Chapter Two: First Battle
Kaz had explained about the battle dromes and how the players would turn into the creature to fight. Tom thought he was joking or trying to make him look like a fool. Kaz just said that he was telling the truth this time and that if he didn't believe him then he could just go ask his opponent.
So, now Tom was standing inside the Crellen Drome. He had just walked inside and his opponent was already there, sating up his battle team. His opponent was an Asian teenager with glasses.
"You're late." he said sounding annoyed.
"Sorry, about that." Tom said sheepishly.
"No worries you're new here right?" he asked, changing the mood in his voice.
"Yay, how did you know?" Tom asked.
"Your outfit is a dead giveaway." Tom felt even more nervous now and embarrassed.
"Major Tom please dock your scanner." A robotic voice said. Tom jumped at hearing it, but he didn't say anything, afraid that he might make himself look even more foolish. He did what the strange voice told him and was impressed by the special effects.
"I'm Sam shady by the way and I'm guessing your name is Tom." Sam said. "Since you're new would you like me to give you some pointers?" he asked, putting on a smile.
"Umm, sure that would be awesome." Tom said, happy that this guy was trying to help him out.
"Great, so what's your favorite Tribe?" Sam asked.
"Well, I like the Overworlders the best and I always have Maxxor on my team." Tom began to say, but stopped when Kaz appeared on his scanner.
"Stop talking to him, idiot." Kaz said, looking annoyed. He wasn't warring his fake mask like he had been.
"Why?" Tom asked not seeing the problem.
"Why?" Kaz repeated, his left eyebrow twitching. "Why don't you let him look at your deck and let him sit up your team for you well you're at it?"
"Okay, I get it." Tom said, realizing how stupid he had been for telling his opponent about his cards.
"Good, now listen. Sam is like me, only not as smart. He uses Underworlders and he normally uses ones with a lot of fire power. Your first match is a one on one, so that means one creature, one battle gear, one mugic and ten locations. Now, the wise thing to do is not to use Maxxor, since you already told him you like to use him, but knowing you wont just give Maxxor a battle gear and locations that work against fire."
"And why are you giving me strategy tips?" Tom asked crossing his arms, not trusting him.
"Good question. Hmm, I don't know. Maybe I'm giving you faulty information, so you can fail miserably. Or I'm just trying to help out. Which do you think I'm doing?" Kaz asked sounding sarcastic. Tom bite his lip not knowing what Kaz was playing at.
"I don't need your help Kaz, so just go away!" Tom said, angry.
"Fine. I'll be watching your match." Kaz said then turned off the communication.
Tom began to look through his creatures. After what Kaz said, he wanted to pick a creature other than Maxxor, but to his annoyance he also didn't want to use any other creature besides Maxxor.
In the end he picked Maxxor, giving him an aqua shield and a Fortissimo mugic. He else picked ten Overworld locations that would be good for Maxxor to battle in and would also weaken fire attacks.
"Lock your decks." The Chaotic symbol said. They both did what they were told to do and now there was no going back to change their teams.
"Major Tom, since this is your first time here you will be the attacker. Spin the location randomizer. "
Tom did what he was told and the location randomizer stopped on glacial plains. Since, Tom only had one choice he said: "Maxxor attacks Takinom."
"Please place your hand on your card." The robotic voice instructed, more so to Tom than Sam, since he was new.
Tom touched the card and was given a shock of a lifetime, when his hand began to turn green. Soon the rest of his body changed too. He was now a tall green muscular creature with black hair having some white strains that defied gravity and was wearing a red tabard/tunic. Sam Shady also transformed into Takinom, but he wasn't freaking out like Tom.
Kaz did warn Tom this would happen, but Tom was too freaked out to think straight.
"Aww! What is this?!" He shouted. "Get me out of this thing!" he demanded, trying to find a zipper.
"Ha ha, this is going to be fun. For me that is." Sam said in Takinom's voice. Sam in Takinom's body looked so much more confantent then Tom as Maxxor that it was plain to everyone watching the match that Tom wasn't Maxxor. Sometimes it can be hard to remember that the creatures playing in the dromes aren't the real creatures from Perim, but in cases like this it is just painfully obvious.
"Major Tom as Maxxor versus Sam Shady as Takinom at Glacial Plains. Let the battle begin." the Chaotic symbol said in that robotic voice.
"What battle?" Tom said, then looked over at Sam who had a mischievous smile. Tom could tell whatever Sam was planning on doing wasn't going to be a nice walk in the park for him.
"Oh no." Tom said, then suddenly and without warning a flash of bright light filled the room. Tom closed his eyes when the flash of bright light went off and he opened them a second later, but he wished he had not.
"It's official. I've lost my mind." he mumbled, slumping his or maybe Maxxor's shoulders; he couldn't tell anymore. All he could see around him was a frozen wasteland coved in snow and ice. Tom even thought there was no dirt underneath all the snow; that's how badly cover the place was.
"Man, it's freezing." he complained, crossing his arms and rubbing his shoulder to try to get a little warmth.
Thinking clearer, he remembered that Kaz had told him about battling in the dromes. He knew he could not get out of this frozen waste land until either he or Sam was coded. He also remembered that other players were watching the match, so he was going to try everything in his power to not embarrass himself in front of everyone on the first day.
Okay, just take one step at a time until you can find Sam and end this before you do something stupid.
He took three steps, but the ice was slippier than what he thought and he fall down hard on his butt.
"Ouch." he said. He tried to get up, but then fall down again. "This is not going to be easy." he stated while setting down on the ice.
Meanwhile in the Port Court, many of the players were laughing at Tom's expense.
Oddly, the only one not laughing was Kaz. He just rolled his eyes and muttered 'idiot' under his breath, so no one would hear him.
Kaz was sitting down at a table with four other player. Two were guys and two were girls; all four were in their teens.
"So, Kas I heard from the rumor mill that you meet this geek at the transport pads." one of the guys said.
"He's not a geek, just a newbie." Kaz defended Tom, not for just being nice, but because it was what his Chaotic self would say to keep up with his nice guy act. But a part of him was laughing in the inside, because it was now Tom who was getting all the insults and being laughed at for a change. "And how did you hear about it so quickly? It happened like less than thirty minutes ago." Kaz asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Okay you got me. I didn't hear about it, but you always welcome the newbies." the guy said.
"He's right Kaz." one of the girls with blond hair began to say. "I don't know how you do it, but you manage to always be inside the Port Court when new players transport their code for the first time."
"That's not true. There's been plenty of times were I haven't greeted a newbie when they get here." he argued. It was a half truth. He does normally meet newbies on their first day in Chaotic, but he doesn't always meet them in the Port Court.
"Whatever, so you think this guy is going to be any good?" the first guy asked.
"Hmm, don't know. Maybe." Kaz said. Kaz looked back at the large screen just in time to see Tom fall yet again, but this time he went over a cliff and screamed until he landed on a small ice cliff. "But then again maybe not."
Kaz was surprised to see Tom making a complete fool out of himself. Sure this was his first time in the dromes, but still it was pretty pathetic even for a newbie.
He almost felt sorry for Tom when Sam began to shut plasma arrows at him. Almost.
As the match went on, Tom slowly got better. Good thing for Tom that Sam likes to play around with weaker opposites or Tom would have been coded by now.
Tom and Sam were now inside an ice cave. It looked like Sam had enough and was about to end the match with a flame orb.
"Umm, Kaz I have a message for you." a shy and weak voice said.
Kaz looked away from the battle to see who had said that and what the message was about.
It was a small ten-year old boy and he looked just as shy as what his voice sounded like. He was wearing a simple white shirt with the Underworlder Rothar on the front. He also had on a pair of blue jeans and black shoes. Kaz knew this kid in fact the boy ran a lot of errands for him. Mostly messages from Chaotic and Perim. In return, Kaz gives him rare scans that would be too dangerous for the ten-year old to get by himself.
The other players at the table didn't take one glance at the boy. It wasn't a secret that he was Kaz's personal errand boy.
"Oh hello Cooper." Kaz greeted him with one of his best sunshine smiles. "What's the message?"
Suddenly, everyone that was watching Tom's match erupted into cheers and Kaz could hear the sound of chairs being scraped across the floor as players stood up from their sits to give the victor a standing applause.
A dark cloud formed over Kaz's head, but he somehow kept his now tenses smile. He didn't need to turn around and look at the screen to know who had won. No one would have cheered like that for Sam winning against a newbie. No, Tom must have won out of sheer luck.
Kaz was not happy. He was looking forward to seeing Tom get coded, but instead the idiot somehow won his first match. Kaz wasn't able to win his first match and to add insult to injury, Kaz didn't even get to see how Tom, a newbie, won against Sam, one of the best Underworlder players.
Only Cooper noticed Kaz's bad mood. Cooper is more than likely the only other player besides Tom who knows about Kaz's true personality, but he doesn't know half the things that Kaz has done.
In Chaotic, Cooper is knows as Kaz's errand boy while in the Underworld he is known as Kaz's minion.
"Umm, Kaz are you okay?" Cooper asked.
"Yes, I'm okay. Just please tell me the message now."
"You know who wants to meet you in Underworld City at the regular meeting place ASAP. You better go now before he gets mad."
Sighing, Kaz stood up and mumbled, "He's always mad." He grabbed his drink that was on the table. "See you guys later."
"Kay, bye Kaz." the blond girl said.
"Don't forget our match today at eight." one of the guys said.
"Don't worry I wouldn't miss it for the world." Kaz happily yelled out as he made his way to the transport pads. Before he left though he saw a teenaged blonde Australian boy looking at the screen where Tom had just won his first match. Kaz knew that look on Klay's face all too well. It was the same look Kaz sometimes wears when he his planning something unpleasant.
Good, I don't have to get my hands dirty. Tom's too gullible not to fall for whatever trick Klay is planning for him.
I won't update again in this story until after New Years. So Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!