AC: Once again, I thank my beta-reader for rereading this chapter and correcting the mistakes I've made. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Once she had ported back to Chaotic, Sarah quickly searched for her friends. Given how long she'd been gone for, she expected most of them to be either in a match or watching one. At least, that was probably where they were since they hadn't called her to let her know they were heading to Perim. Unless Tom had decided to head out on his own again.
After a few minutes of searching she saw that neither option was the case when she found Tom, Kaz, and Peyton sitting down at their table deep in discussion.
In the background, she noticed that Ekuud hadn't finish terrorizing Klay, something that made her very happy. The Danian had even gotten a few players cheering for him.
"I bet they were Klay's former victims." Sarah commented. Off too the side she saw Krystella, arms crossed as if she was waiting for this to be over, "Hope you're next." Sarah thought to herself though she knew that wouldn't be the case, as she wasn't a reckless idiot like Klay. After enjoying a few more moments of watching Klay getting told off she went over and joined her friends and sat with them.
"How did it go Sarah?" Peyton asked as she sat down.
"Good. I got more than I came for." Sarah admitted, still thinking over her meeting with Odu-Bathax
"More?" Tom asked, curious.
"Before that, what were you guys talking about?" Sarah asked, not wanting to continue until her curiosity was satisfied.
"You know, taxes and stuff like that." Said Kaz, deciding to opt for sarcasm.
Sarah frowned and crossed her arms, "Yeah right. We're too young to care about 'taxes and stuff like that'."
Tom sighed and replied with a small smile, "Fine. We were talking about a scan quest in Overworld City. We want to get a scan of a new battlegear for a match. Intress accidentally let it slip. Still, we'll wait for a few days before we try to get it, so she won't get in trouble."
"Then count me in, I need to get better scans for upcoming matches. The ones I have are good, but I won't say no to variety." Sarah said, nodding.
"What was the 'more' you got?" Peyton asked, clearly eager to hear what she had found out.
Sarah sighed and said, "Odu Bathax also let something slip up. I think I might be getting something, but I'm kinda blocking here. I'll share it with you guys and maybe we can figure out why they're so interested in us."
"Tell us." The trio asked simultaneously, making her blink in surprise before she answered.
Chapter 48: Brainstorming
Sarah nodded and thought back for a few seconds, trying to make sure she didn't misremember anything, "I'll skip my scan quest part. Anyway, Odu Bathax was complaining that I didn't use my right to wander around in Mount Pillar when he said a few things, and then didn't say something things."
"What is it?" Kaz asked.
"The obvious one was that they want to find the Cothica in Chaotic." Sarah began for real.
"For sure, that's why they're all here." Kaz said, rolling his eyes at the obvious statement.
"I said obvious." Sarah grunted before continuing, "When he said that, I got a few ideas. They want to reach Cothica, but look around. The creatures aren't really doing anything."
The players did so and looked at the creatures wandering around. They were either standing on the side or talking with other players.
"I thought about why they aren't doing anything. Isn't it weird that they want to find the Cothica, but they do nothing about it? They aren't even trying to search for it and it's their goal." Sarah continued.
Kaz realized what she meant, "You're right. I don't remember any of them trying anything. Even the Mipedians aren't trying to turn invisible to wander around."
"It is forbidden for them to turn invisible and I'm sure they have the means to see them. You know, the…" Tom searched for the name.
"I get it." Kaz replied as he thought more.
"So… they can't do anything bro?" Peyton asked.
"Yeah. They're just one creature of each tribe so far. There is no invasion plan to attack Chaotic." Sarah commented.
"I don't think they would go to an invasion. They're going to fight against each other and won't manage to reach our world. The Codemasters are just going to let them fight against each other and finish them off." Kaz said as he crossed his arms.
They looked at the creatures and wondered if it was possible for that to happen.
"I'm not sure if it will happen anyway. They need something in the scanners and there is so little they managed to get for their Telebracers to work. Most of them disappeared with the players, or something else." Tom said as he remembered how the Telebracers works.
"Then it would take years." Sarah sighed.
The others were relieved that this situation wasn't any worse.
"Anything else Sarah?" Peyton asked as he waited for her to say anything else.
"Not really. I just know there is something in this and we have to figure it out." Sarah grumbled, frustrated at the little progress they made, "Again. They want to find the Cothica, but they can't do anything about it. It'll take a long time."
"Yeah. Theb-Saar said that they couldn't do anything else for now." Peyton added, remembering their last conversation.
"And you think it has something to do with why the creatures are interested in us?" Kaz asked. She nodded at him. The boy adjusted his glasses as he began to grasp the idea of what the creatures might have in mind for them.
"What does this have to do with us?" Tom asked as he scratched his jaw. He frowned as he added, "I mean, they believe we came from the Cothica, but we have no idea how the scanners even really worked. We have our real selves on Earth and our codes come there." He pointed at the teleporter where players ported in and out of Chaotic.
"W-wait?" Kaz said as his hand hit the table, "The creatures…do they know it's our code who comes here?"
"I guess so dude. When we get code, it's the code that blows up." Peyton said, shrugging.
"Yeah. They see no human corpse," Tom thought out loud.
"They don't want to bring code into our world." Sarah sighed.
Kaz wondered, and asked, "Is it possible for our real body to come here?"
The others had no idea.
"A-anyway, we know nothing of Chaotic except about the matches. We didn't even know about those battle machines dudes." Peyton sighed as he hit his head on the table.
Kaz snapped his fingers, "I think I got it. Why they're interested in us."
"What is it?" The other three asked.
"The creatures can't go anywhere except here. They're watched by those machines and can't do anything sneaky. They want to find something in Chaotic. How could they do it?" Kaz asked.
The other three got it, "Us."
They were quiet for a while as the realization hit them hard. That supposition felt obvious in hindsight.
"Damn. It was so obvious." Sarah sighed.
"We just didn't think they would need us for something big. They prefer to do things solo style, unless they have no choice or we really get into their business." Peyton said.
"They think there is a way to reach our world somewhere in Chaotic." Kaz concluded.
They looked at each other as they realized it might be the case. If there was a big defense system hidden in Chaotic, there might be a chance.
"Sarah. You were right that we shouldn't search anything in here. As long as we don't do that, the creatures won't show up on Earth." Tom said.
"And we stay away from investigating anything in here no matter what. Searching here is an even bigger trouble than I thought." Sarah commented as she sighed loudly.
"We know what their intentions are now dude. What's next?" Peyton asked.
"We do nothing." Sarah replied.
Tom shook his head, "We can't just do nothing." He raised his hands when she glared at him, "Not about looking around Sarah. It's not about that." Tom put his hands on the table and continued, a little quieter as he checked where the creatures were, "Maybe more and more creatures will come here. We don't know what Alexandre will find in Antarctica. If there is a link between our worlds… then they might try to find another way."
The others nodded as they also lowered their voice. Peyton talked first, "I don't think there is another way. The Eye of the Maelstrom is too dangerous and no creatures tried it. I mean, it is just a giant storm and it might kill any creatures."
"And nothing else can bring the creatures to our world. I think here is the only way and we can't help them." Kaz said, reinforcing what Sarah said earlier. He adjusted his glasses and added, "I know the creatures might try to pressure us. Chaor might do it eventually to get a way to reach the 'Cothica'."
"I can see Chaor ordering you to do it." Sarah said.
"Agreed with her bro. He is going to push you to do it." Peyton added.
"I hope the Codemasters will watch us," Kaz sighed as he put his hands on the table and hit his head on it, "because then I can explain why I did it."
"I'm sure they have their eyes on us. The government is watching us and they're surely tied in with the Codemasters somehow." Tom commented. He mentally grunted at himself as he knew they did have something to do with it since he still had the file he received from Codemaster Crellan.
Thankfully, the others didn't press on his comment. Kaz agreed, "Yeah. Maybe they are in tandem with the government. They were always watching us anyway and they aren't creepy like those cars following us everywhere we go." He tapped on the table.
Peyton clapped his hands, "Okay dudes. I think we had enough of this thing. I really want to talk about something else!"
The others looked at him for changing the subject suddenly like that, but then they saw Agitos walking towards their general direction. It was best to not whisper anything else.
"Right. The mood was really turning sour." Tom replied as he took out his scanner and turned to Sarah, "Since you're coming with us, we need to plan our scan quest. We don't want to be in trouble if Bodal catches us."
"Rightyo Tom!" Peyton replied.
Agitos was on the side and watched the humans talking together. He kept approaching them, but slowly now. He was thinking about everything he managed to get.
The Underworlder had proposed that he go to Chaotic today so he could collect as much information as possible. He knew he wouldn't get that much and warned Chaor that it might be obvious that most of the players knew little of it.
Everything he got was pretty much the minimum. What the players do in Chaotic, what was the purpose of getting scans and the challenges of the Codemasters. The rest, he got it from eavesdropping. He heard about some of the young humans talking about their school day, homework's and stupid drama. He took in a little bit of what human life might be on Earth for the children and adolescents. It wasn't much, but it sounded pretty peaceful and boring. No wonder they were interested in Perim that much.
Now, he looked at the boy they had chosen as their guide to the Cothica and his friends, who were also chosen to guide the other tribes to the Cothica. He knew they were discussing something important as they spoke quietly and checked if anybody was approaching them. He had been wondering what they were hiding, but the larger boy spotted him and just cut whatever they were talking about to a scan quest.
"What were you talking about?" Agitos murmured, scratched his jaw. He got nothing form supposition. Still, it was obviously some knowledge his ruler Chaor wanted to obtain, "I just need to bring you to Chaor and we might know what you talked about with your friends."
AC: This is the end of this chapter.
Next: Sharing Knowledge.
Alexandre shared with Cassandra, Kaz, Tom, Sarah and Peyton what he found out in Antarctica and a little about what he talked with his father. Tom decided to finally do the same with the Project Harmony, somewhere hidden in Perim.
