Author Comment: Hello everyone and welcome to the sequel of this story. I hope you will enjoy it and have fun. If you are wondering what the Earth became, that will be shown later.

This is currently not Beta-Read.

Act 1: The Lurking Enemies.

Prologue: The Metal King

Peyton grumbled in his sleep. He felt disturbed as something poked his cheek, "Shoop it mom," he wave his hand and turned his head to the side.

He was on a large bed, resting on the large red sheet of the bed.

"He is not waking up my king," a voice grumbled.

"You might have exaggerated the dosage. A human isn't like those creatures," a strong and dominating voice declared. He chuckled, "Do not worry. It won't be long before he wakes up. Once he's up, you should leave. It is best that he doesn't see too many of us at once," he replied.

"Understood my king," he bowed.

The boy grumbled once again.

"He might wake up soon," the king commented. His gaze went to his servant, "Any side effects from it?"

"Mom… Pies don't talk," the teenage boy grumbled in his slumber.

The two gazed at him, "What kind of dream is he having?"

"Anyway, what are the side effects on it," he adjusted his cloak as he frowned.

"Not many. It wouldn't affect a creature that much."

"And a human?"

"No idea. We didn't test on any of them."

"So, he might be like that when he is up?"

"Maybe."

The king sighed, "Whatever. Are the Mipedians doing anything? We did take him when he was in their territory."

"Nothing. He was isolated. Maybe they noticed his disappearance, but we left no clue that could be associate with any tribe. There is no reason to worry about it," the servant replied.

A smile appeared on the king face, "Perfect. You can leave now. I think he is waking up soon," he pointed at the boy.

Peyton grumbled as he turned around on the bed.

"Will do my king," the creature left the room.

The king waited for the human to wake up. He nodded to himself as he waited. He rested his arms on his side, "You sure take your time."

"I'm up mom!" he suddenly sat up. He looked around. He cleaned his face before he took around again.

"You are finally up."

Peyton was a Caucasian portly boy with brown shaggy hair and green eyes. He wore a yellow shirt with a lizard face on it with a green sleeveless vest over it and black pants.

"W-where am I?" he looked at the new guy. He froze when he didn't recognise the guy, while at the same time, remembering he was in Al Mipedim before he woke up here. Wherever this here was.

He was a tall creature with a metallic face. His purple eyes shined as he focused on the boy and smirked with his large white fangs behind his lips. He wore a red cloak and a golden necklace. Even hidden by the cloak, the chest of the creature was massive.

By tall, Peyton thought it was a giant, even among the creatures he met. He was more than twice his side. "You're huge!"

The metallic creature laughed for a few seconds, "Haven't I heard that many times already?"

That reassure the teenager a bit. If the creature had a sense of humor, he might survive. He then realised he was on a bed, still his clothes were on. He didn't have to fear the worse, "Still… Where Am I?" he nervously raised his finger.

"Presentation first, I think. I am Titanium, king of the Metalist…tribe, if you want to call us that."

"A-" he froze when he realised it was another new tribe. He heard from his fellow Mipedians that there was a tribe of elementalist creatures. Now there is another one who called themselves Metalist.

"Anyway," he showed his red hand. He revealed two fingers, "How many fingers do you see?"

"Two. Why?"

"Good. The drug isn't messing with your brain," Titanium commented.

"That's good to- Drug?" he yelped that word when he registered it.

"Yes. We had to take you safely and quietly from Al Mipedim and bring you here," he slowly lowered his body, towering over the teenager. He let out a soft smile, but it felt intimidating, "We don't want to let the other tribes know about us. You should feel honored to be brought here."

"T-that's kidnapping," Peyton replied.

Titanium chuckled, "Indeed. But we aren't holding you forever or until we get a ransom. It's mostly little detail you are talking about here."

"Y-yeah," he decided not to argue that they still kidnapped him. He searched for his scanner in his pocket, but didn't find it.

"I'm keeping your scanner on me. Would be a little mistake if I just let you get away from here," he smirked at the boy.

Peyton nodded quietly. He put his cheerful attitude on the side as he searched for a way out. He didn't like his current predicament. Still, "Did I d something to upset you? Because I'm sorry if I did anything?"

"You haven't done anything. Consider yourself a guest here. A guest I brought here against your will, but still a guest. I wanted to meet you face to face and show you around my land," his hand disappeared in his cloak, "I have no reason to hurt you at all Peyton."

The boy had many questions. He knew nothing of them and they surely knew little of him. Yet, here he was. He trapped those questions into his brain, "Right. Sorry… I don't get why you didn't ask me?"

"Because you will try to get a scan of me, a battlegear and the location," he turned to the side, "Come. I'll show you around. I will be glad to answer the many questions you have in your mind. It would displease me if you don't have any questions," he grumbled.

Peyton gulped.

Titanium laughed loudly as he approached the boy, "Come on Peyton! I am joking! I know you want to ask many things. Like, why we take you or anything about my tribe. I can answer many of them, but not all of them," his face went near the boy, "One thing I can tell you is that we know you come from the Cothica," he stood up again, "Now come. The quicker we finish this, the earlier I will let you go."

Peyton stood up from the bed. He looked around where he was sleeping for a while. It was a large room with some kind of torch that had a light bulb or something like that. It illuminated the room covered with pale blue rock or bricks. Except for the bed, there was a shelf, a table and a chair. There was nothing else that would impress the boy. It was generic if he compared to what the other tribes built. The only thing was the kinda light bulb that felt a bit like something humans could make. Except for that, it was a bit bland. Maybe it was because he was a kidnapped guest.

The boy decided to be cooperative and followed the creature.

"Ask your questions away," the king suggested as they proceed through the corridor.

"Why did you take me bro? I never did anything to stand up," he replied.

"The why," he chuckled. He glanced at the boy, "Because you are someone who caught my interest. You are a funny guy and I like funny guy. The other reason is of your current status among the Mipedians. Guide of the Cothica," he concluded.

Peyton stopped for a few seconds as he took that in. That meant that his four friends could be kidnapped too.

"You are surprisingly serious, but with the situation you are in, I cannot blame you. You wake up in a strange place without your scanners, after telling your mother that pies don't talk," he chuckled.

The teenage joined him and blushed heavily in embarrassment. He had a weird dream again, "Maybe it is the drug thingy you gave me that cause those weird stuff," he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Those are the simplified reason why we wanted you here. Why I requested your presence here. It is your first time, so I wanted to show you around," the Metalist explained.

"Why not find your own guide?"

Titanium replied in a serious manner, "Because they are none and never would be for our tribe," he glanced at the boy. There was something in that glance that said it had much more in this than he said, "That is the sole reason. We need other ways to reach the Cothica."

"That… doesn't make sense."

"I can explain, but it would be too… hard to believe," the kind answered.

"Mind blowing?"

"That would be the last thing you would experience. You wouldn't like your head to explode," Titanium warned, not understanding that it was a figure of speech.

"Just a way of saying that it is impressive," he explained.

"Weird and violent way to express that."

Peyton tried another question, "Why me and not any of my friends?"

"I already said because I found you funny. It is one of the big reasons. They are others," he chuckled as he didn't reveal them. He stopped near a large door. It looked large for the boy, but the side was perfect for the king, "You are our best chance to reach the Cothica. We waited in the shadow during the entire conflict against the M'arrillians, even when they reached the Cothica. We waited and waited. Now, we have our chance to go there and we will need help. You are the one who can help us. The funny guy. You are also the kindest one and not as 'special' as Tom Major."

"My buddy isn't that special," he replied.

"He is," he didn't precise it. He opened the door, "Take a look. Our tribe lives on a small land, but it is ours," he walked through the door.

Peyton followed him and stopped; a bit amazed at what he was seeing. The day was coming to an end. The sunset was beautiful as the remaining light shined upon a large city. He could see the large buildings that had rectangle shapes that rise high in the air. He guessed they were kinda like skyscrapers. He couldn't see any battlegears form up there, but saw many creatures that wandered around the streets.

He saw there was a wall that blocked the entrance to the city. He watched beyond and saw water.

"You will see water all around the city. The territory under our control are many islands. We are far from the continent of Perim," he replied.

"How did you bring me so quickly?"

"Telebracers. We stole one from another tribe and keep it to ourself. We are making a few more," he chuckled. He noticed the boy wasn't feeling that safe, "Anyway, this is the tribe I am protecting for a very long time. I won't let you meet my subject. I don't want you to meet too many people. Just me," he giggled, "A little selfish for a king. Aren't I?"

"N-no," Peyton still felt like he might be in some dangerous ground of he insulted that king. He knew nothing of the creature or his tribe.

"Relax Peyton. I am a little bit. You have to admit it," he began to walk away. He glanced at the boy, "Come. There is more to show in this little visit."

"It's getting late," he commented. The teenager knew his friends were surely worried for him. He didn't have his scanner and it might not do anything, since it was out of his grasp. He had no idea where his scanner was. He looked at the outsider world once again. He realised he was pretty high in the air. He might be in a castle that felt like a large tower. Maybe.

They returned in the possibly castle.

"Dude," he took a deep breath. He needed to bring a bit of his usual self, "Are your tribe chill or might be like the M'arrillians? Before they calmed down of course."

"Chill? We are not a cold tribe. You can say we are nice," he replied a little confused.

"Chill means someone calm bro."

"Your kind is weird," Titanium concluded before he laughed.

Peyton finally felt a bit reassure by the creature. He guessed he wasn't pretending to be calm and was just himself. Still, he thought of his friends. It was getting late, "How long was I sleeping?"

"A day or two."

The boy yelled, "What?"

The king laughed, "I'm kidding. A few hours."

He put his hand on his chest in relief, "G-good."

"Do you have more questions?"

"Yeah dude. Why are you living here?" he curiously asked.

"We wanted to be apart from the other tribes. Bad experience from our ancestors," he simply replied without adding any detail. It felt like it wasn't some good stories. He opened his mouth to add something else, but closed it, "I'll tell you a bit of it another time. Now isn't the time for the history of the Metalist."

"Okay."

"The islands around here also have the resource we need to make a city like this," he glanced at the boy. He noticed the worried look on the human face, "Since you are that worried. I'll show you just one more thing before I let you go back to your friends. It is pretty late. This is just our first planned meeting."

"Thank you," he sighed in relief.

"I'm just going to show you the throne room. It is where I get my important meetings and arguing with my council. That takes a long time when they don't listen to what I have to say. Anyway, this isn't anything fancy here. I don't have a golden throne or something like that. Too much pain in the butt to just sit on something like that," he smirked.

"Yeah. Too hard for a throne and a waste of gold," Peyton replied.

"More questions?"

"What's your plan?"

Titanium was about to reply something. He stopped before the first word come out of his mouth. He then seemed to decide on his answer, "Getting to the Cothica. I already told you that. However, we have no plan of invading the Cothica."

"It's the Earth," Peyton replied. He heard that so often that it was a bit annoying to correct his friends from Perim all the time.

"I'll call it like the other tribes are calling it," the creature replied with a smug on his face. He was only replying that to get on the nerve of the boy.

"If not invading, what is your plan?" the teenager asked a bit reassure about his intention. If he was honest, he reminded himself. He had his doubt with Theb-Saar in the past and he needed to know everything right now. He couldn't just go along with anything, "I rather know right now."

The king appeared a bit conflicted to answer that question, "This is something for another time. Just know that we do not have the intention to invade the Cothica," he let out a reassuring smile after that.

That didn't reassure Peyton that he got a non answer like that, "W-why?"

"We don't want you to tell anyone about the matter. Anyway, we are here. I'll show you the throne room and I'll let you go home."

He opened the door and let him entered first. He followed the boy next. He went on until they were near the throne.

Peyton looked around. He could see the room was surrounded with large blue pillars that looked like it would be Chaor proof. They were many of those lights in bubbles once more. He looked up and saw a painting of the map of Perim with many islands around. He could see the map of the land controlled by the metal dude. They weren't any windows around as it was at the center of the tower. He looked at the throne and saw it was pretty large. Large enough for the king to sat on it comfortably.

The throne was red. It looked like it was made on the blood of his enemies. It was also covered with golden symbol on it that felt a bit royal.

After this observation, the teenager felt a few pair of eyes set on him. He looked around, but saw no one looking at him except for the king, "Are we… alone?" he looked around.

"Maybe," Titanium laughed when the boy grew more nervous. He stood behind the boy and dropped his upper body. He showed how much he dominated the boy when his chest was just above the head of the human, "Maybe not. That's not important. I'm just messing with you. I heard you gulped when I said maybe not," he snickered. He then raised up, "It's fun messing with you. Hope I'll be your friend soon," he walked toward the throne. His hand went out of his cloak and grabbed something. He held the yellow scanner of the human, "Here. This is your scanner," he raised it in the air, making sure Peyton wouldn't take it.

"Can I get it back now?" he nervously asked.

"I have only two more things to tell you before I give it up. First, we will block the memories of our first meeting," he glanced up and nodded.

Peyton yelped when he suddenly was restrained with a few pair of metallic arms and hands, "L-Let me go!"

"We wouldn't want our existence to spread around. For the safety of my people, I have to cut this little meeting from your memories."

"Why bring me here?" he yelped.

"I was too impatient to meet you. I'm sorry this is rough, because I really like you. I hope you will be your funny self next time. The second thing I have to tell you," he approached the scanner.

Peyton felt something on his forehead. He struggled harder, but without success.

"Next time we'll meet. It will be with your real self," Titanium said. He gave a nod.

Peyton felt something like a punch right on his brain. Before he lost consciousness, he felt his scanner back in his hand. A handed guided him on a switch to port him out. This was the last thing he saw, before everything went blank and forgot this even happened.

Peyton opened his eyes. He sat down and looked around, "W-where am I?" he then realised he was in Chaotic. He was on a chair. He looked forward and saw Tom, a boy with black hair and looked at him with his light blue eyes, "Hi Tom."

"Peyton. What happened to you?" Tom quickly asked.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"You port back in after you were gone for the entire day unconscious. You didn't answer anyone call after you disappeared. Theb-Saar is freaking out when he learned you just disappeared out of the blue and he might come here soon."

"Where's Kaz and Sarah?"

"They are searching for you in the desert. They stopped since you port in, but Theb-Saar and the other Mipedians are holding them until they know what happened to you," the boy replied.

The brown-haired boy scratched his head, "Well…" he searched for his missing memory. He drew a blank. He grew nervous as he answered, "No idea. I remember being on a scan hunt and then I'm here."

Tom felt the same way as his friend. Many things could happen to his friend while he was gone. It was almost an entire day. His shivered as he called his two other friends about what he learned.

Titanium sighed as he watched where the human once was. He turned around and walked toward his throne.

He sat on it and asked, "What do you think of my pick? I know we will steal a guide, but I'm sure those lizards won't mind," he let out a small grin.

"I have to remind you to call them Mipedians. The other tribes deserve respect for protecting the Cothica and as living creatures," someone with a metallic body like the king said as he walked out of the shadow with three more creatures.

"I won't forget. I would have like if Peyton was in a more funny mood. I like funny guys," he smirked.

Another one asked, "By the way… Did you avoid making a fool of yourself?"

"W-what?"

"Did you trip on your cloak like always?" he asked back.

"No! I didn't trip like an idiot! You think a king would do something as stupid as that?"

"If you yes!" the four replied.

The king gazed at the four for a few seconds before he crossed his arms and grumbled, "Fine. I didn't trip this time. Anyway, we need to work on the Telebracer for our next meeting."

"We are advancing on that," one said as they moved on to the trip aspect.

Titanium looked at the last one who said nothing, "Anything about them?"

"No. They are currently biding their time. We cannot let them approach any humans. When Peyton will be here, we will need to maximise the security. They cannot put their hands on the boy."

"Good. We need to find and identify each of them quickly," the king raised his chest and ordered, "Move on to the next phase."

"Right!" the four replied before they left.

Titanium sighed and whined, "Will they let go of me tripping on my cloak already?"

AC: This is the end of the prologue.

Next: Someone Was Worried.

Theb-Saar quickly ported to Chaotic and checked on Peyton.