The Reality Vortex: Red Reputations

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Bernkastel's eyes adjusted to the dark surroundings upon entering, glancing around the room and squinting to make out the faint bloodstains on the pillars. Placing a hand on the claw marks to run her fingers over, the witch grimaced at the odd resemblance of the metal to Cuki's. Did Cuki coincidentally come through this city and find the building to go inside? It wouldn't be illogical to think she'd have gone in thinking to look for survivors. She was concentrated in the probability of that occurring before the sound of footsteps and giggles made her ears perk.

Turning towards Spina, she pointed in direction of the hall. "Did you hear that? It sounded like a girl's voice." She tensed with suspicion. "An ordinary child playing in a dangerous place like this would've been picked up by now... should we follow it from afar?" It could very well be a trap, but since it felt like they were being watched, the element of surprise wouldn't grant them any advantage. As long as they were ready to fight, it wouldn't be a problem.

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Berserk discarded the slab into an empty spot among the rubble before nodding and following Zenta's lead into the basement with Avalon, dusting off her hands. Without any light, they easily could get lost. 

"I've never seen a cat his size with big fluffy tails like that. Maybe he's part bat-- uses echolocation with his big ears or something cool like that," She gave Avalon her own ideas about the beasts' species but ultimately couldn't pin him down well due to being humanoid. "I'm not real good at guessing from looks alone. There was this hermit that lived outside of town called Fuzzy Lumpkins who was like a big pink thin with fuzzy antennas on his head! Nobody knows what he is, other than he might be a cousin of Bigfoot but dumber and more antisocial." As they walked down into the building's basement, Berserk grew quiet. She couldn't tell if the noises were from something alive or if it was just the skyscraper settling all around them. Or maybe there was a loose pipe that was rattling and spraying tons of water somewhere.

"... it's kinda breezy in here for a basement... or is that just me? Eheheh... heh..." Berserk chuckled half-heartedly in an attempt to lighten the unsettling atmosphere she got.
 
“So Bage is a Saiyan as well… the clown, Detective Goku, Panich… I’m surprised we keep running into them.” Spina thought to himself, seeing the Detective turned into a Super Saiyan against the Xy’pher horde back at the forest. “Seems that he isn’t a pushover if he was able to force him to back down. No wonder he [Detective Goku] had such high confidence for him…” 

Trailing behind Bage and Bernkastel, Spina took the time to notice the bloodstain on the walls. “Hm...” Raising his right hand, he created a ball of light to shine through the darkness that glooms the area they were in. Stumbling upon the bloodstain steel pillars, Spina felt an odd feeling of familiarity of its structure. “Could it… be?” He shook his head once. “Nah, it's not.”  Spina dismissed the notation that Cuki had been here, citing that there was no reason for such. Moving along behind Bage and Bernkastel, the old Saiyan felt that the atmosphere was a bit heavy. “Felt like a battle just occurred around here. Definitely not a group of punks trying to clean up something. I bet it's those damn x—” He stepped onto a piece of cloth, cutting his sentence short. He’d picked it up and read the last half of the word. “-Chi?”

Spina narrowed his eyes and wonder if it belong to someone that worked here. He turned his head when Bernkastel prompted a conversation about the noise of a young woman giggling. “Someone is here… and based on that... I doubt they're friendly.” Pocketing the cloth, Spina tightened his right hand into a fist and nodded once. “We have to check that out… keep your guard up for anything.” He agreed with Bernkastel’s sentiment on following the sounds and the supposed obscure figure. “Detective, what do you say? I doubt he won't be any trouble by himself, unless you want to continue following him.”
 
Gogeta's eyes turned at the sensation of the strange Xy'pher, attempting to follow it based off his primary senses. Yet after failing to discover any trace of the creature, his silver eyes shifted back forward with a small scowl of annoyance. His eyes remained forward in walking forward, ignoring the strange sensations until he stood directly in front of seemingly the source of it all.

His silver eyes turned down, studying the creature intently for a moment. Despite the strange and foreboding nature of the creature, a small smirk rose on his face in a sheer contrast to the terrifying image it portrayed. He scoffed lightly, and with his free hand, reached forward and attempted to merely grip onto the girl's head. If allowed, his fingers would attempt to simply smash the skull of the creature in his grip.
 
"Hm..." Bage looked to Where Gogeta had gone, staring for a moment before turning to Spina and Bernkastel. "As much as I want to believe that,  someone still has to keep an eye on him. You two be careful."

Bage turned and hurried behind Gogeta, trailing behind carefully. He seriously couldn't read that guy, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying to cooperate. The Junior Detective examined the debris around him as he approached the light that Gogeta had given off. He stopped abruptly once he noticed the fusion standing still and attempting to interact with the Xy'pher child.
 
As Spina and Bernkastel followed the mysterious girl, they saw more and more steel pillars The skipping child would continue to giggle, leading them down a hallway with papers and other office supplies scattered about. Near the end of the hallway was a display stand with a tiny pillow, a few treats, and blood on the floor. On the wall behind the display case were posters talking about what was meant to be in the case. Each poster had a picture of a tiny creature.

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"View the mysterious Third Eye!"​
"It came from space!"​
"Have your wishes granted!"​

Finally, from the shadows, the little girl was more visible and it was obvious she was a Xy'pher. She looked oddly similar to the little creature in the posters. She wore an attire that was loose and exposed her belly which had a giant closed eyelid on it. She eyed Bernkastel and Spina playfully before nabbing one of the treats on the podium and eating it. On one of the spike pillars was a shirt, no doubt of the victim who wore it. Part of the fabric was ripped off but it seemed to match with the one Spina found earlier. On the shirt was a picture of the creature.

"The mythical Jira--" This is where the shirt cut off.

The little girl floated in the air like a normal playful child before gazing at the two Breakers upside-down. Unlike the other Xy'phers they met before, this one felt different.

"Who are you two? Are you here to see me? Do you want some wishes?" It spoke innocently before pointing at some of the blood. "Be careful around the red water. It stained the floors. Icky!"



The Xy'pher child at the mercy of Gogeta did little to fend itself. Once the Saiyan grabbed its head and attempted to crush it, the whispers gradually became louder and louder. However, unlike the Xy'phers from before, this one was not so easily disposed of. Its marble-like skin was much harder and did not shatter instantly to the Saiyan's strength. The helpless child whimpered and gripped the Saiyan's wrist in a weak and futile attempt to escape his grasp. Pathetic and helpless, it barely looked like it could do much to stop him other than some desperate scratches. Yet, as Gogeta continued to apply pressure, its voice slowly got louder and small cracks were beginning to form.

"Y-You're hurting me..." The child said. "Please stop..."

The more Gogeta tormented the child, the feeling of something watching him became more prevalent. Eyes that seemed to pierce right through him, but at the same time, study his every move diligently. Near the corner were two red dots with yellow pupils gazing at the scene while hiding in the shadows. No one could see what the figure was because it blended so perfectly with the darkness. It did nothing to stop Gogeta and appeared to encourage his behavior by giving him a slight nod. A voice echoed throughout the small hallway Gogeta and Bage was in. 

"You can't crush it? Are you weak?" The mysterious voice taunted them. "Lame, you're boring now. Get off the stage! Boo! Go all out!"

Finally, the source of the voice came from Gogeta's shadow as the same eyes that watched the duo earlier were now on his shadow. The creature walked out of his shadow and into view. It was another Xy'pher child. Its body was entirely black with a few morphing crystals around its head to look like wisps.

"Can't you do anything cool, Mister Spiky Head?"

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"A bat? No way. Bat's aren't as hairy as him!" Avalon argued as he listened to the weird foes of Berserk's world. "Fuzzy Lumpkins? Sounds like a total weirdo..."

As the three traveled deeper into the basement, the noise of water droplets can be heard along with their feet stepping in some shallow puddles. Zenta paused before lifting his nose into the air and pulled his head back in confusion. He also took note of the wet surroundings.

"I smell... iron? Rust? It might be from the water I hear."

"Iron? Well, it could be part of the wreck." Avalon said while shining the flashlight directly in front of Zenta only to see the walls and ceiling covered in blood ahead of him. "...It's blood."

The dripping noise came from the blood as well as the puddles. He was so distracted with Berserk, he barely noticed that they were stepping in fresh blood. In a moment, Avalon's cheery persona changed to terrified. The flashlight in his hand shook as he backed away slightly. His flashbacks from before were coming back and all he saw were body parts of people who were not there. His breathing became faster as he tries desperately to shake off the flashbacks. Near the end of the hallway were clusters of crystals climbing up the walls and many pieces of clothing, no doubt where most of the killings took place.

The cluster had several Coins encased inside, completely impossible to get no matter how hard they tried. It looked as if they were being protected and stored away. Luckily there were no enemies nearby but the more they looked around, the more crystal clusters they found, almost like it was growing on its own.
 
Bernkastel let Bage go and follow Gogeta, not very adamant about wanting to indulge more of his poor attempts to get under her skin with verbal warfare. She eyed the display case with a look of scrutiny before stopping her walk upon seeing the source of the female voice that she and Spina heard from afar. She tilted her head at the Xy'pher with a clearly suspicious gaze, though she seemed to study its behavior rather than get immediately defensive.

Bernkastel was not curious about what this creature's wish ability was since she was pretty familiar with the act itself. However, she seemed curious it was capable of human speech compared to the ones at the forest. It didn't seem adamant on attacking them on sight, but Bern didn't find it relieving considering where they were standing...

"It sounds like this is where you live--" Bernkastel dragged the toe of her shoe into a clean spot on the floor, having stepped in part of a blood splatter. "Sounds like you were expecting visitors." She folded her arms behind her back as if Bern was casual about the encounter, but her hands were fidgety and her tail's fur was bristled. It was evident that the girl was at least partly behind the disappearances-- and the spiked pillars were certainly her doing. This creature had a different ability than the ones they faced at the forest, something akin to warping its environment. These spikes in a fairly enclosed area was a definite hazard for the two.

"...... from the looks of this room, it sounds like you play with your visitors a little too roughly."


"Rust...? What do you-- ewwwww!" Berserk made a gagging noise as she nearly jumped at looking down around them where much blood was surrounding them. "Aw, yuck! It's like someone popped a big blood balloon!" Frantically wiping her shoes onto dry spots in the floor, she stopped and looked around waiting for an ambush like yesterday to happen. But nothing jumped out at them.

The anticipation of it combined with the shock of how much blood was everywhere made Berserk pull her arms close to her torso, looking around for any signs of a potential attacker. "M-maybe we should get the heck outta here and go back... outside..." Squinting her eyes, Berserk made out some odd shapes by the walls across the dark hallway. Creeping her way toward it with long strides on her tiptoes around the blood puddles, she gulped and mustered enough courage to check it out in the shaky illumination of Avalon's flashlight.

"H-hey wait a minute... aren't these a lot like the rock we found the other day? These are real big though-- like 3 or 5 coins are jammed right into them--" Berserk tapped her knuckles on one and winced at the density. "How the heck are we supposed to get them out of this wall... we could just blast the wall around the clusters down but--" The color drained from her face at the realization. "Then the whole thing comes down on top of us. Whaddo we do?"
 
Seeing the Detective run off to Gogeta, Spina had no doubt to be concern over him. Considering the initial strength he saw few days ago, Bage is seemingly capable of handling himself, and doesn’t have to be burden by the thought of focusing on the fusion that could be detrimental to their progress. Seeing the small woman flat aimlessly down the hall that led to her office, the old Saiyan felt a sense of feeling in the room. The puddle of blood on the ground was more than enough for him to know that a threat is apparent.

Spina stared at the shirt that contain the words Jira, seemingly combining with the other portion of cloth. “Jirachi…?” The old Saiyan glare at the Xy’pher as he slowly inch himself to be in front of Bernkastel—though whether or not this done subconsciously or actively putting himself in front of her in case of a surprise attack appeared is unknown. Spina turned his head just slightly to see if Bernkastel was at the position where he could protect her from an attack. Noting that she was in a good position, he turned back to the little girl.

“We got a job and find what happen to everyone that entered this building.” Spina position his body by attacking a slight stance—not enough to convey the message of an attack or being on defend but enable him to react to something that might popped up. He stared at the Xy’pher, realizing that he still cannot sense any energy from it, pondering of what it could be preventing them from being picked up. “You grant wishes huh? Okay…” Spina immediately thought of wishing Gogeta to flat out disappear—but he knew that it wouldn’t happen so easily, especially considering the damage done here. Instead, he opted to gain information that could be useful for the Detectives. “Tell me, what happened here?”
 
Gogeta's head turned slightly, finally glancing to the side when the next creature finally appeared. He briefly glanced over his shoulder in noticing Detective Bage's arrival, scoffing lightly and promptly pressing to throw the child like Xy'pher in his grip back.  The silver eyes looked back at the creature, a once over glance on it before Gogeta turned his head towards Bage.

"There you go, detective. Be a good mutt for your agency and find out why this thing is here before I blow up this entire building."
 
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