For the love of Cheese-its, I cant believe it's been a freaking decade since the last time I touched this story... FUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Anyway, to all those who wanted this story to continue, thank you for your support. I'm going to at least try to continue this story a bit longer. I can't make any promises, but I'll do the best that I can.

For some clarity, this story is set sometime before the Ma'rillians are released from the Deepmines, but not long after Chaor's Commandos part 2.

Disclaimer: I do not own Chaotic! I would have loved to see the show go longer if I did though...

Rumor Has it

In Chaotic, the various Battle Dromes may be the cause for the most excitement, but the Port Court has always been the lively hot spot to socialize. No matter where you looked, one could always expect to see Human teenagers of all ages doing something of interest. They could be chatting, discussing strategies for upcoming drome matches, trading scans, or even just enjoying a nice meal while watching the latest drome match on one of the many T.V.s around the Port Court.

Recently however, it would seem the Rumor Mill was working overtime. Lately, Chaotic Players who visited the Forest of Life, were suddenly being knocked out by... something and waking up at the edge of the forest. The Players themselves were fine, but most had no recollection of how they got there. But a small few said all they could remember was a brief glimpse of an unknown creature before falling unconscious.

And thus, the rumors about an undiscovered creature in the Forest of Life began to spread like wildfire. For the past two weeks, Chaotic Players left and right have been discussing different aspects about the sightings of an undiscovered Creature in Perim. Was it Underworlder? Was it an Overworlder? Was it a spy? Was it hostile?

Many questions like these had been popping up left and right, but sadly, no one had any answers as of yet.

Over at one particular table in the Port Court, there sat Tom and Sarah as they watched two Players duke it out in a Drome match. One was fighting as the Underworld leader, Chaor, while the other Player was fighting as Gespedan.

"Man, I am so glad I'm not grounded anymore, I was starting to go stir crazy.", Tom mentioned as Chaor unleashed a Lavalanche upon Gespedan.

"Remind me, What were you grounded for again?", Sarah asked as a hovering robot brought over a plate of nachos.

"I accidentally broke my Neighbor's windshield... He was not happy.", Tom sheepishly admitted as Gespedan tried a Vine Snare on Chaor.

"How did you manage that?", Sarah inquired, taking a bite of her nachos.

"Let's just say I'm too good with a baseball bat.", Was Tom's deadpanned reply.

Sarah managed to stifle her laughter so she wouldn't choke as Chaor managed to successfully reduce his opponent to code with a Cannon of Casualty mugic.

"Man, that Ulmar needs to learn how to chillax.", Peyton stated causally as he walked up to the table with Kaz, a cup of soda in hand.

"He wouldn't have chased us out with his surprisingly aerodynamic wrenches if you didn't destroy half his lab by messing with a Pyroblaster.", Was Kaz's dry retort.

Peyton merely shrugged his shoulders, taking a sip of his soda before noticing Tom at the table.

"Yo Tommy bro! Good to see ya back!", he happily proclaimed while slinging an arm around Tom's shoulder.

"Your mom finally ungrounded you?", Kaz asked as he took a seat at the table.

"Yep! It was a long two weeks, but I'm finally a free man.", Tom answered with a smile.

"At least until the next time you break something belonging to Mr. Milton.", Kaz replied with a playful smirk. Tom just stared down his best friend with a mock glare.

"You are not gonna believe what's been going on while you were gone bro!", Peyton stated with excitement as he sat down with his friends.

"What's up Peyton?", Tom inquired.

"Dude, didn't you hear the rumors?!", Peyton asked, looking astonished.

"No? I only got my scanner back last night.", Tom explained.

"There's a new creature in Perim! It's like, super sneaky and always manages to find other players and knock 'em out! But then they wake up, and they're back outside the forest!", Peyton proclaimed before taking a another sip of his soda.

"Sounds like this creature values their privacy.", Sarah quipped, lightly smacking Peyton's hand as he reached for some of her nachos.

"Yeah, creatures not wanting to be bothered by players is hardly anything new Peyton.", Kaz mentioned with the slightest bit of snark.

But this bit of info had Tom's attention. Yesterday evening, Tom had popped into Perim for a quick visit to Kiru City once his mom gave him back his scanner. He met up with Maxxor just let him know he was fine despite being gone for the last couple of weeks.

But during his visit, Maxxor had mentioned something odd. Lately, some of his scouts have been finding Chaotic Players unconscious just outside the Forest of Life for a while now. The Overworld leader had asked him if anyone In Chaotic had heard anything, but Tom didn't even know about the rumors at the time due to his grounding.

"That's not the only thing bro! SamShady managed to get close enough to scan it, but his scanner wasn't able to! He tried twice before it found him and knocked him out, and it still wouldn't scan. This creature is like, totally unscannable! Way freaky!", Peyton continued while finishing off his drink.

Now that revelation left Tom, Sarah, and Kaz wide eyed with surprise. All the creatures of Perim were capable of being scanned, even while in disguise. So why was it not possible to scan this one? Sarah was the first to recover, raising a skeptical brow.

"A unidentified creature that's also unscannable? Come on Peyton, even that seems a bit far fetched."

Peyton pretended to look hurt and faint in a dramatic fashion, but still held a wide smile on his face.

"Oh! You wound me Sarah, But guess what? I have proof of the creature's existence! Lulu actually managed to snap a pic of the creature before it found her and sent it to me this morning!", Peyton proclaimed before taking out his scanner and pulling up a photo.

"Check it dudes and dudette! Why, it's none other than our mystery creature!", Peyton stated as he showed the picture to his friends.

The photo was blurry to say the least, but the teens could Make out a creature from behind with deep purple and black skin, lavender hair, large wings and a long tail. It looked to be female, but it was hard to tell as it was hunched over by a river. The photo itself looked like it was taken in a hurry, just before the creature spotted Lulu, as a single acid green eye could be seen looking back towards the camera.

"Doesn't look like any creature I've seen before.", Tom thought out loud.

"I know bro, even the Codemasters are stumped by this.", was Peyton's response.

"Kinda looks like an Underworlder.", Kaz commented.

Sarah smirks at him, "You would think that."

Tom couldn't help but feel excited, his first day back at Chaotic, and already there was an adventure waiting for him.

"I say we check it out. Even if we can't scan this creature, we can still try to learn more about it.", Tom reasoned. Before anyone could answer however, Peyton received a notification on his scanner.

"Whoop, Sorry bro, but I got a drome match in 10, and this could be my seventh win in the Amzen Drome.", Peyton said.

"I have to hit Mount Pillar first. Wamma mentioned there's a new battlegear being developed, and I only have so much time to scan it before it goes into the Danian Armoury. Trust me, it's harder to get in there than you think.", Sarah explained before taking another bite of her nachos.

"And I've got a rematch with Herculeon in an hour.", Kaz added with an annoyed tone.

"He wouldn't leave you alone until you agreed to fight him again didn't he?", Tom asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

"He kept calling me nonstop for the last week!", Kaz groaned in exasperation before flopping onto the table. Tom merely pats the red heads back with sympathy.

"Sorry Tom, But it looks like we're all gonna be busy at the moment. But we can take a trip out to the Forest of Life later today if you want.", Sarah offered as she finished the last of her nachos.

"It's cool, I get it. I don't want you guys to cancel your plans on my account.", Tom reassured.

"Well, I'ma head out to my match before I get disqualified, catch ya later dudes!", Peyton said before getting up and heading out to the Amzen Drome, flashing peace signs as he walked away.

Sarah grabs her now empty plate and stands up as well. "I should head out too, Wamma can't wait forever.", the Danian player states before taking her plate to The nearest trash bin. She drops it off there, then heads over to the transport station leading to Perim.

"And I need to hit the Beta Drome to test out some strategies before my rematch. I'd like to keep Herculeon on his toes after all.", Kaz informed before standing up himself and heading out to the Beta Drome.

And with that Tom was all by his lonesome at the table. It wasn't long before Peyton's match was broadcast on one of the many screens, and it looks like his opponent was Izalizard. The two Mipedian players locked their decks and Tom opted to watch the match to help pass the time. Peyton transformed into Tangath Toborn, and Izalizard into Zhade, and the match began in Runic Grove.

But as Tom watched Peyton and Izalizard battle, the urge to explore the rumors were gradually becoming stronger. Try as he might, he couldn't focus on the match, and his curiosity was getting the better of him. Now normally Tom would wait for his friends before going on a group scan quest. But after two weeks without Chaotic, he was itching for some action. And what better way to celebrate his return, than with finding an undiscovered creature?

With that thought in mind, Tom got up and headed over to the transport station. His destination? The Forest of Life.

*Forest of Life, with Tom*

"Wow, I almost forgot how big this place is.", Tom spoke aloud as he looked around at the massive forest around him. It felt like it had been forever since his last trip to the Forest of Life.

Or at the very least two weeks.

Regardless, he was here now, and it was time to start exploring! Watch out Forest of Life, Tom was back and on a mission!

*1 hour later*

About an hour has passed by now, but there was still no sign of the creature. But Tom didn't get discouraged, scan quests (or whatever we can call this) could easily take a few days, possibly even weeks. The few weeks he stayed in Kiru City while trying to find the players that were destroying locations came to mind.

"Maybe I should look for the rivers, that's where Lulu managed to get that photo.", Tom reasoned aloud. Pulling out his scanner, the Overworld player brought up an overhead map of the forest and began to look it over.

"Ok, it looks like there's a river over this way, maybe I can hide out and wait for the creature there?", Tom muttered to himself as he planned his stakeout. Satisfied with his plan, he looked up from his scanner and spotted something orange high up in the trees.

Wait, was that Intress? It was! But she had a panicked expression on her face for some reason. What could have her rattled like that?

Tom was about to call out to her when suddenly, he felt pressure on the side of his neck. It was swift and firm, but not painful.

The next thing he knew, he was falling over as his scanner dropped to the ground. The last thing the teen could remember was Intress calling his name as someone caught him, before his world went dark.

*a few minutes earlier, with Intress*

The past few weeks had been odd to say the least. First that portal appeared over the Forest of Life, then Chaotic Players began turning up knocked out near the Forest. And now, from what Intress had learned from some of the Players that were found out cold, there was some creature hiding out in these woods. Personally, the tigress suspected it to be an Underworld spy that didn't want any prying eyes around. But she couldn't shake the feeling that this was related to the portal she witnessed a while back. Not to mention Intress swore she saw something fall from the portal, but it was too dark and too far away to tell what it was.

Regardless, the she creature had a mission to complete, investigate the Forest of Life and find whatever creature was hiding out here.

"So far this sector looks clear.",Intress thought to herself as she leapt into a tall tree for a better view of the area. She had been looking through the forest for a few hours now, and had yet to come across anything unusual.

Leaping through the massive trees, Intress kept her guard up, never knowing what was around the corner in this seemingly sentient forest. The tigress soon came to a small clearing, and it was there that she discovered a familiar raven haired human.

"Tom? What is he doing out here?", the she creature wondered as the blue eyed boy continued looking around. She figured he must not have realized she was there yet, as he had yet to call her or even look in her direction. It looked as if he was searching for something.

"Maxxor must have told him about the Chaotic players we've been finding unconscious out here.", Intress reasoned. She wasn't surprised really, when it came to humans, rumors tended to spread like wildfire. Tom would have heard about the strange activity in the Forest of Life sooner or later. Speaking of which, the young man had pulled out his scanner and was looking at something on it.

Suddenly, part of the shadows from the trees began to shift and silently slinked up behind Tom, forming a pool of darkness. And from the pool of darkness, a figure began to emerge. It had large wings, a long tail, a feminine physique, striking green eyes, and looked as though it was bathed in the darkness itself.

And of course, that was when Tom noticed her in the trees, unaware of the dark figure that stood just behind him. Intress found herself paralyzed in shock at the shadow creature for but a moment, but that was all the time it needed.

Tom looked as if he was about to call out to her when the shadow being suddenly delivered a firm but swift karate chop to the teen's neck. The Overworld player's eyes went blank, and he slipped into unconsciousness, dropping his scanner in the process.

"TOM!", Intress called as the raven haired teen fell forward, only to be caught by the shadow being. The tigress sprung into action and leapt down from the tree she was perched on. The shadow narrowed its acid green eyes at Intress as she charged towards them.

"BACK OFF!", the shadow roared at the Overworlder.

Suddenly a clawed hand comprised entirely of shadows suddenly burst out of the ground and grasped Intress by her torso in a firm grip. While the tigress struggled against the shade's grasp, the shadow being positioned Tom onto its back and held him in place with its wings.

"Come after me if you want, but I won't let you take this child to those wretched labs...", The shadow snarled at Intress before it dove into the shadows of the forest, taking Tom with it.

"No!", Intress exclaimed as she managed to break free from the claws that held her. She launched a Vine Snare after the shadow, but it was too late. It had fully merged with the shadows in the area and sped off, leaving Tom's scanner behind.

Intress quickly grabbed the scanner and took to the trees. Leaping from branch to branch, she tried her hardest to keep up with the quick moving shadow, but it always managed to stay one step ahead of her. As much as she wanted to launch an attack on the shadow, Intress couldn't risk it, she might hurt Tom in the process.

Suddenly the shadow doubled back and bolted off in a different direction. Intress just barely managed to stop herself and change course, but the direction it took off in was full of particularly dense foliage. It didn't take long for the she creature to lose sight of the shadow altogether.

And as if losing the shadow and Tom wasn't enough, thunder could be heard rumbling overhead. Intress looked up and sure enough, she could see dark clouds through the greenery of the trees. She felt a single rain drop land on her cheek, and within moments, the rain was coming down in buckets. The tigress growled and punched a tree in frustration, now even tracking the shadow by Tom's scent was no longer an option.

To say Intress was not having a good day, would be a massive understatement.

Seeing no other options at the moment, Intress pulled out a communication crystal from her pouch. She was going to need reinforcements.

"Maxxor, we have a problem..."

*A few hours later, with Tom*

The sound of rainfall and crackling fire was the first thing Tom noticed as he came around from his unconscious state. Slowly but gradually, he opened his tired eyes and found himself within a small cave roughly the size of his bedroom. The entrance was covered by a improvised curtain made of foliage and under him was a makeshift bed also made up of various leaves from the forest. In the center of the cave, there was a small fire licking at what Tom could only assume was some sort of skewered fish native to Perim.

But as Tom took in his surroundings, he felt his heart skip a beat when he found bright glowing green eyes staring at him.

Resting near the fire was a female creature with deep purple skin & black abstract flame-like patterns covering various parts of her body, including one arm, one leg, her chest, her lower body, and around her eyes. She had glowing lavender hair with black tips that seemed to have bright blue energy flowing through it, bright red markings on her limbs and the base of her neck, which had an icy blue gem embedded in her chest. She had large claw-like wings folded against her back, long pointed ears, and powerful tail with a lethal pair of spikes at the end wrapped around her form.

Before him was the rumored unknown creature that had been the talk of the Port Court for the past two weeks. The creature that players had only managed to get a brief glimpse of before they were knocked out and later woke up at the edge of the Forest of Life.

Suddenly Tom felt as if he was in the lion's den, and she was the lion.