forest plants. They smelled similar to the jungle section of a zoo he had once visited and yet they were completely foreign.
The plant's look had the same familiar unfamiliarity. The shapes and colours were the same as in the real world but they were swapped in many places. The petals were green and the grass had a pinkish hue. Suddenly, he could hear a cry in the sky and when he looked up, he could see a huge orange bird flying over the trees.
"That's Birdramon, it's only a champion", DemiDevimon announced.
"There a lot of Dramons", Hinata answered with his eyes still focused on the bird.
"Yes, there a quite a few indeed. I see you're already learning the right nomenclature."
Rather than following the path straight into the forest, Hinata stopped every five steps whenever he found something new and interesting. DemiDevimon barely managed to shove him away from poisonous pollen by grabbing him by his backpack.
"You know, I saw a dragon once", Hinata suddenly started a conversation.
"Of course you did, human culture is full of them."
"No, I saw a real dragon, in Tokyo, four years ago. Maybe it was one of those Dramons."
DemiDevimon froze mid air. Could it be that this child had been among those he took hostage in search for the eight child? He knew that creating a narrative that portrayed his manoeuvre in a positive light would be rather difficult if the child indeed witnessed his true nature first hand. The Agumon line could be confused with dragons by any human who didn't know better and another child actually had a Birdramon. On the other hand, the child has never commented on his own appearance before.
"Four years ago you say? It must have been scary for such a young child to witness an bright orange dragon breaking loose in Odaiba."
"Huh?!"
Hinata blinked in surprise.
"Orange? Odaiba? My dragon was black and I've never been in Odaiba until last summer."
DemiDevimon almost bit his own tongue but managed to hold himself together. In the meanwhile Hinata finally counted two and two together.
"Wait a sec, are you trying to tell me that evil digimon were behind the attack on the TV station?"
DemiDevimon coughed.
"I would call them confused digimon rather than evil. The station ended up getting caught in the fire of particularly huge rampaging digimon."
Hinata looked at DemiDevimon, scanned his size and reminisced about the size of the orange bird. He had previously thought that Dan had been joking when he said the digimon last year had been big enough to fill the width of a river.
"How big is huge for a digimon?"
"Every form and shape is within the possibilities, there is no size limit."
Hinata gulped hard and glanced at the path in front of them. Suddenly, this fantasy world sounded far less wonderful.
The pair walked until they reached a small river, there Hinata called for a break. He unpacked the lunch and cut one apple in little pieces for DemiDevimon while keeping the other for himself. As they sat there together, Hinata's nervousness from earlier slowly faded away. He decided to pick up some of his comics while DemiDevimon scouted the area from above.
He was half through his first issue when DemiDevimon suddenly landed next to him, eying it with suspicion.
"Wanna read it, too?", Hinata offered him the comic happily.
"I decline, an oil painting or classic dramas would please me more. I prefer realism."
Hinata pouted.
"Just give it a try, you'll like it. I picked Batman."
His partner raised an eyebrow.
"He's the good guy who fights against Joker, an crazy clown."
"A bat against a clown you say, who wins?"
"The bat, of course."
The scowl disappeared from DemiDevimon's face. "Well, maybe this comic has far more realism that I anticipated", he stated while imagining himself to beating up Piedmon.
All of them sudden the leaves were rustling and voices drawing closer could be heard. Two plant digimon, a Palmon and an Alraumon dashed through the leaves next to them, stopping abruptly when they spotted the other duo.
"It's a humon, we're in luck."
"It's human, not humon."
"Greetings as well", DemiDevimon answered angrily since he had been left out and the two digimon ducked away from his glance.
"What's the matter?", Hinata asked.
Palmon took a few breaths, still being exhausted from running, before answering.
"Two Gazimon are terrorizing everybody that crosses their path."
"We tried to fight them but lost", Alraumon continued.
"Could you try to stop yourself in our name?", both demanded unisons.
Hinata turned to DemiDevimon who just nodded at him, signifying that he could take out two Gazimon easily.
"Sure."
Then he proceeded to put everything back into his backpack before setting of. The two plant digimon thanked them profoundly, listing all of the mischief the two virus types caused in the process.
"Don't cause to much ruckus", Palmon yelled after the two of them before they were out of hearing range.
"Teach them a lesson but hurry up", Alraumon added but wasn't heard anymore.
Searching for the two troublemakers wasn't a difficult task, they just had to follow the path of broken branches. Soon, they could hear the loud and cruel laughter of the culprits and eventually spotted them on a meadow. DemiDevimon instructed Hinata to hide behind the nearest bush and stay back.
Still hidden inside the forest, DemiDevimon flew atop a high branch and summoned his darts. He patiently waited until both Gazimon turned their backs towards him.
"Demi Darts!"
The needle hit Gazimon right in between the shoulder plates. He let out a loud, pained scream before collapsing to the ground, right in front of his shocked partner in crime. The second one looked around frantically.
"You damned-"
DemiDevimon shot into the air and flew a few circles over Gazimon's head and came to the ground a few meters away.
"Try to catch me if you can", he further taunted the opposing digimon.
"Pitfall!"
Gazimon screamed in blind anger before digging himself into the ground. DemiDevimon sighed in a dramatic matter before flying back into the air. Gazimon emerged back from the ground a few seconds latter only to find nothing but empty air.
DemiDevimon quickly darted towards the back of its head with both claws, knocking his opponent out before he could fully grasp what had just happened.
"Awesome!", Hinata cheered from his hiding spot and almost ran out of it.
"Stay back!", DemiDevimon yelled at him harshly. The boy was visibly taken aback but to his relief, he followed the order.
DemiDevimon could smell the other digimon before he heard it. It came closer at a very fast pace. A bright red beast jumped out of the woods and landed on top of a rock in the middle of the meadow.
"Boss..." The first Gazimon, who had just regained his consciousness, stated weakly. DemiDevimon snarled. He should have known that those feeble Gazimon wouldn't act on their own.
"You little punk!", their boss, a wolf like champion level, growled.
"I, Fangmon, will not tolerate anybody disturbing my territory!"
With that, the red wolf unleashed his sharp claws.