Author Comment: I want to thank my Beta-reader FollowerOfAnhamirak for his time on this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.
It took a while for this chapter to come out. He has been busy for a while. I hope you like this chapter.
Chapter 70: Battle For Chaotic Part 5
Chaor and Kaz continued walking through the underground of Chaotic, the two listening to Codemaster's directions at each corner of the tunnels.
"The more I look at this, the more I'm sure it wasn't made by the Codemasters," Kaz commented as he moved his scanner around.
"It was surely made by creatures long ago," Chaor agreed.
Kaz simply nodded. It made sense given what he knew about the remains of the creature found in Egypt.
Chaor walked a little farther ahead, "There is something I've been wondering about your world."
"W-what is it? I don't think I can answer anyway," Kaz added as they walked.
"Does another tribe live in the Underworld?"
There was no reason to hide something like that. He could truthfully answer what he knew, which was nothing, "Well… I don't know. We've heard nothing about anyone living in the Underworld."
"I see," Chaor grunted. He then went onto another question that took the boy by surprise, "Who was your father?"
"W-why do you ask that?" Kaz asked, surprised.
Chaor replied, "Because there is nothing else to do." He scratched his chin after he replied.
"Oh… Dad. Don't remember much of him. I know he was cool. I know he was always there for me and mom until…" Kaz said nothing else as the boy seemed to close up a little.
The ruler of the Underworld glanced at the boy. He looked forward, "Got one better than mine."
"Y-yeah," Kaz replied, looking away a little. Agitos had told him all about that.
"Seems like you already know that?"
"Agitos told me a little bit about your father. I… I've found mom's old Chaotic cards and your father was on one of them. Agitos made sure you didn't see it," Kaz answered a little nervously.
"He was a terrible father. Never knew my mother." Chaor growled, his muscles tensing. The red creature then sighed quietly, "I personally killed my father. The Underworld was much worse off before I took the throne. Because of that, I changed many things. You don't know it, but Van Bloot was agreeing with my father's ideology…to a certain extent anyway. In any case, those two are gone."
"Makes sense," Kaz replied as he went by the side of him.
"Still… you know so little about your father," Chaor commented lightly.
"Yeah. I wish I knew more about him. I don't remember much." Kaz said as he adjusted his glasses. He yelped when Chaor tapped his back with his tail a little too hard, causing him to almost fall to the ground.
"No wonder your mom said I was your father figure," Chaor grunted, grinning.
"Y-you don't have to listen to everything my mom says." The boy's face turned slightly red. He crossed his arms and chuckled nervously.
"Seems true," Chaor replied with a small smirk. He wouldn't say more about it. He did see Kaz as his child in a way, "Guess I'll have to think about my legacy eventually," he grumbled to himself.
"Yeah. The Underworld needs another great ruler like you," Kaz replied sincerely.
"Greater," Chaor corrected.
"Kaz!" someone yelled as they threw themselves at him. Blinking rapidly at the sudden contact Kaz saw that it was his mother. Cassandra hugged her son, relieved, "I'm so glad nothing happened to you."
"M-mom! Stop," Kaz stammered, feeling beyond embarrassed.
The creature noticed many flashes of light in front of them. He saw the other Chaotic Players, along with two others he had never met before, "What are you doing here?"
"We were guided by Codemaster Crellan to you," Tom explained.
"Figures," Chaor grumbled.
"I'm glad you aren't caught," Kaz replied as he approached them.
"And you are going to follow us now?" Chaor grumbled.
"Yes. We cannot take the risk to return outside anyway," Cassandra replied.
Alexandre checked his scanner, "The players are already beginning the evacuation of Chaotic. Good thing they had other means to leave Chaotic."
"Let's go," Chaor ordered as he continued marching forwards.
Hearing him Kaz pointed towards the right, "Chaor. It's that way."
The creature stopped. He turned around and changed direction, acting as if nothing was wrong.
The others barely managed to avoid chuckling at the creature's mistake. None of them wanted to deal with his wrath.
Meanwhile, in the Deep Ocean, Gal'drad came out of the surface to check on Milla'iin. He had noticed that things had been too quiet for a long time and wondered if his group were about to get attacked or ambushed by the others. He had offered to be the bait if that was the case. The others weren't far, waiting for a signal to attack.
The M'arrillian felt his blood run cold as he saw the houses. They were all empty, but it was not only that, the town was empty. It was devoid of life. He accelerated his pace as he continued his investigation of the city. As he did, so he noticed several footsteps leading away from the town and towards the general direction of the Coralsmith's house. He knew there was something big going on there, and the fact that everyone had suddenly disappeared was not good.
(I'll check something and call you about what I find out.) he told the others.
(What's going on?)
(No one is in the city. No women or children either. I think they might have already done something terrible. I need to be certain of it though. It could still be a trap for us.)
(Be careful. We are ready to come out at any sign from you.)
The creature approached Bahrakatan's house cautiously. Something terrible was going on and he had been slow on the uptake.
His fears were confirmed immediately. Outside of the house, there was a large piece of gear he had never seen before; clearly Bahrakatan's work. It was a portal. A large portal. Around it, he saw pieces of the inside of the Chaotic Players' scanners. He had seen one once during the war but had paid no mind to it then.
(They have left for Chaotic! Come here armed and ready right now! We have to help the humans of the Cothica!) Gal'drad alerted the others.
(Coming right now!) they replied.
Gal'drad hoped there was something they could save. He hoped they could prevent them from reaching the Cothica, from reaching the Messenger and the Lord of the Cothica. If not, then it was too late for all Perim.
The humans continued to follow Chaor as they climbed down the stairs and went deeper into Chaotic.
Chaor raised his hand as he heard other footsteps approaching. He listened and wondered what was walking towards them. He closed his hands, preparing himself for any possible threat.
The group saw silhouettes of three creatures coming towards them. Chaor was ready to fight them but stopped when he saw that they were Maxxor, Theb-Saar, and Odu-Bathax.
"What are you doing here?" Chaor growled, displeased at seeing his rivals.
"We came to watch over our friends," Theb-Saar replied as he pointed at Peyton.
"They tried to kidnap Kaz and we thought they might try to kidnap the others as well," Maxxor added.
Chaor snarled and clenched his fists but simply nodded.
"We are also here to defend the portal leading to Earth," Odu-Bathax replied as he crossed his two pairs of arms.
The creatures approached the humans who were their guides. None of them had expected to be guided to the Cothica this way.
Kaz took the lead, guiding them using instructions given to them by the Codemasters.
"I never expected to reach the gate to the Cothica under such circumstances," Theb-Saar commented as walked beside Peyton.
"For sure bro," Peyton replied absently before sighing loudly. He crossed his arms and gazed down. After a few seconds, he raised his hand and pointed the light forward.
"I wish the attack had never happened," Sarah muttered quietly in frustration.
Reggie sighed, "I still can't believe there is a portal leading to Earth. But… thinking more about it, there must have been some way since we can come here and visit Perim."
"Yeah. But still, this is all surreal in a way," Lulu added as she walked over next to Peyton.
Tom thought about it. He wanted to tell them more, but he couldn't, "It feels like some kind of movie the more and more we find out."
Alexandre chuckled, "There are two portals made to link the two worlds. One here and the other one led to Antarctica. Good thing creatures can't pass through it or they would have frozen to death."
"With the Eye of the Maelstrom?" Maxxor asked curiously.
"The very same. I'm still there on Earth. So, if the M'arrillians reached our world, they would freeze out from there," Alexandre chuckled as he explained.
Cassandra asked, slightly surprised, "You're still there?"
"Yeah. Dad wanted to show me a few more things and I did receive a proposal to work there for when the creatures might come. With their proposal to the Codemasters, they really need me to be the representative of Earth for the creatures when they come through." Alexandre said.
"There was a deal like that?" The other players were surprised at the news.
"Yes. When we were planning the defense of the Cothica," Theb-Saar told them.
"We made a deal with Codemaster Crellan. Or rather, asked if it was possible and someone agreed," Maxxor added.
Odu-Bathax looked at them. He hadn't been made aware of that.
"And the diver doesn't know about it," Sarah sighed with a smirk, noticing Odu-Bathax's confusion.
"Don't call me that!" The Danian yelled.
The other creatures chuckled at the poor Danian as they continued forward.
"You've reached the room," Codemaster Crellan told them.
The group saw the room and stopped. At the end of the large room, they saw a large gate with a blue portal in the middle of it. It looked like the energy within it was spiraling towards the middle. Surrounding it was a rather impressive defense system.
"That's… the portal," Reggie whispered as everyone else stood silent.
Everybody's legs felt weak at the sight of it.
The creatures looked at it. The portal that would bring them to the Cothica. It was really on Chaotic.
"What do we do now?" Peyton asked as he gazed at it curiously.
The others looked around.
"W-what is that?" Sarah pointed at something big.
The others looked at it and noticed it.
"That must be the final defense of the Portal," Maxxor replied.
"Damn," Kaz said as he adjusted his glasses.
"This is way too much science-fiction," Lulu commented as she looked at it.
The Codemasters watched the humans and the creatures who had reached the portal.
"I hope they won't take their chances and enter it," Imthor commented as he sighed loudly. He tapped his fingers together as he endured Michael's anger back on Earth. He didn't care as they were the only ones who had to handle things there. It had fallen to them alone to prevent the creatures from reaching the Earth.
"They won't do it. They know that the M'arrillians would follow them to Earth. They would rather not want them to reach the location," Codemaster Crellan told him as he monitored the humans.
Hotekk grumbled, "As for me, the battle isn't going that well. Milla'iin joined the other soldiers and it's really heating up. And not only because of the dragon."
The others had to agree. They were angry at the dragon's presence, but its power was immense and had most likely staved off the worst of the attack. The M'arrillians had lost many of their soldiers, but they had still managed to fight back against the creatures, machines, and the dragon.
Hotekk continued as he tapped on his computer, "I'll ask the creatures to retreat once again to the final location to attack them." He gazed at the others, "Imthor. Any problem with that?"
"No. We will retreat to the last location. Activate the defenses to take down as many creatures as possible. Bring them to Crellan's Drome," Imthor ordered.
The Codemasters watched the battle unfolding. It was a miracle that the creatures defending Chaotic were only wounded and not dead.
Still, Imthor had a bad feeling about this. Something told him that everything might worsen soon. Nonetheless, he trusted his instincts and had already formulated something to remedy the situation.
AC: This is the end of this chapter.
Next Part: The humans and creatures saw the final defense and wondered how it works. Meanwhile, the battle on the surface of Chaotic turns as some M'arrillians began to split up and searched for something.