Tom sighed as he drove the car of his mother. He knew he had to be careful with it. He still had a huge grin manifesting on his face as he left the city. He went for a very important purpose.

The advantage was that the cult didn't follow him. The other was the sentiment of freedom to drive on his own since he got his licence.

As his dad told him, he was one step closer to be a man. When he told Milla'iin about it, he was met with confusion in the matter. For the creature, he just drove a battlegear, "His trial is about to start too," he thought back. It took almost a year to collect everything. The M'arrillian confessed every wrong doing he did.

He pushed that bit aside. He would watch the trial when it began.

He reached the next town and stopped at his destination. He waited at the front of her house.

Sarah quickly came out and waved at her parents, "Bye! I'll be back later!" she climbed in the car and her boyfriend drove to their destination.

Today, they were dating.

"You got an idea of the movie we are watching?" she asked.

"No idea what you would like," he replied with a smile on his face.

"Come on Tom. Don't make me choose all the time," Sarah countered with a fake pout. She held his free hand with her own.

"I don't mind."

"You choose this time."

"Okay!"

"You accept that really fast," she suspiciously commented with amusement.

"Yup. Just like I wanted," he grinned.

The two chuckled quietly as they reached the mall of her town. The two pushed aside all their fears and worried for Peyton and Kaz code. That was their code to worry about.

Chapter 12: The Meeting

In Kiru city, Tom and Sarah walked together to the castle.

"You know. It is a bit of a bad side that we are the one who has to worry about everything," she thought back on their Earth self.

"And let that waste our date."

"We will need a date in Perim eventually," she suggested.

"Yeah," Tom replied.

The two walked in the street and approached the castle. They nodded and waved at the creatures they crossed path with.

They could see the tall castle that stood above the large citadel of the Overworld. The two surrounded by tall and large walls. Those that resisted the M'arrillians invasion for a long time. It felt, but got back up.

The two knew, from the creature's perspective, that this citadel compared too little to the largest town of the Earth. Still, the architecture was superior to what was built these days on Earth.

"Remember the plan," Sarah told him.

"Yes. We go in the castle and we talk to Maxxor about the situation. He will not like that Kaz and Peyton got kidnapped. He knows what happened to Peyton, but not Kaz."

"And we have to let him know that you might be the next. If Wamma agreed with Odu-Bathax, then it's really serious."

"Y-yeah," he nervously replied. A few of the guards heard their conversation.

The two reached the entrance of the castle and noticed a few Mipedians who stood together outside of it. They were unharmed.

Sarah noticed they wore high quality clothes. She also noticed a bit of the decoration on their armors, "Those are the royal guards. Someone important is here right now."

"I see Intress," Tom pointed at the female creature.

Intress was an orange humanoid tiger with black stripes on her fur, white fur on her chest and her jaw, green eyes, long red hair and feline ears. She wore a brown loincloth and gray cloth on her chest. She talked with a few of the Mipedians. She looked a bit worried.

"Intress," Tom waved at her. They approached the creatures.

The Mipedians glanced at him, but didn't react to the presence of the Overworlder guide to the Cothica.

"Tom. Sarah. What can I do for you?" she asked.

"We came here to talk with Maxxor. We got something important to talk with what happened to Peyton and Kaz," Sarah explained.

Intress gave them a small apologetic smile, which told them there was indeed something, "I'm sorry, but Maxxor cannot see you right now. He is currently with a meeting with Theb-Saar."

"Theb-Saar is here?" the two humans asked.

"Yes," one Mipedian replied without giving the purpose of that meeting.

"He cannot talk with anyone right now. Not until he finished his meeting. You will have to wait, it might take a while since it just began," the female creature replied.

"Okay," Tom said while his girlfriend grumbled a little.

"What do you want to speak with Maxxor?" the Overworlder asked.

"As Sarah said, it's about what happened with Peyton and Kaz. Peyton got captured by creatures of a tribe we don't know about."

"I felt on one of them when we searched for Kaz. He also disappeared. He was one of the creatures who got Peyton and he quickly teleport away with a Telebracer. Theb-Saar knows about this."

"That explain why he came with an urgent meeting with Maxxor, barely announced in advance," Intress commented. She glanced at Tom and Sarah. With two of them mysteriously disappeared, she already worried for the Tom. Especially Tom, "We really need to keep an eye in our territory. If this new tribe can just teleport around, he might be able to ambush you two in some way."

"That's why we are coming here. Tom might be next," the teenage girl admitted. She didn't want anything bad to happen to her boyfriend. They went through enough already last year.

"It might be important that Maxxor knows about this. If this meeting is an alliance against this new tribe, then it would be an important reason for Maxxor to accept it. He is a bit reluctant with the last time Theb-Saar came and stole the plan of the Telebracer," the tigress told them. She turned around, "Come with me. I'm sure Maxxor will be happy to see you."

They walked inside the castle.

Intress decided to have a small talk before they reached the two rulers, "How is it going on Earth?" she asked politely. She knew they rather call their world Earth and would argue with it.

"It's doing good. I know that Milla'iin will have his trial soon and he admitted to everything he committed. It won't be a long one," Tom replied.

"While we are here, our real self is on a date. I hope it's going well," Sarah commented.

"I finally got my driver license. I can go around without the need of mom or dad to watch over me," the boy said with a large smile.

The creature rolled her eyes when they weren't looking at her. She didn't fully understand their custom, but won't criticize them for it. They reached the meeting room.

"I'll check to see if you can come in," the Overworlder told them.

She opened the door.

The two rulers looked at each other's in the eyes. They saw on a chair with only a large table between them.

"And why do you want to waste my resource on enemies that cannot be seen?" Maxxor asked politely. He was a tall green-skinned humanoid creature, with strange purple markings across his body and black hair with white highlights. He wore a red tunic and a brown belt with a blue gem on the middle.

Theb-Saar replied, "Because they targeted Peyton, our guide to the Cothica. Kaz, a friend of Tom also disappeared under strange circumstance and the only potential witness also disappeared with him. Those enemies have a Telebracer too and might use it for nefarious purpose. Maybe they are also working with the Elementalist that attacked you when you went to search to fix the portal."

"I agree that this is more than a coincidence, but the Underworlders aren't even sure it is the same thing as this tribe of metal creatures."

"I cannot disagree with that, but I don't want to take any risk. They kidnapped Peyton and let him go once. They might get him again or maybe Tom. Two guides already been kidnapped once. It might happen again," Theb-Saar punched the table in frustration, "I will not fail my friend again Maxxor. You are the one I trust the most in this matter."

The two rulers noticed Intress with Tom and Sarah. The tigress told them, "Tom and Sarah wanted to see you about something important. It is in the matter that you are engaging right now."

"Then do come in," the blue Mipedian invited them as he calmed down a little.

"I will appreciate your thought in this. As you can see," Maxxor pointed at his guest, "He is getting quite agitated in the matter," he turned his attention to the creature, "Theb-Saar, I know this is really affecting you. Last time, it was when your son was…" he said nothing more in the matter.

"Right," Theb-Saar took a deep breath, "I really have a bad feeling under my scales that something will happen. Something big and grave."

"What did you two want to talk about?" the green Overworlder asked to move forward.

"It about the possibility that Tom might be their next target," Sarah replied as she held her boyfriend hand.

The three creatures squinted their eyes a little, as the two guide of different tribes were in love somehow. The Mipedian still found it comical, but right now, he was in no mood to laugh or tease Maxxor, "Can you elaborate further?"

Sarah went on, "Yes. I went to visit the Danians and they are wondering when we might be next. It's not only that, but the two who disappeared are Peyton and Kaz. When I met the creature who kidnapped Peyton, he was in the Underworld and observed around. If the Underworlder's didn't know about a creature like that," she played with her fingers a bit nervously, "What makes you think that they are not around Al Mipedim, close to Mount Pillar or near Kiru city too?"

The creatures gazed at the humans as they thought more in the matter. It was true they had no idea if any of those creatures were spying around and planning something. They never knew about this tribe until Peyton disappeared and one was identified.

Maxxor let out a small smile, "Looks like it will be for the best to work together against this new tribe. If they really are around spying and putting everyone in danger, we need to work together and protect our friends," he crossed his fingers together.

Theb-Saar chuckled a little bit in relief, "I guess I won't have to ask Peyton to just stay in Al Mipedim anymore. I'm sure he will be happy about it," he put his right hand on the table, "We will need to plan everything. We need to find a way to find those spies and also the location of their headquarter or where their tribe lives."

"I won't go to war against their tribe without any reason. We don't know their motives and they didn't sabotage anything yet. Yes. They kidnapped Peyton and might get Tom, but we cannot put ourselves in a situation where they will decide that violence is the solution."

"Fine. We still need to find that location, just in case we need to get to the offensive," the Mipedian king conceded.

"This will be good news for Peyton," Tom said with a smile. He gazed at the ruler of the Overworld.

"Is this the only reason you came? We didn't see each other's for a while," Maxxor told him.

"I'll say we need to catch up a bit too Maxxor. We didn't have a casual conversation for a long time," the blue Mipedian commented as he sounded a bit melancholic.

"I won't disagree with this. Maybe we might get a scan later," Sarah replied when her boyfriend glanced at her.

"No problem. I still have more, but that's on my end for now," Tom commented when he thought back of the cult and Khybon hanging out on Earth right now.

"And later, we need to search for Kaz," the teenage girl thought back. She sighed as they had so much to think about lately, that she almost forgot about their missing friend.

AC: This is the end of this chapter. I have nothing else to add to it, so it ends a bit brutally.

Next: Contact.

Tom explored Underworld City and split up with Sarah. He searched, just in case he might find Kaz.