Chapter
Starto!

(Tom's P.O.V)

"I spy *hif hif* DINNER!" Nauthalax growled/gurgled as he stared down at us. That's when I saw the inside of his mouth, sharp and a dark poisonous purple, and realized I'd rather not meet up with that set of teeth. Sarah had her arms around my waist, while I struggled to pull us away from the horrid creature. He began to huff angrily and threw more fireballs at us, making me and Sarah scatter for our lives. I collided with something midway, and looked around to see what looked like a tiny...powder puff wing bird wings?

It chirped at me, "PIRI!" and without thinking I grabbed it, just as Sarah caught up to me. We were knocked to the ground by another blast behind us. We turned to see Nauthalax standing nearby. He charged up another fireball, and threw it hard, and we would have bit the dust, if a giant water spout hadn't suddenly burst from the ground.

"Slither back to where you came from, Nauthalax!" Yelled a deep, booming voice, and I looked up to see a what almost looked like a sea serpent creature. His scales were indigo blue in color, and gold armor adorned his chest. His eyes were acid green, and reptilian in shape. Four spikes stuck out from the back of his head, and in between the spikes were thin blue membranes. He almost looked like a fairy-tail lake dragon.

"Mezmar!" Sarah gasped excitedly. Nauthalax seemed less pleased.

"After I FRY YOUR HIDE!" He shouted, summoning fire into his hands. He threw them one after another at Mezmar, who dove into the water to escape the torrent.

He then came up, and released what resembled a fire-hose blast of water, smacking Nauthalax in the gut, when another blast hit him from the side and then his face.

"Come on!" Sarah urged me. I stared up at her with the now familiar "w-t-f-are-you-on?' look. The pigmy puff thing I had grabbed earlier poked its face out of my hand, and made an adorable little growl.

"I need a better position to scan from." I would have answered, "No thanks, I'll just lie here, much more safe," but she yanked on my collar. I got up, and we scrambled along the sandbank, watching the fight. The puffball was growling, and tried to dart over, before I reached out and pulled it back.

"No, no, little guy. Over there is too dangerous." The puffball growled at me, the made a sad noise and settled against my hip pocket. A sudden shout caught my attention, and I watched in horror as Mezmar was blasted out of the water and onto the bank. I made to run for him, when Sarah caught my arm.

"Move it! I can't scan him like this!" I wrenched my arm from her grip, staring at her in shock.

"SARAH! He just saved our lives, and you're STILL trying to scan him? He needs help!" I gestured angrily. I saw the hesitation in her eyes, and turned, darting off towards the duel. I heard her call me back.

I ran to the dragon's side and pulled on his arm, wincing as his scales embedded themselves in my palms. He groaned, trying to get up, but before we got anywhere, Nauthalax slammed his foot down in front of us. "Where I come from, no good deed goes unpunished." I wanted to scream, and I think that a noise did escape me at one point. I pulled on Mezmar's arm again. I would have been blasted, had a dark and blond blur not suddenly crashed into me and knocked us away at the last second.

"Remember our chat from, like, TWO seconds ago?" She snarled from above me. "This is REAL! You get fried here, you STAY FRIED!" I gulped, the puffball making that sad noise again. It had taken refuge in my shirt, sitting just above my thudding heart. "RUN!" Sarah yelled, and darted away. She must have been used to doing that by now. I got up and ran after her, only to smack against her as Nauthalax advanced on us. He would've had us too, if a suddenly wizened voice hadn't called out of the gloom.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my old friend Nauthalax. Bad idea to drop in uninvited." I mentally squealed in delight as a figure descended from the sky. He had blue-tinted skin, a long dark blue cape and robes, and a super long grey beard. His eyes held wisdom and at this moment slight anger, but I knew this Creature anywhere.

"Najaryn." Nauthalax hissed, and threw a few fireballs at him. Najaryn easily knocked them into ash, and meanwhile the puffball was going nuts, wiggling around my shirt like that alien thing from that one movie. At one point I grabbed it, holding it steady as I watched in awe as Najaryn deflected more fireballs and a water spout.

"Is that ALL you've got?" I grinned and pumped my fists in a giddy way at Najaryn's back-sassas he flicked away a water droplet on his finger.

Nauthalax got this lost look on his face for a brief moment before aiming his hands at the water. A water spout appeared, then burst into two columns and surrounded Najaryn like a cage. I gaped in horror.

"You won't escape my Liqua-Sphere!" And then mentally sweat-dropped. Wow, all those cool names, and you call it that?

Mezmar, on the other hand, was trying to crawl back to the water. Nauthalax crowed in victory, 'It worked!" before the corner of his eye picked up on Mezmar. He turned and started to walk forward.

"I...I gotta do something!" I cried, picking up a stick and darting forward. I heard Sarah call out for me, but paid her no heed as I charged at Nauthalax. I used a familiar kendo stance, and brought the stick down on the green goop giant's leg, only to have the stick break in half. Nauthalax turned to me, and not really having any other option, I held out my hands and tried to use Mujic. Figures that's the one thing I needed the most, and guess what happened?

Nothing.

"Ember Swarm! Rock Wave!" I gritted my teeth, trying to feel that warmth from before, only to have a cold chill wrap around me. Wait, cold? I was suddenly picked up from the ground and blown back to where Sarah stood. I looked up to see Najaryn, his hands spread wide in a wind-style summoning. The puffball, who was still hiding in my shirt, was chirping happily.

Najaryn's hands glowed bright, fiery blue, and suddenly Nauthalax was blown back by a burst of energy. He landed gracelessly in the lake, and I turned to stare at the ground.

"Kaz, I'll never doubt you again buddy." I muttered, walking towards the other three.

Meanwhile, somewhere:

I winced as the smell of garbage hit my nose repeatedly, wishing over and over that Kaz would die from being run through by a rusty pipe, or slipping on a piece of trash and dyng from a head wound.

"Tom, I hear you silently plotting my painful death over there." Dammit, how does he do that? I huffed.

"And you say I have these cool goggles, whadja call em? "Mujic Specs?' or something?" Kaz made a noise of agreement. "And using these 'Specs' I can see perfectly again?" Another noise, this time farther away.

"Tom! Check this out!" Kaz sounded joyful, and I perked up in response.

"You found my scanner?" The trash under his feet rustled as he made his way over to me.

"No, a Centriam Hawk from Star Quest. I could clean it up and-" I cut him off by throwing the towel I had been holding at him. I heard a smack! which meant it had found its target.

"I still can't figure out how you do that." I shrugged.

"Guess I've got the aim of the Crane." I quoted from a karate movie. Kaz snickered, but it choked off.

"Oh god..." He whispered, seeing my scanner on a converor belt, heading to the crusher.

In Perim:

I gasped as Mezmar grabbed onto my arm. He coughed, startling me. "That was... very brave, human." I blinked, and turned to try helping him up again.

"Not brave..." I panted. "It's the right thing to do." He groaned in pain.

Najaryn landed with a swoosh next to us. "If you please..." He motioned for me and Sarah to step away. I nearly fainted as he looked at me in particular. I was squealing over and over in my head, unable to believe it was really Najarin.

"Yes your...Mujic...ness...Sir...Sire." I replied geekily, Sarah pulling me back with a smile. 'Smooth.' my mind whispered.

"Forget about me, Najaryn. Stop the spy." Mazmar weakly pleaded, tail slowly sliding around on the muddy bank.

Najaryn's reply was soothing. "All he has seen today, is courage, from creatures great and small." He was staring at us, oh em gee! I was sure I was going to faint in the next moment or so.

Najaryn took out a seven-sided ring, which I recognized as Mujic, and began to chant as it rose into the air. "By the power of Perim, I summon thee kind Mujician, to heal this fallen warrior." A blue mist rose from Najaryn, and swirled about the ring. I gaped as I realized I was witnessing firsthand a REAL Mujic summoning.

"Song of Rejuvenation!" A cheerful tune played, Bu-Ba-Bu-Be-Ba-Be-Bu, and suddenly what almost sounded like an entire orchestra played the tune. "Heal Mezmar!" Najaryn commanded.

A bright light surrounded the dragon, and he was lifted upward, balancing on his tail like a snake. He stretched his body, and turned a grateful gaze towards Najaryn.

"Thank you old friend." I smiled as Najaryn replied with a quiet, "Always," and shrieked as a clawed paw came down on my head, ruffling my hair like one would ruffle a cat's fur. "And thank you, NEW friend." I laughed as he played with my hair a bit longer, then jumped backwards into the air. Sarah quickly pulled out the scanner.

As Mezmar fell gracefully into the water, she scanned him, and as he disappeared she let out a whoop.

"Got him! I deleted Nauthalax for a totally healed Mezmar scan." I grinned, then turned my head as Najaryn began to speak.

"Great wonders and rewards await those who brave the wilds of Perim, and survive." I nearly swooned, but then the ever-annoying puffball of doom decided to ruin the serious moment by chirping and flying out of my collar.

"Oh, now you want to come out!" I scowled after it, only to pale as it landed in Najaryn's out-stretched hand.

"Ah, Pipori. I was wondering where you had gotten to. Were you with this human the entire time?" The puff-er, Pipori chirruped an agreement, then launched itself at me, squealing loudly as it rubbed itself all over my face. I twitched, trying not to make any hysterical noises.

"It seems he has taken a liking to you, young one." Najaryn uttered, and Pipori zoomed back into his hand. "He even seems to see you as a friend. I am glad for that, it seemed he was lonely ever since the day I made him." Hold the phone book. Najaryn MADE that thing? I gaped.

Sarah laughed at my expression as Najarin floated back through the fog, a happy and noisy Pipori following him. "Well, something new everyday in Perim." She walked away. "Come on, let's head back to Chaotic, and I'll show you how you REALLY transport." I followed after her, sighing blissfully.

I just met Najaryn, was given the title of 'Friend' by Mezmar, won a Chaotic match, and made a bunch of new friends. And to top it off, my new goggles let me see.

Meanwhile, somewhere:

"My scanner's WHERE?" I screeched. Kaz turned me in the direction of the banging sound, and I wrenched the toy from his hands.

"Feel what cannot be seen." I focused, and threw the toy with a spin. I heard a smack!, then Kaz let out a whoop. He led me over near the machine, then past it, and handed me my scanner.

"Nice shot." I paused feeling the button just below my finger tip.

"Well?" I turned comically to him.

"Hang on! Gimme a second!" He snorted with laughter.

"Why? Scared?" I felt a sweatdrop roll down my head.

"No, it's just..." I hesitated. Kaz hadn't seemed all that upset when he learned my secret. He was right in the head, not always mind you, but still... a part of me was scared to press down, to gain all these supposed memories from my other self.

"Press it." He urged, and my fear rose again.

"I will!" He waited, then suddenly shouted 'NOW!" making me shriek and jump. "Okay!"

I pressed down, the scanner made a tiny chirping noise, and suddenly my mind was flooded with images, voices, sensations... I stumbled backward into Kaz.

"Dude..." I breathed after a few moments. Kaz heaved me back up.

"I know." I turned around to face him.

"DUDE!" He replied again with "I know!" I tilted my head down sadly.

"Kaz...I'm sorry. About everything." He put a hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay." He began leading me away. "So, tell me more about how you found out you were gay." I laughed loudly.

"NO WAY! But I can tell you what happened to me and Sarah in the OverWorld at Lake Ken-i-po, with Nauthalax and Najaryn." I stumbled as Kaz tripped over his feet in surprise.

"You saw Nauthalax? And Najaryn? Did you scan 'em? What's a Sarah?" I snorted, only Kaz wouldn't recognize a girl's name.

"Not what, Kaz. Who. And I'll only tell ya on one condition. If you promise not to think I'm crazy." We shared a burst of laughter at that joke, and began the trek home.

A few hours later:

I sighed, laying on my bed. The adventure I had today was exciting, but I was starting to miss the whole 'being-able-to-see-again' thing. I turned on my side as the doorbell rang, guessing Kaz wanted to hear more about the Lake Ken-i-po incident.

"Tommy! You've got a package!" I got up and felt my way towards the door, opening it and leaning out towards the stairs.

"Who's it from?" I slurred, feeling less than happy.

"Someone named...CodeMaster Hotekk." I literally fell down the stairs, and I heard my mother shriek of horror. I ignored it, and held out my hands for the package.

"Thomas Majors, what just happened?" Mom asked as I tore into the box, feeling around for- AHA! I pulled up on the band of stretched rubber, turning to my mom.

"Hotekk is...a friend of mine, that I told about my condition." Not a complete lie. "He said he wanted to help, and I'm guessing this is what he meant." I pulled them on as my mom gave a disbelieving cluck.

"Tommy, I know you're hopeful but-" I cut her off as I gave a jolt, having forgotten the zap. I gazed around the hallway, letting all the details I never could have before sink in.

"When...did we get green wallpaper?" I asked offhandedly, and was nearly bowled over by my mother, who was howling in relief.

"My BABY CAN SEE AGAIN!" I pushed her off, and looked around me.

My world had come back.

"Uh." I woke groggy, and fell off my bed for the first time in ten years. Not that it wasn't painful, mind you, but it only happened after something crazy would happen to me. And what had happened a few days ago counted as crazy. I hadn't talked to Kaz because of schoolwork, but I really wanted to ask him more about Chaotic.

I felt around and my hands closed over the goggles, their shape and feel now completely memorized by my skin. I managed to brush my hair back into a ponytail, like my Chaotic part, and pulled the goggles on gently. After zapping my eyes, I kept them closed for a few seconds. After all, I hadn't been able to see for a decade of my life. It was going to take some getting used to.

I opened my eyes and walked over to my mirror. My eyes were really a bright sky blue, just like Kaz had told me. My hair was black, with just a bit of brown-tinge, and really long. No wonder I was able to ponytail it. My skin was overly tan, reflecting my Asian heritage. My mom had married my father in Hokkaido, then raised me there for about three years. Then, when I was four, we came here to America. I was all by myself, except for three other asian kids, a girl named Naomi Hayame, a boy named Jun Xioa, and another boy named...named...Oh my gawd.

I snatched up my scanner just as it went off, and when Kaz's face appeared on screen I began to talk rapidly.

"OMYGOD, Kaz, I-just-remembered-where-I-knew-Sam-he-was-one-of-the-kids-in-preschool-and-I-went-to-Chaotic-the-other-day-and-it-was-so-cool-" Kaz cut me off by laughing.

"I know Tom, I was there, remember? And of course Sam was in our preschool, why do you think he wanted to battle you?" I blinked. Seemed to be a habit I developed.

"Now, are you doing anything as of this moment?" I shook my head. "Good. Port to Chaotic, cuz I just got the scoop on some pretty nice BattleGear. Also, make sure you got a scan of Dractyl's nesting grounds." I sent him a suspicious look.

"Why?" Kaz grinned sheepishly at me.

"Well, the info comes at a price."

The only thing I will say about what happened after is that, Dractyl scales=Gross. They're big purple pods almost, and they ooze slime that smells sick. I gagged as Kaz loaded another round into his backpack, and when he flung one at me teasingly I screamed and threatened to port away with no regard to what happened to him. After that, I got a message on my scanner saying that PeytonicMaster wanted to challenge me. I laughed a bit, before realizing that Kaz had this 'oh shit' look on his face. I narrowed my eyes, and it hit me.

"Peyton...The guy who helped me on the first day." Kaz nodded. I whimpered looking back at my screen.

'I don't want to fight a friend...'

We ported to an UnderWorld town afterward, and Kaz led me through several dark alleys, and we bumped into a bunch of really odd Creatures, all of whom knew Kaz well. One even gave him a fist-bump.

We wandered for a while, and I became more and more nervous. It got so bad that at one point Kaz stopped walking and pulled me into a one-armed hug.

"Tom, will you chill out? He should be here any minute." I shook him off.

"Kaz, I've got to hurry or I'll be late for my match." In reality, I could care less if I missed it and became the laughing stock of Chaotic. Peyton was nice, and I tend to get a bit... violent when it comes to fighting. I accidentally made a newbie cry the other when I beat him with Frafdo. I had to cheer him up by doing acrobatics in the court, until a robot floated by with a sneering voice.

"It's not enough you humans can play in Dromes, but now you can do all that?" I fell off the railing I had been balancing on, and ended up in the fountain below. The kid freaked when I went plunging under the water, but when I came up and started doing laps he laughed it off. His screen name was MipedianPrince13, and his real name was Ivan. He had short brown hair with green tips, and big expressive blue eyes that made me want to pick him up and hug him forever.

"Can we trade scanner info?" He asked me, and we swapped e-mail. He wasn't the kind to text endlessly and I was glad for that. I was snapped out of memory lane by Kaz saying something, then by something jumping on me, snarling and grabbing at me.

"AHH! Kaz HELP! It's gonna eat me!" I freaked trying to get the thing off. It was green, had red hair like Kaz, and wore a brown vest. It also looked like a deformed raving rabbit, from that one game. Except with giant blue eyes instead of red ones. Kaz pulled it off of me laughing.

"Ew, eat a HUMAN? Blegh, too many bones." The thing muttered, making me cringe. How the hell do you know that? I screamed mentally. Kaz grinned again, and waved a hand to the Creature who was smiling at us.

"Tom, this is H'earring, my inside man. I bring him goodies, he hooks me up with the prime scans." H'earring peered inside Kaz's backpack, and squealed in joy.

"Ooh! Dractyl Scales!" Kaz pulled his pack off the ground, and away from H'earrings wandering paws.

"You better have something good for me. Getting these scales was way more nasty than usual." Referring to our slime fight, I snickered. He pulled out a scarlet statue of Dractyl. I hadn't seen that at the nest...Then again, the slime had been pretty distracting, ugh.

"Where'dya get that?" I asked confusedly. Kaz put the statue back in.

"I found it in Dractyl's nest. I always pick up stuff like this when I'm in Perim. You never know when something will come in handy." He ended by tossing a few scales at H'earring, who caught them with an excited squeal, and shoved them in his mouth. I gasped, retched, then gagged all in the span of a second, and tried to force my lunch back down.

"Okay, what'di'ya got?" Kaz said, now that the green raving rabbit of gross had finished his meal. He grinned.

"New battle gear. Tough..." Suddenly, a sound like a motorcycle engine picked up, and H'earring's left ear went up. He giggled, then in the opposite direction an even louder engine sounded. H'earring cackled evilly and ran over in front of a building, pointing at the glass window.

I was about to sigh in relief, before the glass shattered to reveal a giant wheel, with a creature in it. He cried out, "YEE-HAW!" and landed in front of us. I recognized him after a moment as Blazer, a hill-billy-like Creature that Kaz sometimes used. Kaz scoffed as Blazer came to a stop in front.

"That's the Battle-Gear you dragged me out here for? Ugh, I have a Mower-Cycle already." I kid you not, that's really what its called. We both jumped as the loud engine started up behind us, and we turned just in time to see the building's face come falling down around us. We stood as still as possible as the rubble landed around us, and sighed in relief.

Only to scream in surprise as a giant, spiked machine leg came down on the rubble in front of us. We gawked at the giant machine, and H'earring popped up in between us to say in a teasing voice, "I bet you don't have one of those.." I kept staring as my eyes went up the machine, only to freeze as I saw who was controlling it.

Chaor.

Sure, Kaz went gaga over the UnderWorlder, but I was frozen in fear where I stood. Chaor was not just some Creature. He was the big shot of the UnderWorld.

-Chaor: Has red skin, and spikes protruding from several points on his body. He has blue eyes, a bad temper, and is known for his fire-based attacks. Few have ever managed to scan Chaor without injury, and many have simply just been Coded. His armor of course has spikes on it, and there are few Creatures who have the ability to stand up to him.-

We scattered as he drove the Walker forward, growling as Blazer revved the engine of his bike.

"GIVE ME THAT MAP, BLAZER! Or I'll shut your spying eyes forever!" He roared in anger, and Blazer retorted by laughing crazily.

"Nothing doin' Chaor! Cuz I'm gonna find all yur UnderWorld hidey-holes, and you can't stop me!" Did I mention Blazer has the most awesome accent ever? He does.

"We'll just see about that!" Chaor growled out, and revved the engine of the legs. Kaz gulped audibly.

"Uh oh, looks like Blazer's challenging Chaor to a showdown." I gawked at the yellow Creature, who was giggling hyperactively as he rocked back and forth on his bike.

"He's crazy! He'll get squashed if he plays chicken with a thing like that!" I watched as the two rocked back and forth, waiting. H'earring giggled, the sound almost identical to a mad man's giggle.

"Maybe not. Blazer's smart, he's a master scout, and a map-maker for the OverWorld. He's been stealing Chaor's secrets for a long time." Blazer suddenly put his bike in drive, and sped towards Chaor's Walker. He ran past the leg, and rammed into the wall.

Now, here's the cool thing about Mower-Cycles - they can climb vertical places. Blazer went straight up into the air, and onto a decorated wall, where he proceeded to cut a bunch of statues off, one of which nearly squashed Chaor, if not for his impressive strength. He threw the statue at Blazer, who dodged it and jumped onto the top of a building.

Chaor growled and pressed a button on the console. It fired a green blast of energy at the spot just below Blazer's bike, and the Creature screamed as smoke engulfed him. He rushed out of the rubble a second later, pulled up near Chaor laughing, then took off down the alley. Chaor flipped a bunch of switches, and the Walker alternated between firing green and blue shots and walking forward.

"YES!" Kaz cried in triumph, and bent down to H'earrings level. "H'earring, you just earned all the smelly scales you can handle! I totally have to scan that thing now!" I glared at him.

"What about my battle? You were gonna fill me in about Peyton, remember? I don't know anything beyond he's a good person." H'earring sniggered.

"Peyton? Tell him I said 'Hi'." Why does that sound really bad? Kaz put his hand on my shoulder.

"Sorry Tom, but this Battle-Gear's to good to pass up. But good luck!" He gave me a brief hug, and H'earring spoke up.

"You'll need all the luck you can get going up against Peyton. Or he'll have you for lunch!" I narrowed my eyes at the Creature who stuffed his mouth with more Dractyl scales. There's no way Peyton could be that scary, right?

"Thanks. Very nice meeting you." I ported out, reappearing in the Port Court.

"I'm not gonna get freaked out. Peyton's nice, I'm sure he'll be easy on me. After all, we're friends so-" "Hel-lo?" I stopped in my tracks, staring at Sarah, who'd just interrupted my muttering. She scowled at me, and it was then I remembered my manners.

"Sarah? Hello, sorry about that, I'm a bit distracted right now." She rolled her eyes. "What are you doing today?"

"My friend Peyton's battling today. He has tons of cool scans, but he never uses them the way you think he will. You can always learn something when he trashes some poor sucker. Wanna watch with me?" I felt a cold tendril shoot down my spine.

"No thanks, I've already got a front-row seat. I'm the sucker." She clapped a hand to her mouth and stared at me with an apology in her eyes.

"Oh...Well, there's always hope." I perked up. "You could win. I guess." I felt my mood plummet. "Somehow." Mood has officially gone through the floor.

"Feel the energy...And let the energy feel ya back." We heard, and I turned to see Peyton stand weirdly a few feet away. He had his hands up, along with his left leg, and his eyes were closed. He stepped forward into another weird stance as he spoke, making a bunch of players giggle as they watched him. He repeated his mantra, stepping forward again until he was standing in font of us.

"Earth to Peyton. Come in Peyton." Sarah called mockingly, and one green eye opened to look around before settling on her.

"Sarah! Dig, today I'm relying totally on my intuitive innerness, to deal with the uh, ha ha ha, unexpected." Both Sarah and I rolled our eyes. I was grinning, Peyton was such a goofball, and so fun to hang around.

"I just walked all the way from the Transporter Center, from memory. Training myself to cope with the curve-balls, know what I mean?" I felt something flutter awkwardly in my gut, and realized it was nervousness.

"I didn't expect to see you, but uh, HWA! I'm dealing with it." I realized I'd tuned out some of what he'd said, and just caught the end of his sentence.

"That's very disturbing, as usual." I snickered and Peyton made an almost cat like smile. She turned to introduce me, when out of nowhere Peyton squawked and lunged at me, encasing me in a bear hug.

"Tommy, mah man! How ya been?" I laughed, even as my face heated up from the stares we were getting. After all, real friends do what ever they can to embarrass you. He put me down, and Sarah quirked an eyebrow at us.

"You two know each other?" I nodded, as Peyton began braiding my hair.

"He helped me around on my first day. He was really nice." Peyton made a noise of disgust.

"Dude, I'm ALWAYS nice. Right Sarah?" She made the 'little bit' gesture and Peyton made another squawking noise at her. I felt that weird wormy feeling come back, and I shuddered as it began to send icy spikes up my spine again.

"I'm so psyched to battle you, Tom. Can't wait to see your Maxxor in action again, right?" He oozed. I tried to smile, ignore the sick feeling in my stomach, but it must've come out wrong because Peyton's happy expression fell.

"Dude, Major T?" I My shoulders perked up, and suddenly I was running towards the Transporters.

"TOM!" "MajorT!" I heard them call after me, but my finger was already pressing the button. I had my eyes closed, but when I opened them, I realized I was in a grassy meadow, and looking off to my right I saw Najarin's castle rising up from the lake.

I sat down, feeling the hot, sick feeling bubble up, and before I could stop it, a sob rang out. Then another, then four, then I was howling in misery. A loud, annoying, familiar "PIRI!" in my ear startled me enough to stop, and I looked up to see Pipori floating above my head.

"Pipori..." I muttered. It sang at me, 'Pi-pi-piri-piri!' and without thinking I grabbed at it. I held it close to my chest, soaking up the soft texture of its body. It pulled its face out of my hands, and cooed at me. Now that I had time to examine it, I realized it kinda looked like a Furby, big purple eyes and a soft chocolate brown coat. Its stomach was a light, tawny color, and the wings on its back were smoky grey. Najarin had put a lot of effort into this guy.

"Pipori, what do I do?" It cooed at me in answer. "I don't want to fight Peyton. He's...he's my friend, and if I say the wrong thing, or something, he'll h-hate me..." At this point, I started to cry again. When a smooth, wise voice suddenly sighed from behind me.

"Oh little one. What ails your heart so deeply?" I stopped crying and turned to see Najaryn, floating down from the air. I choked on a sob, and the Mugician reached out his hand and patted my head softly.

"I-I can't fight Peyton...I just can't!" I blubbered. Najaryn stood with his hand on my head, and somehow I got the feeling this was extremely rare for him to do. "I haven't had any friends besides Kaz since the accident. No one wants to be friends with a blind person! But...But Peyton did. He reached out to me, and he doesn't care that I'm blind! I...I don't want to...to..." At this point, my throat was trying to collapse in on itself, and my nose and eyes were running like taps.

Najarin sighed and pulled out a green rag. He handed it to me, and I muttered thanks as I cleaned my face off. Once I was done, he waved his hands, and a cooling breeze ran over my face.

"Little one, do not think of it as a fight. Think of it as a way to know your friend better, by learning how he spars. Many great friendships have been forged here in Perim by one sparring with another. You may find he has more in common with you, than you realize." I blinked several times, then looked at him and smiled.

"Thank you, Najaryn." I used a honorific, a term of respect in my culture, We stood, and he bowed to me, I returned the gesture, feeling at peace with myself. I giggled as Pipori snuggled against my neck, before I ported back to Chaotic. I was greeted by Peyton and Sarah rushing up to me.

"Dude, it's almost time for our match! Where ya been, dude?" Peyton wheeled. I shook my head, and grabbed his arm. I held myself together and inhaled quietly. Peyton smelled way different from Sarah and Kaz, he acted different too. So, I needed to give a new approach to my new friend.

"Peyton..." I let go and stood up tall.

"Let's get Chaotic."

I walked up to the podium, facing Peyton and wishing my heart would calm down. I can do this, I chanted, I won't get upset if I lose. Peyton waved at me, catching my attention.

"Yo, dude! Let's make sure we both have fun, alright?" I froze, then leaned over so that I was looking straight at him.

"Peyton?" He 'hmm'-ed a response.

"I...I've never actually played for fun." He nodded, then a silent moment of three seconds, then...

"WHAT?" I nearly fell over from the gust his voice created. "Dude, NEVER? That's just...just plain WRONG!" I straightened up.

"I've always battled competitively, but...I want you to teach me. How to have fun playing Chaotic." I said with a set expression. Peyton had the most out-of-place look of surprise, then it turned into a 280 grin.

"No problemo, my compadre."

Meanwhile, SOMEWHERE IN THE UNDERWORLD:

Kaz and H'earring peeked out from behind a Gothic-looking fountain as Chaor continued to blast away at Blazer, missing every-time. That is, until they rounded a corner, and Chaor managed to hit the Mower-Cycle and send Blazer flying through the air. The yellow Creature shuffled onto his back, spitting like a cowboy would.

"I ain't a'scared o' you! Show me watcha got!" Chaor snickered, and a cannon tilted down to aim at Blazer. The cannon charged...Then nothing.

"NO! The cannons are SHOT!" Chaor shouted in rage as he pounded his fist on the console. Blazer let loose a hill-billy cry, "YEE~HOO!", and ran off as fast as he could.

"Laugh now, Blazer! Once Ulmar fixes this thing, I'll track you down, and make you PAY!" Chaor shifted the Walker into movement, and the ruler of the UnderWorld clamored back towards the castle.

"Kaz, the cannons don't work! Scan it now before he sees us, quick!" Kaz frowned and put a few fingers on his chin. Then turned to look at his companion with a smile.

"If I scan it now, I won't be able to fire the cannons either. Let's follow him to this Ulmar guy's place, and scan it when it's fixed." H'earring whimpered.

"Alright, Tom, you ready?" I shook my head feeling sick. "Hey." I opened my eyes, seeing Peyton standing in the weirdest position I'd ever seen. He had his right arm straight up, his left arm bent so his thumb was on his nose, and his legs were in a 4-position. It looked ridiculous, and before I could stop it, a snort escaped my lips.

"That's better, to go into it laughing like a loon, than crying like a...a..." I didn't bother to smother my laughter as Peyton awkwardly scratched his head with his right hand. Then, he began to hum while balancing on one leg, trying to find the scroller blindly.

"What're you trying to do? Pick with your eyes closed?" I was red in the face, and giggling like crazy. Peyton just seemed...Well, no way to accurately describe him, was there? But he was definitely a good friend.

"That... is an awesome great idea!" He began to do so, and my happy mood plummeted through the floor, along with my confidence and stomach. Time to get serious... I looked at my own screen, and after picking Maxxor, I closed my eyes and picked ten location cards. I opened them to pick my Mujic, Song of Ember Nova. Then I pulled my Cycle-Lance, an Air-attack type Battle Gear. I let my eyes drift down to the scanner, wishing with all my might that Kaz's face would appear and fling a joke/insult at me for being so chicken.

'Kazzy...'

"PLAYERS LOCK YOUR DECKS." Okay, it was not my imagination, then, the voice really DID sound bored. I tried to concentrate as the familiar wave of energy filled the room.

~A While Later~...

I fell on my hands and knees gasping as the code vanished. Peyton was by my side in an instant, but I was barely paying any attention.

I had lost.

Sarah hadn't been kidding, Peyton was a beast when it came to fighting. He'd pulled so many moves, I-I just couldn't keep up. I felt that familiar wave of anger push up at my stomach, and bit down on it. Then, pushing Peyton away from me as hard as I could, I fled from the Drome.

I ran, bitter tears streaming down my face. I couldn't stop, and before I knew it I was standing at the bench where Kaz had first given me the goggles. I pulled them off, wiping at my face furiously.

"MajorTom?" I froze at the sound of my name, but relaxed when I realized it was Ivan.

"I-I don't know what came over me." I heard a rustle, and something warm was being pressed into my hands. I took it, then put my goggles back on. It was a package of warm moist towelettes. I looked blankly at the smaller boy.

"W-Well, to clean your face. You're all red and wet." He blushed. I stared some more, then smiled. I pulled my goggles off again, and began to wipe my face off, grateful that Ivan had been so considerate, then felt guilty, because I'd just left Peyton there with no explanation. He was probably upset. I had to go apologize.

"Ivan, we need to go to the port-court." He nodded, and held my arm as I took in several deep breathes to calm down. Then, we were off.

Kaz and H'earring snuck through the window, landing on the ground like cats. They had to be careful after all; this was UnderWorld territory. Kaz crept forward, finally spying the infamous Ulmar. He was unbelievably hideous, looking like a goblin with half of it's skull torn off and big, bloodshot red eyes. His brain pulsed, pink waves rippling the wrinkles.

"He's never satisfied...He always wants MORE power. Well, these new reactors should be powerful enough, even for Chaor!" The brain-goblin(1) muttered to himself as he worked. He then stepped back to admire his creation, then stepped onto a platform that took him down from the top of the Walker.

When he got to the ground he paused, and in that instant a small, harmless, blue, purple, and red butterfly landed on his elbow. He took one look at it, and freaked, clawing at it, and shrieking.

Kaz snuck forward, catching a peek at Ulmar as the brain-goblin(A/N:Pfffft!) walked up to a console. He chanced a few words to H'earring. "You were right, he's a weirdo. But he's a day at the beach compared to Chaor." H'earring huffed.

"You think you can handle that Vile-Driver of his in a battle?" Vile-Driver? Meh, better than Mower-Cycle. Kaz grinned and scoffed.

"Are you kidding? Of course I can." H'earring accidentally lay a hand on the skeleton in front of them, making it rattle. The noise alerted Ulmar, who screeched "INTRUDERS!" and, opening his coat and selecting an almost empty vial, threw it at the skeleton. It exploded with a bang! and a few seconds later the skeleton fell to the floor with a series of clatters.

"Hehehe hehehe Just my old assistant." Ulmar laughed nervously. Kaz held in a shudder, and turned to H'earring to mouth 'His old assistant?' The green raving rabbit of grossness shrugged.

They ducked towards a cart that had things in jars, and when Kaz looked at them he held in the urge to gag. H'earring, on the other hand, was panting and drooling at the specimens.

"Ugh, this calls for some ingenuity." He pushed H'earring under the cart as he spoke. "Here's the plan: you distract Ulmar, while I scan the Vile-Driver." He put his foot on the side of the cart.

"Bad plan! Make another one!" Kaz shrugged.

"Too late." Nonchalantly he kicked at the cart, sending it speeding towards the bottom of the lab. The jars on top fell on the stairs, breaking, exploding, sending up poisonous clouds of vapor. Ulmar gave chase, hurtling different vials at the runaway rabbit while shrieking "A SPY! I KNEW IT!"

Kaz quickly scanned the Vile-Driver, then ran up to it as the scan finished appearing in his deck. He gazed at it, then at the real thing. "Hmm, it IS pretty huge. Seems risky to use it for the first time in a Drome when the Battle's at stake. Maybe I better take it for a test drive!" He muttered excitedly.(A/N: Oh Kazzy. When will you learn that your ideas are never good ones?)

He got on the elevator, then raised himself up to the Vile-Driver's platform. He jumped on, and examined the controls. He flipped a switch and the machine hummed its coming to life.

"This must make it go forward." He guessed, pushing the nearest lever up. The foot began to lift, then the contraption whirled about, and smashed the ground almost 70 degrees away. Kaz was jerked away on the platform, then began to pull, tug, and press any control he could.

"HOW DO I STOP THIS THING?"(A/N: Like I said...-_-;)

I walked through the port court with Ivan clutching my arm, glancing around for any sign of Peyton. I asked a few robots, who only huffed and said stuff along the lines of 'we are here to serve Chaotic players, not baby-sit them.' I stuck my tongue out at the last one, then started forward when I saw Peyton, standing in front of some players. I ran towards him, only stopping when Ivan yanked hard on my arm.

"...And then, dudes, I beat him down with mah Mipedian Smog attack to cover me..." Ivan had his feet firmly planted on the ground. Good thing too, because I felt the world tip under my feet. I couldn't believe my eyes. Here I was, worrying about hurting his feelings, and there he was, bragging about how he'd beaten me. I gritted my teeth. and stormed over.

"Peyton..." The brunette spun around, a grin on his face that disappeared when he took in the anger in my eyes.

"I...can't...believe...you. I was worried, thinking I'd hurt your feelings by running off, but I guess you took that opportunity to brag, huh?" I felt my face heat up again, and I turned around to run to the Transporters. I pressed down on the button, vaguely noting it was the field near Najaryn's castle.

"Tom, wait!" I heard him call out, but I gave no response. The world dissolved around me.

Ulmar had H'earring cornered. He held up his last two vials threateningly at the raving rabbit. "I've got you now!" H'earring screamed, and curled up into a ball. He didn't need to, though, as Kaz and the runaway Vile-Driver turned the corner and stomped towards them.

The front doors to the castle opened, and both Ulmar and H'earring ran out screaming, Kaz following shortly. The Vile-Driver smashed the doorway, then continued towards its creator. Ulmar panted, then pointed a dramatic finger at the red-head.

"You thieving FOOL! You're going to destroy it!" He jumped out of the way as the VD stomped past him. Kaz yanked on the levers.

"A-Ah! Don't worry! I've got it under control!...Not." (A/N: Kaz...-_-;) He pulled back on the levers in his hands, making the VD wobble. Just past its foot, Kaz could see the sheer drop down into the water he would no doubt fall into.

"MY BEAUTIFUL CREATION! NO!" Kaz yanked as hard as he could on the lever, and finally the VD turned around. Kaz sighed in relief, only to gasp in horror as he realized it was now heading for H'earring! The raving rabbit screamed as he saw the VD walking towards him, and began to run in the opposite direction...which didn't really help at all.

"Turn right! Turn right!" He screeched at the human. Kaz pulled back as far as he could only to have the lever snap, leading him to tumble off the Vile-Driver. Ulmar ran screaming as the VD careened towards him, and watched as it smashed into the stone wall behind him.

"Well, that was fun!" Kaz called over his shoulder as he ran from the scene of destruction. "Let's do it again real soon! See ya, pal." He disappeared in a flash of blue code.

H'earring stumbled over the rubble of the Vile-Driver. "KAAAAAAZ! YEOW!" He was still running from Ulmar, who was ten times angrier now that his creation had been destroyed.

There was no one the as I sat down in the grass, wincing as I felt the dew seeping into my clothes. Pipori was there, and smacked straight into my face as I cried.

"WHY! I always screw things up!" I sobbed, feeling ashamed that I just ran off like that. I almost missed the blue light to my left, but I didn't miss the hand that planted itself firmly on my shoulder.

"Tom-" I jumped up, and whirled around, grabbing most of Peyton in a hug.

"I'm SORRY! I didn't mean it! Peyton, I'm so, so, so, so sorry!" I cried, only stopping when Pipori chirped from on top of my head. Peyton patted my shoulders as he began to speak.

"Tom, I wasn't makin' fun of ya. You see, a lot of newbie players look up to me, and think that my strategies are cool. I was explaining how I beat ya, because most of those kids don't have any strategies of their own." I sniffed and looked up from where I had been crying into his shoulder. Only to turned red again as I saw Najaryn watching us from the trees at the edge of the forest. He gave me an amused look complete with a raised eyebrow, and I let my face scrunch up as a sign for him to stay out of this.

"Peyton, I'm so sorry I over-reacted." He waved me off.

"I guess I shoulda been wording mah phrases a bit differently, bro. It's my fault." I sniffed, and the beautiful friendship moment was ruined by Pipori chirping and launching itself at Peyton's face. He fell over after being tackled, and pulled the puffball off like I had done.

"What in Chaotic is this thing?" I laughed as Pipori purred from where it hung from Peyton's fingers, it's wing gently pinched between the brunette's digits.

"It's called Pipori. I don't know what it is, but it was made by Najaryn." Peyton's jaw dropped.

"THE Najaryn? Dude, then this thing..." He trailed off, watching as Pipori fluttered onto my head. I giggled and held out my hand.

"Let's go back. I think we may have scared Ivan and the others enough for today." We ported back, but just before we did, I turned and looked at Najaryn. He raised his hand, and I waved back, mouthing the words 'Thank you' to him.

When we got back, everyone who could see us sighed in relief. I smiled as I realized they thought Peyton and I were fighting. Kaz zigzaged through the crowd, and stopped in front of us.

"Bout time Kaz. You missed a lot today. As usual." He growled, then straightened up. He started to say something, only to freeze as looked at my face. He then rounded on Peyton, grabbing his shirt collar.

"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?" He growled, and it was then I realized that my face was still red and wet.

"No, no, no! Kaz, he didn't- it wasn't - I was-" I cut myself off as Sarah walked up, then cleanly karate-chopped Kaz in the back of his neck, sending him to the floor. I let out a cry, "KAZZY!" and got to my knees to help him.

"Nice match Peyton. Haven't seen your 'Peek-a-Boo' strategy in a while." I managed to wake Kaz up, and after explaining the situation to him, we waved goodbye to our two new friends. Peyton suddenly got this freaked out face, and called to me, but by then the pinging noise was too loud, and then I was back in my room.

"Man, today was hectic. I think I've had enough drama to last my whole life." I heard a small chirp, as though Pipori agreed with me, and went to sit on my bed - Wait.

I walked over to my mirror - and clamped a hand over my mouth to muffle the scream I emitted. Sitting on top of my head was a familiar puffball, who purred and snuggled deeper into my hair.

I was able to stay conscious a few more horrified seconds before I fainted with a THUMP!

Keep going going going.