I don't own the show Chaotic or any of the Chaotic characters or Chaotic Monsters. The shopkeepers: Johnny, Gizelle, Syanne and Devin, however, are the productions of my imagination.

"(words)" means that the character is air quoting the word/s. I'm telling you this because Johnny likes to use air quotes.

The Outworlders will be appearing in later chapters but they are the products of my imagination.

Chapter Two: The Lucky Charm

Kaz, Tom and Peyton were sitting at a table, drinking some soda and eating a large pepperoni pizza as they watched Sarah have a Chaotic match with a feisty young blonde known as WildKat who seemed to love the cat-like creatures like Attacat, Tangath Toborn, Zalvar, Ulfhedinn, Vidav, and Intress. The last fight ended up to be a confusing one as it was Intress against Intress and the boys were having a hard time figuring out which of the Intresses was Sarah.

They watched as one Intress crept about among the trees in the Forest of Life, while the other stood in the middle of a clearing, glancing nervously about.

"I think Sarah is the one in the trees" said Tom. "She's preparing some sort of ambush against WildKat. It only makes sense to hide from an opponent's leering eyes. Only a moron would stand in the open."

"No way. Sarah is the one in the clearing" said Peyton. "She's preparing a trap. She's standing out in the open so that WildKat can easily see her and lure her into her clever trap. Once WildKat attacks, Sarah will know exactly where she is and will have an effective counterattack ready."

"She's in the trees."

"No, she's in the clearing."

"In the trees."

"In the clearing."

"Trees."

"Clearing."

"Trees!"

"Clearing!"

"Trees! Oh… Kaz! Which one do you think is Sarah?"

Hmmmm thought Kaz as he drummed his fingers on the table. Which one indeed. They both have a point. It's not a good idea to stay in the open but hiding in the trees gives you less room to maneuver. He glanced towards Peyton as he thought and it would be a good idea to set a trap. Especially since WildKat seems… well, wild. It would be understandable to think that she would easily fall into a trap. On the other hand… Kaz's eyes than turned to Tom. It would also be understandable for WildKat to stumble around in the open, to just rush into a situation without thinking. Decisions, decisions.

Kaz's eyes opened wide and he pointed towards the screen. Peyton and Tom looked up to see that the Intress in the trees and used Vine Snare to drag the other unto the ground and had jumped into the clearing to face her opponent face to face.

"Oh yeah, Sarah's has her right where she wants her."

"That's right my man. WildKat's falling right into her trap."

"Her trap? Sarah was the one in the woods."

"Look guys" said Kaz. "Let's just watch the fight and see which one of you is right."

They watched as a Liquilizer appeared in the hands of the one standing as she said "it ends here."

"You got that right" said the other as she used her claws to rip off the vines. "Vine Snare!"

Intress gasped as the vines knocked the Liquilizer out of her hands and the other got up to her feet to face her.

"See. What did I tell ya? Sarah wanted to get rid of WildKat's Battlegear so she stood in the open to lure Wildcat out. She allowed herself to get caught so that way WildKat would take out her Battlegear. That is so what I would have done."

"Okay, maybe you're right but maybe I was right. Doesn't matter because now they're all mixed up again."

The two Intresses circled around each other, each waiting for the right moment to strike. One suddenly let out a huge roar and lunged at the other. The two began scratching and punching at each other; their clothes being torn and their hair being mangled. The boys watched in disbelief at the… unique display.

"Wow. Now that's what I call a catfight."

"Yeah. And in more ways than one."

One Intress held the other down on her back as she prepared to strike but the one on her back pushed the other away with her two feet into a tree… hard. The boys cringed at the impact and watched as her energy dropped a fair bit.

Intress got up and casually walked over to the one sprawled out at the base of the tree. "You pulled off a good fight there missy. Was a fighter to the very end. But I think that it is now time for everyone to see which one of us is truly the cat mistress" she purred. She held up her hand and extended her claws for a final attack. She stopped short of the wounded cat and smiled triumphantly at the other feline.

The wounded Intress smiled slyly as she said "indeed, everyone will see who the better Intress is. Rustoxic!" The other Intress' eyes opened wide as she was covered from head to toe with the substance before being turned to stone.

"Oh no, Sarah is in trouble!"

"Oh yeah, Sarah so totally has this in the bag!"

"Would you two just give it up? We don't know which one is who."

The boys watched as the free Intress used Frostbite on the fossilized Intress. With the battle over, the boys watched the screen anxiously to see who the victor was. They were greeted with the sight of the blonde cursing words at Intress that would make a hardcore sailor blush who quickly turned back to Sarah. They each let out a cry of joy before they headed off to the battledrome to congratulate Sarah on her recent victory.

When they reached the baatledrome, the two Chaotic players were out and WildKat was still swearing up a storm while swinging her fists around like crazy.

Wow thought Kaz. I didn't even realize that that many swear words existed.

Peyton walked over to Sarah and said "congrats on your battle there Sarah. I knew which one was you the whole time… unlike a certain someone who fails to understand the true genius to an ingenious plan."

"Hey! I was the one that was right. You were the one that was hiding in the trees to ambush WildKat, right? I mean, you didn't use your Battlegear on her because you lost yours, right?"

"No way, man. She was the one that was out in the open to lure WildKat into a trap. Tell him Sarah. Tell the doubter how you were the one who totally knocked away WildKat's Battlegear."

"No way. Tell Peyton how you were the one who wanted to ambush WildKat."

"Tell him which one you were!" cried out both boys at once.

Sarah blinked in confusion before glancing at WildKat, who had calmed down and became quiet. Both smiled slyly at each other before turning to face Tom and Peyton. "You know what?" began Sarah. "I think that we're going to leave you in the dark on this. You know, just to keep you guessing."

"Yes" purred WildKat as she walked towards the boys, swinging her hips seductively. "There's no real need to let the cat out of the bag." She reached out with one of her manicured hands, whose fingernails were made to look like claws, to lightly brush against Peyton's face. She stopped for a moment, let out a noise that sounded like cross between purr and a meow, before continuing to walk away. "See you later… boys."

"Whoa" said Peyton as he touched the part of his face that she had touched. "That was weird…" The others nodded in agreement. "… But also strangely arousing." Peyton blinked as the others stared at him in disbelief. "What? Was it something I said?"

"Well, great job on the battle there Sarah" said Kaz as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah" said Tom. "You did a super great job."

"Thanks guys. Want to have a victory celebration?"

"Sure!" said Tom and Peyton at the same time.

"No thanks" said Kaz. "I'm going to port out. Been here for quite a while. I need to see how things are going on Earth."

"Well my man," said Peyton, "best of luck in getting in touch with reality."

Kaz gave Peyton one last weird look before porting himself out of Chaotic and back to Earth.

Kaz blinked as his mind registered the two separate worlds that he was in. His time in Chaotic had been great but his time on Earth had been rather mundane. He had gone to school, done his chores and watched some television. Still, it's great to be home he thought as he lied down on his bed. He could hear the phone ringing downstairs but decided to let his mom get it.

"Kazdan! It's for you honey!"

"Please call me Kaz, mother" he said as he headed downstairs to where the phone is.

"Oh, but whether you're 'Kaz' or 'Chaotic dude' you'll always be my little Kazdan to me, darling" she said as she roughed his hair before giving the phone to him.

Kaz groaned as he lifted the receiver up to his ears. "Hello?"

"Hey there Chaotic dude" said a familiar tired voice. "We found him!"

"Found him? Found who?"

"What do you mean 'found who?' Don't you remember entering our shop a few weeks ago?"

"The shop?" Kaz's eyes opened wide as memories of the rainy night came back to him. "Oh, yeah. I remember now. Are you saying that you found Heptadd?"

"Yeah, dude. You can come pick him up right now if you want."

"Okay. How much will it cost?"

"Well… here's the thing. Instead of money, how about you just grab some Char kway teow for me. There's this great restaurant that's serves some of the best you've ever tasted and…"

"What! Food? You want food for Heptadd?"

"Yeah, Chaotic dude. I have a major case of the munchies here dude and I'm not going to leave the store now. After five years? No way."

"But… but… but you can't be serious. What would the others say? You will be losing lots of money and…"

"Dude… chillax. This store is just a hobby. We have more than enough money to live on. We allow people to do favours for us all the time here. So… you'll bring the food, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I guess. So, what's the name of this restaurant?"

I can't believe that I'm actually doing this thought Kaz as he entered the strange little store. It still reeked of the strange smoke and it still was filled with strange stuff. He spotted Johnny sitting at the counter and couldn't believe his eyes. It was in the afternoon and he still looked like he needed some sleep. His eyes were partially open and he was so slumped over you just had to wonder if he had any energy in him at all.

He glanced towards him and smiled at him. "Great. You have (my stuff) and I…" he said as he reached under the counter "have (yours)."

Great. More air quotes. Kaz approached the counter and saw Johnny take out some sort of envelope which he opened and pulled out Heptadd. Kaz stared in disbelief before he caught himself and put the takeout container on the counter. "There's one thing that's still bothering me, though" he said as he looked Johnny in the eyes.

"Yeah" he mumbled tiredly as he grabbed the container and took out a pair of chopsticks. "What is it?"

"How did you find my number? I didn't give it to you. Heck, I didn't even give you my name or anything."

He shrugged as he said "I don't have a (clue). It was all (Syanne's) doing. Don't know how, don't care how." He smiled as he opened the container and began to dig in.

Realizing that he wasn't going to get anything from the lethargic shopkeeper, Kaz sighed and took off his backpack. "Before I forget" he began, "I want to return this to you." He took out the umbrella and offered it back to Johnny.

He put down his food and lifted up his right hand in refusal. "(Keep) it dude. I said it was a (gift). And besides…" Johnny's eyes suddenly became alert and his voice serious; "you might need it when you find yourself caught in some real nasty weather." He gave Kaz a piercing and serious look before he once again became lethargic.

Kaz jaw dropped at the sudden change and the sudden return of demeanor. What was that about? His eyes opened wide as a flashback of the rainy night came back to him. Johnny had been alert and serious before when he talked about how he had only came in to seek shelter from the rain. Why didn't I notice it before?

His posture returning to normal, Kaz reached out and grabbed Heptadd before turning away from the enigmatic clerk. It was almost like he was looking at the store for the first time in his life. The store had looked okay during the night but looked beautiful now. The windows, which have been difficult to see during the night, were made of blue and green glass designed in some sort of mosaic pattern. Kaz could see that the windows were partially boarded up on the outside but the small amount of light that flitted through created a dazzling pattern of blue and green light interlacing each other. It's like as if they deliberately boarded the windows the way they did for this effect. Could they have? Could they? He also noticed that the strange smoke drifted through the light, creating the illusion of mist creeping among the shelves. It's like… a laser show. Pure genius. It's pure genius.

"Why hello there" greeted a female voice barely louder than a whisper. "You must be the one known as Kaz."

Kaz turned to his left and saw a young lady wearing a light blue robe and hood. She pulled down the hood so that Kaz could see her blue hair with white highlights and her blue eyes. She smiled sweetly before offering her hand and closing her eyes. "Greetings Kaz. I am known as Syanne" she said in a soft voice.

His mouth dropped as he took her hand and shook. "Um….. greetings Syanne. Nice to meet you."

Syanne's smiled wider and opened her eyes to look him in the eye. "I have something for you. Please take it with gratitude and respect." Before Kaz could offer a protest, she opened his hand and placed a small object in it before closing it again. "It's a lucky charm. May it guide you to the good times and protect you from the bad times."

Kaz opened his hand to look at the lucky charm she had given him. It was a prism made out of some sort of blue crystal that was attached to a small chain that would fit around his wrist. "Wait" he said as he turned back to Syanne who had already started walking away. "I can't take this. Besides, I don't believe in lucky charms."

Syanne stopped short of a doorway covered in beads that led to the back. She didn't turn around as she said "luck brought you to us and luck will bring you to so much more."

"Luck? Luck? I got caught in a storm and only came here to get shelter. I hardly called getting caught in a storm as luck."

"Bad luck is still luck, just not in a good form. Besides… good luck and bad luck intertwine with each other. Bad luck can, at times, bring good luck. Don't worry. You will understand."

"What do you mean, I will understand? I don't understand anything. Like for instance: how do you know my name when I never met you and I didn't tell Johnny or Gizelle my name?"

There was a moment of silence before Syanne replied in a whisper: "that is of no importance whatsoever." She pushed the beads aside and silently slipped into the back.

"So" said Johnny from the counter, "you're name is (Kaz), right? Well (Kaz), are there any more (cards) you want us to find for you? Ask away. It can be (done)."