Tom shifted uncomfortably, trying to keep his posture straight as he waited. He'd done his best to show what he knew earlier, and he was pretty sure he had impressed more than a few creatures with his ability. The shield was a valuable skill in the OverWorld, somebody had to have realized that.

The Chaotic-boy shook his head, trying to put himself at ease. He was just making himself nervous. Then again they were all probably nervous, waiting for some unknown creature to talk to them and make the choice as to whether or not to take them on as an apprentice. Jycella was practically quaking in her boots, her armor chattering slightly as she tried to swallow her nerves. He really hoped someone chose her, she'd already had a rough day when her sister, Krystella, had decided to join the UnderWorlders, the enemy tribe of the OverWorlders. He could sympathize, he hadn't been able to talk his best friend Kaz out of trying to join the UnderWorlders either, nor Sarah with the Danians, nor Peyton with the Mipedians.

Trying to put his three best friends out of his mind, Tom risked a glance around. Leon was talking to Heptadd, one of the most powerful OverWorlders in, well, the OverWorld. It honestly didn't surprise Tom that someone like Heptadd would consider training Leon, the guy was natural at nearly everything that concerned battling, though his skills in everything else was a different story. Tom was half-surprised that the Leader of the OverWorld himself wasn't talking to Leon. Granted, it was exceedingly rare for leaders to choose an apprentice, so the other half wasn't that surprised.

Tom blinked as the red skinned white haired OverWorlder Aivenna walked past him, an ecstatic Jycella following in her wake. Jycella looked back and waved at him happily, which he returned, sincerely glad for her. Jycella had confided in him that she'd hoped to meet the OverWorlder Aivenna if she was picked to join the tribe. He was thrilled for her that not only had her wish came true, but that Aivenna had been the one to become her trainer.

The raven haired boy stood up straight again, waiting for someone, anyone, to talk to him next. He was fairly certain somebody would choose him.

Leon left with Heptadd, which was no surprise. Tom snickered at the half smug half delighted look in Leon's face as he left. The guy was a smug jerk sometimes, but even he could appreciate how lucky he was to have someone like Heptadd choose him as their apprentice.

As time passed more and more candidates left with their trainers, some looking thrilled, others apprehensive. The sounds of chatter began to dwindle as the number of people slowly trickled out of the barracks. Pretty soon there was no one left.

No one except for Tom, looking around in disbelief, hoping that there had been some kind of mistake. No one had even talked to him, Tangath-Toborn had given him a reassuring nod, but no one had even spoken a word to him! There had to be someone else, he couldn't be the only one left without a trainer!

But...there was no denying it. Nobody else was there. He was alone.

He'd been left behind.

His hands curled into fists as he bit his lower lip; hanging his head as bitter disappointment formed a lump in his throat. He fell back against the wall, sliding down it until he plopped down on the floor, bringing his knees to his chest as he hid his face in his folded arms. It was all he could do to keep from crying.

It happened sometimes. Sometimes there weren't enough candidates and too many trainers; other times there weren't enough trainers and too many candidates. It was a fact that sometimes candidates had to go back to Chaotic and wait another year before they could try again. It wasn't fair, but it was the truth.

The truth didn't make it any easier.

Everyone else had been chosen. Everybody else had someone who wanted to train them, Jycella had Aivenna, Leon had Heptadd, even Brad who was the biggest klutz in the group had gotten Tarterek for his trainer. They all got to join the OverWorld tribe, while he was left behind to train for another year.

Dammit…it wasn't fair. He might not have been the best in the group; that title obviously went to Leon. But he wasn't the worst either, he'd done better than most of the others in fact! He'd trained just as hard as everyone else, even harder in some cases! So why the Hell was he the only one that had to go back to Chaotic?

Why didn't…why didn't anybody want him?

He supposed he must've dozed off for a moment, because he didn't hear the door open, nor the footsteps heading in his direction. He didn't realize that he was no longer alone until he felt a hand gently rest in his hair.

Tom looked up, expecting to see the masked face of one of the caretakers, Crellan most likely, coming to tell him that it was time to go back. Instead he came face-to-face with none other than the leader of the Overworld himself, Maxxor.

"Hi." The OverWorlder said simply while Tom stared, so completely caught off guard by the leader's appearance that his brain refused to work for a moment.

When his brain finally started working again, the boy's face went brilliant red, and he shot up so fast he nearly gave himself vertigo.

"M-Maxxor!" He stuttered out as the elder got back to his feet. "I-I-uh..."

"At ease." Maxxor said reassuringly.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" Tom asked, knowing there was only one reason but not daring to believe it.

"Isn't it obvious?" Maxxor asked before placing a hand on Tom's shoulder. "I'm here to take my new apprentice home, if that's alright with you."

Tom stared at the OverWorld leader incredulously. This was a joke. This was way too good to be true, he had to be joking, he'd be the biggest douche in all of Perim if he was but Maxxor just had to be joking.

As the human looked up into the Leader's eyes, he realized that Maxxor wasn't. He broke into a wide smile.

"Yes!"

"Well good." Maxxor said with a laugh, turning towards the exit, hand still on Tom's shoulder. "We should go now, it'll be getting dark soon."

Tom nodded, feeling like the luckiest kid alive as everything faded into white.

Tom Majors woke up with a stunned look on his face, sitting up with the same look as he came back to his senses. He wasn't in the OverWorld barracks, he was in his room, in his own bed. It had been a dream.

A really, really weird dream.

The OverWorld-Player shook his head, trying to shake off the eerie feeling that it hadn't been a dream. It was so vivid, there was no mistaking that he'd dreamed he'd been in the OverWorld barracks. Which was really, really weird, he'd never dreamed about Perim before. Those dreams usually ended in a nightmare about getting coded for real, or getting kicked out of Chaotic. He'd never dreamed about...whatever the hell that was!

Hell, just the fact that he could remember the dream so much was really weird. Normally he only had a vague recollection of what he dreamed about, like that one time he'd dreamed about a murderous cat. That was all he could remember, that there'd been a murderous cat involved!

And yet he could remember everything clear as day, though he still had yet to understand why he had dreamed about those particular creatures and players. He'd barely known Jycella for a few weeks, he hated Tartereker, and he'd never even spoke to Herculeon before. Why did those three show up? And what exactly were they doing there anyway?

Tom didn't have time to wonder as his scanner rang. He reached over to check the caller I.D and saw the familiar screen-name KidChaor stare back at him. What the hell was Kaz doing calling him in the middle of the night?

"What is it Kaz?" Tom asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eye with his free hand. "I swear if this has anything to do with your UnderWorld fanclub..."

"Tom!" Kaz exclaimed, the screen phasing in and out of view like an old television set. The static was so loud that Tom could only make out half the words.

"Kaz? What's up with your scanner?" Tom asked, fairly certain scanners weren't supposed to go all fuzzy like this.

"Something's wrong-KKKKTTTCCH!-scanners!"

"Kaz? Kaz what the hell is going on?! What's wrong with the scanners?!"

"You-KKKKTCCHH-come-KKKKKTCCHHH-Chaotic!" Kaz shouted, the static getting worse, but Tom thought he understood what Kaz was trying to tell him.

"I'll be right there!" He said, cutting Kaz off so fast he didn't notice the horrified look on his best friend's face. He quickly got dressed, grabbing his pocket knife just in case he needed it. He punched his code into his scanner, unknowingly sealing his fate as he pressed enter.

He didn't go back to bed like he had intended once he had entered his code. He wouldn't wake up for school that morning. He didn't kiss his Mother good-morning, or give his baby two year old sister a good-morning hug.

He couldn't...because instead of porting his code, Tom disappeared completely in a flash of blueish white light.

GUESS WHO'S BAAAAAACCK? That's right everybody, I have finally gotten over my damn writer's block and have thought up what might be my best idea yet! Here's the part where I give a couple heads up. There will be NO SLASH in here. There will be eventual romance, and eventually OC's, and *gasp* a canon character romance with an OC so if you have anything against that. along with descriptions of violence, mildly disturbing concepts, and strong language, GTFO now. The back button's at the top left corner people, USE IT.

For those of you who DON'T mind Oc's without having to scream Mary Sue, welcome aboard! I'm back for real this time, and I am going to see this baby through to the end!

Also, CHAOTIC IS NOT DEAD! If you like the show go to freaking ChaoticGame, and register as a player. We can still revive Chaotic! If we save the game, we save the show! GOGOGOGOGO!

Finally, and it's absolutely fantastic to say this after so long: LET'S GET CHAOTIC!