Title: The Next Level
Author: girl1213
Fandom: Chaotic
My Challenge: AU-verse! Humans are a sixth tribe
Characters: Tom Majors, Kaz Kalinkas
Words: 1,588
Rating: G
Summary: After beating an experienced UnderWorlder player, MajorTom earns his Scanner
Most of the Alpha Drome's chambers were packed when Kaz arrived, filled up by beginner Chaotic players and their Game Trainers. Players who were not playing a match crowded around the game tables to observe the players that were. Unlike the other Dromes, which were built strictly for the more advanced version of the game over a century and a half ago, the Alpha Drome was more like a learning center. Anyone, no matter what their age, profession or even handicap, could enter and learn how to play.
Kaz had seen many interesting Chaotis at the Alpha Drome. Some of the beginners were old enough to be Kaz's parent or even grandparent, being taught by the most experienced and patient of the trainers. He always spotted a least of couple people in those moving chairs called wheelchairs (a medical invention created by Codemaster Crellen) somewhere in the crowds, and a little more than a handful of them made it up to the higher level Dromes. He had even met a few players who were deaf or blind, and yet somehow still won more than their fair share of matches. How they managed that Kaz never bothered to figure out, but it made both the viewing and the playing experience interesting and unique.
And those were just a couple to name…
Laughing at himself when he realized he was staring intently at some random match, Kaz shook his head and continued his search for Tom. He had made it to Drome, but now he had to search around and find which room held his best friend. However, it seemed he was always getting caught up in the Alpha Drome's current unique blend of visitors every time he visited, especially when he was trying not to be late.
"Maxxor attacks Rothar with a Cyclance."
"Kughar uses the Song of Treachery."
"There goes Drakness! Takin' it to Nauthilax!"
Sitting upright in his seat, Tom could feel his body tremble in exhilarated excitement. He had been missing the excitement of the game this past week. With how bad his potion-making skills had gotten from lack of use, his trainer had banned him from playing Chaotic for a whole seven days. Tom had groaned loudly in protest, but in the end, conceded to his fate.
However that still did not stop a large part of his mind from screaming on how unfair it was that Kaz no longer had to deal with his Enchanting Trainer now that he had reached journeyman status with his skills. At Kaz's young 15-years of age, he made an impressive feat at earning his status that young as most Chaotis do not reach journeyman status until their late teens and early twenties. His best friend was free to do play Chaotic and journey to Perim without worrying that anyone (expect the Codemasters) would take his privileges away.
Tom on the other hand would be working with his Trainer for a few more years to come. Even when he did eventually earn the privilege to journey beyond Chaotis's boarders, he was still going to be leashed by his Trainer.
For most of the week, Tom was in a petulant mood under his Trainer's stern eye. But he kept his temper in check, only letting a few grumbles out under his breath, as he did not want to further lengthen his punishment. But eventually, as time went now and the punishment was nearing its end, Tom allowed the more logical side of his brain to act.
Kaz earned his early journeyman status because he did not slack off his enchanting studies and practices to continuously play Chaotic and explore Perim.
Unlike himself…
With his winning matches piling up, Tom knew he was reaching a high skill level in the Alpha Drome. It meant that the Overseers of the Drome were watching his matches more closely now.
Every Drome in Chaotis had an unseen, but always present and heard, Overseer, and the Alpha Drome had seven of them. The Overseers of the Dromes were veteran adult Chaotis players assigned by the Codemasters to judge and evaluate both the players and their performance. Their usual duties were to mainly that of a referee, ensuring that the rules were met, and games were played fairly, as well as ensure the safety of the players. However, the seven Overseers in the Alpha Drome had the extra duties to evaluate and judge the players in the Drome.
Their duty was to find who was worthy enough to survive the next level of the game. Not every Chaotis player could handle the too real-life-like simulation of the other Dromes. Some Chaotis could become traumatized by the experience and many of them had. Some had even quit playing the game, while others would stick to only playing in the Alpha Drome with their cards instead of their online decks. It was these seven Overseers duty to make sure that this number stayed low.
And now, though he could not see them, Tom knew they were watching him. They had been watching him for quite a while now, judging and assessing him. And Tom did not want to be proven unworthy of advancement.
Without the advancement, he would never be able to leave Chaotic on his own or without permission. Healers were allowed outside the city and the valley boarders, but unless they reached advancement in the Alpha Drome, and could survive eight matches in the Beta Dromes, they were not allowed to leave without an escort. And even if they did manage to go gain permission to go alone, there were strict restrictions that did not allow them to do certain things, like explore. Healers were too valuable and too few in the Tribe to be allowed lost recklessly.
It was why he had slacked off in his healing training, he wanted to prove that he was worthy of advancement.
But he had forgotten in his determination that he still had other responsibilities and worthiness to prove to others besides the Alpha Drome Overseers. He made the mistake of having forgotten that and not handling and juggling all his responsibilities reasonably and accountability. He was just as serious on becoming a Healer as he was a Chaotic player and his Trainer knew that. It was why the punishment only lasted a week instead of a month or even longer.
So in this light, his punishment was a fair one.
But now that his punishment was over
"Ten energy left. Come on Maxxor."
His Attack Card flipped up.
"A Rock Wave! Yes!"
Tom's opponent groaned a "No" and slumped down in his chair in defeat while the gathered small crowd let out a collective mixture of enthusiastic cheers in Tom's victory and crushed moans at his opponent's defeat. Through it all, a smile of smugly earned victory kept itself planted on Tom's lips.
Just one more battle won for the Alpha Drome Overseers' eyes.
"Nice one Tom!" came the familiar voice of Kaz over his shoulder, "You're getting good at this."
Tom turned in chair slightly to better look at his best friend. Ever since he had gotten his journeyman status, Kaz had been wearing these round glasses with pink-tint lens over his rustic brown eyes. They had been a gift from his former trainer as a reward for earning his status so early and for being such a good student to him: in fact, Kaz had been crowned his best student, which was no easy feat in the enchanting field. At first, Tom had found the glasses silly on his friend's face, but in time, he found that they actually were a good fit to his friend's looks; especially with the fiery orange-redness of his hair.
"Hey Kaz," Tom greeted, getting up from the chair to clasp hands with his friends, "Yeah. Those OverWorlder strategy tips you gave me really—"
The console's computer he used to play the game started beeping loudly, causing just about everyone in the immediate vicinity, including Tom and Kaz, to pause and go quiet as if someone had hit a pause button.
Blinking in his surprise, Tom turned back to the console and leaned over it to look at the computer. There in the center of the screen was a flashing icon with a mail envelope in its center.
"Chaotic Mail?" Tom uttered more then asked in confused surprise as Kaz stepped closer to look over his shoulder. As he pressed the icon with his finger, he heard Kaz suck in a large gust of air, but Tom largely ignored him as the envelope opened and the message inside of it flew out to cover the screen in white.
The message read: DGAFECB
"That's weird," Tom said, a finger raising to his tap the side of his mouth in confusion, "A bunch of letters?"
As Tom moved the hand he raised up to scratch his head, Kaz gently pushed him aside to have a look for himself. Tom let him as he had never received any sort of message after he finished playing a match in the Drome before. Maybe Kaz had a better idea of what it was.
He was proven right when he heard Kaz breath out a "No way."
What Tom did not expect was Kaz suddenly grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him back and forth in excitement so hard it felt like he was having whiplash. "Tom! It's a password! You got a password! You made it! You've earned your Scanner!"
And the whole world went silent and froze.
Misc. Info
Drome Overseers – This AU's verison of the "talking and spinning around Chaotic symbol" that serves as the game referee in the show. Since the show puts Chaotic and Perim online, we can be certain that the "referee" is actually the computer, but since this AU puts the Chaotic Universe in the real-world setting, I had to get creative on how this would work out since the "referee" is an important feature.