Kari and Gatomon had returned to the Digital World about an hour ago, having initially left Takeru behind to wait for Patamon about two hours before. However, they were not here to help their blond friend, but instead, were checking something else out. It was a small shrine-like building that they had noticed, fairly close to where Takeru was waiting for Patamon.

They would have got here faster had Hikari not insisted on using a different way in, and Gatomon didn't know why her Human partner didn't just take the easy route. Apparently she was worried Takeru would think she was there to drag him back or that Takeru would think she was patronising him by showing up to look for Patamon or something.

Humans could be weird, Gatomon thought.

"Okay, that must be it." Kari said, as they spotted it. It was a small white building in the middle of the forest.

"Let's check it out then."  Gatomon said, as the pair carefully walked over.

It looked quiet, but both knew well that looking safe and being safe in the Digital World were not the same. Gatomon went in first, the small door creaking open gently.

Inside, there wasn't much in the way of furniture, everything was on the walls. In an alcove, above a small pulpit, was a statue of a Devidramon. One small torch lit the room up, forever burning away with a flame that would not extinguish from running out of fuel.

But on the walls were shelves, and on the shelves, rows and rows of...

"Digivices?" Kari pondered. There were all sorts of shapes and sizes, in a spectrum of colours.

"Don't touch them." Gatomon warned.

"I wasn't going to. This many digivices can't be good."

Gatomon glanced around, and realised something else.

"The fact a few are missing is worse."

Kari checked too. Sure enough, there were gaps on the shelves. Gatomon suddenly realised something and gasped.

"What is it?"

"I think I know what this place might be. There was a legend of a spot where... Well, you know about parallel universes and stuff, right? Other Digital Worlds in different dimensions?"

"It sounds a little far-fetched but okay..." Kari nodded.

"Well, the legend is there's a place in each digital world that all connects them together. Things like Paralellmon are supposed to draw power from it, and there's claims other Digimon can use backups of the past stored in other digital worlds to manipulate space and time here."

"And you think this shrine is this place?"

"Well, maybe. I've never seen Digivices like this, so... " Gatomon shrugged. It was just a legend.

"What makes you think that?" Kari pressed.

"Well... I'm not sure. It's just some of the code around these digivices is really weird. Like they're copies of Digivices in other universes."

"Okay, so, this place could be risky if bad guys find it?"

Gatomon wasn't sure how best to answer.

"Well... Maybe. We have no idea what these Digivices do, and we have no idea how many there were. For all I know this is just a bunch of broken ones or duplicate spares. The other alternative is they're ready for a whole bunch of new Digidestined and that's not a good prospect because... Well, something really bad would have to happen."

"Maybe they're just a precaution. But we should tell the others and ask Gennai I think." Kari said.

"Yeah. Let's go..." Gatomon agreed, and turned to follow her human partner out when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. Then the torch extinguished and apart from the open door, plunged the shrine into darkness.

"Kari! Look out!" She yelled, leaping up and managing to knock the human out of the way of the attack. Kari cried out as she fell, but Gatomon knew she'd be fine and rolling away from the attacks, so she quickly glaced at where the statue had been.

Not there, meaning the attacker was a Devidramon. A shadow moved by the door, and slammed it shut.

"G...Gatomon?!" Kari squeaked. Gatomon could see far better in the dark than Kari, and the feline Digimon knew her partner sometimes got a little afraid of the dark.

Given the number of times Kari had been in the dark and not known was out there, that fear was pretty justified in Gatomon's eyes.

Four glowing blood-red eyes glared at Kari. The human girl froze.

In response to the implied threat, Gatomon was a little startled, but not really surprised, as she found herself Digivolving all the way up to Angewomon.

Her first Celestial Arrow lit the room up a little, but missed. Kari scrambled to get up as the Devidramon dived at her, but Angewomon tackled into it mid-way, deflecting it's attempt to claw Kari's head off.

Unfortunately, the tangle of the two Digimon slammed into the wall and Kari, disturbing the shelves and almost flattening the unfortunate human. She cried out, and Angewomon kicked the Devidramon away as it twisted to try and attack Kari.

"Kari, I need to get you out of here, it's after you and ignoring me..." Angewomon warned. But then something odd happened.

There was a glow.

Angewomon glanced round. Kari had caught a fallen Digivice.

It was silver and white, and looked like a cross between a D3 and an MP3 Player. It had no antenna, a bigger screen, and a scroll wheel.  And it was glowing.

Kari was staring at it in surprise, but Angewomon stared at her. The human was glowing too.

Suddenly there was a noise that snapped Angewomon out of it, and she saw the Devidramon had changed targets. She looked at it... Just in time to be paralyzed by the Red Eye attack.

The Devidramon simply shoved the paralyzed Angel out of the way and stood over Kari, who scrabbled into the corner, still holding the glowing Digivice. Angewomon was helpless and only able to watch, as her terrified partner cowered in the corner, moments way from...

...Did Kari just throw her shoes at the Devidramon? And her socks?

Kari's glow seemed to intensify, and Angewomon was now very alarmed. Even if the Devidramon didn't maul her, that glow couldn't be good.

And now Kari was floating, surprised herself to find herself rolling into a standing position, and even more startled when her camera and shirt flew into the air.

"It seems I failed to kill you fast enough... This is regrettable. But not irreparable." The Devidramon spoke.

"W...What do you mean?!" Kari stammered, as her shorts flew into the floor. She glowed even more now, and by the time her underwear had flown off she was more or less just a glowing white human-shape.

And Angewomon watched that shape growing larger. Taller, and filling out. Angewomon swore that the feminine shape of the glow had become less curved and more straight-lined, hips flattening out in proportion to the rest of the figure.

The shoulders widened as the shape grew taller still. And then, the glow seemed to die down a little and Angewomon saw where Kari had been, a humanoid figure in a white all-over jumpsuit stood.

Belts appeared on the waist and upper legs, and then the glowing shapes of armour began to form. Angewomon could see that Kari's hair had shortened and turned blonde, and her face seemed to have become a little more squared-off. Purple armoued knee and shoulderpads, plus gauntlets, boots, and a chest plate all materialised where the glowing shapes had been.

Lastly, the shape of a wolf-like helmet, and a wolf-pelt cape, took form and became solid, and the glow ended. What had been Kari dropped to the ground as the Devidramon pounced.

Suddenly, there was another flash of light. The former human had somehow drawn two blades of light to slice apart the Devidramon in the fraction of a second between it pouncing and nearing... whatever Kari had become. Or been replaced by.

As the Devidramon vanished into code, Angewomon felt her paralysis fade, leaping to her feet as the strange Digimon that had appeared looked down, and then, with a deep voice, somehow still managed to squeak in shock.

"How? What did that Digivice do? Am... Am I a boy?!" The shape said.

Angewomon realised it had merely transformed Kari...

Wait, merely?! A human girl had become a Digimon MAN! A Lobomon!

"Kari, I think we should get out of here. Grab that Digivice you had."

Half-stunned, Lobomon agreed.

Outside, Angewomon devolved back down to Gatomon, as the stunned Lobomon that had been Kari sat down.

"Let me see the Digivice, Kari." Gatomon said. The Lobomon complied.

Gatomon looked, finding this Digivice to be very strange. It had a multitude of options, but Gatomon was distracted by the strange deep voice of Lobomon sounding like the terrified girl that he... she was supposed to be.

"Am I stuck like this?"

"Kari, hold it together, I'm sure I can figure this thing out."

"Scan mode selected. Please target the Digimon you wish to duplicate." The Digivice said.

"Wait, what?" Lobomon glanced up in surprise.

"Um... I'm not sure what I did."

"G-Give me it back! It might be acting weird!" Lobomon protested. Gatomon passed it back.

"Scan confirmed, Gatomon. The scanned Digimon is female, would you like to also add the male variant to the databanks?" The Digivice spoke on.

"What?! This thing has a mind of it's own! How do I cancel?!"

"Confirmed. Male variant also added. Would you like to test the Scan Digivolution? This will reduce the current Digivolution span slightly but will undo in thirty seconds."

"Kari... I think we should put it down and get help..." Gatomon tried to say, only for the bizzare device to speak again, and Kari/Lobomon to glow.

"Please wait..."

Lobomon vanished, shrinking down into a feline shape. The Digivice gently landed on the ground, and Gatomon stared at what Kari was now.

Another Gatomon. But with a slightly larger build, a more blocky face, and somewhat thicker limbs. It also had a shorter, ringless, tail.

It was the first time Gatomon had ever actually seen a male of her species, she mused at the back of her mind, as the rest of her thoughts were filled with sheer terror at the fact Kari hadn't just turned into a Lobomon, but now the crazy glitching Digivice was turning her into male versions of everything.

Kari-Gatomon panicked, babbling away. The original and female Gatomon moved over to try and calm her down, placing paws on shoulders.

"Kari! Calm down, okay?! We can go get help, this isn't going to be permanent!"

The other Gatomon was shaking, staring off into the distance. Gatomon shouted to get focus back.

"Kari!"

The male Gatomon looked into her eyes. It had the same brown eyes as Kari, Gatomon noted.

At that point, the transformed Human glowed again, and reverted to Lobomon. This meant Gatomon was now hanging off the shoulders of the tall and surprised Digimon.

"Oookay, this is pretty high up..." Gatomon noted. Then realised that Lobomon wasn't looking at her any more.

Gatomon turned and saw another tall Humanoid Digimon. A yellow and black shape with a more Vulpine look. A Sakuyamon.

"Oh... Crap..." Gatomon hissed.

Then Patamon arrived.

"Gatomon?! Where's Kari?!" The flying Digimon gasped.

Gatomon looked back at Lobomon. He was staring at the Sakuyamon still. Gatomon replied to Patamon, but noted the Sakuyamon held a Digivice similar to the one lying in front of Lobomon.

"Um... Long story but... Wait. Where's..."

"TK?" Lobomon almost whispered.

"...Kari?" The Sakuyamon replied.

"...I think I heard the story..." Patamon sighed.

Gatomon didn't know what to think, really. Here she was, with two very surprised former Humans, who had just learned that not only did they get transformed into a Digimon of the opposite gender, but so had their closest friend.

That little voice in her mind pondered what would happen if they swapped Digivices. At least maybe they'd be the right genders...