When Gilag stepped out of the portal to the BARian, the first thing he did was start coughing like crazy. Alit, who had been dusting the table, looked up. "Oh, hey Gilag! This place got really dusty over the last fourteen years. Nasch and Merag made everyone help clean up. Especially Merag. So here's a broom and dustpan and you better start cleaning if you don't want to get pepper sprayed." Alit shuddered. "I complained and learned how Vector felt. Pepper spray stings."
Gilag quickly took the broom and dustpan and started to sweep. He did not want to invoke the wrath of the ice queen of Barian World. The barians soon got the BARian into somewhat livable condition. They changed into their usual clothes they wore on earth and gathered in the living room.
"So... What now?" Gilag had asked.
"Let's see how Yuma's doing and if he wants to duel!" Alit jumped up on the coffee table for emphasis but landed on the edge and the table flipped over. Alit fell on the floor and the side of the table fell on his stomach. Gilag and Merag winced, Misael rolled his eyes, Dumon facepalmed, Nasch scoffed, and Vector rolled on the floor laughing.
"OOHhhhh..." Alit groaned. He stiffly sat back up.
"You okay, buddy?" Gilag asked.
Alit just looked at him. "Yeah, I just had a table fall on my stomach. Just peachy. In fact, I'm ready to run a marathon." Even Gilag couldn't miss THAT sarcasm. "Give me a minute to catch my breath."
"You weren't running..." Gilag trailed off confused.
"No, duh. I had the air knocked out of me when the coffee table fell on my freaking stomach." Alit retorted, to winded to make another sarcastic comment.
"Oh, that makes sense." Gilag helped the smaller barian up.
"Minus the fact that Alit just got beat up by a piece of furniture, I think we should drop in on Yuma. See if the hyper-active kid who wouldn't and didn't notice multiple girls hitting on him if and when they blasted him in the face actually ever got married." Nasch reclined on the sofa for a second before getting up.
"Huh?" Alit and Gilag said and cocked their heads in unison.
"It's been 14 years. Our human friends will have aged and grown up. Yuma would be about 27 or 28 now." Dumon explained calmly.
"Whoa! Cool! Do ya think he has a kid now?" Alit asked.
"Only one way to find out. Let's go!" Merag smiled and teleported away. The others followed likewise, honing on the energy from the emperor's key. They stepped out in front of a nice house in the suburbs of the city. Nasch sighed and rang the doorbell. He waited for a second before the door opened and Yuma looked out. He was tall and muscular now but the same light that he had in his eyes so many years ago was still there. He stared at the barians for a moment in shock before grinning.
"Is it really you guys? Kattobingu!" He tackled them all in a hug, one after another. "Hey Tori! Guess who came by?"
Tori, holding a baby in her arms stepped into the doorway. She had really matured after 14 years. The baby girl in her arms had Yuma's hair color but her bangs were the same green as Tori's hair. "If it's Bronk, tell him we're having noodles if he wants to stay for-" she blinked as she looked at the aliens. "Nasch? Merag? Alit? All of you, you're here?!" she smiled and laughed, "Come inside, all of you." The barians and Yuma followed her inside. "You've been away for a while. Not even a visit?" Tori asked teasingly.
"We encountered a major problem. Sorry for not dropping in." Dumon smiled sheepishly.
"It's okay!" Yuma grinned.
"Your daughter's cute. What's her name?" Merag cooed.
"Toma. It's a combination of Tori's name and mine. And a play on the word tomo which means friend. So you've come back because of those whatnots from outer space?" Yuma interjected.
The barians all looked confused. "The- what? Are you on something, Yuma?" Nasch asked.
"No! Those animally, gooey, humanoid yellow gunk things! Astral noticed them as a threat and came back. He's in the key now. Hey, Astral! Astral! Guess who's here!" Yuma took the pendant around his neck and started to tap on it. Astral came out, looking exactly the same as he had 14 years ago. Made sense since he was an Astral being. He glanced his heterochromic eyes across the barians and gave a rare smile.
"Hello. You look like you're doing well." Astral said.
"Hey, Astral. Is Yuma high or are there really evil aliens posing a threat?" Nasch tilted his head at Yuma.
Astral frowned. "Unfortunately, they're real. I've noticed them on earth over the past week I've been back. It appears that their lower energy forms are earthen animals. Their true forms seem to be humanesque with lumping skin and oozing a gooey substance."
"Sounds like something from a bad horror movie." Nasch said.
"That's what I said at first. But they are CREEPY with a capital K." Yuma exclaimed.
"Creepy starts with C, not K." Misael scoffed.
"It's an expression." Tori explained.
"See? And you told me I couldn't spell." Alit said to Misael.
"Spelling the word creepy with an 'ea' as well as a K just means you can't spell for your life." Misael retorted.
Alit sulked as the others laughed in spite of themselves. "You want to see one of the aliens?" Yuma asked.
"It's not going to kill us?" Merag asked, dubiously.
Yuma laughed, "No, Quinton and Kite created a strong containment field for it. It's at Kite's tower because Quinton doesn't want to take the chance it'll attack the kids."
"Kids? He got married? To who?" Merag asked.
Yuma grinned. "Let's just say Kari Tsukumo is now Kari Arclight."
"Cool!" Alit grinned.
Nasch opened a portal. "We can say congrats to them later, let's visit Kite."
"Do we have to?" Misael growled.
"I thought you two were on better terms." Dumon said.
"Better terms. Not good and definitely not buddies." Misael pouted.
"Yes, we all need to go. So stop your pouting princess and come on." Nasch said.
"I am NOT pouting!" Misael bristled. He stormed through the portal. The other barians and Yuma and Tori followed, with Tori still carrying Toma. The arrived behind a 32-year-old Kite and a 21-year-old Hart looking at a something in a container.
"Hi, guys!" Kite and Hart jumped up and whirled towards Yuma's voice.
"Yuma! How-" Hart started before he glanced at the barians. "You're back! Great to see you!"
Kite walked up to Misael and the two stared at each other for about thirty seconds. "So you're showing up again, huh?" Kite said.
"Yes I am" Misael retorted. Another tense silence followed. "Strawberry head." Misael added.
"Gender-confused."
"Fruitcake."
"Feather-brain!"
"HUMAN!"
"ALIEN!"
"You just gave me compliment, retard."
"So did you, you effeminate jackass.
"I did not, that is the lowest insult ever, you piece of horse dung!
"Shut up, you arse!"
"You shut up!"
"Make me!"
"I will you pathetic mortal!"
At that point, Hart and Dumon got involved to separate the two. "Easy now. Don't kill each other." Hart said while pulling Kite away from Misael.
"He's asking for it!" Kite snapped.
"And so are you." Hart pointed out.
Merag gave a slight cough. "So, can we see this alien now?"
"Sure." Kite said stiffly. He and Hart stepped aside and the barians found themselves staring at what appeared to be a beetle-like bug the size of a large dog with slightly glowing yellow junk in the eye sockets instead of eyes.
"They're often larger than normal animals and, as you can see, have goo instead of eyes. The general public are calling them demon animals." Hart explained.
"Fitting name. Can it talk?" Nasch asked.
"Yeah, but the containment field is soundproof. Partially because it wouldn't stop blabbing its head off about how the Maldorian race is going to conquer us and make us into slaves like they have done to other worlds." Kite explained.
"So these things are called Maldorians?" Alit mused.
"Apparently." Kite agreed.
"So each Maldorian takes a different animal form?" Dumon asked for clarification.
"Yep, we've seen Maldorian dogs, cats, mice, birds, wolves, and skunks. Those last ones can be really nasty." Hart shuddered.
"I bet." Gilag nodded.
The barians eventually moved away from the captive alien and followed Kite and Hart into the parlor. "So... anyone else take the Tenjo name?"
"Nah, Dextra got over her crush on Nii-sama and noticed Nistro's feelings for her. They're married now." Hart explained.
"She never had a crush on me." Kite protested.
"Yeah, she did." Hart, Yuma, and Tori said in unison.
"Well, I've never had any feelings for her besides comradery so all's well that ends well. But what about you and Pip?" Kite smiled.
"Wha- she's just my girlfriend!" Hart stuttered.
"For five years now. When are you going to pop the question?" Tori asked. Hart didn't reply but blushed and pouted. The others laughed.
"How about the rest of the Dweeb Team?" Vector smirked.
"Well, Caswell and Cathy are married, so are Anna and Fuya. Bronk and Flip are roommates and share an apartment until they start earning enough to get their own places. As I've mentioned, Quinton and Kari are together and have kids. Trey is a doctor and Quattro is still a dueling champ." Yuma explained.
"So he's still a pretty-boy that teenage girls fawn over." Nasch smiled.
"Yep." Yuma confirmed. The conversation turned back to the Maldorian threat.
"Why aren't they attacking outright? They appear to have a lot of military numbers." Nasch asked and leaned his head on his clasped hands.
"Easy, they can only open portals from their home planet to earth during certain periods of the lunar cycle." Hart said.
"So they can only come here when the moon is in a certain position..." Dumon mused.
"Yeah, and only a few come through at a time so far." Kite said.
"How many is a few?" Merag wondered.
"About fifteen or twenty." Yuma replied.
"This could be bad." Gilag worried.
"Oh really? Ya think?" Misael snapped.
"Let's visit the Arclights. Then we can make battle preparations." Nasch ordered and conjured an overlay network. The barians and humans dissolved into it and left for the Arclight mansion.