"C'mon Peyton! Kick that Codemaster's code!"
As normal, the port court was as crowded as it could be. With such a popular game as chaotic, who wouldn't want to be where all the action was. And it seemed that today's main attraction was Peyton, the one and only, rematch with CodeMaster Imthor. The chaotic player had managed to get 7 wins in Imthor's drone once again, and was currently in his Codemaster match right now! So far the match had been rather close one, with both of them down to their last creatures.
"He's almost got him" Sarah, on the edge of her seat, smiled widely. She'd been there from the start, not wanting to miss this. "He just needs to be careful and he'll win!"
"Man, Tom's going to hate that he missed this!" Kaz exclaimed, clutching his drink in excitement. "He's been wanting to see Imthor battle ever since we met the guy! Plus, Peyton's strategy is great!"
"Well you called him to tell him, right?" Sarah glanced quickly at Kaz before turning back to the tv, her eyes practically glued to the screen.
"Yeah, I tried, but he said he was busy." Kaz rolled his eyes. "I swear he's going to regret not coming, I haven't seen a match this good since-"
Kaz stopped mid sentence, hearing the telltale sound of someone getting coded. Turning his head back to the screen, he frowned as Peyton slumped in defeat, and Imthor quickly changed back from his Aa'nue scan.
"You battled well, Peytonic Master." Imthor said, walking across the platform to meet with Peyton. His golden mask and monotone voice stopping any emotion from leaking out.
"Same to you, Dude," Peyton replied cheerfully, but his face didn't hide his tired acceptance of the defeat. And before anything else could be hear, the screen shifted to another battle.
"Man, he's been so pumped about this match…" Kaz said, turning back to Sarah. Slowly the conversation volume in the Port court rose, now that the codemaster match had finished. It wasn't a rule for the port court to quiet down during those matches, it was something everyone did. You'd never know when you'd hear a good comeback or a secret about Chaotic.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go meet him by the trams." Sarah sighed as she excused herself, getting out of her chair and grabbing her neglected drink. "You coming?"
"Sure," Kaz said, getting out of his chair and making his way through the departing crowd. "But as I was saying, Tom's been exploring the desert for nearly a week now. He hasn't even ported back here except for water and to avoid any random sand storms."
"He's trying to find tribeless, right?" Sarah asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well it going to take longer than a week to find any. Tribless are known for two things, and one of them's their ability to hide. If they were found too easily, then there probably wouldn't be any Tribeless at all!"
"Far enough, but what's the other thing?" Kaz asked just as the entered the tram station. It was surprisingly empty for that time of day, with only a few other players here and there. If you listen well enough, you could still hear the commotion of the port court. It's faint echo only eerily set up the grim nature of Sarah's next few words.
"They're often too dangerous to mess with." Sarah's replied, too lost in her search to realize how dark the words sounded, her eyes focused on an upcoming tram. Peyton's signature green shirt showed through tinted windows. "But that's never stopped anyone else before…"
During these past few days in the Mipedian desert, Tom had realized something important about himself. Something he should have known by now, but for some reason seemed to elude him until this very moment.
Tom hated the Desert.
He hated it so, so much; because every time he thought he saw something, no matter if it was a glimmer on the horizon or a dune that looked a little bigger then the rest, the results were the same.
It was either a mirage, or just more sand.
"Why couldn't they have been somewhere wet, like the waterlands or a beach?" Tom groaned as he trudged through the sands, knowing fully well why there were there.
If they even were there...
To be honest, Tom was starting to think that maybe Smildon had tricked him. It would have been out of character though, as Smildon was more of a creature of action. And the way he and Hitali chatted that night, it had to be true.
But he'd gone to countless settlements, on both the Mipedian and Overworld borders, and all the answers had been the same; no one knew any odd creatures passing by. And that was with the places he wasn't kicked out of…
Looking at his map once more, Tom felt himself scowl as the countless X's graced his vision. All a bunch of dead ends, towns with no answers and Oases with no creatures. With a sigh, he folded up his map and grabbed his jacket. With the almost finished setting, colder weather was bound to come with the up and coming darkness.
Above him, the stars slowly began to appear, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, it only improved. They glowed and flickered with a vibrancy he'd never saw at home. The stars, with their own constellations and clusters, were always nice to look at in Perim. He'd overheard from Bodal and Maxxor that there were names for these constellations, but he couldn't really remember them. Mostly the creatures used them the same way humans used to, for navigation and such. Yet they were often depicted in overworld arts, and most likely in Mipedian arts as well…
And even though he might port back empty handed, the view of the night sky would at least make this trip somewhat worth it.
"Maybe I should just call it quits." Tom sighed, flopping onto the sand and finally allowing himself some rest. A solid week of nothing but sandy shoes and tired limbs, and he'd gotten nothing. Maybe taking a break would allow him some time to rethink his strategy, and maybe find some new leads...
The wind blew by him, gently stirring the sands, but nothing more. It was almost as if it's silence was answering his question…
And then, a few feet to his right, the ground exploded upwards, with a shower of light and sand.
Tom scrambled, as quickly as some one near an explosion could, from the spot, his mind frazzled by the suddenly loud boom. He could barely see past his own face, the cloud of sand that formed had blocked his vision. He tried to keep any sand from getting in his eyes, else he'd have to waste his water.
Yet, a beam of light cut through the cloud like a hot knife through butter, nearly grazing his cheek as it landed in the dunes behind him. Quickly falling back down to the ground, he tried to gather his senses. His ears were ringing, he could barely see, he was stuck in a battle between some creatures…
Tom reached for his scanner, but something grabbed his arm; something slimy and wet and definitely not Mipedian.
Before he could even yell, he was hoisted up and restrained, his arms and legs bound by limbs that glowed in the sandy darkness. The smell of fresh water filled his nose, and as the sand cleared, Tom began to notice more and more creatures around him. Only their figures could be made out, though.
"Don't come any closer!" The creature holding him screeched, looking around frantically. Tom tried to get out of his grip, but found himself tightly pulled to his captor. "Or the-"
"Let go of me you slimy sack of scum!" Tom yelled, unable to do much else.
The other creatures froze, but so did Tom's captor. Two snail like eyestalks slivered down, gazing at Tom for a moment, before a surprised squeak escaped the captor. "A-A-"
Before anymore could be said, something seemed to grab Tom; not physically, but mentally. Believing it to be the M'arrillian, he tries to fight it off, but he soon realized he wasn't even looking the creature in the eye…
Slowly, the scene around him shifted, morphed, changed into nothing but inky blackness. The feeling of someone holding him remained, but as Tom looked around, he couldn't see anyone there.
"W-what's going on?!" He yelled, only to find his words sucked away from his throat, pulled out of his head and towards something else. "L-let me go!"
Yet the void did not respond. It nearly began to pull more and more from his mind, from his memories. Friends, family, enmities; all their interactions became to merge and be robbed from him. He felt tears start to trickle down his face as he forgot names, places, even simple words…
And, for a moment, all was still…
Then, gently, his memories were given back to him. Everything was still dark. The feeling of being held was slowly drifting away again...
There wasn't a sound or a speckle of light, there wasn't a scent or a taste in his mouth…
Tom felt numb, like he wasn't even existing. It was almost as if he'd never been in the first place…
It was peaceful, but frightening all at once. His mind screamed with each new thought, but his mouth remained silent. He felt like he could be everywhere at once, but nowhere at all….
Slowly, voices faded in and out, dancing all around him. His mind tried to place faces with those voices, to attach names or at the very least species, but he couldn't. Even though, at the moment, they sounded so familiar, he couldn't place a single person. Imagines, slowly fading in, meshed around in his head like a thick memory soup. Slowly, he felt the air upon his body.
Slowly, he regained his senses…
His eyes opened, once, to see an odd creature. They seemed to be arguing with someone, but the moment they saw Tom's eyes open, they stopped and stared. He stared back, his mind was too foggy to look around, to panic...
Carefully, the green creature reached up, gave a sad smile, and shut his eyes for him.
He didn't fight it, he couldn't…
He felt his senses fade once again, and he embraced the emptiness once more…
Slowly, as he felt the grass under his hands and the cool breeze on his face, Tom opened his eyes...
...and woke up.
"...ugh, my head." Tom groaned, trying to shield his eyes from the harsh sunlight peering in from the trees. In the distance, he heard birds chirping and bugs buzzing, completely normal for the Forest of Life.
But Tom didn't remember coming to the Forest of life, he didn't even remembering porting out of the desert.
Slowly, shakily, he tried to stand. The world started to spin the second he did, so he quickly opted to return to sitting and gathering himself. As he looked around, he did notice that yes, this was definitely the Forest of Life. Yes, he was currently sitting dazed and flat on his ass. And yes, for some reason, all his stuff was gone…
And there was an odd pain in his shoulder…
Lifting up his shirt, which seemed far more tattered then it had before, he noticed his shoulder had a huge scar upon it. It was ugly, and still seemed ache, but it was clear he'd been doctored while he'd passed out. The memory of the night before came back in waves. The blast, the M'arrillian, the…
Wait, what else had happened? And more importantly, why hadn't he ported back when he was hurt? Wait...
"My scanner!" Tom cried out, instantly reaching into his pockets for the familiar device. When his hands wrapped around it, he felt his body relax, the tense moment gone. Pulling it out, he noticed how it seemed to be a bit banged up as well, no doubt matching its owner. "Oh man, that could have been bad…But it still doesn't explain how I got here...or where all my stuff went…"
Closing his eyes, he tried to let himself calm down and see if any sort of memory flow back to him. Yet everything afterwards was blank. He remembered…
He remembered….
"Ugh...c'mon!" Tom yelled, eyes screwed tight as he tried to recall anything that happened the night before. Yet it only came up empty. "How the heck did I get this scar?!"
Maybe whoever found him hastily casted some mugic, not knowing that if he'd scan back he'd be fine. Maybe that's why he was here, in case he'd died. It would be troublesome to deal with a dead human, and if they were tribeless, it'd no doubt bring unwanted attention…
But the Forest of life was way too far from the Mipedian desert to travel in one night!
"But...they could have used a flux bobble…" He muttered, trying once again to get up. His time the world seemed to comply with his wish, as it only spun slightly before he got his balance. "Ugh, man Kaz isn't going to believe this…"
Pressing Kaz's screen name in his contact list, he examined his surroundings more deeply as he waited. The place looked familiar, but then again, that was easy to say in the forest of life. You could get lost for days if you didn't know where you were…
"Tom?!"
Tom looked down at his scanner and smiled. "The one any onl-"
"Where are you?! Where the hell have you been?!" Kaz yelled, staring at Tom with a look of shock and rage and relief and worry and so much more than Tom had expected. "Are you hurt?! Why haven't you-"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down Kaz, where's the fire?" Tom replied quickly, not sure what was even going on. "I'm in the Forest of Life, and I'm fine, except for this weird scar I got on my shoulder-"
"Don't move! I'm on my way over!"
"Wait, Kaz-"
Before anything more could be said, Kaz had signed off as he ported onto Perim. Tom scowled down at his scanner, knowing it would have been easier if he'd simply ported into chaotic. Yet, maybe waiting here would be a better idea. It would give him time for his head to clear, and if he ported back, the evidence of his latest adventure would be wiped away.
It would be a few minutes later that Tom would spot Kaz. The redhead was wildly running through the woods, looking pretty bad off himself. Tom called out when Kaz began to miss him.
"Kaz! Over here!"
The moment Kaz turned to face Tom, it finally clicked that something was very, very wrong. Kaz's eyes seemed more sleep deprived than normal, his hair a bit more unkempt than before; hell, he even looked more scrawny then he usually did. Yet what cue Tom in on the most major change, what really tipped him off, was how Kaz's eyes lit up when they spotted Tom.
He bolted, and nearly tackled Tom in a hug. It took the overworlder player everything in him not to fall over, as his previous case of vertigo came back ten fold.
"Oh my god Tom! It really is you!" Kaz yelled, pulling away to get a better look at him. "Do you have any idea what you've done to everyone! We got a good third of chaotic looking for your sorry code, jerk!"
"What?" Tom raised an eyebrow, mild panic running through his body. "Why? I've only been gone like, a night! Did something happen?"
"A night?!" Kaz pulled away completely now, happiness taking a back seat as rage began to shine through. "Tom, you've been gone for six months!"
The rest of the afternoon consisted of Tom blankly staring as Kaz ranted, cried, and called everyone up on his scanner to let Tom know he was alive.
Tom just stared at the current date on his scanner, as if he was about to wake up. As if this was some sort of crazy dream…
He really wished it was…
Carefully, the tide speaker watched as the boy conversed with his friend. She felt the staff between her claws strain under her weight, but it was enough to keep her standing…
The ritual was a success. The boy remembered almost nothing, which was far better than what she expected…
Just as she heard footstep enter her cave, she lifted a clawed hand and touched the tide pool. The imagine befor her rippled out of existence, and with it her worries. That boy was safe, safe from harm and safe from them.
And they him, as well.
"Tide speaker!" A voice, young and normally mirthful, called out. Yet now, it was solemn and frightened. She knew why. "Tide speaker, is he alright?"
"Yes," she muttered, turning to face her guest. "The boy woke up fine, his memory of us is gone, and his friends are with him now. It seemed all went well."
"Oh…Good. That's good." The young speaker stated after a moment, their hands going to grab the strap of their satchel, wringing it sadly. "That's very good."
"Oh come now," the Tide Speaker muttered, shuffling closer to the young speaker and laying a clawed hand on her shoulder. "You know this is for the best…"
"I...I know, I just wished it didn't have to be…"