History Main / LetsSplitUpGang

* When traveling through TheCity at night, it's a good idea to have friends with you who you can trust to have your back should something happen. Muggers, rapists and other assorted urban predators like attacking people who are by themselves in isolated places. If you ''have'' to go to a WretchedHive to see a band, even walking in a group may not be enough to keep safe. It's better to call a taxi and get dropped off right at the venue. Leaving the venue, do the same, but make sure you call the taxi. A stranger who just drives up to you and offers a ride may be a fake taxi (a predator or [[TheCon conman]] with a used taxi sign stuck on the roof).

* When traveling through TheCity at night, it's a good idea to have friends with you who you can trust to have your back should something happen. Muggers, rapists and other assorted urban predators like attacking people who are by themselves in isolated places. If you ''have'' to go to a WretchedHive to see a band, even walking in a group may not be enoughto keep safe. It's better to call a taxi and get dropped off right at the venue.

* When traveling through the city at night, it's a good idea to have friends with you who you can trust to have your back should something happen. Muggers and other assorted urban predators like attacking people who are by themselves in isolated places.

* Happens once in ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'', with the added twist of the individual paths being tailored to exploit the weaknesses of each group. For example, the group which includes your most potent mage has to traverse an anti-magic dungeon.
** In ''Covenant'', the party has to split up in order to get through the Mikasa Warship...with two security keys.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperLesbianAnimalRPG'' the party attemtps to rush back to town to warn the Paladi Brigade after fighting their way through a dungeon in the [[ShiftingSandLand Celestial Wasteland]] and learning of the villain's plan. Unfortunately for them, the teleporter they took to get there in the first place has been smashed leaving them stranded. Another teleporter is left undamaged in a mysterious ancient control room, and they set off to activate it. The four switches to activate the second teleporter are located in separate paths through a mechanical complex, and must be triggered at the same time, so the party must split up. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well for Melody, who ends up being attacked by robots, getting lost in a strange self repeating room, and meeting Harmony for the first time, who is a sentient manifestation of her own negative thoughts. Harmony proceeds to harass Melody until she has a panic attack and nearly passes out from mana poisoning due to a gaseous mana leak deep in the facility. Fortunately, her friends manage to save her in time.]]

* In ''[[FanFic/MassFoundations Mass Foundations: Redemption in the Stars]]'', this has happened two times so far: When [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas the Courier]] first engages the Blue Suns, a Centurion splits away from the remaining group to deal with him. Justified, as they don’t know his skills yet and Centurions are EliteMooks in [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the game]].
** Justified again in the third chapter, where only one Blue Suns hovercar out of five is sent to investigate the car left behind by the team and where Courier is lurking: [[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough they don’t expect him to stick around near the facility]] and so the rest are searching for him on the outskirts.

* In ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'', of the ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' series, one of the most important moves learned in the game is how to split up Banjo and Kazooie.

* The game ''VideoGame/SweetHome'' more or less enforces this as a game mechanic. You have five playable characters who can either work independently of one another or team up, but even then the largest team size is three. While it is usually possible (if a little tedious) to keep everyone together, there are going to be times when splitting up will be required to get through certain areas.

* ''Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug'': The Company are forced to split into two groups when being pusued by Smaug through the Lonely Mountain. {{Justified}}, since as big and powerful as Smaug is, there's only one of him and a dozen of the Company, so splitting up increases the odds that at least ''some'' of them might survive.

* Played with in ''Literature/TheGoodTheBadAndTheMediochre''. While searching a dragon's lair in order to return said dragon's egg, the protagonists encounter a fork. Mediochre has them split up, and even though Charlotte [[GenreSavvy remembers how this always went]] in WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo episodes, she goes along with the idea. It turns out that [[spoiler:Mediochre had worked out which tunnel was most likely to be the safest, and deliberately sent his friends down that one, [[HonourBeforeReason leaving himself to explore the more dangerous one alone]]]].It also turns out that [[spoiler:he was wrong]].

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': In Episode 19 of Brotherhood, Mustang splits the group at a junction to make finding Barry the Chopper easier. It doesn't turn out too well...
* ''Manga/PuellaMagiKazumiMagica'' has one in chapter 3 where the Pleiades have to search for their missing teammates.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' does this with the ''mooks''. After you take down a mook such that the others all run over to see it, they will inevitably go back to patrolling with "Now split up and find that Bat!"
* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' does this sometimes, but it's a lot more realistic in nature. The Arkham Knight will specifically order his men not to split up, as it makes them easy prey for Batman, and they do their best to follow these orders. Given time, though, they'll start to separate as they get distracted by various things, i.e. a teammate's unconscious body, or are lured away by tricks in Batman's arsenal.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ: The Legacy of Goku II'', the final fight against Cell is waged by Goku and Gohan, but halfway through, your other three characters get Cell Juniors thrown at them. This is a nasty surprise for some players -- but they have no excuse for not seeing it coming, as it's exactly what's supposed to happen story-wise.
* ''VideoGame/Drakengard3'' has a villainous example. Combined, the Intoners can easily fend off Mikhail's attacks. But they go and live in different regions so they can rule the continent more efficiently...and because they hate each other.

* While not developed by [=BioWare=], ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II'' had this in spades.

* In ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'', the brothers are often forced to split up, particularly in Joke's End, in which they spend most of the dungeon on separate paths. Similarly, in the sequel, ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time]]'', Baby Mario and Luigi are often separated from their adult selves. Mario and Luigi stick together more in ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Bowser's Inside Story]]'', the third game--once Mario finds Luigi, they only ever split up when Mario briefly gets kidnapped. However, that game adds Bowser as a third playable character, and he always travels alone ([[FantasticVoyagePlot well, sorta]]).

** The original ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' had a sequence in which you must choose a party member to go rescue the main character and his/her two potential love interests, and ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' features several such sequences, mostly during the end game.

* The original ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' (and 2002's Remake) has a prime example of this in Jill's scenario. Not content with having Chris and Wesker disappear within the first 5 minutes, Jill and Barry decide it's a ''great'' idea to split up, despite being stuck in a mansion in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, just after having seen a zombie eating another team-mate.

* Happens a few times in ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles: The Dark Brotherhood''. Depending on which bit of the story it is, some characters are locked into particular parties.

* Two examples of this of ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu'':

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* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls19'' episode "Him Diddle Riddle", one of Him's riddles requires the girls to head for Chinatown and answer a ringing pay phone in a three-minute timeframe without flying. Blossom has the three split up and take the most convenient route to the phone with the first there to answer it. Blossom hitches a ride with an 18-wheeler, Bubbles takes a bus then a pony, and Buttercup takes the subway.

* In Episode 5 of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'', while searching for a train at Grand Central Station, Okoye recommends the group split up to cover more ground. Spider-Man, being quite GenreSavvy, objects to this plan as he's seen enough horror films to know this is a bad idea. [[spoiler:Considering they lost Happy Hogan and barely escaped on the train in time, Okoye agrees that splitting up ''WAS'' a bad idea.]]

* {{Lampshaded}} in Season 13 of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue''. The Blues are trying to find General Doyle, (who has the SwordOfPlotAdvancement) before the villains do.

* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'': After [[spoiler:Bam's apparent]] death, [[MagnificentBastard Khun]] decided that it would be best if he and [[IllGirl Rachel]] separated from the group, while the rest would climb faster under the leadership of [[TheSmartGuy Shibisu]]. [[spoiler:He does it because he realized that Rachel actually killed Bam, that it wasn't just her plan and that she was his only lead to the rest of the conspiracy. Splitting up also prevented the rest of the team from noticing that Rachel was faking her disability and disbanding.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Him Diddle Riddle," one of Him's riddles requires the girls to head for Chinatown and answer a ringing pay phone in a three-minute timeframe without flying. Blossom has the three split up and take the most convenient route to the phone with the first there to answer it. Blossom hitches a ride with an 18-wheeler, Bubbles takes a bus then a pony, and Buttercup takes the subway.

* ''Webcomic/{{TREVOR}}'': After [[spoiler:Trevor]] kills [[spoiler:Dr. Clay]] and [[spoiler:Private Young]], Enid yells at the medical team to split up, since [[spoiler:Trevor]] can’t follow all of them separately.

** Anime episode #150 (Season 7, Hueco Mundo Sneak Entry). Ichigo, Rukia, Ishida, Chad and Renji are in Las Noches and facing five doors that might lead to Orihime. Rukia suggests that each member of the party go through a separate door, and they do. Ishida ends up finding Renji and getting involved in his battle agains Szayelaporro, while Ichigo ends up being the one to find Orihime.

Here is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KgsSZ2IC6Y compilation]] with a lot of examples.

** An episode has the team looking for a firebreathing monster. Of course they split up. It takes Wheeler and Linka all of ten seconds to completely abandon the mission and move in for a kiss... [[MomentKiller which is when the monster shows up]].

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' fanfiction, the G-Team and Team Mauzer do this during their first joint expedition into a dark ElaborateUndergroundBase, with either team going a separate way to the other. {{Lampshaded}} by Tejada when she aims to [[DefiedTrope defy]] this trope in a later chapter.

* In ''[[FanFic/SonicGenerationsFriendshipIsTimeless Sonic Generations: Friendship is Timeless]]'', the group frequently splits up when locating a portal. The group comes back together again when said portal is found.
* Inverted in ''Fanfic/TheFirstSaniwa'': Three teams sent on the mission station at different places: one at Seimei's house, one inside the city and one in the Minamoto estate. The events taking place later make them all have to meet up at the last place on that list [[spoiler:as it's become the base of operation of the enemies.]]
* In ''[[FanFic/MassFoundations Mass Foundations: Redemption in the Stars]]'', this has happened two times so far: When [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas the Courier]] first engages the Blue Suns, a Centurion splits away from the remaining group to deal with him. Justified, as they don’t know his skills yet and Centurions are EliteMooks in [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the game]].
** Justified again in the third chapter, where only one Blue Suns hovercar out of five is sent to investigate the car left behind by the team and where Courier is lurking: [[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough they don’t expect him to stick around near the facility]] and so the rest are searching for him on the outskirts.
* In chapter 19 of ''Fanfic/WrongRoadToTheRightPlace'', the team has three separate tasks they have to accomplish all at once. So they decide to split up, with each taking a different task: [[spoiler:Oliver rescues Walter, Diggle destroys the Makarov device, and Laurel and Ted protect the Moore family from the Rasmus assassin. It works perfectly]].
* In ''[[https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-122/JohnnySnowball+Buffy+meets+Star+Trek.htm Buffy meets Star Trek]]'', as the ''Enterprise'' crew recruit the aid of the USS ''Rutherford'' to track the demonically-possessed Data, the Scoobies send Xander and Anya to brief the ''Rutherford'' on the nature of the threat they're currently facing (although Xander feels as though he was only given this job because he and Anya were useless on the ''Enterprise'' as Buffy, Giles and Willow are needed to find a spell to defeat the current threat and obviously they couldn't trust Spike to do this job).

* The Warden and her companions do this a number of times during the various missions in ''FanFic/ShadowAndRose''. Because the story is a retelling of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' from a different point of view, this is actually an attempt by the author to recreate the fact that only three companions can fight alongside the player character at any given time while having the reduced number still make sense from a narrative point of view.
* In ''FanFic/FateRevelationOnline'' Griselda's guild is on a horror-themed quest and need to locate an NPC in a small town. Schmitt protests mildly when they decide to split up as it feels like asking for trouble.

* In ''Anime/TheHeroicLegendOfArslan'', it happens to Arslan's group on their journey to Peshwar, though not all by choice. Upon being chased, Daryun stays behind to buy the group more time to escape. The remaining group was intending to stay together but were soon separated due to a combination of the forest being set on fire and Lusitanian soldiers. Gieve ran into Arslan and Elam while trying to find Farangis. Farangis managed to find Daryun. Narsus escaped alone but would eventually meet Alfarid.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSandMan'', PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo [[VideoGame/TheCrookedMan David]] keeps telling Sophie they should stick together. However, she insists on splitting up, such as saying he can't come check Loren Catholic with her because it's an [[OneGenderSchool all-girls academy]] or that they'll cover more ground if they're exploring different areas.

* The trope is averted in schools that have young children. Children going missing is obviously terrible for all thoseinvolved. As such, they are typically never allowed to go anywhere by themselves except for the bathroom or if they have to give another teacher or faculty member something. It's even worse for school trips, which is why some children are paired up with another child before the trip starts.

** ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'': The two captains can split up to beat certain obstacles/perform multiple tasks. With the number of captains upped to four in ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'' it's shown that this is more-or-less the point of the game.