This fic is like a bad houseguest. You know, the kind that come in, eat everything in your fridge, and then refuses to leave until you do something about them. Well, this one's actually a pretty good idea…Takari mainly, with sides of Kenlei…The beginning's a little slow, but from there it picks up…Just wanna thank whoever did that cool little piece of fan art I saw somewhere that had human forms of Gatomon and Patamon, 'cause that sparked my idea, and if anyone has any suggestions on the plot I'd be glad to hear 'em.

Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, Tamers may never have existed, Takari would have been a set couple, we would have settled the whole 'Dark Ocean' thing once and for all, and 02 would've lasted a whole lot longer. Enjoy…

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We all thought about it. I mean, how could you not? Watching them fight, sharing their energy, being their friends…how could we not think about what it would be like? To be a real Digimon?

I used to think about it a lot. If I could switch places with Angemon, fight the forces if evil, for real! It's a cool dream.

Doesn't mean I wanted it to be real.

The Grass Is Greener…

Chapter 1: The Old Switcharoo

It all started with a simple trip to the Digital World. It was summer, and at the same time, it was sweltering.

"Jeez louise!" Davis groaned, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He'd already removed his flame-decorated jacket and his gloves, both which were sitting next to him on the grassy hill. "It must be a hundred degrees out here!"

"Actually, it's a hundred and two." Ken muttered, checking his watch. It was a real fancy one that had a thermometer and everything.

"Thanks for telling us, Sherlock." Davis snapped. He didn't mean to be rude, it's just that the heat made him grumpy and irritable.

Yolei put her gloves into her helmet with a sigh. "Who cares how hot it is." she groaned, dropping to the ground next to Hawkmon. "Can't we figure out a way to get out of it?"

"We could always go to the ice region." Cody suggested. A slight growth spurt had happened, now he was about as tall as Kari and Davis.

"Nah." T.K. muttered, pulling his hat down over his eyes. "That's too cold. We need an in-between place."

Patamon lifted his ears up so they wouldn't make him so hot. "I know a bit of a river around here."

"A river?" Kari asked, sitting up.

"Yeah!" Veemon sat up. "I know what you're talking about!"

"It's a great place to cool down." Patamon explained. "And it's got the widest beach anywhere, with soft white sand dunes as far as you can see."

"Sounds good to me!" Davis said, standing and everyone quickly agreed.

After a fifteen-minute walk, and an extra ten across the dunes, they reached it at last. Patamon was right, the smooth white sand was almost blinding when it reflected the harsh light. But around the river were lots of tall, branched-out trees. The kind with big, glossy green leaves and spread-out limbs that reached out over the water, some making a kind of curtain and all providing some great shade around the river.

And what a river it was! It was at least a mile wide and perfectly crystal clear and glass-like, in a way that you could see all the way down to the very bottom. Parts of it were at less than two feet deep, others over ten. And it was cool and gentle and oh so refreshing.

Quite soon the edge of the bank were littered with stacks of discarded items, including six multi-colored D-3s, six D-Terminal pocket computers, Yolei's brown helmet with her gloves and glasses inside, Davis's flame jacket and yellow gloves, Kari's camera, T.K.'s hat, Ken's watch, and the various different kinds of shoes with socks stuffed inside them.

The kids rolled up their pants legs and waded into one of the shallow parts of the river. It was quite enjoyable to feel the cool water rushing against their feet and ankles, but it was rather dull until Davis 'accidentally' knocked into T.K., who wound up face-first in the direct current.

"Whoops." Davis said rather fakely. "Sorry, T.S."

T.K., still on his hands and knees, spat some water out of his mouth. "Davis?" he said, looking up sneakily through his sopping bangs. "It's T.K."

With that, he grabbed Davis by the ankles and flipped him onto his back into the water. Davis sat up, sputtering, then almost immediately sent a wave of water at the other boy. T.K. splashed back, and soon they were going at it like a couple of ten year olds.

Yolei rolled her eyes. "Thank goodness some guys mature when they get older." She shot a glance in the direction Ken had been, but he wasn't there anymore. He'd decided to get into the act and was now splashing and laughing right along with them.

Yolei heaved an exasperated sigh. "Really!" she muttered to Kari. "Those boys just don't know when to quit."

Kari grinned at her friend out of the corner of her eye. With a quick movement, she kicked Yolei's legs out from under her, sending the older girl splashing down. She'd asked for it.

With a quick movement from Yolei, Kari was right in the water with them, and now almost the whole group of kids were laughing and splashing each other, except for one.

"Come on in, Cody!" Kari called, dog-paddling in the deep water. "The water's great!"

"Uh…no thanks." Cody denied, sliding the other way. "I'll just wade over here…"

Davis looked at T.K. T.K. looked at Davis. The locked eyes and nodded. At the same time, they came from behind Cody, picked the boy up under the arms, and dumped him into the river with a SPLASH!

The only ones who stayed out of the water all together were Gatomon and Hawkmon. When asked why, they had only to comment each in one sentence:

"Wet feathers make for bad flying, Yolei." replied Hawkmon in his deep English-accented voice.

"I'm a cat." said Gatomon simply. "What makes you think I wanna go swimming?"

So they remained on the side and relaxed in the shade while their partners and friends splashed in the river. After a while their clothes started to get heavy, so the boys pulled off their shirts and swam bare-chested. The girls, being unable to do such a thing in polite public, just had to live with the heavy sagging of their clothes and tried not to drown in the deeper waters.

After an hour of this, the group pulled themselves on-shore and lay out on the bank to dry off. In half an hour they were semi-dry and, besides being covered in sand, feeling quite good about themselves as they put their stuff back on and began the long walk towards the DigiPort home.

It was halfway through the dunes that they were attacked.

"Do you think we can come back tomorrow?" Yolei was asking, when a purple blur zipped forward and knocked Patamon off T.K.'s head, sending the Digimon flying into the dunes and knocking the boy to the ground.

"T.K.!" shouted Patamon, flapping his wing-like ears to steady himself over the dunes.

"You okay?" Kari asked as T.K. sat up, rubbing his head.

"I'm fine…" he groaned. "What was that?"

There was a deep, feminine laugh. In front of them suddenly stood a purple, human-like Digimon. She had pale skin and dark purple robes that covered her entire body. The hair was black and reached to the waist, with black gloves and creepy green eyes. In one hand was a tall, silver staff, topped with a purple orb.

"What in the name of…" Cody started.

"What is that?!" Yolei blurted out.

"Allow me to introduce myself." The Digimon gave a bow as T.K. stumbled to his feet. "I am the almighty Sorceressmon, the Lady of the Dark Arts."

"Dark Arts?" Kari asked as T.K. stood.

"Witchcraft and sorcery." Ken explained. "Old magic."

"But of course." Sorceressmon stood. "Now, to discuss the conditions of your surrender…"

"Surrender?!" Davis scoffed. "What makes you think we'd surrender to you?"

Sorceressmon's eyes narrowed. From her finger tips, she shot a spark of purple fire at Davis, and it missed him by about have an inch. "Because." she said simply as he dodged it. "If you don't I shall be forced to destroy you."

"Over my dead body!" shouted Veemon.

"That can be arranged." hissed Sorceressmon, flying high, high up into the air with no wings. She began to concentrate her energy on the orb of her staff, getting ready for the attack.

"Um…anybody else think we should Armor Digivolve about now?" Armodillomon asked.

Cody nodded. "Right." each of them, except Ken, took out their D-Terminals.

"DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!"

Veemon, Armor Digivolve to…Raidramon!

Hawkmon, Armor Digivolve to…Halsemon!

Armodillomon, Armor Digivolve to…Digmon!

Gatomon, Armor Digivolve to…Nefertimon!

Patamon, Armor Digivolve to…Pegasusmon!

Wormmon, Digivolve to…Stingmon!

"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon slashed at Sorceressmon with his blade. She dropped back, and the orb stopped glowing.

"Why you…" she growled. "Purple Flame!"

A ball of fire hit Stingmon in the chest, knocking him back. Raidramon roared forward. "Thunder Blade!" he fired the attack for Sorceressmon, and at the same time, Digmon fired a Gold Rush.

The two attacks hit at the same time, but neither did anything. Sorceressmon had blocked both. "Have to do better than that!" she taunted.

"Darn! She blocked it!" Davis muttered under his breath.

"We'll never get anywhere this way." Pegasusmon whispered. "If we can get a Golden Noose around her, she should be easy picking."

The others nodded. "Okay." Yolei agreed from Halsemon's back. "Kari, you and T.K. circle around back, we'll keep her busy down here 'til you make it."

Kari and T.K. nodded at the same time, then mounted their Digimon partners and slid in among the sand dunes, crouching around back of their foe.

Sorceressmon grinned as she felt the two creatures circle around her. She'd been studying these kids a long time, as she slowly built her army of Digimon slaves. She knew these tactics. When she heard two great pairs of wings soaring up behind her, she knew it was time to strike.

"Sorcerer's Spell!" she shouted, spinning around and swiping her staff in the direction of the two children and their partners.

For a moment nothing happened. Nothing they could see or hear anyway. Nefertimon and Pegasusmon hovered in mid-air wondering what the trick was.

An invisible force suddenly struck them at the same time. And not just the Digimon, but their partners as well. They cried out in pain as the Digimon were thrown on their backs, T.K. and Kari only clinging on by a hair. They crashed into the dunes fifty feet away.

"Kari!" Davis shouted.

"T.K.!" called Cody.

"Nefertimon! Pegasusmon!" shouted the Digimon.

Stingmon spun around. "Where'd Sorceressmon go?!" he called, and indeed, the purple Digimon was gone.

"No time for that now, Stingmon!" Ken called, hurrying up the side of the dune. "We have to make sure T.K. and Kari are okay!"

The Digimon returning one-by-one to Rookie form, the group scrambled up the edge of the first dune, slid down the next, and ran up the side of the one closest to where their friends had crashed.

"T.K.! Kari!" the called, coming to the top. "Are you guys…"

They stopped short and nearly fell down the dune. Two humanoid figures sat in the crater, but they sure weren't their friends.

The first was a girl, just about their age, and strangely familiar. Her eyes were a most remarkable, almost unnatural, shade of bright blue. Her hair was waist-length and white, parts of it streaked what looked like a very pale purple. She wore a sleeveless white shirt with a yellow neckerchief, yellow shorts, white shoes with purple laces, tall white socks, and yellow gloves with odd orange stripes on them.

The other was a boy, also their age, but just as oddly familiar. He had those same bright, remarkably blue eyes. His hair, however, was short and shaggy, and a bright orange color. He wore an short-sleeved orange T-shirt with a red stripe around the middle, slightly baggy blue jeans, and white and black shoes.

These two oddly familiar kids were looking at their arms and bodies with wide eyes, like something amazing had just happened or they were just getting used to their life. The DigiDestined on the hill looked at them, then at each other.

"Do you know these kids?" Yolei asked.

"I've never seen them before." Cody shrugged.

"This is where they crashed, isn't it?" Davis asked, looking around.

"I'm sure it is…" Ken began, but about that time both kids looked up at them.

There was an uncertain silence for a moment. Finally, Davis spoke. "Uh…hi there…"

The two kids on the ground turned to each other. "Gatomon?" the boy asked the girl.

"Patamon?" she responded.

This time, Yolei really did fall down the dune.

The two kids stood shakily, getting used to their legs. Then they guy reached down to help Yolei to her feet. No one could think of anything to say, until Veemon came cautiously up and sniffed the air around the girl.

His eyes widened. "It is you, Gatomon!" he cried in surprise.

"WHAT?!" The DigiDestined all stared at the two kids. Now that they thought about it, they did look quite a bit like the two Digimon.

Cody tried to work it out slowly. He turned to the boy. "Patamon?" he asked.

"Uh-huh." he agreed.

Cody turned to the girl. "Gatomon?"

"Yup." the girl looked up sheepishly.

That's when it spilled. "You're…You're human!!" cried Davis in shock.

Patamon and Gatomon waved their arms around. "Don't look at us!" Gatomon cried.

"We don't know how it happened!" Patamon insisted.

"But…But if you're human…" Ken scanned the area. "Where are T.K. and Kari?"

There was a burst of sand from the side, followed by another. Two tiny Digimon came rolling down, head-over-heels, and came to a stop on the ground, spitting up sand and rubbing stuff out of their eyes.

One was a cat, clinging to Kari's pink D-3 in her mouth and a D-Terminal in her paws. She looked exactly like Gatomon, except it was that same auburn-brown color of Kari's hair, and its eyes were a deep, rich brown. There was no tail ring or gloves. The other was a Patamon, but a Patamon with deep golden-blonde fur and crystal-clear blue eyes. He held T.K.'s green D-3 and D-Terminal, both of which were much to big for him.

Gatomon and Patamon knelt down next to them, and the others leaned over their shoulders. "T.K.? Kari?" they asked.

The two Digimon looked up. "Gatomon?" asked the cat in Kari's voice.

"Patamon?" asked the other, in a voice distinctly T.K.'s, if a bit higher.

Patamon picked T.K. up and brushed the white sand out of where the tiny arms couldn't reach. "Gatomon?!" Kari insisted. "What the heck happened? I'm a cat!"

"More like a Digi-Cat." Gatomon muttered. "We switched places."

"How?" T.K. asked. He was now sitting in Patamon's arms. "How'd it happen?"

"It must have something to do with Sorceressmon's attack." Ken muttered. "Just before she fired it, she called 'Sorcerer's Spell'. Somehow or another, it must have done this."

Cody shook his head. "We've got a problem."