Let the Reading Begin

Me: I can't believe Swift asked me to make a Reading session. Me, the rookie among us. I hope I do this right

Black: Okay, enough fanboying, we got a job to do.

Taichi Yagami didn't want to wake up right now. He felt like he seriously deserved his sleep now. Unfortunately... his body refused to listen to his wishes. So instead, he chose to open his eyes. "Did I fall asleep on a couch," Taichi wondered as he glanced at the black comfy couch he had been leaning against. But then the alarm bells started going on in his head. First, he was wearing his normal clothes instead of PJs(His winter clothes, minus the coat.). Second, this place was NOT his home, but a dark circular room with a large TV screen in one of the walls. Third, there was more than one couch, and each of them was occupied by his friends, all of them wearing clothes they had during their fight against BelialMyotismon.

One couch was occupied with Miyako and Ken. Strangely, Ken was sleeping on his back with Miyako resting her head against his chest, snuggling against her crush. On the foot of this couch... were Hawkmon and Wormmon. The hawk-like digimon was on his back, with Wormmon acting as a pillow.

On another couch were Sora, Mimi and Koshiro. Koshiro was propped on a sitting position, with Mimi and Sora each leaning against his shoulder. On the floor, were Palmon and Biyomon laying against Tentomon's back.

On another seat, was Yamato and Takeru. The two brothers were put down, leaning against the couch in. Gabumon was sleeping on the floor flat on his belly, with Patamon on top of the pelt wearing digimon's back.

Jo was laid down normally, with Gomamon curled on his lap stomach. But there was also Iori who was sitting on Jo's legs with his head resting against the back of the couch.

Strangely, Daisuke was the only one who wasn't on a couch. He was sprawled on the floor, with Veemon occupying the couch.

Lastly, there was Hikari. The brown haired girl had her head propped on the armrest, with her legs laid over Taichi's lap. While Agumon and Gatomon were sleeping on the floor, with Agumon holding onto Gatomon's tail like a sleep toy.

"Guys," Taichi tried to call out loudly, but that didn't earn any reaction. But then his eyes fell to the middle of the room. There, on an easy chair, was a light brown haired adult, wearing a dark blue fleece shirt with beige jeans and brown shoes. Honestly, the guy looks kind of plain. But that's not what had the attention of the Chosen Child of Courage. What had Taichi's attention was a black version of Gatomon curled on this man's lap, covering it's ears. Because the man in question was wearing earmuffs, had a whistle in his mouth before bringing a megaphone over the said whistle.

The guy took a very deep breath, and Taichi covered his ears just in time to block out most of the amplified whistle.

His friends were not so lucky. All of them practically jumped out of their couches or their otherwise odd sleeping positions.

"What the heck was that," Daisuke shouted, feeling extremely annoyed at his sleep being interrupted. "Huh? Where is this," the frizzy haired boy then questioned as he looked around the room.

"KYAAA!" *SLAP* Everyone turned to the source of the noise to see Miyako looking shocked about something, with Ken having a red handprint on his cheek.

"I...I..." All the while the black haired boy was trying to understand what just happened.

"Ken," Wormmon said in concern as he wiggled his way to his partner on his stubby feet.

"Agumon! Hands off my tail," Gatomon shouted in indignation as she gave the yellow reptile a good Neko Punch in the face.

"Sorry!"

"What's going on here," Sora asked aloud, before her eyes fell next to her, "And why was I next to you." That last one was accompanied by a suspicious look.

"I-I-I don't know," Koshiro said, sweating bullets at the look he was getting.

"Good morning Chosen Children," was the clearly female voice that earned everyone's attention. They all turned to see the stranger that gave them all a rude awakening, now without the earmuffs. With a black version of Gatomon sitting on his lap.

And then the man petted the black Gatomon like a mafia boss petting an evil cat. "And welcome to my lair," the man said evilly, "Now, here's how this will work: You kids will do as I say, or your families will suffer!" This was accompanied by evil laughter

That put the Chosen Children on guard, with their partners coming in front of them protectively. Did they get kidnapped by a crazy guy who has a digimon henchman?

"...So, did I get the whole 'villain' thing right," The man then said in a friendly tone, as if he didn't just threaten them, causing Koshiro, Iori, and all the girls to sweatdrop alongside their digimon. While some of the others looked angry at being made fun of.

"Who are you, and where have you taken us," Taichi shouted accusingly, not falling for what had to be an act.

"Now that's an excellent question," the stranger said, while pointing at Taichi with a smile, "Now first things, first. My name is Novice, and this is my friend BlackGatomon. But I call her, Black, for short," the man now named Novice introduced himself and his digimon who waved at the kids that haven't let their guard down yet.

"Where are we and what do you want with us," Koshiro asked carefully, after all. The last thing he remembers is going to bed, and now he and all of his friends wake up here.

"Ahha! Another excellent question," Novice said, before snapping his fingers. A section of the floor opened and out of the hole came a pillar with a book on it. "That, is why I have brought you guys here."

"...What is it," Veemon asked in suspicion, earning some looks from others.

"It's a book, obviously," Takeru replied, not taking his eyes off of this mysterious creep.

"Corrrrect," the man named Novice said while clapping his hands, "Now here's the thing, I want you to read this book."

That earned him some disbelieving looks.

"Hooold up," Mimi piped up, "You kidnapped us, changed us out of our sleepwear, and brought us here just to make us read a book?"

"Yup," Novice said, as if that explained everything.

"Like hell, you did," Daisuke shouted, earning some shocked looks at him swearing like that, much less with Iori around.

Speaking of which, the youngest of the Children decided to speak up. "Pardon me for sounding rude, but... that sounds crazy," Iori tried to say politely. And judging by the various suspicious or downright hostile looks, no one believed it either.

Novice looked a little miffed at that. "Urghh... How do the others do it," the man grumbled, while covering his face.

"I told you your approach would be terrible," Black snarked at her partner in crime.

"What do you mean by 'others'," Gatomon asked, having heard the grumble.

"Others," Hikari asked now feeling concerned. As did every other Child and Digimon

Novice let out a sigh, "Cats and their ears." This remark earned him a smack from Black. "Sorry, Black," Novice said before looking at the Children again, "Okay, I guess I'll take this from the top." With those words, Novice waved his hand and a holographic projection of Earth came into everyone's view, surprising the Children and their partners. "You guys already know that aside from what you call 'real world' there is also the digital world," Novice explained, as he made a holographic projection of digital world appear next to Earth.

"Yeah, what about it," Jo asked, wondering where this was going.

"Then there's also what you call 'Dark Ocean'," Novice continued as he made a holographic picture of the said place appear.

"...Yes," Ken said having some bad memories come from that. Wormmon moved to his partners side to pull lightly on Ken's pants. Which prompted Ken to pick up his partner and hug him for comfort.

"Next there is that... weird place where you ended up to when Oikawa tried to get to the digital world," Novice said, as he showed the picture that revealed that bizarre area that turned wishes into reality. So long as you didn't leave it. "Which leads me to one simple question, do you think these worlds are the only ones that exist?"

"What're you trying to say," Miyako asked, now getting a little frustrated.

However, Koshiro had a look of realization as he realized the answer to the question, "No... If aside from our own world, there is also the digital world, and the other two... Then there must be more."

"Yeah, we've established that already," Takeru said, remembering how they had all thought of that when distortion were running rampant, "What does that have to do with this situation?" A question that was shared by his partner Patamon and everyone else.

Novice smiled at them, "I'm glad you asked! Well the answer is simple. There are an infinite number of worlds aside from the ones I've shown. Some of them parallel universes, some of them alternate realities, and some of which are created to... house beings that are able to travel between them freely, such as myself."

"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted in unison.

"Wait, wait, wait," Sora callled out in near panic, "What does that mean? Are you saying that this place is in a world you created!?"

"No way," Iori said, though he did find the idea awe-inspiring.

"More like a pocket dimension where I put my home to be away from prying eyes," Novice replied, "Though I did have help from others like me." With that, Novice stood up, while Black switched to hang off his shoulder, before dismissing all the holographic images. "Anyway, there are beings that occasionally gain awareness of these different realities. We don't have an official title, as far as I know, but I like to call us Overseers," Novice explained, earning some confused looks on that, "Anyway, you could say that we're gods, but I personally don't like to call myself that, and neither do the others that I'm aware of. But back to my point, that book is about one of the worlds I mentioned." With that, Novice picked the book up and showed it to everyone else. The title reading, "THOR Alter: Digital Story".

"Digital Story," Agumon commented, "Is that supposed to be about us?" It was a fair assumption, considering it was called "Digital Story".

This time it was Black who answered," Yes and no. You do appear in it, but... not like you are." the BlackGatomon said, not sure how to say it without revealing too much.

"Basically," Novice came in, "It's about an alternate universe that involves digimon."

"And why do you want us to read that," Ken asked, no longer depressed, but still apprehensive.

Novice looked thoughtfully at the Children that have finally started to relax, "Well... The truth is, a senior Overseer, named Swift, asked me to do this. As for why he doesn't do it himself... lower chances of him spoiling the thing by accident. Or that's what he told me." At the last part, the so called Overseer shrugged.

Before anyone could say anything to that, several loud growls were heard. Everyone turned towards the general direction of the sounds.

"Sorry," Agumon said while holding his stomach, "I'm hungry."

"I'm hungry too," Veemon complained.

With that mentioned, all digimon's stomachs started to growl from hunger. Followed by the Children.

"Oh, that's right," Novice said, as if just remembering something, "I picked you guys up around six AM from your world, so you must be hungry. Well that's easily fixed." With that, Novice clapped his hands a few times, which made a buffet table appear with various breakfast foods on it. Complete with a pile plates, bowls, glasses and of course, utensils of varying kinds. There were also selection of drinks to choose from non-alcoholic of course, since no one aside from Novice is at drinking age... And the Overseer himself hates alcohol. All the Children and their digimon stared at the warm food with hunger in their eyes, as they held themselves back from eating. "Alright kids, first it's breakfast, then we'll talk about reading," Novice said as he moved to the buffet to help himself for bacon and scrambled eggs, before moving to his seat to start eating. However, he noticed that the Children haven't moved from their spots.

"What's the matter," Novice asked, as Black had helped herself for a pile of salmon sandwiches. It took him a moment to see the hesitant looks in their eyes, "If I wanted to kill you guys it would've been far easier for me to stab you in your sleep, than poisoning the food. Besides, I'm eating it myself, see?" To prove his point, Novice shoved a hearty amount of bacon and eggs into his mouth.

That was all the convincing the digimon needed as they dashed hungrily at the table to eat.

Though the Children were still hesitant. "Well... he's right. If he wanted to kill us he could've done that in our sleep," Koshiro supplied helpfully, feeling hungry himself.

"I still don't trust him," Yamato said, looking at the guy that was happily eating breakfast like the kids weren't there. Unfortunately, his stomach decided to growl in protest.

"Daisuke doesn't seem to agree with you," Iori pointed, out causing everyone to stare at the said fifth grader, piling up a trayful of food(Yes, there were trays too), before moving to the couch that he had awakened in front of and set the food on a coffee table. Which everyone was positive wasn't there before.

"I can make anything appear if I so wish, though I have certain limits to it," Novice said as if reading their mind with his nose on what looked like a pamphlet of some kind. It was titled, "Swift's Sensational Straps". With that, the Children gave in to their stomachs, and started taking food from the buffet too.

"Let's see...'-If someone asks for food or drinks, give it to them...' They didn't ask me verbally, but I think growling stomachs count," the Novice Overseer thought as he red the pamphlet on making his guests comfortable. Though he would have to soon cover...

"Oh no, MOM!" Hikari suddenly shouted, "She must be wondering where we disappeared to." The Chosen of Light directed that part to her brother.

And that made the rest of the Children realize that their loved ones might freak out and call police... If they haven't already. Seeing as they had no idea how long they had been here.

"That was fast," Novice thought as he took out his half-full glass of milk and started clinging it with his fork, earning the Children's attention, "Relax Children, the moment I picked you up, I stopped time in your world."

"...You can do that," Armadimon asked in awe. An awe that was shared by Patamon and to greater extent, Koshiro.

"Yup," Novice said happily,"But the time will resume normally once I've sent you guys back. In other words, from your loved ones' perspective, it will be like you were never gone." Which reminded the man of an entry about the instruction pamphlet that confused him a little: Not to pick up a pregnant person from their world. "The logic behind it makes sense, but these kids aren't even old enough to even consider that kind of activity... Then again, I might have to follow that if I ever do this kind of thing again," Novice couldn't help but think.

"Sooo... right now, everyone's frozen in time, until we get back," Patamon asked, pausing in his eating.

"That's what I said," Novice said simply, "After all, I wouldn't want any of you to get in trouble because of me." Then Miyako suddenly raised her hand in embarrassment. "Yes, Miyako?"

"...Why was I sleeping next to Ken," the said girl asked awkwardly.

"You, WHAT," Daisuke asked in shock, glancing at the afore mentioned boy who was looking away in embarrassment.

"That was Novice's idea of a joke," Black asked with a smirk, "As was the sleeping arrangement he made for Koshiro."

"Was it now," Mimi asked with a glare at their host, which was shared by Sora.

"Ehhehee," Novice laughed awkwardly, "Yeaaaaah... In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done that."

"No you shouldn't have," Hikari said in disapproval, before continuing to eat. As did everyone else, but now there was slight tension in the room. Apparently none of the children took his little joke very well. Although Miyako did apologize to Ken for overreacting like that.

"Swift did warn me about this," Novice thought as he glanced at a particular entry in it, "And I chose to ignore it this time." But he was going to follow the advice on not to touch a certain love-triangle.

Some time later, the breakfast was eaten, and the buffet table along with the tableware disappeared.

"Now then, before we get started, there are some things I need to explain about how this will work," Novice told the children who had taken their seats with their partners on their lap. Although, contrary to the first arrangement. Iori had taken a seat next to Yolei and Ken, while Koshiro had taken a seat with Jo. "First off, while we will be reading a book, this TV will also show us footage involving the story. That way you will have visual aid," Novice explained, as he pointed at the said TV.

The Children nodded, along with their Digimon, seeing as it made sense

"I will read the first Chapter, after that, the book will alter with each of you humans," Novice explained, holding the book up, "After each chapter, or during it, feel free to ask questions about the story if something is unclear. I will answer to the best of my ability. And if any of you need a bathroom break, we will pause until that business is done."

With Novice finished, Black took over, "Any questions?" Koshiro raised his hand. "Yes handsome," Black said in a sultry tone, which weirded out Koshiro. After all, he was being flirted by a cat.

"Uhh... Can we ask for snacks at any point," Koshiro asked, trying to ignore the flirting digimon.

"Of course," Novice said brightly, "After all, it's a hosts job to keep their guests comfortable. Also, don't mind Black, she flirts with anything sentient with an XY-chromosome."

"Hey! I have some standards," Black said with a glare, before having an evil smirk, "Besides... I never heard you complaining when we started doing the nasty."

That made the other digimon tilt their heads in confusion... Except Gatomon, who was now glaring at the duo. And the Children were gaping at the implications, with Miyako even going so far as to cover a confused Iori's ears.

"Hey!" The third grader wasn't happy about it.

"We are NOT having this conversation in front of kids who haven't even reached High School," Novice shouted at Black with a furious blush. Which made everyone look at him in varying levels of disgust.

Black curled herself into her partner's lap, satisfied with her victory... Although..., "Whatever you say... Master." The needy way the BlackGatomon said that, made the kids shiver in disgust at the idea of what this guy is doing with a cat-like digimon.

"...I hate you," Novice grumbled, before looking at the Children who had a look of utter disgust on their faces, except Iori, who's ears were covered. "...What?"

"Sooo," Jo said awkwardly,"...You're into animals?"

"Huh?" It looked like Novice's mind did not compute... until a look of horror appeared on his face, "NO! No! No! No! NO! Black's Ultimate form is human-like!"

Judging by the look on the girl's faces that didn't make it much better.

"You sicko," Mimi cried out, standing up, forcing Palmon to jump on the floor, "Forcing your partner to... to..."

"Doing the hanky-panky," Palmon supplied helpfully, one of the two digimon that knew what was being said. Sadly some human customs about these things still elude her.

"Yes! That! How can you do that, you monster," Mimi shouted, ready to punch this guy in the face.

"You're the worst," Sora added in coldly, glaring at this pervert. Hikari and Gatomon were also looking at him with very cold eyes. Miyako too felt like going in to punch Novice, but then who would protect poor Iori's impressionable mind.

As Novice was trying to get his fried brain to work on a suitable defense, Black snickered in her comfy position. Taking more pleasure in her partner's suffering than was probably appropriate.

As for the guys... as much as they were disturbed by that kind of relationship between a digimon and a human... they couldn't help but try to imagine what kind of woman Black would be in her Ultimate form. Although Koshiro, Jo and Ken were desperately trying NOT to imagine it.

"A-Anyway," Novice said, embarrassed as all heck, "Are there any other questions?" The Overseer was already regretting bringing the as-of-now only inhabitant in this place besides himself to this reading session. He hasn't been in this business long enough to have an army of servants like Swift and Phoenix Champion, though he does have a base which he was sure even Tronmaster would be jealous of. Anyway, Patamon lifted his tiny hand. "Yes, Patamon?"

"How do you know everyone's names," Patamon asked the intelligent question everyone probably should've asked from the start.

"Now that you mention it," Veemon said in thought, "We never introduced ourselves."

"And he still knows who we are," Hawkmon commented with his wings crossed.

"Right," Novice said, forgetting that part, "That's because I already knew about all of you. After all, I picked you guys specifically. But if you want to know why I know... I will explain it to you guys after the first chapter." Novice really wasn't sure if his plan was a good one... after all, he hadn't mentioned that all these worlds have a connection to each other, however small. Then again, he did hope that reading the first chapter would lessen the impact on the bomb he would drop on the soon enough. Still, he couldn't help but glance at the camera he had hidden into the room. "Sooo, Swift. Am I doing good so far?" Seeing as he was a rookie, Swift had told Novice to record his session and send it to him on regular intervals. And the first batch would be sent automatically right about now.

Me: Dammit Black! Why did you have to bring our bedroom activities into this!

Black: You're the one who said that I go after anything with a XY-chromosome!