Hippogriffomon circled the room again before descending, his body twisting and shrinking into that of a young woman with angelic wings. She stepped between the hacked-off limbs and over the moaning Goblimon as their bodies dissolved into flecks of data. The Goblimon seated on the raised stone chair tried to maintain his stoic expression, but d'Arcmon could see the horror in his eyes.

"Now that you understand I'm serious," she smirked, "Where is the Floating Island?"

The Goblimon met her eyes and then surveyed the carnage before him. "I don't know," he said, "But the Wisemon of Namu might."

D'Arcmon stared at him; so hard to tell if it was the truth. "Oh, very well," she sighed, "I'll leave you for now, but if I find out this is a wild goose chase, I will be back."

She walked for the door, but the Goblimon called out to her. "It will do you no good to find the island. Great evil sleeps there."

She glanced at him over her shoulder. "Oh yes, I know all about the stories." She grinned, "Why do you think I went through all that trouble to take the Keys?"

Goblimon gasped. "Y-you have the keys?"

"Oh, yes," she laughed, turning back around, "The keys to true power!"

Chapter 3

When Taiko woke up the next morning, she grabbed her breasts and sighed. "Damn it, still a girl."

She stumbled out of her room, scratching between her legs as she walked into the bathroom. Hikari was still in her pajamas at the kitchen table. "Good morning," she said.

Taiko raised an eyebrow; her sister was such a morning person, why was she not dressed? "Hey…"

Hikari frowned. "I'm guessing you forgot about the concert."

She groaned and rubbed her eyes. Yamato's band was hosting an afternoon concert in the park. "Right, the concert. Well, I'm not going."

Her sister opened her mouth but hesitated. "Are you sure?"

Taiko shook her head. "No way." She crossed her arms, "Kinda selfish of him to still have the party after what happened to me and Mimi."

Hikari sighed. "Taichi, I…" She took a breath, "If you had a world championship soccer match and Yamato and Sora switched genders, would you cancel it?"

Taiko hissed and then shook her head. "That was a low blow, Hikari." She slouched, "Okay, okay, I'm not mad at Yamato for still having the concert, but I'm still not going."

"I…I think it might be a good idea," she replied, "It might help you relax a little."

"Relax?" she snapped.

Hikari nodded quickly before Taiko could continue. "There's nothing we can really do about your…um…condition right now, so what's the point of sitting here and worrying about it?"

Memories flashed of what she did last night in the bath. Would she do it again if she was alone? "Um…well…"

Hikari flashed a mischievous grin. "Or Mom's going to be home today. I heard her mention something about the nail salon."

"All right, I'll go."

Taiko opened her closet and gazed at her new clothes. Yesterday she wondered why her mother bought so much for a temporary wardrobe, but now she wondered if her mother had bought enough. She shook her head; this was not permanent. She would turn back to normal. They would find a way.

But, in the meantime, what was she supposed to wear? "Hey, Hikari!" she called, "Can you help me?"

Her sister stepped into the room. "What's up?"

Taiko studied her sister's white blouse and blue skirt and nodded. "You just answered it."

She pulled out a blue sundress and held it up against her. "What do you think?"

"A-are you sure?" Hikari asked.

Koshiro's words hovering in her mind; if she continued to evolve Agumon… "I'm going to be this way for a long time yet, might as well get used to it." She shrugged, "Besides, it's just clothes, right?"

Hikari turned away as Taiko changed into the dress. "Okay, how do I look?"

Her sister turned back, a weird expression on her face. "You do look kind of cute." She smiled, "But your hair's a mess. Didn't Mom buy you a brush yesterday?"

Taiko gestured to the dresser. Hikari grabbed it and Taiko closed her eyes while her sister brushed out her hair before she felt her hands along her head. "Okay."

She opened her eyes and saw that Hikari had put in two clips so that her hair was held back near her ears. "There, much better, Oniichan."

She hissed and gave a sad smile. "It's strange to call you that."

Before Taiko could respond, Hikari hugged her. "And no matter what, you're still my big…my big sibling." She pulled back and smiled, "But even though you're wearing a dress, you still look like a tomboy, Oneechan."

"What?"

"You need some makeup. Didn't Mom buy you any?"

"She tried."

Hikari giggled. "One second," she said on her way out the door. She returned with her makeup bag. Still unable to say no to her little sister, Taiko waited patiently while Hikari added lipstick, eyeshadow, and blush to her.

Taiko could not believe that the attractive girl in the mirror was her. She knew part of her should hate this, or at least, feel awkward, but the greater part was filled with a reluctant acceptance.

"Well, at least I'm as hot as a girl as I was as a guy."

Hikari rolled her eyes and tossed Taiko a pair of heeled sandals. "Come on."

Michio grabbed a water bottle from the refreshment table and noticed how the girl next to him watched his every move. When he turned to her, she twisted away and ran to a group of girls standing beneath one of the trees in the park. They erupted in giggles before walking to the restrooms.

He cleared his throat and adjusted the collar of his dress shirt. Weird that girls were checking him out and even weirder to see it from the other side. He returned to the other Chosen at their picnic table and sat down, trying to ignore their stares or the way they kept asking how he was feeling as if he had a terminal disease or something.

Their eyes turned from him and they gave a collective gasp. Hikari and Taiko walked into the park, and Michio found his eyes lingering a bit too long on the boy-turned-girl, and the way her dress showed off her curves.

"Wow," Sora said beside him, "I'm not sure if I should be jealous or not."

Michio adjusted his pants. "Y-yeah, well…" At least the attention was off him.

"Hi, Tai…ko," Sora said, catching herself, "How are you doing?"

Taiko blushed under everyone's eyes.

"Well, if you got turned into a guy, how would you feel?"

"Easy," Yamato said.

"Sorry," Taiko sighed.

Yamato shrugged. "Eh, no problem. It's gotta be weird, huh?"

Taiko sighed. "You have no idea." Then she grinned, "Well, when I change back, maybe I'll understand girls a bit better."

Sora smiled and waved to Yamato "I think he could use some of that too."

"Hey!" he snapped.

"Ah, good, you two are here."

Koshiro waved as he approached, his laptop secure under his other arm. "You bring that even to a concert?" Michio asked.

"He's helping Miyako with the music," Yamato explained.

"Forget about that," Taiko said, "You've got news about…" She gestured to her and Micho.

He shook his head. "No, sorry. I've asked on the message board if any of the other Chosen know anything about digivices swapping data, but so far, nothing, but I've also asked them for any information on the Floating Island."

Taiko blinked. "Floating Island?"

Koshiro rested his laptop on a nearby picnic table and waved them over. On the monitor was an array of images displaying a circular rock formation floating amid black shadows. "These are the pictures I took yesterday from the church."

"The one that Deltamon was guarding?" asked Michio.

Koshiro nodded. "Yes. I posted them on the Chosen message board and Mina, from India, had an idea what it might be. There's a rumor about an island floating in the southern digital ocean."

"What's so special about it?" asked Michio.

"The locals say that evil is there. It could be some kind of evolution power or even a dark digimon that sealed there."

Taiko crossed her arms and sighed. "Of course, isn't it always?"

"We'll keep working on it," Koshiro said, tucking his laptop beneath his arm again. He turned to Yamato. "Meanwhile, I'll help Miyako get set up."

Michio frowned. "Well, that's just great."

Taiko frowned as well but then smiled. "Well, let's just hope for the best, right? One of the other Chosen has to know something, right?"

Her smile dropped. "What's wrong?" Michio asked.

Taiko felt her cheeks blush. "Um, n-nothing." She trotted over to where Hikari was chatting with Takeru. "I need you!" she hissed, tugging on her sister's arm.

Hikari blinked. "What?" She paled. "You're not…um…bleeding are you?"

Taiko shook her head. "No, not…" She shivered and almost whispered, "Not yet, anyway." She cleared her throat. "No, I need to use the restroom."

"O…okay," Hikari said, "I don't need to show you, right?"

"I've managed for two days!"

"Then what's the problem?"

Taiko blushed even more and tugged on the edges of her dress. "How do I go in this?"

Michio licked his lips when he approached the food table. "When you said this would be catered, I wasn't expecting this."

Sora smiled at the line of hamburgers, fries, and other fast food. "Yamato's manager suggested that since his band's demographics are teenagers, he should serve food that teenagers like to eat."

Michio devoured a burger and half a bag of chips before going back in line for seconds.

"Mimi," Miyako said, "I've never seen you eat like that."

"I can't help it," he said, "It's really true, boys are always hungry."

She nodded slowly and the girl-turned-boy stared. "What?"

"Sorry," Miyako said, "I just can't get over it." Her voice lowered, "What's it like to have a…you know…"

Michio looked into the girl's eyes and his shorts got tight. Again? This is what guys dealt with all the time. "It's weird," he answered her question, "Really weird."

Miyako hesitated before lowering her voice. "Could I, um…see it sometime?"

Michio gasped. "Miyako!"

"Right, right," she said, shaking her head, "Sorry, sorry."

Taiko felt her stomach rumble as she approached the refreshment table. Her eyes focused on the cheeseburgers, but, as she reached for one, she caught sight of the young man in the catering uniform standing on the other side of the table. He seemed to be studying her, as was the group of teenage girls furthering down the line.

She grabbed a proportioned container of chicken salad instead.

She sat down at studied the young man and the teenage girls before digging into her meal. It felt like they were staring at her, judging her; saying with their eyes that she was not skinny enough for a burger; that she had to watch her weight. Damn, did girls go through that all the time?

"Testing, testing," a voice said over the speakers. It was Yamato, speaking into the microphone on stage, "We're gonna start soon, so everyone get ready to rock."

Taiko rolled her eyes and finished her meal before walking to take her place in front of the stage.

"At least that's easier," Michio mumbled as he stepped out of the men's room. He heard Yamato's announcement, and so pushed his way into the crowd assembled in front of the stage.

Yamato's voice dropped deep and soulful with each lyric, rising again for the chorus. Had Michio been Mimi, he was certain he would have shed a few slight tears, but as a boy, he still felt those emotions, but to a lesser extent, almost subdued.

Most of the girls were either crying those soft tears or staring with longing at the blond singer. They were probably hoping Yamato was singing to them, but Michio knew his eyes were for Sora alone.

As he scanned the crowd, he caught sight of a familiar brown-haired girl in a blue dress rush from the crowd. Taiko? Where was she going in such a hurry? He followed her behind the stage to the band's unmanned sound equipment; they were not famous enough to afford to hire anyone. Taiko pulled her digivce from her purse and shoved it at the digital display on the soundboard. She leaped into the Digital Gate. Michio dove for the portal and was pulled inside a second before it closed.

He found himself in the middle of a forest. "Mimi?"

He turned to see Palmon at his side. "Palmon, did you see Taichi come by?"

"Oh, that's who it was," she said, "I didn't recognize her at first. Yeah, she went this way. What happened? It looked like she was crying."

Crying? "Which way?"

Palmon led Michio deeper into the forest enough they saw Taiko seated beneath a tree with her knees curled up to her chest. Agumon was next to her. "What's wrong?" he asked, "Come on, you can tell me."

He turned when he heard Michio and Palmon approach and ran over to them. "Mimi! What's going on?"

"I don't know," he said in a low voice, "Um, can you just give me some time alone with her?"

The digimon nodded.

Michio walked over to Taiko and said, "You know, you shouldn't sit like that. You're giving everyone a free peak."

"I don't freaking care," she said into her knees.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Michio said, dropping down next to her.

"You wouldn't…" She bit her lip and then laughed, "Yeah, actually, you're the only one who would understand. Yamato's song…"

She took a breath and said in a quick burst, "…I felt like he was singing to me, and even though I knew he wasn't I wanted him to be singing to me! I just couldn't deal with it and I…I guess I panicked."

Michio nodded. "Yeah, well…I've…" He swallowed, "I've been noticing I'm attracted to girls now. So, you're not alone."

Taiko turned to him and he hoped he was not blushing as much as he felt he was. "Well, I'm sure you'll be chasing girls off."

Michio chuckled. "And guys'll be chasing you down."

They shared a laugh and Michio studied the digivice lying beside Taiko. "And didn't Koshiro tell us not to use our digivices?"

Taiko gasped and yanked it from the ground. She breathed out. "Whew, it looks the same."

"I guess it only repairs when we evolve," Agumon said.

"You still took a big chance," Michio said.

Taiko stared and then smirked. "Well, you came in after me."

He opened and closed his mouth, his mind racing. Finally, he laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

They shared a deep silence. Michio climbed to his feet. "Ready to head back?"

Taiko took hold of his outstretched arm and he hoisted her to her feet. She brushed the twigs from her dress. "Yeah, let's…"

"Taichi! Mimi!" Agumon shouted, "Trouble!"

A shadow passed overhead as a familiar digimon circled them. "HippoGriffomon!" both humans shouted.

The beast digimon descended and regressed to d'Arcmon before landing on a tree branch as gracefully as a ballet dancer. "You two again? You're not going to learn until you're permanently dealt with, are you?"

"What are you talking about?" Taiko snapped, "We were just sitting here! What are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "Just taking care of some more unhelpful digimon."

Michio thought of the destroyed Koromon and Kotemon villages. "What did you do now?" he demanded.

D'Arcmon just made a cutting motion with her hand. Another shadow appeared overhead as an Okuwamon dropped from the sky. He swung his giant pincer at the two humans. They darted back while their partners leaped to their aide.

"Baby Flame!"

"Stinking Attack!"

The attacks bounced off of the insect's hide. D'Arcmon rolled her eyes. "You're never going to get anywhere with those attacks."

Both Palmon and Agumon growled. d'Arcmon smirked. "But since you Chosen like to gang on your opponents, I need to make this fair." She snapped her fingers and the ground rumbled. A Triceramon pushed through the surface, sending trees crashing down.

"Have fun," d'Arcmon laughed. She jumped off a tree branch seconds before it fell and her body evolved to HippoGriffomon. He gave a quick laugh before vanishing into the sky.

"Damn it!" Taiko snapped.

Michio stared up at the digimon and then at his digivice. "Should we run?"

"Where?" Taiko gasped. She tightened her grip on her digivice. Evolving Agumon meant the device would repair itself. If the device repaired itself, then she and Michio would be trapped as they were.

The Okuwamon dove for the girl. Taiko dropped to the ground as Agumon ran to her side. She squeezed her digivice and the screen flashed with light.

"Agumon evolve to Sunflowmon!"

Taiko gasped and stared at the towering plant digimon. She checked her digivice again; no change; the damage was the same as before. Was Koshiro wrong? Had the repair function, or whatever it was, stopped working?

She did not have the time to wonder as one of Okuwamon's fist connected with Sunflowmon's head. The flower digimon hovered back and was able to fire off a Sunshine Beam before Okuwamon attacked again. He grunted as the energy beam struck his chest but retaliated with another barrage from his fists.

Taiko gritted her teeth. "Come on!"

"I'm…trying!" she said between jabs. "Sunshine Gun!"

She spewed out a machine-gun fire of seeds into Okuwamon's head. He grunted again as they bounced off his scales but he took to the skies with a whoosh of his wings.

"Sunshine Beam!" Sunflowmon cried. Okuwamon rolled aside, missing the energy beam. He swooped down, his claw chopping off one of her petals.

"Sunflowmon!" Taiko cried.

She panted and brushed the petals. "I'm…fine." She blinked, "I guess these are like hair."

Taiko held her chest to try and stop her heart from erupting through her chest. She imagined blood gushing from her partner's head.

Then she shouted as Okuwamon swooped down and trapped Sunflowmon within his giant pincers.

Taiko stared at her digivice; Sunflowmon had to evolve again! No! If Taiko did that, then her digivice would repair itself again and she might be stuck as a girl forever.

Sunflowmon grunted as she tried to free herself. That grunt soon turned into a cry of pain. Taiko felt a knife through her heart. How could she be so damn selfish! How many times had her partner almost gotten killed to save her?

Her fingers tightened around her digivice and nodded to herself. The screen flashed with light and Sunflowmon did in kind.

"Sunflowmon evolve to Lilamon!"

"Palmon evolve to Growmon!"

Michio's mouth was wide open, goosebumps prickling over his arms as he watched Growmon knock aside Triceramon seconds before he would have skewered the human. Michio then examined his digivice, his mouth closing into a worried frown. It was still dented and dinged, it still had the large crack on the monitor. Had it started repairing itself or…

He turned away from further examination to watch Growmon batter Triceramon with a combo of punches from his claws. Triceramon roared and swung his head around, grabbing Growmon's tail with his jaw. He yanked to the side and Growmon fell onto his face. He kicked Triceramon's jaw with his feet and the dinosaur released his grip.

"Growmon!" Michio cried.

He jumped back to his feet. "I'm fine," he heaved, wiggling his tail, "Gonna have to get used to this thing."

Michio's smile dropped. "Watch out!"

Growmon turned in time and caught Triceramon's incoming fist, pushing the dinosaur back with a shove. He readied the blades on his arms and swung for the neck. Michio readied himself to shout for joy but his anticipated smile turned into a silent scream. Tricermon twisted his body around, letting Growmon slice empty air before he lunged, ramming his horn through the dragon's body like a spear.

Michio felt his blood turn cold. He screamed out his partner's name and felt his digivice start to shake. He tried to stop it, tried to hold back whatever process the device used, but it was too late. The screen flashed with light and Growmon began to glow…

"Growmon evolve to MegaloGrowmon!"

Michio's new, larger and armored, partner grabbed Triceramon's horn and ripped it from his chest. He threw the dinosaur back so he skidded along the ground. MegaloGrowmon looked himself over and chuckled. "I feel like a tank!"

Triceramon charged but was stopped when Okuwamon landed on top of him. "Funny," a female voice laughed, "I feel like a feather."

A female digimon in a multicolored flower outfit hovered overhead. Michio turned as Taiko ran up beside him. She was clutching her digivice tightly within her palm, almost as if she did not want to look at it. "I had no choice," she said, almost in a whisper.

"Me either," Michio nodded.

Okuwamon's screech and Triceramon's roar filled the air. Both Fully Evolved digimon untangled themselves and charged, pincers and horns ready. Lilamon and MegaloGrowmon nodded at each other and rushed to meet their opponents.

Lilamon twirled in the air like she was dancing on clouds before thrusting out her hands and firing beams of light from her fingertips. "Lila Shower!"

The beams struck Okuwamon, tearing through his carapace before raining down upon Triceramon's back. Okuwamon's wings shattered and he fell beside Triceramon.

"You're up!" Lilamon cried.

MegaloGrowmon snorted. "Right!" The two cannons on his chest glowed with red energy. "Atomic Blaster!"

Twin beams of red energy exploded forth, enveloping the two digimon. Okuwamon and Triceramon screamed. When the light faded, only a Kunemon and Armadimon remained. They stared up at the towering armored dragon and quickly scampered away.

Michio watched them leave and the full weight of the situation crashed onto his shoulders. He studied his digivice with a pit opening in his stomach. The screen was still damaged, but the dings and dents in his digivice were gone. He turned to Taiko, who held up her own device. Her screen was still damaged as well, but the back was clean, the large crack healed like stitches on a human.

"Mimi, what…" She fell into his arms and sobbed. Michio wanted to join her but bit back his tears; he would be strong for her.

"It's okay, we'll figure something out."

Taiko pulled back her head and wiped her eyes. "S-sorry. I don't know what came over me."

Michio gave a half-smile. "No worries. It's getting late. Let's find a gate and go home."

Taiko called Koshiro on her cellphone. "Right," he said, "A Goblimon priest just told us that a d'Arcmon attacked his village. She's on her way to the city of Namu right now, so I told some of those Chosen to keep a lookout."

"Yeah, thanks," Taiko said, "Me and Michio, um, we had to use our digivices again."

Koshiro was silent for a moment. "Oh, okay. Um, yeah, I guess you didn't have much choice. I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, later," Taiko said, dropping the phone into her bag.

Michio was now able to use his digivice to open a gate, which deposited the teenagers into his apartment. "Make yourself at home," he said, "My parents are away."

Taiko blinked. "What? They left you at a time like this?"

"My grandmother's in the hospital," he explained, "Nothing serious, just a broken ankle."

"You didn't go with them?"

He waved at himself. "Explaining this would be too much of a shock." He slouched, "Don't know how she'll handle it if I don't change back."

Taiko nodded, thinking of her own grandparents. Although, with the way her grandfather dotted on Hikari, maybe it would not be so bad. "Yeah, I know." She dropped on the couch and rested her hand on her crossed legs. "How can we do this if we don't switch back?"

"Do what?"

"Live our lives!" she sighed.

Michio sat next to her. "We'll manage. You at least have Hikari to help you, I'm an only child."

Taiko smiled. "Well, you can always talk to me."

Michio was silent for a moment. "I…Taiko, don't take this the wrong way, but, you seem to be a lot more open with your feelings."

She blinked. "I am?"

He nodded. "Yeah. You were kind of closed off before, but now you seem to be an open book." He grinned, "It's a…nice change."

The two teenagers stared at each other for another moment before Taiko tackled Michio onto the bed. Their lips locked and Michio's hands snaked up Taiko's leg, feeling beneath her dress. Taiko's hands rubbed over Michio's chest before moving down to unbuckle his belt.

But then as quickly as it had begun, the feeling vanished. They pushed apart and Taiko ran for the door. "I'm, uh, I'll see you later."

"Yeah," Michio blurted, "G-good night."

To be continued…