OH MY GOD THIS THING. This doesn't even remotely resemble the original idea. But this is better. And like, three times as long.

A soft, yet insistent tapping on his cheek brought Daisuke Motomiya out of his doze. Eyelids fluttered against the light beyond them. He didn't feel like waking. He didn't want to get up yet. He was perfectly comfortable where he was. Small hands flapped groggily in the direction of whoever was touching him.

"Go 'way, Jun! I don't wanna go to school," He grumbled.

"Daisuke, are you awake? Are you okay?"

The voice gave the boy pause. That was not his sister. Or his mom or dad. He rolled over and heavily pushed himself to his knees. His body felt strange. Tired. He peeked his brown eyes open and blinked a few times to focus them.

Grass.

Why was he outside?

Daisuke scrunched up his face and peered around into the forest. He had no memory of getting here whatsoever. It didn't look like any part of the park he'd been to in Odaiba.

"Daisuke, are you hurt?"

The boy whipped his head towards the voice and came face to face with… a blue dragon thing?

Whatever it was, it was bouncing from foot to foot, an anxious but somewhat relieved look on his small face.

"Oh thank goodness, you're okay! You look different, but you're okay!" The creature threw his arms around Daisuke and almost knocked them back to the ground.

Daisuke was not sure he was awake at all. It could just be a realistic dream. Or as realistic as it could be with a talking dragon.

"Um, yeah. I'm okay?" He patted the energetic dragon on the back a little. It was scaly, but quite warm. Like putting your hand on a rock on a summer's day.

The dragon pulled back, but kept a clawed hand on Daisuke's arm.

"Come on, we gotta check on the others!" The creature kindly helped him to his feet. The boy was surprised to see he was a head or so taller than the dragon. It had looked a lot bigger from the ground.

Before it could scamper off, Daisuke scratched his head.

"So, um, who are you?" He asked curiously. The dragon obviously knew his name and was incredibly friendly, but Daisuke has no idea who, or what, he was talking to. He still wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not.

The blue thing stopped short and turned back to face him.

"Daisuke?"

The boy frowned.

"Yeah, that's my name. But I don't know yours," He grumped.

"But…but I'm your partner. Daisuke, you don't remember me? I'm your digmon," The creature sounded so lost suddenly. So unsure.

"Digimon?" Daisuke screwed up his face. That struck something in his chest. That word sounded familiar. Wait…

"OH YEAH! Digimon! Those things at the convention center that looked all funny! Some people were calling them that," He exclaimed.

The dragon digimon was looking at him curiously. It took a few steps toward him again.

"When was that? When did you see those digimon?"

Daisuke wiggled his hand around.

"Eh, like a few weeks ago? Why?"

The digimon's mouth dropped open, and his red eyes went wide.

"Daisuke… that was years ago," He said bracingly. "You're sixteen now. You don't remember anything? I'm your partner. I'm V-mon."

Daisuke was confused. He looked down at his hands. At his clothes, his shoes, patted his face. He didn't look sixteen. He didn't feel sixteen. An amazing thought occurred to him.

"V-mon! Did I go to THE FUTURE?" He cried. This was so cool! He bounced on his toes with glee.

"What? No, Daisuke. Listen!" V-mon grabbed his hands to hold him still and looked straight into his eyes. "You are Daisuke Motomiya. You are sixteen years old. You are a chosen child. You defend the digital world with a team of friends. I'm your partner. We fight together and beat bad guys. We were fighting an enemy and you got hit… and I thought he just made you smaller, but I think you lost a lot of your memories."

He paused. Daisuke was wide-eyed and trembling. V-mon hoped he hadn't scared his poor partner.

"Daisuke? Are you okay?"

The boy exploded.

"I GROW UP TO BE A SUPERHERO!" He screeched euphorically.

V-mon couldn't help but laugh.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so."

A groan from the clearing cut their celebration short.

"Is that a monster to fight?" Daisuke dropped into a childish fighting stance.

V-mon shook his head, grasped his partner's outstretched arm, and hurried them in the direction of the noise.

"I think it's Ken! He's your best friend and I think he got hit too."

They crossed the clearing quickly and stumbled to a stop. A small, blue haired child lay curled in a ball in the dirt. His face hidden in the tiny digimon he held like a teddy bear.

"Minomon, are you guys okay?" V-mon asked urgently.

The green, bug-like digimon looked up at them in relief.

"Daisuke! V-mon! Ken won't wake up. And he's little again and I don't know why!" He answered breathlessly.

"That's okay! If I can fight bad guys and save the world, I can totally wake somebody up," Daisuke strode forward confidently.

"Uh… okay," Minomon sent V-mon a questioning look.

The dragon digimon sighed.

"He doesn't remember anything that happened in the digital world. Like years back. I tried to tell him what's going on and now he thinks were a team of superheroes."

Daisuke crouched next to the other boy. He didn't want the really cool digimon to know, but he was nervous. He was not the best at making friends… they always thought he as too loud or stopped playing with him when he accidently broke stuff. But his partner said that this person was his best friend, so maybe he got better when he was bigger. He lightly patted the boy's shoulder.

"Hey, uh… Hey, Ken-chaaaaan, its time to wake up now, okay? Ken-chan?"

The child only mumbled softly and curled up further.

That would not do.

"Ken!" Daisuke grabbed his supposed friend's shoulder with both hands and gave him a shake.

Ken gave a start and rolled onto his back, eyes open, but glazed with sleep. He brought his free hand up and rubbed at his face. The child of kindness huffed a sleepy breath and tried to focus on the shadow looming over him.

"…Ryo?"

Minomon paled.

"Oh no."

Ken jolted up, narrowly missing bashing his head into Daisuke's. He wobbled to his feet, wildly taking in his surroundings. He clutched Minomon to himself and began firing questions off too fast for anyone to answer.

"Where are we? What happened to the desert? Minomon, where did Ryo go? I was, I thought I was sick, and my neck-" He desperately grasped at the back of his neck.

"Ken! Ken, its okay! Its over! Ken, calm down, please!" His partner chirped up at him.

The boy slowed and rubbed the back of his neck curiously.

"Minomon…it, it doesn't hurt."

The two of them began talking too softly for Daisuke to hear.

He watched the pair, bewildered.

"Is Ken always so panicky?" He asked V-mon in an undertone.

The digimon hummed.

"He gets upset easily, but you're the best at making him feel better. And you kinda rush into things, and he makes sure you don't do something, uh, silly."

"Huh," Daisuke watched the blue haired boy closely. "Sounds good to me."

Ken walked slowly back over to them, mouth hanging open in shock.

"Um. Minomon says we're sixteen. And we're friends? But I, I don't remember you, or that, or anything…" He said tremulously.

"That's okay! Me neither!" He held out a hand towards the shy child. "I'm Daisuke, and we'll be buddies, 'kay?"

A tiny smile pulled at Ken's lips and he met Daisuke in a short handshake.

"Okay," Ken whispered.

V-mon clapped his hands happily.

"Now we just have to-"

A scream shattered the calm.

"PATAMON!"

The four whipped around to see a small blond boy scrambling to his feet a little ways away.

"Patamon! Onii-chan! Where are you?" He cried, absolutely frantic. "PATAMON!"

Daisuke took a step back, unnerved by this new child's terrified yelling. Ken hastily hid behind him, wide-eyed and wary.

"Patamon! Taichi! Anybod-" His cry was strangled when he caught sight of a white lump nearby. The boy flew to it, dropping to his knees and gently picking up the blob. He cradled the thing to his chest, tears choking his voice.

"Poyomon, what happened? Are you okay? Where did Onii-chan go?"

Daisuke glanced down to his partner.

"Is he one of our friends too? 'Cus he's kinda freaking out and I don't know what to do, actually."

V-mon gave them a reassuring smile, marred slightly by his concern for the other child.

"That's Takeru. You guys stay here, I'll go talk to him."

The blue digimon made his way through the grass to where Takeru was trying to wake his partner.

"Hey, Takeru?" He asked carefully.

The chosen of hope spun around unaware he had company. He guarded the baby digimon the best he could without smushing him.

"Hi, Takeru, I'm V-mon. Do you remember me?" He sat a few feet away, trying to look as un-threatening as possible.

The blond boy shook his head.

"No. Do you know what happened? Where my onii-chan went?"

V-mon shifted an inch or two closer.

"I know what happened, but you need to calm down. What's the last thing you remember?"

Takeru looked down at Poyomon.

"Onii-chan and I were in Shimane. Taichi and Koushiro were helping us fight a bad digimon on the internet. And, and Patamon was going to evolve. But Dioboromon attacked him! He cheated! Patamon was hurt and everyone was yelling, and then I woke up here," He said hurriedly.

V-mon held up his hands, hoping to calm the boy.

"Okay, Takeru, listen to me. Taichi and Yamato beat Dioboromon and everything turned out okay. That was a long time ago."

Takeru wiped a tear away. He gazed at the dragon, puzzled but his words.

"A long time ago?"

"Yes! It was years ago. You're sixteen now, and there's new chosen children," He pointed back to Daisuke, who had been inching towards them. Takeru wasn't so off-putting now that he wasn't screaming. "That's my partner, Daisuke. And Ken and Minomon. They're on your team now."

The chosen of hope frowned unexpectedly.

"What happened to Taichi's team? Why am I on a new team? I like all my friends," He questioned.

"Nothing happened to Taichi or the older kids, I promise! They're just really busy these days, being in college, and so you and Hikari have a new team. We all work together when we can. Today we were all split up looking for a bad digimon. You three were hit by an attack and it made you smaller and you forgot a lot. Does that make sense?"

Takeru shuffled back onto his bottom and put his legs out in front, close enough that they were nearly touching V-mon's foot.

"Onii-chan is in college?" He said in awe.

"Yup."

They sat quietly, Takeru absorbing the information, and V-mon wondering what their next move was.

Ken and Daisuke finally deemed it safe to approach the blond kid. Ken and Minomon tentatively sat in the grass a few feet away while Daisuke thumped himself down right in front of Takeru.

The chosen of hope peered curiously at him.

"You look like Taichi."

Daisuke laughed helplessly and shrugged.

"I don't know who that is, but thanks, I guess? Is that your digimon?" He pointed at the soft blob that was Poyomon. "He looks kinda wimpy. V-mon is much cooler."

"My partner is the best, excuse you! He doesn't usually look like this, but he got hurt, so leave him alone. He turns into a huge, awesome angel, okay?" Takeru defended, moving Poyomon away from Daisuke.

"Huh. That does sound way cooler. So do you want me to wake him up? I woke Ken up, so a little guy like that should be no problem!" He offered, reaching forward.

"Don't! Hey!"

Takeru wasn't fast enough.

"Boop! Time to get up, little dude!"

Daisuke gave Poyomon a hearty poke.

Takeru gasped at his audacity, but a moment later…

"Poyo?"

"POYOMON! You're okay!" Takeru hugged the now awake baby digimon as tightly as he dared.

Daisuke flashed V-mon a double thumbs up.

"Dude, I rock at this hero thing!"

Poyomon looked around at the boys, tiny mouth open with surprise.

"Poyo poyo! Poyo…"

Takeru laughed.

"Poyomon, I have no idea what you're saying. But, do we know these guys?"

The baby digimon nodded.

A sudden though occurred to Daisuke.

"If we got shrunk by some bad guy, where did he go?"

The other two children straightened in alarm, looking around the clearing.

V-mon looked to Takeru.

"Well, Onajimon was attacking Angemon, and you tackled him, Takeru. He was shrinking everyone, and I think you made him shrink himself? There was a lot of light, and then he was gone."

Three pairs of eyes went wide.

"I did?" The chosen of hope weakly pointed at himself.

"Dude, that amazing!" Daisuke threw his hands in the air.

"That's super cool," Ken added quietly.

"You're really cool too, Ken. You tried to protect me when I got hit!" Minomon squeaked.

The chosen of kindness flushed and Daisuke reached over to thump him on the back a few times.

"Man, we have the awesomest team ever! V-mon, I totally saved you too, right?" He asked his digimon eagerly.

"Uh…" The dragon looked guilty suddenly. "Actually, I saved you."

Daisuke hopped to his feet, gesturing at himself.

"No you didn't! I'm little like them!"

V-mon slumped, looking much smaller than usual.

"Sorry, Daisuke…"

The brown haired chosen stopped, face slipping into regret. He slunk over to his partner and lightly patted a hand on his back.

"I didn't mean to yell. I just wanted to be cool too."

Minomon piped up,

"You are cool, Daisuke! When we found Onajimon you marched right up to him, you weren't scared at all! And V-mon knocked you out of the way when he attacked you."

Both Daisuke and V-mon perked up a bit, but deflated again when the bug digimon continued.

"Do we have any way of getting back home? I don't think there was a TV around for miles, and Poyomon and I can't evolve to adult right now."

V-mon made a funny noise.

"We can see if Daisuke can help me evolve, then we could just fly back to Primary Village like we were planning to. I'm so hungry it might not work. But there's no harm in trying."

"Yeah! I can do that! How do I do that?" Daisuke bounced to his feet again.

"Well, uh, take out your digivice. That might help?"

Daisuke's face puckered in confusion.

"What's a digivice?" He asked.

"This," Takeru stood, rooting through the pockets of his shorts. After a second he pulled out a small device with a square screen on it.

Daisuke searched his own pockets, and found a similar object.

Takeru and Daisuke looked back and forth at the two things resting in their hands.

"Why does his look funny?" Takeru asked.

V-mon poked at them.

"When we formed the new team, they got different ones. But you, Ken, and Hikari already had them, so they changed shape to look like the new ones. Yours must have changed back when you got younger."

"Yeah, Ken's changed too," Minomon supplied. His partner had taken his out and was fiddling with it.

"I thought it was Onii-chan's," Ken mumbled.

Minomon froze, but recovered hastily. He rubbed Ken's arm.

"No, its yours Ken. I'm your digimon, and that's your digivice. Nobody else can help me evolve."

"Okay, so like I just point this at you?" Daisuke said, waving the digivice in V-mon's direction.

"We can give it a shot. Ready? V-mon evolve to …" The blue digimon broke off his cry when nothing happened.

"Aw, man, what's wrong with this thing?" The brown haired boy shook the digivice close to his ear, frustration all over his face.

Takeru sighed and sat back down.

"Probably nothing, V-mon's just too hungry. They all are, I bet. I'm so hungry I would even eat natto right now. Well, maybe not," He poked a few buttons on his digivice, peering dejectedly at the screen. "You said everyone was here in the digital world? They must be really far away. I don't see anybody at all."

He flopped onto his back, looking up through the foliage. Poyomon snuggled into the soft fabric of his sweatshirt.

"Gennai sent us home last time… but I don't have a computer to talk to him with. I don't think I know how, even if I did have one. Only Koushiro… Koushiro! I bet Koushiro can talk to Gennai for us! Or actually, he could just take us back… but we don't have any way of finding him. Ugh," He flopped an arm over his eyes.

The group sat in silence, a cool breeze drifting through the trees. From the way the shadows were lengthening, sunset would be upon them soon. Every few minutes Takeru brought his arm up to check if anyone was near enough to show up on the digivice.

Daisuke spent his time fidgeting endlessly. He played with his shoelaces. Picked grass. Poked at V-mon. Groaned periodically and asked if anyone had any ideas.

Ken curled up against a tree and whispered with Minomon.

"Are we going to have to sleep out here?" Daisuke finally asked.

Takeru sat up, trying not to wake Poyomon, who was sleeping again.

"We should probably make a fire. But usually Agumon lights it… or Piyomon, or Gabumon…" The boy petered off, looking truly disheartened. "I don't have a lighter."

Beep beep!

"What was that?" Daisuke jumped at the high-pitched tone that echoed through the trees.

The others got to their feet as well, a wave of hope and anxiety rippling over them.

"It came from right over there," Ken pointed not too far from where he'd been sitting.

Minomon wiggled excitedly in Ken's grip.

"V-mon! It sounded like a D-terminal!"

"Sure did!" The dragon digimon raced over to where Ken was pointing. He hunted around in the undergrowth for a couple tense seconds before giving a cry of joy. "Found it! One of you guys must have dropped it before you were shrunk!"

He raced back to Daisuke's side, the others gathering around as well.

"What's a D-terminal?" Ken asked, very interested by the sleek looking device V-mon held.

"It's how you talk to the other chosen kids. Like email. You can send messages to each other. It beeped because someone sent you something," Minomon explained.

Takeru let out a strangled laugh.

"That would have been helpful before, huh, Poyomon?" His partner had woken to the commotion and was peeping happily.

V-mon flipped the screen open. A small box blinked in the corner, signaling a new message.

"Hey, look! It's mine, see? It's got my name on it!" Daisuke poked the message box excitedly. "Let me read it."

V-mon handed him the device and the others squeezed in around him, trying to read as well.

"It says," Daisuke spoke slowly as he read the small text. "'Daisuke, please respond. Everyone else has checked in, and is heading home, but we never heard from your group. Takeru and Ken are not returning our messages. Is everything okay? –Taichi'"

Takeru was nearly jumping up and down in delight.

"Its Taichi! Tell him to come get us!"

"Poyo!"

"Haha, okay, okay! How do I send something back?" Daisuke giggled.

V-mon pressed a button and a reply box appeared.

"Okay, what should I say?"

Ken leaned over Daisuke's shoulder to read as he typed.

"Uh, tell Taichi that everybody is okay. And we beat the bad guy. Our digimon are just too tired to get us back, so they need to come pick us up," Takeru listed off on his fingers.

"Tell them we're a four hour walk from Primary Village. Our group went south," V-mon added.

It took Daisuke a few minutes to get the message sent, but the response was almost immediate.

'We'll be right there. What happened?'

"Um. If I tell this guy we turned into little kids and forgot everything, is he going to freak out?" Daisuke questioned his partner.

V-mon and Minomon exchanged a look.

Poyomon peeped to get everyone's attention and nodded.

"How about I just say it's a long story? 'Cus I don't even remember what happened, and I don't know how to make it sound like its not a big deal?"

"Sounds good to me," Takeru shrugged.

The occasional belly rumbling was the only thing that punctuated another half an hour of the boys waiting.

"I'm hungry enough to eat my shirt," Daisuke growled. "I'd eat the grass, but I've tried that before and its nasty."

Ken sat up and looked at the boy in disgust and dismay.

"You've eaten grass?"

Daisuke made a face.

"Who hasn't?"

The chosen of kindness looked to Takeru for confirmation. The blond boy picked a blade from the ground and flicked it away.

"Its gross."

Ken shook his head and laid back down. A short silence reigned over them.

"I accidently licked bubble soap once," Ken said, giggling a bit at his own admission.

"That stuff is the worst," Daisuke exclaimed, sticking his tongue out.

"Absolutely," Takeru made a face at the memory. Out of habit, he took a glance at his digivice. He shot to his feet the next second. "Somebody is coming! Really fast too! Wow!"

The other boys scrambled over to see for themselves. Indeed, three dots were heading in their direction.

Moments later a soft buzzing filled the air, getting louder and louder.

"Taichi's here!" Takeru searched what he could see of the sky through the leaves of the canopy.

A dark shadow fell over the clearing and Daisuke almost tripped over his own feet in his attempt to get away from the huge creature bearing down on them.

"What the heck is that thing?" He cried, taking shelter behind V-mon. Ken wasn't far behind, dragging a protesting Minomon with him.

A massive bug creature dropped down through the trees, easily the scariest thing Daisuke had ever seen. He liked to think of himself as a brave kid, but holy mackerel, Takeru was running toward the horrifying monster.

"Its Kabuterimon! And Koushiro, and Taichi!" He waved wildly with both hands as he ran to where they were landing. "And..." He let out an elated gasp. "ONII-CHAN!"

Three young men were sliding down from the beetle's back, a small dinosaur and a funny little horned creature with them as well.

All of them were staring slack jawed at the child running towards them. The blond one staggered forward to meet Takeru halfway. The chosen of hope threw himself at his brother when he was close enough. Yamato managed to catch him and swing him into his arms, gobsmacked at the turn of events. Takeru crushed him in a hug long enough for the chosen of friendship to send Taichi and Koushiro a bewildered look.

The younger blond pushed back to look at his brother.

"Onii-chan, you're so tall! Your hair looks so different," He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Is your ear pierced?"

"Ta-Takeru? What the hell?" Was all Yamato could stammer out.

Takeru called back over his shoulder to where his friends were trying not to be noticed.

"Ken! Daisuke! Its okay, they're on my team! I mean my old team? Uh, this is my onii-chan and our friends!" He called.

"Holy shit, look. They're kids too," Taichi said, dumbstruck.

"What kind of anomaly could have caused something like this? Is it temporary? What, how, how are we going to explain this to their parents?" Koushiro ran his hands through his hair in agitation as the other boys neared.

Daisuke marched up to the young man in the middle. Finally, he had found someone with crazier hair than he had. He looked back and forth from Takeru to the chosen in front of him.

"Are you Taichi?" He asked seriously.

Taichi nodded.

"You don't remember me, bud?"

"No, but Takeru said I look like you. Are we friends too?"

"Of course we are, Daisuke. You're my soccer buddy. I gave you my leader goggles," Taichi gave him a proud smile.

The little boy gaped.

"You're the leader of your team?"

"Yup."

"And I'm the leader of my team?"

"You bet, kiddo."

Daisuke's heart soared. He danced around and held up his hands for double high-fives, which Taichi gladly gave.

"You hear that, guys!? I get to be the leader! Now get me up on that scary bug guy, because I am this close to eating my shoes! Come on, V-mon!"

He waved at Ken to follow him.

Koushiro had crouched down to greet the quiet boy.

"You okay, Ken?"

The chosen of kindness shrugged.

"I guess so. I don't remember anybody but Minomon. And I am hungry too."

The redhead smiled encouragingly at the boy.

"That's okay, we remember you, and we're good friends. Us geniuses have to stick together, right?" He winked.

Ken's violet eyes went round at the implication.

"I'm a genius?" He asked in awe.

Minomon nodded cheerily.

"You're so smart, Ken!"

Koushiro rummaged through a shoulder bag he was carrying and pulled a handheld game system from it. He pressed a couple buttons on it and handed it to the child. Ken was amazed to see his own name on the high score screen. Second place.

"I just beat you a few days ago. Think you can get your spot back?" Koushiro grinned at him and wiggled his eyebrows.

"I can try…" Ken said in a hushed voice.

He let Koushiro help him up onto the back of Kabuterimon, Minomon and the game clutched tightly in his small hands.

Taichi sat next to Daisuke, an overwhelmed look on his face. The young boy was bouncing in anticipation, and Taichi had a constant hold on the back of his shirt. Agumon seemed to be absorbing his energy and was getting worked up as well.

"I can't wait to go! We're going to fly so fast! It's going to be great, Taichi!"

Koushiro settled Ken down in the middle, a hand on his shoulder to help him balance.

On his other side, Takeru sat in his brother's lap, head tilted all the way back and chattering almost as loud as Daisuke.

"Am I taller than you?"

Yamato chuckled and exchanged a fond look with Gabumon.

"No."

"Am I taller than Daddy?"

"No."

"Are you taller than Daddy?"

"Yes."

"No fair! Am I taller than Mama?"

"You're like the same."

"Am I taller than anybody?" Takeru cried in dismay.

Yamato paused, peering down at his tiny and incredibly frustrated brother.

"You're taller than Hikari."

"FINALLY."

The whole "de-aging" thing has been in my head as long as Skittles. So to see this completed is a huge space opened up in my brain. There was so much I was planning on saying, and I can remember precisely zilch of it.

Oh, uh, so I could either go the route where the boys' bodies are the only thing that shrunk, but I would have to deal with their clothes being too big and they would still have their D-terminals and it was just weird. Or I could have them shrink and it was more like they went back in time and lost their D-terminals, their digivices reverted if possible, and they lost about eight years of memory.

Originally it was just a rude digimon with a Napoleon complex and he just made digimon that were bigger than him disappear. And he went after Angemon, and Takeru ran and got caught in the beam and only him and Poyomon shrunk. And Ken and Daisuke had to figure out how to tell the others.

Obviously I have no plan to get the boys back to normal. If anyone wants to figure out how and finish the story, let me know.