The Reality Vortex: Red Reputations

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The blood in the hole left a small trail against the tree, no doubt bleeding out. On the dirt just off to the side had a thin trail of blood before suddenly disappearing and leaving a small imprint on the ground. It was faint but it was very obviously a Vortex Coin imprint. Whatever was attacked did not survive very long. Surrounding the faint coin imprint were the same tiny dot-like patterns that appeared to be scattered about in the area. 

Close to the fallen tree where Avalon and Berserk investigated were clear indications of large footprints running to the stab wounds against the trees in question. The smaller footprints were seen scurrying away from the larger ones. They left a trail that leads up to the bloody tree where one pair of smaller footprints appeared to have been dragged against the dirt. The other pair ran off behind the bushes with the mysterious dots and larger footprints following it. A few leaves on the bush have tiny droplets of blood.

"Agreed, these small patterns don't look like any wildlife that lives here, unless there are some weird bugs crawling around," Avalon stared at the patterns with his magnifying glass. "And it's all over the place too. It's like these patterns appear out of nowhere. Is there anything in this world that appears and disappears without warning?"

As Avalon pondered the thought, he caught a glimpse at the large footprints on the floor and followed the trail before seeing the bloody tree. He lowered his magnifying glass to stare at the footprints and carefully followed them to the tree. The prints showed the person standing in front of the tree before turning to run off to the bushes. 

"Hmm, looks like the big guy chased the small guys to this tree and something happened," Avalon decided to see if he could find any physical evidence but noticed the small imprint on the floor. "Hey, Berserk, I think you should come see this," He pointed at the faint coin imprint on the ground. "I think I found something. Errm, what is it? A circle with letters? It's hard to make out since it's so faded. It's also surrounded by those weird dots. It looks more concentrated here than anywhere else."



Zenta kept his ears upright, carefully listening to anything he deemed suspicious but frowned upon hearing Gogeta's words. The way he called the children weak and pathetic and disregarded those who perished in the Hart fiasco made him shake his head in disapproval. While he normally would stand against such nonsense, he decided to go against it, at least for now. Bernkastel's rebuttal did not make matters any better and Spina was a different case altogether. Things were no different than when Cuki was around. Still, he seemed to gaze at Gogeta silently while his ears twitched wildly.

The hostility and verbal miscommunication between one another are astonishing to me. Still, how odd of Gogeta to speak such things. He certainly said things in the past but not to this caliber. Even Bernkastel fell victim. I sense an imbalance in him. Something is clouding his mind and affecting his judgment... 

Zenta let out an audible sigh but held strong to see forth the end of the day, giving the Breakers the benefit of a doubt. The beast remained close to the others but made sure he did not get in the way. As Bage approached him, his attention shifted to the large Detective as he bowed his head respectfully to the man.

"Oh, hello Detective Bage, I appreciate the worry." He lifted his head to greet the man with a smile. "I am fine, thank you. I, unfortunately, cannot see so I am using my ears to detect any sudden movements or noises that may lurk nearby. This forest feels rather...off putting, to say the least, and I sense things are not as they should be." Zenta then turned to the Breakers, trying to change the topic slightly. "And I would not worry so much about them, it is natural for them to misunderstand each other."

As Zenta made small talk with Bage, both his ears jerked towards the direction of Spina and Bernkastel and he quickly turned his head to face them. It was faint but his ears caught a tiny yipping noise within the bushes and some rustling. It was something small, maybe an animal, but it did not sound like it was happy. The beast pointed to the shrub.

"Something is there and it appears to be in distress."
 
Cross says "It is fare to distrust someone you just meant Zenta but do keep in mind this way would we bother with kidnaping. I grant the process of bring people form the Hart indent to there love ones is slower anyone would liked but wend you have one person doing that it's going be some time." Pointing at indentations were there were Vertex Coins landed.

Cross says "We may be dealing with a ware-beast and/or a survived of what happened."
 
Spina raised a brow when Bage was asking about the members but ended his statement rather quickly since he drew his attention towards Zenta. “Wonder what he was trying to say.” He shook his head. “No matter, as long we get this thing done, that’ll be a good mark.” 

Upon Cross mentioning the were-beast, Spina was rather confused. “Where the beasts…? What a strange thing to ask.” His thoughts quickly shifted when Zenta focused on something near Bernkastel and himself, the rustle in the scrubs.

Pointing his hand towards the scrubs, readied himself for whatever it comes out. “Hmm? Come out now.” The Old Saiyan said with hints of anger but tried to shift his tone a bit. “Please.”
 
Cross says "Its a creature that can change to a hybrid form of a human and some beast. Its common wend a person changes in to that state they don't have control of them self's. This can be by an illness and/or a cruse."
 
Berserk stood by Avalon leaning over the circular imprint on the forest floor, squinting her eyes at the shape.

"No idea about the big footprints and the little ones but lemme check somethin', nerd." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the Vortex Coin she had and placed it next to the imprint-- Berserk's suspicions had been confirmed."Yep. Someone's definitely been 'killed' here. But their Coin's missing for whatever reason."

Bernkastel crept in closer to the quiet sound near the bushes, trying to hear it above the others' talking. "It's probably just a rodent or something. But it could be a shape-shifter." She pulled at a few leaves to examine the blood on a bush before crouching. "Heeeere, tiny creature... we won't eat you. Probably."
 
"That's... normal for them...?" Bage asked under his breath, his face scrunching up in a bit of disgust before Zenta mentioned the creature. He looked a bit further, trying to see if he could identify any creature. His focus was thrown off however from the others rallying behind him and Zenta, all calling to the rustling bush. He threw out his arms to keep everyone else from moving any further.

"Hey, hey, hey! All fo you take it easy. You can remain vigilant, but leave it to one person! We'll all just end up scaring them if it does turn out to be someone." 

Bage took a step forward carefully, letting his guard lower slightly to comfort whatever was rustling. He figures the others were plenty ready for a fight already. "Hello..? Are you okay...? Can you come to me?" He called to the creature to see if he would get any response.
 
As the Breakers came closer to the bushes, they saw what the little creature was. It was the familiar little gremlin-like critters that always appear to collect the Vortex Coins of those who have fallen. It appeared to be stuck on some tiny vines and struggling to escape. It let out small squeaky cries that were quite faint until the group was close enough. They were entirely harmless and known to do some clean up after major battles, why was it here? It stared intently at the Breakers before flailing to escape the vines. When it let out another cry, three more rushed out from the bush and skittered over to Berserk. The footprints they left behind were identical to the mysterious dot-like patterns all over the ground.

As they approached Berserk, their only intention was to get the Vortex Coin in her hand. They scurried underneath Berserk's feet as they instinctively reached out to get the Coin. Some scratched at her shoe, others tried to climb up Berserk's leg, but none were strong enough to do much or get far.

"What the heck are these things?" Avalon said as he picked one up by the tiny bag on its back, watching it squirm. "They seem to like you, Berserk."

Suddenly, about twenty of them came out from the shrubs surrounding the Breakers before they started to run mindlessly, almost as if searching for more Coins until stopping and turning to face Bage. Immediately, they charged to Bage and used some teamwork to climb up his leg and up to his pocket. A few of them, comedically, tried to keep the other Breakers away by scratching their shoes and flicking dirt in their direction. Once the tiny creatures started to leave Bage alone, they had taken with them the crystal shard he had from earlier. One creature held it above its head as it quickly scurried to the thick bushes ahead. The others were quick to follow it with the exception of the ones bothering Berserk. 

"Uhh... are these things suppose to be annoying?" Avalon said as he released the creature on the floor, watching it lag behind the others. "Should we follow it?"

The Coin-Gremlins (I'll call them that for now) would leave behind a trail of dot-like footprints, identical to the ones scattered all over the crime scene. They followed the larger and smaller footprints into an opening not too far away from the investigation. The opening is where the footprints lead to another scuffle and there was certainly far more blood in this area. In the very center of a pool of dried blood rested a beautiful and mysterious transparent crystal with a chip on the top, almost as if a piece of it was missing. Inside the diamond-like crystal was a Vortex Coin but the name was unable to be read. The Coin-Gremlins seem to have a major interest in the crystal.
 
Cross says "That may explain the removal of the coins of the victims. In till a war criminal (Goku) killed aid workers my origination would helped these little guys. Before you ask way my origination was helping them they seemed to the be a the way of this iteration is choosing to respond people." Since Cross tended to hover they were doing there best to claw his robes.

Cross says "They are mealy after the vertex coin in Berserks hand."
 
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