The Reality Vortex: The Black Rose

Vortex-Man watched Vegetto fled the area before disappearing over the horizon. “… What’s with that guy—” He paused for a second. He was surprised that Vegetto didn’t just fly straight to Clark to rant about the Breakers.

It wasn’t long before the Kryptonian felt very awkward being in this situation. “Erm, yeah, this was a wash, so I’m going to go. If that old man is heading to the restaurant, I don’t want him to start picking fights with Clark.”

He paused for a second. “Actually, I do have a question.” He looks at Brachi first. “Vegetto couldn’t answer me regarding Spina’s state, and seems like it wasn’t some Saiyan biology…” He then slowly turns to the rest of the group who’s been around him longer, excluding Victor, Coelle and Asher. “Why does he look like that… and why can we sense him?” He asked. “Because… that looks like Dark Energy, but I’m not sure.”
 
Cayde lifted his head, Bernkastel's question promptly drawing his attention. His mechanical face held a neutral stare as he contemplated how to respond at the posed question, but the android soon sighed audibly.

"Look...I don't want to make this a bigger problem than it needs to be. Yeah...I came up with a plan, and I'm not gonna deny that at one point...I thought it was a smart play."

He sighed audibly.

"But I also like to take betting chances on people when I shouldn't...and even if I'm losing out betting on ego pineapple head right now...I'll still hold out if I see value. As long as you're trying to do right by them...then you're worth it in my deck of cards."

Cayde threw out a half smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"Besides...you got nothing to worry about. Even if I wanted to try my plan, everyone here would probably take me down before I could even pull out my gun."
 
Victor says "there is a chance that mealy looks like, not in be a very pure form of it or even a pure form of this dark energy thing. With that stated does it matter?" Victor shrugs as he dispels little purple octopus.

Victor sits back on his carpet just in case they need to be on the move once more.
 
Asher watched Vegetto fly off, sticking his tongue out and making a face. He let out a huff.

“Bah, forget that bully, Kettles! I don’t think you’re a bad person. I think you approached it just fine, like any friend would. Things just got bumpy, that’s all!”

Asher gave Bernkastel a smile, his words sincere and wholesome.

“Besides, I think you did a good thing in trying to help that dude [Spina]. Don’t beat yourself up because things didn’t go as planned, think of it as, uhm, a pebble in your shoe. It’s annoying and irritating, but once you find a place to sit, you can shake it right off!”

Asher spoke proudly, wagging his tail with glee. He patted Bernkastel on the head, much like a parent who was proud of a child.

“Chin up, Kettles! If it makes you feel any better, I think you can do it.”


Zenta frowned upon listening to Vegetto belittle Bernkastel, but once the Potara fusion flew off, the fox simply shook his head, disappointed. A long sigh escaped his lips while his ears flattened atop his head. However, it did not take long for one of his ears to perk up upon hearing Vortex Man.

Zenta then raised his hand to catch Vortex Man’s attention.

“I might know a thing or two about Mr. Spina’s odd energy. See, it happened when we were in Rogue City. I believe Spina was on the brink of death...” Zenta frowned. “His previous energy…‘died’, so to speak. There was nothing left but a shell. Then, his energy suddenly returned and changed from one to another faster than I can process. His energy was longer red but… volatile, unstable, destructive. It resembles that of black lines, moving in a frenzy, chaotic, like a hurricane. I have never seen such energy before, but it does not feel right…”

SPina god.png
 
(I couldn't hold it anymore, so I had to post this. :devilish: Let's get spicy. I'll edit/delete this if I need to, Shine.)

After Vegetto’s departure and Cayde’s confirmation of his willingness of killing Bernkastel at one point, Avalon felt a burning sensation in his chest. In contrast to his usual observant personality, there was a burning rage that bubbled within him. The ninja’s hands clenched into fists as he spoke out with an annoyed voice.

“Listen, this whole thing is just a big joke. Is Lucifer testing us to see how long we can go on without his usual smart ass commentary? We [the Breakers] blindly trust Bernkastel and that’s a big deal apparently… so let’s trust a guy who admits spying on us for years, threatens his entire city after his shtick got exposed, and literally let Spina die over… what again? Beats the hell out of me!”

Avalon turns to Cayde, both a combination of annoyance and disgust. “And you’re just starting to realize he isn’t right in the head? I got to wonder what sort of conclusion led you to be all “yep, gotta kill this girl who hadn’t really done anything.” Do you have a plan to kill all of us too?” Avalon scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes narrowing.

“‘Bernkastel this!’ and ‘Bernkastel that!’ when there’s people like Lucifer who literally mess with Vegetto more times than I can count! I bet he’s the reason Vegetto has a that white hair bang now. Didn’t he literally turn him into cubes or something for the hell of it? Zenta literally act like a gosh darn maniac in the tournament, nearly trying to kill everyone for a stupid fight—and the first thing Vegetto thinks about is Bernkastel.” Avalon says, imitating Vegetto’s voice perfectly, even matching his “dual sound” and gestures down to the details.

Avalon placed a hand on his forehead, beginning to laugh. “But Bernkastel is the problem? Accusing Spina of being mind-controlled, calling him a slave. Oh yeah, excellent insight by our lovely Vegetto who’s apparently thinks he knows better than all of us. Unless, wait, that’s Bernkastel’s fault too, right? Her black magic? The brain controlling magic?”

“Vegetto’s an idiot. He’s clearly deranged.” He pointed at Cayde. “And I hope this show reveals that maybe it’s time to make judgements on your own and based on what you experience, rather than blindly listening to what he says.”

Avalon paused for a second, laughing at himself. “And honestly? Bernkastel’s evil? I can live with that until we get to that point. She didn’t deny medical care to the Breakers or kill Spina, that’s for sure. If Bernkastel plans to attack us, then we will get to the bridge when we get to it, but for now, she’s not doing anything. If we can hang with Lucifer, who’s practically evil… then Bernkastel is fine by me.”

Avalon let out a long sigh, rubbing the side of his head to calm a headache from forming.

“Now then, can we focus on something that isn’t Bernkastel? Let’s talk about something important. Zenta mentioned that Spina’s energy suddenly changed. Could that be dark energy? And if it is, maybe that’s why Spina is acting up?”

Asher and Zenta both looked stunned at Avalon’s little outburst. Zenta cleared his throat, while Asher hid his laugh behind his hand.

“It is… a possibility.” Zenta said timidly.
 
Cayde perked his eyebrows as Avalon unleashed his tirade, but the android stayed firm and tall. He looked on, surprised like the others stunned by the outburst, but Cayde never once wavered in his expression towards Avalon despite the spicy words commanding the android to be better. Unlike the company he kept, Cayde kept a mostly neutral stare despite clearly thinking of how best to respond throughout the heated exposure of Vegetto's buffoonery.

He half nodded his head with a small grunt of approval, slightly tilting his head to the right.

"If it's any consolation, it was more of a contingency rather than an assassination plan. But semantics aside...yeah, I agree. Lucifer is the biggest threat I can see...but there's just no scenario I see right now where we don't end up as cubes like Vegetto did. That tournament was our best chance...and he proved he was just toying with us the entire time."

Cayde glanced to the side, shaking his head.

"But yeah, problem for another day."

The android perked his head, following up Avalon's question to Zenta and Vortex Man alike.

"What's this Dark Energy though?"
 
Victor says "Did Bernkastel not hear me we can rule out most mind things. O did you forget where we are? We are in the reality vertex were deifying mutule times is not unheard-of, so Spina is just one the meaner old men." Victor thinks "Did not think there was so much internal drama with this group."
 
"Well... nothing wrong about a contingency plan. It's smart to have." Bernkastel looked up at Asher as he patted her head, examining his features intently for how much resemblance he bore to his mother. There were a few physical similarities, but it was his peppy demeanor and how he conveyed his thoughts to Bern that stood out more. He even used the same nickname as Cuki to address her and she didn't mind it at all. If anything, it felt nostalgic.

"Alright... I'll give it another go next time. You're a good kid. She raised you well."

Her attention was drawn to Avalon stepping up and giving Cayde a piece of his mind. With the way he delivered his words so sternly, she was caught completely off guard by it. She had seen Avalon get upset before but he'd never gotten this intense. His unsettlingly accurate impression of Vegetto to top it off added to her stunned expression. She wordlessly exchanged a bewildered look with Zenta and Asher next to her before clearing her own throat too.

"O-oh yes. Getting caught up in this little tussle distracted me a bit." Bernkastel said to Victor with a slight stutter.

"Ruling out the mind control and that Zamasu guy, Dark Energy's nothing but bad news. I don't know how, but the Red Xi'pher King made some of his strongest underlings by fusing them with it and they all went haywire eventually. And even besides that, Spina wasn't always like this."

"He always looks grumpy and I've only seen his smile maybe three times, but he wasn't volatile and violent like he is now. He used to be level-headed about things and you could at least tell how his moods were." Bernkastel frowned pensively, her eyebrows furrowing as she tried to dig through her memories. "He had an odd way of showing it, but Spina was-- is, capable of being kind," correcting herself on the usage of past-tense. "He was acting different than usual around me before he died, but ever since he woke back up from that, that's when he started to act really strange. But even then, I could still see his old self peeking through. It's like he manages to swim back up to the surface but something grabs him and pulls him back down to the depths that we can't reach him. I've made up my mind since our match; Spina is my friend, and I don't want to lose him like I've lost so much else. I want to see his smile again."

"And even if he hates it, I'd like for you guys to be his friends too. That's why I want to get to the bottom of this before it's too late. I want my friend back and I'll do whatever it takes to make it happen." The Witch turned to Vortex Man with a somber expression. "Please tell us anything you know about Dark Energy."
 
Brachi also turned to Vortex Man.
"Didn't we hear of Dark Energy before?" Bara asked.
"Not from personal memories of those of my creators other than what that Xy'pher King did," Brachi said, "though I suspect that it has its origins within the Demon Realm for one."
"In what way?" Dielec asked.
"One of the first encounters we did have of someone having Dark Energy, and which I assume Vegetto should also remember, was when some of my creators in the past had to deal with Dabura, former King of the Demon Realm, but having become a puppet under Babidi's command with that Majin mark on his forehead. Dabura has had Dark Energy naturally due to being a denizen of the Demon Realm, which does explain why he was able to go toe-to-toe with Gohan at first, though even Dabura himself was no match for Majin Buu at the end..."
"So on that note you're suspecting that it could be someone of the Demon Realm acting up then?" Bara said, while Brachi nodded, keeping her focus to the others as if to gauge they were listening in.
"Users of Dark Energy can use it to empower others, to the point of even brainwashing them if my early research was of any indication. Even Deramas, his son Abaddon and daughter Malia, three demons whom hail from the same universe as the three of us, have Dark Energy, though they have interestingly enough not been using it for any malicious intents yet, given that those three have worked with us as allies against a bigger threat, and are actually amicable enough to associate with, at least among our own group." Brachi replied.
"So we did have encounters of it before then..." Dielec said.
"Yes, but it wasn't as significant as it is now, and I initially thought nothing of it after the whole stint with Babidi went down. It was only after our encounter and subsequent battles against Ruthas with Deramas, Malia and Abaddon on our side that I've been doing a bit of research on this Dark Energy before, which would explain how sinister it appears compared to normal or Godly energy." Brachi said.
 
“Finally, someone with some damn sense. Hey, maybe you can bring some of that energy to Clark? He’s combative when it comes to Vegetto and won’t listen to reason at all… maybe you can sway his thoughts a bit?” Vortex-Man held a belief that Vegetto’s toxicity is seemingly affecting him; he genuinely cannot see why Clark would go far for him otherwise.

The Kryptonian’s eyes widened when Bernkastel asked for his help; especially with an expression he had never seen before. For the entire time since his bout with the Breakers—Bernkastel was cold, calculating and manipulative. But this… was a straight contrast of what he’s used too.

“…Fine.” Vortex-Man answered. “Only because I just need confirmation so I can report back to her.” After Brachi finished her piece, he thought about it for a moment. Shaking his head, he turned to Brachi. “I don’t think that’s the Dark Energy I’m referring too. What you are describing is something that’s native to your world, and if that was the case, we would’ve sensed it already.” He pointed his finger at the Brachi. “This Dark Energy is unique to this world; I’m sure you already informed of its existence before… we, erm, used it against you when we were enemies back then.”

He turns to the rest of the group. “I’ll give a reminder in case some of you forgot or new to this information. As you now, when all our universes merged, various energy systems probably got put into the same umbrella… hence we can still sense and find each other. But Dark Energy is different. I cannot explain it… but when someone is exposed to it, they are driven mad and become obsessed with a singular goal that they deeply desire. It grants them incredible power at the cost of their own mind. Like unhinged, crazy, insane, deranged. Stuff like that.” Vortex-Man turns to Victor. “It not just a case of him just being a mean old man.”

“Another aspect of Dark Energy is that they cannot be sense by normal means since it’s no longer the energy we’re familiar with, you know, like Ki, Chi, Charka, Mana, whatever… at best we could do feel the intense pressure they emitted.”

“Thankfully, the only way for someone to get Dark Energy is if they’re in the proximity of a Dark Crystal’s explosion if they somehow survived it. Fighting someone with Dark Energy won’t put you at risk of being infected.” Vortex-Man thought about the battle between Panich and Spina. “But somehow, some way… Spina obtained Dark Energy.”

Vortex-Man took a serious expression. “Another thing I noticed regarding this dreaded energy is that not only can it radicalized one’s mind, but it can also even change their appearance. That tells me that its constantly growing… constantly changing the person both in and out.” He looks down at the floor. “I don’t know what would happen, but I feel something dangerous at the end road if their Dark Energy keeps growing. I’ve seen it happen with Hart.” He mentioned Coin Hunter. “Although her progression had incredibly slowed… every day I must see her lose a bit of herself—not even counting the Alter being aspect.”

After explaining the aspect of Dark Energy in this world, Vortex-Man’s eyes turned back to the group. “Make no mistake. I don’t think its brainwashing or Zamasu or demons or whatever… but I think your… friend has Dark Energy.”
 
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