Note: This was originally written for a round robin fic. Unfortunately, the collective thing never took off, and I kept having ideas, so I expanded on it, and here it goes.

Daisuke flopped back on his bed, his face blank in expression, and just laid there staring at a crack in the ceiling. After a while, he flipped over and looked through the window. A few clouds went past over Odaiba Bay as he watched on.

"Aw man... I'm bored!" he sighed.

A high-pitched voice squealed in delight. Daisuke turned to see his partner, Chibimon, happily hammering away at a video game controller.

"I don't see how you could. This world is great!"

It was easy for the small, easily impressed baby II digimon to say that. But to Daisuke, things in the Real World had lost their shiny when he'd discovered the Digital World. Once you knew there's a whole world to save just beyond your computer, and that you're the one chosen to save it, few things could really get as exciting. The game bleeped a last few times before a "Game Over" graphic flashed across the screen. Chibimon moaned and keeled over dramatically.

"No! It can't end like this! I was going to beat it! I was!" he protested.

Then he noticed his depressive partner and he blinked. He had never actually seen his partner sad. Angry or annoyed, sure, but outright sad? Never! It just wasn't Daisuke. The blue digimon hopped into the bed and settled atop his partner's head.

"Daisuke, you know I don't like it when you make that face! Remember what happened with RedVeggiemon? Come on, cheer up, emo kid!" he chastised playfully.

"That's it. Next time I leave you here, I unplug the web connection," the boy deadpanned in return.

"Aaaaaaaaaaawwww!" the Digimon protested.

"That way you won't go around picking up silly lines, or bidding on Ebay using my father's credit card number," Daisuke added.

He rolled his eyes at the thought. It was lucky his father bought so much stuff off the site that the three digit transaction had gone barely unnoticed. The Digimon bounced to the desk and grabbed a pair of golden-platted castanets.

"But they were shinyyyyyyyyy!"

He stressed his point by using one as a mirror to reflect the sun in his partner's eyes. Daisuke put a hand in front of himself to defend his retina. His partner retaliated by striking them together with a clear sound.

"And they make a nifty sound too!"

He repeated the act in rhythm, starting to vocalize off-key. Daisuke's eyes widened. The last thing he wanted was to find an excuse for that. He snatched the instrument from the Digimon's hands, if they could be so called.

"Not now!" he hissed, causing the blue creature to recoil back. "And besides, you're doing it all wrong!" he added.

His right hand raised above him and he began to click the two wooden parts together absent-mindedly. Chibimon looked on in awe.

"Wow! You're good, Daisuke! I didn't know you could do that! Who taught you?" he asked.

"Takeru," Daisuke answered without looking back at him.

The digimon goggled at him in bafflement. Daisuke rolled his eyes and tossed the small instrument away. It landed behind the computer screen after hitting the wall.

"Long story. I don't want to get into it," the boy sighed out.

But Chibimon would not let himself be defeated so easily. He figured if Daisuke wasn't going to have any fun, he might as well do.

"Hey, let's get out! There's a whole world out there to explore!" he proposed.

"I don't feel like going out today, Chibimon," the boy moaned.

He turned onto his back, forcing the small digimon to hop away. Chibimon frowned. Usually the mere prospect of getting away from cleaning up his room was sufficient to cheer the twelve-years old.

"How come?" he inquired.

"Well, you see... It just feels like nothing can give me the rush I feel when I'm in the Digital World. When I'm back home, all I want to do is go back. But I know we can't. As much as I'd like to, I can't spend all my days there."

The little digimon racked his brain to try and figure out something that would interest his partner. It wasn't as easy as it sound. There are three states in which a Baby II-level digimon might be, and "focused" wasn't exactly one of them. He tried to remember what he did to entertain himself when Daisuke wasn't around. Keeping his focus wasn't easy, but he eventually had an idea.

"Hey!" he said, hopping in front of Daisuke. "You know, when I get really bored, what I do?"

"You sing, usually. The neighbours complain a lot about it too," Daisuke answered.

Chibimon could feel a large bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Well, sometimes. But usually I just go and think of something I don't know, and then I go out and try to figure it out!" he said happily.

"Oh... So that's what happened to the toaster!" the boy exclaimed.

Another sweatdrop went down the side of Chibimon's face.

"Well, is there something you've always wanted to know?" he just asked his partner.

"Well, I've always wanted to know if..."

Daisuke's eyes glazed over for a moment. When they focused back on him, Chibimon could tell this was going to be an interesting day. That sparkle in his partner's eye was unmistakable sign that he had gotten an Idea with a capital I. He hopped excitedly.

"So, what are we waiting for! Let's go out and find out!" he spurred.

Daisuke was rumbling across the room, pulling various items out of the piles that covered the floor completely and throwing them in his schoolbag. He snatched the Digimon and ran out of the apartment excitedly, slamming the door behind him.

"Hey, was that your brother?" Mr. Motomiya asked Jun from the living room.

Jun was sitting at the kitchen table and trying to figure out her algebra homework. She blinked at the closed door before realizing that she was the one being addressed.

"Yeah... I think..."

Mr. Motomiya sighed.

"I'll prepare the first aid kit. If he's so excited about it, it'll probably end badly for someone."

Outside, Daisuke was running for Odaiba Bay.

"So Daisuke, were are we going?" Chibimon asked earnestly.

"Well..." Daisuke answered. "Have you ever heard about sewer crocodiles?"