It was some time after the defeat of MaloMyotismon, and more and more people had been gaining Digimon partners. The veteran Japanese Chosen still remained amongst their number, but had been expanded - Some people they had known before like Jun, Daisuke's sister, or some classmates from their various schools. And some that had been from other parts of Japan. But the 'old guard' in Odaiba remained close, and also remained protective of the newcomers, lending a hand when they had troubles where possible.

But there were many thousands of Digidestined now, from every corner of the globe, and sheer volume as well as being in every timezone meant that the Odaiba group couldn't help out everyone. Even the more experienced Digidestined elsewhere were a little overwhelmed at times, but for the most part the newcomers learned the ropes quickly enough and formed their own teams and groups.

Still, people weren't always in groups. Digimon and their partners were prone to going exploring alone except for each other. And worryingly, a few had gone missing recently.

Yagami Hikari, Chosen of Light and a Digidestined now for almost half her life (Maybe longer if one counted the events in 1995 as when she'd became one along with her brother) and one of the most concerned for the welfare of new Digidestined, was naturally amongst those worried enough to be searching for the missing.

Currently, she and Gatomon were part of a small group looking on a mountain area where a few of those missing had been seen last. Takeru Takaishi, Sora Takenouchi, Daisuke and Jun Motomiya, plus herself and their various partners made up the team (Patamon, Biyomon, Veemon and Penmon).

"...Have you been watching that American cartoon again?" Takeru asked after Daisuke had made a suggestion.

"Look, I'm just saying, there's only five of us right now and we're more experienced than the ones that went missing, so if there's something out there, our Digimon and us can handle it. And if they're lost out here without something capturing them or whatever it's best we find them as fast as we can."

"You just said 'let's split up, gang' though, not all of that. And, I mean, I do agree with you for the most part..." Sora began to say.

"...We've only been together a little while and haven't even gone through a fraction of the stuff you guys have," Jun said, to Penmon's agreement.

"So Jun sticks with Sora, us three and our Digimon go ourselves," Hikari said.

"Also none of my digivolutions can fly so, yeah... We need a ride," Penmon added.

So that was the four Digimon that would be flying around the area. And so a few moments later, Gatomon became Nefertimon, and Hikari rode on her back as they flew.

"Look, some ruins down there. Maybe someone wandered in?" Hikari pointed after a few minutes of flight.

"Could be.... Land and look?" Nefertimon said, to Hikari's agreement.

The ruins consisted of a few collapsed structures and one mostly intact large one with a low roof. Moss, ivy, and other plants were overgrown throughout.

A large clearing in the ruins was enough space to land, but the low roof presented a problem - Nefertimon simply wouldn't fit, so reverted to Gatomon. Even Hikari, hardly the tallest girl, had to crouch down a little to get in, using her Digivice to illuminate the darkness inside the ruins. She was also carrying a small LED  keyring, but her Digivice, being a device of the Digital World, was considerably better at throwing illumination.

"Well... this isn't maze-like at all," Gatomon noted when the low-roofed building turned out to have dozens of doors in it.

"Maybe we should check a few doors and then come back. No point getting lost ourselves..."

Sticking together, the two began exploring, finding nothing (and that a few corridors were actually dead ends), until as they investigated the last door they intended to check, a groan came from the walls of the corridor they were walking down as something began moving.

"Uh oh, that's not good," Gatomon noted, then both she and her human yelped as a wall descended from above, blocking the way, and cutting Hikari off, as well as dropping a lot of dust. The pair spluttered, struggling to get breath and also blinded by the dirt in their eyes. Worse, Hikari had dropped her Digivice on the wrong side.

"Hikari! Are you okay?" Gatomon eventually managed to shout.

"Y-yeah," the human girl coughed, fumbling for her smaller flashlight, barely lighting up a few feet away.

"Is there another way out?"

"I can't tell, all I have is my little keyring," Hikari sighed.

"This is bad. I don't see how it activated..."

"I don't see anywhere else to go right now, Gatomon, so try find the others. I guess this might be what happened to some of the missing people. They might be stuck behind the other dead ends?"

"...I don't like this, but I'll go get help. Sit tight."

Gatomon then left, and Hikari decided to save her batteries for now. At least this room seemed empty even if it was just a whole lot of darkness....

....This meant she never saw whatever inflicted a different kind of darkness upon her, her vision blurring, and then the human was no longer conscious.

***

She groaned as she awoke, her head fuzzy. She hadn't been hit, she thought... it had been some kind of sleeping attack?

Eyes still blurry, she looked around, and quickly realised this was not the dark corridor. Instead, it was somewhat lit, but only from slits of light high above, like the edges of the inside of... a box?

There were large looking stuffed dolls, various Digimon. She seemed to be sitting on a plastic-feeling flat material, and leaning against the same thing. There were other toys around, but her vision was only just clearing...

Hikari looked down and gasped. When she'd arrived in the Digital World she had been wearing her summer school uniform of white blouse, green pleated skirt, and a pair of compression shorts underneath. She'd also put on a belt with a few pouches to carry things, whoever designed school skirts deciding girls apparently didn't need pockets.

But now, she was wearing a pink dress that not only bore what seemed to be the crest of light, but was extremely frilly. It also felt extremely tight around her chest and the skirt portion was so stiffly starched, not to mention her feet felt like they'd been forced into the tight shoes she had on...

And then she saw the other figure sitting over on the other side. Another girl in a dress?

...No, on looking closer it looked more like a large porcelain doll, with red hair in two large pigtails, painted on blush, blue eyes staring blankly, and a yellow-white dress just as overly complex as the one she'd somehow been stuffed into. It was a fairly pretty doll, the kind that people usually put on display. Why was it in here? If it was a giant toybox it wasn't really a toy... but if she'd been shrunk and it was meant to mess with her, it hadn't really worked.

Hikari tried to stand, her limbs feeling oddly stiff, and looked up. Yep, she was definitely in a giant toybox... or she'd been shrunk.  The lid was probably too heavy to shift, assuming it wasn't locked... And also assuming she didn't fall and break her neck trying to build up high enough to reach.

And assuming she could even move things to build a way up. Her attempt to pick up a building block at her feet was met with immense compression on her chest, the dress was so tight. She reached around to maybe find a zipper... it felt like there was one, but it didn't actually have anything to grasp onto. And as much as she disliked it, she wasn't going to risk ripping the only clothes she seemed to have for mobility if she didn't urgently have to.

Also, when she did actually try and lift it, the thing weighed a ton! She barely got it off the ground before it slipped and hit her foot.

"Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow!" She yelped, hopping on one leg, the effort restricted heavily by how rigid her torso was being kept.

And then she heard a groan from across the toybox. Looking over, the doll... was starting to blink.

"...Okay, if that's meant to mess with me it's working," Hikari gulped.

The doll's eyes, looking painted, locked onto her... and the doll let out a sob.

"No... she caught someone else..." it said softly.

Hikari put two and two together, and realised this wasn't a doll at all. Not really.

"Um... Are you a Digidestined?" She asked, moving over.

"Y-yes, but please... stay back. It's just easier this way..." The doll... girl... said.

"Hey, don't worry! I was part of a group looking for you and the others that went missing, once they find us they'll help us both..."

The doll's expression couldn't change much but Hikari could see doubt, somehow.

"I'm Hikari. What's your name?" The Odiaba girl asked.

"...Yuka," the redhead eventually spoke up.

"Well, Yuka, we won't be here much longer, we kinda get into trouble like this a lot in Odaiba... The others will show up sooner or later."

"That's what some of the others said. And then they became like me after a few days.... And she took them away to play..." Yuka said.

"The other missing Digidestined?"

"Yeah... Me and my partner, Lunamon... she caught us a while ago, and it was just me here when I woke up. She took me out after a few days, and said I hadn't worked... but she brought more people in..."

Hikari realised this probably meant how the girl had turned into a very stiff doll. She could see that her hands looked solid even from here, only a ball joint for a wrist. Yuka tried to stand, moving stiffly. Hikari went over to lend a hand up, and it became clear that Yuka's form had few points of articulation. Her knees, elbows, ankles and wrists were all that had ball joints, that only seemed to move a few angles. Her neck seemed to just be a simple flat joint, and presumably, her shoulders and hip-joints had restricted movement too. But now she stood, Hikari noted the girl seemed a little smaller, maybe a couple years younger than her.

"We'll save them too, don't worry...."

"That's... that's what some of them said. They were sure someone would come, but they turned into dolls too... dolls that had more movement. And Spellmon took them out when they were ready."

"Spellmon? Is she the Digimon that has us?"

"Yes. She's an Ultimate, she has magic powers and a weird set of rules. She cut me off from Lunamon, and then shrank me. She put me in her pocket then cast some other spell on me and I fell asleep... and woke up in here, in this stupid dress..."

"She knocked me out and shrank me..." Hikari said.

"I guess that's what's different. Everyone else was knocked out first I think. So something must have gone differently with her spell, and her weird rules... she refused to 'fix' me when I came out wrong..." Yuka realised.

"I'm sorry... but at least we can still move around as dolls, right?"

Yuka sighed.

"Most of the time, but... Spellmon sometimes forces us to freeze. And if she takes you to play you can't move unless she moves you. When she came to take people out we all froze up as soon as the lid opened."

"So even if we reach the lid to get it open... you'll freeze up."

"Y-yeah... but she locks it. It wouldn't open anyway."

Hikari shook her head.

"It wasn't an option anymore. Even if I could get out that way I wouldn't leave someone behind to do it."

Despite her mostly painted expression, Hikari could feel confusion from the redhead.

"But you don't even know me..."

And then something rattled above, and Yuka squealed.

"Get me sitting down please, she's comi-" she tried to say, but the lid opened, and Yuka froze, her limbs locking and the doll-girl starting to lose balance.

Hikari grabbed her hand, stopping her fall, only for a laugh from above.

"Ah, little dolls getting along! You won't be able to do that soon, though. You see... You're going to be a normal doll, not an ornament like her. But... I have enough toys to play with for now. So you two are going to be boxmates for a long time! Until I get bored..."

The voice speaking was blocked out by the light now pouring in, Hikari blinded by it, having been in poor light for so long. It was presumably Spellmon.

"...And of course when you're a doll, the box opening means you freeze. Toys don't move when I can see them..."

"You won't get away with this, Spellmon!" Hikari yelled, but the Digimon just laughed.

"Oh, they all said that. Even little Yuckie there. But they've all been wrong so far. What makes you think you're the first one right..."

There was a pause.

"...I can't think of a good insult for you right now because I don't actually remember your name but I'll get one, don't worry. Anyway, do enjoy your stay and your change..."

The lid began closing.

"Oh... one more thing. We're not in the main digital world. My toyroom is in a subfolder... and time flows faster in here. Little Yuckie's been here two months from her perspective but she only got caught about eight days ago... Anyway, my toys have been a lot of fun and I can't see me getting bored of them soon. And I spend most of my time outside the subfolder so... You do the numbers, humans. See if you have good calculator skills in your dataless brains...."

Spellmon cackled as the lid finally shut, and after a moment or two, Yuka was able to move again... and began sobbing.

"I hate this! I freeze, I fall... what happens if I break?! And the others are always dolls out there!" She wailed.

Hikari tried to comfort the unfortunate girl with a hug, trying to ignore the fact that if what Spellmon said was true, then Yuka and the other missing Digidestined had been trapped for days or even weeks from their perspective before anyone even knew they were gone. And Yuka's stiff body meant she couldn't really hug back.

Not to mention the tight dress was restricting her own movement too.

***

The next day or two consisted of Hikari trying to keep the younger girl's spirits up, sharing tales of her past exploits. Yuka slowly became a little starstruck when she realised Hikari was one of the Chosen that had led the way, though Hikari did remind her there were a mysterious first five Digidestined.

"...What makes it worse is Gennai just used silhouettes of Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Koushiro, and Takeru, so we've no clue yet who they really were," Hikari had explained.

One conversation after a couple of days had turned to their unwelcome new attire.

"Does your dress feel really tight too? Spellmon uses a magnet to get the zippers on and off, so even if I could move my fingers I can't even loosen it..." Yuka asked.

"Yeah... Does she change your dress?"

"She did once but put me back in this one soon after. She'd took me out to change my hair... I used to just have a ponytail but she did something to give me more hair by just pulling on it, and put it into these dumb pigtails... It really hurt..."

Yuka sighed.

"I mean, I don't mind skirts or even dresses that much, I wear skirts all the time, but... even if it didn't feel like I couldn't breathe with this thing so tight I wouldn't wear it. And I don't even breathe anymore now I'm a doll..."

"What did you usually wear? I kinda prefer shorts myself... Try to wear them under any skirt I do put on," Hikari said.

"When I was caught I had on a blue skirt I'd liked, and a red and white t-shirt. I wonder if she got rid of them..."

"Well.... technically your clothes you have in the digital world are created by your own self image so for a long time we were coming in and whatever we had before became like a default look. Took us a while to start actually thinking ahead."

Hikari paused.

"And naturally Mimi started messing with it and giving herself all sorts of outfits, then bugged Koushiro for weeks to try figure out a way to take them out. It didn't work. She was... pretty disappointed."

"I bet... free clothes from the digital world would be great. So, if we get free and we go home, I get my stuff back?"

"Not if, when. We're getting out of here, Yuka," Hikari gently reminded her.

"...Sorry, I know. I just... It's been so scary...."

 Hikari was about to reply, but cut herself off as the lid rattled again. She quickly helped the already panicking Yuka into a sitting posture, while sitting down herself, as the lid opened... and she winced, not just at the light, but at how parts of her locked up.

She was nearly a doll herself. Her limbs felt hollow and looked plastic, her joints had became ball sockets. She still had full finger motion, since they were articulated too, but she was still locking up almost all over, barely able to move. But her ball joints were still more nimble than Yuka before she froze up.

"Doing okay little dolls? It's time you got some accessorisation, Sickari... "

Hikari couldn't move enough to evade Spellmon's hand coming down and grabbing her. To Hikari's dismay, she left the lid open, the frozen doll-Yuka only able to stare with helpless painted eyes as Hikari was taken out.

"At least close the lid and let her move!" Hikari begged, but Spellmon ignored her as she was taken to a table.

Hikari couldn't see much else around the room, everything so large and far away from her perspective, but where she was put down had a sewing machine, some boxes labelled with different materials, and also a small mirror that was turned away from her. Various doll sized clothing also hung on tiny racks above, and Hikari thought she spotted a red-and-white t-shirt on one hangar... but her head was forcibly turned away, and a bright light was shone in her face, ensuring that she still had no good look at the Digimon holding her and the others captive.

"Now, little Sickari... You have such potential for lovely hair, but you keep it cut so short and plain. And you don't even put accessories in it."

Fingers reached out, and the partially-dolled human yelped as Spellmon began pulling her hair longer.

"There we go... A little adjustment of how it falls... More volume... and much nicer already. But we need an addition..."

The fingers withdrew, and then blocking out the light, they came back, and began pulling and tugging at Hikari's altered hair again. She sat trying to not give Spellmon the pleasure of any more yelps of pain, and eventually, the Digimon seemed satisfied with her work. A hand reached past to get the mirror, Hikari was spun around in place, and the light was turned off.

"And there, a pretty little doll all ready to go sit in the box again!"

Hikari saw herself in the mirror, hair made longer and increased in volume. She saw that a pink ribbon had been tied into her hair, and for a moment tried to reach up... but she was too doll-like by now to do much moving. Her eyes, still able to move a little, looked herself up and down and she could only sigh.

"I look ridiculous..."

"Nonsense, you look far prettier! But enough of that, you're going back to your box!"

Hikari was grabbed and taken back, placed inside somewhat gently, but face-down.

"Well, you sit tight in there, it's playtime for me..." Spellmon taunted, closing the lid... making Yuka and Hikari slowly unfreeze.

Yuka sobbed again, Hikari rubbing the other girl's porcelain back with her own plastic hand.

"They're looking for us, Yuka. This will be over eventually..." She said softly.

But by now Hikari was reassuring herself as well.