The next chapter of Tribal End is here! Yay!

Wow, not many reviews for the last chapter... was I too harsh? Honestly, I'm only trying to have you guys review so I can understand things of my own story, or if you guys even think it's good, so I know that I am giving you guys a story that you all enjoy.

But this is strange... people aren't reviewing as much as they used to. I wonder why? I remember back then people would review lots... have the times changed?

Oh well, thanks to some of the reviewers that have given me some nice critique, I'm gonna try to use that to improve future stories. Not to mention, guys, you are Megaman fans! We read and review to show our love for it.

So I must have your support to make Megaman noticed and loved by all.

Anyways enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 10: The Odd Game

As Geo made his way towards the Observation Point, his thoughts wandered to the mysterious woman that had called him. She was clearly an enemy, but not one that he knew. The only woman he knew so far that was an enemy was Vega, and she was still trapped inside Mu, according to Solo, who was the last to see her.

That, and this mystery woman had a weird personality that made him unable to really take her seriously. Really, she clearly didn't sound threatening cause she wasn't even sure what to do with the person she had captured, and she had even called this goose chase a game and puzzle. What kind of enemy acted like that? Even Cancer seemed more villainous than this lady seemed to be, and that's actually saying something.

However… Geo recalled how Kidd had said that he encountered a woman that had knocked him out and had taken control over him. Could it have been her? He wanted to think that it was, but at the same time… he felt doubtful.

"Hey Geo," Omega-Xis called from the Star Carrier.

"What is it?"

"Are you sure that we should even go along with this stupid game? We could just EM Wave Change and find them quickly. I'm sure that I'll be able to detect any abnormal EM Waves if I go near it."

"No, Omega-Xis. Whoever this lady is, she holds an advantage over us. She's likely watching us and might be able to conceal her presence from even you, probably. If that's the case, and we break the rules, she might end up hurting whoever it is that she took."

"And by 'whoever it is she took', you mean your girlfriend, and since Luna's not the candidate since we had just seen her, it has to be Sonia."

Geo stopped and pulled his Star Carrier and faced Omega-Xis, blushing once more.

"Sonia isn't my girlfriend! How many times do I have to tell you that! We're just good friends!" he said with such gusto that Omega-Xis couldn't help but snicker.

Now that the joke was over, Omega-Xis had a serious face now. "Even so, if this lady has Sonia, and likely Lyra as well, then we better go help them either way," he said, which Geo was thankful for. He couldn't handle another 'girlfriend' tease. Seriously, why must they always try to put him with either Luna or Sonia? They were his friends, that's all. And yet, both Omega-Xis and his mother kept picking on him about that, especially his mother.

However, as he decided to continue running just to exit this embarrassing conversation, a sudden thought ran through his mind, once more stopping in his tracks. "Wait a sec? Is it Sonia that got taken? We should be able to tell if we just call her, can't we?" Geo asked, realizing that he could have done that way earlier.

"... Huh... I didn't think of that," the blue alien admitted after realizing what Geo had said it. "Alright, let's give her a call."

Geo began to search for the speed call for Sonia, and pressed it on his Star Carrier, before a holographic screen popped up from his device, allowing him to talk to the other person, and soon he saw Sonia's face appear.

"Geo? Why are you calling? Did something happen?" Sonia asked confused, though she seemed somewhat cheerful, happy that Geo was calling her for once, rather than her having to call him.

Seeing her face, Geo was glad that she was fine, confirming that she was alright and wasn't the person that was captured. But now he had to end the call and get back into the game, but he couldn't involve her, since it was against the rule that had been setup.

"O-oh, nothing really. Just wanted to check up on you, is all," he said, thinking of he first excuse he could make. "Anyways, I hope I'm not interrupting you in the middle of a song. I'll just hang up now."

"Wai-"

Despite Sonia's attempt there to stop the call from being dropped, Geo hung up and sighed. "She's definitely gonna be mad at me for this later..." He knew her well enough that she hates it when he doesn't involve her in things, such as back when they were searching for the OOPArts, but he had been mostly solo in tracking them, though she was with him on some occasion.

"Well, we now know that Sonia wasn't captured either... so who was? Who's the girlfriend that this lady has?" Omega-Xis questioned, now genuinely confused, since he's usually always with Geo, so he couldn't think of any other girl that could have been someone that could be considered a girlfriend... unless he met some girls whenever Omega-Xis wasn't around, which has happened on occasion.

"Anyways, back to the game," Geo said as he began running again.

As Sonia stared at her Star Carrier, she had a deep frown and had a vein pop in her head, clearly angry at what had just transpired with her call with Geo. "I can't believe him! You don't just hang up on a girl like that! " Sonia said angrily.

"True, but you do have some more recordings to do, and he technically did interrupt us in the middle of it," Lyra said, making Sonia calm down a little. Lyra was always able to handle Sonia's anger and always seemed to be able to calm her down, even when they weren't on the same side on things. "And besides, don't you think it's at least nice of Geo to call to check up on you? I think it's sweet. Maybe he actually does like you, huh? Wouldn't that be great?"

Now Sonia was blushing at Lyra being a tease with her. Yeah, she was actually happy that Geo called her to check up on, but she couldn't help but feel something was off there. As much as she liked Geo, she couldn't help but feel frustrated about how dense he was at times. Even when she and Luna had that argument and asking Geo, who was Megaman at the time, what the other girl had meant to him, and he had not only failed to understand the meaning behind it, but he ended up putting them both as just friends. Cause clearly girls love to be friend-zoned by the guy they like. Then again, they were just kids, so neither her nor Luna considered themselves out just yet, and agreed that they'd work hard to one day earn Geo's affections, provided that their feelings for him last until then.

"I better see Geo myself. Something's fishy about this," Sonia said, confusing her harp-shaped partner.

"Why?"

"Since when has Geo actually called me just to check up on me, and then just hang up like that? He's not telling us something," she said, now upset by another thing.

Once again, Geo didn't invite her to whatever it was that was happening to him. Seriously, what was his problem? She was a capable fighter, wasn't she? Yeah, she had her doubts with how the gap she had with him or Rogue seemed extremely large, but she wasn't some damsel in distress, and she actually held her own many times in battles, even saving his skin on more than one occasion.

Lyra thought about what Sonia said, before realizing that she was right. Geo really never called like that just to check up on her, and he wouldn't just hang up unless something was up. Sonia really knew him well enough to understand certain traits of him, once more showing how much the girl was crushing on the boy. "Alright, maybe something is up, but we can't just leave yet, not until recording is over. And don't even try to get Cancer to try and use that holographic image of you again," Lyra said, and warned against making Cancer try to create a double of her like she had that one other time. That had to be one of Sonia's most embarrassing moments, which sadly happened on live TV.

Sonia remembered that time and had a grim look on her face. "Yeah, guess so... but I'm not gonna stay forever. A few more songs and then I'll have Cancer cover for me," Sonia said, deciding that she would get more work done and then go and see what Geo was up to.

Finally reaching the Observation Point, Geo was panting slightly, and looked around, but nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be there. "Where's the clue?" Geo asked between breaths as he looked around, but there was nothing there, except an old man sitting on a bench, throwing some bread crumbs on the ground for the pigeons to eat. Not knowing what else to do, Geo chose to approach the old man.

"Um... excuse me, sir?" Geo politely greeted, obtaining the elderly man's attention. "I was wondering if anything strange happened here recently, or if you might have seen anything or anyone around here that might have acted weird."

The old man looked at him, and nodded, greeting him back before thinking about Geo's question for a while, seeming to take some time, which worried Geo, as he was in a rush, which didn't help, cause it made the old man's delay seem even slower. "Ah, yes. A woman actually gave this to me yesterday, and told me to be here today and I would be approached by someone that would need this," he said as e held a folded piece of paper and passed it to the boy. "Is this some kind of game? I remember years ago, this was actually rather popular when my friends and I played together. Would you like to stay and hear my tale?"

As Geo took the paper, he sweatdropped at how he seemed like he was about ready to go on and on about the old days. "Um... maybe next time. I actually have to go. You know, gotta finish this game and all," he said nervously as he stepped back and waved goodbye before speed walking out of there.

Once Geo was out of sight, the elderly man stood up and smirked at where Geo had headed. "Keep going, Geo. You have to save your princess," the man said. Except his voice wasn't that of an elderly man, but that of a woman, right as a bright light enveloped the man and he seemed to transform, before the light, and the person, vanished.

As Geo ran off the Observation point, Geo stopped somewhere to sit down and catch his breath, before opening the piece of paper that he was given. "Alright, so what's the clue that?" he asked, more to himself than to his partner.

Nice job, you got the first clue! Hooray! You are now one step closer to finding your princess. ;D

Reading the first line, Geo had a blank expression on his face. Why was this feeling like a game more and more? Oh yeah. Cause clearly this was a game and whoever it was that made this clearly seemed to get a kick out of it. Deciding that he could think about all that later, Geo continued to read on.

So here's the clue to where you will be able to find her.

"Back"

Not enough to go on, yeah I know. So you have to go for two more clues that I have hidden elsewhere before you know where I am, and where your princess is. So here's the next clue as to where you will find the location to your next clue.

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'A' and ending in 'KEN.'"

Good Luck. :D

"... What a weird lady..." Omega-Xis said as he read the clue with Geo. "So what starts with 'A' and ends with 'KEN' exactly? Is a name for something?"

Geo stared for a second and sighed. "These hints aren't exactly tough to figure out. She's talking about AMAKEN. It starts with 'A' and ends with 'KEN.' Whoever this person is, they're mostly just messing with us, if anything," Geo said, starting to be a little annoyed by the petty game they are being forced to play. Not to mention he has no clue as to who this 'princess' is that he is supposed to save. "Anyways, let's just go and get this over with."

Getting up, the boy began to hurry over to AMAKEN, though he was a bit tired, since he was low on time and AMAKEN wasn't exactly close by.

"Geo, no offense, but you won't be able to make it through the deadline if you go at that speed. For all we know, the next clue will make us run to another side of town, and unless we manage to pick up on our speed, we aren't gonna make it," Omega-Xis warned.

"Not helping, you know," Geo muttered as he felt his muscles begin to burn. It wasn't like he wasn't aware of how he was getting tired and likely wouldn't be able to make it in time if it went as Omega-Xis had said, but he left his bike at home, so he wasn't exactly able to ride it to gain some speed. Not to mention that he would need to take breaks in between clues to try and regain some stamina that was lost.

Inside AMAKEN, Tom Dubius was once again, trying to adjust how he could make the Star Carrier Matter Wave functions better than ever and work without the need of the Dubius Area, along with several other inventions that he could make along the way. He was just thinking of so many things that could be useful, including working on the other functions of the EM Virus Extermination Device he made a while back.

Yeah, that one had messed up big time when he couldn't turn off the first function, which was to the enticement that would viruses, and he hadn't finished the capturing and deletion functions, which caused a whole mess of trouble when Cancer Bubble took it and used it to attack by using the first function to insane levels, making hordes of viruses enter in one area. Had Cancer Bubble not blundered at the end by damaging the device in his excitement, things could have been really difficult.

Actually, it could be a perfect opportunity to complete the capture and deletion functions now, since EM viruses have been popping up so much lately, now that the threat of Mu have started to come up again, though at least for now it wasn't too serious like when FMians kept launching attacks on the city back then.

The scientist was so deep in thought he hadn't noticed someone walking towards him, who was also not paying attention, causing the two to collide, causing Tom to fall back, and looked up to see who bumped into him.

"Aaron?" Tom questioned as he saw his superior and good friend stumbling back a little with clipboard in hand, as he seemed to have been writing something down.

"Sorry about that. I should have looked where I was going," the other scientist apologized to Tom, smiling like he usually did.

"It's okay," Tom said with a smile as he got back up. "Wait, why are you here? I thought that you said that you had some work to do in the lab?"

When Tom had said that, Aaron looked a bit surprised and nodded fast. "O-oh yeah. I just had something come up, and needed to make a quick note on it before I headed back," Aaron explained, laughing a bit nervously while rubbing the back of his head, making Tom wonder what's got Aaron so jumpy. "Anyways, I'm almost done, so I'll see you later."

Tom watched as Aaron hurriedly walked past him, but stopped midway and turned to look at Tom to say something. "Also, if you happen to run into Geo, tell him that I left something for him at my office."

That was odd... was Geo supposed to be coming today? Tom didn't hear anything about it. Must've been some last minute thing.

As Tom watched Aaron go, he wondered what was up. Oh well, surely Aaron would be alright. If something troubled him, Tom would be happy to help, and Aaron wasn't above asking others for help, as he always enjoyed working together with others on things. He really was the closest friend Tom could ever ask for, despite how Tom tried to kill Aaron more than once when he was under Cygnus' influence. It might not have been completely his fault, but Tom still felt guilty about it sometimes, so he tried hard to make inventions that could help others and doesn't hesitate any longer to ask Aaron for advice, like he would have previously when he was still distrustful towards others, others being literally everyone around, even children, like when he kept thinking that Geo was a spy. Really, now that he looked back, he couldn't help but think he was really stupid, thinking that a young boy would be a spy that would steal his invention. Talk about pathetic.

As he walked up the stairs, Tom went towards the lab and was about to work on some notes for an experiment, before he stopped with wide eyes at who was there.

"A-Aaron?" he questioned, as Aaron Boreal was already in the lab, working on something. "Why are you here?"

What was he doing that? Aaron had went the other way when he left, so he couldn't have beaten Tom back to the lab like that.

Aaron looked up and gazed at Tom with a confused look. "Huh? What do you mean, Tom? I said that I had to work on something in the lab, didn't I?"

"B-But I just saw you downstairs a minute ago," Tom said, further confusing the superior.

"Um... I don't know what you mean, cause I've been here the whole time," Aaron said, and he didn't show any signs of lying, which made Tom get confused a great deal, with one question on mind.

... Who did he run into earlier?

"Okay... finally... made... it..." Geo muttered while panting. A lot.

Seriously, if this was next clue ended up with him going somewhere far, he might just scream at the top of his lungs... which actually wouldn't be much considering how his lungs were seconds away from bursting into flames.

"Hey, are you sure that you're alright? You look ready to pass out," Omega-Xis noted, much to Geo's displeasure. Omega-Xis was lucky, since he didn't have to do all this running. Since he wasn't made of matter, he couldn't exactly touch any of the clues, so he could just sit back and relax in his Star Carrier.

Lucky...

"I'm fine... let's just find this clue..." Geo grumbled as he entered, before he came to a sudden realization...

"Uh... Where is this clue supposed to be exactly?"

When Geo asked that question, a deafening silence came, and Geo wanted to bang his head against the wall. There's no way he could search every nook and cranny of this place, considering how huge the place was, and the only hint was that it was at AMAKEN, nothing else, meaning he had no means of pinpointing where in AMAKEN the clue was.

"So much for these puzzles being a cinch. They don't give perfect hints, just where the area to find them, but not the spot where it would be at," Omega-Xis said.

Geo sat down, trying to breathe and soothe his aching legs and to clear his head. "We should probably find out if Mr. Boreal or Mr. Dubius saw anything unusual that might help us find it, like when that old man had the clue with him."

Seemed to make sense, so after a few more minutes of rest, and grabbing a bottle of cold, refreshing water from the vending machine, Geo began to move again, now having recovered much of his energy. As he went through the hallways to see if he could see either of the two scientists. Since he knew Mr. Boreal, and came over so often, it wasn't hard for him to have access in the area, especially since on top of that, he was also testing Mr. Dubius' inventions. He asked some of the other scientists if they had seen either of the two, to which one pointed Mr. Dubius out, making the boy hurry over.

When Mr. Dubius turned around, he seemed surprised to see Geo at first, but then smiled. "Geo, you're here. Aaron said that you'd come here, though he's very busy right now, so he won't be able to see you for a while," the man said, making Geo confused. He didn't exactly call to tell Aaron, which might actually have been a good idea earlier, but sadly, that common sensible act had been taking a vacation on him.

"Um... really? Well anyways, I was gonna ask-"

"Oh yes. Aaron mentioned that he left something for you in his office earlier... though it's weird. I met Aaron in the hallway earlier, but he acted a bit strange, and then I saw Aaron in the lab, who said he was there the whole time. Maybe I'm just tired," Mr. Dubius said, though the latter part was more to himself than to Geo.

Listening to him, Geo had a frown on his face. That seemed unusual...

Thanking the scientist, Geo hurried over to Mr. Boreal's office, finding it soon enough and entering the room. "Wonder what Mr. Boreal left for me... maybe he has the clue and was told to give it to me?" the boy questioned as he looked around, examining anything around.

If the clues were left to people that were meant to give it to him, then it would make sense, but Geo had this odd feeling about what Mr. Dubius had said about seeing Mr. Boreal and then again, but the second time, Mr. Boreal had no clue of the first encounter.

"Hey Geo, I found it," Omega-Xis said, interrupting Geo's thoughts, as the blue alien left the Star Carrier, pointing to a clipboard on the desk, which had another message on it. Geo picked up the clipboard and began reading it.

Awesome job finding the hint. Thought this might have been a bit tougher, but you did it. So now you get the next clue to where your princess is located at.

"To"

Now then, the next hint on where the final clue is actually in this microchip that you'll find here. Insert it into the main computer and you'll be given to the next hint.

Good luck.

"So the clues are 'Back' and 'To'? So 'back to' what?" Geo questioned, as it could literally mean several things, and decided that he had to find the final hint to know for sure. And like the note said, the chip was right there on the clipboard, but that was an unusual thing, leaving the next clue inside a chip. Though he guessed not every hint was gonna be as simple as just writing it down.

"Well, let's go find the computer and find out what the next clue is," Geo said, though Omega-Xis was quiet on this one, having some suspicion about it, but didn't know if it was just his imagination or if it was legit.

Entering the main lab area, which was empty for some reason, Geo headed to the main computer. As he was about to insert the chip, Omega-Xis finally spoke. "Hey Geo, I don't know if we should put that in..."

Surprised that the AMian wanted to stop, Geo looked at his partner, prompting said partner to continue on. "I just think it's weird that it's asking us to put it in the main computer of all things. Why not just a regular computer? Also, why is this lab empty? There's usually someone here."

"That's true... but I don't think we should worry much about it. If there's something in here that would cause problems, the security system would detect it," Geo replied, confident that nothing bad could happen.

While the alien still wasn't sure, he gave in and allowed the chip to be inserted. Nothing weird happened at all, though. Instead, there was just one file, and when Geo opened it, it revealed an encoded message on it. "It's encoded... lemme see..." Geo muttered as he tried to see if the system could decrypt it. He learned much about computers from his dad, and Mr. Boreal showed him quite a lot too. He managed to finally find the key to the decryption and used it, soon decoding the message, which revealed the location of where to find the next and final hint.

"Deep within the reaches of space, yet all in the comforts of education...?" Geo read in a questioning tone. Now this was a bit more confusing. Deep within space, but in the comforts of education? Wouldn't it be the comforts of home?

"... I got it!" Omega-Xis said, surprising the brunette. "It's talking about the planetarium in your school. It gives us everything we need to know about space, and education kind of means school, which is what it's all about." Geo was surprised, but Omega-Xis was right.

"Nice, so now we... have to go to school..." Geo realized that it'd take too long to get there, especially since he wasn't fully recovered. What could he do?

Well... desperate times called for desperate measures.

And Geo went to the one person that could help him. Once he couldn't him, he asked him for the help he needed.

Sitting down on the Wave Road, a woman watched Geo, able to see through the buildings to see him running around to find someone after getting her clue. "Wow, that was too easy. He just did my work for me. Guess that guy's plans aren't that bad after all, even if he does need to chill out," the woman said, snickering a little.

"Better get the third clue ready for him, and then meet up with him... and I still need to get Solo to come over as well. Better call him once I'm done with the setup," she said to herself as she changed frequencies, vanishing from the site.

And there we have it. Actually, I ended up making a really huge long chapter, but because it was too long and would break the balance of the word count inside the story, I decided to split it into two chapters.

While I have the next chapter ready, I will make some more edits to it, and post it after enough time has passed. Giving two chapters in one go might not be good for you guys.

So guys, please leave a comment, critique, or anything on the review right there on the bottom. Every review holds meaning to an author.

See you guys later. Until the next time.