"Just once I'd like to be captured by someone or some 'mon that doesn't know how to tie good knots."
Her fellow capturee and similarly bound friend, Takeru nodded in agreement.
"I doubt we'll be tied up for long, those Penguinmon seem to have stopped whatever all the noise is."
The pair had been ambushed near a small village of Penguinmon, separated from the Digimon, and tied up while dumped in an igloo bizarrely made of plastic blocks as the snow bird Digimon presumably held some kind of celebration.
"Yeah. You know, when they forget to tell you their plans before they throw you in the dungeon, I'm not sure if it's a nice change or kind of annoying," Hikari said.
Just then, the leader of the Penguimon village, the self-proclaimed King Penguinmon (who was like the rest but had found a small crown somewhere) entered the fake igloo.
"I am King Peguinm-" He began, only for a second to cut in.
"You told them that earlier."
"Oh. That must mean I told them what we'll be doing with them, let's get started!" the King nodded.
"Uh, actually, you kinda didn't-" Takeru began, but was drowned out as a dozen Penguinmon rushed in and dragged the two digidestined outside.
The village consisted of a number of almost laughable igloos, or imitations of them. One major flaw for the Penguinmon plan to build an igloo village, was that they were in a temperate area. The melting remains of another flawed attempt at a real igloo dripped nearby, while other Penguinmon kept trying to build another with ice blocks they'd made in large freezers. The two humans were dragged to what seemed to be an empty fountainbase, consisting of just the dry pond and a central pillar.
"And now, we shall complete the fountain of freezing, bringing winter to our village once more! Or for the first time I guess! Was it ever winter here?" The King mused.
"Yeah, in winter, but it's summer in this part of the Digital World so-" Hikari began, but someone threw a fish at her, narrowly missing.
"Silence! The king is speaking!" The fish-thrower protested.
"There's no need to throw things, she was just sayi-OW!" Takeru was cut off by a better-aimed fish.
"You shall also be silent! And no one will waste any more fish!" The King fumed.
There was a pause.
"You were explaining your plan, King Penguinmon?" Hikari said.
"Oh yes. Basically to bring Winter back, and have snow that we may build real igloos, our fountain of freezing must have two Dolphinmon statues. We need to turn two living things into them that the fountain works - but it won't work on us because reasons!!"
"What reasons?" Hikari frowned.
"None in particular, just reasons!" The King huffed.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, none of my guys want to do it because they don't wanna, and humans are less important so there."
"So you're gonna turn us into Dolphinmon, then turn us to stone to be the statues," Takeru sighed.
"Yes!"
"...How?" Hikari asked.
"How? How?! That's... actually a good point, how did we used to do it?" The King asked.
"We didn't, we only got this fountain last week," A Penguinmon said.
"We did? So do we just like stick them on it and they transform then?"
"I don't know, King, the instructions are in your igloo."
"Fetch the instructions!" The King ordered.
The Penguinmon rushed to the melting igloo. The small booklet was soaked.
"The ink has run on the instructions!"
"Obtain more instructions!"
The Penguinmon then rushed off, leaving the two humans behind.
"...Okay, let's start crawling away now, I guess, since they forgot we're here?" Hikari suggested.
"Good plan."
"Wait! Put the humans back in the dungeon igloo and lock the door!" The King shouted from afar.
"...Dang."
*
Half an hour later, the Penguimon returned from wherever they had obtained new instructions, and the whole show began again.
"The instructions say we first use the Potion of Transmogrification, purchased separately, to... Drat! Obtain the Trotion of Pansrimogation! And lock the humans away!"
"Er, King, should we make sure we have everything before we start?" A Penguinmon said.
"Good point... Aha, we also need a Potion of Fountaining! And we need two of each! Fetch all four!"
"The instructions say we first use the Potion of Transmogrification, purchased separately, to... Drat! Obtain the Trotion of Pansrimogation! And lock the humans away!"
"Er, King, should we make sure we have everything before we start?" A Penguinmon said.
"Good point... Aha, we also need a Potion of Fountaining! And we need two of each! Fetch all four!"
*
Another half an hour later, Takeru and Hikari found themselves tied to the side of the fountain in the middle of the town.
"And now, our Dolphimon fountains shall be made! Feed the prisoners!"
A Penguinmon stuffed a fish into Hikari's mouth, to her muffled protests and a groan from the King.
"And now, our Dolphimon fountains shall be made! Feed the prisoners!"
A Penguinmon stuffed a fish into Hikari's mouth, to her muffled protests and a groan from the King.
"The potions, feed them THE POTIONS! And start with the Transpogry ones that turn them into Dolphinmon! Wait, will they be able to attack us once they're Digimon? Best be quick with the second one then!"
"Actually, King, it says we can just mix them," A Penguimon noted.
"Oh. Well, do that."
They mixed the potion, and Takeru held his mouth shut.
He was then slapped with a fish and had the mixed potion poured down his throat.
"Gha! That's disgusting!"
Hikari mumbled something from around her fish as the Penguinmon with the potions frowned.
"Uh, King, the fish is in the way."
"Take it out then!"
As this exchange happened, Takeru's body began shifting, his legs merging and arms shortening into flippers. His nose elongated and his clothing was absorbed into his new fishy body, the lower fins seemingly merging with the pillar partially, as his back fins emerged and also bonded with the fountain. A marble sheen then began spreading, and by the time the fish was removed, Takeru was a Dolphinmon and a statue, his snout open a little as if to try and spray water.
Hikari's change began when she was also fed the potion, assisted by her trying to spit the flavour of fish from her mouth. As it progressed and she felt her body begin petrifying, she began to hear something.
"...gotta wait for the others to show up, as usual. How come it's always us get trapped like this?"
"...Takeru?" She managed to say before the petrification finished, leaving her a mirror of her friend.
"Huh? Hikari? Could you hear me there?"
"Yeah. Can you hear me?"
"Yeah. Guess it's because we're the same fountain?"
"Right. Hey, can we interrupt each other? Try say something. Or think it, anything at all...."
"It is complete! They are now sharing space as one statue, able to communicate only their thoughts! One at a time rather than being able to interrupt each other..."
"Oh, well, that was convenient exposition."
"...because if it was two of you idiots you'd have just started arguing with each other, which is a reason I didn't want to say in front of the humans..."
"Hey! They can still hear, King! I think?"
"Yup," Hikari thought.
"....And now the area for a mile around shall freeze to arctic temperatures and stay there as long as water flows from the lips of the fountain mouths!"
"...They seem to have forgotten something," Takeru mentally sighed.
"They'll probably figure it ou-"
"Wait! Water! We need water in the fountain!" The King slapped his face with a flipper.
"Oh, there they go."
A few moments later, the Penguinmon had filled the fountain's pool with buckets. The central pillar vibrated a little, and then water spurted forth from the two Dolphinmon mouths.
"...If we're a fountain of freezing what stops this water freezing over too?" Hikari wondered.
The Penguinmon cheered, unaware of her observation, as snow began to fall.
"I bet its some weird Digital World magic code thing that means the water in the fountain stays water while everything else freezes."
"Rejoice! Soon we shall have a village again! Well, okay, we had one before but it's kind of crap, like, the one igloo we built properly was the prison one!" The King said.
"Uh, what stops the water from freezing?" A Penguimon wondered.
"Hm? Oh, uh... the instructions say... something about some weird Digital World magic code thing that means the water in the fountain stays water while everything else freezes!" The King said, looking through the small leaflet.
"You seem to know more about this thing works than the Digimon that turned us into part of it," Hikari sighed.
"It was just a lucky guess, I guess."
"Say, Takeru, you know how we can't interrupt each other?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves..."
Takeru groaned in his own mind, unable to block his trolling friend out, but able to hope the others arrived soon....