Chapter 7

Guest- Honestly, I would love Peyton to have a powerful friend in his chosen tribe like Kaz and Tom does with Chaor and Maxxor respectively. You'll find out about the new creature objective, hopefully, soon.

Simulated Iron Pillar

"Okay, so far so good." Thought Peyton as he jumped down from one platform to another. "These numbers and symbols take some getting used to, but I think I got the hang of them. Now if only I can find out how to use these things." Peyton then looked at the arm-mounted weapons he had. As much as he tried, he couldn't find a way to make them work. "C'mon, there's got to be a way to use these things?"

"C'mon, work." Said Peyton as Phase, his new creature, before pointing his guns at the air and tried to make them shoot to no avail. Groaning out, Peyton looked at one of his guns and scratched his head. "How does he manage to work these things?" He tried thinking of shooting them, but it didn't work. He tried making a gesture of them shooting but that didn't work also. If he didn't get these things working or find some other weapon to use against Crellan, he's doomed.

As he tried to wonder what to do, he suddenly received a power pulse to the back, sending him crashing into the floor. Turning around, he saw Smildon landing near him with a snarl.

"Always keep your guard up, PeytonicMaster." Said Crellan as Smildon now. "You never know when someone is waiting the perfect moment to ambush you."

"I'll keep that in mind." Said Peyton as Phase now. He tried to fire his guns again to no avail. "Oh c'mon. Can't this guy do anything?" Rather than waiting him to figure out how to use his new creature, Smildon attacked, forcing Phase to run away lest he gets coded. Jumping to a new platform, Phase ran as Smildon gave chase.

"Man, Peyton really has no idea how to use his new creature." Said Tom as he watched all this happen.

"No kidding." Said Sarah as she placed her hands on her hips. "New creature and he's putting it in a CodeMaster match? That's just asking for a disaster. What was Peyton thinking?"

"Guess he wasn't thinking at all." Said Kaz as both he and Jycella were looking at Phase's stats. "Peyton's creature has good stats, sure, but he can't take Battlegear. Like any Battlegear at all. Not to mention he can't take generic Mugic effects as well. I don't see the point of this guy at all."

"You serious?" Asked Tom in shock, having never heard a creature that can do that normally without any Mugic or special ability affecting them.

"He is." Said Jycella in slight worry for Peyton before showing Tom her scanner. "This Phase can't be affected by any type of Mugic nor can he take any Battlegear. That severely handicaps him in any type of battle. I don't honestly see the point in this creature."

"If that's the case, then Peyton made a big mistake in taking him." Said Sarah as she watched Smildon send Phase flying towards a metal pole.

"Dang." Said Peyton as he got up. Looking up, he saw Smildon coming towards him with claws at the ready. "C'mon new creature buddy. Do something cool." As if to answer his plea, his vision started to paint Smildon red with symbols all around him. Before Peyton can do anything, gun barrels one the sides of his head aimed and fired at Smildon. Caught by surprise, Smildon took some hits before he took cover behind a piece of metal. Peyton, stunned at this, just kept firing until the guns mounted on his head stopped firing. Wondering why this was, Peyton didn't get a chance to figure it out when Smildon pounced out of his cover and launched a flash kick at Phase, sending him flying off the ledge of their platform and towards the ground.

"Oh god!" Yelled Peyton as he fell. "C'mon, have something that'll get you out of this too!" Again, as if answering his please, his creature began moving upward before Peyton suddenly stopped midair. Shocked at this, Peyton looked around to see that his creature was actually flying and that he had thrusters mounted around key points in his body, mainly his back and legs, were keeping him airborne.

"No way." Said Tom in surprise as he saw all this. He thought that match was over when Peyton fell off the platform, but then he saw Peyton's creature fly around with thrusters, and his opinion instantly changed. "That thing can fly?"

"And not through any natural flight, it's got thrusters." Said Kaz as he saw the thrusters around Peyton's creature. "No wonder it can't take Battlegear. It's a walking Swiss-army knife."

"No kidding." Said Sarah as she watched Peyton goof around with his newfound power, also in awe of everything that was going on. "Let's just hope that's enough to help him through this."

"Alright!" Yelled Peyton in excitement as he finished goofing off. "Now it's time to beat a CodeMaster!" With that, he flew towards where he last spotted CodeMaster Crellan. Flying towards there, he found CodeMaster Crellan not there, having gone into hiding once he realized that Peyton wasn't coded.

Looking around for Crellan, Peyton wondered what to do when he was suddenly attacked by a Vine Snare. Shocked, Peyton couldn't do anything as he was sent crashing into another platform. Disoriented, Peyton received another Power Pulse as Smildon came crashing down.

"Your creature is durable, PeytonicMaster, but you clearly don't know its full capabilities." Said Crellan as he allowed Peyton to get up. "You should know better than to use an untested creature in a CodeMaster match."

"Yeah, well, I'm a quick learner!" Yelled Peyton as he flew up and tried to fire his weapons, to no avail. "Oh c'mon!" Feeling pity for the player, Crellan used Vine Snare again and used his vines to try and slam PeytonicMaster into the floor again. This time, however, Peyton grabbed the vines and pulled, causing Crellan to fly up to him, where Peyton grabbed him. As Crellan struggled to break free, Peyton flew way up Mount Pillar to the point that a fall would get either of them coded.

"Alright, take this!" Yelled Peyton before falling straight towards the ground. He remembered watching this from a show he watched. If he let Crellan go at just the right moment, he'll be the only one to take the hit while Peyton got away safely. He just needed to time it right. If he did, then he'll take the first win in this match, but if he didn't…well, his new creature is causing more trouble than he's worth so Peyton won't lose much if he loses him.

As Peyton got closer and closer to the ground, speeding up more as he did so, he looked at Crellan still struggling to escape, causing him to smirk. This victory was all his. Unfortunately, for him, his overconfidence was his downfall as, in his excitement, he forgot that he didn't know just how much his new creature was capable of and one of those features was about to come into play.

Whether it was bad luck or just a plain misplay, Peyton's creature Phase began to suddenly transform, his various body parts began either retracting back into his body or shifting into another location. His arms retracted back into his body, causing Phase to let go of Smildon, which Crellan took advantage of to Vine Snare back into Mount Pillar. He then watched as Phase transformed into an oval-shaped fighter jet with several wings and stabilizers made out of his various body parts.

"What the heck!?" Yelled Peyton as he accelerated even further to the ground. He tried to pull up but didn't know how. By the time he figured it out, it was too late and he smashed straight into the ground of Mount Pillar, coding him and ending the battle.

"Ouch." Said Tom as he watched that happen while the simulation. "That was…something."

"Something?" Asked Sarah incredulously. "That was beyond humiliating. What's more humiliating than getting yourself coded?"

"Getting coded while being watched by a crowd." Said Jycella as she saw a bunch of people laugh at Peyton's expense. Pursing her lips in anger, she looked at Kaz as he scratched his head, still examining Peyton's creature.

"This creature." Said Kaz as he pursed his own lips in thoughts. "It's clearly not natural nor from any of the tribes. His design doesn't match that of any inventions from Ulmar or Bodal."

"You're saying he's from a different tribe?" Asked Jycella, catching Tom's and Sarah's attention. A different tribe was something to both be excited and nervous about. After all, they all remembered what happened when the M'arrillians began to surface again.

"Has to be." Said Kaz. "But that leaves a bunch of questions that Peyton will have to answer later." Everyone nodded at this before refocusing on the match.

"That was a poor turn of events for you, PeytonicMaster." Said Crellan with a hint of pity in his metallic tone. "That is why you should have trained with that creature first before devoting him to this match."

"I know now." Said Peyton with understandable annoyance and sadness. Taking a deep breath, Peyton spoke up again as he tried to get back his confidence. "Okay. Let's get back to the game." Crellan nodded and looked at his board, noting in surprise that Smildon didn't move into where Phase used to be. He was about to ponder this when the Drome AI spoke up.

"Warning. Phase's ability activates." Said Drome AI as Phase appeared again in Peyton's team, shocking Peyton and surprising Crellan along with everyone watching. "The creature known as Phase instantly returns to PeytonicMaster at full health."

"You serious!?" Yelled Peyton before cheering. "Awesome." Crellan, however, knew that there was a caveat for this. And that caveat soon made itself known when Blazvatan disappeared, shocking Peyton. "What!? What happened to Blazvatan!?"

"Blazvatan was sacrificed to activate Phase's special ability." Explained the Drome AI. "Phase will be returned to with his normal stats, but only if the strongest creature in raw stats on the team is sacrificed. Otherwise, he returns with the sacrificed creatures stats."

"What!?" Yelled Peyton with bulged eyes. "You mean I lost my strongest heavy hitter for a creature that I don't know how to use!?"

"Correct, PeytonicMaster." Said the Drome AI, causing a lot of people watching to burst into laughter. Tom and Peyton's other friends, however, smacked their faces in varying intensity.

"This is going to end up more humiliating than Klay's match with Imthor." Said Tom as he heard the entirety of Phase's special ability with a frown. That sounded like a good ability at first, but if you lose even once with that creature, you're losing your strongest creature just to revive an inferior creature.

"You're telling me." Said Sarah as she tried to wonder what to do to help Peyton after this humiliating lost against Crellan. He was so pouty after his last lost against Imthor, she couldn't imagine how pouty he'll be after this one, especially when it's his own creature that caused his loss.

"And to make things worse, I think Crellan is going to capitalize on Peyton's inexperience with that creature." Said Kaz as Crellan picked Phase again, this time with Cromaxx and the battlefield was Prexxor Chasm. As the Drome began the simulation, the four heard some laughter. Laughter that they all knew too well.

"I should have known that you two would be here." Said Tom as he turned around to see Klay and Krystella laughing at Peyton's misfortune.

"Why wouldn't we here?" Asked Klay as he looked at Major Tom and his friends with an arrogant smile. "After all, it's always great to see you or any of your friends be humiliated for all to see. And it's all the sweeter to see that it was all because of his own ineptitude." That caused everyone to glare at him, even though he was right.

"I can't believe you're hanging around these people, sis." Said Krystella with a smirk. "I knew you like to hang around losers, but this is a new low, even for you." That caused Jycella to glare at her sister, angered with what she said.

"Peyton will come around this, I know it." Said Kaz, causing Sarah, Tom, and Jycella to nod in agreement. That caused Klay and Krystella to laugh out loud.

"That's doubtful." Said Klay as he looked at the battle that was occurring between Peyton and CodeMaster Crellan. "He lost his strongest member in his team in exchange for his biggest liability. Not to mention it also made another one of his creatures useless as well. And all that's on the first battle. It'll be a miracle for him to pull back from that."

"Peyton has the skills to pull it off, unlike you and Krystella." Said Sarah with a hand on her hip. That just made Krystella laugh.

"I like to see that happen." Said Krystella as she looked at the other female other than her sister. "Miss ChaoticKween." Sarah just glared at Krystella at that and was about to say something nasty when Kaz saw Phase and Cromaxx fighting. And Phase was losing.

Meanwhile

Peyton

"Argh!" Yelled Peyton, now taking the form of Phase, as he was sent spiraling to the ground from Cromaxx's latest attack. He tried to use his advantage of flight over Cromaxx, but he was sent crashing into the ground as a result of Cromaxx using Mugic to do so.

"This is over, PeytonicMaster!" Yelled Cromaxx before launching a Skel-Evolve Strike, a more powerful version of Skeletal Strike, attack on Phase. Instead of taking the hit, Phase flew up, avoiding the attack and firing his head-mounted weapons, the only things that he can use at the moment, at Cromaxx. The attack, however, only tickled Cromaxx and thus he was able to Arborsmash without too much effort and launch it at Phase, sending him flying to a wall, creating a crevice as he did so. Crashing into the ground, Phase weakly got up before looking over at Cromaxx as he readied a final attack.

"I can't lose to another CodeMaster again!" Thought Peyton as he saw the attack being charged. "Not again! Not without a fight at least!" With that in mind, he aimed his arm guns at Cromaxx, begging that, for once, his weapons fire. This time, the guns fired, and launched two bolts of pink energy at Cromaxx, hitting him in the chest, interrupting the attack, and sending him flying to the opposite wall.

"Oh yeah!" Yelled Peyton as he saw this happen. "Now to finish Cromaxx off!" With that, Peyton fired upon Cromaxx again as he flew up, he kept blasting and blasting Cromaxx until Crellan used another Mugic to save himself. Utilizing a song of reversal, he swapped places with Peyton so he was safe from the attacks. Though he was currently falling, Crellan used this to his advantage and sent a Skel-Evolve attack on Phase, aiming the attack in an angle that it'll use the momentum from the fall to send itself straight at Phase at full speed. Gasping out loud, Phase tried to escape but couldn't as the attack was upon him by the time he tried to escape, coding him instantly.

With the match over and the Drome returned in their view, Crellan spoke to Peyton as he returned back to normal.

"This match has gone poorly for you so far, PeytonicMaster." Said Crellan as he observed Phase returning back in Peyton's team in exchange for Ario. "Not only have you lost two of your best fighters in your team, but your newest creature has proven to be little more than a liability. Its special ability drains you of your team's strongest assets in exchange for a creature you haven't yet mastered. If you wish, you can surrender now, and I'll end the match now." The offer looked really tempting to Peyton right now as he looked at the board right now.

Not only did he lost Blazvatan, but he also lost Ario as well and he never got to actually use either of them because of his new creature's special ability. Both of those creatures that he actually knew how to use, unlike his new creature that caused him to lose his first two battles against Crellan because he didn't know how to use him. Things were looking grim for Peyton. Crellan had all of his powerful creatures still and he only had three support creatures and one frontline creature that he still didn't know how to use. He might as well throw in the towel.

As he was contemplating surrendering, he received a call from his pals from his scanner.

"Don't give up, Peyton!" Yelled Tom as he and the others were looking at Peyton as best they could with such a tiny screen. The scanner wasn't made to fit in more than three people at once. "I know things look grim right now, but you can turn things around right now."

"Yeah, you've managed to pull matches around before, you can do it again!" Yelled Kaz with a thumbs up. The cheering from his friends caused Peyton to smile and gain back his confidence. He then looked at Crellan with confidence before speaking up.

"No way!" Yelled Peyton as he glared at Crellan. "No way is the PeytonicMaster going to be the first Chaotic player in history to surrender to a CodeMaster. I'm going to fight to the bitter end, even if it means I humiliate myself more." Crellan couldn't help but respect that fighting spirit. He always respected those that will fight to the bitter end. He nearly lost several times in CodeMaster matches from those that never give up. He won in the end, of course, but they were lessons to him. That victory can be achieved from the jaws of defeat if one puts their mind to achieving victory. And, as grim as it was now, he believed Peyton can do the same right now. He only had to know how to utilize his creature's vast potential to his advantage.

"Then let us continue then." Said Crellan. "Your move PeytonicMaster." Peyton nodded at that before selecting Tianne to attack Smildon, knowing that he couldn't afford to figure out his new creature right now. He needed wins and he needed them now. With the creatures selected, the Drome sent both players to the next location, starting the third battle of the match.