Long time no read! (Blehh...) Oh well! Hope everyone's liking the story!

Angel/Ebberim's POV

Ebberim is even more agile than Intress! I wasn't just able to move around the streets faster! I could climb the walls too! I could weave in and out through windows, under carts; swishing and swaying with as natural ease as water! When I first met her, I thought Ebberim was only a retired warrior singing at the lounge. What she can do is amazing! Why would she give this up! Kiru City has plenty of buildings merchant carts and alleys to run through, I nearly forgot I was in the middle of a battle!

Oh shoot! Mr. Prentum!

I ducked behind the corner of a building and peered out. I looked up and down the street, but it was deserted. Instinctively I panicked! Where is he now? Is he watching and waiting for me to let my guard down! If so I should be code already! What do I do?! What am I- … doing? It suddenly felt like I'd just had a panic-attack. Sure, I was nervous at the start of this match but now there's this foreign emotion creeping into my head that says I never should have come here. Is that… Ebberim?

She was so calm when I met her back in Mipedian territory. Is she that afraid? Her Courage reads at a 50, not exactly high, but not all that low either. I've never freaked out like this in my life! What could be bugging Ebberim so much that she can't concentrate here? I remembered what Mr. Prentum had said before we even started all this. I felt more like myself and the shakiness slipped away. "He hasn't attacked me because he's giving me time to get into her head. So, c'mon Ebberim let's see that in your mind."

I relaxed, closed my eyes and 'searched' for the cause of Ebberim's anxiety. I slipped back farther… and farther, until-

Ah, there she is.

I stood among my other young tribemates next to the out wall of the Academy. My father had been a guard in the palace and my mother is a muge. When tested, it was found that I had the makings of a Stalker. But I just barely slid by. Perhaps the council judges a small bit of talent and believes the Academy teachers can bring it out to its full potential?

I mentally sigh and hope to the stars that they can. If I cannot play my part in this war… what kind of Mipedian am I?

Her memory went ahead further, to a time when Ebberim was older.

It's no wonder Zhade got the highest score out of all the simulation training. He's leading this mission with me and two other stalkers, not typical for him to be working with others. Still he even designated three critical points for reinforcements to come from while he sneaks into the Arsenal. Kiru City is such a different place. The buildings all go straight up and purpose is that it limits a Mipedian's ability to hide outside of our invisibility.

I just want to have one good look at this city before we leave here. It is my first time out of Mipedian Territory and-

No! How could be so clumsy as to slip?

I feel my body shift from invisible to visibly falling! Just as I catch the eyes of a guard!

I ruined the entire mission!

I snap back to my own senses. That was so trippy, but I really got something! Ebberim must have messed up on her first mission here, and now being in Kiru, or battles in general, makes her nervous. She never said anything about this when I was talking to her. Then again, I felt the same humiliation that Ebberim felt when she fell. "I'll bet that if she just had one more chance she wouldn't slip."

To prove it I went to the same exact building I saw in her memory. I climbed to the exact height that she did and dug my nails in to a steady position. There! Now I couldn't even fall if I wanted to! Confident in my position, I then felt relaxed enough to look out. "Whoa…" I breathed in awe at the view. "Kiru City…" Even Ebberim's night vision had nothing on the City in the daytime. The sandstone buildings glimmered in the sunlight, down below the streets curved in and out change from stairs to smooth paths for as far as I could see. And at the very center, most imposing and impressive of all was Maxxor's Castle.

Briefly I wondered what it would be like inside that magnificent structure when-

"Wakey-wakey!" Mommark had a bazooka aimed at me from a lower roof. My gut clenched and I tried to scamper away! But my claws! They were in too deep!

An electric-yellow light took over my vision, and I was standing back in the drom with Mommark on the other end.

When he turned back into Mr. Prentum he said, "Guess you got a little too deep into Ebberim's mind. What did you see?"

I felt mad at him for catching off guard when I was doing what he told me too, but I said. "She has a memory of Kiru City. Ebberim was on a mission and it didn't end well."

Mr. Prentum looked thoughtful and said, "Hm… Well maybe Ebberim wasn't the best first choice. I don't see her in battles often, maybe she's not so competent as a solo attacker."

I paused. Oh… he did not! "Competent?" If I really am readable, I hope my anger is clearly on my face. "Whoa, she has the know-how of a good Stalker, and she's as loyal as the next Mipedian."

Smiling, he held up his hands. "Hang on, now! That was just to make sure you were still in the game. It seemed like Ebberim's personality took over your own. Angel, you need to make sure that it is you battling. Ebberim's fights have already happened. So learn from what's there, but wield your Creature's powers to work to your advantage."

He's right. Back there I realized I became skittish and distracted by what I saw from Ebberim's memories. Guess I just let her take over, and it messed me up. I don't get scared! Not even when I climbed to the top of the observatory dome in elementary school and the adults couldn't get me down! I had a blast with that.

"Okay, Mr. Prentum. Thanks, and I'll keep that in mind for round two." My daydreaming cost me a Creature, if I lose one more the match is over and I'm code. I gotta be smarter about this one. But this time it's my opponent's turn to choose the location.

Meanwhile….

No One's POV

Manny, Kit and Kat were all walking together back to the table where they left Angel. "I tell ya I had him! I coulda won!"

"But you didn't." Kat deadpanned.

Kit spoke between them. "Guys, they called it: the match was a draw. There's no point arguing it now."

"But we will be arguining it again!" Manny declared. "Right, Kat-scratch?"

"That is the worst nickname ever." Kat said. Then she realized. "Hey, did we forget something?"

Both Kit and Manny tried to think if they did. Finally Manny asked, "Like what?"

"Like: how did this even start?" she explained. "Fighting for the better tribe, the match!"

"Oh, no!" Kit hit his forehead in realization.

"How could we forget that?!" Manny began panicking.

Kat shook her head. "We are the worst friends ever."

The three of them ran back to the Selection tables and to their usual spot to see where Angel had gone to. "Could she have gone home mad at us?" Kit asked worriedly, when they regrouped.

Manny pulled out his scanner. "I'll port back and check."

"Oi! Stooges!"

Insulted, but knowing the call out was for them the three friends turned to see Chad, the dubbed dirt of Chaotic, lounging in a chair looking over their way. "In case ya haven't noticed, your Perim pride and joy is up there."

Chad pointed up to one of the screens showing Frafdo playing under Angel's screen name against a powerful Gespedan in the Riverlands.

"Well…" Kit said, being the first to sit down and watch. "Guess the problem solved itself."

Angel's POV

Frafdo may the crankiest bird in existence, but man this bird has got eagle eyes! Frafdo's way of thinking is way different then Ebberim's. He couldn't be more at home in the Riverlands, as an added bonus- "I'm flying!" I cry out in a very un-Frafdo like way. "Wheee!"

"Don't forget to focus!" Gespedan calls to me from the riverbanks below. This guy is crazy fast. I have Gespedan in my online deck, so I have a basic idea of his stats. He shouts back, "Whatever you've got in your head combine it with Frafdo's skills. See if you can hit a moving target!" As for the guy wear his suit: I think Mr. Prentum is just having fun with this now.

We may be in the middle of a giant rushing river, but there are a few rocks stick out of the surface. He's somehow dashing in between them while firing Power Pulses at me. So One: I can't get a steady lock on his location for more than a second, and two: He's already hit me twice from my stalling.

Okay, maybe I'll let Frafdo take control this time. He's a lot more uptight than Ebberim. And right not I need the marksman I saw at Cordac Falls. I relax, not as much as before, and try to look into Frafdo's mind.

I'm standing in an open field with grass blowing. Three targets are in front of me. Whipping out three arrows I release them from my bow all at once.

Then another to the trap activating behind on my left.

Then on my right.

Then from behind the second target.

Over and over, sometimes before I even look, each target has an arrow right in the center. "It's not just the eyes." I say, repeating an old teaching as I look upon my success. "An archer hears and predicts where his target will be next."

Now that's specific! Okay, so Frafdo uses all his senses when firing a target. Maybe I can use that to land a hit on Gespedan? That seems to be the idea.

There are four rocks that he favors to stop and shoot at me from. But he can run to any which one at random. I just need to figure out the pattern in his movements and… Got him!

My arrow flies with an extra pulse of energy! It hits a very surprised Gespedan square in the face! He slips back and falls into the rushing waters! "Yes!" I cheer and throw my fist with the bow in the air. I swoop down to ready for another shot when I see Gespedan fighting against the current to get onto the rocks again.

An idea hits me. (Or maybe it was Frafdo.)

Instead of hitting Gespidan I shoot and destroy anything he can use to get back up onto land! If he can't get on steady ground, he can't run. I blast every single rock before he can get close to it. Once he tries a Vine Snare and I still blow it up before he can pull himself over. "Can't run on water!" I call down.

Yet for someone being carried away by a river, Mr. Prentum was pretty confident with that grin on his face. He called back, "But I can run between the drops!"

He reaches out Gespedan's blue arm and cries out "Surge Song!" I hear a small melody play and a ray of white light shines over Gespedan. Don't ask me how he did it, he just did. He shot himself out of the water and slammed a fist right into my face!

It knocked me down, right out of the sky and crashing into the riverbank. I took serious damage, but I wasn't code somehow. I've never heard of that kind of mugic. Then I remember that I actually did. It was another of Dad's stories, the mugic super charges speed, courage and pretty much everything about a Creature. For a limited time they are basically unstoppable, then they're left drained. So if I can stretch this out long enough the match is mine!

As I was getting up, I saw Gespedan already standing over me. "You're good PerimPride." He said, raising Vlaric Shard. "But even us old players gotta keep our rep a-" Remember all that debris I smashed from the rocks? Apparently we got down river before all that did and… A tidal wave of mud, water and stone crashed from Gespedan.

I held my arms up in automatic defense! When nothing happened, I opened one eye to see Mr. Prentum back to normal while I coded down from Frafdo.

"Well, that was pure luck." I said looking down at my normal hands in disbelief.

Across the Drome, Mr. Prentum began laughing. "No such thing! Angel, I did not see that coming. Ha ha haa! Oh…" He seemed to calm down.

"Still… What does it say about me if I win on accident?" I asked.

He said, "It says a lot about a game called, 'Chaotic.' But the Location conditions are fair game too. The thoughts of the Creature, the conditions of the Location, and even the mugic can all turn a match around. You don't give up when a match looks hopeless, and, Angel, you don't sell yourself short when the unexpected happens. You just have to be ready for anything. Don't put yourself down before you've even tried!"

I smiled at my opponent. He had reminded me of something. "It's the Player, not the cards." Dad's motto.

Mr. Prentum nodded. "Just like I told Tom."

I looked back at my board.

Then I did a double-take back at Mr. Prentum.

I asked him. "Could you… repeat that?"

He folded his arms and shrugged. "I'm the one who told Tom that. You can't when with a quitter's attitude. And you certainly can't beat a…"

I drew in a breath and finished. "Codemaster? You were Codemaster Crellan!?"

Mr. Prentum chuckled and shook his head before saying. "Was and is."

I blue light sparked and traveled in an electric flow up to the ceiling of the Drome. At the very center, the light met from all sides and shot down on Mr. Prentum. The light enveloped him, and ring of light rose up around him, revealing the costume and mask I saw on my very first day in Chaotic.

"No…"

Meanwhile…

Kit, Kat and Manny had all been sitting at a table watching Angel's match, they each had decided to watch it supportingly in their own way. Kit sat looking on with an elbow propping up his face, Kat had ordered a giant soda, and Manny had gotten every kind of snack he could carry! Chad had even decided to watch, munching on a bag of pretzels in the far back.

And when Angel's opponent was revealed to be a Codemaster, they each had their own reactions as well. Kit fell out of his chair, Kat's soda came out her nose, Manny nearly choked, and Chad let a pretzel drop from his unhinged jaw.

Back in the Drome…

"…way." I stood there, wide-eyed, not believing what was in front of me.

"You'll also learn a few things about who you're battling in here." He said in the now deep, robotic voice. I could still hear the friendliness behind it, though. "And just a heads up, PerimPride. When you face me after today, my cards won't be new scans that I'm testing out myself."

To say the least, I was starstruck. "Dad…he remembered you. He never forgot that battle lesson you gave him."

"I'm honored to be among legends such as Maxxor and Najirin, even so long after." He said. "Angel, I'm honestly not going easy on you. I never do that, no matter how nice I am."

I smiled. I felt proud to have beaten a Codemaster, my Dad's favorite even, in one round. Accident or not! "Hee-hee! Good! But I'm not giving up until the last card is played."

"Atta girl." He said proudly.

After the last round…

When the match ended, I had lost and I looked as Maxxor changed back to Codemaster Crellan. "Thank you for battling me." I said. "Even though I haven't won seven matches yet." Picking up my scanner, I still felt like I had gotten a lot out of this. I had won a battle against a Codemaster, and it being one of my first matches! I reminded myself that those weren't his usual Creatures so I shouldn't let it go to my head.

"Did you feel like you got anything from being a Creature?" He asked me. "That was the point of all this, remember?"

"Yes! Thanks for that too!" I couldn't forget how it felt to get into a Creature's mind. How heavily invested each of them is on their side of the war. The passion for protecting their homes, and how they've put everything in their lives towards saving their tribe. "But I can't say for sure if I'm on one side or another's yet."

"Don't worry about deciding that." He assured me. Talking to Mr. Pren- Codemaster Crellan was a lot like talking to an older family member. There's a familiarity and a kind of calmness that tells you to take what he says to heart. "In a way… we're both Chaotic Neutrals. We have the freedom to not choose sides and don't fall under pressure when people try to force a choice on us. You're not hurting anybody by not choosing, PerimPride."

"I just hope Ebberim and Frafdo never ask me."

"Even then, you'll still have a lot of doors open to you." I could practically see the smile behind the mask. "Like this one." He gestured to the door that opened back out to Chaotic. "Ladies first."

I walked out and turned back to see the door close behind me. "Well, it's his Drome. He can get out when he wants." I was going to walk back to the tables to see if my friends were back, but they were already running up to me!

"Angel!" They all cried out at once. Before I could respond back, they were right in front of me with Manny lightly shaking me at my shoulders! Kit and Kat were speaking at the same time as him too.

Kit: "How is it that we're gone for a few minutes and you score a match with a Codemaster? Do you know him? How did you get him to be your second match?"

Kat: "For real? You do all the really cool stuff while we're gone! Why do you always have to go running off on us Angel, haven't you heard 'all for one and one for all?'"

Manny: "Codemaster! Codemaster Codemaster! You lost to a Codemaster on your second match! You got one on him though. Man! I'm not gonna want dinner I'm so hyped!"

"Hey!" A fourth voice interrupted from behind them. I looked along with them and see that same Danian kid who got up in my face earlier. He was crouching on his knees and panting with his scanner in his hand. "Hey… I caught your match just now. PerimPride, right?" He made himself stand up straight. "I want to challenge you to a one-on-one match. You can name the Drome and I'll meet you there."

Another Chaotic Player, a girl with blonde hair, came running and pushed him aside. "Not so fast! I challenge you for a six-on six match in the Hotekk Drome, and I'll throw in a prime Lyssta scan. You don't have a favorite tribe, so she's a great asset to your team!"

"Bribes?" Kit raised an eyebrow next to me.

He spoke too soon, as more Players came running up asking for a match! My friends began acting like bouncers trying to push them back and arranging times for me to battle them. Realizing how my other problem had been solved by Mr. Prentum's match, I gleefully whispered back to the door. "Thank you!"

I love Chaotic!

A/N: Sorry I was gone for so long. My laptop broke and it wasn't until after the holidays that I got a new one all set up. And with school I'm not sure if I can promise a quick update. But I don't want to leave this unfinished. So if you like or hate it, please leave a review and I'll do what I can!