To say that school was monotonous would be an understatement. As Tom sat in class, he was sure that the teachers had gone out of their way to organize a day that was exceptionally boring and absolutely loaded with homework. He had everything from bookwork in mathematics, to online research for science, assigned reading for English and history, and some menial tasks thrown in from his world language course and health. He planned on finishing some of this work in study hall, but it was his final class of the day, and by then Tom's mind was utterly fried and devoid of the power it needed to process any information. When he slumped down into his chair and opened his history textbook, the sentences seemed swim and blur together into this blot of light gray on a field of white paper. He ended up just shutting the book, sighing, and taking out his laptop to see if he could challenge someone to an online Chaotic match.
After a few minutes of searching the challenge boards, the Over-World player found an opponent called 'Underhanded-Tactician' and began to strategize.
'Okay,' he thought, 'if the username is anything to go by, then they'll probably use Under-Worlders, so a majority of their attacks should be fire-based.' He glanced through his creature roulette quickly and selected his team: Unda, Owis, and Intress respectively. Tom grinned, selected his battle gear, Mugic, and locations before setting his deck and readying himself for the fight. Mere seconds later, he received the notice signaling his opponent's preparation time was over. "Lets' get Chaotic," he whispered to himself.
The battle turned out to be too easy; Tom had successfully conquered a newbie in less time than he previously thought possible. It was quite sad, really.
The walk home with Kaz was a pleasant contrast to the rest of the school day; the redhead had animatedly explained what had happened in his last period chemistry class. "So, the teacher gets up to show us an example of what to do with the wires, to make sure we don't set the whole classroom on fire," Kaz smirked. Tom rolled his eyes, he was pretty sure he knew how this was going to end. "Well," the green-clad boy continued, "it turns out that someone from the last class had left on the gas faucet on at the lab bench. And Mr. Scheyer didn't even notice! Seriously, he yells at us so much to check that we put our materials away and didn't splash anyone with face-melting acid that you'd think he'd check the lab station before he sparked the wire! Nope, he didn't do anything; I feel like he's a hypocrite." He mused over this statement briefly. "Anyways, he sparked the wires right next to the faucet, and the whole thing just flared up! It reminded me of a small Torrent of Flame 'cuz it got so bright! Next thing we know, the sprinklers turned on and put it out." Kaz grinned, "Mr. Scheyer's alright, but he looks kinda funny without his eyebrows."
Tom couldn't help but laugh, "I can't wait to see him tomorrow then. I bet no one's going to be taking him seriously for the next week."
"Yeah," his friend agreed, "they've already started calling him 'Fire-Hazard.'"
The homework assignments took a frustrating amount of time to finish. Tom had arrived home, ate a small sandwich for a snack, and got straight to work. However it still took him a good few hours and left him tired and unable to think clearly.
Tom shook his head to straighten his thoughts, he had an important meeting with his friends to make and he was going to keep his promise. He warmed up a pizza in the oven, ate it swiftly once it had cooled enough, and then raced upstairs to transport to Chaotic.
Once inside, Tom found Kaz and Sarah cheering on Peyton in a match, his Mipedian loving friend was facing a tough Over-Worlder opponent. He locked his eyes on the screen and physically flinched when a strong looking Rock Wave struck Peyton –who had been in the form of Qwun.
"Who's he fighting?" Tom asked as he pulled up a chair and placed himself to the right of his best friend.
"Some random guy he accidentally spilt a milkshake on," Sarah replied without looking away from the monitor. "You hear yet?"
"About what?"
"There's some freaky thing going on in the caves around Perim. Some players are getting lost and being found with huge scratch marks and bruises," Sarah elaborated. "The Codemasters are warning everybody to stay away from the deepest caves until further notice. They don't want to take the chance of having someone get coded."
"That's reassuring," Kaz stated bluntly. "'Don't go here, or you die.' That's a pretty straight forward message."
"I wonder if anyone knows anything," Tom thought aloud.
"Already asked Wamma. He's got nothing." Sarah muttered.
"H'earring doesn't know anything either." Kaz whispered as he turned away from the sight of Peyton coding his opponent –who was playing as Tangath Toborn- with one heck of a Power Pulse and using Siado's invisibility in a very effective sneak attack.
"Huh," was Tom's only reply.
The final part of the match ensued, and Peyton lost to a skillfully crafted stratagem that involved a Riptide blast, a cliff, and Glacier Plains' notoriously slippery terrain. Peyton returned shortly after, looking a little crest-fallen and dropped into his chair.
"Tough match?" Tom teased.
Peyton, picking up on the hinted sarcasm, responded, "Were you even watching, bro? The dude meant all business and was all like, 'You stained my shirt, now you must pay!' He tried to break me in half like how Chaor would snap Bodal in between his fingers! Did he even figure out that when he goes home it won't be there?"
"Probably not." Tom sighed, "And speaking of Bodal, I promised him I'd help rearrange some of the stock into place today. I should get going or else he'll give me a lecture on tardiness." The raven-haired boy visibly shuddered at this thought; Bodal's rants could go on for hours, and the small green man had been known to hold a grudge for weeks at a time.
"Don't let us keep you," Sarah teased, "you should get there to wait on his every whim."
"Seriously Tom, if you keep working there, Bodal's going to get lazy and rely on you too much," Kaz joked.
"If only." Tom retorted.
When the Over-World player stepped into the arsenal he was met with a rare sight: a flustered Bodal was scurrying around and shouting a quick succession of orders at his beaver-like assistant, Olkiex. The small Over-Worlder was rushing about in a flurry on flapping robes and his aid was lumbering frantically. Both looked like they were searching for something-shoving crates out of place, tipping out their contents and creating a mess- and knowing Bodal's severe case of OCD, it was most likely a minute detail. Tom almost decided to sneak out the door, but his conscience wouldn't let him. He had volunteered to aid the arsenal keeper and his mechanic, so it wasn't as if he could back out even if he wanted to; he had given them his word, and if Tom knew anything about the Over-World and it's Creatures, it was that someone kept their promises and aided those who needed it…the crazed included.
"Uh, Bodal? What are you doing?" Tom asked tentatively.
Bodal whipped his head around and focused his widened eyes on the gray and blue clad human that was standing back-to-the-wall. "Do I look like I have the time to answer your trivial questions?" he snapped in reply. "I have been searching all day for one very important piece of equipment that's necessary to power a new piece of battle gear, but I can't seem to find it anywhere!"
"What are you looking for?" Tom tried his best to not show how uneased he was. He'd never seen Bodal so upset; Tom was so used to the dignified air that the Creature usually kept about himself that this unexpected sight greatly unnerved him. He didn't like the nervous atmosphere, not one bit.
"If you insist on prying, I happen to be searching for a Xaedlin shard." Bodal stated in a dull manor, much like his normal self; Tom relaxed a bit at this slight change. "Xaedlin shards are pieces of special crystals that can only be found in Over-World mines. They're much more unstable than the regular crystals utilized to maintain a power source for battle gear, but when they are harnessed the crystals can strengthen the intensity to an attack and-"
"Found it!" Olkiex cried out, smiling triumphantly and holding a strange, quarts-like blue crystal in the large palm of his bottom left hand.
"Oh, thank the Cothica!" Bodal brought a hand up and ran it over his face, to help soothe the tension away. He then turned to Tom with a weary expression, "Clean this mess up, would you?"
Tom checked the time. It was only ten twenty-six, but man, he was too wiped to care. He'd been lifting and re-arranging crates for the last two hours; he was pretty sure that it was mostly because Bodal just liked having a willing worker to boss around.
He stripped, pulled on his pajama pants, forewent the shirt for the sake of time, and plopped down on his bed, he was ready to fall into blissful sleep.
It was strange to find this place empty; usually there were so many people in the streets that you had to fight your way through the crowd. He did not mind for it was peaceful tonight in the sleeping city of Kiru. He looked critically at the stone structures that created the Over-World's capital; the way the stones were fitted into seamless walls and the strategic heights of the buildings –the tallest of which was the palace.
He cringed away at that thought; he had no wish to be spotted by or run into Maxxor again. They did not leave on the best of terms the last time.
Yet as the reminder of last night came, so did the mysterious song in the air. It was stronger, more confident but still gentle and caressing. It implored him to explore the streets and pick out the memorable parts of the city. For a moment, it seemed as if the melody had a voice, a voice that spoke a brief message amidst the swells and lulls of the notes. It was lost on him, however, but he still began to wander along the streets of the slumbering city.
Tom vaguely remembered his adventures from yesterday when he awoke the next morning. It was a Friday and he was looking forward to being able to relax for a few days. He stretched the sleep-induced sluggishness from his limbs, and half expected for his feet to hurt from all the walking he did last nig-
Wait, what? Tom paused for a minute. No, he didn't think he'd had the energy left to go trekking around Kiru City after he had finished moving the armory's stock back into the proper places. He'd been too tired to give much care to anything after he and Olkiex had brought everything back up to Bodal's incredibly high standard of organization. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd gone and looked at the buildings at night.
"Maybe I should take a day off," Tom grumbled as he stalked into the bathroom with his clothes.
Tom told Kaz about his strange revelation on the walk into school, his friends brown eyes reflected concern. "I've heard about some players dreaming of Perim after they play in Chaotic," Kaz had told him when they reached the high school's green. "So it's not really that uncommon. But if you want to take a break for the day, go right ahead. It might be better for you in the long run. I'll just make sure that no one tries to send you a challenge while you aren't there."
"Thanks, Kaz," Tom smiled. The two then parted ways and were absorbed into the flow of students that traversed the cramped halls of their high school.