It was kind of mixed feeling situation, meeting someone like Arukeni, a person so tormented, finally finding acceptance but having to die to get it, it saddened Takajin looking at the village now, and knew how his sister felt knowing Arukeni more than he did. The memories of the time here will last them a lifetime. Now suddenly out of the corner of his eye. He spotted something coming toward him, he turned to see what it was, the thing said something then jumped into his lap, he realized then it was Mikemon, he processed what the little cat digimon had said to him, she said that Juniko had been captured.
Digimon Sync episode 13 "Tabula Rosa"
"What was she thinking?" Takajin announced loudly making Mikemon edge away backwards from being startled.
"About you, like that wasn't very obvious from what I have told you" Mikemon replied Glowering at Takajin in annoyance through gritted teeth.
"Now we have to go find her" said Takajin throwing up his arms and gesturing emphatically, still trying the process what was just told to him.
"We better get going or do you want to yell at me some more while a friend is in danger I don't understand humans always freaking out at something stupid and missing the point of what is going on"
"She is right" said Halli, "but I can't come with you, I am helping the villagers rebuild their village, now hurry and be off you" she waved and headed back to the village.
Takajin made his way to the wagon to tell the other the sudden news, and leave the village to search for Juniko.
"Leave I don't really care, I only came along to get my hands on those who killed my family" said Huang absent mindedly stroke his digimon partner Babydmon's head.
"If it wasn't for her you wouldn't be here now, she helped me take care of you in your time of need, and how you can be so callous, and Juniko is like family to me, and my brother" Hikaru said accusingly pointing in Huang direction, who backed away like he had just been slapped.
"As leader, and champion of this party I say we go rescue, that is the digidestined way, and my rule of thumb, the innocent shall be rescued" said Mikuni smacking Huang in the back of the head.
Huang sighing in defeat "ok fine whatever let's go" he crossed his arms and turned away from everyone in annoyance.
"I know it was traumatic, but we need you Mikemon to lead us to where you were separated from Juniko, and we need to get there as soon as possible.
"Their journey to search for Juniko begins now, what they may find might test them to the very core" said Halli watching the wagon with the digidestined vanish in the distance.
-Hours later-
They were no closer to finding, from Mikemon direction they should have spotted the place or came in contact with the force field; they even had their digimon walk ahead of the wagon, except Babdymon, who just slept. This was getting they ended up having to stop for the night.
"I swear it was in this direction, I remember these trees I passed them several times while was escaping " said Mikemon jumping from the wagon, she picked a leaf from a nearby tree, and brought it back showing Takajin the various claw marks she had left on it.
Takajin sighed as they began to set up camp for the night, he wondered if Juniko was even ok at this point, he didn't want to find if she wasn't, and would harm the people who harmed her in any way, she is or was one of his best friends. This line of thought was making him homesick for Digitopia a place of fond memories that seem like a long time ago, even when it only has been a few months.
"I know what you're thinking brother, and you are wrong Juniko is fine, she has always been able to take care of herself, and I also miss home" said Hikaru placing a hand on Takajin's shoulder, and pulling her brother into a tight hug. "We will find her, and when this whole thing is over we will be home again"
"I know you are right, but with all the stuff that has been happening to us, it's hard not to be a little skeptical, you not to long ago thought we were all going to die and were freaking out, you have gathered your nerves a bit" said Takajin hugging his sister back tighter. "I feel my nerves are fraying a little"
"If she is dead then she is dead, then you don't have to lament her any more" said Mikuni passing by Takajin and Hikaru.
Hikaru just lost it, and charged at Mikuni, aiming to knock her block off, but was instantly floor in the process by Mikuni, who now had Hikaru pinned to the ground with her elbow. "Digidestined aren't supposed to attack each other"
"She has a point, but talking about a friend like they are dead already, isn't a way to talk around people who care about them, now let go of my sister please?" said Takajin through gritted teeth, as stared a hole in Mikuni.
Mikuni helped a pissed off Hikaru up, and then walked away to her tent, she just shrugged off the situation like usual.
While everyone was asleep, Mikuni snuck out of camp, and started walking in a circular pattern, stopped and started backing away slowly like she was measuring something; she nodded at her digimon partner Lopmon, who began to talk toward something, and suddenly was knocked backwards "I knew I spotted something weird, or should we take care of this ourselves" said Mikuni helping Lopmon up.
"This is important to them, they should be with us" said Lopmon stepping in front of Mikuni "and one of your rules is not to walk into the unknown without some kind of backup"
Mikuni nodded and headed back to camp, to tell them what she had found, and figure out how to get passed this barrier, she wondered about what was beyond it.
Morning came, and they were all standing in front of where Mikuni found the barrier, studying as the rocks they throw at seemingly when through yet actually do so at the same time. "We need to break through, Juniko is in there somewhere?" said Takajin anxiously at the others.
"Back away!" said Mikuni, as she and Lopmon, were enveloped in white spheres symbolizing digivolution, and Lopmon was now Vasantmon, and Mikuni was wearing the article of clothing, and black colored rabbit like eyes. Vasantmon now vanished and replaced by the sounds of bangs as he impacted the barrier, and she also punched the barrier, out of all the digidestined Mikuni with them, she has been able to work as a team with her digidestined. The barrier after an hour of pummeling, a hole shatters in it; they all rushed to get through it before it closed up.
"Welcome those who broke the barrier to Tabula Rosa" said a voice behind them that seeming came, and out from the shadows came a man dressed in purple robes "my name is Brother Roland, who you might be?" he smiled sincerely at them.
Mikuni looked the man over, "We are the Digidestined, and we are looking for someone who might be here, a Juniko Maeda." she said making into a flanking position behind Brother Roland.
"you are welcome to search for you missing friend, Follow me and I'll take you into m village, my people are kind of wary of strangers seeing you with me might smooth things over and make it easier to find who you are looking for" said Brother Roland "but the only problem your digimon will have to stay here, you will understand soon as you get there."
Hesitantly leaving their digimon behind, the digidestined followed Father Roland into his village, When they arrived they noticed something odd about the people in it, they had no digimon at all, there weren't any in sight what so ever. Were they all cursed ones, and why were there so many in one place.
"Are they all cursed ones" asked Hikaru looking around at all the people as they walked by them, it was kind of disconcerting of a sight to behold.
"No they had digimon but they gave them up, to be freed from their shackles, We are the pure ones, seeking to get rid of digimon for good, see the spire straight ahead, there is where we keep all the digimon of this village, we hope one day to cut the bonds between us and them" said Brother Roland pointing at the largest building in the village, it was an emerald colored skyscraper that almost reached into the sky. "You are welcome to stay as long as you want but your digimon can't come any closer than they are, it would put them in danger"
Despite no digimon the village, the people looked friendly, so maybe there wasn't any harm in observing the customs, since they were only visitors to their village, and they shouldn't be telling anyone how to live Hikaru thinking about Brother Roland had said as she looked around.
Brother Roland escorted them to the inn, for them to settle, before heading out for their search for their missing friend. A girl tanned complexion with bright orange hair, also dressed in a purple robe greeted them at the inn, she smiled at them as they approached, "This is sister Malison" said Brother Roland waving at the girl.
"Welcome Travellers to my inn, a place of sanctuary and peace, please wait in the lobby as I prepare your rooms" Said Sister Malison gesturing to her inn, the smile not leaving her face "you must be thirsty I'll send someone to get you drinks" she gesture a person, who went back into the inn. Takajin, Hikaru, and Mikuni followed Malison into the in, while Huang stayed outside, and set up camp, "Isn't your friend coming in too" she asked Takajin.
"He doesn't like being in the same room as any of us, it's just the way he is" said Takajin sighing in annoyance at the fact that Huang didn't learn anything from being abducted the last time he camped on his own.
Entering the inn, the lobby was elaborately decorated in marble and jade, it looked like a royal throne room, it was almost breathtaking to behold, it had sculptures of various types of digimon, some pedestals were empty showings sign they were removing them, which made sense since they didn't want anything to do with digimon for some reason.
"Malison before you go, I like to ask does your village have some kind of digimon phobia or something because I really don't get why its mind-boggling to me since digimon are a part of what we are?" Hikaru asked tapping Malison on the shoulder.
"Because they are evil, and I won't have any talk of them in my inn, either keep it to yourself or leave" said Malison, her expression now of complete hatred, like she had been personally insulted, "Sorry I forget you are travellers and are ignorant to the customs of Tabula Rosa, I'll explain as soon as you are in your rooms" she had reverted back to her pleasant demeanor.
-Tabula Rosa Forest-
Mikemon was pacing back and forth, her nerves were on edge, being away from her partner was making her a nervous; it had been days since she had last seen her, she was like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Babydmon slept soundly like there was nothing wrong, and Lopmon just climbed trees trying to spot his partner in the distance, and Sunmon struggled to get out of his carrying cage, Mikemon was now joined Moonmon who tried to comfort her.
"It's like a part of me is gone, I want it back now, they have my human partner and I know it, and I can't do anything about, she is out there my Juniko" said Mikemon "I want her back now!" she screamed into the air before starting to cry while now clinging to Moonmon. Something out of the corner of Mikemon's eye caught her attention; she sniffed the air for a second and then ran into the woods.
-Tabula Rosa Inn-
They were now in their rooms, the room contained two bunk beds, which was one bed stacked on top of another, which decided that it would be girls on one side and boys on the other side, which would mean Takajin got a bunk completely to himself since Huang refusal to come in. Wilhelm had also stayed back with the wagon.
Malison walked into the room, and shut the door quietly behind her, then pressed her ear to the door for a moment. She turned to face them "I'll tell you what is going on, and why we hate digimon" she sat down on the lower bunk of Takajin's bed "I'll start from the beginning, years ago when I was at least 5 years old, a plague broke out, and people started dying, no one could find a cure. everyone was freaking out, times flies and yet no hope in sight, until 3 years ago when they showed up a priesthood of the pure, they told us that to be cured we must give up our digimon And we did what we were told, we locked our digimon away" she said jumping in excitement "and the plague went away went we did so, We are all now the priesthood of the pure as well everyone in this village"
"They put up this barrier too?" asked Mikuni snapping her, as she just remembered something.
"Yes they put it up to prevent those with digimon from bringing back the plague, those like yourself, that's why I hope you find your friend and then leave right away. I don't want people to start dying again because of you bring back the Logene Virus" said Malison now glaring a hole in Takajin and company, before leaving the room "have a nice day" she slammed the door behind her.
-Tabula Rosa Forest-
Mikemon lost track of the figure, she sniffed around for the trail to return, she noticed movement across from her, and out of the shadows came Juniko, she ran up and jumped on and began to cry into her shoulder, Juniko stroked Mikemon.
"I am glad you are ok, when I woke up you were gone, I escaped to look for you couldn't get through the barrier, I couldn't get to you in time before they showed up, they said you took off on me I didn't believe one word of it, there is something wrong here I can't put my finger on it" said Juniko stroking away at the top of Mikemon's head, as she purred away. "I am going to investigate that temple of theirs" she let go of Mikemon, now pulling on some purple robes. "I am sorry but you have to stay here, if they see I have a digimon I won't be able to get in"
Mikemon sighed, "I understand, but you better be careful, you mean a lot to Takajin and Hikaru" she gave Juniko a stern look.
-Tabula Rosa Inn-
"These people are insane, how can digimon cause an epidemic like that all of us have lived with digimon our entire lives, in cities, In Kingdoms, we have traveled through villages filled with digimon, there is something wrong here, we need to find out what that is" said Takajin adjusting his goggles "when we are searching for Juniko, make sure to ask people about the Logene Virus without saying anything about digimon directly"
They opened the door to leave, but came back to face, more like face to gut with a very large man, he stared down at them, his face covered mostly by his cloak, he was running his fingers through his beard wordlessly looking them over, he was oddly familiar for some reason. "You have been invited to Brother Roland's daily mass at the temple, you are required to be there now" he said in a barely audible deep voice. "Now follow me"
With some hesitation they followed the large man, when they arrived at the temple; people were already entering in droves. All the people in this village seem to be all attending, instead of getting in line like everyone else, Takajin and company followed the large man in through a side entrance, The temple like the inn was highly decorated, but all the digimon sculptures have been all taken away unlike the inn, it was awe-inspiring, they wondered what was exactly worshipped here before the digimon purge.
They entered a very large room with stain glass windows, waiting for them there was Brother Roland standing in front of alter, he appeared exhausted "Hello Travellers" he said before turning to the large man "you can Leave Brother Iruhs, who grunted and left. He turned back to face them "I know you are looking for your friend still but I would like to extend an invitation to join my brotherhood, Digidestined are a thing of the past and should be left that way, embrace the future, but before you make up your minds though you can watch my mass, it will change your life"
To Be Continued
Who is this man really, and what is the truth behind the Priesthood of the Pure? To answer these questions, and more, please tune into the next Digimon digital monsters!