A Human in a Chaotic World Chapter 5: The Passage, a chaotic fanfic

Here's the next chapter!

Note: Some episodes I am doing out of order, as there are a few episodes that could potentially happen at any time in one season. For instance, this chapter here takes place right after season 1 episode 7, Buggin Out, but before episode 4, 5, or 6.

Now, there will be weird body proportions in this story, so I apologize in advance if it disturbs you at all. I am aiming for a great variety in body shapes and sizes.

I also apologize in advance if who i pick to genderbend bothers/annoys you. That was not my intent.

Disclaimer: I do not own Chaotic. Not at all!

Now, let's resume our tale!

The Passage

Two days later…

Gavin smiled a little as he ported into Chaotic, a small green backpack on his back along with a purple water bottle. "I cannot wait to go to Mt. Pillar!" he said quietly with excitement as he looked at the nearby food court, watching the various players talking and walking about. "Got a couple more songs that I think they'll like," He continued, before he spotted Tom and his friends sitting at a table. 'I wonder what they're going to be doing today?' He thought as he looked at them.

As he did so, Kaz looked in his direction, and his eyes widened slightly upon seeing him, before he quickly ducked his head down and looked away. 'What in the world?' Gavin thought as he stared at Kaz with confusion, before he noticed Sarah looking down at the table like it was the most interesting thing in the room. 'Why are they acting that way?' he continued as Tom and Peyton looked down as well, before Tom's eyes looked at him and then quickly shot away back to the table. '…What did they do?' He thought with realization, recognizing the actions as being very similar to the ones the younger kids would do at the orphanage whenever they did something they weren't supposed to.

He then started to walk towards the food court, eyes trained on their table as he went. 'What could they have done to make them act this way?' He thought as he walked, trying to think of something. 'Did they go into a forbidden cave or building? Did they not get a scan they wanted?' he continued as he passed by a few tables, while the group continued to look away from him, with Kaz looking the most nervous.

About three minutes later, he reached their table, and frowned slightly. "What did you guys do?" He asked them a bit firmly.

"What are you talking about?" Tom asked as he slowly looked up at him.

"We haven't done anything," Sarah replied as she looked at him in the eyes. "At all," She added quickly, her eyes darting to look at the other guys for a few seconds before she looked back at him.

"Yeah dude, we haven't done anything," Peyton said, leaning back in his chair as he spoke.

"Y-Yeah, n-n-nothing at all," Kaz added with a shaky nod. "We certainly haven't gone anywhere we're not suppo-oof!" He was cut off by Sarah elbowing him in the stomach, who looked at him firmly with a glare.

Gavin's arched eyebrow went even higher. "Where did you go?" He questioned them as his arched eyebrows fell into a slight furrow.

"N-Nowhere special," Tom replied, looking away as he spoke.

"Oh really," Gavin said with an arched eyebrow, not believing him for a second. "And what place was that?" he asked.

"Oh! Um, uh, just…Mommark's laboratory," Kaz replied. "Y-Y-Yeah! We wanted to show Tom here where he makes his monsters!"

At that, Gavin hummed, and cocked his head as he looked at each of them carefully. 'It sounds possible,' he thought as he looked from Peyton to Sarah, who looked back at him with a firm look. 'But I just don't feel right chalking it up to that,' he continued as he moved on to Kaz, who was looking rather nervous.

"What did you see there?" he asked him, looking at him somewhat firmly as he did so. "Any new monsters of his? You see Staluk?" He continued, while a bead of sweat ran down Kaz's face as he looked at Gavin.

"Mmmmm well, um, we, um," Kaz stammered hard as Gavin's eyes looked into his, his heart racing while more sweat ran down his brow. "We, umm, saw," He continued, closing his eyes tightly as he spoke. "We saw…the Danians in Mount Pillar!" he said very quickly, sounding very nervous as he spoke.

"Kaz!" Sarah exclaimed as she and the others looked at him with wide eyes, while Gavin blinked a few times, his eyes quickly widening as well.

"Sorry!" Kaz said to his friends with an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry, you went to Mount Pillar?!" Gavin exclaimed with shock, frustration building up inside him as he looked at them. "After I said not to?!"

"I wanted to get some new Danian battlegear scans," Sarah explained as she looked at him. "And maybe scan a new Danian while I was there," She continued, causing him to frown and growl a bit with frustration.

"And how did that turn out?" he asked her with a bit of a sarcastic tone, cocking his head and putting his hands on his hips as he spoke.

"It started out fine," Sarah replied with a smile, leaning back a bit in her chair as she spoke. "Managed to sneak into one of the Armories and scan one of their newest battlegears, the Stingblade," She continued with a smirk.

"But then she got caught, so we had to go rescue her," Tom added, causing Sarah to frown a bit.

"Mhm, and what happened when you did that?" Gavin asked, having an idea in his head of what happened.

"Well, we got in easily thanks to Peyton," Tom replied, while Peyton smiled proudly, leaning back in his chair as he did so. "But then we got captured by the guards, before we escaped with the help of Sarah's Damian friend Wamma and came back here," He finished.

"Hmph! And then we had to go back and get Peyton from them," Kaz said with a frown as he looked at Peyton, who whistled innocently as he looked away from him.

"Oh dear Kami," Gavin said upon hearing all of that, rubbing a hand down his face as he spoke. "I can't believe you did that. I can't believe you did that!" he continued with a groan. "Now they're gonna think that you guys got in because of me and be angry at me! Dammit!" He growled, rubbing the bridge of his nose hard for several seconds as he tried to think of his next move.

"Okay, look. As of now, I don't want to talk with you guys for a while," He said to them firmly after a minute had passed. "I'm gonna go to Mount Pillar and try to fix my now-damaged relationship with them," he continued with a very big frown. 'And hopefully not get parasitized again,' He thought to himself. "DO NOT follow me!" he said emphatically, staring at them firmly. "Okay?!" He finished, before he turned and started to walk away from them.

"Guys, I think we messed up," Tom said sadly as he watched Gavin walk away towards the teleportation pads. "Big time!"

"I can't believe Sarah snuck in to get some new scans after I told them all not to! I knew they'd have a pretty good chance of being caught!" Gavin growled with frustration, blatantly ignoring with annoyance and anger the fact that since the Danians were so closed off to outsiders, sneaking in was presumably the only way for players to get scans of Danian items and beings. "It gives humans a bad reputation to them and makes things more difficult for me!" he continued as he reached the teleporter pads and ported to the outskirts of Mount Pillar.

"I mean, I'm the one who meets the Queen and Princess face to face!" he growled as he started walking towards Mount Pillar, frowning more while nervousness began to build in him. "I'm the one who's the most at risk of getting parasitized or worse!" he continued as he got closer and closer to one of the gates.

Soon, he reached the gate, and the guards guarding it frowned as they pointed their stone-gray cyclances at him. "Halt human! Come no closer!" One guard said firmly to him, clutching his cyclance tightly as he aimed the head of it directly at him. "Go away!"

"I'm here to speak with Queen Illexia," Gavin replied as he held up his arm, showing them the Danian bracelet. "I was here two days ago to sing for her," He continued, while the guards looked at him and the bracelet, before humming deeply.

"Mmm, we shall let Odu-Bathax know you are here, human," A guard said to him, before grinning slightly. "But don't expect him to be happy about you being back. He's in a rather foul mood," he continued, sending a shiver down his spine before the guard turned and headed into the Hive.

"Of course he is," Gavin said with a sigh as he stood there. 'Oh Kami, I hope I come out of this alive and still able to visit the Hive,' He thought while he looked into the Hive entrance, watching for the large form of the teal-colored Battlemaster.

Several minutes passed, before Od-Bathax came out, an angry look on his face. "So, you came back," he said with his Southern-sounding accent being a bit thick with anger. "Good," He continued as Gavin took out his scanner and held it out towards the Danian. "Cause we got some business to take care off!" he growled as he took the scanner with one hand and firmly grabbed his left arm with another, his compound eyes narrowing ever so slightly and turning a light red shade while he looked at him.

"That's why I came so soon! I want to get this mess my fellow Chaotic players made taken care of too!" Gavin said to the Danian as he practically dragged him through the North Gate and into the Hive, forcing Gavin to move his legs rather quickly.

"Oh, so you know about their escape?" Odu replied with a bit of an intrigued tone in his voice, before frowning more as they went down a hallway. "Well then, you should know that the Queen is very upset about this situation!" He continued, causing a large shiver to run down Gavin's spine. "Heh! I wouldn't be surprised if she parasitizes you as punishment!" he said with a large grin, causing Gavin's heart to start racing.

'Oh dear Kami I hope not!' He thought as they went, while other Danian guards looked at him as they walked past them with narrow eyes, frowns on some of their faces while others chuckled evilly. 'I don't want those parasites in me ever again!' he continued. 'Ohhh! Please don't be too mad! Please be willing to hear me out!'

"Or perhaps she'll let me keep you as my permanent prisoner as an example to other Chaotic players!" Odu-Bathax continued with a somewhat evil laugh as they walked, with Gavin feeling more and more nervous as they went.

Soon, they reached the throne room and came to a stop in the middle of the room. "Ahhh, it's very good to see you again, human," Queen Illexia said as she pulled back her curtains and looked at him from her seat, with Princess Aszil doing the same. "We have some important business to discuss," She continued with a glimmer in her deep red eyes, her tone of voice sending shivers down his spine and making him feel even more nervous.

"I…I figured," Gavin replied, while Od-Bathax tightened his grip on his arm a little more with a large grin on his face. "I presume it's about the Chaotic players who escaped earlier today?" He asked her.

"Yes," She said firmly, eyes narrowing slightly. "They caused quite a commotion with their escape, and made a fool of my guards and Battlemaster," She continued, while Odu-Bathax huffed with frustration as he remembered how the players had made a fool of him and his men. "While they were escaping, your name was heard from them by several of the guards. I'd like to know why they know you," She finished, eyes narrowing just a bit more.

Upon hearing that, Gavin sighed. "They saw the bracelet the Princess gave me, your Majesty," he began, looking at her nervously as he spoke. "I managed to avoid questioning from them for about half a day before they cornered me, and I accidentally revealed that I'd met you and your daughter," He continued, causing her to hum and cross her arms, while Od-Bathax looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"So, you told them about meeting Her Majesty and decided to cook up a scheme to get scans for you and your friends," He growled, before squeezing Gavin's arm tighter.

"Hey! Easy on the arm! Easy on the arm!" Gavin said quickly as he grabbed at the Battlemaster's hand and tried to pull on his fingers to loosen them. "I didn't any such thing!" he continued, looking at the male firmly as he did so. "I told them the exact opposite!"

"Yeah right! You're a Chaotic player! You need scans for your game, and you thought you could help your buddies out with gettin some!" Odu-Bathax growled at him, sounding absolutely disgusted. "Well it didn't work! Your buddies didn't get any scans!"

"Again, I didn't scheme with them to do any such thing!" Gavin exclaimed as he pulled on the Battlemaster's fingers to no avail. "I told them that they shouldn't try anything, otherwise I wouldn't talk with them anymore," he continued, while Odu-Bathax scoffed dismissively.

"Hmph! Right, like we should believe a Chaotic player like you!" Odu-Bathax said as he glared at Gavin. "Fess up! I know you're behind them breakin into the Hive!" he continued as he grabbed Gavin by the other arm and lifted him up into the air.

"WHAT?! I told you, I didn't tell them to break into the Hive! They did that all on their own!" Gavin replied with alarm as he struggled in the Battlemaster's grip. "It's the truth!"

"Grrrr! Why you little-!" Odu-Bathax growled angrily as he looked at Gavin with a deepening glare, squeezing his arms tighter as he did so, which made Gavin grunt and wince with pain.

"ODU-BATHAX!" Queen Illexia exclaimed firmly, her voice booming throughout the chamber like she'd yelled through four megaphones as she looked at the Battlemaster with a frown on her face. "Put. The human. Down!" She stated, with Aszil looking at him firmly as well.

"Mmmmrg, yes, your Majesty," Odu-Bathax growled in response after several seconds, glaring at Gavin as he slowly set the struggling human down, before letting go of his arms.

"Thank you," Gavin said with relief as he rubbed the sore spots on his arms while he looked from Odu-Bathax to Queen Illexia. "Your Majesty, I am telling you the truth. I didn't tell them to come here. I swear it!" he continued as he looked at the Royal Danians. "I don't want to cause trouble for or with you guys!"

"Hmm, you don't want to, you say?" Queen Illexia said with a hum as she put a finger to her chin in thought, her eyes examining him, like she was looking into his very body at his soul.

"No! Not at all!" Gavin replied with a shake of his head. "I mean, the last thing I want to do is cause trouble for you," He continued as he looked at Illexia, who hummed more as she looked back into his eyes. "You already have enough things going on with the Hive after all."

At that, Odu-Bathax huffed and rolled his eyes, while Illexia continued to look at him intently, with Aszil having an intrigued look and several of the Royal Guards having matching expressions as well.

"So, yeah, that's all I can say about what happened, Your Majesty," Gavin said to them, an apologetic look appearing on his face. "I am very sorry that those Chaotic Players came in and caused a commotion," he continued, bowing a little towards her as he spoke, before righting himself.

"Mmmmm," Illexia hummed again as she looked at him for a few more minutes, before she spoke. "I can tell by the look in your eyes, and by how you speak, that you are telling the truth," She said, causing him to start smiling, while Odu-Bathax growled with frustration. "However, even though you did not tell them to come here, you did tell them about meeting me and my daughter," She continued, causing his smile to drop a bit. "And that was rather risky to do, for they could have tried to get scans of us, and cause even more commotion than they did. Therefore, I believe you should receive some sort of punishment, to help it sink in that giving out any information about us is very dangerous to do," She finished, causing Gavin's eyes to widen with shock while Odu-Bathax grinned, with Aszil nodding a little in agreement with her mother.

"W-What kind of punishment?" he asked her, feeling rather nervous as he looked at her.

"Mmmmm, I believe that first, you shall help out Odu-Bathax with target practice for two hours today, since your fellow Chaotic Players interrupted it earlier," She said, causing his eyes to widen even more while an evil grin appeared on the Battlemaster's face. "Then, for ten days, you are not allowed to come near Mount Pillar for any reason," she continued, causing his eyes to widen even more while Aszil's eyes widened a bit. "Only when those ten days are over can you return. And, let me remind you, do not utter a word about what happens here or who you meet to anyone, either human or from Perim!" She stated firmly. "There will be grave consequences if you do, for rest assured I will find out!"

"'T-Ten…days?'" Gavin repeated with shock. "That long?"

"Yes, ten days," Illexia replied firmly with a nod. "That should give you plenty of time to realize the importance of being careful with what you say," She continued as she raised herself up a little. "Now then, there will be no singing today. You have some target practice to help with," She finished with a smile, while Odu-Bathax chuckled as he grabbed Gavin's arm by the wrist.

"Oh hehehehahah! This will be fun!" Odu-Bathax said with a large grin as he pulled Gavin towards the doors of the room, while the human had a very nervous/worried look on his face. "I hope you stay still!" He continued, causing Gavin's eyes to widen even more.

"Oh Kami!" He said as he moved his legs fast so that he could keep up with Odu-Bathax, who was moving at a brisk pace with a large eager grin. 'I didn't expect any of this at all!' He thought while they reached the doors and exited the throne room.

As they did so, Illexia turned to a guard to her left. "Ish'zol, bring Dreya to me. I have something to discuss with him," She said, prompting the guard to bow a bit before he flew off, while Aszil hummed with confusion.

"What business do you have with him Mother?" She asked her as she looked at the throne room doors, feeling slightly disappointed that she wouldn't hear any singing that day.

"Oh, you will find out soon enough, Aszil," Illexia told her daughter as she sat there, looking towards the throne room doors as she spoke. 'Hmmm, I wonder how the human will fair with Odu-Bathax's target practice?' She questioned with curiosity. 'He didn't look very sturdy, unlike my fellow Danians, but other than that, I have absolutely no knowledge of humans. Hmmm, perhaps when he returns, the human can tell me about his race,' She continued.

'Ohmanohmanohman!' Gavin thought as they went through the hallways of Mount Pillar, moving his feet quicky to keep up with the quick pace of Odu-Bathax. 'What exactly is this going to entail? What am I going to do?!' he questioned with a bit of alarm as they briskly walked towards the North Gate. 'Ohhhh, I hope I survive this!' he continued.

As they were about to reach the North Gate, Odu-Bathax turned down a hallway to the right, and then entered a rather large room that was circular in shape. It had a ring of steps going around it carved into the rock, with a ring of thick stone pillars at the bottom of the steps. A small, layered platform sat in the middle of the ring of pillars, with it being slightly off-center. At even intervals in the walls were several hallway entrances, and about twenty or so 6 foot 3 inch tall Danian guards with cyclances were standing around the place.

As Odu-Bathax brought him towards the platform, the various guards stood at attention upon seeing the Battlemaster approach, before they spotted him, and their eyes narrowed a bit. They all turned and watched as Odu-Bathax dragged Gavin up onto the platform, before turning to look at the guards. "Well men, I have some very exciting news for you all to hear!" Odu-Bathax exclaimed with a shit-eating grin as he looked at his men. "It's time for target practice!"

Upon hearing that, many of the Mandiblors groaned with dismay, with some starting to visibly shake with nervousness and/or fear. "Quit your whining!" Odu-Bathax yelled at them firmly, shutting them up. "You all should be happy that I use you in target practice. It helps toughen you up! Make you better Mandiblors!" He continued as he looked at them all, with Gavin having a very nervous look on his face as he stood there.

'Oh please Kami! Please don't let this be awful!' He thought as he looked up at the rocky ceiling briefly.

"Now, the Queen has decided to punish this here human for revealing some information about us in a special way," Odu-Bathax said to them with a grin, which then grew even bigger, his eyes glimmering with glee. "He is going to be involved in target practice for the next two hours!" He proclaimed with glee, causing the guards to let out cheers and laughs as they looked at him, stomping their feet as they did so, with a few clapping their hands as well.

'Oh Kami this is gonna suck!' Gavin thought with a bit of dread as he watched their reactions, before he felt Odu-Bathax pull him forward quickly once more, causing him to trip and nearly fall over onto his face.

"Hey! Don't fall over human!" Odu-Bathax said to him with a frown as he pulled him down the steps of the platform and over to a pile of gray metal panels with circular cuts and burn marks on them that was sitting nearby. "Here!" He said as he grabbed one panel with one hand and shoved it roughly into Gavin, causing him to let out an "Oof!" "Take this and stand over there with it in front of you!" He continued as he pointed over at two 8 feet tall rocks that were faintly pyramid-like in shape, while grabbing his backpack and pulling it off of him roughly. "And don't shake!" he growled as he handed the pack to one of his guards, who looked at it with disgust before tossing it to the side.

Gavin gulped upon hearing that, and slowly nodded. "Yes sir," he said somewhat quietly, before he grabbed the panel, which reached all the way up to just below his forehead, was twice as wide as he was, and about six inches thick, as well as rectangular in shape with rounded corners. When he lifted it up by its sides, he found that it was not super heavy, which somewhat surprised him. 'Weird, I thought it'd be super heavy,' He thought to himself as he turned the metal panel sideways and started to head over towards the rocks, while the Danian guards chuckled as they watched him. 'But it's so light. What could it have come from?' He questioned, soon reaching the rocks and coming to a stop in front of them.

He quickly moved on from his questions about the metal plate as he turned around so that he was facing the platform, the plate now in front of him, and saw that Odu-Bathax was now holding a weapon with his left upper hand, his scanner nowhere in sight.

Said weapon was a plasma pounder, a type of battlegear used by many creatures that worked and looked like a gun. Odu-Bathax's plasma pounder was shaped somewhat like a rifle with a grayish black grip sticking out right before the rear of it, with a black trigger sitting underneath one of his fingers. The gun body bulged outwards slightly above the grip before extending forwards, sloping inwards a little before flaring out a bit more in a thick ring at the very end of the barrel. A thick black ring was painted right behind the thick flare of the barrel, while the other end of the gun shrunk down until it ran into two large black balls made out of some sort of metal or stone that were connected to each other. A black ring ran from the grip all the way around the gun, with three gray projections sitting on the ring equidistant from each other. The two projections on the side were in the shape of thin rocklike points that pointed towards the ends of the weapon, while the top projection was taller than the lower projections, with it having a pointed tip at the top, serving as some sort of sight. Surrounding the projections were black pointed rings that connected to the ring running around the weapon, making it look like a crown. The inside of the barrel appeared to be a reddish black color.

"Oh dear Kami!" Gavin exclaimed with shock as he stared at the weapon, his heart racing as Odu-Bathax pointed the barrel towards him. "Please be a good shot!" he pleaded somewhat quietly, feeling very nervous while he clutched at the metal panel, heart racing faster and faster as he stood there.

"Heheh! Human, you better keep that panel up! Or else you might get hit!" Odu-Bathax called out happily, before he held up the plasma pounder with two hands and looked down the sight, moving the weapon around a bit. He then grinned as he pulled the trigger, causing the weapon to let out a "TYEW" sound as it shot out a large, bright green jet of plasma slime, discharging green gas as it did so.

Gavin's eyes grew very wide as he saw the large shot of plasma slime fly right towards him, coated in a small cloud of green gas. "Hittheshieldhittheshieldhittheshield!" He exclaimed as the shot grew closer and closer, before it landed on the ground right in front of the panel.

As soon as it did so, it exploded outwards and upwards with considerable force in a large cloud of gas that dissipated quickly, causing him to shut his eyes instinctively from the "Boom!" of the explosion. The force of the explosion knocked him back into one of the rocks hard enough to make him let out a loud "OOF!", while a little bit of pain blossomed in the back of his body. The Danian guards laughed loudly as they looked at him, grins on their faces.

"Darnit! I missed!" Odu-Bathax grumbled, before frowning as he looked at Gavin, who grunted with discomfort as he pushed himself off the rocks, the panel laying on the ground. "Hey! Hurry up and get back into position human!" he shouted at him, causing him to jump slightly with a start.

"Alright, alright, just give me a minute," Gavin replied as he rubbed his back and shoulders for a few seconds, before he headed back over to the metal panel and picked it up. "Dear Kami that thing has some firepower!" He continued as he looked at Odu-Bathax once more, gulping nervously as he held the panel in front of him once more, holding it tightly as he did so. "Please don't go through the metal! I don't want to die so young again!" he muttered, before he heard and saw Odu-Bathax fire two more shots at him. "Please!"

The shots flew through the air and hit the metal panel at the middle with a loud explosion, with the force of the combined explosions throwing him backwards with the panel still in his hands. He hit the rocks with considerably more force than before and let out a much louder "OOF!", feeling more pain run through his body. "Oww!" he groaned as he laid against the sloped rock, heart racing like a racehorse while his eyes were as wide as could be. 'Holy shit! I'm still alive!' He thought with relief as he attempted to move his limbs, grunting with a bit of pain as he did so. 'THANK KAMI!' He continued as he slowly got up, pushing the panel forward as he did so.

"Hurry up human!" Odu-Bathax yelled at him impatiently, while the Danian guards grinned more as they watched him slowly move back onto his feet.

"Man, he really doesn't waste any time!" Gavin muttered to himself with a bit of surprise as he rubbed his back to try to ease the bit of soreness in it, before he moved forward once more with the panel, taking note of the fact that the panel now had some scorch marks on it from the shots. "I am going to be so sore by the end of this!" He continued as he heard and saw Odu-Bathax fire three more shots at him.

Again, his aim was true, as the shots hit the panel right in the middle and bottom, sending Gavin flying backwards and upwards while the panel slammed against the bottom of the rocks, with him landing against the top of the rocks with more force. "Agh!" He exclaimed as the point of one rock poked into the top of his back, sending pain through him and prompting him to sit up quickly, despite feeling more pain throughout him. "Dear Kami! I almost flew over the rocks!" he continued with surprise as he slid down the side of the rock and landed on his front on top of the metal panel, prompting him to grunt with discomfort.

"Get up human and get back to holding the target!" Odu-Bathax yelled at him, causing him to huff with annoyance before he started to push himself up. He tapped his foot impatiently as he watched the human slowly get up, before stepping to the side and picking up the metal panel.

'I hope he's not like that all the time,' Gavin thought as he turned to Odu-Bathax and faced the panel towards him, backing up a bit so that the next time he was sent flying back, he wouldn't fly back as far and reduce the chance of him getting hurled over the rocks. 'I don't like being yelled at constantly,' He continued, before the Battlemaster fired another three shots at him.

Said shots hit the metal like before, and he was thrusted into the rock immediately from the force, knocking the wind out of him a bit and making him hit his head against the rocks a little. "Agh!" he said as he immediately reached a hand back to his head and began to rub it to soothe the pain he was feeling. "Oooo that smarts!" he continued as he sat up and slowly got back onto his feet, rubbing his head as he bent over to grab the panel.

"Hmph! Come on men! Time for you to get involved too!" Odu-Bathax said to his men as Gavin got back into position, having quickly grown tired of shooting at just one target, even if it was being held by a human.

Upon hearing that, the guards immediately stopped laughing, and nervous looks appeared on some of their faces, with a couple gaining fearful ones and starting to shake as well. "Take your positions, now!" Odu-Bathax exclaimed, pointing towards Gavin as he looked around at them.

Many of the guards nodded in response, with some saying "Yes sir!" a bit shakily, before they headed towards Gavin, some grabbing metal panels as they went. "Wait, why do they not all have panels?" Gavin questioned as he watched the Danians position themselves around the room, with none of them being close to him and all of them shaking with fear as they looked at Odu-Bathax. "Was there just not enough to be used?" He continued as Odu-Bathax fired two shots at one guard with a metal panel. The shots hit the panel and sent the Danian guard flying in an arc leading to the wall, which the guard hit hard, causing Gavin to wince. "Oooo, that didn't look good."

Odu-Bathax started to laugh as he jumped over to the other end of the platform and shot three shots at two guards who had no metal panels. "Holy shit!" Gavin exclaimed with shock and alarm as he watched the two guards get sent flying by the shots, with them letting out cries of alarm and pain as they flew through the air and hit the walls. "He's shooting at them even if they don't have shields?! Holy shit!" he repeated with shock, eyes wide as he watched two more shieldless guards get sent flying, before he felt himself get sent back by another shot. "Ack!" he exclaimed as he hit the rock again with his back, the panel landing on the ground with a metallic "Thud!"

"Hehahahah!" Odu-Bathax laughed as he jumped around, shooting at his men while Gavin got back into position as quickly as he could to avoid getting hit by the bolts. "Stop shaking! Yer throwin my aim off!" He exclaimed as he cartwheeled to a new position, firing off his weapon while upside down during the cartwheel and continuing to fire it once he got back onto his feet.

"Dear Kami this is going to be rough!" Gavin said with a bit of alarm and worry before he was hit again by two shots, sending him flying back into the rock. "Ack! Really…rough!" He groaned with pain as he slid down the rock again and landed on his feet, while another guard let out a groan of pain as he was shot into a wall. "I hope I don't break a bone during this!" He continued as he started to get up once more while listening to the sounds of fright from the guards and almost wicked laughter from Odu-Bathax.

And he wasn't wrong about target practice being tough, as Odu-Bathax continued to happily shoot at him and his fellow Danians with the plasma pounder for a decent amount of time. He yelled at them occasionally to stop shaking or to hurry up with getting back into position, which annoyed Gavin a fair amount. The Battlemaster also continued to jump around acrobatically and grunt as he shot at them, occasionally shooting up at the ceiling for absolutely no reason.

On and on and on he shot at them, laughing loudly with glee, while Gavin wondered when he'd be allowed to leave. Then, he noticed a new Danian come into the room from one of the tunnels as he stood behind his somewhat dented shield.

Said Danian stood 8 feet 6 inches tall at the top of their head, and had four skinny legs and two skinny arms. Its abdomen was long and skinny, and covered in a large dark red cloth that ended right below the bottom of its abdomen. The cloth had thick gold edges and had rounded sides that had circles out for its legs, with a circle cut into the end to show the very tip of its abdomen, which was a light red color on top with hints of black on the edges. A large gold elegant design of an ant sat on the cloth, with the head facing the front of its body. Its legs were black in color, with dark red armor on the lower leg all the way down to its narrow, Y-shaped three-toed feet, which had gold rings on their joints. The red cloth attached to a simple dark red robe that sat on the Danian's sticklike torso and hid it completely from view, running from its neck all the way down to the bottom of its waist, with only the black underside of its abdomen being visible, the robe being shut with a simple blood red and gold cord around the upper belly. Said robe had gold edges and somewhat long sleeves that ended at the Danian's elbows in gold cuffs. The parts of the Danian's arms that he could see were slim and light red, with gold swirling markings on them, while its slender three-fingered hands had very sharp points. They also had a couple of gold rings on them with red and blue gems in them. The neck of the Danian was surprisingly thick and covered in short sharp spines on the back.

Its head was oval in shape and slightly domed, with two foot-long black antennae sticking out of the rear of its head in a C-shape on either side of the sharp point of its head. It had a large pair of compound eyes that were silver in color with round black pupils, and a smaller pure silver eye between them. Its mouth consisted of six extra sharp saw-like teeth that stuck out forwards for about half a foot and curved inwards a bit, with them set in a circle around a smaller ring of teeth that sat in its actual mouth. Around its eyes was a small gold headpiece in the shape of a butterfly that had red gems for eyes.

"Who…is…that?" Gavin questioned as he panted with a bit of exhaustion while Odu-Bathax sent another guard flying through the air as he flipped through the air. "I've never…seen him before."

As Odu-Bathax landed on the ground and fired at two more guards, the unknown Danian walked over to the platform Odu-bathax had landed on and firmly grabbed his arm.

"Huh?! What's wrong now?!" Odu-Bathax exclaimed with frustration as he lowered his plasma pounder and turned to see who was bothering him, while the guards let out sighs of relief. As soon as he saw the new Danian, his eyes widened a bit, before he huffed. "Oh! It's you Dreya! What brings a muge like you here?" He questioned, causing Gavin's eyes to widen a bit.

"The Queen says it's time for the human to leave," Dreya said in a raspy male voice that sounded like he was either a smoker or on the verge of death, his teeth clicking as he spoke. "It's been two hours."

"Hmph! Is that so?" Odu-Bathax replied. "And why did she have you come tell me this?" He asked him with curiosity.

Upon hearing that, Dreya leaned forward, and started to quietly whisper into the side of Odu-Bathax's head. The guards and Gavin watched the two Danians with interest as Dreya whispered into the Battlemaster's head for about fifteen seconds, before he pulled his head back.

"Mmmm, very well then. Human!" Odu-Bathax bellowed, turning to look at Gavin as he did so. "It's time for you to leave! Come here and leave that panel behind!" he continued, before he turned to two nearby guards, one of them holding his scanner, and gestured for them to approach as well.

"Thank Kami!" Gavin said somewhat quietly with relief, before he headed towards the platform, but not before handing his shield to a nearby guard and telling them "Stay safe." 'Man I'm sore!' he thought as he walked across the floor, rubbing his back and arms as he went to sooth the soreness. 'Probably gonna be that way for a while,' he continued as he grabbed his backpack and headed over to the platform's steps.

"It's time for you to go, human," Odu-Bathax said, while Dreya looked at him firmly, his pupils widening slightly as he looked him up and down. "And remember, not a single word about us to anyone," He stated firmly to him, before he grinned widely. "Or else I'll make sure you partake in target practice again, without a shield."

Gavin's eyes widened upon hearing that, and a large shudder ran down his spine. 'Oh sweet Kami! I'd die without one!' He thought with alarm, before he spoke. "I swear, I will not tell anyone a thing about you guys!" he exclaimed, causing Odu-Bathax to hum in response. "I promise!"

"Mmmm, we shall see about that!" The Danian replied firmly, before he turned to the guards. "Take him to the exit and give him his scanner once he's out of Mount Pillar!" he said to the guards, who nodded before they headed over to Gavin.

Gavin then left with the guards on either side of him, leading him towards one of the doorways. As they headed into the doorway and disappeared from sight, Dreya remained silent for several seconds, before he turned and walked back to the doorway that he had come through. "Mmmm," Odu-Bathax hummed as he looked from the doorway Gavin had gone through to Dreya, watching as he left the room, several thoughts swimming in his head. 'Let's see how this works out,' He finally thought after about ten seconds, before he resumed shooting at his men, who let out cries of alarm as they were hit.

"Now human! Leave, and remember what our Battlemaster said to you," The guard with the cyclance said as they arrived outside the Hive, none of them having said a single word, as Gavin couldn't think of anything to say, while the guards didn't want to talk to him at all. "One word about us, and you'll be sorry!" He continued while Gavin was roughly handed his scanner.

"I won't say anything to anyone, I swear!" Gavin said to them, before he grabbed his scanner and ported out in a glowing flash of iridescent light.

A second later, he found himself back in Chaotic, and he sighed. "Now what?" He questioned as he stepped off the pad and looked around aimlessly. "I can't go to Mount Pillar for the next ten days cause of what Sarah and her friends did, so what do I do now?" He questioned again, before sighing once more. "Well, I guess I should go somewhere else then," He continued after thinking about what to do for five minutes, pulling his Location Cards up on his scanner and slowly thumbing through them.

"No, no, no, no, no-wait," Gavin said as he nearly passed one of his cards, which he had a decent amount of. "This one looks rather nice," He continued as he looked at the card closely, before he turned and headed towards the teleporter pads.

Said card was a Location card that had the words "The Passage" on it, with the word "Underworld" directly underneath it. To the right of it was a yellow symbol in the shape of a circle, with a mountain or castle inside containing a hollow circle in the bottom, signifying it was a rare card. The image on it was of a huge brownish gray volcanic crater with a plume of black smoke coming out of it. Sitting directly on the edge of the crater, facing the front of the card, were two L-shaped towers built of white stone, with dark gold square borders sitting on their fat roofs. Three rectangular windows set right next to each other were located at the tops, middles, and bottoms of the towers, with a long white ledge with dark gold gilding extending inwards towards the opposite towers. Attached to the inner sides of the towers above the ledges were two huge dark gold-colored chains that ran through two large holes in the ledges and ran down towards a massive round disc that was dark gold in color, with a thick white ring towards its outer edge. They were attached to two large prongs on the top of the disc that stuck outwards and upwards at a gentle angle.

Location-The Passage, Overworld

Initiative-Overworld

Location Ability-The first time a Creature gains an Elemental Type this turn it gains 10 Energy.

Quote-From the warm rays of the inviting sun, the stairs spiral into chilling darkness…

"FWOOSH!"

"Grrrr!" Intress growled as she jumped to dodge the several Flame Orbs fired at her by Takinom, who was flying in the air below her in the Passage. She then roared loudly and angrily at Takinom as she landed on a ledge, sending out a series of semitransparent yellow rings at her, prompting Takinom to fly to the right quickly in order to dodge them. The rings hit the rocky side of the Passage above the ring of stairs that ran all the way down to the Underworld, and created a large crater with a "Boom!", the rubble formed by the explosion falling down onto the ground right behind Cerbie, who was fighting against Attacat by shooting Flame Orbs at the Overworlder and running towards her across a large landing in the stairs.

Cerbie was a three headed male canid creature who stood 6 feet 2 inches tall and was well muscled, which served him well, as he was the Underworld protector of The Passage. He stood on five legs that were deceivingly skinny, with three legs at the front below each head, and two legs in the rear, each one ending in three-toed, pawlike feet with black razor-sharp claws on them. The left rear leg was covered in cream colored fur from his feet all the way up to his knee, with the rest of his leg and hip being a mixture of red and cream. His right rear leg was covered in a bluish cream color that turned into a mixture of blue and red at his knee all the way to his hip. The front left leg matched the rear left leg but remained cream colored past his shoulder and stretched onto the left side of his back, with the right leg doing the same thing, but in bluish cream colors. The front middle leg was a blood red, with the color running down the middle of Cerbie's back and mixing with the other colors all the way to his butt, with his shaggy yet fluffy, somewhat short horse tail colored like his back was.

The left head of Cerbie was reptilian in shape and covered in cream fur, with his snout being long and curved downwards to make a point on his upper lip. A large white horn sat on his snout like a rhino, curving backwards slightly and having a sharp point, while two sharper horns sat on either side of the head, pointing outwards and upwards. The head's eyes were pitch black, and his mouth was currently open, revealing a snakelike purple tongue and sharp teeth. Sitting around his neck was a large black metal collar with small black spikes on it.

The right head of Cerbie was completely different from the left, looking like that of a wolf, but without the ears. The head was tan in color on the muzzle, with tan eyebrows above his brown eyes, and a large purplish black nose on the end of the snout. Black fur ran from just in front of his eyes to the nape of his neck, turning into the bluish cream fur that covered the right side of his body. A large pair of gray and smooth horns stuck out of the back of his head, curving backwards slightly as they did so.

The final head, which sat in the middle, was that of a beagle with somewhat shaggy fur, and completely blood red in color. His large round eyes were orange with blood red irises and almost slitted pupils, and a large black nose sat on his snout. Sharp tannish white teeth that curved inwards a little and a large pink dog tongue could be seen as he fired another fireball at Attacat, who quickly leaped to the side of the stairs to dodge it.

Attacat was a 7 foot tall female Overworlder who looked like an anthro panther, and was completely covered in short blackish gray fur, with slightly longer fur on the edges of her cheeks and on the underside of her chin. Her feline eyes had dark green irises and white pupils, while long black whiskers stuck out of her somewhat short snout, a large black cat nose sitting at the end of it. Her body was quite muscular, with no trace of visible fat on her body at all. Her four-fingered hands had whitish gray razor-sharp claws on the ends of her fingers, and her legs and three-toed feet were shaped like a feral cat's, with her standing on the tips of her toes. Sharp whitish gray claws stuck out of her toes, with a short sharp claw sticking out of her heels. A long tail stuck out behind her for balance, unimpeded by the sparse armor on her body.

Said armor consisted of two leather armored straps running around her back in an "X," with them covered in gold to fortify the straps. Somewhat small emerald-colored gems were set into the middle of the straps and ran down the full length of them. The straps wrapped around her side near her hips, which looked a bit wide, and over her shoulders right next to the base of her muscular neck and ran towards the center of her chest. A hexagonal piece of metal that was gold colored and had a large circular emerald-covered gem in the middle of it sat in the very middle of her chest, connecting to the straps wrapping around her. Running out from the left and right sides of the metal was a triangular piece of emerald green cloth that covered the majority of her breasts and ended just past them, with each one being a bit bigger than a basketball.

On her wrists sat metal wristbands that were gold colored and extended forwards slightly towards the back of her hands, with emerald green oval gems set in the metal bands. Sticking out from underneath the rear sides of the bands were large tufts of lighter fur, with smaller tufts sticking out of her elbows as well. Wrapped around her waist was a gold belt that matched the straps running around her body, with a large emerald green gem in the shape of a circle sitting in the middle of it, surrounded by a gold ring. Hanging from the belt was an emerald green loincloth with semi-tattered edges, its points reaching down to just above her knees, with the rear flap of the loincloth having a hole cut out for her tail to go through. Sitting on her feet just below her ankle joints were gold-colored metal greaves that completely wrapped around her feet and extended over halfway down towards her toes, with the front of them extending forwards in a somewhat pointed curve.

Attacat growled as she leaped towards Cerbie, using the wall as a launch point, and slashed at Cerbie's left head with her claws as she passed by him. Cerbie's heads howled with pain as Attacat's claws left deep scratch marks on her left head's snout, while Attacat grinned at the sound as she landed on the landing behind Cerbie. She then formed her right hand into a fist and punched it hard into the ground with a grunt, causing a swell of jagged grayish black rocks to shoot out of the similarly colored ground right towards Cerbie.

"RUFF!/Uh-oh!" Two of his heads said with alarm, their voices sounding very gruff and somewhat deep, while the third head stopped licking his bleeding snout. The rocks then shot up into his middle chin and his chest, causing him to let out yelps of pain as he was knocked backwards and landed hard on the stairs.

"Heh, is this what passes for strength in the Underworld?" Attacat growled happily and tauntingly, her voice sounding high-pitched and slightly gruff.

Cerbie whined and growled as he rolled over to get back up, his right head looking down over the edge of the stairs and whining nervously at the long drop. "Filthy Overworlder!" The middle head said with anger, while the left head growled angrily. The three heads then let out a loud unified angry roar/howl at her, a large reddish outline of the heads appearing around them as they did so, while 6 foot-wide whitish transparent rings shot out of his mouths and directly at her from all three heads.

Attacat leaped out of the way of the attack, with it missing her by about two inches, much to Cerbie's anger. "Be a good dog and stay quiet!" Attacat growled as she held out a hand towards him as she jumped off the wall and over him once more, with it glowing a pale black color. "Vine Snare!" She continued, causing several thick vines to burst out of the ground and wrap tightly around the snouts of Cerbie's three heads, shutting them tightly while also wrapping around his front legs as Attacat landed on the stairs behind him.

As she prepared to launch another attack at the Underworlder, Rothar swung her Burithean Axe around and cut up the Vine Snare that Zalic had launched at her with a loud grunt as they fought one stairwell below Attacat and Cerbie. Rothar was an 8 foot 8 inch tall Underworlder Commander who resembled a female minotaur. Her body was a bit more muscular than Attacat's, and was covered in bright red smooth skin, with bluish-gray fur running from her ankles all the way to her black cloven hooves. Covering her chest was a black breastplate with a few creases in it to fit smoothly over the abs on her belly, with two round and long black metal straps running over her shoulders to a similar plate of metal that covered her back completely. Two more of said straps connected each of the lower sides of the plates together, with all of them having golden-colored metal pins holding them in place. A black leather necklace with five sharp white teeth strung on it hung around her somewhat thick neck, the teeth hanging down by the top of her chestplate. Hanging around her rear and the sides of her hips was a blackish brown skirt made up of multiple strips of leather ending in diamond-shaped points at her midthighs, with two gray pouches attached to a black belt running around her hips, which looked wide enough to belong to those of a mother with many children. Underneath the skirt and visible in the front was a pair of dark green shorts that were rather form-fitting and ended at her quite muscular mid-thighs in round thick black leather cuffs. On her knees were a pair of black metal knee guards consisting of two pieces of V-shaped metal that formed a square shape on her knees, with gold-colored pins on their sides that kept them attached to each other and to the singular leather brown strap that held them on. Sitting on her arms were forearm guards made of three large strips of black metal with gold-colored rivets holding them together, while two dark green straps held them in place, with the guards reaching from her wrists to her elbows. Her hands had three fingers each that were rather thick and had flat nails on the ends of them, while right before her elbows was more bluish gray fur that looked slightly thick.

Her head looked rather bovine but had a somewhat narrower snout and a large mouth, with her large eyes being dark brown in color. Her bovine ears stuck out perpendicular to her head, with a small gold ring piercing on the lower edge of her right ear. Somewhat dark blue hair that looked a lot like fur sat on her head, looking almost like a mane as it ran down the back and sides of her head and ended right above the armor on her back, with the hair getting longer and longer as it went further and further down. Two large white bovine horns sat on the top of her head on either side of her hair above her ears, with them having somewhat large ridges on them as well as very sharp points. The horns curved outwards a bit and then turned back inwards, quickly straightening out and ending in the sharp points that pointed upwards ever-so-slightly.

Her heavy Burithean Axe was a little more than half her height, with most of its height made up of a golden-brown shaft that was made of heavy-duty wood surrounded by a layer of metal. The shaft ended at a very thick gold ring that separated the head of the axe from the shaft, with the head of the axe consisting of two unevenly sized blades that sat on exact opposite sides, connected to each other by silver-gray metal that had about four inches of the golden-brown shaft sticking out of the other end before stopping. The larger of the two blades was mainly silver-gray in color, and connected to the metal shaft via somewhat narrow yet thick points that had a small circle cut out right next to the shaft. The outermost edge of the blade was an almost white silver color, and razorsharp, with the blade curving down to a point about a third of the way down the axe. The other blade was almost a third of the former's size, and had a sharp notch carved out of its underside, forming an almost hooked edge. On the blades were black marks in the shape of triangles, a mark that looked almost like a curved letter "L" on the small blade, and a much larger mark that looked like an oddly shaped "M" on the large blade.

Zalic was a 6 foot 10 inch tall humanoid beetle who was an almost deep blue in color from head to toe in tough carapace-like skin. His head was large and had two large blue horns sticking out of the top of his head, with them looking a little like the jaws of a stag beetle as they curved towards each other in sharp points. His neck was not visible, as a large frill-like extension ran all the way around her head, with small cuts and tears on the edges of it. His eyes were round in shape, lacked any pupils or irises, and were a solid gray color. A pair of golden eyebrows sat above them, with them being thicker towards the middle of his head and thinning out as they went towards the sides of his head. Sitting on his head was a dark brown leather headset that looked like a pair of underwear as it ran across his forehead and in between his horns. Sitting on the headset was a large, pale gold, round stone with a small black circular gem sitting in the middle of it, while two much smaller pale gold stones sat on either side of it. His chest and torso were average in size, but looked rather muscular. Attached to his shoulders was a pair of muscular arms that ended in four-fingered hands that looked very similar to a human's in shape. On his left wrist was a thick gray metal ring, while on his right elbow was a similar ring, but even thicker. On his shoulders sat a pair of silver-colored metal ring-like pauldrons that had sharp spikes on them that faced away from his torso and were curved like cat claws. Around his waist sat a leather belt with two pieces of silver-colored metal on the front on either side of the square silver buckle that were stretching outwards along the belt like a pair of wings. On his knees sat golden armor that was roughly diamond-shaped on the bottom and extended up the top of his muscular legs until they stopped at his midthighs. The armor had rings etched on it making a chainlike pattern, while golden greaves consisting of three interconnecting thick rings sat on his calves, leaving the back of the upper portion of his calves exposed. His feet were bare of any armor, and had two toes on each of them that curved downwards a bit and were pointed like talons.

"You shall not pass through the Passage as long as I stand guard, Rothar!" Zalic yelled at the Underworlder as he raised his hands up and balled them into fists, before he swung them down as they started to glow a ghostly gray color while yelling out "Vine Snare!" His voice sounded ever so slightly gruff and slightly deep.

Several dark green vines burst out of the ground right in front of him and shot towards Rothar, diving into the ground and coming out of it several times as they got closer to her.

"Hmph! Then today's the day you'll fall!" Rothar exclaimed as she swung her axe with ease using one hand, her voice sounding like that of a girl who worked out a lot and knew for a fact that she was really tough. Her axe's blades easily cut through the vines like they were made of paper, stopping the attack in its tracks, before she swung her axe again, the outermost blade glowing and shooting off a golden crescent of energy right at Zalic.

Zalic threw a punch down into the ground upon seeing the attack head right towards him, causing a swell of jagged rocks to shoot out of the ground in front of him. The swell of rocks was then hit by the crescent of energy, and an explosion occurred as the crescent disappeared, with a cloud of dust and rocks flying out while the swell stopped moving, obscuring Rothar from Zalic's view. Zalic quickly stood upright and pointed a hand towards Rothar's direction with his palm facing forwards, before a high-powered stream of greenish brown sludge shot out of it.

"Rraaaagh!" Rothar yelled with rage as she was hit by the Sludge Gush attack in the chest and neck, feeling the somewhat thick sludge hit her armor, its slightly toxic scent filling her nostrils as she was pushed back a few feet.

"Hah, you Underworlders all say that!" Zalic said with a grin as he kept up the stream, while Attacat launched her own Sludge Gush at Cerbie and hit him directly in the middle mouth, causing the Underworlder's other heads to let out cries of disgust and pain.

Rothar growled angrily as she felt the attack continue to push against her, with her digging her hooves into the rocky ground to prevent herself from getting pushed further back. She tilted her head back into the air while the attack wrecked a bit of damage on her armor, and then tilted it down and forward as she shouted out "RRAAAAGGGHH!"

Her roar was much louder than Cerbie's had been, with a large reddish orange silhouette of her head and shoulders appearing around her as 7-foot-wide whitish transparent rings shot out of her mouth. The force of the Megaroar effortlessly knocked back Zalic's Sludge Gush attack, making it land on his face, neck, and chest. "Gah!" Zalic shouted as he was then knocked back by the force of the roar and thrown hard into the nearby wall. The Megaroar shook the wall as it pushed him harder against it, causing several loose rocks of varying sizes to fall down and land on top of him.

Rother chuckled evilly as she started to run towards the fallen Zalic, who grunted and groaned with pain as he tried to get up, struggling since a large rock was holding him down by his horns. "Now Zalic, FALL!" she yelled as she leaped up into the air, her axe raised above her head with both hands.

As she started to swing her axe down at Zalic, a transparent black clawed fist with a glowing gray outline smashed into her side, causing her to let out an "Agh!" of pain. The force of the blow sent her flying directly into a somewhat small natural passage into the wall, hitting the edge of its entrance as she entered it and destroyed said edge. "He's not falling today Underworlder!" Attacat growled as she landed on the ground with a frown, having ensnared Cerbie in multiple Vine Snares, the canine currently fighting against the vines as hard as he could. "You are!" She continued as she raised her hand up and fired a Sludge gush at Rothar, who was getting up as quick as she could off the ground.

The attack sent Rother deeper into the passage, and Attacat ran inside after her, intent on inflicting as much damage to the Underworlder as possible while she had the upper hand. While this happened, Intress grinned happily as she managed to hit Takinom with a Vine Snare after dodging her Torrent of Flame, the vines wrapping tightly around her wings and causing her to drop down like a rock. She then leaped down and landed in front of the passage entrance and hurried over to help Zalic out of the rubble, while Takinom struggled quickly to get the vines off of her with an angry look on her face as she fell deeper into the Passage.

Attacat growled as she ran towards Rothar, dodging a glowing crescent slash thrown at her by the Underworlder by leaping over it.

"Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation

Darkness wakes and stirs the imagination"

'What in the name of Perim?' Attacat thought with confusion as a young male voice rang through the passage and filled her ears along with music, with Rothar gaining a confused look on her face as well. The two stopped moving as the singing continued, feeling their bodies start to relax as it swept through them like a calm wave, and looked further into the passage, which turned to the left rather sharply about ten feet away from them.

"Silently the senses abandon their defenses

Helpless to resist the notes I write"

"Who is singing down here?" Rothar questioned, before she started to head down the passage towards the source of the singing, axe held at her side. This prompted Attacat to start heading down it as well, curious about the singing.

"For I compose the music of the night"

The music and singing carried out to the edge of the passageway while they walked, with Intress' ears picking it up as she got Zalic to his feet. "Are you okay Zalic?" She asked her friend as he rubbed the back of his head, while Attacat and Rothar reached the curve in the passage and went down it into another passage that was much shorter and ended at what appeared to be a large cavern.

"Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendor

Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender"

"I'm fine, but where is that singing coming from?" Zalic questioned his friend as he stood up fully and looked around for the source of the music, while Rothar and Attacat quickly entered the cavern. Said cavern was big and dome-shaped, with it being big enough to contain three two-story houses side by side if they were set in a triangular shape. Large stalactites stuck out of the roof, with several mishappen columns scattered about the cavern and some holes in the side that let in light. The middle of the cavern consisted of a large circular mound that had several mishappen columns around it, with the singer and source of the music seeming to be coming from inside the ring of columns, which blocked their view of the singer. What looked a bit like a path made from a long-gone source of water meandered up to the center of the ring of columns.

"From in there," Intress replied while pointing at the nearby passage, before she frowned with a bit of confusion upon realizing that no sounds of fighting were coming out. "That's odd, I don't hear Attacat or that horrid Underworlder Rothar fighting," She continued, before she hurried inside with concern, with Zalic following her. 'By the Cothica, don't be badly hurt Attacat!' She thought as she hurried down the passage.

"Hearing is believing, music is deceiving

Hard as lightning, soft as candlight"

Takinom growled as she flapped back up the Passage, having managed to destroy the vines on her wings with a few Flame Orbs and slashes of her clawed hands. 'I'll destroy you Intress!' She thought with rage as she thought about her rival, before she started to hear the singing, and came to a stop upon reaching the level that Intress had been on. 'Now where are you?!' She continued as she looked around angrily, before spotting the small passage entrance from which the singing was coming from, while Cerbie continued to fight at the vines holding him in place. 'She must have gone in there!' She finished as she flew towards the passage and entered it right after Intress and Zalic rounded the corner of the passage, with the narrowness of the passage forcing her to enter it on foot.

"Dare you trust the music of the night"

Rothar and Attacat steadily walked around the edge of the chamber as the music started to swell, staring at the ring of columns in the center intently to get a glimpse of the singer. All they were able to see was his feet, which seemed to be covered in a pair of gray shoes of some sort.

"Close your eyes for your eyes will only tell the truth

And the truth isn't what you want to see

In the dark it is easy to pretend

That the truth is what it ought to be"

The two shuddered as they heard the singer's voice hold out the word "pretend" for a few seconds at a higher pitch as they reached the bottom of the path and started to go up it. As they did so, Intress and Zalic reached the cavern and looked around it for their friend.

"Softly, deftly, music shall caress you

Hear it, fear it, secretly possess you"

Rothar and Attacat reached the middle of the path and saw that the singer was wearing dark purple shorts and had lightly tanned skin and some hair on his two legs. Intress and Zalic soon spotted them, before Intress' ears flicked as she heard something behind them, and quickly pushed him out of the passage, getting out of the way as well.

"Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind

In this darkness which you know you cannot fight

The darkness of the music of the-"

"FWOOSH!"

"What the hell?!" The singer said with shock and confusion upon hearing and feeling the Torrent of Flame hit the mound as it flew out of the passage entrance, while Rothar and Attacat jumped a bit. "Oh shit!" He continued, before they heard and saw his legs move to the right a bit, with them being unable to see his body as he bent down to grab something. "I gotta go!" He finished as the music stopped.

"No!/Wait!" Rothar and Attacat cried out, running forward to try to stop the singer from leaving and attempting to get a better glimpse of the person, while Intress shot a Sludge Gush attack at Takinom as she entered the room, sending her careening into a column and cracking it.

Unfortunately for them, they were not successful in stopping the singer or getting a better look at the person, as a brief flash of primarily white light with a bit of multiple colors mixed in shined out from amongst the pillars for about a second before disappearing.

"Dammit!" Rother growled with anger, with Attacat growling angrily as well as they reached the end of the path and looked at where the singer had been. "He got scared away!" She continued, while Takinom quickly spread her wings and flew into the air, dodging a Vine Snare from Intress along with a Pebblestorm from Zalic.

"Yeah, because of your fellow Underworlder Takinom!" Attacat growled, looking at Rothar with a frown as her anger at the disappearance of the singer overtook her mind. "Just like a typical Underworlder, she attacked first instead of assessing the situation like an Overworlder would!"

Rothar growled with rage at Attacat for the insulting words, and swung her axe hard and fast at her, with Attacat ducking to dodge it before she fired a Sludge Gush at her belly from both hands. "OOOFF!" Rothar groaned as she was forced back by the attack, flying off the path and landing on the floor below with a loud "Thud!", her axe still in her hands. 'How dare she say that about us Underworlders?!' She thought as she quickly got up, only to get hit in the chest by a Rock Wave from Attacat when she jumped down onto the floor and sent flying into a nearby pillar, cracking it heavily.

Takinom growled with rage as she fired more Flame Orbs at her nemesis Intress, while Zalic fired a Pebblestorm down the passage as Cerbie ran down it towards them, having broken out of the vines. The canine whined with pain as several large pebbles hit his eyes, causing him to close them and miss the pebbles that had landed on the ground. He then stepped on the pebbles and they slid out from under his feet, causing him to let out a yelp as he fell down hard onto his chins and chest.

Rothar growled with anger as she got up from the ground, before her horns glowed a gentle white as they grew twice as long and thick. Then, she charged at Attacat, who fired a Vine Snare at her, which proceeded to wrap around her legs and arms and stop her in place, her horns shrinking down to normal size while her axe fell out of her grip. Attacat grinned as Rothar struggled in the vine's grip, before she began firing a Pebblestorm at her, causing the Underworlder to let out a groan of pain as sharp pebbles pelted her armor and her exposed skin.

Intress fired a large jet of water at Takinom from her left hand as she leaped onto the path on the mound, prompting Takinom to flap her wings harder in an attempt to dodge it while weaving through the many stalactites on the ceiling as well as the columns. The jet of water hit several stalactites, before Takinom fired a Torrent of Flame at her, prompting Intress to jump off the mound directly at Takinom with outstretched arms as the flames hit the mound and washed over it before dissipating.

Her palms glowed a pale blue as softball-sized orbs of dark blue water started to shoot out of them at high speed, prompting Takinom's eyes to widen a bit, before she went to dodge them. Unfortunately for her, she was not able to do so, as some hit her wings, belly, and legs, causing pain to run through her, before Intress ended the attack as she grabbed onto a stalactite with her claws. Intress' eyes then glowed with grayish white light, before round balls of granite the size of golf balls started to spray out at high speeds towards Takinom.

Takinom's eyes narrowed upon seeing the granite balls flying at her, before she flapped her wings harder to dodge them, knowing that if she got hit in the wings with enough of them, she'd be grounded. Intress continued to fire granite balls at her as she leapt from stalactite to stalactite to keep up with her, while Zalic sent another Vine Snare at Cerbie as he dodged the Flame Orbs fired from the enraged canine's mouths as he ran towards him.

Cerbie let out another loud roar at the vines as they approached him, with the transparent image of his heads appearing once more, while the rings rammed into the vines and tore them apart. He then stopped roaring as Zalic was narrowly missed by the rings, and howled out, "Fearocity!" causing three black spirit-like heads that looked similar to his to fly out from his shadow towards Zalic, with red eyes that seemed to pierce his body and multiple sharp white teeth.

Zalic frowned upon seeing the heads heading right at him, before he started to fire another Pebblestorm at the shadowy heads. He managed to hit one of the heads with the storm of pebbles and cause it to explode into shadow that quickly dissipated, while the other heads dodged the pebbles quickly and continued to fly at him. They soon reached him and started to swirl around him as he continued to fire Pebblestorm at Cerbie, who opened his mouths again and fired a large black cloud at him, with the cloud having dark red fire mixed in it.

The cloud hit Zalic and knocked him back into the mound, causing him to let out a groan as intense heat ran over him, while the two remaining heads flew down and bit down hard on his left leg and right arm. Zalic let out a louder groan of pain as the heads disappeared after several seconds, while Cerbie kept shooting the black fiery cloud at him, pinning him against the mound.

Meanwhile, Rothar struggled against the vines holding her in place while Attacat continued to fire Pebblestorms at her, firing one volley of Granite Balls at her as well to inflict more damage to her. The constant attacks ticked her off, and she pulled harder on the vines with an angry look on her face, turning her fists so that her knuckles were facing Attacat's direction as she did so. Then, she started to spray large, jagged pebbles at the Overworlder as a whitish yellow glow appeared momentarily over them along with a small gray cloud that quickly dissipated, the pebbles appearing out of nowhere as soon as the glow disappeared.

Attacat immediately attempted to dodge the double Pebblestorm by jumping out of their path, but she got hit in the right side as she moved away, causing her to wince and hiss as she felt the sharp edges of several stones slice open her skin. As she moved away and turned to launch another attack at Rothar, the Underworlder continued to point a Pebblestorm at her while the other one shot up and hit a stalactite. Cracks started to form in the base of the stalactite as the rocks continued to hit it, while Rothar pulled harder and harder on the vines, with a couple snapping as she did so. More snapped the harder she pulled, while the cracks grew larger and larger throughout the base, until eventually, Rothar let out a loud growl as she broke the rest of the vines, freeing herself. She stopped one of the Pebblestorms to grab at the vines on her face and rip them off, unknowingly causing the other Pebblestorm to move and hit another stalactite and start to crack its base as well, while the base of the first one continued to crack.

"GRAAH! You're dead meat Attacat!" Rothar growled with rage as she launched a bluish white bolt of lightning from her right hand at Attacat, ending the other Pebblestorm attack before she Megaroared at her. Both attacks hit Attacat with full force, causing her to let out a cry of pain as she was both electrocuted and sent flying into the mound with great force, hitting it with her front and making several cracks in it.

Rother quickly grabbed her axe and ran at Attacat, ready to slice the feline in two with her axe. But before she could get any closer, the first stalactite she'd hit fell off the ceiling, with the sound of the base of it breaking catching her attention. When she looked up, she saw the large stalactite falling directly at her, making her eyes widen and causing her to gasp a little before she jumped back. A second and a half later, it crashed into the ground loudly and shook it heavily, before large cracks started to form around it quickly.

As they spread outwards, the ground started to collapse quickly, revealing part of a large hole that had a little light in it from one large thin crack that ran down one side of it a bit, which showed that the hole went very far down until it became filled with darkness once more. "Oh Cothica!" Attacat cursed as she looked back and saw the ground falling away, her eyes widening before she jumped up and grabbed onto the edge of the path, her fingers and claws hooking around the bowl-like edge while her feet dug her claws into the rock, causing small cracks to form around them as well as chip off small pieces of stone. Rothar attempted to leap away from the cracking ground, holding her axe tightly as she jumped with a grunt, but right before she landed on the ground, it crumbled away. "Noooo!" Rothar yelled out with rage as she started to fall down the hole, reaching a hand out and sending a Vine Snare out of her palm. The five vines making up the Vine Snare attack shot forward and wrapped around Attacat's left calf tightly, causing the felid to growl and grunt as Rothar's full weight pulled on her body.

Her claws started to dig into the rock as Rothar continued to hold onto her, the Underworlder's body hitting the wall face first with a grunt, while her hand held on firmly to the vines she'd sent out. 'Gotta get her off me before she pulls me down with her!' Attacat thought as she felt her fingers starting to sloooowly give, prompting her to start to quickly scratch at the vines on her leg with her right foot.

Her sharp claws quickly started to cut through the vines, while Rothar turned her head up to look at her enemy with anger, only for her eyes to widen as she felt and saw her claws working away at the vines. "No!" She roared at Attacat before she started to swing her axe up towards her right leg, attempting to cut it off.

But before she was able to get her axe even halfway towards Attacat, a loud "Snap!" rang out, and her eyes widened even more as she stared at the broken vines in her hands while she started to fall. "Grrraaaaaah! STINKING OVERWORLDER!" Rothar screamed with rage as she fell down into the hole, quickly disappearing from sight, while Attacat grinned as she listened to the angry voice of Rothar fade away.

Her grin disappeared almost immediately as the sound of crumbling ground continued to fill her ears, prompting her to turn her head to the left as she started to pull herself up. Her eyes widened a bit as she saw that the ground was still falling away, uncovering more and more of the hole that seemed to be running around the mound, while Zalic continued to struggle against the fiery cloud that Cerbie was still spewing at him.

Zalic grunted as he was pushed harder into the rock, and slowly struggled to move his right arm down towards the back of his waist, where a brown leather pouch was hanging. Cerbie cackled evilly as he exhaled more flames that caused him to grunt with pain, before Zalic started to slowly grin through gritted teeth as he felt his hand slip inside his pouch and grab a crystalline object.

"Heh, you're going…to regret…this Underworlder!" He growled out as he pulled out the object and held it up above his head. Said object was a grayish-white clear crystal ring that was heptagonal in shape and just a little bigger than his palm. He released his grip around the ring, causing it to start to float up above him, and then said, "Fortissimo!", causing a gentle blue-colored, somewhat skinny humanoid phantom made up of some sort of energy to slowly fly out of his body. The phantom had two arms that ended in five-fingered hands, a head that was almost conical in shape, and a face that looked like a theatrical mask, with the eyes being large and looking sad and a mouth that was in the shape of a frown.

The phantom slowly flew around the ring, before it flew right into it, causing it to start spinning while music started to play. Golden white arcs of energy ran all around it, before shooting down onto Zalic, forming a golden white beam of speckled light as the mugic was used. Zalic grinned as the mugic ran through him, and caused him to quickly grow in size, soon becoming big enough that his horns were scrapping against the ceiling and he had to bend his back, otherwise his horns would have gotten stuck inside the stone.

Cerbie whined with alarm and nervousness as he stopped his attack, as it was doing nothing except ticking his right leg. "Heh, not so tough now Underworlder!" Zalic said with a laugh before he reached down and grabbed Cerbie before he could escape. "Go back from where you came!" he continued as he threw the Underworlder down the nearby hole, which stopped growing about two feet away from Zalic's left foot.

The three heads howled with fright and anger, before the middle one shot out a Vine Snare from his mouth, attempting to grab onto something to stop their fall. Unfortunately they were falling too fast for their vines to latch onto anything, and howled with alarm as they were swallowed up by the darkness. Zalic grinned upon hearing their voices disappear, before he turned his attention to the remaining Underworlder, Takinom.

Takinom yelled with rage as she was hit by another Water Ball from Intress, who was now holding onto a column with her claws, firing the attack at her with one of her hands. She flapped her wings harder as she weaved through the stalactites and columns in the room, passing by the other stalactite that was slowly breaking off the ceiling. She fired another Torrent of Flame at Intress while yelling out "Feel my wrath!", the flames taking the shape of a screaming bird of prey as they headed at the cat woman.

Intress' eyes widened upon seeing the attack heading her way, and went to jump off the stalactite, but found herself stopping in place and falling down, her face smacking into the rock and causing her to let out a cry of pain. She quickly grabbed onto the rock with her hands and pushed herself up, looking up with alarm as the attack got closer and closer to her.

Takinom grinned evilly as she watched her attack fly at her archenemy, seeing that the long claws of her toes were stuck in the rock. 'Finally, now she will di-Nooo!' She screamed with rage as Zalic's large hand appeared in her vision and slapped away the attack, causing it to dissipate in seconds as it flew through the air in multiple parts. He then swatted at her with his other hand as Intress let out a sigh of relief, prompting Takinom to growl with anger as she dodged his hand, firing some Flame Orbs at his eyes while doing so.

Zalic blinked several times as the orbs harmlessly hit his eyes and dissipated, while his hand knocked down several stalactites as he continued to try hitting her. She flew under his arm and growled with anger as she looked at him, while the falling stalactites fell into the darkness of the hole. Then, before she could do anything, the second stalactite Rothar had hit earlier broke off right above her, smashing into her almost immediately as it started its descent. She let out a loud cry of rage as the elephant-sized piece of rock pinned her against it while it fell down, quickly entering the hole and then the darkness down below.

"Hmph! I hope that fall hurts those Underworlders enough so that they don't come back," Zalic said with a frown as the mugic started to wear off, shrinking down slowly to his normal size, while Intress pulled herself back up on the stalactite and pulled on her feet, slowly wiggling her claws out of the cracks in the stone they had gotten stuck in. "But if they do, I'll be ready!" he continued with a smirk, pointing a thumb at his chest, while Attacat climbed up onto the path and slowly started to head up it.

"Is everyone okay?" Intress asked as she got her feet free and leaped from stalactite to column to wall until she eventually got onto solid ground next to Zalic. "Are you hurt Zalic?" She asked her friend, who shook his head.

"Just a few scuffs," He replied, while Attacat hopped down onto the ground next to them.

Intress nodded with a smile on her face, before she looked at Attacat. "How are you Attacat?" She asked her fellow feline warrior, who seemed to be in thought.

"Hmm? Oh, I am fine, Intress," Attacat said, sounding a bit distracted. "Just got a few knicks," She continued, before falling silent as she looked back at the circle of pillars on the mound. 'Stupid Takinom!' She thought with a frown on her face as she thought of the Underworld Commander. 'You scared off the singer!'

"Are you sure you are alright Attacat?" Intress asked her with a bit of concern after looking at her for a couple minutes, with Zalic looking concerned as well.

"I'm fine Intress," Attacat replied firmly as she stared at the pillars for a few more seconds, before she turned back to them. "I just want to get out of here before those Underworlders decide to come back with reinforcements," She continued, walking past them quickly as she headed towards the nearby passage, her face gaining a thoughtful look once more while she walked.

Intress and Zalic watched her head towards the passageway for several seconds, before Intress spoke. "Excellent idea, Attacat. I'll have to inform Maxxor of this ambush. It's the third one in two glindarks!" She said with a frown as she and Zalic headed after Attacat.

"Well hopefully those three won't be coming back after that fall anytime soon," He said reassuringly. "Or hopefully ever," he continued, looking over at the hole as they reached the passageway, before turning away and heading down it after Intress, unaware that a pair of black cat eyes had been watching them all from a hidden pocket in the cavern.

Ten minutes earlier…

"Holy shit that was close!" Gavin cursed as he looked at his Code Scanner, the card of The Passage on the screen. "Can't believe that happened!" he continued, thinking back to how he'd found himself in that situation.

When he'd ported to The Passage, he'd found himself inside the volcano, instead of in front of the gate like he thought he'd be. Confused, but also rather intrigued, he'd headed down the stairs, not seeing any sign of a guard as he'd gone down them. As he'd looked at the Passage while he walked, he'd quietly grumbled about having to be away from the Danians for 10 days, having been really excited to share some new songs with them. Then, as he'd been going over the names of various songs he'd been planning on singing to them, he'd stumbled across a somewhat small passageway in the rock, and had gone into it with curiosity. When he'd found the cavern at the end of it, he'd been amazed, and scanned it out of curiosity, prompting another card of The Passage to appear on the screen, which had confused him greatly upon seeing the card. Then, he'd explored the cavern, eventually making his way up the path to the circle of pillars, and had discovered that the room had excellent acoustics, which had prompted him to set his stuff down and start to sing after eating a quick early lunch that he'd made at home. He'd only been singing for about five minutes when he'd had to leave abruptly.

"I was almost caught in a fight between Overworlders and Underworlders!" He said with awe and alarm, his heart slowly returning to its normal beat as he stood there. "That's so cool!" he continued, before sighing a few minutes later.

"So now what do I do? I'm not ready to go home yet," he said as he looked around at Chaotic, before turning his attention back to his scanner. "Hmm, maybe I can relax a bit at the Library in Kiru City," He continued after thinking for about ten minutes, pulling up the card of Kiru City on his scanner as he spoke. "Maybe I'll meet Vidav again, or someone brand new!" he finished, before he ported out of Chaotic.

Upon arriving outside of Kiru City, he headed towards the nearby gates with a smile on his face, looking forward to seeing who he'd run into at the library. He soon reached the gates and passed through them with no issues whatsoever, before he made his way towards the library, looking at the various Overworlders as he went. 'Man, it's amazing at how much variety there is with the tribes,' he thought as he spotted an Overworlder who looked remarkably similar to a blue Macaw talking with another Overworlder who looked like a green humanoid with small eyes, short blonde hair, and long elf-like ears. 'Makes me wonder who the first leader of each Tribe was and how they formed them to what they are today,' He continued as he walked through the streets, eventually reaching the Overworld Library without any issues.

Upon stepping inside, he heard a familiar elderly voice from his right say, "Hoo! Could you come over here for a minute human?" prompting him to turn to see who was speaking to him. He then spotted the elderly owl lady from before, looking at him from behind her desk with an open basket on it.

"Oh! Um, sure," Gavin said, heading quickly over to the desk and looking at the Overworlder with interest. "What do you need?"

"I'd like to know what you have in that backpack of yours, and if you're going further into the Library, you need to put your scanner in here like last time," The owl replied as she gestured to the basket.

"Ah, I see," Gavin said, before he took his scanner and set it in the basket. "In my backpack, I have the containers for my lunch, a couple sketchpads and notebooks, and writing utensils," he continued as he took off his backpack and opened it, showing her each item as he spoke. "Are those allowed to come inside with me? I'd like to take notes of what I read, if at all possible."

"Hmmm," The owl lady hummed as she looked at the items, a curious glint in her eye. "I believe it should be fine with Hune Paltanin as long as you show me what you put down before you leave," She replied, causing Gavin to smile.

"That works for me!" He said, grabbing his items and putting them back in his backpack before he started to walk away from the desk. "I'll see you when I leave," He continued as he headed towards the stairs, which were made of white stone with blue circles and swirls on the sides of them and were located near the middle of the building.

"Hoo hoo! I hope you do!" The lady said firmly as she watched him walk away, before she turned her attention back to his scanner. 'Again, he just gave me his scanner so willingly. What a strange human!' She thought while looking at the device. 'Does he truly just want to learn? Or does he have some sort of plan?' She questioned, hooting softly as she turned to look at the human again.

"Okay, so where should I go today? Second or third floor?" He asked as he got closer to the stairs, noticing that the steps had blue lines on the edges of them and the stone railing was domed at the top. "Hmmm, which one, which one," He muttered before he reached the stairs and started to go up them.

As he did so, he heard a gentle male voice go "Oh no!" before the sound of papers shuffling and wooden objects bouncing on stone rang out on the stairs above him. "What in the world?" He questioned with confusion as he started to look up, only to stop when he spotted a couple large brown and light tan scrolls with circular flat ends roll around the landing of the stairs and bounce down the steps towards him. "I got them!" He exclaimed, quickly reaching out and grabbing the scrolls as they got closer to him. "I got them for you," he continued as he hurried up to the landing at the second floor and turned to go up the next flight of stairs, which led to the third floor.

Standing midway up the stairs in front of him was a 5 foot 11 inch tall Overworlder who looked a lot like an anthro fox, with his head having a short muzzle and thick fur on his cheeks that gave his head an almost catlike shape. Gentle orange fur covered his body, with the fur on the edges of his cheeks, nose, chin, and ears having tinges of gray. His nose was a light brown color, and his eyes, which were looking at him through somewhat thick glasses that were pinched on his nose with brass-colored metal, were a light brown color as well, with thick white eyebrows above them. Covering his entire body except for his hands and feet was a large, hooded, gentle green cloak, with a thin gold chain necklace hanging around the neck of the hood that had three blue glowing cuboid stones attached to it in the front. His four-fingered hands were somewhat thin, with his knuckles appearing to be a bit thick, and tipped with short sharp brown claws, while his three-toed feet were shaped like the paws of a fox and had short sharp brown claws on the ends as well.

He was holding several tomes of varying thickness and scrolls in his arms, along with some quills and a few small pots of what Gavin presumed was ink, and a few loose papers were clutched tightly in his hands alongside some more tomes.

"I presume these are yours sir?" Gavin asked the Overworlder as he headed up the stairs with the scrolls in his hands, each one being about two feet long and three inches thick.

"Why yes they are," The man replied with a warm smile on his muzzle, his voice sounding middle-aged, wise, and somewhat quiet. "Thank you for catching them, young man," He continued as Gavin approached him.

"You're welcome sir," Gavin said as he stopped on the steps right below the man. "Would you like me to help you out with your things?" he asked the Overworlder, who hummed in response.

"I would appreciate it," The Overworlder replied with a smile, before he turned and started to go up the stairs at a slow and careful pace, prompting Gavin to walk slowly behind him, watching for any sign of anything else falling.

After a couple minutes passed, they reached the top of the stairs, and he saw that the top floor was filled with tall bookshelves that were filled with tomes and scrolls of all sizes and colors, with most being black or brown. Narrow aisles ran between the bookshelves, with him seeing at least one small rectangular wooden table with a couple candle holders on it sitting nearby, with two rectangular wooden chairs having black cushions on the bottom sitting next to the table.

He followed the Overworlder over to said table and placed the scrolls on the table while the middle-aged male started to set his things on it, with a few loose papers fluttering onto the floor. "I'll get those," Gavin said, bending down to grab the papers for the man.

"Thank you young man," The Overworlder replied happily as he started to spread out his things on the table, setting his quills and pots of ink down to his left while the scrolls and books sat to his right. "That was very kind of you to do," he continued as Gavin stood back up and handed the papers over to him.

"You're welcome sir. I'm just trying to be helpful," He said to the canid male with a smile, before he stuck his hand out. "My name's Gavin Woodring by the way. It's nice to meet you sir," He continued, prompting the man to smile a bit more.

"It is nice to meet you, Gavin Woodring," The man replied as he gently shook his hand, the warm pads on his hands feeling somewhat hard in places, while his fur felt a little grainy. "I am Hune Canin. May I ask what brings you to the Library?" he asked him, a curious look on his face.

"Well, honestly, I was thinking of reading something on the second or third floor, since I read something on the first floor last time I was here," He replied. "And since I'm up here on the third floor, I might as well find something to read up here," he continued, causing Hune Canin to hum in response while nodding slowly. "Any suggestions for a book that can introduce me to Mugic? I've been curious to know how it really works compared to how it works in the game since I came here."

"Mmm, an introductory book for Mugic," Hune Canin repeated with a hint of a smile on his face, which Gavin failed to notice as he watched the male put a hand to his chin in thought. "Hmmm, there are several tomes and scrolls that fit that description," He replied after thinking for about thirty seconds, causing Gavin to smile. "They are scattered around this floor, but I can tell you where they are, if they haven't been taken home by anyone," he continued.

"Oh, thank you Hune Canin!" Gavin said with a grateful look. "That'll help me out a lot!" he continued before he took off his backpack and set it down. "So, where are these books located?" he questioned as he opened his backpack and pulled out a notebook and pencil, wanting to write the locations down, otherwise he was certain he'd forget at least one of them.

"The first one is located on the third bookshelf down from here to the left, on the middle shelf, four books from the far end," Hune Canin said, prompting him to start writing. "It's rather thick and has a dark brown cover with a blue gem in the spine. The second is on the second bookshelf behind you, all the way at the top in the middle of the shelf, and is colored pitch-black with two gray spirals on the ends of the spine. The third is on the opposite end of the floor, on our side on the last bookshelf. It is a large tan scroll that has dark brown domed ends covered in diamond markings, and it should be on the bottom shelf. The final scroll should be located two bookshelves away from the far end, all the way down on the middle shelf near the top of the other scrolls. It has black circular ends with three layers of rings on them, and the paper is a faded dark brown," he explained, pointing in each direction of the tomes and scrolls as he spoke.

"Thank you so much for the help Hune Canin!" Gavin said with a large smile as he wrote down the directions and descriptions quickly. "Hopefully I'll be able to understand what they all say about Mugic," He continued with a slight uneasy chuckle before he walked away to get the reading materials, prompting Hune Canin to let out a small laugh and smile knowingly as he sat down at the table.

"Okay, so the third bookshelf down," Gavin muttered as he walked down the large aisle, counting the bookshelves until he reached the number 3 and headed down the narrower aisle on one side of the bookshelf. "On the middle shelf, four books from the very end," he continued, looking at the directions as he walked. "How very specific," he finished, reaching the end in about fifteen seconds.

He looked at the middle shelf and looked at the fifth book from the end, with a smile appearing on his face as he saw that the book, which appeared to be about 5-6 inches thick, had a dark brown spine with a round blue gem in it. "Nice! It's here just like he said it'd be!" He said as he pulled out the book with a grunt, which was on the heavy side and about 6 inches wide and 7 inches long. "I better put this on the table before I go get the others in case they're heavier than this," He continued as he turned around and started to walk back down the aisle, looking at the worn cover with interest as he went. 'I can't wait to start reading this and learning the history of Mugic!' he thought with excitement.

He quickly reached the table where his things and Hune Canin were and set the book on the table before he headed off again, aiming to get the other tome before he went after the scrolls. It only took him a couple minutes to find the second tome, which was slightly thicker and bigger than the first one, and he set it next to the first one before he went in search of the first scroll. Said scroll took him fifteen minutes to find, as there were many scrolls on the bottom shelf, ranging in size from ones as thick as a tube of toothpaste to ones as thick as a basketball. Fortunately for him, the scroll Hune Canin had told him about was as thick as two soda cans laid down side by side, and not extremely heavy.

He brought it back to the table and set it down with a sigh before he went after the final scroll. And he quickly spotted it upon reaching the location Hune Canin had said it would be in. He spotted it so quickly because it was the largest one on the shelf, being as wide as one and a half softballs, and he found it to be rather heavy when he picked it up, grunting as he carried it back to the table.

"And that's the last one," He said to himself as he set it on the table next to the other reading materials, prompting Hune Canin to look up from a tome and smile at him before he went back to his tome. "Thank goodness," he continued, sitting down with a sigh of relief as he looked at the tomes and scrolls, before he grabbed his notepad and pencil and sectioned off the directions he had been given. "Okay then, time to start reading," he said softly, before he grabbed the first tome and opened it.

The text on the tome's pages was slightly faded from age, but otherwise easy to read, much to his pleasure. "'The study of Mugic is one that must be taken seriously. It should not be treated as a toy or something trivial. Those who treat it as such are fools, and are often destroyed by the Mugic they try so hard to master, or are never able to use it. Take my warning to heart as you read this tome, or suffer the consequences. Najarin,'" Gavin read as he looked at the first page, his eyes widening upon seeing the name at the end of it. "Wait, did Najarin write this?" He questioned with shock, looking up at Hune Canin.

"He did, as well as the other three books you chose," Hune Canin replied with a smile as he continued to look at his tome, one hand resting on one side of the tome, while the other rested under his chin, holding the edge of it gently. "He's written many books on Mugic, as have other Mugicians. These four books are ones that I think will help you understand Mugic better," He continued, prompting Gavin's eyes to gain a glimmer of realization.

"Ohh, I see," Gavin said with a nod before he returned to the book. "Thank you for letting me know, Hune Canin," he continued as he turned the page and resumed reading, this time silently. "'Mugic has been used by the creatures of Perim for thousands of solons, with our history and my research revealing that it has been around since at least the loss of the Cothica. To my knowledge, no records exist of its conception into our world."' "Hmm, how interesting," Gavin muttered with intrigue. "I wonder how long it's been since the Cothica went missing?"

"At least 4,000 solons," Hune Canin replied. "The exact amount of solons since the Cothica was lost is debated amongst the tribes, but all of us agree that it was at the very least over 4,000 solons ago," He continued, causing Gavin's eyes to widen greatly.

"'Four thousand solons ago?!'" Gavin repeated with shock a bit loudly, prompting Hune Canin to quietly go "Shhhhhh" to him. "Sorry, sorry," Gavin replied with a bit of embarrassment, quickly becoming quiet once more. "But that's a really long time!" He continued, prompting Hune Canin to nod. "The tribes have been fighting about the Cothica for all those years?"

"Unfortunately," Hune Canin said with a sigh, a sad look crossing his face as he looked up at him briefly, before he returned to his tomes.

"Wow," Gavin replied with horrified awe as he looked down at the tome in front of him, holding a hand to his head as he did so. "That's just…wow. I mean, Vidav told me that the Cothica disappeared long ago, taken by a creature or tribe. But I didn't think it was that long ago!" He continued while he removed his hand from his head, shaking his head a few times before he resumed reading the text. 'That's crazy!' he thought, while Hune Canin chuckled at his reaction as he looked at his tome.

For the next three and a half hours, Gavin read the first tome, which he discovered held a very detailed history of Mugic. His hand flew across the paper of his notebook as he took notes, doing his best to absorb as much information as possible, while Hune Canin answered some of the questions that arose during his reading. He was astounded by what he discovered with the history of Mugic, such as the fact that for about 100 solons the act of using Mugic was banned in the Underworld to help make them more distinct from the other tribes. The ban was lifted after the ruler of the Underworld at that time, a creature named "Lutoho" who had made the ban, died from the hands of his advisor Krakar. Another interesting thing he found with the history of Mugic was that after the ban had been lifted, the study of Mugic blossomed in the Underworld for about 200 solons before slowing down greatly as the number of Mugician scholars died down to about half of their former size due to a culling caused by a rebellion led by a citizen named Mo'ka who'd hated the ruler at the time.

"Man," Gavin began with a sigh as he shut the first tome, having finished reading it. "There was so much information in there," he continued as he set his pencil down and rubbed his temples with his fingers. "And it was all so interesting!"

"Good, I'm glad you enjoyed reading the first tome of the history of Mugic," Hune Canin replied with a warm smile as he sat upright and adjusted his glasses while he looked at Gavin, with Gavin's eyes widening upon hearing him. "I hope you enjoy reading the second one as well before you hit the scrolls," he continued.

"That was the first tome?!" Gavin said with shock and a bit of alarm, prompting Hune Canin to nod.

"Yes, for the history of Mugic cannot be held in one tome alone. No, it must be held in several tomes and scrolls," Hune Canin replied. "To understand Mugic, you must first know its history, and these scrolls and tomes you obtained are the ones that every student of Mugic must read in their studies," he continued.

"Oh dear Kami!" Gavin said with shock and near dismay as he looked at the tomes. 'History! My least favorite subject in school!' He thought with alarm, before sighing heavily while rubbing his forehead. 'Oh sweet Kami this is going to be rough!' he continued. 'So very rough!' "Thanks for letting me know that Mr. Hune Canin," he replied as he looked at the tomes, before he started to get up.

"It's just Hune Canin," The man said calmly and politely with a smile while Gavin grabbed one of the scrolls upon standing all the way up and started to walk away with it, making sure he had the directions to where he'd found the scroll in his hand. "And you are welcome, Gavin Woodring."

"Just call me Gavin," Gavin called back as he walked towards the shelf the scroll had come from, following the directions on his notepad as he went. 'Man, this is going to be rough!' He thought once more with a sigh, soon reaching the spot where he'd found the scroll and he put it back on the shelf, setting the smaller scrolls on top of it so that they wouldn't be missed. 'But it'll be worth it!' He continued as he turned around and headed back to the table to grab the other scroll. 'So worth it, hopefully.'

It took him about twenty minutes to put away the remaining scroll and both tomes with difficulty back in their spots, before he headed back to the table. "Well, guess I'm coming back here tomorrow to read some more," Gavin said with a small, somewhat forced chuckle as he reached the table and started to put his things into his backpack, causing Hune Canin to smile in response. "Thanks again for telling me about those tomes," he continued as he looked at Hune Canin.

"You are welcome, Gavin," Hune Canin replied with a smile as he closed the tome in front of him and got up with a groan of discomfort, sighing as he stretched out his arms and arched his back, which caused a couple loud pops to ring out. "I enjoy helping young minds grow and go on journeys of knowledge," he continued as he rubbed his back briefly with one hand, before he started to stack his things.

"That's good to hear," Gavin said as he finished packing his backpack and put it on, his notebook held in his hand. He then noticed what Hune Canin was doing. "Heading home?" He asked the Overworlder as he watched him stack his things and clean up the table.

"Yes," Hune Canin replied simply as he continued to stack his things.

"Mmm, would you like me to help you bring your things home? I don't really have much planned for the rest of the day," Gavin offered, causing Hune Canin's eyes to widen with surprise a little before he smiled and hummed.

"I would like that, Gavin Woodring," Hune Canin said after about thirty seconds had passed. "Thank you. Just take what you think you can carry, and I'll take the rest," he continued, prompting Gavin to smile widely.

"You're welcome Hune Canin," Gavin said as he started to take some of Hune Canin's things, stacking them in his arms as he did so.

Eventually, after a few minutes had passed, the table was completely empty, with Gavin comfortably holding enough stuff that it reached up to the middle of his chest, while Hune Canin held the scrolls, three tomes, the writing equipment, and all the loose papers.

"Alright, that looks like everything," Gavin said with a smile as he looked at the empty table, pushing his chair in with his foot while Hune Canin pushed in his own chair. "Ready to go Hune Canin?"

"Yes, Gavin, I am ready," Hune Canin replied with a smile, before he turned and headed towards the stairs, prompting Gavin to follow him. "Just let me know if it becomes too much. I can hold more things if necessary."

"Thank you for the offer, but I can handle this," Gavin said confidently as they reached the stairs. "They're not too heavy. I just have to go a bit slow on the stairs and watch where I step so I don't fall down them," He continued with a short chuckle as he looked down at the steps as they started to go down them.

Fortunately for Gavin, he didn't end up eating his words. He walked down those stairs somewhat slowly and carefully and didn't slip or trip once. He got close a couple times, but he managed to save himself before he could lose his balance.

After they got to the bottom of the stairs, with an Overworlder passing by them and looking at him with confusion, they headed towards the front doors.

"Hey, I need to get my scanner from the front desk," Gavin said to Hune Canin. "I had to give it to them before I could go any further into the Library," He continued as he headed towards the desk, with Hune Canin humming and nodding upon hearing that.

"Hoo hoo! Leaving now human?" The elderly female owl Overworlder asked him as she saw him approach the desk, before she then spotted Hune Canin. "HOO! Oh, what business do you have with this human Hune Canin?" She asked the Overworlder.

"He offered to help me carry my things back to my home," Hune Canin replied, causing the owl lady to let out a hoot of surprise as she looked at Gavin.

"Well now, that is very kind of you to do, human," She said, causing Gavin to smile. "Before I give you back your scanner, I need to see what notes you took down today," She continued.

"Of course! Let me just get them," Gavin replied, before he opened his armpit, causing his notebook to drop to the floor with a dull "Thump!" "Crud."

"Here, let me help you Gavin," Hune Canin said as he bent down with a grunt and grabbed the notebook, before he got upright and held the notepad out to the owl lady, who took it and opened it.

"Thank you very much Hune Canin," Gavin replied with a smile while the owl Overworlder looked at his notes, flipping the pages and reading the notes quickly while hooting softly.

"You are welcome Gavin," Hune Canin said with a nod, before the owl Overworlder spoke up ten seconds later.

"Hoot hoot! All things seem to be in order!" She replied as she closed the notebook and set it on top of the stack of tomes in Gavin's arms. "Let me get your scanner so you two can be on your way," She continued, before she bent down and grabbed the basket. She then set it on the desk and opened it with two feathers, before she grabbed his scanner and set it on top of the notepad.

"Thank you ma'am," Gavin said with a smile, before he turned and started to walk away.

"Hoot! You are welcome human! I hope you enjoyed your time at the Library," The owl replied as he and Hune Canin walked away, a smile on her face. 'Well now, this is an interesting development. He's helping Hune Canin out. What is this human planning?' She questioned with curiosity as she watched them walk out of the Library. 'What's his goal?'

"So, she read my notes really fast," Gavin said as he followed Hune Canin away from the Library towards a street, with several passersby looking at him with surprise and confusion, which confused him a bit. "Is that something all librarians can do, or just her?" He questioned, causing Hune Canin to chuckle.

"Just her," Hune Canin replied as they walked by a few Overworlder kids who were playing with a cloth ball of some sorts, with the kids looking like anthro mammals and oddly colored humanoids. The kids stopped their playing upon seeing Gavin, and stared at him, with one of the kids hiding behind another with fear on their face, which caused Gavin to frown sadly.

'Aww, the kid's scared of me!' Gavin thought sadly as they walked away from the kids. 'That's horrible! I'm not scary looking to them, am I?' He questioned himself while they continued to walk.

They continued to walk in silence for about fifteen minutes, turning a couple corners and passing by several Overworlders, before Hune Canin said, "We're here," and took out a gray metal key from inside his robe as he came to a stop in front of a two-story building that stood separate from the other nearby buildings. Said building was made of grayish-white stone and square in shape, with the roof being slightly slanted and having a tall square chimney in one corner. An 8-foot-tall gray stone fence ran from either side of the building near the back, blocking his view of what was beyond it other than the distant buildings of their neighbors. A stone plaque sat next to the dark brown wooden front door, with the words "Home of Hune Canin and Eremia" carved on it, while several rectangular windows sat in the sides of the building.

"Huh, how nice," Gavin said as he looked at the building while Hune Canin inserted the key into the elegant iron lock in the door and turned it. "I like how your home looks," He continued, before he noticed that Hune Canin had pushed the door open.

"Thank you, Gavin," Hune Canin replied with a smile as he stepped inside the house, prompting Gavin to follow him inside, but not before stomping his feet to clean them.

Upon entering the home, he found himself in a somewhat small foyer that had a beautiful hand-woven rug on the stone floor, with the rug making a beautiful pattern of flowers on green vines with blue, red, white, and green threads. The interior walls appeared to be made of a mixture of gray stone and light brown wood, with a doorway leading to the right, a hallway heading down towards a larger room directly ahead, and a set of wooden stairs to the left heading upwards, with another set of stairs underneath them leading presumably to a basement or cellar.

'Huh, so this is what it looks like inside a home here,' he thought as he looked around with curiosity, noticing candleholders in the walls that had unlit candles in them as well as lots of potted plants. 'Interesting. I wonder how long it took to build it?'

"Follow me this way, Gavin," Hune Canin said to him as he shut the door and headed towards the stairs leading up to the second floor, catching his attention.

"Yes sir," Gavin replied with a nod, before he headed after the man as he started up the stairs, quickly reaching them in about five seconds.

As they headed up the stairs, Gavin heard the sound of a door opening and closing on the first floor, causing him to arch an eyebrow. 'Huh, is that Eremia?' he questioned with curiosity. 'I wonder if I'll see her before I leave. And why does that name sound so familiar to me for some reason?' He continued as he followed Hune Canin up the well-made steps, bothered by the fact that he couldn't think of why the name "Eremia" sounded so familiar to him.

They soon reached the second floor, and he saw that it looked remarkably similar to the foyer, with three dark reddish-brown doors sitting in the walls. One door sat directly across from the stairs, with another sitting to their immediate left. The third sat to the right, with the landing extending out to it and having a tall wooden railing on the edge. Another floral rug covered the wooden floor, with potted flowering plants and candleholders on the walls and on a small end table that sat to the right of the middle door. A couple windows let light into the landing across from the middle door so they could see without the use of a candle.

Hune Canin led him around the railing and over to the third door, pulling out another key from his robe and inserting it quickly into the lock of the door. "So, where are we heading?" Gavin asked the man as he turned the key, causing a loud "Kerchunk" to ring out, before he pulled on the simple lever knob and pushed the door open.

"This is my study," Hune Canin replied as he stepped into the room, prompting Gavin to follow him inside. "And please, do not touch anything."

Upon entering the room, his eyes widened with interest. "Wow, this looks very nice," he said as he looked at the room. Said room was rather large and circular in shape, with a domed ceiling. The walls were mostly covered by rather tall dark brown rectangular bookshelves, with the parts visible painted a light tannish brown color. The bookshelves were filled to the brim with tomes and scrolls of various sizes and colors, with a few multi-eyed skulls sitting on a couple shelves. Jars and bottles sat on top of a large dark brown chest that had a large gold latch on it, with a few small red and gold chests on the shelves, while a couple statues of creatures Gavin had never seen before stood in between some bookshelves. Several candles of various lengths stood on tall candlestands around the room to presumably provide light when the sun was no longer shining through the three large rectangular windows set in the tops of the walls. The windows were covered in clear glass covered in thin black metal bars that created flower designs in the glass, and a black wooden ladder leaned against one of the bookshelves, the top of it going to the very top of said bookshelf.

A somewhat large tan wooden desk sat against one wall, with a matching chair sitting behind it. On the desk were a couple of candles and several quills set in rectangular stands, with some closed ink pots next to them. "So where would you like me to set these?" he continued as he looked at the tomes in his arms, while Hune Canin walked over to a bookshelf and started to put the scrolls onto a shelf holding more scrolls.

"If you could, please continue to hold them and come over here," Huen Canin replied as he finished putting away the scrolls and started to move around the room, putting away the four tomes he had in his hands before he went over to the desk. He then set the writing supplies and the loose papers on the desk, before he headed over to Gavin and started to take tomes from the stack in his arms to put them away.

"So, what are all of these books about?" Gavin asked him as he took a thin tome and walked over to the furthest bookshelf to put it away. "Mugic? The Cothica? Geography?" he guessed as he looked at the various shelves while Hune Canin put away the tome.

"Mmmm, most of these are about Mugic, but some are of locations and plants," Hune Canin replied as he walked back and took two more tomes to put away.

"Huh, interesting," Gavin said with a slight cock of his head. "Why do you have so many books about Mugic, if I may ask?" He questioned, causing Hune Canin to chuckle and smile.

"You don't know?" he asked Gavin as he set a tome on a high shelf, before turning to look at Gavin, who furrowed his brow and cocked his head even more with confusion. "How interesting!" he continued with intrigue in his voice, before he put the other tome up. "Well, I am a muge, Gavin Woodring. A decent one," he finished, causing Gavin's eyes to widen greatly.

"Ohhhhhh!" Gavin said with surprise and realization. "Well that explains all the books about Mugic and why you knew where each of Najarin's books were exactly," he continued with a small chuckle. "You've probably read them lots of times."

"Indeed I have," Hune Canin replied with a nod and smile as he returned and grabbed another two tomes, reducing the pile in Gavin's arms even more. "Many, many times. His writing is fantastic!" he continued, a glimmer appearing in his eyes as he spoke. "It carries a reverence to the art of Mugic, a reverence that no one can mistake for anything else! His works are a delight to read, and I make sure to read them every so often so that I may enjoy them once more," he finished.

"Wow, I can tell you're rather passionate about him and his works," Gavin said, causing Hune Canin to smile and blush slightly with embarrassment as he put the tomes up and grab more. "That's nice," Gavin continued with a smile. "It's good to be passionate about something."

"Thank you Gavin. I'm glad to hear that," Hune Canin replied. "But if you could, please keep what I said about Najarin a secret. I don't think I could handle others outside of the tribe hearing about my passions," he continued.

"Sure! I can keep it quiet!" Gavin said with a nod and a firm look. "I promise!" he continued as he looked at Hune Canin as he grabbed two more tomes to put away. "I won't tell anyone about it!"

"Thank you, Gavin," Hune Canin replied as he put the tomes away, before he returned and grabbed the remaining tomes. "I hope that you do keep that promise," he continued as he went to put the other tomes away, while Gavin rubbed his arms, as the spines of the tomes had been digging into his flesh a bit.

"I will," Gavin said firmly with another nod as Hune Canin put away two more tomes, before he saw him head towards the ladder. "Would you like some help with the ladder?" He asked the man.

"I would," Hune replied as he came to a stop.

"Alright, let me grab it and tell me where to put it," Gavin said as he headed over to the ladder and grabbed it, finding it to be of decent weight.

"Put it right here in the middle, and rest the top of it against the top of the shelves," Hune Canin said, pointing to the middle bookshelves with a hand.

"Alright," Gavin replied with a nod, before he picked up the ladder with a grunt and slowly carried it over to said shelves. "There you go Hune Canin," he continued as he rested the ladder against the shelves, stepping to the side as he spoke.

"Thank you, Gavin," Hune said before he started to slowly go up the ladder, holding the fat tome in one arm while he held onto the ladder with the other. Gavin watched him go up carefully, helping keep the ladder steady by holding it with his hands and bracing the ends with his foot. Hune Canin went higher and higher until he reached the topmost shelf, and grunted as he lifted up the fat tome with both hands and slid it onto the shelf between two other large tomes. He then started to head back down the ladder, using both hands to help himself down.

"Alright, so where would you like the ladder now, Hune Canin?" Gavin asked him as the man got off the ladder.

"If you could, put it back where it was before," Hune Canin requested, prompting him to nod before he did so, making sure the ladder wasn't going to slide down once he let go of it. "Thank you very much for your help Gavin," he continued as the human let go of the ladder and headed back over to him. "It is most appreciated."

"Oh you're welcome Hune Canin," Gavin said with a warm smile. "I liked helping you out, and I'd be happy to do it again!" he continued, causing Hune Canin's eyes to widen a bit, before he hummed.

"Mmm, but for a reward, correct?" Hune Canin replied, causing Gavin to arch an eyebrow. "After all, you are a Chaotic player. I assume you were helping me out because you wanted a chance to scan me," he continued, before he sighed. "Very well, scan me."

"What?! No, I'm not going to scan you!" Gavin exclaimed with alarm, gesturing erratically with his arms and hands as he spoke. "That's not why I helped you!" he continued, causing Hune Canin to arch an eyebrow and hum as he looked at Gavin.

"But you are a Chaotic player. Surely that is your ultimate goal, to obtain valuable scans to use in your game," Hune Canin replied.

"For most players, yeah!" Gavin said with a nod. "But that's not my goal! My goal is to explore this world and see what it has to offer, as well as make lots of friends and have an adventure or two," he explained. "I'm not aiming to get scans of every single thing in Perim, if that's even possible! If I get a scan of someone, it's because they wanted me to scan them, not because other players have scanned them so many times that they just let themselves be scanned anytime a player approaches them," he continued with a frown, before he groaned with frustration. "It bothers me so much that the players I've met and talked with in Chaotic are so focused on scans that they don't even think of you as people, just beings to get scans from. And I fear that the rest of the players in Chaotic think the same thing," he said with a frown as he started to pace about the room. "I mean, you guys are living beings with lives of your own, and we players are coming in to get scans and causing trouble without a care in the world," he continued. "I don't like that or want to cause trouble! So again, I do not want to scan you like you're some sort of trophy," he finished as he came to a stop in front of Hune Canin.

Hune Canin was silent as he stared at Gavin, his eyes somewhat wide with surprise. Then, after ten seconds had passed, a bright, wise-sounding, mature female voice said, "Well now, you're the first human I've ever heard say that."

Immediately, Gavin turned to the doorway, a confused look on his face, as he didn't recognize the speaker's voice at all. His eyes then widened upon seeing a 6 foot 4 inch tall female Overworlder standing in the doorway.

Said Overworlder looked like an anthro wolf who had short silver-white fur covering her entire body. Her body was rather lithe and feminine, yet her belly, legs, and arms betrayed her strength, as not a single trace of fat was on them. She stood on two three-toed paws, with the weight of her body being on her toes, which were tipped with silver-colored sharp claws. Her hands had four fingers on them, with somewhat long, silver-colored sharp claws on the ends of them. Her eyes were an almost teal blue and were looking at him with a bit of surprise, with her somewhat slender eyebrows being a pure silver color and her eyelashes being long at the outer edges and pitch black. Tinges of chestnut brown adorned the tips of her fur underneath her ears, with more tinges being visible on the upper edges of the ears and on the short, pointed ear tufts, while her nose was a tannish brown color. A thin line of chestnut brown fur ran from the center of her brow down to right below her eyes on top of her snout, with her white, somewhat silky hair starting at the top of the line. Her hair was very long, ending at the middle of her back, with a few strands of dark blue hair curling forwards at the top of her head. A thick long lock of dark blue hair was in the left side of her head, and her hair was held together in a long ponytail via three hairbands made of green vines, while the fur on the sides of her neck spread outwards like it was forming the edges of a sports coat.

On her shoulders were pale tan, almost platinum blonde metal pauldrons that were completely smooth except for two dark brown leather straps on the sides of the pauldrons. Each strap was held in place at their round ends with shiny brass rivets, with a platinum blonde silk sash attached to the end of the straps. The sash hung down over her back, curving upwards upon reaching the top of her lower back. Holding the pauldrons in place were singular dark brown leather straps that wrapped around the undersides of her upper arms right by her armpits.

An open leather vest sat on her torso, being a somewhat light brown color with brass-colored tube-like edges on it. The vest ended right below her large breasts and above the middle of her back, leaving the valley between her breasts and the inner portions of her breasts exposed, as well as her flat belly. On her hands were fingerless dark brown leather gloves that ended halfway between her wrists and elbows. Pale brass-colored tubelike metal edges sat on the ends of the gloves, with matching lines forming sets of arches inside of each other on the top of the parts covering her arms and wrapped around them as well. On the sides and back of her narrow waist was a dark brown leather skirt that curved backwards to expose her legs in the front and sides and ended at the lower parts of her thighs, with a long, white-furred wolf tail sticking out from underneath it through a small hole near the top. On the skirt were pale brass-colored tubelike metal lines that lined the edges of her skirt and formed designs on the skirt that looked like representations of wind gusts, with swirls and elegant curves in the designs. Connected to the front upper corners of the skirt was a reddish-brown loincloth that hung down to her knees and had a single gold line running across the cloth about an inch from the bottom. On her thighs were leather guards that had pale brass-colored tubelike metal rims running around the tops, with a curved, somewhat rectangular piece of dark brown leather edged in more metal sticking up in the back towards her butt for about two inches. The leather running down her thighs had dark brown channels set equidistantly from each other, giving the armor an almost segmented appearance. The guards ended at her knees, where dark brown leather straps wrapped around the joint and connected to metal knee guards via silver rivets. The knee guards were made of two pieces of pale tan, almost platinum blonde metal, with the bottom one having a diamond-like point with curved sides, the tip having a pointed groove cut right above it. The top portion of the bottom piece had a curved indentation cut into it, as the top piece of the knee guards had a curved point that extended downwards. It also had two small square "ears" on the curved tops, with the metal gaining a sharp point as it formed the curved point. On her feet, right below her heels, were dark brown fabric cuffs that hugged her flesh.

"Um, who are you?" Gavin questioned, feeling like he knew the woman for some reason.

"I am Eremia, Hune Canin's wife," The wolf Overworlder replied as she stepped into the room, looking at him firmly as she spoke. "And are you truly not going to scan my husband, even though he said you can?" She questioned.

"No!" Gavin said emphatically, shaking his head hard as he spoke. "That wasn't my goal when I offered to help him, and he doesn't sound like he really wants me to scan him! I'm not going to scan him!" he continued, sounding slightly frustrated while he thought, 'Holy shit! She's Eremia?! I remember her! I saw her during a battle back home! She's super rare and one of my favorites!'

"Good," Eremia said with a smile on her face. "At least one human appears to have the decency to be considerate," She continued.

"Thank you," Gavin replied with a smile, managing to keep his excitement down with a bit of difficulty. "Well, it was nice to meet you Hune Canin and Eremia," He continued as he looked at each of them, feeling like he'd stayed around long enoug. "Thank you, Hune Canin, for the help at the Library. I hope we can meet again to discuss Mugic," he finished, before he headed to the doorway and stepped out.

"You are welcome, Gavin, and that is fine with me," Hune Canin said as Gavin headed to the stairs and quickly went down them.

"Great! See you again sometime!" he called out as he reached the bottom of the stairs and headed over to the front door. "Goodbye!" he continued as he opened the door and stepped out, shutting it gently behind him. "Man, that was something," he muttered as he walked away from the door, pulling out his scanner as he went. "I can't believe my fellow Chaotic players have messed up the native's perceptions of us so badly!" He continued as he pulled up a location card and pressed the button on the scanner, porting away within a couple of seconds. "It's horrible!"

He soon found himself in the Grassy Plains, and sighed as he started to walk forwards, his hands in his pockets. "I mean, Hune Canin sounded so resigned to being scanned," he said as he walked, looking for any sign of Veshka as he went. "It makes me wonder just how badly my fellow players have bothered him and others with scans," He continued, before he heard grass rustle to his left, prompting him to stop and turn in said direction. "Veshka, is that yo-mph!" He was cut off as Veshka rose up out of the grass and pulled him in for a tight hug very quickly. 'Tight!' he thought as he felt his face getting pushed between her breasts, causing him to blush.

"Gavin, you're back!" Veshka hissed happily. "What bringsss you here today?" She questioned as she hugged him for a few more seconds, before she let go of him.

"I just wanted to visit, if that's alright Veshka," He replied with a small smile, causing her to hiss happily and nod.

"Of coursssssse it'sss alright!" Veshka hissed as she looked at him. "You are alwayssss welcome to vissit, my friend," She continued with a wide smile, causing his smile to widen.

"Good to hear!" he said, before he gained a curious look. "So, what were you up to before I arrived?" he asked her.

"I wasss jussst going to get sssome fish," Veshka replied, while he noticed that a large brownish green basket was hanging on her back via two brown grass straps around her shoulders.

"Oh, could I come along?" He asked. "I've been wondering where you got your fish from," he continued.

"Of courssse you can!" Veshka hissed happily, smiling wider as she looked at him. "You are alwaysss welcome to come with me, and your little bug friendsss can come as well," She continued, causing him to arch an eyebrow in confusion.

"What 'bug friends?'" he questioned.

"Why, the onesss on your bag and clothessss," She replied, causing him to furrow his brow before he looked down at his clothes.

"Where?" He asked as he carefully looked at the front of his clothes.

"Right there," She said as she reached her hands out quickly and grabbed hold of something on his right shoulder and on the inside of his left thigh, which made his eyes widen a bit. "Sssssee?" She replied as she held out her closed hands in front of him and opened them, revealing two insects inside of them.

The one in her left hand was a 5 inch long dark black beetle that looked remarkably like a ladybug in shape, with neon blue spots scattered across the top of its body. Its eyes were neon blue as well, and its antennae were oddly shaped, being about half its body length and branched several times similarly to that of a feather, with the branches looking rather wide and flat with curved edges.

The other insect looked exactly like a praying mantis, except it was about 18 inches long. It was a neon green color, with its wings appearing to be a slightly darker shade of green, and its large eyes were a purple color. The spines on its scythe blade-like forelegs had dark purple points, with the long tarsus of the limb a dark purple as well, while a small amount of tiny dark purple spots sat on the back of its thorax. The sides of the abdomen had a couple short pointy-looking purple spines on them that aimed downwards and backwards like barbs, while the ends of the mantis' long antennae were dark purple and curved upwards slightly. Tiny purple barbs sat on the outer edges of its legs as well.

"Woah! Where did they come from?" Gavin questioned as he looked at the insects, who had turned their bodies towards him as soon as Veshka's hands had opened up.

"You do not recognize thesssse bugsss?" Veshka asked with surprise, prompting him to shake his head.

"No, I've never seen them before in my life," he replied as he looked at them, before he held a hand out to the beetle. "They're so interesting to look at!" he continued as the beetle crawled off Veshka's hand and onto his hand. "I must have run into them while walking through the plains to find you," he finished as the beetle quickly crawled up his arm towards his shoulder, piquing his curiosity.

"Perhapssss, although I have never seen bugssss like them here," Vesha hissed as he held his hand out to the mantis, who remained still for a couple seconds before it quickly crawled onto his hand and up his arm, heading towards his shoulder like the beetle was. "Hmmm, it ssseemssss they like you very much," She continued with a smile as the bugs reached his shoulder and went in different directions, the beetle remaining in place on the shoulder strap of his backpack while the mantis crawled up onto the top of his head, causing Gavin to involuntarily shudder from the sensation of its tiny claws dragging against his skin.

"Yeah, it seems so," Gavin said as he looked over at the beetle before he turned his attention back to Veshka. "So, how about we get those fish?" he asked her, prompting her to hiss and nod in agreement before she took his hand and started to slither away, which caused him to stumble a bit from how fast she was going. "Veshka! Slow down a little!" he continued with a chuckle, causing the serpent to hiss apologetically as she reduced her speed slightly. "Thanks."

"You are welcome, friend," She replied with a smile, while the mantis swayed side to side as they moved along.

'I wonder when exactly these bugs got on me, and why are they on me?' Gavin thought as they walked. 'Do I have some sort of smell on me that they like? Do they want something from me?' he continued, looking at the beetle as he did so, only for his eyes to widen as he saw that the beetle was now the exact same color as his backpack strap, and had flattened itself a bit. 'Holy shit it can camouflage itself!' He mentally exclaimed as he stared at the camouflaged beetle. 'That's so cool! It's like a chameleon!' he continued. 'I wonder if the praying mantis can do the same thing, or if it's just the beetle who can do that?'

"Mmmm, sssso, Gavin, how hassss your day been?" Veshka asked him with curiosity.

"Oh, it's been interesting. I went to the Passage and witnessed a fight of some sort between the Overworlders and Underworlders, although I'm not exactly sure who all was involved," Gavin replied. "Then I went to Kiru City and read about Mugic history in the library there, with a muge helping me out," he continued. "And after I finished reading, I helped him bring his things home and came here."

"What issss Kiru City like?" Veshka asked him with curiosity. "I've alwaysss wanted to go there, ever ssssince I wass a hatchling," She continued.

"Well, I've only been there about two times, and in one area, so I can't really give you a good answer," he replied, causing her to frown with disappointment. "But from what little I've seen, it looks nice," he continued, prompting her to smile.

"Wonderful!" She said as they walked, before she fell silent once more, as did Gavin, his thoughts focusing on the weird bugs and on what he'd read in the Library.

After walking for about twenty minutes, they arrived at a rather large lake filled with dark blue water, with a few tall trees with red bark and purple leaves scattered around it.

"Thissss iss where I get the fish," Veshka hissed as she pulled the basket off her body and set it on the shore, before she slithered into the water. "Now watch the basssket. Make sure no one sssteals it," She continued as she went further into the lake, before she dived under the water after taking a deep breath, disappearing from sight.

"Okay," Gavin said as he looked at the lake, before he sat down next to the basket. "Who'd steal this anyway?" he questioned, attempting to think of someone in the Grassy Plains who'd steal the basket. "Hmmm, shoot! I can't think of anyone! I don't know who else lives here!" He continued after thinking for about two minutes. "I'll have to ask Veshka when she comes back up," he finished, before he turned his attention to the beetle on his shoulder.

"Now then, what should I call you and your friend?" he said to the camouflaged beetle, impressed by how good its camouflage was. "Hmmmm," he hummed as he looked at the beetle carefully, tapping his chin as he did so. "I think I'll call you 'Dot' because of those bright spots you have," he said after ten seconds of thinking, reaching a hand out and gently rubbing a finger along its back. "And as for the mantis," He continued, humming once more as he fell deep into thought. 'Hmmm, what do I call this one? I can't call it Manta or Mantis, that's too generic!' he thought with a shake of his head, rubbing his chin as he thought hard. 'Hmmm, what do I name it?'

About a minute passed, before he hummed louder. "Hmmm, I think I'll name you Sophodra," he said as he reached up to his head and gently pat the mantis on the back, feeling it shift around as his fingers touched it. "It's based off of a family of mantises that are commonly kept as pets in my world," He continued as he pet the mantis for a few more seconds, before he lowered his hand and looked back at the water. "Yeah, Dot and Sophodra are great names for the two of you."

As he stared at the lake, one hand resting on the basket, Veshka slowly rose up from the depths, several pink four-eyed fish in her hands, some of them still wiggling around. "Nice catch!" Gavin said as she slithered onto the shore and headed over to the basket, prompting him to remove his hand from the lid. "Is that all you need to get?" He asked her as she opened the lid and tossed the fish inside.

"No, I need to get much more," She replied with a shake of her head before she turned and slithered back into the water. "Much more," she continued, diving down into the water and disappearing from sight once more.

"Huh, I wonder how much more she means exactly?" He questioned as he looked in the basket and counted a total of seven fish. "Eight more? Five? Ten? And will they all be this type of fish?" He continued as he looked at the fish for a few minutes, before he turned his attention back to the lake. "And how deep is that lake?"

"Quite deep," A gentle female voice with a hint of a Kenyan accent said from behind him, causing him to let out a small yelp of surprise, as he hadn't heard any footsteps. "Sorry," The voice continued apologetically while he turned around to look at the speaker, with his eyes widening a bit upon seeing them.

Standing about six feet from him was a young-looking female creature that looked like a centaur. Her head was shaped like that of an oryx, with three foot long slightly ridged gray horns that stuck out of the top of her head, going backwards in a large curve that ended in very sharp points. On the front of her face was a large white marking in the distinct shape of a butterfly's wings, spreading out from the middle of her brow to halfway down her muzzle and upwards towards her horns, stopping right at her hairline. Her hair was pitch black in color and smooth, running backwards between her horns down to the base of her neck like a waterfall. Her muzzle was rather short and had a diamond-shaped black patch of fur between the upper "wings" of the white marking on her face, while a semi-circle design sat between the lower "wings" and connected to more black fur that wrapped around the underside of her jaw. Her somewhat large yet narrow snout was completely white with a touch of gray on her nose, while more white fur ran from the base of her black ears down to the sides of her cheeks to form a large curve that pointed downwards. Black fur ran down either side of the curve down to the underside of her jaw and down the entire front of her somewhat thick neck. The stripe of fur split at the base of her neck and ran across her muscular shoulders to the ends of them before it went down towards her front legs. The stripe widened upon reaching the armpit of her front legs and ran along the sides of her belly to her back legs, where it ended by wrapping around the upper thighs like stockings. White fur covered her upper flat, somewhat muscular belly inside the stripes, while dark tan fur covered her back, neck, and sides above the stripes. A thick black stripe started about a foot away from her butt and hips and ran all the way to her tail. Said tail hung down between her large asscheeks, was pure black in color, and looked somewhat like a horse's tail, ending at her ankles. Her front legs had black patches of fur covering the upper portions of them, making it look like they were covered in sleeves down to her knees. Tear drop-shaped patches sat on the lower portions of her front legs, which were covered in white fur like her rear legs, giving her the appearance of wearing socks. Her legs ended in cloven hooves that were obsidian in color and looked rather smooth. Her arms were slender yet well-muscled and dark tan in color with lighter tan fur running from her elbows to her hands, which were slender, white, and had four black fingers with black short nails. A pair of thin white eyebrows sat above her large gray eyes, which looked at him with a glimmer of interest, while her lips were pitch black, making them almost pop out against the white fur of her muzzle. Her upper torso connected to her lower torso with a somewhat narrow waist, with her lower torso being much larger and more muscled than her upper one. Around the base of her horns sat a pair of black metal rings, while around her neck hung a couple black leather necklaces with dark green stone orbs hanging from the center of the necklaces. On her wrists were dark brown leather bands that had one large oval white stone set in each of them, with a gold ring running around the stone, a silver ring wrapped around her upper right arm, and on her middle finger on her left hand was a silver ring with a dark blue circular gem in the top of it. A dark brown cloth top with a pair of light brown horn markings on the middle of it hung over her breasts, which seemed to be around the size of cantaloupes, although he couldn't tell for certain as the cloth was a bit loose over them. The cloth ended right below her breasts in a slightly rough edge and wrapped around her back, leaving her lower back and belly completely exposed, with one somewhat thick strap running around her neck to keep it from potentially falling down. Hanging from a light brown leather belt around her waist were two medium dark brown fabric satchels with large knots keeping them shut.

"Who are you?" Gavin asked with intrigue as he looked at her, his eyes quickly looking up at her face after taking her figure in for a few seconds.

"I am Ygannea," The oryx centaur replied. "And you are?"

"My name's Gavin," Gavin said as he stood up and found that the top of her head was about 6 feet and 10 inches high in the air, with her horns adding about 2 ½ feet to her height. "Gavin Woodring."

"'Gavin Woodring,'" Ygannea repeated, an intrigued tone in her voice while she arched an eyebrow. "What an interesting name. What brings you here? Are you trying to get one of those 'scans' for your game?" She asked him, before they heard the sound of water splashing behind them, prompting them to look at the lake.

"YESSSSSSS! LOOK GAVIN!" Veshka hissed excitedly as she slithered towards the shore, holding up a large struggling fish in her hands. "A LONTRA!" She continued as she quickly reached the shore, letting him get a better look at the fish.

Said fish was about as long as his entire forearm and hand, slender like a barracuda, and covered in dark gray slick scales. It had two golf-ball-sized yellow eyes on the sides of its conelike head, somewhat short fins that were clear with a black tint on the edges, and long sharp white curved teeth in its long mouth.

"A 'lontra?'" Gavin repeated with surprise and intrigue at the odd word. "Is that rare?" He asked as she brought the fish over and set it in the basket, a huge smile on her face.

"Oh yesss! They are quite rare!" Veshka replied with a nod as she looked at the lontra spasm in the basket. "I wasss lucky to sssee this one go after a monek, otherwissse I wouldn't have seen it. They are exccellent hidersss!"

"I'm sorry, what's a 'monek?'" Gavin asked with confusion upon hearing the weird word.

"The pink fish I caught!" Veshka replied, holding up one of the four-eyed fish as she spoke.

"That's called a 'monek?'" he said with disbelief.

"Yessss, and I need to get more," Veshka replied as she turned to head back into the water. "Hello Ygannea," she continued with a happy tone before she slithered back into the water.

"Hello Veshka," Ygannea said with a smile as the serpent dove down under the water after getting three feet away from the shore. "So as I was saying, are you here for a scan?" She asked him.

"No, I'm just here to spend time with my friend Veshka," he replied as he looked at the lontra, which was gasping for air as it laid in the basket. "I only met her two days ago, and I'd like to get to know her better," he continued, causing Ygannea's eyes to widen with surprise.

"Really? So you're not trying to scan us and then leave?" She asked him.

"Yep! Not trying to scan you!" he replied with a nod, causing her eyes to widen even more. "Just want to spend some time with my new friend before I head home," he continued as he reached down and gently touched the lontra's side, causing it to spasm slightly and make him draw his hand back quickly, not wanting to get hurt.

"Huh," Ygannea said, surprised at what he'd said. 'He seems completely different from the other players I've heard about,' She thought as she looked at Gavin, who continued to look at the lontra with intrigue. 'Very different.' "Why not?" She asked.

"Because you're living beings and I want to become friends with you and not treat you like you're only objects," he explained. "I only want to scan those who truly want or are okay with me doing so," he continued as he touched the lontra again, which remained still this time. 'Man, it looks like a lot like a barracuda or gar, but with a lot more teeth,' he thought as he looked at the lontra. 'Bet it'd hurt like hell if someone got bit by this thing!'

Ygannea stared at him with shock upon hearing his explanation. 'He is very different from what I and Takako have heard,' She thought as she watched him look at the lontra in the basket. 'Very different indeed. And that's good,' She continued as she smiled. "Good. So how did you and Veshka meet?" She asked as she walked over and laid down on the ground a few feet to his right.

"I came to the Grassy Plains to explore it and she followed me around for a little bit before she revealed herself," He replied, prompting Ygannea to let out a small chuckle that sounded almost like she was snorting.

"Ah, that sounds like Veshka!" She said with a smile. "So what happened after you met her?"

"She showed me around the Grassy Plains for a little bit, and then she asked me to scan her, as I was kind to her and didn't run away when she showed herself," He replied, causing her eyes to widen. "And while it was so sudden, I could tell she was being so sincere about it that I did it. Even won with her in a battle and came back to show her once it was done."

"How in Perim did you do that?" Ygannea asked him with curiosity.

"My scanner made a record of the battle, one that you can see happen," He replied, before he pulled out his scanner. "Here, let me show you," he continued as he opened up the "Battle Library" and clicked on the one video he had saved. "Watch," he finished as he turned the scanner on its side and held it out for Ygannea to see.

He stayed silent as he watched Ygannea's face, slowly gaining a large smile on his face as her facial expressions changed from shock to a bit of fear upon seeing the Danian Junda to glee upon seeing him getting defeated. "So, what'd you think?" he asked as the battle ended and he put his scanner away.

"That was amazing!" Ygannea said with awe as she looked at him. "How was it being Veshka?"

"Odd," Gavin replied after thinking for a few seconds. "I mean, I walk on two legs, not slither like she does. Yet, when I became her, it was quite easy to move as her, like I instinctively knew how to do it," He explained. "But it was also cool! I liked being her."

"That is interesting," Ygannea said with an intrigued tone. "I wonder if the technology used to turn you into Veshka transferred over her instincts during the process?" She questioned, causing him to furrow his brow.

"Huh, you know, that would make a lot of sense," He replied after a few more seconds of thinking, before Veshka rose above the water's surface with a gasp, catching their attention. As she slithered towards shore, they saw that many more moneks were in her grasp, her nails stuck into some of them. "Got enough Veshka?" he asked her as she reached the shore and slithered over to the basket.

"Yessss," Veshka hissed as she dropped the fish into the basket and secured the lid on it, before she hung it around her body. "Enough for now," She continued as Gavin and Ygannea got up. "What have you two been talking about?"

"Oh, she was just wondering how we met," Gavin replied nonchalantly. "So, will I be able to see you around again sometime, Ygannea?" He asked as he looked at her. "I'd like to get to know you better."

Ygannea's eyes widened with surprise a bit, before she smiled a bit warmly. "I believe you will, if you look hard enough, Gavin," She replied, before she looked at Veshka. "See you around Veshka."

"Sssee you Ygannea," Veshka answered as she started to slither away, prompting Gavin to walk with her.

Ygannea watched as the two beings slowly headed away from the lake, before she hummed and turned her attention back to the lake. "Well now, Takako is going to be surprised when I tell her about this," she said quietly as she reached towards her left pouch and opened it, revealing a small brown bundle of net inside along with a large gourd with a thick wooden stopper in the top. "Very surprised indeed," She continued as she unfurled the net and tossed it into the lake, the large stones on the edges of it causing it to unfurl to a somewhat wide size as it flew towards the water, while she held onto it via a thick brown rope.

"So, you know her well?" Gavin asked as they walked away.

"Yesss, quite well," Veshka replied with a nod. "We come across each other quite often in the plains, and talk about various things," She continued, prompting him to gain a curious look.

"Like what?"

"Mmm, like what we've seen lately, how we're doing, and how other people we know are doing," Veshka answered.

"Who else do you know?" Gavin asked her with curiosity.

"Oh, you'll meet them eventually, I'm sure," Veshka replied with a smirk and a glimmer in her eye, piquing his curiosity. "Ygannea is sure to tell some of them about you."

"Oh, like who?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Veshka replied, causing him to let out a growl of annoyance.

"Oh come on! Tell me!" He asked her excitedly as they walked.

"Sss sss ssss!" Veshka hissed with a chuckle. "No, I don't think I will," She replied, causing him to frown.

"Aw, please! Just tell me their names!" he asked her as they walked, prompting her to chuckle and shake her head again. He continued to stubbornly ask her who else she knew besides Ygannea as they walked, with Veshka not giving him a single hint at all, much to his frustration.

As they reached the door of her home after thirty minutes of walking, Gavin sighed deeply. "Darnit!" he said as she opened the door and slithered inside, prompting him to go in after her. "You're not going to reveal who they are to me, are you?" He continued as she shut the door with her tail while they went down the tunnel.

"Correct!" Veshka hissed while they entered the main room of her home, which he saw looked no different from the last time he'd been there. "You will have to wait," she continued, causing him to sigh again.

"Alright," He replied as he watched her slither over to the fire pit and set the basket on the ground near it. "What are you doing now?"

"Cooking the fish," Veshka answered, opening the basket before she grabbed a black metal grate from a large rectangular basket, with the grate having a large hinge on the side that connected to a solid square piece of metal. She then started to put the monek fish on it side by side and end to end, with a few fish weakly flicking their tails in an attempt to escape, but failing miserably.

"Huh, interesting," Gavin said as he watched her put fifteen moneks on the grate, before she pulled the other half up to lay on top of the moneks and latched it with a simple hook. "How do you plan on cooking the lontra?"

"With that," Veshka replied as she pointed her tail at a 3-foot-long black metal rod hanging from a brown rope attached to a green mushroom on the wall to the left side of the fire pit.

"Oh, so you're going to stick it through the middle of the fish and turn it over a fire," Gavin said, with Veshka nodding in agreement. "Neat! I've never seen that done before," He continued as she pulled out what appeared to be a piece of flint and a trapezoidal jagged piece of gray metal that was presumably steel from a small dark brown circular wooden box right next to the fire pit. She then used her tail to grab some branches, twigs, and dry leaves from a pile on the far left of the room and set it in the fire pit, before she struck the flint and steel together with her tail and free hand, creating sparks.

She struck them together two more times before she successfully started a small fire, and she carefully fed it until, after a few minutes, it was a roaring fire. As he watched the fire burn and sat down on the dark gray dirt floor, setting his backpack next to him, she put away the flint and steel while she grabbed the metal rod with her tail and brought it over to her. She then grabbed the rod with her free hand and grabbed two "y" shaped metal poles that were about 3 feet long, before she set them firmly into the ground on either side of the fire pit.

The fire by that time had died down a bit, and she set the container holding the fish onto the fire, with the 3-foot-long handle sticking out and resting on the round white stones lining the edge of the pit. She then picked up the lontra from the basket and easily speared it through the mouth and the full length of its somewhat fat body, causing his eyes to widen with surprise and awe.

Once she stopped pushing the rod through the lontra, she set it over the now low-burning fire, the ends of the rod resting in the forks of the poles in the ground, before she grabbed a small wooden crank from the basket she'd gotten the grate from and attached it to one end of the rod. "There, now we wait," She hissed as she slithered into the other room, disappearing from sight for about fifteen seconds before she returned with a small basket in her hands. She then slithered over to him and around him a few times, before she came to a stop with her head, chest, and arms right next to him, while her long tail surrounded them a few times, the tip of her tail wrapping around the crank and starting to slowly turn it.

"What are you doing?" Gavin asked with confusion, while she pulled out a large ball of fresh grass from the basket

"Relaxing while the fish cooksss," She replied as she started to weave the various thick grass strands together. "And perhapsss get to know each other better," She continued as she looked at him.

"I like that idea Veshka," Gavin said with a smile. "So what do you want to know?" He asked her as he absentmindedly leaned against her side, before his eyes widened with realization and he quickly scooted away as far as he could. "Sorry! Sorry! Didn't mean to lean against you!" he apologized very quickly. "Sorry!"

"Why are you apologizzing?" Veshka asked him with a confused look, pausing her weaving as she looked at him. "You were not bothering me with that action."

"I know, but it was rude of me to do that to you. I mean, we've only known each other for about a day," Gavin replied, causing her to arch a non-existent eyebrow, looking more confused.

"Sssssso?" Veshka said, causing his eyes to widen and blink several times.

"So, it's not something typically done between friends after one day. Usually it's done after a greater amount of time," He explained.

Veshka blinked once upon hearing that. "That'ssss sstupid," She said bluntly, causing his eyes to widen in surprise. "I am fine with you leaning on me, asss you have no ill intentionssss with me," She continued, before she resumed weaving. "Ssssso, tell me what you've done in Perim so far."

Gavin blinked upon hearing those words, before he sighed and moved closer to Veshka. "Well, I've been to Kiru City, the Passage, and the Underworld," he replied as he slowly leaned against her side, feeling her warm, smooth scales touch his skin. 'Dear Kami I can't believe she's letting me do this!' he thought with shock as he felt her skin rise and fall with each breath. "In Kiru City, I went to their Library, which is where the citizens have access to books of all kinds, ranging from those about Mugic to history to cooking and so on," He continued, prompting Veshka to hiss with intrigue. "I actually met a muge in the Library today."

"Oh? Who?" Veshka asked with curiosity, looking at him as she wove the grass strands. "Was it Najarin?!" She asked excitedly.

"Heh, no, it wasn't him," Gavin replied with a shake of his head. "It would have been such a shock if I'd met him! No, it was a muge named Hune Canin, who is married to Eremia, an Overworlder Warrior," he continued, causing Veshka's excitement to lower a little.

"Oh, well, what's he like?"

"Quiet, calm, seems like he rarely, if ever, yells at people," He said as he listened to the sound of the fire crackling, while the smell of fish cooking started to slowly fill the air. "He was very helpful to me, as he told me where to find the exact books about Mugic that I was looking for, and he even explained some things when I got confused, like how long a 'glindark' is," He continued, prompting her to nod as she continued to weave. "Then I helped him bring his things home, as he'd brought a lot of stuff to the Library, and came here to hang out with you afterwards."

"What do you mean by 'hang out?'" She questioned, a curious look on her face upon hearing the odd phrase.

"Oh, well, like what we're doing right now," He explained as he gestured to him and her with a hand. "We're spending time together."

"I ssee," Veshka hissed with intrigue. "What an interesting thing to say," She continued, before she blinked once. "Sssso, what did you do in the Underworld?"

"Oh, well, I…shit!" Gavin cursed as he remembered what he'd been told by Queen Illexia earlier in the day. "I…I can't say," he replied, causing Veshka to arch a non-existent eyebrow as she looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't say," Gavin repeated. "I literally can't say," he continued emphatically. "I shouldn't have even brought up that I went there."

"…Did ssssomeone threaten you?" Veshka asked him with concern, narrowing her eyes a bit as she looked carefully at him. "Did you see something you shouldn't have?"

"I can't say. I can't say," Gavin repeated while thinking 'Oh, if Illexia somehow finds out about this, I pray she doesn't consider this as me uttering a word about what happened.' "I really can't say. And I'm sorry Veshka. I really am," He continued as he looked at her with a sad look on his face. "I can't say anything else."

"Mmmmmm," Veshka hummed and hissed as she stared at him intently. "Alright. But if you're being threatened, let me know, and I'll take care of them," She continued, showing off her fangs as she finished speaking.

"Alright, if I'm ever threatened, I'll let you know," he replied, patting her tail a couple times as he spoke. "Anyways, I did go to the Passage to explore it, and while there, I found a hidden cavern. Inside it I ate some food for lunch and then I almost got caught in the crossfire between Overworlders and Underworlders," he continued, causing her eyes to widen. "I don't know who exactly was involved, although I'm fairly certain Zalic was involved. I got out of there as fast as I could, since there was no way I'd survive getting caught up in the fight, and headed to Kiru City. And that's all I've done in Perim so far," He finished while the smell of cooking fish grew stronger and stronger.

"It mussst have been quite exciting witnessing the fight," Veshka hissed as she set her partially made basket to the side and grabbed a brown rag before she reached out and took the grate off the fire.

"Oh yeah, it was exciting," He replied with a nod. "And startling! I mean, it came out of nowhere! There was not even a hint of the fight coming," he continued as he thought back to when he'd heard the fight in the cavern. "I do wonder who won it."

"Probably the Overworldersss, asss usual," Veshka said as she set the grate on a nearby large flat rock to cool down, while she took the rag and pulled off the crank and then the rod holding the lontra on it. "They've alwaysss managed to keep the Passssage from being overrun by Underworldersss," She continued as she set the lontra down on the flat rock as well to cool, before she returned to her position around Gavin.

"Huh, I didn't know that," Gavin replied with intrigue. "I'd figured they'd at least have been defeated at least once. I mean, the Underworlders can be rather crafty," he continued.

"True, but ass long asss I've lived, it'sss never been overrun," She told him as she resumed her weaving. "Nor during my parent'sss lifetimesss."

"Oh? What are your parents like?" He asked her with curiosity, wanting to know more about Veshka's life.

"They entered the Great Sleep 6 solons ago," Veshka said with a bit of sadness, causing his eyes to widen with alarm. "But they were lovely people. Mother and Father were great warriors who taught me and my sister Pyrithia how to fight from when we were very little, as the Underworld is a dangerous place for a hatchling."

"You're from the Underworld?"

"Yesss, but I do not wish to go back," Veshka replied firmly. "I prefer living up here. It isss ssso open and plentiful!"

"Well, I'm glad to hear that!" Gavin said with a smile, before he patted her tail as a somewhat sad look appeared on his face. "And I'm sorry for your loss," He continued, with Veshka hissing softly with a sad smile as she felt him rub her scaly skin.

"Thank you, Gavin," Veshka replied as she stopped her weaving and hugged him tightly, prompting him to hug her back comfortingly. "That isss nice of you to sssssay," She continued as she hugged him for several more seconds, before they let go of each other and she resumed weaving a round basket.

"You're welcome Veshka," Gavin said as he leaned against her once more, patting her tail as he spoke. "So, what've you been doing while I was gone?" he asked her.

"Oh, the usual things," Veshka replied, before she started to go into much greater detail. She went on and on, talking about her fishing, hunting insects and feral rodents who lived in the Plains, sunbathing, and weaving. She left out who she'd encountered during the past two days, beside Ygannea, which annoyed him slightly, and made him even more curious about who else she knew.

Eventually, the fire had died down to just embers as she said, "And then I found you!" with a large smile.

"Well, you had an interesting two days," He said with a chuckle and a large smile, before he looked at his scanner to see what time it was, as there was no clock in the room at all. "Oh, I guess it's time for me to go now," he continued as he saw that it was almost dinnertime.

"Oh, mussst you?" Veshka hissed with a sad look on her face. "I've really enjoyed thisssss."

"Hey, I've enjoyed it too," He replied as he stood up and put his backpack on, feeling Sophodra shift around slightly on his head, while Dot remained where she was on his strap. "But I need to go home. I have some things I need to do," he continued, causing Veshka to let out a sigh before she set her stuff down.

"Very well," She said with a sad hiss as she reached forward and hugged him somewhat tightly. "I hope you come back again sssoon."

"I will, I promise," He replied as he hugged her back, with her not breaking the hug until about thirty seconds had passed. "Goodbye Veshka," he said to her as he reached down to his scanner and ported out of her home, causing her to sigh sadly as she stared at where he had left, before she quietly said, "Goodbye, friend."

"Man, it's been a long day," Gavin said as he appeared in Chaotic, the noise of people bustling around and talking with each other reaching his ears. "A very long day indeed," He continued as he looked at his scanner and went to return home.

"KamiFollower, your presence is requested immediately," An orange square robot said as it flew over to him, catching his attention. "Please follow me."

"Um, sure," Gavin replied before he walked after the robot, who quickly started to fly away towards one of the doorways. "What's up?"

"Your presence is requested immediately," The robot repeated, causing Gavin to roll his eyes a little.

"Okay, I should have been more specific. Why is my presence being requested?" He asked the robot as they exited the building and headed towards a moving pathway. "And who requested it?" he continued as they got onto the pathway, which was completely empty surprisingly.

"I can answer that," A familiar male voice said from in front of him as the air distorted, before a familiar figure appeared in front of him.

"CodeMaster Moduom?" Gavin said with confusion as he looked at the being. "You asked for me?"

"Yes," CodeMaster Moduom replied with a slight nod, before he held out his right gloved hand. "Now come with me. We have something to discuss," He continued, prompting Gavin to take the offered hand.

Then, their surroundings changed to that of the Council Chamber of the CodeMasters, and CodeMaster Moduom let go of his hand.

"Okay, so what's going on? What do we need to talk about?" Gavin asked the man with curiosity.

"About these two here," CodeMaster Moduom answered, before he quickly reached his hands out and grabbed at something above his head and on his right backpack strap. "It seems you came with some tag-alongs," he continued as he opened his gloves slightly, letting him see what was inside.

"Dot? Sophodra?!" Gavin exclaimed with shock upon seeing the insects. "How are they here?!"

"It seems the scanner didn't recognize them as creatures, for some reason, but as items," CodeMaster Moduom replied as he held the squirming bugs firmly. "And as you know from experience, you can bring items from Perim to Chaotic, and with your special situation, to Earth," He continued as he nodded to the bracelet on Gavin's wrist. "But these two you cannot bring to Earth."

"Is it because if they got caught they'd get torn apart and tested?" Gavin asked the man.

"Yes, or possibly interbreed with the local insect populations on your world and cause havoc," CodeMaster Moduom replied with a nod and a firm tone. "That is why I will keep them here with me while you are at home, and give them back to you when you return to Chaotic."

"Wait, what?" Gavin said with confusion, blinking several times as he looked at the CodeMaster. "Why would you do that?"

"These two insects seem to be particularly attached to you, as they did not try to immediately fly away upon entering Chaotic," CodeMaster Moduom explained politely. "And you have named them as if they are your pets, and pets should not be kept away from their owners. So, I will house them while you are gone, and try to determine why the scanner let them come with you."

"Ohhhh," Gavin said with widening eyes after several seconds, realization running through his head. "I see. That's very kind of you to do, CodeMaster Moduom," he continued with a smile. "Thank you."

"You are welcome, Gavin Woodring," CodeMaster Moduom replied kindly. "Now then, I will let you out of here so you can go home for the night," He continued. "Just take hold of my arm."

"Alright," Gavin said with a nod, before he reached out and took hold of his left arm. The surroundings then changed again, with him ending up right outside a doorway leading into the central hub of Chaotic. 'Man, that's weird we can teleport so seamlessly!' he thought as he let go of Moduom's arm and turned to him.

"Goodnight, Gavin Woodring," CodeMaster Moduom said to the teen.

"Goodnight CodeMaster MOduom. Goodnight Dot and Sophodra. See you two tomorrow!" Gavin replied with a wave before he turned and headed into the nearby building.

As soon as he was gone, Moduom teleported back to the Council Chamber of the CodeMasters, and walked over to one of the nearby smooth black walls, which caused a door to slide open to the right, revealing another room ahead of him. "I do not know what you have planned for the boy," Moduom said to the insects as he held them up to his mask, their heads facing him. "But I will find out, mark my words," He continued, before he completely closed his hands around the insect's, obscuring their heads, and walked into the other room, the door shutting quietly behind him.

Meanwhile…

"Mmmm," Attacat hummed as she and Intress sat at a campfire near the Passage, having stopped for the night on their way back to Kiru City to report to Maxxor.

Sitting across the fire from them were Tangath Toborn and Frafda, two Overworlder warriors who had met them on their way to take a turn at guard duty at the Passage.

Frafda was a 7 foot 5 inch tall female anthro bird whose curvy body was covered in white feathers. Her head was shaped like a hawk's, with two very large crests on either side of her head that looked like fan, the upper portions of the crests being longer than the lower ones. Her eyes were a bright green and had large pupils like a bird of prey, while her bright yellow beak was slightly long and curved sharply at the end like an eagle's. Her arms were well muscled, and ended in four-fingered hands covered in yellow scales with sharp black talons at the ends of her fingers. Her legs ended in four-toed feet with sharp black talons on the ends of them, and the feet were covered in yellow scales that ran up to right below her knees. She stood on her front three toes, with her fourth toes sticking out backwards. Sitting on her torso was a sleeveless tunic made up of overlapping bright green leaves that gave it the appearance of being scaly. It ended at her shoulders in sharp points, while it ended at the tops of her thighs, with a large "V"-shaped cut at her crotch, revealing that a pair of matching shorts were on underneath that ended an inch past the end of the tunic. Three rows of dark gray metal spikes covered the front of the tunic, with two spikes in each row that ended right above her waist. Around her somewhat narrow waist was a dark blue belt that had a large gold ring-shaped buckle in the front. On her wrists were dark blue fabric guards that had red straps wrapped around them and ended halfway towards her elbows, while a large dark blue quiver with a dark brown top hung on her back via a dark blue strap that ran over her right shoulder and down towards her left side. Resting in her lap, one hand holding it firmly, was a 4 foot tall bow that had a narrow dark brown leather grip in the middle of it, while the bow immediately widened on either side before it started to narrow again. The other parts of the bow were covered in silvery steel that had narrow gold rings wrapped around it diagonally, with the very ends of the bow having gold wrapped around them. The string was a light gray color, and arrows filled her quiver, the only part of them that was visible being the short white feathers on the ends of them.

Tangath Toborn was a 7 foot 3 inch tall female anthro lioness who was covered in short light brown fur, with streaks of red fur on the top and back of her head. Her eyes were a bright yellow with dark brownish red eyebrows above them, while her large nose was black in color, and her body was rather muscular, with her flat belly having rather visible abs. A metal gauntlet hugged her left arm, with a large piece of golden yellow metal covering the palm and back of her hand. The first knuckles were uncovered completely and her five fingers were covered in silvery metal that ended in sharp clawed points. Her forearm had two gold metal bands sitting right at her wrist, with silvery metal bands acting as plating behind the gold bands. Blue fabric covered the underside of her arm, ending at the third gold band that sat right before her elbow. A large silvery metal oval sat on either side of her elbow, with a thin curved piece of silvery metal sitting on either side of it and connected to it. More silvery metal bands surrounded the rest of her arm, going underneath the metal pauldron on her shoulder and ending right before her shoulder. The pauldron was silver in color and domed in shape, with several rounded bumps and spikes on it along with some scuffs from previous fights.

Covering her rather large breasts were two circular silvery metal plates that were connected by a large silvery metal hinge in the middle, with blue fabric running out from the sides of the plates to under her armpits and around her back. The metal had some scratches on it from previous fights. Hugging her ass was dark blue fabric, with a small hole cut out for her long tail, which ended in a large dark brownish red tuft of fur. Above the hole was a dark brown leather belt with a rectangular golden buckle on the front. The blue fabric ran down her legs, with a large singular plate of silvery metal covering the majority of her left thigh. The plate ended right at her knee, with a large metal plate covering her calf and sticking out about three inches behind her leg in a narrow edge. The calf-covering plate went down all the way to her ankle, with a dark blue fabric strap helping keep it in place, while her feet were left exposed. Her other calf was covered in exactly the same way, while her right thigh was covered by a series of silvery metal bands held in place by thick dark brown leather straps. A thick dark brown leather strap wrapped around her right side and connected to a long sword sheathe that had a gold tip and gold edges right where the strap connected to it, with the hilt of the Sword of Khy'at sticking out of it. Said hilt had a long gold guard on it that was heptagonal in shape and pointed at the ends like a crystal, with a couple rings carved into the guard near each end. The handle of the sword was long and cylindrical, with thick dark blue leather rings wrapped around handle, spaced out just enough for a sliver of gold to stick out between each one. The end of the handle was in the shape of a large gold cylinder that was very short.

"Something on your mind Attacat?" Tangath Toborn asked as she stirred the fire with a stick, her voice sounding slightly deep and mature, while Frafda ate some soup with a smile.

"Mmmm, just thinking," Attacat replied as she stared at the flames.

"You've been doing that a lot lately, Attacat," Intress said as she looked at her friend with a bit of concern. "Is everything alright? Did Rothar do something to you?" She continued worriedly.

"No, that Underworlder did nothing to me," Attacat replied with a shake of her head, before she rested her head on her hand again. "I was thinking about that singer we heard in the Passage," She continued, causing them all to arch their eyebrows with surprise and confusion, as Tangath and Frafdo had been informed of what had happened in the Passage earlier that day.

"Why?" Intress asked her.

"Well, I was trying to remember how the song they were singing went," Attacat replied, much to their confusion. "And I think the singer was a Chaotic Player," She continued, having been wondering what exactly the singer had been for the past few hours.

"Of course it was!" Frafda said with annoyance as she paused her eating, her voice sounding like she was rather careful and slightly nasal. "Those humans keep on popping up in places they shouldn't be!" She continued before she resumed eating. "Ugh, they are so bothersome, like the Underworlders! You should avoid them as much as you can. Your life will be easier if you don't deal with them."

"While they can be bothersome, Frafda," Tangath Toborn began, turning to look at her fellow warrior as she spoke. "I think there is a chance for us to learn from them, and them from us, if they are willing to," She continued, causing Frafdo to roll her eyes while Attacat sat there in thought.

"Oh please! None of them are willing to learn from us!" Frafda scoffed. "They're more interested in scanning us for that stupid game of theirs!"

"I think I'd like to meet one of these players," Attacat said suddenly, causing them to turn their heads towards her once more. "The one who was singing in the Passage, to be precise," She continued.

"Mmm, that would be quite difficult to do," Tangath Toborn replied with a hum as she stirred the fire some more. "It is impossible to track them, as they come and go as they please with those 'scanners' of theirs. And you only got a glimpse of the player's legs and footwear. That isn't much to go on. Not to mention, even if you do encounter a player, they may not know who you are looking for. After all, I doubt every human knows all of their fellow players," She explained, prompting Attacat to nod slowly in understanding, having heard this before.

"Why do you even want to find that particular human?" Intress asked her with curiosity. 'I mean, I want to find him so he can finish his song. Why does Attacat want to find him? She's never been fond of humans.'

At that, Attacat smiled. "I want to hear him sing again," she replied, causing all of their eyes to widen with surprise.

Meanwhile, down in a bar in Underworld City, Rothar was quiet as she ate with some other Underworlders, her eyes closed in thought while some bandages covered parts of her arms and legs.

"Heh, so the great Rothar lost to an Overworlder!" Dardemus said loudly with a grin on his face as he walked over to the table and sat down across from her, waving to the cook to bring him some food. "How embarrassing to get your hide kicked by them!" he continued with a loud laugh, with several others in the bar laughing as well with him.

At that, Rothar sighed, and remained silent, much to their disappointment.

"Oh come on! Not going to say anything Rothar?" Dardemus asked with a cock of his head while he received his food and drink. "How cowardly!" he continued, causing Rothar to frown a bit while she ate. "I guess those Overworlders really scared you!" He said before he started to laugh again.

"Shut up Dardemus!" Rothar growled angrily, thrusting her arms out and grabbing him by his meaty throat. "Let me eat in peace!" she continued as she squeezed his throat hard, causing him to start to choke and grab at her hands with his.

"Hey! Rothar!" The owner of the bar said as he looked at her angrily. "You know the rules! All fights must take place in the Colosseum," he continued, causing her to frown and growl with more anger before she let go of Dardemus.

"I am in no mood for fighting, Dardemus!" Rother spat at him as she grabbed her drink. "Leave me alone!" She continued while he coughed and rubbed his sore throat, looking at her with a mixture of confusion and annoyance.

"Ugh, fine!" Dardemus said as he grabbed his meal and left the table. "Would have destroyed you anyways!" He grumbled as he headed over to another table and sat down, while Rothar huffed angrily as she resumed eating.

'Idiot Dardemus! Can't he see I'm busy with thinking?!' She thought with frustration. 'Now then, I need to find that Chaotic player from the Passage!' She continued as she thought of the human she'd seen. Well, partially seen. 'I want to hear him sing again! But how do I figure out which player is the right one?'

She hummed as she tried to think of a plan to find the singer. 'Hmmm, I know, I'll corner every player I meet and tell them what I saw!' She thought after about five minutes of thinking, before she let out a groan of annoyance. 'Ugh! That is going to take forever! But I can't track him! I have no way of knowing where he might end up next! I wish I'd seen more of him so I could give a better description besides his skin and footwear!' She continued before she started to eat a bit slower, a frown on her face.

Unbeknownst to her, directly above her in the rafters, a familiar pair of black cat eyes were looking at her. 'Mmmm, looks like things are getting quite interesting,' The owner of the eyes thought as they lapped at their drink. 'Very interesting indeed.'

Well, this was an interesting chapter!

Can't wait to write more!

I apologize for the very long wait! Been very busy with work and, as you see, this was a rather long chapter! I aim for the next chapters of my stories to come quicker!

"Music of the Night" is owned by Andre Webber, Charles Hart, Michael Crawford, and Richard Stilgoe. I do not own it at all. Music suggestions were made by JustAnAverageGuy101.

Thanks to JustAnAverageGuy101 for ideas that were implemented in this story! Many thanks, my friend!

The Danian Muge Dreya is an original creation of mine. A powerful Muge who specializes in dealing with…things. Won't spoil what he does yet! But I will say it does have an impact on Gavin's life.

Ygannea is another original creation of mine. An oryx taur! I hope you will grow to like her. And Takako when she appears, heehee.

Sophodra is a creation of mine and is a reference to two things: first off, the genus Sphodromantis, and second, the main character of the series Humans-B-Gone!, which has a website and youtube channel of the same name. It's a wonderful series I will be covering in a future fic!

Dot is also a creation and unlike Sophodra, she has no reference.

"Glindark" is a term I created for the story and represents a month in their calander. I am also making a "solon" be one Earth year, to help make things simple, as I do not believe there is an actual time assigned to a solon. If there canonically is, please let me know.

Other terms created:

Lontra- a predatory species of fish who hunts the monek via ambush attacks. Are actually a bit more common than the monek, but due to being so good at hiding, they are hard to catch.

Monek-The four-eyed pink fish who are quite common and found in the lake Veshka fishes in, as well as in other lakes.

And I did genderbend Attacat, Rothar, Frafdo, and Tangath Toborn.

Please leave a review!

This is PuzzleMaster1998 here, signing off!

Have a Merry Christmas/holiday!