Mrs. Kalanakis stepped into the throne room and froze. She just stared in shock at Chaor, Agitos and Takinom.

Agitos stepped down from the raised platform and marched towards her.

"You, ma'am, are not supposed to be in here! Now get out before I—I-" Agitos just stared at her, completely gaga eyed. "I—I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you... I'm Agitos, second in command of the Underworld. Over there is Takinom, and as you may have guessed, that's Chaor." Agitos said in a far more cheerful voice than his normal tone. "And your name is?"

"Kassandra Kalanakis." She answered.

Agitos repeated the name wishfully, not having the relation fully sink in.

"Kalanakis? As in Kazdan Kalanakis?" Chaor asked.

"Why, yes, Lord Chaor. He's my son."

Agitos' eyes widened. "Surly one and young and beautiful as yourself isn't already the mother of a teenager?"

Kassandra blushed slightly. "I'm actually in my mid thirties."

"And who is the father?" Takinom asked, secretly hoping that he was alive and well. She personally didn't like Agitos drooling over some human woman, though she would never say it out loud.

"Hopefully burning in Hell. I was harassed by a young man at a party when I was nineteen."

"Oh." Takinom said quietly.

"So you raised the boy on your own?" Agitos asked.

"Yes. And let my tell you, it hasn't been easy. I remember when he was about four, he snuck into a small garden I had been working on and ate close to thirty strawberries. The front of his shirt was stained deep red and he was backed up for weeks!" She giggled. Agitos laughed a little too.

"MOM!" Kaz whined and he entered the room.

"Relax, Kazzy," His mom told him. "We all do silly things when we're children.

Agitos chuckled. "Even Chaor." Said creature shot Agitos a look that could kill, but the blue serpent ignored it. "When I was eighteen and Chaor was about two and a half solons, I became his baby sitter for a while. I remember one time he decided he was going to eat his boots. Cothica knows where he got the idea, but ate almost his entire left boot before I caught him at it. He had the worst stomach ache for the longest time."

Everyone laughed – except for Chaor and Kaz. Chaor seemed to turn an even deeper shade of red than normal.

Mrs. Kalanakis swapped stories with Agitos for about an hour, much to Kaz and Chaor's dismay. She eventually got scans of the three creatures and left for Chaotic.

Kaz sat with his friends, pounding his head against the table, creating an almost microscopic impression in the table (and likely his skull).

"I should probably go to the Lava Pond and commit suicide." He grumbled. "I'm so embarrassed.

"Oh, come on, Kaz," Tom said, trying to cheer his friend up. "It wasn't that bad."

"Not that bad? She brought up the ballpoint pen story! She promised that she would never ever bring that up again!"

"Well... Yeah. At least she didn't bring up the one about the baked beans."

"I suppose you're right..." Kaz sighed. "Maybe I should just give back my scanner now. Not like I'll ever be able to go back to Perim again."

"How about tomorrow, I take you to my house and we can burn our brains out on video games," Tom offered. "Mean while, our codes can go to see Bodal and we can get some new scans. How does that sound?"

Kaz sighed. "I guess."

The next afternoon, Kaz arrived in Chaotic and found that a large crowd of girls had gathered around a table. He went over to it and found his mom finishing up relating a story to them. She had a small vase of flowers.

"Uh, mom, where did the flowers come from?" Kaz asked.

"H'earring gave them to me." Was his mother's rather proud reply.

Kaz's eyes almost popped out of his head. "HE WHAT?!"

"He's so nice and charming... Not to mention cute." She stared off into space thoughtfully.

"Mom, he's a green skinned, floppy-eared midget. I trust you mean 'puppy' cute, and not 'Brad Pitt' cute?"

"Well, what's wrong with thinking he's 'Brad Pitt' cute?"

"And I repeat myself: He's a green skinned, floppy eared midget."

"Now, Kaz, I know I've taught you better than to be racist like that."

Kaz let out a small sigh. "You know, whatever. I'll see you around." He left.

He sat down next to his friends at their favorite table.

"This is terrible. First H'earring and Blazer are trying to flirt with her, than Agitos, and now H'earring gives her flowers! When will this nightmare end!"

Klay awkwardly shuffled over to the table and looked around, trying not to make eye contact.

"M...surrle..." He mumbled.

"What?" Kaz asked.

"I'm surrley..." Klay mumbled a bit clearer.

"I still can't hear you." Kaz was getting a bit annoyed.

"I'M FREAKING SORRY!" Klay blurted out, and than regained his composer. "Your mother is right now forcing me to apologize to you and now I'm going to have to go and clean every single table in the entire port station." He quickly left.

Kaz looked at his friends, who were snickering. "Okay, so maybe nightmare is kind of pushing it."

Tom and Kaz went and saw Bodal, only to find out that he didn't have any battle gear, that, or he wasn't going to show it to them. They opted to at least try and visit the Underworld and see if Ulmar had any battle gear.

"Come on, Ulmar, you must have some battle gear!" Kaz pleaded.

"I have nothing, and even if I did, why would I want to show it to you?" The small, green creature demanded.

Kaz's mind was racing. Tom pipped up.

"His mom's that knew woman, Kassandra Kalanakis."

Ulmar got very quiet and stared at the ground, his brain seemed to be throbbing ever so slightly. "I suppose I might have some battle gear... Follow me."

Kaz looked dumbfound. "Is there anyone who doesn't flirt with my mom?"

The two boys retrieved the battle gear from Ulmar and than started heading back through the Underworld, planning on visiting H'earring.

On their way, the sound of his mom's voice reached Kaz's ears. He peered around a corner. She was standing with Ultradur. The blue Underworlder was flexing his biceps and allowing her to feel them.

"My, Ultradur, you're so strong." She admired. Ultradur blushed slightly.

Kaz peered beyond his mom and the male creature at where he could see Chaor standing, obscured by shadows. The large gargoyle cheiftan was looking on at the flirting couple with longing eyes.

Is he actually jealous? Kaz thought to himself. Tom tugged on his shoulder, unaware of what was happening out of sight.

"Come on, Kaz! We've got to go!"

The visit with H'earring was a simple yet awkward one. Kaz tried to avoid the subject of his mom at all cost, not wanting to think about it. It felt wrong. For so long he had been apart of this world and he felt somewhat betrayed by them trying to steal his mom.

they're not trying to steal her. He mentally corrected himself as he lay in bed that night.

He stared up at his ceiling. Was it selfish to not want her to date? Was it wrong of him to feel that they were stealing her away? He rolled over in his bed, facing towards his nightstand. His scanner sat on top of it. He reached over and picked it up, hitting his port button, sending his code to Chaotic.

Chaor sat alone at his desk in his study, sorting through some old legal documents and records. There was a knock at his door.

"What is it?"

"A visitor to see you." The guard answered.

"Send 'em in." Chaor replied. The doors swung open and Kaz stepped awkwardly inside. He shuffled over to the desk and looked up sheepishly, but than burst out laughing.

Chaor frowned. "What's so funny?"

"It's nothing..." He had to stop and catch his breath. "I just didn't know you wore reading glasses." He continued snickering gleefully.

Chaor did in fact have on a small pair of glasses. He pushed them further back up his nose bridge.

"Err... Yes. I some times wear these at night, though I prefer to not wear them in front of others, for obvious reasons. Now if you're done acting like a lunatic, could you please tell me what you need. More scans? Secret tactics on defeating other creatures?"

Kaz sobered, remembering why he had came. "No. It's just that..." He spoke somewhat hesitantly, but than quickly blurted out "I saw you eying my mom and Ultradur jealously today and I was wondering if you have something for her or whatever." He took a deep breath, expecting Chaor to have an out burst.

Chaor's temper remained cool.

"I may find her somewhat attractive... And nice to be around... And those hips..." Chaor stopped himself as he began subconsciously licking his lips.

"Gave birth to me." Kaz interjected.

Chaor stopped. "Oh, well, yes. That's true. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

Kaz's breath hitched. Had Chaor actually apologized? Chaor NEVER apologized.

"I was just curious. Thanks for being honest," Kaz bobbed his head slightly. "Though a bit too honest." he added under his breath. Kaz pulled out his scanner and was about to port home.

"Kaz," Chaor raised a hand slightly. "Uh, good night..." Chaor's voice dwindled off, clearly feeling awkward about saying such formalities. Kaz smiled in return as he vanished in a blur of white light and a familiar 'sweenk' noise. "... Son." Chaor added, but Kaz was already gone and never heard it.