The Digital World wasn't exactly the safest of places at the best of times. And under the control of the Dark Masters, it was anything but the best of times. The Digidestined had been made aware of this even with a few victories, and they still had a long road to travel.
A road that could have been much shorter if hadn't all managed to take different turns in this forest, and get lost and separated. Remarkably enough this came without the help of any enemy, but simply because the path through the trees began to branch off. It had already been a difficult route, with thick trees forcing certain paths, but now it was even worse. Previously it had been mere forks. Most led to dead ends, usually the first one Tai picked. As a result, Matt was annoyed when Tai went down one of three possible paths right away without asking for input.
An argument between the pair ensued and in the end, Matt went one way, Tai went another. Kari got confused, following Tai, only to go her own way as he stormed on ahead. She was followed by TK. Mimi and Sora managed to stay together only to take their own turns as Tai outpaced them and his sister. Izzy and Joe simply followed Matt, but naturally, got lost themselves.
And so it was that TK, Kari, Gatomon and Patamon suddenly realised they were away from the rest, and very lost. And did so in the middle of a clearing with many paths.
"What path was it we took?" Kari wondered, trying not to panic.
"I'm not sure... I think it was that one?" TK said the same.
The two had hoped their Digimon partners would have input. They were wrong.
"...Wasn't it that one?" Patamon pointed.
"That one?" Gatomon pointed in the opposite direction.
"Great. We were lost before, now we're double-lost!" Kari said.
"Well, I say we just pick one and go down that. " Gatomon tried to help.
TK, however, was thinking. He looked at the five possible paths, and had an idea
"Hey, everyone pick a number between one and five."
Patamon quickly replied with three. Kari with two, and Gatomon with four. He took one.
"Okay, so, we all picked out a number, so we go the one we left!"
"Wait, but that means you basically picked the path by going last." Gatomon noted.
"Yeah, and the paths don't have numbers..." Kari added.
Had it been Matt and Tai debating this obviously ill-planned scheme, it would have been an argument. However, they probably would have tried to come up with an average number and got the math wrong.
"Oh. Okay. I was going to call that one number five..." TK pointed at one path.
"So... Let's go the other way across from it. Or we could go that way, I guess..."
"I kinda wanna go that way..." Patamon noted, pointing in another direction entirely...
Eventually, they did pick a path, but only when all four got confused and pointed in the same direction.
This, unfortunately, led down a path that started to grow foggy, which meant it concealed the small ledge they walked into. The two humans and one ground-based cat Digimon fell down it with startled yelps, leaving a very alarmed and confused Patamon to think they'd fallen down a hole.
The fall wasn't too rough, but the three tumbled and rolled into a heap when they finally stopped.
"Ow... You okay, Kari? Gatomon?" TK asked as he stood up.
"I think so. Where's Patamon?"
"Probably still up there... HEY, PATAMON! DOWN HERE!"
"Where?!"
Gatomon sighed.
"Wait here, guys, I think I can climb back up and get him down..."
The two humans nodded, and the cat-Digimon bounded up back into the fog.
"...Hey, Kari, what's that noise?" TK wondered.
"Sounds like soil moving. Maybe just Gatomon knocking dirt down?"
"I guess so."
This was proven wrong when the ground below them collapsed. Another pair of yelps rang out as the pair fell down into a small, yet surprisingly well-lit cavern.
"Ow.... Where are we now?" Kari wondered.
Torches lit the area. The walls seemed to be a dark dull black, but in crystal bricks before the black, were a number of Digivices, of many shapes, sizes, and colours.
"Uh... Are those all Digivices?"
TK held his own up to a nearby crystal-encased device as the two went down the passage to get closer. The one in crystal seemed a good bit larger, had an aerial, and was more oval shaped compared to the square-ish shape of his own. Another nearby seemed similar to his apart from being a bright red all over, and another t-shaped one, a little bigger than his, seemed to have a strap attached to it. Kari compared hers to one resembling that which TK was examining, except the one she looked at lacked an aerial.
"It looks a lot like they all are. These ones look kind of like cell phones, I guess... But I thought we were the only Digidestined right now?"
"Hey, are you guys... all... right..." Patamon said as he came down the hole. Gatomon soon followed.
The two digimon were awe-struck by the sight of the Digivices. Like the humans, they wandered in deeper.
"Hey, why are these all here anyway?" Kari pondered.
"I've no idea..." Gatomon said helpfully.
The hall went down a bit further.
"I guess we need to find a way out anyway since we can't climb out..."
"We could try and fly out if I digivolved!" Gatomon
"And I can already sort of try and carry you I guess." Patamon noted.
It was at this point the hole decided to collapse and block itself off entirely in a cloud of dust.
"...Today sucks. Can it get any worse?" TK sighed.
"Hey! You're not supposed to be here!" A voice then shouted.
"You had to ask, didn't you?!" Kari squeaked as a blur of white zoomed towards them.
Gatomon and Patamon moved to try and stop it, but it had already stuck them. The two humans were flung aside into the walls, dislodging some of the crystal-encased digivices.
To the surprise of the four, the attacker was a twelve-winged human-looking Digimon.
"These are mine! It's my job to look after all these! They're not supposed to be in this Digital World so I keep them here and you're not supposed to be here!" It fumed.
"A Lucemon?! Why are you here?" Patamon wondered.
"He just said..." Gatomon pointed out.
TK and Kari however were too busy standing up.
"Ow... Today really sucks..."
"Don't you dare, TK!" Kari said quickly.
"...I was gonna ask for it to get better..."
"Like that would work!"
Lucemon, however, was still annoyed.
"I want you out of here now!"
"Okay, just show us the way..." Patamon tried.
"No! I'll get rid of you all now!" Lucemon shouted, preparing to attack.
The two Digimon did not want to face a Lucemon, but the humans were at risk.
"We need to Digivolve!" Gatomon shouted.
"Okay... Uh... This isn't my Digivice!" Kari suddenly realised as she held up the wrong one.
It was a blue and green Digivice of the kind TK had said resembled a cell phone.
"I've got the wrong one too!"
His was the same model, pink and purple.
The pair looked at the pile of dislodged, broken crystals, and the many loose digivices now scattered around.
Lucemon also looked, and screamed in rage.
"NOW LOOK AT ALL THE MESS I HAVE TO CLEAN!" He yelled, and attacked. There was a bright flash...
The good news was, the four were merely teleported. The bad news was, to the top of the cliff again. Which they then fell down once more.
"...If you say today sucked, TK, I'm going to hurt you." Gatomon groaned as she jumped off of Kari.
"...Actually, I just noticed I'd left my hat up here. And you dropped your scarf thingy." He said from his place lying on the ground.
"Oh. I wondered where that went."
The human girl stood, and then gasped.
"I still have the wrong digivice! And it's glowing..."
"Me too. This one's glowing too!"
The glows quickly spread out into two shapes. Around Kari, the ghost-like form of a bear with a helmet. Around TK, a similarly ethereal form of a tall humanoid fairy. The two humans glowed, their body shapes altering. For Kari, this meant she merely bulked out. For TK, he grew much taller, and grew wings as their appearances altered.
The glows vanished, and seemingly, so had TK and Kari. In their places, the now more solid appearances of the shapes around them.
"TK!"
"Kari!"
The humanoid female looked in confusion at the bear, that looked back, blinking in confusion.
And then both yelled out.
"YOU TURNED INTO A BEAR!"
"YOU TURNED INTO A FAIRY!"
The two actual Digimon stared in confusion.
"...Kari's a Kumamon?" Patamon asked.
"And TK's a Kazemon?"
Another penny dropped.
"I'M A GIRL?!"
"I'M A BOY?!"
"Oh, this is just weird..." Gatmon sighed, facepawing.
The day would only get worse, for all the noise had attracted some of the others.
Right down the cliff. Right into the four of them.
"Ow! I hate today!" Kumamon whined as he was thrown away by a barrel-rolling mass of Digimon and Human.
Matt, Tai, and their Digimon leapt to their feet.
"Alright, what was all the noise?! Gatomon?! Patamon?! Where are TK and Kari?!" Tai said, barely pausing in his sentences.
Matt, however, had noticed the hat and scarf.
"Uh, it's a long story, Tai, but see these two Digimon?" Patamon began.
"What happened to them?! Tell me!" Matt shouted, waving TK's hat.
"Uh, Matt, look..." Kazemon began.
"How do you know my name?!"
It was at this point more people came down the cliff. The four digimon (including two transformed humans), now far away from the resulting pile up winced as Sora, Mimi, and their Digimon added to the pile. Even Biyomon had managed to fall down.
"That cliff is just plain dangerous..." Gatomon muttered.
"What's happening?" Sora wondered as she stood up.
"That's what we were trying to find out! These Digimon did something with TK and Kari!" Tai accused Kazemon and Kumamon.
"But we ARE TK and Kari! Uh, I mean, I'm Kari!" Kumamon said.
"That's insane!"
"No, we got turned into these Digimon by weird digivices! We fell down into a cave filled with weird digivices, and a Lucemon attacked us, and sent us back here, and we had the wrong digivices and they glowed and we turned into these things!"
"More like you captured them, brainwashed Patamon and Gatomon, and have them prisoner in the cave!" Matt yelled.
"HEY! Neither of them look brainwashed or controlled to me! Mimi shouted.
"Uh, we're not."
"That's what a brainwashed person would say! And a brainwashed Digimon too!"
Sora groaned.
"Look, guys, I get you're worried about your brother and your sister, but... you're jumping to some weird conclusions."
"Oh, and my sister being turned into a male bear isn't a weird claim?!"
"...This IS the Digital World, Tai." Agumon pointed out.
"It's completely absurd and I don't buy it for one minute." Matt declared.
"Okay, where's the cave you fell down?" Mimi wondered.
Kumamon pointed at the now-sealed hole
"It caved in again when we were down there before we got sent out. Our real Digivices must be down there with the Lucemon."
"Okay, if you ARE Kari, what colour is my bedroom door?" Tai said quickly
"Blue."
"Ha, it's white!"
"Uh, Tai? It is blue." Sora muttered.
"No, it's white!"
"Mom repainted it!" Kumamon protested.
Mimi groaned.
"Why don't we just try and dig down into that hole and see if they're telling the truth?"
The two boys pondered this.
"Fine! But if this is a trick we'll make you show us where they are!" Tai threatened.
"Yeah! If you're not Kari, a Kumamon won't have fun against Pepper Breath..." Agumon noted.
"Hey! No threats! If they're telling the truth, which I think they are, all you're doing is scaring TK and Kari, and if they aren't, which I don't think they are, all you're doing is threatening the Digimon that know where they are." Sora pointed out.
"Okay... We won't threaten you. But my brother had better be okay, or else!"
"Matt, that's a threat..." Gabumon sighed.
"...Our brothers are idiots." Kazemon facepalmed.
"I agree, your brothers are idiots." Patamon nodded.
"Okay, Palmon, use your vines to try pull out the rocks." Biyomon advised.
As the plant digimon did that, Kazemon-TK tried to ignore the glares his (her?) own brother was directing towards her (him?). Kumamon-Kari was in much the same boat, as the group waited for the cave-in to be cleared.