A/N: And Ch 3 is rolled out of the woodwork! I don't own anything! If I did, I would be able to go to college.
Meet the Family Ch 3
It had been two days since the "Great Human Collapse," as Frafdo oh-so-charmingly called it. The humans who had schoolwork got it done within a half a day and the other half day was filled with worry for both Creatures and humans. Maxxor just about had a heart attack when Tom had a dizzy attack as soon as he stepped outside. When Tom came to, the first thing that Maxxor did was check him all over for any ailments. Other Creatures had reported the same situation and that calmed the Overworld leader a bit, but not enough for him to take any chances.
It turned out that the humans' senses were now sharper than ever, and the cities had many scents that overwhelmed the humans and caused the dizzy spells. Of course, it didn't compare to Tom freaking out when the full situation of "mergence of Earth and Chaotic selves" truly dawned onto him. It took Maxxor and Intress both an hour to calm him down.
Besides the dizzying spells, Tom seemed calm considering that he was stuck in Perim. He immediately went outside to burn off some energy. Of course, the Tribal Alliance had met the next day and he hadn't seen the boy all day. Chaor reported that Kaz was with H'earring near Fear Valley. Odu-Bathax claimed that Sarah was with Wamma and some other Danians. Maxxor had a feeling that Odu-Bathax had no clue what Sarah was capable of when she was angry. Prince Mudeenu reported the Peyton was with Sobjtek and Vinta in the Mipediam Oasis.
Maxxor frowned. He hadn't seen Tom for the past couple of nights. Intress had taken a squad of the Alliance to the Pouril Forest to see the portal. So he had been alone in his castle for the past couple of nights, which had been unusual. Sometimes when Tom visited and fell asleep in the castle, Maxxor would take him to his chambers and do work there while Tom slept. Intress often joined them and the two adults would quietly talk about their day.
Maxxor was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice Tangath Toborn walking into his study. The lion man grinned at his leader's frown.
"You know, your boy has been in the Arsenal for two days and a night. I half expected him to be here with you," Tangath said. Maxxor looked up from his desk.
"Tom's been in the Arsenal?" Maxxor clarified. Tangath nodded, and his grin started to fade.
"For two days and a night?" Another nod answered his growl. Maxxor growled again and got up from his desk. Grin gone, Tangath followed his leader.
"What's with Tom?" Tangath called as Maxxor rushed down the halls of his castle.
"Guilt!"
Intress frowned at Bodal. The short green Battlegear keeper was going on how hard Tom was working. She had returned from scouting the portal when she had heard that Tom was still in the Arsenal. Upon hearing the news, she sent her squad to clean up and headed to the Arsenal.
Where she was now, getting her ears jabbered off by Bodal. Finally, Intress had enough.
"Listen, Bodal! I just want to know if Tom had eaten in awhile, that's all," she said. Bodal looked confused for a couple of seconds, then he called over his shoulder, "Olkiex! Has Tom eaten anything?"
"No," was the answer. Intress groaned and face palmed at the answer. She sighed.
"I was hoping for the guilt to come later," she said. Then she smirked. "Then again, he is a true Overworlder."
Intress brushed past Bodal and into the main Arsenal hall, stocked full of Battlegear. It didn't take long for her to find the Italian-American boy of theirs. He was doing inventory of the Aqua Shields. Intress shook her head at the sight of the tired eyed and messy haired Tom as he continued with the Aqua Shields.
"Tom," she softly called out. Tom whirred around to see Intress standing by the Torrent Krinths. He gave her a weary smile before saying, "Oh, hey Intress. Didn't see you there."
The tiger woman Creature snorted. "I would say so. Do you know how long you've been in here?"
At this, Tom paused and looked out of the closest window to see the afternoon sun. "Um, all day?"
"Try two days," a deep commanding voice said behind Tom. The boy spun around to see his favorite Creature looking quite sternly at him. Maxxor continued to frown as Tom adopted the human "deer in the headlights" look. Whatever a deer was.
"Two days?" Tom gulped. Intress rolled her eyes and marched up behind Tom and placed her hand on his shoulder. She had a feeling what the problem was.
"Tom," she said. Tom looked up to her kind face.
"It's not your fault," Intress quietly said. Maxxor came behind the human and placed his own hand on the other shoulder. She glanced at her mate's face. "It's not really anyone's fault."
"Your mother will understand," Maxxor picked up, understanding what Intress going for. "She'll be worried, yes. But you'll be alive, and that's all that matters to her."
Tom buried his head into Maxxor's chest and nodded. He knew what they were going for, but still. His mother was almost thirty six when she had him, and with a teenage fifteen year old daughter and no father, dues became dear. Tom didn't even know what happened to his father. All his mother said about him when Tom asked was that his father was a good man and that he acted much like him. This disappearing act would scare her to bits for sure.
Intress patted his back as Maxxor seemed content with Tom's face in his chest. Of course, Tom's stomach chose the worst time to let out an audible growl. Intress snickered.
"Well, at least a part of you agrees with us," she continued to snicker. Maxxor huffed a laugh of his own as Tom blushed a brilliant red.
"Eat and then come up to the castle. The Tribal Alliance wants you and the rest of the players to write letters to your families, seeing as your other devices don't work," the large green Creature ordered, taking the inventory from the boy's hand. Tom winced, remembering how his cell phone made a terrible screeching when he tried to call his family. "Your friends should be here shortly to write as well."
Tom nodded smiling and left the two Creatures. Maxxor let out a deep breath and turned to Intress.
"Fast thinking, Intress," he complemented.
"I know," she said. "It was the second thought that came through my mind when they first collapsed at Mount Pillar."
(During the Arsenal Talk)
Kaz was jostled around in the Dread Tread. He didn't mind, however; he was quite used to the treatment of Underworlders and their gear. They were rough and tumble, ready for mostly anything. He doubted that no amount of preparation will prepare them for Tom's mother, or his own mother. She could be a wildfire when she wanted. His dad was the one who had to hold her back when she was about to hit someone.
When Kaz first entered the Dread Tread, H'earring was with him, looking concerned. The other Underworlders in the vehicle, Agitos, Swassa, Narfall, and Rothar immediately noticed that Kaz was a little scrawnier than before. He at the very least looked shallower than before. H'earring was as plump as a tick. Agitos sighed as Swassa drove the Dread Tread up to the Overworld.
"Oh, dear," the dragon Creature smirked. "Someone needs the 'talk.'" Swassa just rolled her eyes as Kaz turned an interesting shade of tomato red, his brain not up to speed without food. Rothar and Narfall snickered at Kaz's expression. They knew what he was talking about. H'earring just fainted at Agitos's sentence.
"Agitos, I've all ready had the 'talk' with my dad, I don't need it from you too!" Kaz protested. Agitos just waved it off.
"Not that kind of talk, child! The talk of guilt, have you had it before?" Kaz shook his head. "Well, it's about time you had it."
Agitos settled himself against the wall and began. "There are times where one knows when he or she knows that they are in the wrong, and they must right the wrong. And then there are the times where one thinks that they are in the wrong when they did nothing to think of such a thing. The Creature, or in your case human, begins to inflict pain on himself or herself, starving, or worse. It usually ends when another gives a talking to, like what I'm doing with you now. Do you understand?"
"Sort of," Kaz admitted. Rothar rolled his eyes and shook his great bull head.
"Kid," the minotaur started, slinging an arm around the red head, "what Agitos is saying is this simple phrase. This is not your fault, and get your butt eatin' again!"
Narfall revealed a large fruit, suitable for human consumption, and tossed it to Kaz. Kaz felt its soft fuzz, much like a peach's, and saw the dark blue strawberry shape. He glanced at Narfall, who nodded with a small smile. Kaz took a large bite, the juices coming out as a mixture of purple grapes and raspberries and the flesh of an apple. He chewed, feeling the texture and thick juice in his mouth and on his tongue. He smirked as he swallowed.
"This is good," Kaz stated, taking another bite. Swassa whistled.
"Narfall, you have another cavern fruit?" she asked, and the Elementalist brought out three more and tossed them to the other passengers. Poor H'earring was still out cold.
The Dread Tread finally broke into Overworld territory and rumbled on to Kiru City. More Dread Treads joined them, along with Levitaars, Mowercycles, and other vehicles containing more humans and Creatures alike. Finally, as H'earring came to, the large group entered Kiru City.
When Kaz stepped off the Dread Tread, the first thing he heard was "KAZZERS!"
Kaz was lifted up into the air by a pair of arms belonging to one PeytonicMaster. After five seconds, the ground met his sneakers again. Whirling around, Kaz came face to chest with Peyton. The brown haired teen had his trademark grin plastered on his face as Mipedians thronged around, mixing with the Underworlders. Kaz had a feeling that Peyton also had the guilt talk like he did. Danians were just exiting their vehicles and the players were greeting each other. Kaz noticed Sarah marching over and grinned. Peyton grinned as well. When the blonde girl reached the two boys, Kaz whistled.
"Well, Sarah," he said somberly, then broke into a massive smirk. "Did you terrorize the Danians while we were away?" Peyton laughed as Sarah huffed.
"For your information, I did not. A Battlemaster gave me a little talk and I did my homework," Sarah clarified. Kaz raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes and continued, "The talk was about the past couple of days, all right. Satisfied?"
The two boys nodded.
"Satisfied," confirmed Peyton as they were escorted to Maxxor's palace. Other players were escorted to various homes and eateries. Sarah, Kaz, and Peyton were led through a series of corridors which led to a massive room filled with desks, parchment, quills and ink. Tom was already there, a quill in hand and Intress at his elbow. Maxxor wasn't to be seen. Sarah grinned.
"Dare I ask who are writing too?" she asked, taking a seat of her own. Kaz and Peyton took seats as well, just as Chaor, Maxxor, Sobjtek, and Odu-Bathax entered the room. Tom glanced up and simply said, "My brother."
Kaz sighed and became limp in his chair. "Thank goodness. I thought you were going to write to your sister."
Tom's head shot up and gave Kaz an incredulous look.
"Do I look suicidal?" he asked his best friend. Kaz snickered as Intress and the rest of the Creatures became concerned. "Just checking."
Maxxor arched a brow and asked, "Dare I ask why writing to your sister 'suicidal', Tom?"
"Uh, yeah, bro. I was kinda wonderin' that myself," Peyton added. Tom snorted.
"My sister, Anamaria, has my mom's temper, only more volatile," the black haired boy explained.
"Yeah, once when we were like six," Kaz picked up, grabbing his own parchment and quill and inkpot, "we spent the night over at Anamaria's new place because she had just finished college and we were helping her move in. Tom and I made a sign and posted it on her front door when she wasn't looking."
"The next day, her next door neighbor, a nice dude, knocked on the door. She opened the door, the dude introduced himself as a 'Kevin Renth', and asked if the sign was true," Tom continued with a giggle. "'Course, Ana didn't know about the sign and asked the classic question."
"'What sign?'" guessed Sarah as she and Peyton grabbed their writing tools to begin their letters.
"Yep!" Kaz confirmed. Most of the Creatures were chuckling. H'earring asked in his scratchy voice, "What the sign even say?"
Tom and Kaz laughed uncontrollably. Finally, Tom answered, "Warning! Explosive personality. Enter at own risk."
At that, everyone groaned good-naturedly. Kaz continued to laugh. "I didn't know that she could throw an iron that far until then!"
"Thank the heavens we were near the back door!" Tom agreed. "If we were near the basement, we would've had more bruises that what we had."
"Tough, vicious, and has a tendency to overact and be overprotective. She does have her weakness, though," Kaz admitted.
"What's her weakness?" Takinom asked curiously.
"Heights. She hates them. Just looking at a ladder makes her weak in the knees," Kaz grinned.
"Don't forget the cold. She hates that too," Tom added. He looked at Maxxor with hopeful eyes. "Can we meet the welcoming committee at Ravanauh Ridge?"
Maxxor looked at Tom's expression and in a no-nonsense tone said one word. "No."
Tom pouted and muttered, "Curses."
Everyone shook their head at the two silly boys and returned to their writing. Finally, Intress asked, "What about your brother? I've heard about Diego. What is he like?"
Tom huffed a little laugh. "Diego is…calmer than Anamaria. Way calmer. He can see a situation and figure out a solution fast without losing his head. He's no pacifist, though. Joined the Marines when he was eighteen and climbed the ranks to captain. Diego worries about us as well."
Kaz nodded. "When my parents moved in next to Tom's mom, Diego was doing recruiting duty to be closer to home. He had constant supervision on Tom while his mom and sister went to work and school."
"He requested to be stationed on a base where he can easily go to Ma and me when his training was done," Tom added. Maxxor felt a small stab of jealously over the fact that Diego and Anamaria had Tom for all of their lives while Maxxor only had the boy for a year, but quickly buried it over the comfort that they had helped raise a fine boy. A quick glance at Intress confirmed that she felt the same.
"Yeah, but the big bad Marine still gets the snot beaten out of him when Anamaria gets mad at him for big screw-ups," Kaz stated. He paused, paling and turning a little like when he entered the Dread Tread. "Like she'll do to us if she catches us."
Tom smirked. "Kaz, she can't beat us up. We have a secret weapon."
Kaz deadpanned, "A secret weapon?"
Tom nodded, a twinkle in his eyes. "Il Contratto del Dolore."
The red head brightened at that. "Oh."
The others looked at the two boys curiously. Maxxor knew a little Italian from Tom, so he recognized "contratto" as "contract", but he didn't recognize "dolore."
"So, what are your parents like?" Takinom ventured cautiously. And with that, the humans began to talk other each other, offering a distraction for all as the letters were written, drafted, and sealed.
A/N: You'll find out what "Il Contratto del Dolore" is shortly. In the meantime, please review. Think of the future chapters.