Clenched between Juniko's index and middle fingers was the Digi chip of light, she felt its pain, it was tortured and damaged. It was pretty much running on fumes, her Digi chip, one of the virtues of purity was keeping it from dying like a mystical lifeline, preventing it from dying. She didn't know how long she could keep it from a very painful fading from existence, she was actually using this to keep her mind off Takajin, and those that are missing with him, Aethermon couldn't have been telling the truth, he was lying to fragment her mind. Making her lose herself in grief, and take revenge, instead of searching for the new digidestined to take up the virtue of light.

Virgil walked up to Juniko. Swallowed, and then began to speak "I searched the archive, everything to do with the vision of the person, that's supposed to take up the digi chip of light, is very badly written, and only describe her as a girl in a strange outfit, whoever wrote this was lazy" he said, looking apologetic, in his lack of discovery. "I Am so sorry my great old one"

"Can you stop calling me that, I am not great, neither am I old, you are the one that's older than me by 5 years for crying out loud, you're 19, I Am 14," Juniko said, again using something else to distract her from her missing friends.

"Sorry Princess… is that better" Virgil said, in his now annoyingly serious tone, it had been days since they had retreated from Primary Village, their presence there was putting the entire village in danger. Dealing with everyone on a daily basis was starting to get one everyone else's nerves, even the archive was way bigger than it looked on inside than it looked on the outside.

Juniko sighed when, she caught sight of Enna hovering on the other side of Virgil, who was getting ready to pounce on them both, she was too cheerful for her own good, and needed to be taught what personal boundaries are. "Um Enna, Hi, how are you today, " she said, stepping to one side as, as Enna only tackled Virgil, knocking him off his feet. She refrained from chuckling at the scene in front of her. "Isn't she a little young for you, Virgil?" Even though Enna could be annoying, she was kind of good distraction, for stress relief.

"Question, Enna, if you are with us, who is taking care of your garden?" Virgil asked, finally getting the young girl off him.

"A mother is doing that, I told her I needed to help friends, and she completely understood" Enna answered, in her cheerful absent-minded tone.

Digimon Sync 02 Episode 3 "Moving Forward"

"How are things in your order, how does it feel not being a digidestined anymore" Huang asked, Sorami, "and how does it feel that someone who is technically your great aunt is younger than you?"

"Everything is going great, with my order of sages, and the freedom of not having to have fight evil, but it is weird, she is the age of someone who should be a younger sister or cousin, I try not to think of that, it makes my brain hurt" Sorami answered, scratching her head. Suddenly her father was standing front of her, coated head to toe in blood, the sockets of his eyes were empty black voids.

"You were afraid, you would eventually become like me, so they would have put you down, like a dog, sliced in half, "Tajiri said, as he started to split in half, beginning with his face, and he folded like a banana peel, blood spraying into Sorami's face, she begins to freak, wordlessly screaming for him to go away.

"Didn't you go to a bonding ceremony, so she is now your half-sister, and her mother is yours" Huang said, unknowingly snapping Sorami back to reality.

Sorami blinked and, and Tajiri was gone, and she was now alone again with Huang "Yes, since my father was defeated, they are the only family I have" she said, trying to calm herself. He had been only a figment of her imagination brought on by being near digidestined again, which wasn't their fault, that they had reopened old wounds. Virgil was a digidestined and he didn't have this kind of an effect on her.

"My two brothers, are the only family I have, they are on-board, I didn't feel right leaving them behind, the Ouroboros knights could go after them to get to us, who knows what they are planning right now" Huang said, examining the palms of his hands. "Actually, the rest of the digidestined, are like family to me too, even if you aren't one anymore, you are still family to me"

Sorami, and hugged Huang "Thank you," she said, "I needed to hear that, I did miss you guys, but I am fine"

-Green Zone Wasteland-

Erebosmon stood looking down at the ground "One of my children were destroyed here, " he said, crouching to the ground, placing his hand on a specific spot "Arise Ikelosmon" a shadow curled around his hand, and formed into a little blob.

"Father, I am sorry I failed you" The Blob said, nuzzling into Erebosmon's hand "please give me another, bring me back to full power"

"You will have another chance, but no, not at full power yet, you will be a digimon partner to one of my digidestined" Erebosmon said, stepping aside, to a figure in a cloak. He handed the blob to the figure, it turned into a Digi egg. "You and the rest of you hunt down and kill my sister's digidestined, do not kill Juniko, I want her to watch, her world falls apart." The one he gave the blob to, was joined by three other cloaked figures, who were also holding digi eggs of their own.

"Are you happy with my creations, the digidestined of Cruelty, Hatred, Fear, and now, what is this one?" Karone asked, looking at Ikelosmon "You severed this digital link like the rest to give him a new digimon partner"

"Severing Digital links are a mere pittance, I can do it in my sleep, He is Chaos, he will lead the others to hand out my vengeance" Erebosmon said, as the one he was talking about began to laugh insanely. "Chaos, don't let your partner fail me again. you have what you need to draw them to you, use it where I have told you"

"

The hood pulled back to reveal a boy, tan complexion, his spiked hair the color of slate, his eyes a color like the horizon of a black hole. "So kill them, and make Juniko watch," he said before pulling the hood back and him, and the other digidestined with him vanish into the night.

Erebosmon picks up a cage, inside are sickly digimon. He hands them over to Aethermon "Take these creatures and kill them," he said, with a great deal of venom in his tone.

"Yes father" Aethermon said, taking possession of the cage, and shook, the digimon inside were so weak, they couldn't move if they wanted to.

-The Archive -

After changing into his Orange and red, tunic and pants, Leoben, finished combing his black hair, before headed out to, look for his friend, who was hiding from everyone else on the archive, she didn't like people with digimon, which was the reason, he kept his digimon away, because the girl formerly known as Echo, now known as Sakura, was what people referred to as a cursed one. Very few people have ever been nice to her, except Kaoru, and the orphans she grew up with after she had been rescued. He found in her, eating her lunch, he took a seat beside her, she wasn't eating at this point, she had been running a hand across the scar on the bridge of her nose, it represented her deep emotional trauma, her own father did this to her. When he had been drunk, he carved it on her face with a shard of glass.

"Oh Hi Sonic… Sorry I mean Leoben" Sakura said, brushing her long blue hair out, of her eyes, so she could see him properly.

"You may call me whatever you want, we are friends, we grew up together, we are like family" Leoben said, "Being here must be difficult, it was easy avoiding people with digimon when we were in Primary Village, now almost everywhere you go, they are there"

"But I want to help you, I need to work out my issues, so I can be by your side, fighting this evil, I missed out the chance before, because I ran, left you to fight on your own" Sakura said, her pain visible on her face.

"But I wasn't alone, I had my fellow digidestined, but I know what you are talking, none of them were you, they might as well have been strangers, but I got to know them, and I am still getting to know them. Maybe they could be your friends too" Leoben said, as he placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"You could be right, but it's not going to be easy, they have digimon partners, what if they react to me like everyone else with a digimon partner that isn't a part of our family, those people who tried to kill me at every chance they had. I have so many scars, both physical and mental I don't know anymore" Sakura said, as she played around with her food, she rolled around a tomato with her fork. She stopped when something caught her attention in the corner of her eye, and she turned it was gone. Whatever it was, was gone now.

"What is going, what did you just see?" Leoben asked, noticing his friend had turned to look in a random direction.

"There is someone else down here, and I know it's not one of the refugees or any of those sages, none of them would ever come this far into the archive, it's too scary for any of them" Sakura said, exanimating the chamber floor. She had learned tracking, since she had to hunt down food for herself and the rest of the orphans. Which was the reason she also wore Camo, that was brown and green.

Leoben knew fully what that expression meant on Sakura, she was in full tracker mode, and wouldn't give up so easily on finding what she was searching for, she once hunted a wild goose for days, nearly starving herself in the process, not eating a bite of any of the food she brought with her until capture it, and brought it home. She passed out as she came through the front door, it took her days to get healthy and mobile again. "This could be nothing but an animal that has made its home in the archive, it's been around for nearly a hundred years" he said, giving Sakura a concerned expression. But she wasn't paying attention, she was already in a crouch position examining the floor.

"It could be an animal, but it's better safe than sorry" Sakura said, finally acknowledging Leoben's presence again, without listening to him at all. She proceeded forward, while he followed closely behind. Things got danker, and darker as they advanced further. Who knows what they would find. An hour of snaking corridors, they reached a weird ornate door, covered in glyphs, that they couldn't read, some ancient language, which looked similar to Lilithian script. Sakura ran her hand over the door, like the rest of the archive it was metallic, but a different metal than everything else, she hesitated and pushed the door open. She moved it a few inches, then the door opened the rest of the way on its own. The first thing they saw was a strange device playing music about sailing across the sea. But when they entered it stopped, and vanished like it hadn't been there to begin with.

"That was weird" Leoben said, feeling uneasy about where they were, even with that he followed Sakura into the room. As soon as they were inside a man appeared, but he was flickering in and out of existence as they got closer to him, he wore a purple and blue pinstripe suit. When they were in arm's length his eyes flicked open.

"Hello, I am Arthur, and welcome to the core of the archive's entrance, do you want a tour, it's been a long time since any new people have visited me" the flickering man said, gesturing to the elevator that came up behind him. Sakura didn't hesitate, but Leoben did till he noticed, his friend went on without him, then he ran to catch up. When they were inside, Arthur was suddenly there too, the elevator door closed, and began to descend.

"The archive has been around for hundreds of years, when I was alive, I was its creator, I put my mind into my work literally and figuratively, by transferring my mind into the core itself, which I also maintain so I can live forever" Arthur said, without looking at them "Look at the core isn't it beautiful?" A window opened in the elevator, and in the distance and getting closer was a big glowing sphere, made out of Ones and zeros, they stopped right in front of it, and the elevator door swung open, revealing it and all its glory, "This is a relic older than time itself, the digital engine of storms"

"It's singing, it vibrates like the building in the Vale of Lilithia, beautiful, and calling me to it" Leoben said, like someone that had just fallen in love.

"What are you talking about, its singing, and it's beautiful, but it's not calling to me?" Sakura said, looking at Leoben like he had just lost his mind.

"Maybe because I am a digidestined that its calling to me" Leoben said, snapping himself back to normal.

"Digidestined you say, I have heard of you, whatever that has been logged into the archive I know, I wish I could see an actual Digi chip, also known as a virtue of Lilithmon, Damien didn't show me his when he came down here" Arthur said, with complete wonder, and curiosity.

"I am the digidestined of reliability" Leoben said, hesitating before showing Arthur his Digi chip.

"Wasn't that Damien's Digi chip, that means he is departed this world, I am sad to hear that, he was a good friend" Arthur said, not showing in his tone that he was actually upset. "Oh well, let's continue with the tour"

It was a tour that featured, the gears of the archive, as they whizzed and whirred, maintaining various facets, glowing screens with technical read out, some screens displayed that was being written at that very moment, document and saved, at alarming speeds. It was somewhat impressive by scary actually seeing where are the knowledge held with the archive had been obtained, people who were born, and people that have died. New wild digimon and where they flock, and everything in between. A machine that seemed to go on forever. Leoben wondered if Virgil had ever been down here, he probably hadn't since he would have never left this treasure trove of knowledge especially with his curiosity. Sakura seemed not so impressed as he was, every time he looked at her, she seemed rather bored, and didn't want to be there.

Arthur stopped talking and moving "You are a digidestined, why didn't you defeat Lilithmon?" He suddenly asked "You had the chance, but made the choice to aid, her instead, I am just curious?"

"She turned out not to be evil, when she fully awakened to who she had been before, there was no reason to defeat her again" Leoben said, in a matter of fact tone "Scythe our foster mother, taught us about how she used to be, and I was never going to fight her at all"

"Yeah, same with me" Sakura said, taking measure of Arthur, taking the question suspiciously.

"Good to hear, anyone is worthy of a second chance, even with all those have done in her name, but she has a lot of blood on her hands. She has a long way to redeem herself, before she can put it behind her," Arthur said, a smile creasing his face.

They finally reached the core, that hummed like a beating heart, it was a digital core on steroids, it towered over them, around it were complexes that looked like buildings, an entire city built around it, it looked almost like a replica of Lilithia, but not at full scale. The buildings hummed in unison with the core itself.

"Those buildings, house, my descendants, who maintain my program, you will meet them someday, but not now, they are recluse, and won't take well to sudden visitors, I need to prepare them for you, I need to scan you, and show them your images. Assure them you mean no harm, it will help that you bring down your fellow digidestined, so they can meet them too" Arthur said, raising his left hand, flashing a bright light towards Sakura, and Leoben "scan complete, you may go, but please come again" he ushered them back to the elevator, they entered it, and it took them back up.

-Center of Arukeni Village-

The village was peaceful, despite being surrounded by darkness, the village was self-sufficient and no one needed to leave, for supplies, woman in a brown cloak with gray hair, stood, at a monument, shaped like a young girl. The gray haired woman's name was Yorda, she was paying respect to town's savior, who a year ago sacrificed her life, to save everyone in her village, which was now named after her. There were several bouquets of flowers already, she was adding her own.

"I wish your death hadn't been necessary, before we finally figured out, that you had a purpose here," Yorda said, a tear flowing from her right eye, followed by her left. She gave a quick prayer to the monument, then turned and left. Once she was gone a figure cloaked in shadow appeared, it stood before the monument, they pulled object out of their pocket, which glowed with an eerie light, they placed in on the monument and then they were gone.

-Archive-

"There were quite a lot of interesting machines, maybe if we can get use of them they could help us find the new Digi chip of light user" Leoben said, turning to Sakura.

"Why should I care, the digidestined can do whatever they want, nothing they do can ever affect me much" Sakura said, more harshly than she intended to, but didn't care at all about, how it would be taken.

"How can this darkness that is coating most of the world not affect you, you go out in it and that stuff would turn you into a monster" Leoben said, snapping at his friend's stupid comment.

"At least as a monster I would have no care in the world, maybe life would be more bearable, I wouldn't have to hide" Sakura said, as the elevator opened, and she ran out before her friend to could react. Leoben went to go after her, but his digivice began to chime, he was being summoned.

He arrived at what seemed like the command center of the archive, at the center of it was a round table and a globe representing the world, right down to every detail, city, forest, and most of it coated in the darkness that Erebosmon unleashed upon it. It was depressing to look, made him sick to his stomach. The other digidestined were already there to greet him, standing around the globe. All of them wore the same expression that he had. Should he tell them right now, what he had found, it didn't seem like the right time to do so, he would wait.

"A few minutes ago, there were energy spikes of unknown cause or origin, all coming from the wasteland formerly known as Green Zone, at this moment I felt dizzy, then not too long ago, there was a similar spike at Arukeni Village, we will investigate this" Juniko said, placing a hand on her forehead, showing the effects of whatever it had been hadn't worn off.

"Whatever is going on there, can't be any good, we have to be careful" Virgil said, placing a finger on the location of Arukeni Village.

"Someone once made a great sacrifice there, we can't let that be in vain, they gave up too much to save those people" Huang said, giving Virgil a harsh expression.

"I didn't say we shouldn't do anything to help them, we just need to be careful, those energy spikes were dark, and don't feel right, look what they did to Juniko" Virgil said, in a very concerned tone, looking Huang right in the eyes.

Huang relaxed his expression, he was lashing out at the wrong person and he knew it "Whatever we do we have to decide quickly, before time runs out for that village" he said, nearly shouting now.

Leoben watched them argue, he wasn't 100 percent there, he was thinking of Sakura, and what she had said about herself, and thoughts of rather being a monster. He hoped to convince her otherwise, but the solution wasn't coming to him at that moment. But he couldn't go after her now because of the current situation, he hoped, when they got back, he would have figured out what to do about his friend, and her grim look at life.

-To Be Continued-

Can Arthur even be trusted, and what is going on in Arukeni Village, to answer this question and more please tune into the next Digimon digital monsters!