The Reality Vortex: New Roads

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Panich was halted into silence after the powerful slap commanded it. She watched intensely as they all spoke again, but with Spina's new found confidence, she seemed a bit submissive.

Her eyes widened in surprise as he broke the chains binding her. Finally she was free. And free to get away from this trainwreck of a group. She stood and without  another word, the princess was out the door and into the sky.
 
(Changed my last post)

Cross says "I hate to point this out but I at the time was much like Lucifer." This was true Cross may helped out a bit but that was wend he was provoked and realized that this was not an game. 

Cross says "it dos not matter Pinch should pick up that she ended up weaker fighting us and wend ever I want I can bring her right back to face judgment. "

Cross says "I hate to point this out but your not dealing with only saiyan warriors Spina so those methods to speed things up may rub us the wrong way. Do keep in mind this fact Spina."
 
Bernkastel flinched at having her name being called-- the shock hadn't worn off yet, and she did not dare make any retort out of turn considering how visibly agitated Spina was. Additionally, just the sensation of Gogeta's breath hot on her back already caused her to tense and further in alarm; she huddled her small limbs together and curled her bristled tail close to her body effectively shrinking herself more, not letting up even long after Gogeta relaxed. Not wanting to meet Spina's eyes very long, Bernkastel resigned to gazing at the Doom coin instead. Bowing her head she nodded begrudgingly.

"I... understand," Bern enunciated her words carefully knowing she was in no position to take threats lightly. "...'activities'?" She repeated in a questioning manner. "What does... that mean?" It was like her mind went completely blank.
 
Spina turned his head slightly upon Bernkastel requesting for clarification on their activities, and Cross giving him some advice on certain people might not like the direction. His seething rage continued on as opposed to Gogeta’s diminished one; eyes narrowed, hand clenched as hard he could, and the sheer agitation still present on his face and body.

“Whether Saiyans or not, you just have to get used to it.” Spina responded in a darker tone towards Cross. “That is our new direction for this group... and those that cannot follow suit, as I said before. You are free to leave as you like—like Panich. However, she doesn’t have much of a stigma compared to us right now.” Spina looked at his right hand, still thinking about his action of what he done against the young Saiyan. “Damn her…” He mumbled under his breath.

“We spend three years doing practically nothing, and now we have a new goal. We just have to get used to it. We followed Bernkastel’s lead and led us nowhere. But at least that showcase new things we have yet to explore outside of this ruined city. Lots of potential new people to see.” Spina said. “And if you want the Detective to get off our backs, this is what we have to do. We will be taking up tasks and rebuild our reputation. I expect you lots to follow suit.” Spina finally turned around and face the rest of the Breakers, seeing their expression from shocked, to calm, to questioning and delightfulness. Yet, Spina remained firmed on his own commitment.

Lucifer sigh. “Well, that’s detrimental to the cause that made me join the first place. But I supposed playing ball for a bit is fine too.”
“That’s all I need to say.” Spina walked out of the room, heading outside to get some air. Leaving the room, Spina’s powers was building up dramatically; unknown to all the Breakers, underneath the sizzling anger, with the sheer excitement of new challenges boiling within him. “Mercy”, Cuki taunted him with that word.

With Spina leaving the room, Lucifer turned to the others. “Well then. That was quite an episode. Are you Breakers always this savage in terms of quarrel with one another? I would love to get myself involved in some tactical wordfare.”
 
Bara shook her head.

"Brachi is usually more silent at times unless she's addressed directly, but she's already willing to do her part in rebuilding the reputation of the Breakers. She's not going to let those three years go to waste." She said, while looking in contempt towards the coin with Doom's image on it.
 
Whis remained silent throughout Spina’s speech, watching on with his typical warm smile and soft stare. His head turned at Lucifer’s question, stifling a small chuckle.

“Oh goodness, yes. In fact, I believe this is the first time I’ve seen an argument between them not end up with fists flying or magical cats vomiting hair balls on someone.”

He then turned his head towards Bernkastel, his eyes narrowing a bit in a curious tone.

“What’s this about taking responsibility for Gogeta though, hmm? It was interesting to see you defend him, but I never expected you of all people to take on the burden of training him.”
 
Cross says in a matter of fact tone "If that slap is how you resolve conflict here is some advice; tyrants shooed fear Spina the digger in the back, Poison on the tongue and the crowd in the front." Spina gets the since that Cross is mealy giving advice. Cross says "fair points regardless. "

Cross thinks "As long I can slip in and out as needed I should be fine. Good I been meaning to explore with this project and my business meetings. I gest the pet project is going to do what I wanted to do."

----
An unbias news program

Reporter says "RRN stocks are down to day wend it proven that they failed to report on a warning that was sent to them by Overlord Cross. This on the hills of the law site after it was conformed that they were given memory crystals. For those that don't know Memory Crystals that are recordings that cant be edited. I will hand it off to you on the ground."

Another reporter says "Besides a bandit(Detective Goku) that killed some aid workers(Some Cross people) some time ago and fresh ones coming in nothing to really report. back to the desk."

Reporter says "After the brake we will be debating weather or not Overlord Cross has lost his mind or not."
 
Watching Spina take his leave with a seemingly permanent fixture of simmering fury, Bernkastel remained still and silent. Only after several moments passed did she relax. Her ears perked slightly at Whis's conversation but only turned her head to look at him directly when asked.

"You heard it more than once... no matter how you look at it, a lot of things are my fault. The trials with Doom, the Coin Hunter, your very reputations... even in company, I didn't cease being careless about everything around me."

For Bernkastel, to be cruel was a necessary evil in the world of witches. As long as she made her opponents surrender, she didn't care to be merciful in her methods. Whether she was hated or not by others, she established herself as a force to be respected. The pain she endured to become a witch never went away, never dulled unless she was the one inflicting the pain. Doing so was her only assurance she had escaped that hell. She was proud of being ruthless but coming from Cuki, it... stung. Cuki wasn't an enemy, but in minutes, what seemed so familiar was not; everything became jumbled up and wrong. Those hands that made warm meals, that bandaged Bern and even patted her head, were the same ones that broke Gogeta's arms and choked him before trying to strike her. And Bernkastel bit at those hands. When was it Cuki and when was it that ghostly man? 

Did any of them really satisfy the criteria of a friendship if they stuck together out of habit?

"Gogeta's destructive tendencies are able to be corrected, but that wasn't what solely influenced my choice." She turned her head down. "He was trying to help the only way he knew how. And since he is quite forward with his thoughts and emotions, I could forgive it if he desired to be seen better." Bern gazed up at Whis with a forlorn look. "You don't have to believe me of course, it was between the two of us. Deep down, maybe I wanted a second chance with someone who wasn't burdened by the tragedy of the Trials."

Very vividly, she remembered calling them all friends for the first time... right before Vegetto trampled over that demanding Kassava's life as being worth more than the ones Voice resurrected as Coins. The word 'friends' was starting to feel like a curse word; maybe a sign that she didn't deserve such things either. She was right to feel wary about throwing it around.

"And... even though fighting Ultraman seemed like a farce, I wanted to prove to myself I was strong enough to have a future. If I couldn't beat someone whose strength eclipsed mine, then I was too weak to fight Hart. Gogeta had every chance to let Ultraman beat me to death before jumping in but he didn't-- regardless of his wish to fight Ultraman himself, he saved my life knowing my physical prowess is laughably weak. And did it again at the Valley. When he called me his friend," Bernkastel paused and turned to meet Gogeta's eyes for the first time since the commotion began. "I... liked how nice it felt. 'Happy'? Even if I'm not allowed to be called that, I liked it. Though... I'm sure you changed your mind now about us being 'the buddies' after all you heard."
 
Whis kept his smile, lifting his eyes to see Gogeta's response. Yet his smile diminished slightly, looking on. Gogeta's stare seemed to be mostly empty; his attention to floor had not lifted throughout the entirety of the moment. The anger and rage had cooled; his expression a smoldering ash where the frustration was clear, but a more somber stare remained in place. Even Spina's demands did nothing to deter him; Gogeta kept on his stare like a stone statue.

Gogeta finally perked his head finally, his eyes turning back down to Bernkastel as she laid in his lap. He frowned slightly, his eyes turning down away from hers as he spoke.

"No...I like being friends with you. It's just...when I came here, I thought maybe I could find my family...make some new friends...and fight strong people."

His frowned deepened slightly, an uncanny emptiness and defeat clear in his eyes and face.

"But this...this just isn't fun anymore."
 
For several seconds, Bernkastel stared at Gogeta's empty eyes, unable to comprehend the words he had just uttered. "Eh?..." What did he say?

(("This... isn't fun anymore.")) 

Gogeta's voice echoed again-- no, it was Vegetto's dual tone. Was she even sure of that, having not heard his voice for so long? Before she could finish that thought, she flinched back in shock-- as Bernkastel saw her reflection in Gogeta's seemingly abyssal eyes of obsidian, he morphed into Vegetto for a split second.

(("This isn't fun anymore.")) It repeated in the same somber tone.

Was her mind playing tricks on her? Bernkastel's nose began to twitch as she started to hyperventilate, although her small form only showed it through the small rise and fall of her chest. The pupils of her eyes dilated and began to water... why were her eyes getting wet? Bern's frame began to quiver.

(("No more."))

Stop it... stop it! 

Bernkastel squeezed her eyes shut, dipping her head as a dizzying wave of panic washed over her with her fur bristling in kind. She knew this feeling well-- it was a unique terror that she tried her best to keep at bay by never letting herself think about it. Why did this memory terrify her so much? She was glad Vegetto walked, wasn't she?! Good riddance!

That's a lie. You let him walk. You're a liar, deadpanned the small voice at the back of her mind. You're the outcast here.

"Vegetto, pull yourself together. You can’t just give up!" Against Bern's will, Spina's desperate voice echoed in her head too, on perfect cue. "Bernkastel, say something!"
...
...
...
...
...

"What words of comfort do you expect me to offer?"

I lied. I let him walk away. I'm the coward.

Remembering the sound of her flat, cold answer caused Bern to bump into Gogeta's abdomen with her head before shaking her head vigorously in objection to both him and herself.

No! No, I won't let you walk away this time! I have to... I have to say... yes, words of comfort! I have to bring back his spirit again! I only have this one chance! Swallowing back the taste of stomach acid, Bernkastel collected herself best she could and placed her tiny paws on Gogeta's chest as she yowled at him in dismay.

"H-hey, hey, you can still do those things! This is a big world after all-- the city is just one small place in a sea of cities!" Bernkastel raked her brain for something to say and tried to keep her voice from mirroring the jumbled thoughts in her panicked mind. "There has to be at least one person who has seen your brother and knows where he is. I don't like having to follow the Detective's rule at all, but like Spina said...new places for us to go means new people to meet. We can cover more ground looking for your family, maybe even find new exciting people like Ultraman to fight-- under supervision. I'm holding out hope to find my friend too, so we can look for them together! I can help you... Please..."

Her voice started to wobble, causing her to trail off thinking she was starting to sound like she was grovelling. Immediately she looked towards Whis with a pleading expression in her eyes to help.
 
Zenta held his frown upon Cuki leaving before turning to see the situation of the others within the group. Spina dictating orders, Bernkastel failing to handle things properly for years, and Gogeta creating a new mess for the group to deal with. Everyone else either added to the fire or became fuel for it. He was silent and carefully listened to what every Breaker had to say. The good and the bad, the ugly and the sad, he took a very special mental note of what each Breaker said. While each of them had their beliefs, he knew that if given some time to rest and think, perhaps their views might change. They all went through hardships, so he knew he had to deal with Cuki first.

The beast sighed softly before tapping his foot on the ground to gather the remaining Breaker's attention. He cleared his throat before placing his hands behind his back.

"Please excuse me for interrupting but I am afraid I must depart for now. However, before I leave, I wish to say a final piece in hopes that it lingers with you," Zenta's frown turned to a small smile. "I apologize on Cuki's behalf as well as take full responsibility for her actions done to some of you," He gazed silently at towards Gogeta. "But please know that this is not how Cuki truly acts... While you may be confused as to who -- or what -- Cuki is, please do not harbor ill-feelings towards her. She is not as experienced or strong as the rest of you and often times may not understand the bigger picture. I believe she looked up to all of you, and yes, even you, Mr. Gogeta and Lady Bernkastel. Cuki is a gentle soul and she could never truly hate someone as much as she claims. She is far too kind, even for her own good."

Zenta's smile grew wider as a shine of hope for the others.

"While I do not support her violent tantrums, vulgar word choice, and the decisions she made, she will ease out of that mindset in due time. What you all need is a moment to reflect on yourselves as well as on each other. Do not take this experience as something to be sorrowful over, but see it through to strengthen your bonds with one another and discover who you wish to be."

The tall beast nodded to the Breakers, trying to leave them with a little bit of positivity.

"I must depart after Cuki and catch up on what I have missed as well as give her a stern talking. And here I thought I would enjoy a nice cup of tea with my friend Whis. Ah well, another time I suppose!" Zenta chuckled. "But anywho, I hope you all rest well and regain your strength Breakers. You are free to return to Cuki's living establishment, though, I suppose it will be a new experience for me. After all, I was a coin the entire time, ohoho!"

Zenta bowed his head to the group before trailing off towards the door and opened it. He stopped one last time and spoke up with his back still facing the Breakers.

"And do not worry about Byakko. He has a personal vendetta towards me but rest assured he will not confuse you any longer. His energy is something I can identify easily, so I can tell if he returns. He is a man of his word, that much I can say, and he will leave Cuki alone from now on except when he needs to protect her." Zenta's ears flatten slightly. "Please do not let his actions reflect who Cuki is..."

With his final words, the beast closed the door behind him and left the area, no doubt following Cuki's trail.
 
It was then that each of the group was being presented a bowl of candies, placed neatly on a tray on the table. Behind the tray was Majin Bara, who stared at the remaining Breakers and the others with her puppy-dog eyes.

This was a habit Bara had developed in the time she spent with Brachi and her friends back in her home universe; being one of the most gentle souls that are around, Bara really hates seeing her friends upset, and in her usual Majin fashion, she tries to offer them bits of candy in order to try and make them feel better. Whenever she has done this to Brachi or any of her other friends from her universe, this has always worked, making the ones she did this to smile and accept the offer, indeed making them feel better, so now, being the innocent cinnamon roll that she is, Majin Bara hoped that this would also work with her new friends, despite the short time she spent with them, both in the flesh and as a Vortex Coin.
 
Whis’ eyes shut, his smile widening happily in nodding at Zenta.

“Of course! Another time, we’ll catch up soon! Tata~!”

His head slowly turned after seeing Zenta leaving, watching the scene unfold between Gogeta and Bernkastel. His warm smile and soft stare remained, shaking his head curtly from side to side in denial of her silent plea.

Gogeta, however, slowly turned his eyes down at the paws rubbing on his chest. His near empty eyes stared back at Bernkastel, and as she presented idea after idea, his lips rose ever so slightly after each one. He then promptly reached up, gently petting the top of the cat’s head down to the back of her neck, a small half smile on his face.

“You really want me to stay, huh?”

He practically ignored Majin Bara’s candy offering as she came through around the group, suddenly lifting his lips up into a full smile. It was obviously clear he struggled to form one on his face from the twitching of his lips. However, the smile itself was clearly genuine as Gogeta spoke with a tired, but content dual voice.

“Ok, I’ll stay. We don’t have to do all that stuff though; I’ll just stick around because you’re my first good friend here, and I wanna be a good friend to you too!”
 
After finishing the last of his lollipop, Lucifer observed the dialogue between Bernkastel and Gogeta. “An interesting choice you have picked in comforting Gogeta. Quick, effective, and state your problems in clear sight. A poplar opposite of what you did with Cuki, where you all attack each other, figuratively and literally, degrade one another without seeing the other’s side of things. And yet, you managed to discover some “solution” for your problems, and even declaring your friendship as soon as she leaves. Out delightful, but her problems still remains. Ohoho, curel tactical wordfare, indeed.”

Lucifer flicked the stick with few remains of the candy into the bin with ease. “I do hope that you are committed to your choice, and whatever choices you have in the future, without any direct leads from others. Having to rely on someone else makes you weak and susceptible to bad advice.” Lucifer said, slightly disappointed that Bernkastel turned to Whis for assistance when Gogeta was down and about. “Choices have consequences, and this little charade will shape the inner workings of personal relationships on an individual level. How you will improve, or double down, is up to you. Best to remember that—only you can pave the road, allowing others will dilute your decisions.” This statement is generalizing—and didn’t placed any favors on any side. He’s simply enjoyed the show, and embraced the choices made—albeit except a few cases.

Using what’s left of his magic, he’d lifted the Vortex Coin away from Cross, which reveals his disciple, Nanashi. “I believe this belongs to me. Once he comes out, he can set out and returned those Vortex Coins used by Hart to their rightful places. Nanashi and I traveled to many places in Vortex—and judging from what I witnessed, you lot have gone anywhere aside from Metropolis.”

As Bara approached the Breakers with candies, a sudden light erupted in her pocket, ripping through the cloth towards the air. A Vortex Coin, the other one she took during the Cuki’s Apartment confrontation, rapidly transformed, and consolidate into a being. Landing on the ground feet first, the warrior rose up as his red cape waver a bit. His blue suit glistering with his pronounced muscles. The S symbol embedded in his chest shine like gold, as the man looked around in this strange environment.

The man opened his eyes, looking around in all directions. “What the…” He rubbed his head, becoming confused and disoriented about what had happened. “Where am I… the last thing I remember…” He noticed that he was in a room with several people in it. “I got ambush by this Rainbow Ranger…” His eyes narrowed, shouting in a panic. “Oh! You people, you need to get out of here! There’s a crazy guy out there.”
 
Cross says as a matter of fact "I was not going to dene any one there underlings Lucifer. With all that happened I forgot all about that."  

Cross says "I will trust you on this with this but I ask you have my underlings taken out by Goku help in this process. I trust this is expectable to you Lucifer."

Cross says to the new person as a matter of fact "In order: In a mansion in C33 and our group defeated her got a fair number of her victims away for her clutches."
 
Bernkastel seemed to calm down in return as Gogeta pet her head, purring in elation, though the warm feeling from having gotten through to him did falter a bit once Lucifer stated his observations. She weighed them with Zenta's before he departed, her ears drooping once more as she pondered. Come to think of it, when hadn't they used violence and threats to settle the air? The way they worded it, it seemed... abnormal. But he was correct; in the heat of the moment, the 'right' thing to do was thrown out the window once enough people in the group felt resentment towards one another. Was that the hidden element to the chaotic outcome?

Not to mention the physical and mental toll the Coin Hunter's attacks had on them. The confusion between Cuki and Byakko blurred everything even further, but Zenta had no reason to lie about them if he knew them. Had she and Spina misjudged them completely? Bernkastel sighed, turning her gaze away from the candy bowls in shame at having to consider her intuition was wrong. 

"When you put it that way we really are just a bunch of clowns..." 

The way Cuki broke down into tears before them made Bern think to when she found Gogeta rampaging in the middle of the street, overcome with fear and persecution to where he attacked anyone near him. It seemed even with her low emotional intelligence, Bern began to see a pattern where being alone again was unbearable if the ties to others were severed... not even the witch was immune to this. And she didn't know why.

"Then... it can't be helped... the apartment is where we eventually must return to. From the sounds of it, we'll be expected to come back and... try again," Bern trailed off remembering Zenta's words to try and assuage their frustrations. Would it be nearly as easy as with Gogeta? Probably not, especially since they had a penchant of becoming easily agitated when presented with negative emotions coloring their judgement. "Considering she allowed us to live with her and cooked all our meals, she is owed that. But I can... hardly think anymore..." Loudly yawning, she began nodding off in Gogeta's lap before a Coin had reformed into a person. He bore a resemblance to Ultraman, which startled her into hiding from under Gogeta's vest with a yelp.

"Wh, who are--?! Ultraman?! No... 'S' Man!?" Bernkastel asked, mispronouncing his name entirely from the emblem on his chest. "Who're you, S-Man?!"
 
Whis kept his smile, his eyes trailing to Lucifer.

“It was simply the way it needed to be. The emotions involved set the strategy: anger clouds judgement in pride...while shame and fear lead one to seek solutions from other sources in a lack of faith in one’s self. In time, we can speak to her again and resolve this once that anger has cooled and-“

His eyes instantly narrowed, the spectacle of light instantly drawing his attention. The expression on his face lit up in seeing the familiar man landing on his feet, his smile widening.

“Oh how exciting! This should be interesting!”

Gogeta blinked as well, turning his eyes after listening on to Bernkastel’s question.

“Huh? What’s an S man?”
 
“Considering that all of you are under the watch of the Detective, and Nanashi isn’t, it’s not needed. Thanks for offer, though.” Lucifer turned to the newly formed stranger, still at awe of the rebirth of a Vortex Coin.

“A mansion…” He turned around once more, looking at all the decoration that wouldn’t fit in a normal household, or even an apartment complex. Lowing his arms and his panic subsided, it was comforting to her that they dealt with the warrior. “Ya’ll managed to stop that one? Man, thank goodness for that. She was quite a fighter and had so many abilities that it was hard for a fella like me to keep up in such a short time. She was hard-countering me like peer-review research to an antivaxxer.” Placing his right hand on his forehead. “Thankfully, my friend got away, since she was after him than me, really. But if she’s done, then I can at least be comfort with that.”

His ears pick up the word “Ultraman”, turning to Gogeta and Bernkastel. “Uhh, a talking Cat. Well, you don’t see that every day. Well, anything is possible in this world. Anyways, I believe you made a mistake, miss…?” Seeing that it had a feminine tone. “Folks call me Superman.” His blue and red eyes flare a bit different, showcasing horizontal pupils as he introduced himself. “Well, some people like to call me Kal-El, or Clark from time to time.” Superman look closely to everyone, especially Gogeta and Bernkastel, very intensely. "Ya'll look like you had a hell of a fight in here. She was tough, huh?" Not realizing what had transparent moments before his appearance, and speaking only about the Coin Hunter.
 
Whis narrowed his eyes slightly, his curious tone ringing out next.

"Oh? You're the one Vegetto spoke so highly of during the Doom trials; a pleasure to finally meet you."

Gogeta blinked once, his brow furrowing in confusion and rubbing the back of his head.

"Huh, you're Clark? But we met a guy named Clark in the city; Clark Kent...errr..."

He paused for a moment, his dual voice raising in his unsure pitch.

"Daily reporter for the...planet?"
 
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