It was a dark chamber filled with tables made from marble, it table had intricate runes carved into them, standing at the room entrance was Juniko, she was all pale, she almost looked see-through from lighting in the room. She stood there staring in to the darkness of the room. Gatomber 25th, year of the Dramon that is the night I died, she thought to herself.

she turned to look at one of the tables, and she appeared on it, she stared down at her crumpled form still wearing her own blood as a crimson mask, the other tables were no occupied with Takajin, Mikuni, and Hikaru, all of them including had the life absorbing weapon of the Kurokami brigade sticking out of their chests, they were on their lowest but they will eventually kill them, herself would be the first to go because of injury they weren't treating, she watched herself gasping and screaming out wordless, her eyes now went blank, and her breathing slowed.

The scene faded to present day Juniko watching as her younger self, played in a field of flowers, a child version of Takajin appeared in the field, they ran together laughing and playing.

Digimon Sync Episode 25 "The Precipice part 2"

Thunderbirmon landed back at the Guardian sanctum, she helped the man off, and shouted "Someone get a medic" she helped him slowly to the Medical, they were half way there when Donica appeared with two other nurses, who helped the man on to a stretcher, and they carried him off followed closely by Sorami and Donica.

"Where are the kids?" asked Donica looking quickly back to Thunderbirmon's direction, and back to Sorami.

"I left them beyond, hopefully the explosion I set off killed them, I always intended for them to be decoys, and I don't need them anymore since the mission was a success" Sorami answer keeping pace with the stretcher.

Donica stopped and looked stunned at what Sorami had just said, and ran to catch up with the stretcher "You strung those along so you can get your father back but isn't it risk if they were captured, now instead of just having one digimon they now have four of them?"

"Not if they were killed I put enough explosive resin to take down that entire cave" said Sorami placing her hand on the man's shoulder, as he now barely mouthed words to, and she nodded and told him not to speak.

"What?" said Huang stumbling towards, he grabbed Sorami by the scruff of her shirt, and ignoring the look he was getting from her, that would have made any other man run for his light, he had heard everything and was furious. "I know I didn't like them, but they have gained some respect from me"

Sorami shoved Huang away, and ran to catch up with the stretcher, after mouthing the words we will talk about this later, instead of going after them for answers, began to turn and get ready to rescue his companions, only to be stopped by Drake.

"I am sorry but even if you did go, there is now a barrier protecting the infinite citadel, they went into full alert after the break in, now no one can get in" said Drake sighing looking off in the direction of the Citadel "Even if your friends are alive no one can rescue them at this current point in time, so just be patient, head back to the infirmary you are still in no condition to go anywhere"

Huang gritted his teeth and stormed off back to the infirmary, he felt bad not being able to do anything for his companions, he would figure out how to save them no matter what.

-Infinite Citadel-

Ankou walked into the room, that the digidestined they had just captured were being held, each one of them was strapped to a stone table, all of them had a data absorbing saber I their chest to weaken them so they couldn't get away, he walked up to Logene, who was looking over notebook, before turning to face him. Ankou took out his notepad, wrote something and handed it to Logene.

"No there digivice weren't on them" Logene replied, and looked over to Juniko "and I think one of them is on the verge of dying I can see it in her eyes" Ankou wrote something else, and handed it to Logene, who looked at it, and nodded "Yes I know that none of better not, and if one of them die you would kill me" he watched as Ankou turned and left the room.

"The digivice are with our digimon, and I am not telling you where they are" said Mikuni struggling with each of her words, it was taking a lot out of her even to do this, she would not give them the gratification of her passing, even the pain was intense and she felt like screaming as it felt like her chest was being ripped apart from the inside.

"We should have known you would do that, since you did the same at Tabula Rosa, if it was up to me you would be dead, do you what you cost by destroying my barrier, I had an infinite supply of people I could suck the life out of" said Logene walking over to Mikuni's table "I hope your friend dies so I can see the look on your face when I tell it might be worth seeing even though I would die too" a crooked rictus smile spread across his face looking over at Juniko.

"I will kill you myself, soon as I get free, it's a hero's job to rid the world of monsters like you" said Mikuni through gritted teeth, she was giving it all she had to remain conscious, which was visible even if she didn't want to be in her eyes.

[Juniko's mind]

Juniko walked through the field of flowers, the sun set in the distance, digi sprites, which were glowing balls off light started taking off from the flowers; there was her childhood version of herself and Takajin, this time her father was with them, he was telling them that Digi sprites were the spirits of those who have died in the past and haven't crossed over yet into the afterlife. Present Juniko watched them as they were enthralled by her father's tale, even though it was sad, it was always been an interesting story, was this her fate, and way her mind brought her here, so instead of being a digi sprite, she would accept her fate and cross over.

She watched the digi sprites as thy rose into the sky, it was such a beautiful sight to behold, even though grown so she wasn't exactly a child anymore, she still enjoyed watching this through the years, too bad she couldn't have children of her own and bring them here, a tear rolled down her cheek at that thought.

One of the digi sprites landed on her hand, and everything changed around, she was inside now, she was in the royal estate, it was decked out with lights, and gold streamers, it was Digi-Solstice also known as Digi-mas, her younger self in front a tree unwrapping present with Takajin and Hikaru, this brought back so much fond memories, this was the year was the one she got the Angewomon doll. Too bad she ended up wrecking it accidentally, but she was only a child back then. Child version of got up and hugged her father, then she hugged Takajin tightly too.

-Infinite Citadel-

Scythe entered the room, her hair a bright red showing she was pissed off. Following her was another robed figure carrying a medical kit; he turned and walked briskly towards Juniko, and started to treat her injuries.

"Ankou summoned us to treat their injuries since we can't let them die, their virtues are too valuable, if they died we would have to wait for the virtues to new digidestined" said Scythe crossing her arms as her hair turned a deeper shade of red.

After a few minutes the robed man who had been treating Juniko, walked around to the other digidestined and did a check up on them, and then returned to Scythe's side to give his report "other than a few bumps and bruises most of them are fine, it's the girl with the major head trauma that I have watch she could slip into a coma if not constantly treated and then never wake up" said robed man with panic in his tone.

Scythe nodded as them a spoke, not showing any indicators that she even cared of what he was saying, her hair was black now showing she wasn't feeling anything at all. "then treat her until she is out of the red I don't want Ankou pissed at us if we let her die" she said with her hair returning to a red color it was before, it was like talking now made her angry for some reason.

A look of disgust spread across Logene's face, he looked away when he noticed Mikuni was smirking at him, she was laughing at him; through the pain she was mocking him.

{Juniko's mind]

A swarm of digi sprites came out of the ground, and scenery changes, she was outside again watching her younger self and Takajin playing this time around the field stone, this was the first time they had been there, the stone glowing it was still protecting Digitopia, embedded in was the digi chip that soon would become Takajin's.

She walked toward her younger self, but the child faded as she got close to her, and so did Takajin, everything then faded to white, leaving Juniko alone, before it faded to another scene, this time it was her at the age of ten with her father, they were training with quarterstaves. Her younger self suddenly tripped and fell on her face, before she had time to start to cry, her father helped her up.

"What are we going to do to make you able royal bodyguard for the prince" he said laughing and patting the top of Juniko's head.

"I'll protect the prince and his family with all my heart" said Juniko raising her hand into a salute, before getting the rest of the way up by her own, she picked up the quarterstaff and charged at her father.

-Digitopia-

The protective barrier the field stone had given them for nearly a hundred years had been down for a couple of months now; nothing had changed during that time, except the addition of border patrols that were never needed until after the barrier came down. Yamato Maeda was doing his daily checking in with the border, but on the way to one on check post, she couldn't stop thinking about his daughter Juniko, who had chased after the prince a week after he left with Sorami. Something about today felt like he was walking on his daughter's grave for some reason. He now reached the first check post; there was a boy with strange garb between the two border patrol guards.

"What is going on here" said Yamato looking at boy, on further inspection was clutching a letter with some kind of royal seal on it, which he did not recognize.

"This child says he has a letter for the king from a royal family from a kingdom called Suzubuya, he says it's urgent and needs to be handed to them directly" said one of the guards.

The boy was scared out if his mind, like he was surrounded by predators that would rip him to shreds if he didn't watch them closely enough to know when to run, his sandy hair was encrusted with mud as was his attire as well, like he had traveled a long distance to get there. "Yes it's very important" the boy gulped mustering enough courage to speak.

"After he gets clean I'll take him to see the king myself" said Yamato Maeda placing a gentle on the boy's shoulder, both guards bowed and went back to the posts, as he guide but still wary of him, as he took him to get a cleaned and launder his cloths.

A couple of hours later, Yamato and the boy, now dressed in clean attire were standing in front of the royal throne, the doors opened and they stepped in, soon as the boy saw the king Zephirim, he went to his knees in a deep bow that his face touched the floor.

"This boy has a message for from a kingdom called Suzubuya" said Yamato Maeda gesturing for the boy to stand up. The boy did what he was told and got up, walked over to the king and handed him the letter.

-Infinite Citadel-

Ankou reentered the room, and walked around looking at the digidestined, it was like he was taking a measure of each of them, but it was hard to know what he was thinking with his mask on, without he looked like an ordinary middle aged main, but he did not seem like he was over 100 years old like people said he had to be. He lingered a bit when he was looking at Juniko but who knew what that was all about, it might have been that he was checking if she was mending properly. After a few minutes he walked over to Logene, wrote something on a slip of paper and handed it to him, whatever it was long, since it took him several minutes to write it down.

Logene sighed and walked over to Takajin, he pulled out the D-saber, and then slapped him across the face, Takajin was startled awake "good I have a question for you, how did it feel when the Animus touched you?" he asked with annoyance in his tone.

Takajin not paying attention he was staring over at Juniko and the others still pinned to their respective tables "let them go or else I swear I will kill you" weakly shouted at Logene. In response to his threat, Logene slammed the d-saber into Takajin's leg, causing him to scream loudly, and then pulled it out again.

"I asked you a question, you will answer it now" said Logene in a snarling voice, he raised the D-Saber to Takajin's throat. "Don't worry this blade does not cut it siphons the life out of you"

"It felt warm, like I was in the embrace of my mother, it soothed me making me feel like everything was ok" said Takajin through gritted teeth.

He went from table to table, and woke everyone except Juniko, she was in no condition to awaken all he would have been doing was increase her chance of dying. They each gave the same answer as Takajin. Logene left the room with Ankou, him talking to Ankou, with the other pacing him notes. It took them digidestined a lot of strength to not pass out this time from having the D-Saber placed back in each of their chests.

"What the hell is an Animus?" Hikaru asked weakly, she coughed as soon as she finished her question, her lungs felt like they were being ripped apart.

"I don't have the slightest idea, but it seems familiar for some reason" Mikuni answered trying to remember something "it's a powerful digital spirit, that was what my mom told me when I was little, she said that it's a good omen to see one, they are a Transcendent spirits of joy why one is here is beyond me"

"A good omen was floating over Ankou's chest" asked Takajin trying not to acknowledge the feeling of his chest was being crushed, he wanted this thing out of him but he bound to the stone table. "We need to find out why as soon as we find a way out of here"

Time passed at what seemed like forever, and the digidestined got weaker by the moment, the D-sabers were draining the life out of them with each moment they were there, it all looked hopeless for them, whatever the Kurokami brigade wanted for them was going to happen no matter that was. The door opened again and a cloaked entered the room it was either Ankou, Scythe, or Logene, this person was smaller than them, or they kept their face hidden by hood, and the lighting in the room made it hard to see under it. Mikuni was about to say some, when the person shushed her.

"My mistress wants you out of here" said the cloaked figure, she turned revealing that she was wearing the robes of a member of the Kurokami brigade; she walked up to each of them and pulled out the D-saber, and untied their bindings, she then ran to the door, and looked out it. "Coast is clear, my mistress does not approve of the torture of children so I am helping get out of here I'll guide you to a service entrance" she then left the room, after gesturing for them to follow her.

Takajin picked up Juniko, and hesitantly followed this mysterious figure, he didn't trust this cloaked girl but he had no choice, he guessed that the other knew that too since they followed as well. It was a different direction they went, of course since the path that Sorami brought them through was caved, he gritted his teeth thinking about that, it was older than the rest of the citadel, it had Lilithian all across the walls, it snaked its way downwards for what seemed like an eternity, when they were close to the bottom Juniko opened her eyes, but her eyes were glazed over, but she was now able to stand on her own.

"A wild digimon waits for you at the cliff's edge; he will fly you to safety, your digimon partner will be waiting there too" cloaked girl said touching the wall and it slid open, she turned to Takajin, and palmed him a piece, and he opened it revealing a map "if you go there you will be safe, now go"

The digidestined exited the tunnel, and instantly saw a Flymon in the distance; the girl had told them the truth. They stumbled toward it, but at that moment an alarm sounded from the citadel making the digidestined break into a run except Juniko who just stumbled faster, she was still Side effects of her concussion, and still fading in and out of consciousness.

{Juniko's mind]

She was in the field looking at her younger self but also fading in and out of reality, she was looking into the field and at the cliff they were trying to make their way to for their escape.

Suddenly the field turned into grey ooze, and she was sinking in it, it dawned on her what this was, this was one of things she had been shown by that mirror, she began to swim against the tide of ooze, she finally made it to the top, where she can see the shell, she cracked her way through it, and got out in the open, no one was out there this time, but a mirror, she walked up to it, and looked at her reflection in it, she screamed, and fell into a hole that appeared underneath her.

-Outside Infinite Citadel-

Everyone was making a mad dash toward the flymon, a horrible scream came from behind them, they turned to see Juniko clutching her arm, which was becoming metallic, and the rest of her apparel was getting darker.

Juniko stood up look at the incoming Kurokami brigade, and then looked at the rest of the digidestined, she slammed her now claw-like hand into the ground "Nazar Nail" she shouted, and energy wave sliced its way through the ground, it missed the rest of the digidestined completely but impacted the flymon killing it instantly, the piece of ground the digidestined were standing on came apart and they all fell into darkness

To be Continued?

Juniko was Lilithmon? And who was the girl who had rescued them? To answer these questions, and more, please tune into the next Digimon digital monsters!