Okay guys, let's go!
Tom: Well, it's good to see you again, but what took so long?
Kaz: Off flirting with some cosplayer again?
Ehehehe, that's not true. But actually, this year I turn eighteen! I'm so excited! July 1st will be the day I become an adult!(jumps for joy)
Kaz: Actually, 21 is the age considered to be adult.
(falls from her happy cloud and lands on her butt) ...Shut up, Kaz.
Anyway!
CHAPTAH!
STARTO!
"Man, that was complete and total genius! And Chaor didn't cream you afterwards, either! Kaz, you are one crazy brother, you know that?" Riley, Kaz, and Ivan were munching on pizza, as Kaz regaled the story of how he had helped Chaor defeat Van Bloot.
"Boy Kaz, you sure are brave. If I ever faced down Chaor and had to tell him what to do, I'd faint!" The small brunette said smiling. Riley grinned as he mussed up Ivan's hair to the point that it stood up straight like a mohawk.
"That's why you're the shy, introverted lady-killer, kid." Ivan scowled and swatted the dark-skinned boy's hand away, smoothing down his hair. "By the way, where's your brother at? He should be here by now, right?" Ivan shrugged, not really caring about it. He was used to his brother running off all the time, and since he had friends to hang out with, Ivan never felt like he was alone.
"BugBoy! Sweet match yesterday, mah man! Mipedian Madness is runnin' wild!" Ivan perked up, and turned in his seat to see his brother walking around and greeting his various friends. The blue-eyed boy smiled at the warm, energetic grin on Peyton, knowing what it felt like to have so many people who liked talking to you. Kaz rolled his eyes and got up, Riley following suit, and Ivan was up last, as they walked towards the large boy.
"Well, if it isn't ChaoticCutie herself." Ivan tried not to giggle as the blond girl Peyton was referring to laughed and greeted him back. His brother knew how to charm, which was more than what Ivan was capable of. "Haven't seen you since that mujical night we met in the Glumec Swamp." She giggled even more, blushing and smiling. "You got my number." Peyton said, holding his fingers in the shape one would use to symbolize a phone. "Use it! Soon." Ivan rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"If he were any smoother, he'd be slipping on his own feet." Riley muttered, which made Ivan and Kaz titter silently. The red-head decided to spare anyone else from Peyton's compliment rampage, and called out to his friend.
"Hey Peyton!" When the brunette looked over, Ivan saw the mean girl, Krystella, sitting at the table just in front of his brother. "You gotta come check out my new cards!"
Peyton smiled. "I'm coming right atcha, Kazzarino. OW!" Ivan couldn't help but snort at the nickname. Peyton began to walk forward, when IT happened.
IT being that Krystella stuck her foot out, tripping the brunette and consequently causing his drink to fly up and land on his head, drenching him. He glowered at her as she stood smirking at him.
"Oh, what happened Peyton? Trip over your ego?" He stood scowling, and Ivan gulped, even as the crowd called out 'Oooh.'
"Uh, no Krystella. It must've been your broomstick!" He shot back, the crowd catcalling at the comeback.
"Nice. You see a powerful woman, and you think 'WITCH!'. Well, I see a testosterone-challenged, self-deluded, grade A GEEK! With less than zero fashion sense, acting like he knows everybody and everything. And I think, this is your typical, all-mouth, no brain male!" The crowd catcalled again, and Ivan felt cold pass through him as he realized that this was about to dissolve into a fight. He started forward at the time Kaz did, grabbing onto his brother's arm.
"Okay, show's over, nothing to see here!" The red-head tried, as Riley made shooing motions to the crowd. Ivan whimpered quietly.
"Did you hear what she- Lemme at her, Kaz! I can't let her insult my mother like that!" Ivan almos let go in confusion; when had their mom been included in the tirade? Kaz rolled his eyes, pulling back on the muscular arm he had hold of.
"Peyton, she didn't insult your mother." The red-head whispered quietly. Riley was now flailing his arms in the background, trying in vain to make people disperse, with no luck what-so-ever.
"If my mom heard what she said, believe me she'd be insulted!" Peyton growled, rearing against the two holding him back.
"Forget it, Peyton. She's not worth fighting. Let's just forget it and get going." Ivan nodded, trying to make his brother turn away.
"Yeah bro, you shouldn't let people get to you like this. We promised we'd go Scanning today." Ivan uttered, tugging hard on his brother's shirt. Peyton felt his anger drain away when he looked at Ivan. His little brother, who he was supposed to be setting an example for. He turned and they began to walk away.
Krystella was not one to let things slide, though. "Well, look at that. Walking away, how typical of a guy. Even better that your little brother has you wrapped around his finger." Peyton whirled about so fast, Ivan clutched to his arm to keep from falling over.
"You. Do not. Insult. MY BROTHER!" Peyton raged, starting forward. Ivan darted in front of him, face turning red.
"Peyton, STOP!" The older boy halted, his eyes wide. "You told me you'd never fight in anger ever again! Remember?" Ivan lunged at Peyton, wrapping his arms around his brother to anchor him down. "Don't fight angry, right? Don't fight angry." Peyton stared for a moment, before bringing his hand down on Ivan's head and ruffling the brown and green colored locks.
"I'm not fighting in anger." His gaze grew hard as he looked back up at Krystella. "I'm fighting for pride." Ivan was frozen for a few seconds, then as Peyton walked forward, Ivan burst into tears and ran off. Peyton turned in alarm, but Riley waved him off and took off after the younger Ronelli sibling. Peyton turned back to Krystella, fire in his eyes.
TITITITITITITIT
"Um guys, why did I just pass by Ivan, who was crying, and had chocolate smeared on his face?" Tom asked as soon as he found Kaz and Sarah. They were sitting just behind an enormous crowd, who were wildly cheering for the fight on screen.
"Peyton and Krystella had a cat fight, Ivan told Peyton not to fall for it, he did, and Ivan ran off crying." Kaz explained hurriedly. "Riley found the best way to calm Ivan down was chocolate and candy." Tom nodded, watching the small boy weep in the corner.
They watched as Krystella, who had morphed into a creature that resembled a fairy though a bit more beastly, and Peyton, who had turned into an ogre, duked it out. Peyton won the first match, just as Tom had come walking up. The next match was Takinom versus another ogre-esque creature. The pattern repeated, Krystella won, then Peyton, then back and forth.
"Oh man. I never realized how strong the girl creatures could be!" Tom exclaimed, watching as Krystella's creature darted between attacks. Sarah turned on him.
"What's that supposed to mean, huh? Did you think girls were weaker than guys?" Tom gave her a blank look.
"Sarah, my mom throws the mailman over her shoulder when he's late delivering her Better Homes monthly. There is no way I could even BE convinced that girls were weak." Sarah had the most incredulous look on her face, until Kaz piped in.
"Yeah she did it this morning before school. He went sailing right over the rose bushes." Sarah smirked, though she tried to hide.
"Besides, my mom was the one who trained me after my accident. I learned all my moves from her, so there's that as well." Tom turned away, his mother's face appearing in his mind. 'My okaa-san was the only one who wanted to, anyway. No one wanted to teach a blind kid how to fight, but she insisted that I could do it.' He was brought back to reality by a wild cheer.
He was confused by the commotion, until a beautiful Creature, who resembled part woman, part tiger, emerged on screen. There were dreamy sighes from all over, and even Ivan gasped at the female's beauty as he came over, Riley gaping with a dropped jaw at the screen.
"Who is that?" Tom asked, his voice hushed by the silence that had erupted over the room. Sarah cut through the fog, rolling her eyes at the expressions on their faces.
"That's Intress, one of the fastest, smartest, toughest Creatures in Perim!" They watched as she darted through the rainy jungle, her ears flicking one way then another. Ivan gasped.
"I've heard of her. She's one of the OverWorld three! Najarin, Maxxor, and Intress! They're the strongest of the OverWorlders, ever!" Riley gaped at him, then turned back towards the screen. They watched as a giant blue wolf riding a skeleton horse came charging through the undergrowth, straight at Intress. She jumped far into the air, and screeched so loud it created a sonic wave that threw the blue wolf from the saddle.
"Woah! That was amazing! Just how powerful is Intress?" Tom muttered, his eyes practically glued to the screen. Sarah smiled, she definitely preferred Tom's view of this battle. Instead of focusing on the gender of the Creature, he was interested instead by their stats.
"Very powerful. Like Ivan said, she's known as one of the OverWorld Three. In fact, if not for her, there'd be a lot less OverWorlders right now." That certainly caught Tom's attention. He, Ivan, and Riley all looked at her in confusion.
"I understand that she's powerful, but what do you mean that, Sarah-chan?" Tom asked, fiddling with his goggles. She rolled her eyes.
"Well, obviously you heard about Intress and the Passage, right?" The response she got was a confused stare and a shake of the head. Ivan shyly raised his hand.
"I know it." Sarah smiled at him, trying to make him feel comfortable; she had seen how Peyton was just before the match, looking all over for the boy. Siblings had a bond unlike any other.
"If you do, then why don't you tell us what you know?" Anyone who knew him knew that Ivan loved to tell everything he knew on a subject. Ivan perked up, smiling as he launched into the story.
"Well...everyone knows about the Passage, right? The stairway in the volcanic crater that connects the UnderWorld and OverWorld together. The OverWorlders guard the top, while the UnderWorlders guard the bottom. One day Intress went on guard duty, but found something unexpected..."
[[[[Flashback]]]]
Intress walked into the mouth of the cave, her eyes sweeping for any sign of her fellow OverWorlder. She sniffed the air for a few seconds.
"Zalig? Are you sleeping on the job again?" She called humorously. She walked forward a bit, before her eyes rested on a scorch mark on the wall. A fresh scorch mark. "Zalig!" She darted forward, running her hand over the mark, feeling the still-fading heat. "Still warm..." A loud, ominous sounding roar grabbed her attention.
"Zelvar..." A brutal UnderWorlder, with an even worse temper. She darted back out, and proceeded to jump straight down into the stairwell. She landed quickly, just as a pained shout echoed up from the lower levels.
"Zalig!" She unsheathed her claws, and leapt down again. She found herself looking down at two UnderWorlders, a bug-like warrior and a large blue wolf-like creature, both whom were attacking Zalig with heat blasts. He collapsed against the wall behind him, and Intress felt her blood boil.
"You UnderWorlders never fight fair, do you?" Zalig groaned as he attempted to get back up. The blue wolf grinned as they advanced on the injured Zalig.
"Heh, we're at WAR. Everything's fair." Intress leapt and screeched as they powered up for a last attack. They looked up as she was about to land on top of them, and began to fire at her instead.
She dodged the fire blasts and sent a torrent of water at them, which ended up hitting the bug-creature, who was sent back over the cliff. If not for his extra hands, he would've fallen straight down back into the UnderWorld. She landed in front of the wolf, who turned to her grinning.
"You're not bad, but I'm SMOKIN'!" He quipped, breathing a thick fog of gray smoke at her. She leapt upwards, out of reach, and came back down as the fog faded.
"That was hot...This is cool!" She said, rearing back for an attack. "FROST BLIGHT!" A wave of intense cold shot forth from her mouth, knocking him backwards off the cliff. She scurried up to the edge and looked down to see him just barely hanging on.
"Next stop, the UnderWorld." She was about to strike him off the rock face, when the bug creature called out to her.
"CAREFUL, LADY!" She turned to see him, and Zalig who hung from his claws over the side of the cliff. "Unless you wanna take that trip too." He called out the other. "Zelvar! You alright?"
Zelvar, who grip loosened a bit and had him sliding down, growled. "I've been better."
Zalphar roared at Intress. "Help him up! Or your friend goes down." Zalig struggled uselessly in Zalphar's grip, and Intress knew she had to make a choice.
She let her hand hang down, and several vines extended from her fingertips. They wrapped around Zelvar's arm, pulling him upwards. She dragged him up and over the edge, then turned to Zalphar with a snarl.
"There. Now, let Zalig go." Wrong thing to say.
"If you say so." Zalphar released the energy-arm that held up the OverWorlder, and Zalig went plummeting down with a scream.
"NO!" Intress shouted. She kicked Zelvar away and dove off of the cliff after Zalig. She faintly heard Zalphar crow in victory. But all of her focus needed to be on Zalig. She speed downwards, and threw her hand out towards him. "Vine Snare." The tendrils from before shot out, wrapping about Zalig and catching him. She then shot her other hand to a rock jutting out of the face of the cliff, and used it to pull them back up. She pulled up Zalig and roll him over, face up.
"Come on Zalig. You've been through worse than this." He did not wake up. Intress panicked. She pulled out a blue, seven-sided ring, and let her power flow into it. "Song of Resurgence. Restore Zalig!" The tune of the mujic sounded, Bu-Be-Ba-Be-Bu-Be-Ba, and a pillar of pink-red light surrounded the warrior. He drifted back down as he regained conciousness.
"What happened?" He questioned in an out-of-breath tone.
"Zelvar and Therax ambushed you. They're targeting the tower. If they get control of it, they'll get control of the passage. You're in no shape to battle them. But I've got to." She stood, but Zalig held her back.
"No, Intress. You can't do this alone." She gently pulled her arm free, smiling at him.
"Don't worry." She said jumping upwards into the air, landing on the stair steps. "I always land on my feet." With that, she took off towards the top. She caught up in no time to them, Therax hovering over the edge and calling downwards, listening to the echoes. She felt a small bit of annoyance flicker through her at their conversation.
"Would you stop that!" Zelvar growled, glaring at the bug-creature. Therax glowered back.
"Why should I? Who's gonna hear me, Intress?" The blue wolf creature rolled his eyes and went back to climbing. Therax called out again.
"Hello~~~~." He did not expect to have Intress pop out from under the ledge, say 'Hi', or proceed to Flash-Warm him to the floor. All three of these things happened, though. Zelvar turned around with a snarl, just before she did the same to him, landing on the other side of the stairway.
"You hurt my friend. Very bad idea." She said, stalking towards them on all fours, snarling when she got close to Therax, who panicked. Without warning, stone began to drop down on top of them, and Intress skittered back to avoid beng crushed. Zelvar laughed.
"Here come our friends." Intress looked back, jumped, and was blasted forward by an explosion. A giant, metal, spider-looking machine rose from the smoke. It aimed at her, and fired. When the dust cleared, Intress was no where to be seen.
"Heh, that's one way to skin a cat." The driver of the machine, a yellow and fat UnderWorlder, cawed in delight. Intress was actually just under his nose - under the machine, specifically. She had leapt forward and darted under the machine, sinking her claws deep into the metal. She watched Zelvar and Therax were freed, and climbed aboard the machine. She rode it upwards and watched as the tower was destroyed, listening as Chaor's voice sounded over the din, roaring about a sneak-attack that would fell the OverWorld forces.
'Okay Intress. Time to gut this big bug.' She leapt up onto the back leg, and aimed at the back of the machine. "ROCK WAVE!" The attack sent a wave of stone jutting out from the cliff, which the spider-walker simply climbed over. Intress felt a wave of panic run through her. She jumped away, and spun several yardsof Vine Snare around the leg, chaining it to the rock. She leapt towards another rock and did the same, looking up only when she heard Zelvar exclaim.
"Intress? IMPOSSIBLE!" She darted off the machine, ensnaring another leg. A screechy hatch opened behind her, and Zelvar's voice called out a threat. "Time to de-claw this kitty." She spun round with a growl, just as they both cried out "FLAME ORB!" sending twin flames at her.
She darted out of the way, landing in front of a leg, which wobbled when hit by the flames. She snuck past them, to a nearby safe spot.
"Two guys against one little girl? It hardly seems fair." She heard Zelvar say. It caused the irritation from before to come storming back. She peeked out from the side of the machine.
"You're right." They gasped in surprise upon seeing her. "Next time, bring more." She leapt onto the rock face, and turned towards the underbelly of the machine. "RUSTOXIC!" She yelled, breathing a dark red smoke at them, causing a layer of rust to form over their bodies, rendering them immobile. She jumped up, up, up, and turned to face down the metal monster. She yelled as she sent a powerful Rock Wave down the cliff, knocking the machine off. The creature driving it screamed as they all fell.
Intress watched, waiting until a faint boom signaled that they had landed, then began to jump down until she spotted Zalig coming up the stairs. He watched as she landed beside him.
"What in the OverWorld was that?" Intress took one last look down into the dark, before smirking.
"Boys and their toys." Came the catty remark.
[[[Back to the present]]]
"And that's the famous story of Intress." Ivan finshed, the crowd around their table bursting into applause. Tom was gaping widely, and his mouth clicked shut.
"Wow. To think that Intress is so powerful...I need to add her to my deck fast! Sarah, I don't suppose you know where I can get one do you?" The blond smiled, twirling the straw in her drink around. Kaz smirked.
"Well, Intress is pretty cool, but Takinom's better." Everyone at the table rolled their eyes. Sarah pointed towards the screen.
"Look!" Intress was running fast through the jungle, leaping off a cliff, and landed hard in the mud. Zelvar was riding the skeleton horse, which leapt after the tiger-female. Zelvar threw several bolts of blue-white flame at her, all of which missed. He then created a regular fireball, and held it while his eyes scanned for the female hunter.
Without warning, a rock caught the back of his head, causing him to turn and see Intress, smiling jauntily at him. He growled and ushered his horse forward towards her. She dodged by flipping upwards into the tree tops. He halted the horse, turning it around, and began lobbing fireballs at her as she jumped and somersaulted through the tree limbs.
She grinned, and without any hesitation several Vine Snares exploded from underneath them and incased the horses legs. Zelvar freaked.
"Frost Blight!" Intress chanted, the ice attack instantly freezing the UnderWorlder into a popsicle. Intress leapt up and sent one last wave of cold at Zelvar, exploding him into cold. The match ended, and the winer was revealed to be...
"PEYTON?" The crowd screamed in surprise. Ivan's jaw dropped, Riley dropped his slushie, and Sarah, Tom, and Kaz simply stared as the rest of the code disappeared, Peyton stretching his arms in victory. He began to address Krystella as the entire room tried to figure out when Peyton had become Intress.
"Well, Krystella, gotta hand it to you. That was one of the toughest matches I've ever been in." Tom began to snicker. "Not THE toughest, but tough. Congradulations! In my book, you're right up there." Kaz let his hands cover his face.
"Aw, thank you Peyton. And as far as I'm concerned, you're number one. On my enemies list." She sighed angrily, turning away. Peyton smirked.
"AAw, lemme file that. Under 'who cares?'!" The screen fizzled out, and the rest of the room was left in complete confusion. Ivan shook his head, eyes wide in puzzlement. He turned to Tom, who was grinning widely.
"I don't get it. Did the guys win, or did the girls?" Tom simply laughed.
READ AND REVIEW! Whew, long chapter this time. Hope everyone enjoys this, because next up we'll be seeng Tom kick butt with a codemaster! Next time in Battle Lessons! Oh, and the whole 'don't fight angry' thing will be explained later.