AC: SargentEpsilon: No I haven't read comics for more than 10 years, before it turned into this mess where stories sucks. (From what I heard)

I also want to thank my Beta-reader FollowerOfAnhamirak for his time on this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

Tom glanced at his textbook as he tried to study for his upcoming test. The class subject wasn't easy though. "How can Kaz read everything until the end without any problem?" Tom grumbled.

He really wished that the test wasn't as complex as the book made it out to be. Maybe he just liked more traditional stories to read. "Maybe it's with everything going on in Chaotic." Tom mused as he flipped the page.

Deciding to take a break, Tom turned on his radio and listened to some music. He hoped it would calm his nerves.

His mind wandered. Tom knew that the creatures had been on alert for the last three days. Since then, he had had so many questions. His focus was on that and not on his upcoming test. He put his hands on his head and groaned out loud. "I need to know."

His scanner rang. Without thinking he grabbed it and answered. Once he pressed the button Tom dropped his scanner and began breathing loudly. "W-why?" He couldn't say anything else. He put his hands on his face and tried to calm down. It took a while before he could continue. "M-M'arrillians. K-Kaz… Sarah…is Maxxor going to be, okay?"

The radio suddenly stopped playing music. "This is an Emergency Broadcast. Summer Vale is on lockdown. No one is allowed to enter the town until further investigation occurs."

It was his hometown. He turned towards the radio, confused. "It can't be the worst-case scenario. It can't. It's just a coincidence. It's just…" Tom stopped as he heard his scanner beeping. He turned towards it apprehensively and pressed the button.

Chapter 77: The Visitors

Tom read the message. He had already freaked out after everything he'd learned porting out. He was shaking a little as he set his scanner down. It was too much for him right now. His hometown was being invaded by the M'arrillians right now.

"How can I explain this to mom?" Tom didn't know what to do. He grabbed his scanner and read the message again.

Tom. This is an emergency. You must evacuate Summer Vale as quickly as possible. The M'arrillians are after you and Kaz.

"You think I can tell mom that we are invaded by M'arrillians," Tom snapped out loud as tried to process everything.

Suddenly Tom heard his mother yelling.

BANG!

A gunshot followed. As he rushed out his room and downstairs Tom heard someone grunting in pain. Reaching the bottom Tom saw his mother holding a gun at the entrance. He froze when he saw what stood at the entrance of his home.

The gun was pointed towards a large being standing at the entrance, holding his arm, trying to stop the bleeding.

"W-what?" His mother asked, confused.

Tom's mother was a slender blue-eyed woman with pale skin and long, black hair held back by a blue ribbon. Her expression was harried, her eyes darting. Hastily, she took a step back while keeping the cannon of her gun on the corpulent being.

Tom saw the bullet on the ground, rolling away from the being at the door. His first thought was that the pistol hadn't caused the creature any damage. Next, Tom wondered if it was a M'arrillian. After carefully observing him, he was reassured. "Arias?"

"Ari-what?" His mother gazed at him for a second.

The muscular ram humanoid had his hand where he had been shot. He had brown skin lighter than his brown beard and hair, white curved horns framing his gray eyes and wore a red breastplate with blue shorts and black bracers on his arms with silver spikes. Most eye catching though was the piercing in his nose.

"You!" Arias took a step forward, but was grabbed from behind.

"Stop!" A feminine voice ordered.

"Intress?" Tom couldn't believe they were here.

The female overworlder gazed at him before scolding Arias, "You shouldn't expect them not to try and defend themselves after what you said."

"Stay back!" His mom quickly stood in front of him, "I don't know how you know my son and how he knows you, but I won't let you get him! You are the ones who are causing chaos across town!"

Tom took a guess at what had happened from the message he had received and the emergency alert still echoing through the living room, "It's okay mom!" Tom went to her side and met her worried gaze. He knew he was on a dangerous ground, but it needed to be done. "I know them mom. They're Overworlders!"

"Tom! This is not laughing matter," His mom replied sternly.

Intress sighed and walked in. The moment the gun was pointed at her, she quickly disarmed his mother, letting the pistol slide onto the ground. "Miss. I'm sorry that Arias acted this way, but there is an emergency and we don't have time to lose. The M'arrillians are here to kidnap Tom."

His mom wasn't buying it at all. Instead, she searched for a weapon, "You think I'm gonna just accept those lies!"

"Mom! They aren't lying! I can explain everything!" Tom rushed in front of the creatures and faced her, "There is a lot to say, but you got to believe me."

She didn't know what to do. Her son was just in front of the creatures and could be snatched away at any second.

Intress let out a gentle smile.

After a minute, they didn't take him away. Reluctantly, she agreed to listen to them. The door was closed before they began to explain everything.

Tom and the two creatures finished explaining everything. Her son told her about Chaotic, Perim, what went on and why there was this emergency alert. It was the short version and Tom didn't explain more about Perim than the basics.

The three weren't sure if the woman had accepted everything or would double down on them being a threat.

The woman wondered if she should listen to her mind or her instincts. Her mind told her it was all a lie, but her instincts told her that her son was being honest. She took a deep breath and looked at her boy. She had known him long enough to see when he would lie. There was nothing on his face. Just the uncertainty of her reaction, "Those… M'arrillians…want Tom because this Maxxor cares for my son?"

"He is Maxxor's friend somehow," Arias grumbled.

Intress sighed at her friend's uncooperativeness. Not enough when the mother was ready to fight them to protect her son. "Yes. They want to use him to stop us from impeding their plan to invade Earth."

"It's true mom. What's going on outside is because of the M'arrillians. Codemaster Crellan sent a message about it," Tom was worried as his thoughts went to Kaz, "And they are after Kaz too!"

"I thought Chaotic was just a game," his mother whispered as acceptance began to seep in.

It took a little bit longer, but Tom managed to convince her that it was all true. The phone rang and his mother rushed to it.

"This is Annie…George! What's going on? Hmmm…" she gazed at the creatures, "They're here…how do you know? They called you?" She nodded, "Fine. I'll get out of here with Tom and Kaz." She closed her eyes, "We are going to my parents' home. It's outside of the city."

"Grandma and grandpa?" Tom asked.

Annie nodded, "Yes. We'll be careful. D-damn." She hung up the phone and turned towards the group.

"What did d- father say?"

"He told us to get out of town because those monsters called M'arrillians… are controlling people's minds. The military won't come to the rescue as long as their minds are at risk," she replied.

The creatures sighed in relief. That would help a lot.

"I want to know everything once we are safe. I'm sure mom and dad will want to know everything too if they heard the Emergency Broadcast." Which had been repeating in the radio for a while.

"We need to get out of the town because the M'arrillians will come here. We've seen none of them for now, but they might show up soon," Arias grunted as he turned around.

Annie picked her pistol from the ground and took a deep breath, "Tom. Take everything you can. My clothes too. I'll bring some supplies."

"Yes mom," Tom replied as he quickly climbed the stairs.

"Do you need help?" Intress asked, knowing that time was of the essence.

She gazed at them. The mother was clearly not trusting them, "Yes. I'll bring some food to my parents' home. Mostly non-perishables. Then, we'll find Kaz and his mother and leave town." She realised something then, "Tom! Send your friend a message. Tell him to join us at my parents farm!"

"Okay!" the boy replied loudly.

"Help her and I'll help Tom," Intress decided before climbing the stairs.

The ram creature groaned as he followed the woman, "I was told to help you."

Annie sighed, "I guess you can bring anything heavy." She walked down to the basement.

The creature followed her, making sure not to damage anything, "The Cothica is so weird," he grumbled quietly.

The woman didn't know what he meant. She focused on getting everything they would need to get out of town. She didn't want her son to be kidnapped and put in danger. She grabbed a box and opened the freezer, taking everything they might need and made sure everything would stay cold. She then went on with the rest. She didn't know how long it would go on, but she had to be ready for a month or more.

Next, she went into another room and grabbed the non-perishable food and grabbed a few bags, filling them with everything she could find. Once she was done, "You can bring them to the entrance. Be careful not to break anything." She frowned at the creature as she prepared the last bag.

"I won't," he said as he grabbed everything and returned to the surface. It was very light for him. Arias saw that Tom and Intress were at the entrance.

"Got your clothes and mine mom!" the boy yelled.

"Okay!" She replied from downstairs. Annie came up with the last bag, "We got enough food for two months…" she gazed at the creatures, mostly Arias, "One month."

"H-hey," the ram creature grunted.

Intress quietly told him to calm down and turned towards Tom's mother, "I'm sorry for this inconvenience."

"I wasn't… I wasn't trying to insult you," Tom's mother replied, "I just estimate it. People like him need to eat more or lose muscle mass."

"You did listen to dad," her son chuckled.

"I always do Tom. Now, we load this into the truck and leave the city. I hope Kaz and Cassandra can come in time. They know where they live right?" she asked him.

"I… I think-" his scanner rang. He grabbed it and read the message, "It's Kaz. He said to wait a few minutes," Tom replied as he put his scanner back in his pocket.

"Okay," Annie went to the door and opened it. She looked everywhere and saw nothing suspicious. There were many cars driving away from the city; the lucky people who had escaped the M'arrillians. She didn't see any of those creatures though.

Tom checked too and didn't see any of them.

The others followed the woman and went to the large white truck. They stopped as they watched it.

"He is way too big to get inside," Tom commented.

"I can go in the back," Arias grunted, pointing at it.

Annie quickly made a plan as she unlocked the door, "Okay. Arias will climb on the back, Intress will be in the passenger seat and you will be in the back with everything Tom."

Her son nodded and opened the doors. They began loading everything onto the truck.

"You are quick at making decisions," Intress told the woman as she helped.

"Yeah. Our town did practice an emergency alert like that for a few years…since that Chaotic Game started," Annie replied, realization dawning on her.

Tom didn't tell her about the organization that lied not too far outside of the town. It might be why this emergency alert even existed. He remembered he had had to practice it even if he was at school. Then, a question came, "Did anyone see you?" Tom asked, turning towards the creatures.

"No. We avoided them until we found your home," Intress replied as she climbed in the truck.

Tom knew he had to wait for more later. They had to get ready to go at any time. He climbed onto the back and checked his scanner. He sent a message to his friend, "We're ready Kaz."

The three yelped when Arias climbed at the back and the vehicle raised a little before falling down on its wheels. They just needed to wait for a few more minutes.

Tom received a message, "He said he's coming right now."

Annie started her truck and waited.

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: Grouping up.

Cassandra was captured by Aval'par, but before she was taken away, someone came to save her.