Riding on Pegasusmon's back, Takeru kept a lookout for any sign of trouble. A group of Digimon had been infected by some kind of virus, and had started building structures resembling clusters of small grey control spires to cause it to spread faster. More had kept popping up, so the group split up to try and track as many down as possible. 

"Why'd we pick the only area already full of grey rocks to look again, Takeru?" Pegasusmon wondered.

"I drew the short straw," The human replied.

"Wait a second, does that bunch of rocks look a little off to you?"

Pegasusmon gestured towards a stone circle that seemed to be not only half-finished, but had signs that the rocks had been recently dragged over. The pair landed, looking at the circle. It had twelve granite obelisks in a circle, like a giant clock. In the center, there was a square of four stones holding up a large slab, filled with small holes allowing light to pass through it and onto a bare circle marked with small rocks below.

"This isn't how they usually look. It's normally just a random cluster," Pegasusmon observed.

"Yeah, I'm thinking maybe we should go and get the others..."

"Oh, I don't think you're going to be going anywhere soon," a voice cackled. 

Pegasusmon turned around, just in time for he and Takeru still on his back to both be bathed in a green glow. The pair froze in place, cries of protest falling silent as their bodies turned into grey stone like the rocks around them. Only the golden armour of Pegasusmon and the green-yellow clothing of Takeru gave any sign they had not always been some strange statue.

The Cockatrimon laughed at his handiwork.

"Excellent work, Cockatrimon, though I had hoped you would petrify the armour and clothing too," A new voice noted as he neared.

"Well, sorry, Datamon, but what's done is done. You just said petrify them both, nothing about getting their gear too. Besides, won't make much difference will it?"

"It should not, though the plan did rely on converting petrified code..."

'Plan? Converting? What are these two up to?' Takeru thought to himself.

A group of Gazimon hauling a cart then neared, blank-eyed and wearing what looked like stone rings on their heads. Datamon reached up with his extending arms, carefully plucking the petrified human off the Digimon and laying him in the middle of the central circle. 

'Guess they're not after an equestrian statue,' Pegasusmon though.

"...You see, while it copies, this machine will only copy stone materials to create our duplicate of this human. I'll need to adjust the programming to duplicate the clothing now. Our clone must be perfect in appearance, any difference will provoke suspicion in the other humans. "

"Oh, so I gotta wait here another few hours before I can put the Pegasusmon in my collection?! We had a deal, I spread that virus around, I  get the Digimon, you make your copies of the Digidestined and turn the humans into Digimon under your control!"

'Copies of us? Turning us into digimon? Great, another crazy scheme to take over the world...' Takeru would have sighed if he could.

"For a creature that makes statues you are impatient. Art can take time, programming even longer when variables are thrown in unexpectedly. Besides, it will only take a few moments, then I will place the Pegasusmon on top of the converter."

"This better not damage my statue, by the way!" The bird digimon squawked.

Datamon did not reply, running through the changes. A few minutes later, he began to lift Pegasusmon.

"Now we can commence. Stay outside of the circle until I say so. We need the energy field active to copy the human's memories and personalty for my clone, as well as prevent him trying to escape before we have his new form under control."

As the rocks began glowing, a shimmering blue dome began to appear above and around the stone circle. Inside the central structure, a black shimmering field appeared, blocking out most of the outside light except that from above. Takeru and Pegasusmon shared a single thought:

'This can't be good...'

The light show continued, interrupted only when Cockatrimon grew impatient.

"How long does it take to copy some stupid memories?! This is taking ages!"

"At least three minutes. You should be glad you do not perceive the passage of time as I do, that your data lets you see a mundane world based on the second. I perceive every single equation in every single millisecond. It may feel like ages to you but it is an eternity for me in comparison. Have patience," Datamon replied.

"...better not break my statue..."

Time passed, and the blue turned into a red dome raining down beams of orange light, cascading onto Pegasusmon and raining through the holes to Takeru in the darkened chamber below.

Takeru felt it first, his body shifting and changing. His legs and torso expanded, his face moved. The stone of his body was growing and shifting, his clothing tearing as his petrified form shifted from human to Pegasusmon. It didn't hurt, but it felt extremely discomforting.

'Ugh, I guess this is literally stomach-churning right now...' 

Soon enough, his body had shifted into the posture of a Pegasusmon, standing right below the original on the slab above. The energy fields faded, except the black field, which had turned into a more transparent blue.

"Excellent. Now, depetrify the human, and I will commence the control process while he is trapped. You may leave with your prize," Datamon told Cockatrimon,

A green beam struck Takeru, and he stumbled back as he turned to flesh. Unsteady on his four new hooves, he slammed into the blue field, yelping in surprise as it felt cold as ice.

"Gha! Let me out of here!" He protested. Datamon gave him a look, as he lifted Pegasusmon down. The Cockatrimon cackled, loading his prize and leaving

"Why would I do that? In a few minutes you will become a loyal servant of myself, and then you will obey your clone's every order. Then I will..."

"Take over the human world, yeah, yeah, what's new?"

"I certainly hope my clone is not as rude as you are," Datamon shrugged.

"Even if you do make one, my friends will figure out he's a fake."

"I doubt it. Oh, and this next part has a 98.7% chance of causing you pain," Datamon warned as the blue turned red.

Takeru cried out, surprised to find himself actually whinnying as well, as he felt what seemed to be needles jamming into his head.

"Hm, despite my alterations this process seems to be taking longer than anticipated..." 

Suddenly, a beam of light came from the sky, as Nefertimon and Hikari descended. Datamon felt a 45.6% increase in surprise, followed by a 134% spike as the pair struck the roof trapping Takeru off its perch, disrupting the field

"Pegasusmon, are you okay? What has he done with Takeru?" Hikari shouted.

Takeru could only groan rather than explain.

"You fool, it's academical now what I have done. You actions have disrupted my conversion circle, and in seconds everything within that circle will be broken down into base code and scattered!"

"...Oh, that sounds bad," Nefertimon noted, as the rocks began to glow.

"Grab Pegasusmon and go," Hikari advised.

The Sphinx-like digimon obeyed, hefting the stunned form of what they did not realise was Takeru up in her front paws. She tried to take off, and was almost out, as a white dome formed around the entire stone circle, and with a thunderclap, the whole structure vanished, taking the human, human-turned-digimon, and digimon with it.

Datamon processed the sight, feeling a 34% rise in irritation at the failure of his plan, but began to realise his new data made for an interesting revelation.

"Hm, not destroyed after all. Only a 35.6% chance of ever returning from where they have gone though. Still gives a large window to convert or remove remaining digidestined. May have even increased odds of success... Can possibly exploit probable reactions by other humans..."