Someone asked a question about Tom that I think it's about time we address.

I think the best place to have it answered is... Kiru City!

Angel's POV

When my Chaotic-self came back, I was sitting with Manny and Mom at the dinner table. My scanner beeped and I pressed the button to get all my memories. "What's that, Angel?" My mom said looking up from her salad.

I waved it off and put my scanner back in my pocket. "Just my alarm being wonky. Manny have you gotten yours fixed yet?"

On cue, Manny scanner went off and he brought it out. From the shocked look on his face I could tell he had just gotten his own memories back too. "Uh… y-yeah! We should probably ask someone in the Club how to fix 'em."

Mom shook her head and went back to eating. "You kids really center your lives around that Chaotic club. Should I be looking for a tutor in case both your grades drop?"

"But they haven't, Mom." I pointed out. To be honest, Manny and I hadn't been all that focused in the Chaotic Club lately. Going to the Real Chaotic and the Real Perim kinda made our school club look microscopic by comparison. We still went once a week, but we got our fill of it through our codes.

Mom looked up at me with her serious face. "But they're not improving either. I just don't want you both to forget about your futures, high school will have a huge impact on who you'll become as adults, and I've been pulled away from home to go to work a lot lately. I want to be sure you both are using your time wisely."

I grumble. Mom has never been much fun. She acts like I'm one C away from summer school, when A's and B's are the norm on my report card. No way she ever went to Chaotic and did something risky like Mount Pillar or fight Codemasters.

Sensing the tension, Manny spoke up. "No sweat, Aunt Sarah. Me and Angel'll be hittin' the books hard tonight. That way you can keep the ants in line!"

"Har, har." Mom mock-laughed. Just then her phone went off and she walked out of the kitchen to talk to her associate.

I leaned over and whispered to Manny. "Way to go my fellow conspirator!"

He whispered back. "Yeah! And it sounds like she'll be home late tonight. So we'll download a movie and send our otherselves back to Chaotic tonight."

"It's a plan! I want to see Smoke Ninjas 3!"

"The Return of Tsunami?"

"Bingo!"

We returned to innocently eating when Mom came back into the room. "Guess who has to back after hours to view the new prototype mind-reader?"

That's Mom big invention. It's more like a cell phone that responds to specific thought waves or something. So far all testing has led to a lot of headaches for her and her research team. The way she explained it, it's how ants can send out distress signals and regain control when their lines are disrupted. Faster than a mass text and more specific in directions! But it's not even in the testing stages yet.

"You seem to be the lucky winner, Mom!" I joked. "That must be one crazy ant colony."

"Yeah, but not the craziest I've ever seen." She responded, grabbing her lab coat and keys. "As for you two: lock the doors AND windows tonight, put away the dishes, and start the last laundry load for tonight, and both of you are to be in bed on time."

"Got it!" Manny and I both said, innocently smiling and leaning towards each other. Mom gave us the 'I'm watching you' signal and locked the door behind her. We looked out the window and watched as she backed out the driveway and went down the road. Now, Manny does sleep and live in our guest room, or 'The Manny Cave' as he calls it. But his house is literally right across the street so he can go there whenever he wants. Mom is right to suspect that him staying over is a sure sign that we're going to get in trouble, then again tonight is special.

"Do you want to call him first before we start the movie?" I ask Manny.

He nods. "You lock up, I'll get the phone."

I roll my eyes at getting the harder job. Lucky for Manny I already took care of the upstairs, otherwise I'd let him have it. I run around the bottom floor making sure every door and window is locked tight before running back to the kitchen.

"Ready?" I ask Manny who's already sitting at the table with the phone.

He waved me over, "It's already on speaker, just waitin' for the dial tone."

It rang three times before… "YOOO! MA' BOI!"

"YOOOO! MA'DAD!"

Yep. On Friday night's Manny's dad is usually free after a gig so we call him to check in every week. "Hi, Uncle Peyton!" I say to the phone. "My Mom got called back to work, so it's us for tonight."

"Rockin'!" said Uncle Peyton. "And Angel I've been hearing how you two have been hittin' Chaotic. Manny won you over to the Mipedian side yet?"

I laughed lightly. "Sort of. I'm more of a… Chaotic Neutal, if you know what I mean."

"I think you just gave me the name of my next song, little lady!" Manny's dad is the lead singer for a popular rock band called Molten Code. According to Mom, Uncle Peyton has been the loud, creative type all their lives. Another hint at Mom's lack of knowledge of Perim is that she never mentioned anything beyond the card game when even talking about her past.

Manny then told his Dad. "Dad, you WON'T believe this! But… Angel scored a match with a Codemaster!"

"For real?" Uncle Peyton asked in surprise. "Angel you won seven matches that fast?"

I explained. "No, but I think he remembered my Dad and he saw no one else was challenging me. It was Codemaster Crellan, the original one."

"You sure?" my uncle asked us.

"Yes," I said, "He even remembered the match he had with my Dad after he lost his Maxxor card. I lost the match, but I did win one round."

"And now you're Miss Perim Popular." Manny added. "We had to write down names and schedule all your matches for the next two weeks! All of Chaotic wants a piece of her now."

"The life of the famous." I could tell Uncle Peyton was fake swooning. "Just so you're up to speed, Angelina, Manny also told be about Mipedian Adventures: Day One."

Then I said, "That's kind of what we were hoping to speak to you about." It was either get to the point fast or risk be laughed at again.

"Dad, you're the only one we can talk to who's been to Perim before us." Manny said. "Can you give us any pointers on where we should go next?"

"Or who?"

For a while Manny's dad was completely silent on the other end. That's even ultra rarer than Manny going into silent mode. Then again, it was a while ago and he probably had tons of memories to sift through…

"Have you…" he started. " Gone to Mount Pillar yet?"

"I did." I told him.

"But it's dangerous for Angel to go alone, Dad. We heard some of the top bugs talkin' and they say no girls anymore."

"WHAT?!" Peyton screamed. "Their leader is a girl! Okay, technically she's their mom so… Wait, what bug said this?"

"Angel?" Manny asked for clarification.

I told him. "Some Fire Gate guard called Wamma. He was willing to take boys prisoner, but any human girl in there will be blasted on sight."

"W-Well, th-that's just-! I mean back in the day…" He's mad. Maybe for my sake, but I can still port into Mount Pillar when I want. Thanks to Raznus. Taking a deep breath, Uncle Manny tried again. "Okay… Then what's the skinny on the Overworld?"

"Haven't really done anything 'cept Cordac Falls." Manny said.

His dad asked, "Have you or Angel gone to Lake Ken-i-po or Kiru City?"

"Neither." I said.

"Then 10-4 to Kiru City, kids!" He proclaimed. "The Big Perim Apple awaits! Tip: Hotspots include the Arsonal, Mugic Academy and Maxxor's Castle."

"Sweet!" Manny and I high-fived each other.

"Oh! And kids?" Uncle Peyton asked for us one more time. "Be careful what you say to Sarah about Chaotic."

In Peyton's Tour Van…

Peyton hung up the phone after saying good-night. He walked out of the booth area with slight look of uncertainty on his face. It would be his turn to drive tomorrow, but for now he sat down in the trailer's living room where two other Molten Code members were snoring away. The third, the base player known as Thorn, was driving. He hadn't heard everything Peyton had said, but by the look on his band mate's face…

"Why didn't you tell them?" he asked. Thorn had been a Chaotic Player back in his day too. Having traveled with Peyton long enough, he knew the implications of his friend's life, most of them anyway.

"Because it's not for me to tell 'em." Peyton said, not removing his eyes from the floor. "This is between Sarah and her daughter, much as I love them both I shouldn't start a fight I'm hundreds of miles away from."

"Oi, yeah." Thorn agreed. "Then why send them to Kiru City if you don't want her finding out?"

Peyton looked up now. Confidence returning to his face. "If she can't meet her mother's friends, she might as well have Tom's."

"Again: why not tell her?"

Peyton leaned back. "The fun is aaaalllll in the mystery, Thorn. And it's time to leave it to the kids!"

In Chaotic Port Court…

Kat and Kit were already there watching matches when we ported in. Without even greeting them, Manny slammed his hands down onto the table and said, "Time to go, amigos!"

"Go?" Kit asked adjusting his glasses. "Go where?"

"Serving, for your Perim Adventure of the Day: Kiru City!" Manny declared.

Hoping to get our friends on the bandwagon, I said, "We heard from Manny's dad that there's a lot to see and scan around there. I think it's worth a look."

Kat fully turned around, "Sorry, Angel. I'm not one to turn down a good scan quest, but Kit and I both have dates here in an hour."

"And by that she means we're scheduled for matches soon." Kit made it clear. "We'll definitely go with you on the next one, though."

"Awww!" Manny whined. "But we've hardly had any practice scanning as a group!"

I came up and put a hand on Manny's shoulder. "Manny, they can't help it. They can't just bail out last second, besides even if we all did go at once it would still be a pretty big group."

Kit piped in. "Isn't that good for safety?"

"It is," I said, "but in our experience we usually end up getting separated when we go in a group. Maybe going in pairs at a time is a better way for us to learn Perim's layout?"

Kat sent a knowing look Kit's way. "Yeah, Kit. You wouldn't want to lose your partner and leave them stranded in an unknown location, would you?"

Throwing his arms up, Kit complained, "How many time do I have to say 'My bad' already?" He crossed them in frustration as we all laughed.

"That'll be the challenge then!" Manny said. "Which of us will bail and come back here first? Gentleman and Kat, place your bets!"

Kat raised a threatening fist to Manny. "Okay, just for that I'm going! But after my match."

Kit shook his head. "She can't resist a challenge…" He sighed. "Then I'm in too."

And that's how it ended up as the four of us porting to Kiru City!

I wasn't sure what to expect. But being Ebberim in Kiru City was a lot different than being Angel Majos in the real Kiru City. I still got an old-world feeling, though Kiru City definitely has a more modern feel than Mount Pillar or the Royal Mipedian Fortress. And from what Kat and Kit told us, Underworld City has nothing on this! Dad described this place as the center of all Overworld society, he had so many good times here. True that I've claimed to have no favorite tribe, but I guess the Overworld will always have a special place because of Dad.

Kit, Kat and Manny were possibly just as amazed as I was. Though they were quick to snap out of it.

"Not bad, not bad." Kat folded her arms.

"Can't really tell one building from another." Kit added.

Mannyput his arms around the Underworld twins in a tight hug, "Oh, don't you both go spoiling it! We all got our time with our Dads' tribes, today is Angel's turn!" Then he released them, allowing them to breath and patted me on the shoulder. "So Miss- Neutral-But-Slighty-Overworld, which way do we go?"

I looked around the streets. I felt so frozen in place. Like I was in a place I did not belong, but wanted to see everything right away! I barely heard my friends talking to me as I looked around. "It's…even better than Dad described it."

I know I said it loud because Kat got me in a one-arm head-lock and said. "Aw! Angel's having feels!"

It didn't hurt, but I tried to get her off, pulling at her arm and trying to duck away. Both of us laughing at my poor attempts. Then Kit came over started trying to get his sister off. "Kat, we've talked about this!" And behind us Manny was laughing at us just because! The moment almost completely eased off my nerves. Me and my three best friends just goofing off and about to tour another Location together when-

"That's her!" The yell was loud and from very close by.

I turned, still in Kat's grip with the rest of us frozen in place. Three green-skinned guards in Overworld armor stood at the corner with one of them pointing at us.

"That's the girl. Capture them!"

We took that as our cue to run!

Kit shouted as the guards chased us. "What did you do, Angel?"

"Nothing! You guys know I've never been here before."

A paper whizzed by us and I heard it hit Manny in the face. "Pah! Well, it musts been somethin'!" Manny shouted. "Cause this ain't a picture of Kat!"

Still running, he passed it up to Kat who handed it to me. I can't read in Perim language, but Manny was right. This looked like a wanted poster. And the Chaotic Player drawn carefully on it was definitely me!

"Oh man!" I said, letting the paper go. "Now I'm glad Dad isn't here."

The guards chased us for well over half an hour before we lost them. Running for our lives didn't really give us much of a chance for sight-seeing. But that was the least of our worries right now.

"Look, Ange," Kit panted as we all stopped to rest in an alley. "I believe you when you say you haven't ever been here. But could something you've done somewhere else, maybe to an Overworlder, have led to this?"

"You have gone on a few scan quests by yourself." Kat added. "You must have some Overworld Locations."

I tried to think back. Back when Manny, Kit and Kat had really been into the Drome battles and I hadn't, I would often go on little outings by myself. "There… was the time I met Yokkis and Lystone."

"I know about that one." Manny said, being the slowest to catch his breath. "You fell into a trap in The Forest of Life Location."

I finished the rest of the story. "But then Lystone flew me out. She was sweet, and even offered to help me get back at Yokkis." We stuck bunches of rotting fruits in his house's roof windows and under the front door. In minutes, Yokkis came coughing out from the terrible stench. "But he congratulated us on it and the three of us even ended up doing a few other pranks on other Creatures going around the forest. I got a lot of great scans that time!"

"Though it looks like you ticked enough people off by it!" Kit grumbled.

Then Kat said. "Overworlders are too sensitive! If that's what it was, then why aren't there poster of Lystone and Whatzit?"

"Yokkis." Kit corrected.

"Whatever."

Manny broke between them. "Think it was Frafdo? I mean, sure you helped him out, but could he have something against ya for it?"

I shook my head. "No. Being in Frafdo's head I'm a little more sure that he's s stuffy eagle. But he wouldn't be ungrateful enough to do something like this."

It was quiet so we all began thinking about what could be the reason for me to become a wanted criminal in Kiru City. Kit even suggested we port back until all this cooled off, but Manny reminded him of our bet and that none of us had gotten a decent scan of anything except this alley we were hiding in.

Somehow I started thinking of another time I had hidden from Perim authority. "Maybe it was Maxxor who made the call." This time, my thoughts were more purposely out loud. It got everyone's attention for sure. I sighed down-heartedly. "Guys we didn't see any other Chaotic Players when we came in here."

"It could just be a slow day." Offered Manny.

I told them. "No, I think this might be something else. Guys, my Dad told me that the first time he saw Maxxor, he didn't trust humans. They got on better terms later on, but… I don't know, maybe something has changed?"

They all looked together a bit bewildered. My Dad knowing Maxxor wasn't a big shock to Manny who also knew of few of Dad's stories, and the twins' took it casually when we told them because their dad had known Chaor. I always had the feeling Dad always had something more to add with everything he told me. Used to be that would make it more exciting for next time. Now…

"E-Even so," Kit came over and stood by me. "That doesn't explain why you're picture is the only one up. I mean, you can't be the poster-child for Chaotic Players." He turned back to his sister and Manny. "Can she?"

"Eh…" Kat looked off down to the entrance.

Manny averted his green eyes from us. "She does have three matches scheduled for tomorrow…"

I grumbled and went to lean over against the wall of the alley to think. What did I do? Some of the Mipedians (mostly Mudeenu) don't like humans, but Overworlders generally seem so… I placed my hand on the light brown stone to prop myself up. I felt depressed, not knowing what you did to get punishment it terrible. In sympathy my friends all came over to comfort me.

The wall suddenly gave way and I was already falling backwards when Kat reached out to grab me! In the second I felt her hand, I was already falling so hard that I saw he going down with me. Seeing his sister about to fall in that instance, Kit reached out to catch her by her shirt, while Manny in turn tried to hold Kit.

In short: we all fell through a hole in the wall together!

We all screamed out in surprise a little, but I made it a point to cry out. "Not again!"

Unlike the Mipedian Tunnels it wasn't so dark as we fell and it didn't last all that long. We all landed in a pile and groaned as we got back up.

"What was that?!" Kat asked, rubbing her back where Kit and Manny had fallen on her.

I was the one to reply. "A Bodal Tunnel."

Adjusting his glasses, Kit asked grumpily, "What's a Bodal Tunnel? And who would put a trap door in the middle of the city?"

"Dad told me about these." I said, getting up. "Not everyone, Creature or otherwise, knows about them. But they're how Bodal gets around Kiru City for Battle Gear deliveries or escaping if there's trouble."

The room were was made of stone bricks and it looked like the lighting was powered by electricity. There were also three passageways in front of us. Dad told me that a person should be careful if they fall into one of these Tunnels. Bodal isn't one to enter a fight, he's not they only thing to worry about when down here though.

"So," Kat said putting her hands on her hips. "Same problem as when we got here: Which way do we go, Angel?"

"Who goes there?" echoed a voice off the Tunnel walls. "No one's supposed to be down here!"

More trouble!

We should have run, but the light with its owner was already standing in front of us.

To be continued...

I should write more about the kids doing something together. Hm... and maybe next time I should do something with Manny having the spotlight?

We'll see!

See ya next time!