Peyton watched the window as he quietly sighed. He tapped his fingers on his textbook. His two buddies were dating and Kaz was busy. Meanwhile on Perim, there was nothing interesting. He already got his code back for the day. On the positive side, he could explore the Overworld once again thanks to a deal with Maxxor. He had to thank Theb-Saar later.

He stood up and grumbled that he should try to find something.

"Peyton. One of your friends from Al Mipedim is here," his mother told him.

The boy quickly climbed down the stairs and saw an orange Mipedian with beige underbelly, "Siado!"

Siado chuckled quietly as his pair of red fins on the side of his head pointed a bit backward. His long tail tapped the ground, "I've been waiting to visit your world in this time of peace," he took a bite from an apple offered by Peyton's mother.

His mother was a tall Caucasian woman with long blond hair and green eyes. She wore a blue dress with a fake flower necklace.

"I'm glad you are here! I can show you around!" he let out a large smile.

"Also didn't cross your path for a while. Heard what happened in Perim," he seriously added.

His mother Judy nodded, "Some weird creatures captured your code. Still, it isn't the real you," she let out a sleek smile, "Because if it was for real…"

Her son and his Mipedian friend shivered.

"I won't let anyone hurt your son."

"I was just thinking about those metallic creatures," she put her hands together. She giggled.

Siado glanced at his friend, "Your mother is quite the human."

"Yup. Come!" Peyton suddenly acted as if his mother never intimidated him, "I'll show around the city. Everything is pretty much back to normal," he opened the door.

The lizard chuckled as he followed him outside. He quickly noticed a few suspicious humans he heard from Theb-Saar. He glanced at the cult as he went forward. He had a feeling today would be a good day with his friend.

Chapter 14: Showing around

Peyton was excited to show the town. Siado looked around carefully. He stopped when the cars rolled on the street.

"There is so many battlegears here. I heard it many times. Still, seeing this in person is impressive," he found the form of the battlegears impractical for war.

"They are not battlegears," the teenager replied, "They are just use to move around faster than on foot."

"Yes. Your kind are kinda slow compared to some creatures," he snickered when his friend pouted a bit. He put his hands on his hips, "There is a feeling of peace here," he glanced at the boy, "There is only one tribe here."

Peyton signed, "There is only humans, but you can think of us as having something like… 200 tribes or something."

"This is the Cothica. The Cothica is holding on despite that many tribes and with so few wars," he commented.

"Yeah. They were many wars in not that long ago, but it's been pretty calm for 10 years," he answered his friend.

Siado made the quick calculation, "That's 20 Solans."

"And without skirmish too."

"That is impressive. Anyway, how's it going with this cult," he asked.

The two traversed the street when the green stickman appeared. The creature found it funny that it was called a stickman by Peyton. He had no idea what this thing was, but it had name that could make him laugh. Still, he held that back and remained serious.

"This is quite a large town. It is filled with humans and many other kinds of animals," Siado watched the birds chipping and a few of them flew away when he was too close. Some remained there and seemed to ignore the creature.

"It's a small town Siado. A large city is enormous. Bigger than Kiru City," the portly boy explained.

The Mipedian couldn't imagine a city bigger than Kiru city. He glanced at the human and chuckled, "I will not try to imagine that. Anyway, are they any interesting places to show around?"

"Of course."

"Show me the way. I might try a few things if you do not mind. I rather be sure you are okay with this. This is your world," Siado replied.

"I got no problem. I can finally show you what ice cream is. I'm sure you will find it delicious. Too bad it melted way too fast on Perim," he sighed.

The Mipedian asked with a dead pan face, "Why didn't you ever suggested that when I was in Chaotic?"

The boy froze in places for a few seconds as he thought back himself. Tehre was nothing that could come in his mind to answer why he didn't think of that. He tried to find an excuse, something to make it seemed like he never thought about it. He didn't want to say that he did something stupid. He scratched his neck, "Well dude… IIIIIII- No idea," he admitted.

His friend chuckled, "I'll get one from here instead of Chaotic. Maybe it might taste better here. Let's say you waited for the best."

"Let's say that buddy," Peyton agreed to this suggestion to avoid embarrassment. They went on together.

They stood in front of the ice cream store and they entered inside.

The creature quickly felt that it was a bit cooler in the building. He knew they had some strange gears that could affect the temperature. They seemed to be active, despite the fact that it wasn't that hot outside, by human standards. He learned that summer was fast approaching, but it was around, as human said, a month away from now. He sniffed the air and it didn't seem appealing. He wasn't sure how to describe the stench, so he didn't.

Siado watched the humans who observed him. He noticed they were either nervous or just waved at him. He could tell who was a Chaotic Player and who wasn't by their reactions. At least, they were nervous or uneasy, not afraid of him. It would have been problematic to get closer to the humans from the Cothica if they feared them. He waved at them and stayed near his friend.

Peyton reached the counter and asked, "One chocolate ice cream and…" he turned to his friend, "What do you want?" he then began to explain what the flavors were.

It confused the Mipedian a bit and picked one, "This… Vanilla thing."

"And Vanilla please," the boy concluded to the worker.

Once it was done, they walked outside of the store with an ice cream in their hand and began to lick it.

Peyton chuckled when the long tongue of Siado came out. A little too much than necessary.

Siado gazed at the human and corrected himself. The two licked it together, "It's good, but it's pretty cold inside," he pointed at his stomach. He didn't mind. It felt a bit refreshing. He finished it at the same time as Peyton, "Your kind can make incredible things."

"For sure bro! There is so much more to see. Come!" Peyton excitedly told his friend.

His companion followed him around the city. He kinda wished he could get another ice cream, but his friend was the one who could pay for it. He didn't want to ruin him.

They stopped at the entrance of a few restaurants. The Mipedian could smell a large variety of food. It felt like he had the meals of every tribe in front of him. He corrected himself as he observed it a bit further. Each tribe had a place to make their meal and to sell it.

He wasn't hungry anymore and he wasn't there for that.

"This is the food street of our town. They are ten restaurants and none of them are the same! That's the awesome part!" Peyton was excited to show him around.

"That explain a little bit," Siado joked as his tail poked the stomach of his friend.

"N-not at all," the boy lightly blushed. He knew his friend wasn't serious.

"Anyway, this town is fantastic, even if it isn't that big… From what you tell me," he stretched his limbs.

Peyton excitedly told him that they were more places to look around. He also commented that his friends Tom and Sarah were dating together and might be in the movie theater.

The creature was curious what this movie theater was, but didn't ask. There were too many things to see and so many questions to ask. He couldn't formulate them in his mind.

As they crossed the street once again towards a large structure with many battlegears used by humans, Siado asked, "Did you show around to the other Mipedians too?"

"Yes. This is the usual tour I give them," the boy replied with a large smile on his face. It was obvious he didn't mind this at all and was happy to show the places he loved to his friends.

"And this is only one town. Glad it recovered from the M'arrillian invasion quickly," Siado smiled.

"For sure dude. They never came here. We left to find our friends Tom and Kaz who had to escaped the first attack when they came here," the teenager replied. He didn't really like to think back of the invasion. Still, it was nice to know they lived so close to each other's on Earth. He just needed his driver licence with Sarah and they could see each other's much often. He put his hands on the back of his head as they stood in front of the movie theater, "This is where my friends are. They might come out or left since the movie is over."

"W-what is a… movie?" the lizard asked curiously. He was a bit confused. He had a feeling it was some side activity. He saw those large billboards with an image and letters of the human language.

"It's… Hum… well," Peyton tried to search for the perfect reply. He chuckled a bit nervously. He grumbled a bit before he managed to reply, "It's… A fictional story that people act like… Like theaters. It's just recorded and put on a large screen."

He lost the creature who got nothing except for the theater part. He tried to explain it better, but he spoke clumsily and only made the creature more confused.

"Forget it," Siado decided to spare Peyton ego.

"Peyton!" they heard Tom and Sarah who came to them.

"And Siado too," the girl said as she gave a quick nod at the creature.

"You came out just in time dudes… Or a bad time," he knew they were on a date.

"We were about to go somewhere else now," Tom replied.

Sarah hit her boyfriend shoulder, "Good thing the movie you picked was good."

The two chuckled for a few seconds. It left the creature a bit confused.

"Anyway, we should be going now," she added.

The couple walked away, but stopped.

The three humans felt a chill on their back for a few seconds. Siado instinct also told him that something was suddenly a bit different in the air. It made no sense for the creature. Still, he didn't like this feeling at all.

Their experience in Perim allowed them to notice when a sudden change came, not a gradual one. This time, they felt like something watched them. The four looked around, but nothing was different.

A few teenagers were also a bit more nervous, showing they were player that came to Perim.

A strong voice suddenly came from above, "I found you Peyton!" a voice that sounded quite happy.

The four quickly turned towards the movie theater, where the voice seemed to come from. They noticed nothing and raised their head.

On the roof of the building, there was something that wore a red cloak and the golden necklace reflected the light of the sun.

They couldn't see clearly who it was, but it was obviously not a human.

"I have finally come to-" the being suddenly felt from the roof. He quickly felt down and the sound of an explosion followed them the creature destroyed the concrete.

Everyone watched the being. The large size quickly told them it was a creature from Perim. Still, he sunk halfway in the concrete and a lot of cracks surrounded him. Everyone wondered if the creature that searched for Peyton was still alive or not.

AC: This is the end of this chapter. Yup, it ended on a cliff-hanger. Who was the creature that crashed on the ground. The answer will come in the next chapter.

Next: Up For The Taking.

The intruder of Perim came to claim Peyton, but Siado had no intention of letting his friend kidnapped.