It was the very next morning since that dangerous encounter, Valerie couldn't sleep knowing that another person who can Wave Change is running amok. Her headaches, sore muscles, bruises, and a nasty scrape on her cheek didn't help her either; it's been a long time since she got bruises and injuries from fights - normal fights.

"It's a good thing you weren't the whiner type, I would have left quite a while ago." Chroma was on the couch complementing, Valerie wasn't the only one that was injured.

Valerie was busy cooking her own meal, "mm-hm." She tasted her cooking as she stirred the contents in the pot. "I'm used to it." She began putting pieces of delicious, crunchy bacon inside and stirred it again.

She watched the little crispy chunks swim in the white, delightful soup. The soup made a mouthwatering taste, and the aroma that lifted from the pot, then invaded her nose didn't help her hunger that was eating her. She eventually finished cooking and turned the flames off.

"What are you making? I'm suddenly envious that I cannot eat your human food here."

She grabbed a bowl and took some of it, then went to eat at the family dinner table. "It's called Clam Chowder," Valerie said happily. "My mom taught me how to cook it."

Chroma didn't look at Val from the couch, "Mmmm. . ." she fell silent. He didn't hear a spoon, a chew, or a swallow - anything. "Are we planning to go hunt that guy again?" He questioned, wanting to change the last topic.

"Um. . . No, we need to recover." As much as Val hates it, she knew they're weak right now to go against that thing. "We can. . . Train. I guess, some training and getting new battlecards wouldn't hurt."

"Yeah, I guess we can go with that." Chroma shut his eyes and continued resting, he still hasn't heard Valor do anything with the bowl of Clam Chowder.

"Oh yeah. . ."

He opened his eyes, "hm?"

"I need to dye my hair," Val sighed. "Or else people would mistake me for Sonia or something again. . ." He listened to the chair being scooted, rather in a rush, and her footsteps as she went to the restroom.

The FM-ian being floated over to the family dinner table, he saw that the spoon wasn't even in the bowl, the cloth dangling at the edge of the table was wrinkled up. 'She didn't eat.' He thought as he took a long stare at the bathroom's door, then went to the fluffy couch again, even though; he can't touch it, he's just merely levitating on top of it.

It took quite a while, so Chroma ventured out for a bit; he returned laying on the couch after some time.

She came out of the restroom, her hair was light blue and a bit different, even some of her clothes matches the colors, instead of purple cat-eared headband, it was like a bear and almost dark blue. "Like the colors. And who is this Sonia?"

Valerie tied her hair in a bun. "Sonia is some kind of celebrity that everyone knows, she's famous for singing and holding live concerts for everyone. I honestly don't know how she can be on stage with a roaring crowd, still singing without messing up." She walked over to the table, "welp! At least the Triple Threat might not recognize me, they're kinda annoying."

*ding, dong!*

"Oh. My. God." She breathed. "This is so stupid." Val facepalmed in immense agitation, he grumbled.

"They won't recognize you, huh? When a girl with just different colors is living in the same house as her...hmm?" Chroma was probably smirking from her couch, "Hahahaha. . ." He teased.

"Oh, shut up..." She rubbed her eyes.

*ding, dong!*

"They're quite a persistent bunch aren't they?"  

"Uragh!!" Valerie would love to punch them in the face. She looked at the door's little hole, she saw that there was only two of them..."Where's the big one, Bud Bison?" Val suddenly remembered that brat's scolding and that heavy uppercut. "I wonder if he's alright..."

"I thought you hated them."

"Well, yeah, they're annoying...but... That doesn't mean you should be mean to them - it isn't even Bud that annoys me, it's that 'Prez' that gets me." She gazed at Chroma, "hmm..." She had a devilish smile on her face.

*ding, dong!*

Chroma sweatdropped,"U-uh... what?" He looked behind him, nothing was there.

"Wanna give a little scare?" Valerie asked, he could've sworn he didn't see Val just then... But, he mimicked Val's mischievous grin.

. . .

"We know you're in there, you haven't come to school again!" Luna was flustered and irritated that, not only the boy wasn't coming to Echo Ridge Elementary, Val also.

Zack who was at her side, was pushing up his glasses, "It seems that she might not open the door, the chances are quite slim..." That statement only fueled Luna's both anger and determination.

*click!*

They both turned upon hearing the doorknob being unlocked, Luna's mood being enlightened and joyful.

The door flew open!

"RAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

They ran away, eyes wide and mouth agape, for their lives; Chroma had flown into their faces with a terrifying roar, then, he went invisible again - hiding from the public's eye before anyone would see it!

"Bwahahahahaha! What a good scare, don't you think, Valor?" He turned, if he could smile, he would have a huge razor-sharp teethed smile on plastered on his face.

Valerie was laughing hard, having to catch her breath before saying anything, "Wow! That's the hardest I've ever laughed in a long time!" She wiped a tear from her eye, "maybe they won't come to this house for awhile. Phew!" Her sides hurt from that, a huge smile decorated on her face.

"You're gonna go to the playgrounds again? Boring..." He asked as he zoomed into her green Transer.

"Nah, there's too many kids and people around during this time. Maybe at Vista Point, I've heard that it's one of the best points in town to stargaze instead of hanging out on your roof." Valerie explained. "First, I'm gonna have to take care of things at home before going out."

"Heh." Chroma closed the lid of the Transer and she entered her house again.

"*sigh*." She sulked at the looks of her room, it was a mess.

*rustle, rustle. . . *

"All of these papers. . . So much for studying." She shook her head.

*rustle, rustle. . . *  

"School?" Chroma chimed in.

"Yeah, a place to study stuff. The Triple Threat wants me to go just for attendance or something to somehow make her the PERFECT Class President." She said.

"School..."

"DON'T! Even think about it!" She yelled at the screen, "there's NO way I'm going!"

*rustle, rustle, thud!* 

"I've never seen nor been into a school before." He wondered.

Valerie sighed. "If you think me studying by using Teacher Man at home is boring. . .think of that...but even MORE." She explained, Chroma closed the Transer and barely muffled out a 'fine'.

She set out, and closed the door behind her. Teacher Man is a NetNavi, a program with artificial intelligence - people used to use them like how Val and Chroma merges together for Virus Busting. Valerie didn't like the thought of people just abandoning their Navi, throwing them away. To her, NetNavis are like people - some are still around, but Val knows they're going to disappear as time goes on...

A Transer, what everyone has on their arms these days replaced something called "Personal Terminal", those are called, "PET". NetNavis are in those devices, though, they don't come out into the Real World like how FM-ians (or any aliens) do. The PET has the same functions as a Transer does.

'If I don't find that FM-ian with the Andromeda Key...' She thought as she took her time walking over to Vista Point to stargaze, Val's eyes were glued onto the sky, the stars were beginning to appear. 'No one, anyone will be able to see the stars again. Even worse. . .' She thought bleakly. 'It's going to swallow everything until there's nothing left, like a black hole...'

As Val strolled to Vista Point, Chroma hummed. 'Another?' Chroma scoffed incredulously at the assumption, 'no. Must've been my imagination.' Val didn't notice him being so silent.

She climbed the steps of the plateau, the place was a grassy; there was a stranded old train, a statue, and telescope. "Huh. No one's here." She noted, though, it was a bit odd. Seeing that this is a popular spot, which people preferred to live in Echo Ridge for. At the corner, she spots another Wave Hole, it sparked an idea. "Chroma, let's head into the Train's CompSpace."

"Finally, some battling." He opened the Transer and activated the screen, "I was starting to think that our fighting skills were gonna be rusty." He commented.

"Just gonna make sure no one's gonna see us Wave Change..." Valerie whispered.

Her ears picked up sounds of footsteps behind her, she turned around.

"Ah!" It was the boy who punched Bud before, Val fell on her bottom, she quickly closed her Transer's screen. They were both startled. "Oh... u-um... Hi." She said, "uh, sorry a-about that..." Valerie hurriedly stood up, and brushed grass off of her. Then she turned around in a hurry, her face getting red. 'Did he notice?!'

"Hi." Val quickly recovered her brief state of embarrassment, either from talking to herself or because she wasn't used to talking to others much. Well, she tries to. "Are you here for stargazing?" He asked.

"Yeah..." Val said, her voice tiny. "I'm Val Ayaka." She gave a shy smile, 'God, I'm so timid...think of an excuse...think of an excuse!' She panicked inside. "I- I was...just having... a- a private talk with a friend. . ." She lied.

'I guess that's convincing enough.' Chroma thought as he crossed his arms.

"Oh..." He started, "Well, I'm just going to gaze at the stars..." He walked past her, to Val, he doesn't seem like he wants any company. "I'm Geo Stelar, are you okay?" He questioned.

He was wearing red, he has a blue Transer on one of his arms with a symbol on it, instead of a Dragon like her's - it was a Pegasus symbol. Her eye caught what was on his neck, it was some sort of pendant, and he has these peculiar glasses that were green mounted on his head.

"Oh, this?" She felt her cheek, that had a scrape on it, "u-uh, I'm fine... it's nothing." She continued. "U-uh... Have fun looking a-at the stars..." Valerie took her leave in a rush.

Right when she left and headed home, she couldn't get that feeling in her out. 'Something's odd...' She thought. "Hey, Chroma, you can come out."

He zipped out, "Ugh, that Transer has such limited space in there." He stretched. "I didn't want to tell you this, but I think there's another. . ." He said grimly.

"Another?... They're rising in numbers - fast. If we can't even beat that guy we met, who knows how strong they'll get!" She looked into her 'BattleFldr', switching a few battlecards. "That reminds me . . ."

Chroma tilted his head in question.

"How come our firebreath didn't work?" She queried.

Chroma also wondered, it was bad enough that their foe was tough - but being entirely immune to an attack can be much worse. "If you were fighting Fire viruses, it wouldn't be as effective either. . ."

Valerie knew. "It was a Fire-type opponent..." She laid on her bed, "ugh. I don't have the right battlecards, just zero Aqua cards. This is fantastic."