History Main / InvoluntaryGroupSplit

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'': During a fight with Magneto in his underground volcano lair, the X-Men accidentally cause a lava-slide, separating Jean and Beast from everyone else. She presumes they're dead, but actually they all got to safety and wind up in the Savage Land. Circumstances mean they're unable to get in contact with Professor X, who assumes they're dead and leaves Earth.

* Happens in ''Film/Hellboy2004'' with walls that come out of the ground.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' : When the tunnel leading to the Chamber of Secrets collapses, Ron Weasley and Gilderoy Lockhart are trapped. Harry must now face Voldemort alone.
** Or in Deathly Hallows: While the heroes are infiltrating the Ministry of Magic disguised as employees, their "supervisors" find them and order them to different locations. Our heroes panic.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark The Devil in the Dark]]": While Kirk and Spock are hunting the Horta deep underground, the creature causes a collapse that splits them up. After the Horta appears to Kirk, Spock eventually reaches him.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E5Disaster Disaster]]", a NegativeSpaceWedgie traps the members of ''Enterprise'' crew within different parts of the ship. Most of them find themselves [[FishOutOfWater way out of their comfort zone]]: Troi is the highest ranking officer on the bridge, Picard has to babysit a bunch of children, and Worf has to serve as midwife.

* In ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans 2'', [[MsFanservice Natalya]] and [[AntiHero Crypto]] are split up by falling rocks in a secret volcano base in a cheap {{expy}} of Japan.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''. The party falls down a hole, with three of them waking up in a large room and the fourth in a small closed-off chamber nearby. After some brief discussion the majority decide to carry on by themselves and assume their missing party member will catch up with them later on. Cue the man himself popping out of an underground passage to berate the party for planning to leave without him.
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'', the Morph Kisuna ensnares the player's party and uses his magic to divide them into two groups.

* Happens all the time in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' games, usually to force you to fight bosses alone. (Usually without explanation too - a forcefield just zips up when the boss appears. Though sometimes there are better reasons.)
** In at least one instance, Donald and Goofy [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration run right into a barrier as it activates and separates them from Sora]].

* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'':
** In ''Superstar Saga'', Mario gets sick with Bean Fever, and Luigi ventures alone to find the cure. Once cured, Mario rejoins the party.
** A few sections of ''Partners in Time'', such as the beginning of the Vim Factory, separate the baby Bros. and their adult versions.
** In ''Bowser's Inside Story'', Dimble Woods has a section where Luigi is stuck alone inside a Sockhop enemy. Once he finds Mario, he rejoins the party.
** In ''Paper Jam'', Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario are split up in Gloomy Woods. Starlow has to encourage Luigi to get him to progress.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'' has this happen at the very beginning. An explosion separates X from Zero and Shadow, but they can still communicate with each other.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' has a thankfully brief case of this in chapter 4-1.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', Mario and company get separated [[spoiler:after Dimentio blasts them all to the [[ToHellAndBack Underwhere]]]].

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'':

** In the very next level, it happens again, though to a lesser degree: Maiev has a few units accompanying her and can be joined by flying reinforcement, and can return to her base thanks to her abilities.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'', after the class escapes from an avalanche, they all end up in slightly different locations, and they have to find each other. Nor are they without casualties: the protagonist goes to find Morgan, and discovers her with a sprained ankle.
[[/folder]]

* There's one in ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'' in the level "Gap of Rohan". The player character (either Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli) passes through the remains of a burning building to get to the next stage, but then as soon as they're clear of the building what's left of the roof collapses, meaning the other two can't follow them.

* ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger:'' At the end of chapter 18, the heroes are separated after an [[spoiler:airship crashes into Beacon Academy.]] Ruby and Pyrrha are knocked unconscious and wake up in the ruins of the fairgrounds, Nora and Ren are sent flying into the Great War Memorial, Qrow is BuriedAlive beneath the remains of the airship, and Blake and Weiss go MIA.

* Repeatedly used in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure''. First Devimon splits File Island, then [[WeWereYourTeam everyone has drifted apart]] by the time Taichi [[YearInsideHourOutside finds his way back to the Digital World]] after Etemon, then they ''choose'' to separate during the Dark Masters arc (during which one of the split groups was briefly split even further when Mugendramon blew up a skyscraper on them, casting them into different parts of the city's sewers) and don't completely regroup until the absolute last minute.
** The Digital World arc of ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' had this as something of an environmental mechanic: the data streams of the lowest plane of the Digital World would drag those caught to a completely different plane of the World; on the other hand, [[InvertedTrope they eventually used a data stream to regroup]].
** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' literally has the party split because rocks fell. When part of the mountain they're on is ''eaten'' by Gigasmon to increase his power, the team falls...and winds up in different parts of the digital world instead of ''splattered.''

* ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen:'' During a fight with Magneto in his underground volcano lair, the X-Men accidentally cause a lava-slide, separating Jean and Beast from everyone else. She presumes they're dead, but actually they all got to safety and wind up in the Savage Land. Circumstances mean they're unable to get in contact with Professor X, who assumes they're dead and leaves Earth.

* A variant in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached''. When the four are in New Zork, they walk along unconcerned that they might be recognized, since it's 1954 and in RealLife they didn't show up in America until 1964. Unfortunately, this Earth is hardly an exact parallel with theirs. They round a corner and come upon a line of kids waiting to enter a contest to win “Beagles” tickets. “The mob broke the sound barrier as they thundered into the road, and the four said 'Christ!' and fled in four different directions.” The remainder of the chapter consists of their attempts to get back together.

* The ''TabletopGame/MarvelHeroicRoleplaying'' game features a mechanic by which the GameMaster can essentially ''force'' a group of player characters to split up -- or conversely put them back together -- via spending an appropriately-sized die from the doom pool and narrating just how it happens. This is meaningful not just for the usual dramatic reasons, but also because a hero's actual ''performance'' in this game is affected by whether they're currently alone, have a single "buddy" for backup, or are working as part of a greater team.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'':
** The Frozen Throne's undead campaign has a level where Arthas is separated from Anub-Arak by a convenient earthquake and must navigate the maze alone. At level 2. [[TimedMission While the clock ticks down]]. Fortunately, Anub-Arak digs his way back to Arthas in time.
** In the Night Elf campaign mission "The Tomb of Sargeras", Illidan causes a cave-in which effectively separates the Warden from the rest of her party because only she has the teleportation ability required to escape otherwise certain death. Notably, they ''aren't'' reunited, the rest of the mission consists of getting Maiev out of there alive.
** In the very next level, it happens again, though to a lesser degree: Maiev has a few units accompanying her and can be joined by flying reinforcement, and can return to her base thanks to her abilities.
* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', Gordon is separated from Alyx this way, when Black Mesa East is attacked

* Happens all the time in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' games, usually to force you to fight bosses alone. (Usually without explanation too - a forcefield just zips up when the boss appears. Though sometimes there are better reasons.)
** In at least one instance, Donald and Goofy [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration run right into a barrier as it activates and separates them from Sora]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}'', the ceiling collapses into a pile of rubble, separating the British soldiers from Nathan Hale.
* After a HopelessBossFight in ''[[VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory Star Ocean: The Second Story]]'', the heroes are kicked overboard. After washing up on the beach, Rena discovers [[spoiler: Claude and Leon]] are missing, along with all of the [=NPCs=] that were on the ship, and struggles to keep calm. Meanwhile, [[spoiler: Claude]] wakes up on a different part of the beach and has to deal with [[spoiler: Leon]] crossing the DespairEventHorizon.
* Leon and Claire are split up by an exploding tanker truck in the beginning of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' and each is forced to make their way to the Raccoon City police station alone.
** Also happens a few times in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0''. Since partnership is important in that game, it's all the more troubling when it occurs.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' has a thankfully brief case of this in chapter 4-1.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', Mario and company get separated [[spoiler: after Dimentio blasts them all to the [[ToHellAndBack Underwhere.]]]]
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'', the Morph Kisuna ensnares the player's party and uses his magic to divide them into two groups.
* In ''VideoGame/SilentHillHomecoming'', this happens in the prison level almost immediately after meeting your companion.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}''/''VideoGame/{{Avernum}} III'', this happens a few times, most notably when defeating the Slime and Cockroach plagues.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''. The party falls down a hole, with three of them waking up in a large room and the fourth in a small closed-off chamber nearby. After some brief discussion the majority decide to carry on by themselves and assume their missing party member will catch up with them later on. Cue the man himself popping out of an underground passage to berate the party for planning to leave without him.

* In ''VideoGame/BlackSigil'', not long after entering the House of Black Stone, your party of three will be broken down, with Kairu alone and Asi with Aurora. It only takes a few minutes before you're together again, though.
* Happens briefly in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', after the destruction of [[spoiler:Galahad Fortress causes the party to fall into the ocean]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Ib}}'', Garry gets separated from the girls by large vines suddenly springing up from the ground. Ib and Mary press forward to try to find something to take care of the vines...only for a statue to block their way back to Garry. Garry finds another way out after he realizes they aren't coming back, and you spend the next section of the game switching back and forth between playing as Ib and playing as Garry.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
** At the end of the ''Honest Hearts'' DLC, if you side with Joshua Graham to crush the White Legs, the immediate path through the canyon will be blocked by a rockslide halfway, separating you from Joshua and forcing you to detour through the caves.
** A subversion occurs in ''Lonesome Road'' when a cave-in blocks your path through the Divide, but ED-E doesn't get taken from you until ''after'' circumventing the impasse.
* The frequency with which this happens in ''VideoGame/TheLastStory'' is laughable; generally at least once per major dungeon. Bonus points for the rubble often being [[InsurmountableWaistHighFence barely above waist height or easily traversable]].
* In the prologue for ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsBX'', the 5 SD Gundams are scattered around BX's universe just as they were going to confront Sieg Zeon for the last time.
* ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'':
** In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorVanguard'', Keegan is split from the rest of the squad [[spoiler:when the glider crashes at start of Operation Neptune]].
** In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAirborne''', a German ambush forces Travers to split off from his squadmates Setzer and Wirth during the final part of the assault on Der Flakturm. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a LifesavingMisfortune, as the other two men are mortally wounded and killed by another German ambush just outside the tower]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'' does this several times, courtesy of falling boulders. The party is split in half and both groups have to explore the dungeon separately until they are reunited.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': At one point in the Driftwood Caverns, a scripted event causes [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant Voidwoken]] to grab the PlayerParty and deposit them in different regions of the caves, forcing them to find their way back to each other through a dangerous enemy lair. Of course, by then they've had a chance to find teleportation devices that can trivialize the task.

* Happens in the ''Film/{{Hellboy|2004}}'' film with walls that come out of the ground.
* A variant occurs in the RollercoasterMine in the 2008 version of Film/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth. The handcart and the two mine cars break off at a track intersection, sending Trevor down one track (nearly crashing him into a wall), Hannah down another (that abruptly ends and almost plunges her into a ravine), and Sean down yet another (he comes out just fine).

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': The Frozen Throne's undead campaign has a level where Arthas is separated from Anub-Arak by a convenient earthquake and must navigate the maze alone. At level 2. [[TimedMission While the clock ticks down]]. Fortunately, Anub-Arak digs his way back to Arthas in time.
** In the Night Elf campaign where, causes a cave-in which effectively separates the Warden from the rest of her party because only she has the teleportation ability required to escape otherwise certain death.

Contrast with LetsSplitUpGang, where they do it voluntarily, and NeverSplitTheParty, where they're at least trying to avoid it. Compare LockedOutOfTheFight.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Devil in the Dark": While Kirk and Spock are hunting the Horta deep underground, the creature causes a collapse that splits them up. After the Horta appears to Kirk, Spock eventually reaches him.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Disaster", a NegativeSpaceWedgie traps the members of ''Enterprise'' crew within different parts of the ship. Most of them find themselves [[FishOutOfWater way out of their comfort zone]]: Troi is the highest ranking officer on the bridge, Picard has to babysit a bunch of children, and Worf has to serve as midwife.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has the Season 2 episode “The Cave of Two Lovers”, in which a cave-in causes Aang and Katara to be separated from Sokka, leaving Sokka with the hippie musicians.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''

* It happens in ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' every once in a while. Though it's more of a party mismatch, since generally, Rockets, trainers, and even their individual Pokémon can form their own groups depending on how they're split.

* In VideoGame/FireEmblem, the Morph Kisuna ensnares the player's party and uses his magic to divide them into two groups.

* Happens briefly in ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'', after the destruction of [[spoiler:Galahad Fortress causes the party to fall into the ocean]].

* This happens at the end of Chapter 5 of ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', where Lucas and company are split up after falling from the Mother Porkship, because the Rope Snake proved to not be as useful as Duster thought for holding on. However, instead of having to play as all the different characters in their separate groups afterward, all the gameplay just focuses on Lucas trying to find the other party members.

* ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor''

* ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger:'' [[spoiler:At the end of chapter 18, the heroes are separated after an airship crashes into Beacon Academy. Ruby and Pyrrha are knocked unconscious and wake up in the ruins of the fairgrounds, Nora and Ren are sent flying into the Great War Memorial, Qrow is BuriedAlive beneath the remains of the airship, and Blake and Weiss go MIA.]]

* In the Chinese ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'' adaptation ''Animation/StitchAndAi'', Lilo and Stitch are separated against their will in the first few minutes, setting Stitch on the path to meeting Ai.

* The first two ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games.

!!* Happened in ''Series/{{Lost}}'' after the characters discovered the cave.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In the Creator/IsaacAsimov short story "Catch That Rabbit", the heroes decide to create a fake rockslide, to test whether a robot is malfunctioning or not, but then get caught in it and have to get the robot to dig them out.
* In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' series by Creator/RickRiordan, this happens at the end of ''Mark of Athena''.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Happened in ''Series/{{Lost}}'' after the characters discovered the cave.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Doctor's Daughter". Martha Jones is separated from the Doctor by a tunnel collapse near the beginning of the episode and meets up with him again near the end.
* Happens to an extreme in season 1 of ''Series/StargateUniverse''. A small group are split off from the main cast and stranded on an alien planet when a cave-in traps them in an underground complex. Then, next episode, another cave-in splits them up, leaving one stranded unconscious whilst the others try to use the stargate network to make their way back to the ''Destiny''. Possibly the first time a cave-in has left the party split up across the breadth of a galaxy.

[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has the Season 2 episode “The Cave of Two Lovers,” in which a cave-in causes Aang and Katara to be separated from Sokka, leaving Sokka with the hippie musicians.

* Happens in the ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'' film with walls that come out of the ground.

* It happens in ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' every once in a while. Though it's more of a party mismatch, since generally, Rockets, trainers, and even Pokémon can form their own groups after the rocks fall.

* At the end of the ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' DLC ''Honest Hearts'', if you side with Joshua Graham to crush the White Legs, the immediate path through the canyon will be blocked by a rockslide halfway, forcing you to detour through the caves as well as separating you from Joshua.

* A subversion occurs in ''Lonesome Road'' when a cave-in blocks your path through the Divide, but ED-E doesn't get taken from you until after circumventing the impasse.

** In the NightElf campaign where, causes a cave-in which effectively separates the Warden from the rest of her party because only she has the teleportation ability required to escape otherwise certain death.

* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorVanguard'', Keegan is split from the rest of the squad [[spoiler:when the glider crashes at start of Operation Neptune]].

* Happens all the time in the ''KingdomHearts'' games, usually to force you to fight bosses alone. (Usually without explanation too - a forcefield just zips up when the boss appears. Though sometimes there are better reasons.)

Contrast with LetsSplitUpGang, where they do it voluntarily, and NeverSplitTheParty, where they're trying to avoid it. Compare LockedOutOfTheFight.

* In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' series by RickRiordan, this happens at the end of ''Mark of Athena''.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Owlboy}}'', near the start of the game, [[spoiler:in pursuit of the troublemaker]], Otus is separated from Geddie by a cave-in.