Chapter 26: Code Yellow
Kaz was waiting for his friends to port in Perim as he crossed his fingers. Yesterday, they finished exploring the heart of Kaizeph and what they found out was wasn't what they expected.
There's still no definite answer about why creatures believe we came from the Cothica. Just what mom guessed. Maybe it is just for hope.
It was still not putting him at ease. The good thing was that Chaor didn't know that he went to Kaizeph another time. He didn't want to explain that.
"Kaz bro!" Peyton said as he joined him. He sat on a chair and commented, "You were really in your mind there."
"Yeah Peyton. I'm just thinking about yesterday," he sighed and crossed his fingers.
"You too? My mind is just spinning about it and I get dizzy in there bro," the boy agreed.
"I guess mom is right. Those creatures believed Alexandre came from the Cothica for hope."
"They really needed it bro. They didn't have someone like Tangath. They weren't a team player," he waved his arms as he explained that.
"Hi there," Sarah and Tom said as they joined them.
Sarah drank a little of her soda, "I thought we were the only ones overthinking this."
Tom sighed, "But just can't put just stop."
The teenage girl asked, "Any of you guess why the creatures are believing we came from the Cothica. Because I'm still not that certain."
"And that won't stop the M'arrillians to go after us," KidChaor sighed as he put his hand on his forehead. He was mostly talking about his best friend Tom.
The black-haired boy nodded, "We got nothing to stop them. I kinda get why they believed that. Phelphor memories were clear about it. Aa'une heard his father saying that the messenger convinced him that they were taking the wrong path."
"And hearing other creatures talking about us that way put a big, Target Chaotic Players mode, on us," Peyton concluded after doing a more artificial voice when he voiced the target.
They lightly chuckled. They continued talking more about it and eventually spiraled on why the creatures might believed they came from the Cothica. They still had no idea.
"We still have to be careful and stay in group," Sarah ordered.
"Still. There is a lot we can put behind us now. We know who the messenger was, we kinda know how he went to the past," they didn't get how it was possible as it sounded too complicated for them. A wormhole was outside their knowledge, "and maybe why they believed we came from the Cothica," Tom said with a small smile.
"Tom. You figure it out?" Kaz asked.
"Not really. Just a guess. The creatures of Kaizeph believed he came from the Cothica. Those tablets we found said almost nothing about it."
"We don't understand what they meant in the first place," Sarah said.
His best friend started to see where he was going, "Maybe the tablets just said that he came from the Cothica. If the creatures spoke to him like he was the messenger of the Cothica, the creatures found tablets that only said he came from there. Since he is a human and the creatures ancestors believe he came from there."
"And Alexandre was also sculped in those tablets. They believe those tablets held the true. It convince them that we came from there," Sarah concluded.
"Pretty much," Tom nodded to himself.
"It's a big misunderstanding of creatures that doesn't exist anymore," Peyton added.
They were quiet for a moment, watching a match going on while they let all of that sink in. It was all based on the creatures interpretations of the tablets.
The Overworld player remembered what Maxxor said, "I think it's more than that. When I visited Maxxor, he and Najarin said that creatures noticed the strange thing we do in Perim. Porting in an out, out scanners allowing us to turn into them for our matches and getting coded. He said that it might already made them suspicious about it."
The Danian player nodded, "Yeah. Being coded is seeing the codes exploding like when you lose a battle in a drome. Someone told me it looks like that when you die in Perim. If we were them, we would find that weird."
"And more reasons for them to be suspicious," Kaz sighed.
"There is nothing we can do righty now. I'm gonna eat something. Minds not working when hungry," PeytonicMaster declared to end their thought on the matter.
His friends agreed with him. There was nothing else to do.
While they waited, the teenage girl asked to Tom, "Are you ready for your next match?"
"Yes. I got all the scans I need. Just have to wait this afternoon."
"After this, I'll need you to come along so I get a scan of a new battlegear in Khybon's forge," KidChaor said.
"I hope it won't end up like the Phobia Mask," his best friend replied.
"I had to avoid returning there for a while. Khybon was really pissed off when his new battlegear was destroyed. His new one shouldn't be that easy to destroy like last time. Khybon didn't leave it unprotected. We can still just scan it without trouble, the boy let out a small smirk."
"And I'm certain you'll get into trouble somehow," Sarah commented.
They had to admit it was often the case. Even when it wasn't supposed to be.
"Where's your mother?" Peyton asked.
"She had to go to work quickly this morning and forgot her scanner back home. She won't be here today… Unless she came back during her lunch break. It isn't far from our house," the orange-haired boy replied.
A robot came and brought them their lunch. The group began to eat.
"Two cheeseburger Peyton?" She asked him.
"I am really hungry and I need all that to prepare my next match. A lot of brain power is needed," he poked his head a few times, "Specially after all that brain storm."
"You just need two victories to challenge Codemaster Crellan," Tom remembered.
"Yup. I won't fail when I'm getting closer. I just need to reach the zone," he waved his hands as he began to eat. He suddenly lightly frowned as he turned around.
"What is it Peyton?" Kaz asked as they looked at the same general direction he was looking.
"Don't know. Feels like someone is on my back or something," he chuckled, "Thought it was the spying eyes of Klay or Krystella."
"Krystella is busy with her match right now," Sarah explained while she pointed at Klay watching her match.
"Must be my imagination. It needs to calm down with more food," he took a large bite after declaring that with a pseudo-melodramatic tone.
The group chuckled as they continued eating. They watching a match going on.
Peyton finished his first burger and went to take his other one, but his hand grabbed nothing, "Hum? Where is it? I don't phase out when I eat!"
"I must admit my friend. This 'cheeseburger' is incredibly delicious," a voice said.
"Did you just steal-" he stopped when he saw his floating cheeseburger with the trace of a bite on it, "Am I dreaming or that was expired?" He got no answer. He gazed at his friends and they were silent as they watched it in disbelief. He felt a hand on his shoulder. The boy looked at it and saw a handprint on his shirt. Three fingers and a thumb.
"I wanted to try out the food your kind made Peyton," the voice said. Suddenly there was a blue scale hand on the shoulder of the boy.
The boy gasped and tried to say something. He said some gibberish thing until he yelled, "Theb-Saar!"
The king of the Mipedian stood behind the boy, wearing a pair of red bracers, connected with cables to a belt of the same color.
When Peyton said the name of the creature, the room was quiet. Everyone looked at the creature. One that shouldn't be able to reach. For the first time, a creature reached Chaotic.
No humans moved. It was as if life came out of them.
The blue reptilian creature gazed at everyone and at the location carefully. He took another bite of the burger.
A loud sound resonated. A large alarm sound resonated in all of Chaotic.
"Alert! Chaotic has been breached! All Chaotic Players port out immediately! Alert! Chaotic has been breached! All Chaotic Players port out immediately!" And it continued to repeat the message.
The message brought everyone to life and many began to panic. No one knew what to do and many went to port out of Chaotic, to avoid getting coded.
The Mipedian let them evacuate. He simply took another bite, it's so good. I can't stop eating it, he thought while preparing for the response. The alert was clear and it was well prepared.
The four didn't try to move. The scaly hand was still on the shoulder of the boy and the others wouldn't leave them behind.
"Don't worry. I didn't come here to threaten any of you," the king said as he finished his meal.
The sound of heavy metallic footsteps resonated in the court room. It was long before some machines no humans ever saw in Chaotic appeared. Silver machined armed with some kind of gatling guns, having a blue optic focused on the intruder. Those machines had a humanoid form with their arms being their weapons.
Those just exacerbate the panic of the Chaotic Players and it was chaotic in the port court as everyone tried to escape.
Theb-Saar gazed at the strange battlegears, taken aback by their sudden appearance, just like the four Chaotic Players. He was ready to act if any hostile actions were made against him.
"What the fuck is going on now?" Sarah yelled when she had enough. She needed to yell that out. Everything just came out of nowhere.
"I don't know," Tom whispered.
"This isn't like my dream," Kaz whispered.
Another message was heard through some speakers. This time, it wasn't an automate one, "Theb-Saar. Do not move from your spot. You are surrounded. A Codemaster will come to you soon. Do not harm your hostages."
The blue Mipedian gazed his head at the side, "Hostage? I didn't come to fight. I came in peace," he raised his hands and gazed at his human friend, "I wasn't expecting such aggressive action from your leaders."
The boy was out of words and just said more gibberish. He slapped his face, "How are you even here? How is it possible! Why do I have so many questions now?"
The creature just showed his Telebracers, "Don't worry. I'll explain it to you, but later."
"Do not try to deceive us Theb-Saar!" another voice yelled.
It was obviously another person now who had less patience and seemed to want a fight.
"W- We aren't," Peyton yelled back as he stood up. He freaked more about those machines firing and coding them in the cross fire.
A few humans who finished their match came back confused and talked about why their matches just ended like that, until they freaked out when they noticed a creature in the port court.
Meanwhile, the Codemasters were preparing to negotiate with the creature.
"I should be the one to deal with him!" one yelled when his mic was taken away by another codemaster.
"You are antagonising him by accusing him of deception. That is the first thing not to do in this situation Hotekk," another one countered.
"We already have a Codemaster chosen by them to handle this type of crisis if it happened."
They turned to Codemaster Crellan. He was the most active on the field and in Perim, "I am ready to fulfill my duty. Make sure the administrators are aware of the situation."
"Already did Crellan."
"Good. I have to make sure that those Chaotic Players are unharmed," he gazed at one who got his attention, hold on Tom, he thought as he went outside of the room.
Hotekk grunted and turned to the others, "This is bad you know! One creature managed to get to Chaotic and who knows when the other tribes will do as well!"
"There is no need to panic. They cannot pass the security to reach the room," a Codemaster calmly said. He pointed at the screen, "We can only trust Crellan negotiation skill for now."
"The administrators just went into motion with the others."
"This came too soon."
The six Codemasters lowered their head. They only thought of what they considered their failure.
The administrators in questions were on Earth. A man and a woman who read the report coming from the Codemasters on a screen.
"They are requesting that we activate code yellow," the woman said as she finished. She gazed at the other one and asked, "What do you think?"
"If a creature managed to reach Chaotic, then the others might follow up soon. It's only the king of the Mipedians, but it will get worse when the other tribes come in," he replied.
"We didn't have time to finish the experiment."
"All we can do is buy time and prepare ourselves."
"Then it's accepted," she typed on her computer and took out and said, "Code Yellow accepted," she pressed on the authorisation.
AC: This is the end of this chapter and the first arc. The Codemasters will act in the next arc and outside of their usual boundaries.
Next Chapter: Negotiation And Investigation.
While Codemaster Crellan negotiate with Theb-Saar, Codemaster Imthor use the authorisation of Code yellow and investigate how a creature managed to port in Chaotic.