History Tropers / PsychoFreaX

“Jelly beans are actually alive even after they are eaten and plays with people’s brains when they’re asleep?” Corey suggested bewilderedly.

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“Can we at least start a bit more simple?” Rina smiled nervously.

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“How the eff do you expect me to solve that?” Ian yelled after regaining color in his eyes.

“Isn’t that what I picked an easy question for?” Prisha frowned.

“What is the use of a Relic Belt?” Ian smirked.

“Ha! You fools are dumb enough to take me back to your hideout?” Vermillo laughed as Ian, Corey and Prisha dragged him out of the warehouse. “I’ll tell! I’ll escape when I can and tell everyone!”

“Urrgghhh!” Ian was getting fed up with him. “I’m getting second thoughts. He’s just too loud and annoying.”

Corey clobbered Vermillo over the head too knock him out, “Well we certainly don’t need him conscious right?”

“About time you did something right,” Ian muttered as they tried to find a way out into the woods without people getting suspicious of seeing Vermillo tied up. Somehow they did.

They soon reached a strange looking plant, which is the entrance of Gonle’s Occult Society hideout. Making sure no one else is around but his team and the unconscious Vermillo, Prisha pulled out the Key Seed and held it out towards the plant. The seed glows a bright white light, causing the plant to bloom into a flower, the Flower Gate.

The group stepped up on the flower before it closes again. No matter how often Prisha has been through this it always in some way creeped him out. When the Flower Gate opened once again, they were in a corridor lit with bright purple torches along the walls. Walking along it, they soon stood in front of a door they opened to lead them to a larger chamber.

On one of the sides of the chamber is a man sitting by a desk with lots of books and documents. The man had curly blue hair with glasses, the Gonle Occult Manager Jordan. Jordan looked over to see Ian, Corey and Prisha enter with another man tied up and commented, “I see the case is making progress.”

“Yeah thanks,” Ian responded then referred to Vermillo. “Now is there any place where we can leave this?”

“I have a spare room further down,” Jordan answered.

WWWWWWW

After taking a bath and putting on another set of clothes, which are the same style scarf and coats, Prisha met Ian and Corey at one of the tables in the chamber to break the code Rina sent them. There Prisha and Corey managed to figure out the encryption. It turns out to be a variant of the cryptogram with the space also mixed in with the letters. Soon Rina also entered through the chamber door returned from her task informing each other on the situation.

“Wow so their hideout is in that park?” Ian said energetically. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s teach those terrorists!”

“Sure, one of their lackeys has a relic bow, let’s all hope they have nothing more dangerous like a pit of cobras,” Prisha remarked.

“Oh I forgot to say something!” Jordan spoke up from his desk. “The explosion at the lab! It turns out your client Stan Lott reported to us and is alive!”

“Wow that’s great!...” Rina exclaimed but then remembered what Prisha said before. “But then again, that would make him suspicious of the bombing wouldn’t he?”

“Difficult,” Prisha answered. “I remember saying there’s not likely to be any survivor. But if it’s Stan, he was the one who requested our service. He must have been looking down on the Occult Society much to be responsible for it.”

“Well I arranged a meeting for you with him at one of the rooms in the agency.”

WWWWWWW

And so Rina, Corey and Ian went with Prisha deciding to stay behind and decode the message. When they entered the room, Corey exclaimed, “Wow Stan! I never knew you were a time traveller!”

“Uhh wha?” Stan was still not too used to Corey’s random thinking.

“A time traveller! That’s how you went from before to after the lab blew up and survive the explosion!” Corey continued with enthusiasm!

“Don’t worry he’s just like that,” Rina excused him, seeing how confused Stan still is. “So Stan, quite a lot has happened at the la- ex-lab lately huh.”

“Yes, I even know who was behind that bombing now and I suspect a crime syndicate,” Stan spoke up and took a deep breath. “It was Morris.”

“Wha?” Ian said. “Hey how do we know you’re the guilty one and just trying to blame her?”

“Duh it’s the part where we hear him out,” Rina nudged Ian and asked Stan to continue. “Okay?”

“Yes it all started after the four of you left the lab and Morris offered to make lunch,” Stan recalled aloud for them to hear. “From taking a look at the crime reports I can suspect where your friend was coming from. There is a large crime syndicate somehow in Gonle.”

“At first I only didn’t feel like eating. But soon it seemed each of the researchers dropped unconscious after consuming the food Morris made,” Stan continued. “I believe that after you kids had lead the research too close to the answer, Morris believed anyone with the knowledge was dangerous and poisoned them. I hid some food in my brief case and pretended to be poisoned too. I soon caught a glimpse of Morris scorching the room before leaving.”

“Now knowing what I was up against, I quickly tried to shake the others awake but I was too late. The poison had already taken their lives. All I could do was escape through the window. I know I have no evidence so you don’t have to believe me. But I swear Morris is with the criminals and I warn you to beware of her!”

“You’re right, we don’t have to believe your made up story,” Ian commented, still quite biased.

“What a surprise for you to side with the girl Ian,” Rina rolled her eyes sarcastically then turned back to Stan. “Sorry we don’t know yet if what you say is true,” then smiled, “But don’t worry! What we can tell you is that by tomorrow’s investigation, we’ll know for sure! We’ll solve the case and take down that organization. No client would need to worry.”

After that they returned to the hideout where Prisha finished decoding the messages. But it was getting late and all four of them decided to go to bed and discuss it the next day.

WWWWWWW

The next morning, after eating breakfast, Team Freakshow decided to meet in one of the rooms in the hideout with a blackboard. There they went through what they discovered from the message.

“Wait so Gonle was actually mostly controlled by criminals in the shadows all along?” Rina said in surprise.

“Yes, the organization is known as Incendis and recently, they developed a new kind of poison known as Pyrosomine,” Prisha explained. “It reacts to a certain chemical in the body after being digested to ignite the victim. The organization created it as a new weapon for the members to kill those they dislike to camouflage murders that will benefit them with the same weapon. “

The poison burns away and evaporates it’s content after effect, leaving it untraceable on autopsy reports. As a bonus, the first few incidents can be seen as only a supernatural phenomenon most people are already familiar with. It turns out that lady Morris from the lab turns out to be part of this organization.”

“Yeah Stan told us about that last night,” Corey said. “So what next? I remember Rina said they’re at that house in the park right?”

“We take them down like a boss that’s what!” Ian raised his fist.

“Just calm down for now,” Rina said.

“It’s true that we now know where their hideout is, but not much more,” Prisha continued the strategic discussion. “So our next step should be to investigate it. The problem is they now know our faces from Morris.”

“We wear disguises?” Corey raised his hand, saying it like it’s obvious.

“And that’s supposed to make us look less suspicious,” Rina criticized the idea.

“As a matter of fact yes. With the proper justification,” Prisha contributed to the idea. “If someone was to walk in the street with a big hooded raincoat, it would usually catch attention, unless of course it’s actually raining.”

“Now, predicting the weather, we should be able to apply the same strategy in a couple of hours,” Prisha pointed at his weather predictions on the blackboard. “We may not be able to enter the estate, but two of us can walk in the park around it to analyse it up close. Any way to sneak in, The positioning of the windows or any other significant features.”

“Any questions?” Prisha asked but raised his hand before anyone could answer. “Oh I have one. Where the hell is Ian?”

WWWWWWW

Meanwhile, Ian had already mounted an attack on the estate, which is now already mostly destroyed by Ian’s Relic Sword which he used to easily cut through the minions no matter the firearms they used.

“What is this guy?” One of the minions coughed before losing consciousness. “He’s too strong to be human...”

Once Ian defeated all the small fries, he finally came face to face with the one ordering them, the female professor with red knotted hair, Morris.

“So it really was you behind these Incendis freaks,” Ian yelled in combat position. “Why did you have to blow up the lab with so many innocent researchers inside huh? Couldn’t you just leave them alone?”

“You obviously never ran a crime syndicate before,” Morris sneered, her true colours now surfaced. “That bratty friend of yours babbled on too much of what he shouldn’t have. Was I just going to let them all leaving with enough knowledge to find out the Incendis was behind it all?”

“Rightfully the law should know and bring you crooks to JUSTICE!” Ian rushed forward and slashed his sword down at Morris, who barely avoided it. The Relic Sword destroyed the remaining part of the wall behind her.

Seeing how dangerous this weapon is, Morris quickly pulled out a red vial and threw it in front of Ian. As the vial breaks, it created an explosion that not only damages her enemy but allows her to escape.

“Hahahaha!” Morris laughed, readying another explosive vial. “I’m also the master chemist of the Incendis and it was I who developed the Pyrosomine. I can easily also create explosive vials as weapons.”

“You think that’s enough to beat someone as tough as me?” Ian charged forward again.

Morris thought quickly, Ian’s weapon is far too dangerous so she’ll need to disarm him first. So she threw the vial to explode at the Relic Sword this time before making distance.

As the two continued facing off, a familiar voice sounded from outside the crumbling walls, “Leeroy Ian!”

It was Rina, followed by Corey and Prisha as they examined the ruins of the hideout.

“Great, I still got three more brats to take care of today,” Morris muttered as she threw a few more explosive vials at Ian’s Relic Sword. After the smoke cleared, it revealed there was a crack on the blade for Morris to think, Perfect.

Meanwhile, Prisha looked around the ruins and found one of the rooms to have tablets labelled Pyrosomine, “Thankfully he didn’t destroy any evidence.”

Back at the fight, Ian rushed toward Morris again but this time the explosive vial Morris threw had finally broke the Relic Sword in two. She laughed triumphantly.

“I wouldn’t celebrate just yet,” Rina smirked, spectating the fight while the Relic Sword grew pieces of steel to replace the broken area. “The Relic Sword’s power to change form includes being able to repair itself.”

And with that, Ian was at it again, running at Morris who threw another explosive vial to explode in front of Ian. It wasn’t enough to stop him though, as Ian reached and attacked Morris again, but she evaded it just like before with only a slight cut on her shoulder.

“This is really getting annoying,” Ian breathed heavily. The fight was getting tiresome now. But he still charged again.

Morris now needed to get desperate, so she pulled out and threw two vials. The explosion stopped Ian for a second but she needed to injure him more to defeat him. But as she reached in her coat to try and grab a handful, Morris found she was out of vials and must brace for Ian’s next attack unarmed.

“Well I arranged a meeting for you with him at one of the rooms in the tavern to find out,”

“Yes, the organization is known as Incendis and recently, they developed a new kind of poison known as Pyrosomine,” Prisha explained. “It reacts to a certain chemical in the body after being digested to ignite the victim. The organization created it as a new weapon for the members to kill those they dislike to camouflage murders that will benefit them with the same weapon. It turns out that lady Morris from the lab turns out to be one of them.”

Vermillo, a tall man with slicked back green hair was sent to keep watch on the outside of the lab's remains. He thought he blended in with the crowd pretty well with his weapon, the relic bow and arrows concealed in the bag behind him.

He remembered to keep a look out for four kids who just happen to be joining the crowd right now or at least three of them. A tall boy with the mullet, girl with black pigtails and androgynous kid with blue wavy hair. He wondered why the last one couldn't make it. But nevertheless, he can just stalk them back to their base before killing one. Then take care of the rest after reporting back to Incendis.

The kids seemed to be talking quietly about something. Then what caught him off guard is their decision to split up and explore different areas outside the lab. Vermillo must think quickly which one to follow. In the heat of the moment, he picked the girl.

Though now he needed a change of plans. Since each of these kids went off on their own, he needed to assassinate one once he gets the chance. Seeing the girl's route, he can figure out exactly where she is heading. They want to check the top of the surrounding buildings where a possible assassin can keep an eye on the lab. Too bad for her, she doesn't know these streets as well as he does.

Vermillo decided to take a short cut through an alley to get closer to her and just made it to the end when she passed him. It's also at a more deserted corner of the streets, so it should make it easier. Now, he'll only have take out his bow and arrows to shoot. But damn she's fast. As Vermillo pulled the arrow back on his relic bow, he needed to take careful aim.

"Pre-emptive strike!" Corey appeared out of the alley to kick Vermillo's back, stopping him from shooting Rina. Vermillo managed to get up to go eye to eye with his attacker.

"I was careless. Should have known the last kid was out to scout for me," Vermillo said as he readied his weapon and shot an arrow at Corey.

"You're one funny looking ninja," Corey managed to evade the shot and ran around Vermillo to dodge more. He can't keep it up for too long though, there were too many near hits. Corey must escape Vermillo's field of vision as quick as he can.

"Huh?" Vermillo then noticed that he can no longer see Corey. Left? Right? Behind? He's not even making a sound. "You can't hide forever!"

Where Corey is, was actually above Vermillo. Fist in the air concentrating a radiant energy know as PSI within it. Vermillo noticed just in time before Corey strikes his fist down at him yelling, "Force Blast!"

The impact of the blast was enough to make a crater larger than Vermillo himself on the cement floor. He was grateful to have dodged it. Both combatants soon stand face to face once again on the streets of Gonle.

"Heheheh, I'm up against a psychic now am I? Well you're just in luck," Vermillo laughed as he pulled out a set of purple arrows and readied them on his bow. "You see, these aren't ordinary arrows."

"Null Wave!" Vermillo shot an array of eight arrows which Corey tried to dodge, but it was inevitable that one had grazed his arm. Vermillo then ran at Corey in the alley laughing, "Now I bet you got nothing!"

"Force Blast!" Corey tried project the power once again, seeing how close Vermillo was getting. But somehow his PSI can't completely summon the attack. This allowed Vermillo to get close enough and punch Corey to the ground. "AAH!"

"What did I tell you? These are Relic Bow and Arrows," Vermillo laughed as Corey tried to get up. "Their points can temporarily seal anyone's PSI to keep their powers from working."

"You should just give up now!" Vermillo punched Corey again, but Corey stood his ground and took hold of Vermillo's fist before throwing his own.

"I still got a fist you know!" Corey yelled as he made impact with Vermillo's chest. But Vermillo was able to retaliate as he kicked Corey over several meters back.

"Hahahaha! You think you can match me in hand to hand combat?" Vermillo scoffed as Corey struggled to get up once more. But keep falling back to the ground. That kick and all those blows even made it painful to sit up. "Not only am I older and more experienced but I focus all my training on physical prowess. Now with your powers locked, what is your advantage?"

Corey remembered learning from the Occult Society that the effectiveness of enchantments such as seals are dependent on if they outweigh their target's power. With enough PSI, Corey may be able to undo it. But the seal is way too strong. It's from a Relic after all. Now what other option is there? He can't win in hand to hand combat and Vermillo still has those arrows. Maybe if he buys time, the seal can wear off, "You want information don't you?"

"Yes, you read my mind," Vermillo laughed then readied his relic bow again. "However, you are quite strong for a kid and I imagine you'd be hard to keep under control."

"Perhaps a few more arrows would make you more suited for questioning!" Vermillo released the arrows, now headed for Corey. He braced for the dreaded impact before a friend jumped in front and summoned a wall of ice the size of a really thick door.

"Frozen Shield!" It was Prisha who managed to stop the attack. The arrows only made it halfway through the dense ice wall. Rina and Ian also arrived. They must have found him from the sound of the force blast.

"Corey, are you okay?" Rina went over to treat him.

"I just had my PSI sealed by that ninja's arrows before he beat me up. I think I think I could be better," Corey warned his friends.

"Okay..." Rina turned to see their adversary then decide to ask her allies. "So we got a plan Prish?"

"Just... give me a minute," Prisha tried calculating in his head what the best option to take from here is.

"Who needs plans?" Ian walks toward Vermillo, flexing his muscles before taking out what looks like a dagger with a long hilt and fat blade. "We just have to kick his ass right?"

"Ha! A single one of my arrows can top your so called weapon," Vermillo laughed, readying his bow and arrows once again. "Joke's over!"

"If you wish," Ian smirked as he unsheathed what looked like a fat dagger. But the sheath seemed to somehow contain a much larger well crafted blade underneath to about four foot long.

"Ian's Relic Sword is a kind of empathic weapon that has the ability to change form," Rina narrated as she watched the fight begin. "Thus it usually remains compact, seeming like a fat dagger when it doesn't need to be used."

"Thanks for the narration on pre-informed knowledge," Prisha sarcastically remarked.

"Well you know, if we were an anime with an audience, it can be quite useful," Rina smiled, scratching the back of her head. They then looked back to watch the fight between Ian and Vermillo. "But it appears we will have a fight between Relic weapons here."

"Too much talk! Not enough action!" Ian rushed forward dodging the arrows Vermillo shot. Eventually one hit him below his right knee.

"No the knee! Ian's going to become a guard!" Rina gasped while Prisha just rolled his eyes.

"Heh, I'm tougher than!" It didn't stop Ian for long as he continued running at Vermillo. Once he got close enough, Ian raised his sword and plunge the sword down to where Vermillo was standing.

Vermillo jumped back to imperfectly evade the attack. The sword managed to open a cut in his left cheek. Once he could stand up straight once again he saw the blade of Ian's Relic sword sunk deep into cement floor. But even then, Ian was able to pull the sword out to ready himself again for combat with ease. It truly is a powerful sword, but how can a teenager wield it with such prowess?

"Hehehe... I see, you must be a team of psychic kids who practice it together huh," Vermillo laughed, pulling out again another set of purple arrows. "I already know that shrimp I defeated can emit kinetic energy and the blue squid hair can control ice."

"Now I'm guessing you can increase your strength with PSI?" Vermillo readied his attack. Ian braced himself. "Too bad it won't be any use for you for long!"

"Null Wave!" Vermillo executed the same attack that trumped Corey and the arrows managed to make a cut on the side of Ian's shoulder. "Two more to go."

"Heheheh... you think I need PSI to be as tough as I am now?" Ian charged forward again, dodging a more of Vermillo's arrows and attacked him once more. This time Ian managed to cut wound through Vermillo's chest.

"Aaaaarrggghh!" Vermillo cried out in pain as he fell to his knees. "But how..?"

"That isn't important now!" Ian towered over Vermillo pointing his Relic Sword at the now smaller his now smaller form. "Are you the monster behind that bombing? Do you have accomplices? Tell me!"

"Hehehe... You think I'll just answer truthfully? You think I'll hand all the information on a plate to you?" Vermillo's eyes were losing sanity, looking up at Ian.

"Maybe after you find out what happens if you don't!" Ian threatened, nearing the Relic Sword at Vermillo's throat.

"In all honesty the archer is right," Prisha still as grumpy as ever, approached the two combatants of the now concluded fight, along with Rina and Corey who seems to be able to walk again. "We currently have no available interrogation techniques to acquire a reliable answer from him."

"Watch me then!" Ian argued before Rina started to tie Vermillo up.

"We can at least restrain him for now," Rina said after she finished doing so and smiled at Ian. "Listen Ian, you beaten him and I know you want to achieve more by getting answers. But you did well enough for now."

"What did you expect from a man like me?" Ian triumphantly sheathed the Relic Sword.

"So do we find some place undercover to bring him now?" Corey suggested, referring to Vermillo. "His blood might attract some vampires."

"True Corey, but not about the vampires so much," Rina answered. "If I know action flicks as well as I think. This would be the part where the head villain silences his lackey to keep him from talking."

And so the group found an abandoned warehouse along the alley where they hold Vermillo captive. Ian also took out the arrow in his knee and bandaged the wound. After done searching Vermillo, Rina decided to inform her team, "Okay so I searched this guy and didn't find many things useful."

"Apart from this," She held up what appears to be a cell phone. "It turns out that whoever he's working with traded messages we can find still noted here. They probably kept the messages to keep them from forgetting their orders and are confident no one else can read them."

The messages appeared to be groupings of letters to look like a set of nonsensical words, much like a cryptogram. But unlike a usual one, the words appear to be very drawn out. There's still a possibility it is a cryptogram with a strange message though.

"I also searched that archer and he's clear of any bugs or tracking devices," Rina continued explaining. "So that's cool."

"There is one more tracking device they use though right?" Corey asked. "The phone! In fact, if this syndicate is so large and existed for so long, do you think they might have an inside man in the police or possibly phone company?"

"It's likely and can also be another reason for the encrypted message," Rina answered. "They might count on us to take too long trying to decode it, then calls us at the time they get suspicious, which can be another dilemma. Should we try to decode the messages? Or throw away the phone so we can't be tracked?"

"You fool! We won't need the phone to decode these messages," Prisha glared. "Just simply make a copy."

"Oh right! Can't believe I forgot that," Rina smiled nervously and pressed some keys on the phone. "I'll be mailing it to my phone."

"So once we finish copying the messages we throw away the phone?" Ian asked Rina, as she continued mailing each message.

"What if we try the same trick they tried except we bait them with a phone instead of an explosion?" Corey suggested.

"I doubt that would work, they thought of the strategy themselves after all and probably know enough to think ahead of it," Rina shrugged. "Besides, they could probably escape by car and even if we drive to chase them, they'll be suspicious of a certain car tailing them."

"There's also no guarantee they truly can trace the phone or if our pursuers would return to the base afterward," Prisha added but then decided to speak for the opposition. "But it's worth a try. It only requires proper planning."

"Times up!" The Incendis minion announced. "By our boss' order we should call Vermillo's number at this time and trace his phone's whereabouts. So get the cop on the line."

So they dialled the number and after a couple of rings the phone on the other end seems to break and shut off. "Damn they really had beaten Vermillo."

"They aren't too smart though," The cop from the other side of the phone spoke. "It seems they still carried the phone and were inside a cafe before they finally realized what a stupid idea it was and smashed it. They can't have put any traps without being suspicious with so many people around and we can question witnesses even if they escaped."

"Come just in case I need extra people to search though. I'll send you the location, so drive to meet me there right away," The cop hung up and off they went.

They were breezing through until they neared the Cafe when the traffic somehow got heavier. About eight minions made it there including two cops. Most of them were assigned the job of investigating the surrounding area and if their enemies are still watching them.

The cops questioned the people inside the building where the Cafe is but no one seems to know about anyone smashing phones. So he checked the surveillance tape and found something not right. None of what he was looking for happened. Then it occurred to him, what if it took place on this spot but not on ground. The roof of the building!

Some of the minions were then tasked to check the roof and found the phone. They also managed to find another clue. "Hey check this out!"

It was a rather strange looking silver coin. "That's the symbol of the rumoured Occult Society!"

"I believe they dropped it trying to jump down that alley behind the building," The cop pointed at where he found the coin. "Don't worry it's just an ordinary coin in strange shape. Someone might know more about it and tell us more about our enemies. You better take it with you back to the hideout and present it to our boss. I'll need to take my car back to the station."

And so when the minions investigated enough to make sure no one's watching, they drove off. There doesn't seem to be any car constantly tailing them so that's good. However, on this return trip the traffic became much more of a pain to drive through. In fact, by the time they made it to the parking lot at a huge park, they thought how much faster they could have been if they just walked.

And so the minions walked through the park to find the hideout in the estate at the centre of it to show the boss this potential clue, not knowing that Team Freakshow has followed them here and found the hideout.

About three hours ago Prisha discussed with his team the strategy of leaving the phone as bait. "Understanding what our adversaries will be on the lookout for, we must make use of more subtle traps."

"If our pursuers plan to drive as a means of transport then we can use traffic to our advantage," Prisha pulled out a map of Gonle for everyone to see. "Now I estimated that the organization would get impatient in only another forty minutes, which should be half past three. If driving to the premises, investigate it and its surrounding takes one hour and a half, the time they drive back should be about five."

"So taking into account the time when certain businesses finish for the day and their distance from the residential zone," Prisha explained as he pointed to different areas of the map. "If we take use one of these areas as bait, we can maximize the traffic jam at the time our pursuers drive off. We will choose this cafe."

"But isn't that only the second best option?" Rina took a closer look at the map. "Besides, anyone can enter a cafe. At least if we choose an abandoned warehouse we'll know who's strange when they enter it."

"We'll know the person who investigates the roof to be strange," Prisha replied. "Tracing maps are only two dimensional, if we leave it on the roof of the cafe, it would still appear to be inside it."

"Okay what the eff's going on anymore?" Ian yelled trying to keep up with the discussion.

"So if I keep watch from this building, I should just be able to keep an eye on the roof where we left the phone and keep away from those crooks," Rina pointed on the map finally seeing what Prisha meant. Maximizing traffic jam takes priority but they must also think about hiding spots and escape routes.

"What if we leave a false clue behind near the phone so those guys would take it back to base and lead us there?" Corey suggested enthusiastically and his two smarter teammates seem to agree until he suggested what it will be. "An elephant's skull!"

"No I think a peculiar coin would suffice," Prisha said.

"Can anyone here just speak English?" Ian argued, no longer knowing what's going on.

"Once you have seen who's on the rooftop, you'll escape to this building here," Prisha pointed at another building closer to the cafe.

"Our pursuers will least likely check that area especially after finding the phone was on the roof," Prisha's words sounded from Rina's memories as she looked through the binoculars to see those agents investigating the rooftop. So she rushed to her next destination where she can see the car they drove off in. But the traffic made it easier to keep up with them.

Seeing the car take separate roads she remembered to only follow the police car if she had to. So she tailed the other one. Even now, Rina needed to do her best to be stealthy, sometimes using the crowd or other cars in the traffic to her advantage.

It took the whole sunset for those minions to return to the hideout. Rina was barely able to see the estate but tried not to get too close. It would suck to blow her cover now and have all that work go down the drain. So she walked away from the estate and did what she always wanted to, now being the best time.

She pulled out a black notebook, put on a headphone and an evil smirk saying quietly, "Just according to keikaku."

...

Author's note: I had trouble with the last part. I'm even still iffy if I remembered to cover everything. I might be concentrating too much on one thing for now though.

Author’s notes: Damn I just realized how much this arc is giving me a headache. I mean, most of it is simple, but at the very end of this chapter I think I went mad (If you don’t get it yet at the end of this chapter, it will be explained in the next). I think I’m overdoing it on just one thing here. Well the arc is almost over and future ones will be more fun and less stressful at least... but also more dramatic. I wonder how that will turn out like.
...
Vermillo, a tall man with slicked back green hair was sent to keep watch on the outside of the lab’s remains. He thought he blended in with the crowd pretty well with his weapon, the relic bow and arrows concealed in the bag behind him.

He remembered to keep a look out for four kids who just happen to be joining the crowd right now or at least three of them. A tall boy with the mullet, girl with black pigtails and androgynous kid with blue wavy hair. He wondered why the last one couldn’t make it. But nevertheless, he can just stalk them back to their base before killing one. Then take care of the rest after reporting back to Incendis.

Though now he needed a change of plans. Since each of these kids went off on their own, he needed to assassinate one once he gets the chance. Seeing the girl’s route, he can figure out exactly where she is heading. They want to check the top of the surrounding buildings where a possible assassin can keep an eye on the lab. Too bad for her, she doesn’t know these streets as well as he does.

Vermillo decided to take a short cut through an alley to get closer to her and just made it to the end when she passed him. It’s also at a more deserted corner of the streets, so it should make it easier. Now, he’ll only have take out his bow and arrows to shoot. But damn she’s fast. As Vermillo pulled the arrow back on his relic bow, he needed to take careful aim.

“Pre-emptive strike!” Corey appeared out of the alley to kick Vermillo’s back, stopping him from shooting Rina. Vermillo managed to get up to go eye to eye with his attacker.

“I was careless. Should have known the last kid was out to scout for me,” Vermillo said as he readied his weapon and shot an arrow at Corey.

“You’re one funny looking ninja,” Corey managed to evade the shot and ran around Vermillo to dodge more. He can’t keep it up for too long though, there were too many near hits. Corey must escape Vermillo’s field of vision as quick as he can.

“Huh?” Vermillo then noticed that he can no longer see Corey. Left? Right? Behind? He’s not even making a sound. “You can’t hide forever!”

Where Corey is, was actually above Vermillo. Fist in the air concentrating a radiant energy know as PSI within it. Vermillo noticed just in time before Corey strikes his fist down at him yelling, “Force Blast!”

“Heheheh, I’m up against a psychic now am I? Well you’re just in luck,” Vermillo laughed as he pulled out a set of purple arrows and readied them on his bow. “You see, these aren’t ordinary arrows.”

“Null Wave!” Vermillo shot an array of eight arrows which Corey tried to dodge, but it was inevitable that one had grazed his arm. Vermillo then ran at Corey in the alley laughing, “Now I bet you got nothing!”

“Force Blast!” Corey tried project the power once again, seeing how close Vermillo was getting. But somehow his PSI can’t completely summon the attack. This allowed Vermillo to get close enough and punch Corey to the ground. “AAH!”

“What did I tell you? These are Relic Bow and Arrows,” Vermillo laughed as Corey tried to get up. “Their points can temporarily seal anyone’s PSI to keep their powers from working.”

“You should just give up now!” Vermillo punched Corey again, but Corey stood his ground and took hold of Vermillo’s fist before throwing his own.

“I still got a fist you know!” Corey yelled as he made impact with Vermillo’s chest. But Vermillo was able to retaliate as he kicked Corey over several meters back.

“Hahahaha! You think you can match me in hand to hand combat?” Vermillo scoffed as Corey struggled to get up once more. But keep falling back to the ground. That kick and all those blows even made it painful to sit up. “Not only am I older and more experienced but I focus all my training on physical prowess. Now with your powers locked, what is your advantage?”

Corey remembered learning from the Occult Society that the effectiveness of enchantments such as seals are dependent on if they outweigh their target’s power. With enough PSI, Corey may be able to undo it. But the seal is way too strong. It’s from a Relic after all. Now what other option is there? He can’t win in hand to hand combat and Vermillo still has those arrows. Maybe if he buys time, the seal can wear off, “You want information don’t you?”

“Yes, you read my mind,” Vermillo laughed then readied his relic bow again. “However, you are quite strong for a kid and I imagine you’d be hard to keep under control.”

“Perhaps a few more arrows would make you more suited for questioning!” Vermillo released the arrows, now headed for Corey. He braced for the dreaded impact before a friend jumped in front and summoned a wall of ice the size of a really thick door.

“Frozen Shield!” It was Prisha who managed to stop the attack. The arrows only made it halfway through the dense ice wall. Rina and Ian also arrived. They must have found him from the sound of the force blast.

“Corey, are you okay?” Rina went over to treat him.

“I just had my PSI sealed by that ninja’s arrows before he beat me up. I think I think I could be better,” Corey warned his friends.

“Okay...” Rina turned to see their adversary then decide to ask her allies. “So we got a plan Prish?”

“Just... give me a minute,” Prisha tried calculating in his head what the best option to take from here is.

“Who needs plans?” Ian walks toward Vermillo, flexing his muscles before taking out what looks like a dagger with a long hilt and fat blade. “We just have to kick his ass right?”

“Ha! A single one of my arrows can top your so called weapon,” Vermillo laughed, readying his bow and arrows once again. “Joke’s over!”

“If you wish,” Ian smirked as he unsheathed what looked like a fat dagger. But the sheath seemed to somehow contain a much larger well crafted blade underneath to about four foot long.

“Ian’s Relic Sword is a kind of empathic weapon that has the ability to change form,” Rina narrated as she watched the fight begin. “Thus it usually remains compact, seeming like a fat dagger when it doesn’t need to be used.”

“Thanks for the narration on pre-informed knowledge,” Prisha sarcastically remarked.

“Well you know, if we were an anime with an audience, it can be quite useful,” Rina smiled, scratching the back of her head. They then looked back to watch the fight between Ian and Vermillo. “But it appears we will have a fight between Relic weapons here.”

“Too much talk! Not enough action!” Ian rushed forward dodging the arrows Vermillo shot. Eventually one hit him below his right knee.

“No the knee! Ian’s going to become a guard!” Rina gasped while Prisha just rolled his eyes.

“Heh, I’m tougher than!” It didn’t stop Ian for long as he continued running at Vermillo. Once he got close enough, Ian raised his sword and plunge the sword down to where Vermillo was standing.

Vermillo jumped back to imperfectly evade the attack. The sword managed to open a cut in his left cheek. Once he could stand up straight once again he saw the blade of Ian’s Relic sword sunk deep into cement floor. But even then, Ian was able to pull the sword out to ready himself again for combat with ease. It truly is a powerful sword, but how can a teenager wield it with such prowess?

“Hehehe... I see, you must be a team of psychic kids who practice it together huh,” Vermillo laughed, pulling out again another set of purple arrows. “I already know that shrimp I defeated can emit kinetic energy and the blue squid hair can control ice.”

“Now I’m guessing you can increase your strength with PSI?” Vermillo readied his attack. Ian braced himself. “Too bad it won’t be any use for you for long!”

“Null Wave!” Vermillo executed the same attack that trumped Corey and the arrows managed to make a cut on the side of Ian’s shoulder. “Two more to go.”

“Heheheh... you think I need PSI to be as tough as I am now?” Ian charged forward again, dodging a more of Vermillo’s arrows and attacked him once more. This time Ian managed to cut wound through Vermillo’s chest.

“Aaaaarrggghh!!!” Vermillo cried out in pain as he fell to his knees. “But how..?”

“That isn’t important now!” Ian towered over Vermillo pointing his Relic Sword at the now smaller his now smaller form. “Are you the monster behind that bombing? Do you have accomplices? Tell me!”

“Hehehe... You think I’ll just answer truthfully? You think I’ll hand all the information on a plate to you?” Vermillo’s eyes were losing sanity, looking up at Ian.

“Maybe after you find out what happens if you don’t!” Ian threatened, nearing the Relic Sword at Vermillo’s throat.

“In all honesty the archer is right,” Prisha approached the two combatants of the now concluded fight, along with Rina and Corey who seems to be able to walk again. It also seems to be getting late. The sun was already setting. “We currently have no available interrogation techniques to acquire a reliable answer from him.”

“Watch me then!” Ian argued before Rina started to tie Vermillo up.

“We can at least restrain him for now,” Rina said after she finished doing so and smiled at Ian. “Listen Ian, you beaten him and I know you want to achieve more by getting answers. But you did well enough for now.”

“What did you expect from a man like me?” Ian triumphantly sheathed the Relic Sword.

“So do we find some place undercover to bring him now?” Corey suggested, referring to Vermillo. “His blood might attract some vampires.”

“True Corey, but not about the vampires so much,” Rina answered. “If I know action flicks as well as I think. This would be the part where the head villain silences his lackey to keep him from talking.”

And so the group found an abandoned warehouse along the alley where they hold Vermillo captive. Ian also took out the arrow in his knee and bandaged the wound. After done searching Vermillo, Rina decided to inform her team, “Okay so I searched this guy and didn’t find many things useful.”

“Apart from this,” She held up what appears to be a cell phone. “It turns out that whoever he’s working with traded messages we can find still noted here. They probably kept the messages to keep them from forgetting their orders and are confident no one else can read them.”

The messages appeared to be groupings of letters to look like a set of nonsensical words, much like a cryptogram. But unlike a usual one, the words appear to be very drawn out. There’s still a possibility it is a cryptogram with a strange message though.

“I also searched that archer and he’s clear of any bugs or tracking devices,” Rina continued explaining. “So that’s cool.”

“There is one more tracking device they use though right?” Corey asked. “The phone! In fact, if this syndicate is so large and existed for so long, do you think they might have an inside man in the police or possibly phone company?”

“It’s likely and can also be another reason for the encrypted message,” Rina answered. “They might count on us to take too long trying to decode it, then calls us at the time they get suspicious, which can be another dilemma. Should we try to decode the messages? Or throw away the phone so we can’t be tracked?”

“You fool! We won’t need the phone to decode these messages,” Prisha glared. “Just simply make a copy.”

“Oh right! Can’t believe I forgot that,” Rina smiled nervously and pressed some keys on the phone. “I’ll be mailing it to my phone.”

“So once we finish copying the messages we throw away the phone?” Ian asked Rina, as she continued mailing each message.

“What if we try the same trick they tried except we bait them with a phone instead of an explosion?” Corey suggested.

“I doubt that would work, they thought of the strategy themselves after all and probably know enough to think ahead of it,” Rina shrugged. “Besides, they could probably escape by car and even if we drive to chase them, they’ll be suspicious of a certain car tailing them.”

“There’s also no guarantee they truly can trace the phone or if our pursuers would return to the base afterward,” Prisha added but then decided to speak for the opposition. “But it’s worth a try. It only requires proper planning.”

“Times up!” The Incendis minion announced. “By our boss’ order we should call Vermillo’s number at this time and trace his phone’s whereabouts. So get the cop on the line.”

So they dialled the number and after a couple of rings the phone on the other end seems to break and shut off. “Damn they really had beaten Vermillo.”

“They aren’t too smart though,” The cop from the other side of the phone spoke. “It seems they still carried the phone and were inside a cafe before they finally realized what a stupid idea it was and smashed it. They can’t have put any traps without being suspicious with so many people around and we can question witnesses even if they escaped.”

“Come just in case I need extra people to search though. I’ll send you the location, so drive to meet me there right away,” The cop hung up and off they went.

Some of the minions were then tasked to check the roof and found the phone. They also managed to find another clue. “Hey check this out!”

It was a rather strange looking silver coin. “That’s the symbol of the rumoured Occult Society!”

“I believe they dropped it trying to jump down that alley behind the building,” The cop pointed at where he found the coin. “Don’t worry it’s just an ordinary coin in strange shape. Someone might know more about it and tell us more about our enemies. You better take it with you back to the hideout and present it to our boss. I’ll need to take my car back to the station.”

And so when the minions investigated enough to make sure no one’s watching, they drove off. There doesn’t seem to be any car constantly tailing them so that’s good. However, on this return trip the traffic became much more of a pain to drive through. In fact, by the time they made it to the parking lot at a huge park, they thought how much faster they could have been if they just walked.

Author’s notes: Damn I just realized how much this arc is giving me a headache. I mean, most of it is simple, but at the very end of this chapter I think I went mad (Just wait for the exposition at the start of the next chapter). I think I’m overdoing it on just one thing here. Well the arc is almost over and future ones will be more fun and less stressful at least... but also more dramatic. I wonder how that will turn out like.

“Apart from this,” She held up what appears to be a cell phone. “It turns out that whoever he’s working with traded messages we can find still noted here.”

“That’s pretty dumb,” Ian commented. “These crooks really were that arrogant to think we can’t even beat one of their guys, take the phone and freely read their conversations? This is way too easy; they made the mistake of not deleting them once they’re done. I would have done that.”

“And I imagine you would forget any possible order you’re given over those messages,” Prisha contributed to the discussion. “Our adversaries may have the same problem. But if they’re confident enough to take the risk of us searching their phone, I suggest two possibilities may be apparent. The messages are misleading and used to fool us or they’re encrypted.”

“Yup!” Rina accessed some of the messages before holding up the phone and showing everyone smiling. “We have a winner.”

“Enough with the phone for a moment, I also searched that archer and he’s clear of any bugs or tracking devices,” Rina continued explaining. “So that’s cool.”

“We don’t need the phone to decode the messages you fool,” Prisha glared. “Just simply make a copy.”

“Okay... so what the hell’s going on anymore?” Ian just stood there confused before the phone started to ring.

“Whoa! You don’t think they could be suspicious and called already do you?” Corey reacted.

“They may still be wondering what’s taking this fool so long,” Prisha referred to Vermillo and then snatched the phone and showed it to him. “Arrow man! Time to make yourself useful.”

“Unless you want to be reduced to a torso and a head, you’ll tell them quickly and quietly that we’re still giving you trouble and you’ll call back after you dealt with us and make it sound real before I quickly hang up,” Prisha threatened with Vermillo nodding in fear and did what Prisha told him to do. Prisha then handed the phone back to Rina. “We’re not sure but hopefully that bought us time.”

“So once we finish copying the messages we throw away the phone?” Ian asked Rina, trying to keep up with what’s going on.

“What if we try the same strategy they tried except we bait them with a phone instead of an explosion?” Corey suggested.

“I doubt that would work, they thought of the strategy themselves after all and probably know enough to think ahead of it,” Rina shrugged. “Besides, they could probably escape by car.”

“There’s also no guarantee they truly can trace the phone or if our pursuers would return to the base afterward,” Prisha added but then decided to speak for the opposition. “But it’s worth a try. With proper planning such as location choice, there’s a chance it could work.”

And so the minions walked through the park to find the hideout in the estate at the centre of it to show the boss this potential clue. Unbeknownst to them however, Rina was just at a certain area outside the parking lot, barely seeing the estate. But for now it would be too dangerous to get close. She had been undetected until now and it would suck to make all that effort go down the drain.

For now, she should just report to the rest of her friends. So she turned back and walked beneath the night sky. But there was always something she wanted to do with this being the best time. Taking out a black notebook and putting on headphones and an evil smirk, “Just according to keikaku...”

Even though it was pretty much Prisha’s plan.

“In all honesty the archer is right,” Prisha approached the two combatants of the now concluded fight, along with Rina and Corey who seems to be able to walk again. “We currently have no available interrogation techniques to acquire a reliable answer from him.”

“We can only at least restrain him for now,” Rina said after she finished doing so and smiled at Ian. “Listen Ian, you beaten him and I know you want to achieve more by getting answers. But you did well enough for now.”

Though now he needed a change of plans. Since each of these kids went off on their own, he needed to assassinate one once he gets the chance. Seeing the girl’s route, he can figure out exactly where she is heading. They want to check the top of the surrounding buildings where a possible watch man can keep an eye on the lab. Too bad for her, she doesn’t know these streets as well as he does.

Vermillo decided to take a short cut through an alley to get closer to her and just made it to the end when she passed him. Now, he’ll only have take out his bow and arrows to shoot. But damn she’s fast. As Vermillo pulled the arrow back on his relic bow, he needed to take careful aim.

“Too much talk! Not enough action!” Ian rushed forward dodging the arrows Vermillo shot. Once he got close enough, Ian raised his sword and plunge the sword down to where Vermillo was standing.

“Hehehe... I see, you must be a team of psychic kids huh,” Vermillo laughed, pulling out again another set of purple arrows. “I already know that shrimp I defeated can emit kinetic energy and the blue squid hair can control ice.”

“Perhaps a few more arrows would make you more suited for question!” Vermillo released the arrows, now headed for Corey. He braced for the dreaded impact before a friend jumped in front and summoned a wall of ice the size of a really thick door.

“I just my PSI sealed by that ninja’s arrows before he beat me up. I think I think I could be better,” Corey warned his friends.

“Ha! A single of my arrows can top your so called weapon,” Vermillo laughed, readying his bow and arrows once again. “Joke’s over!”

It doesn’t make any sense.

Doctor Joseph Nol continued to contemplate at the crisp of a corpse lying on the table in front of him. But it was only one of the corpses and tables in the lab he’s in. All of them were victims of the crisis of Gonle city, a mysterious phenomenon that causes random people to spontaneously (or seemingly) combust. There doesn’t seem to be any connection aside from the fact that they live in this city and they’re above the age of fifteen.

“Doctor Nol?” A soft voice called from the door to his left. It was his assistant Helena Morris, a woman in her mid twenties with knotted red hair. “It’s getting late and I did all we can with our research for now. I’m going to need to rest up at home and see what we can do tomorrow.”

Doctor Nol only nodded to allow her to leave. Speaking of which, he might also need a little shut eye himself. Maybe he could research more thoroughly with the energy, but where to start? Is there even a scientific cause? Spontaneous human combustion was said to be a supernatural phenomenon after all. But there must be a trigger. Is there a serial killer who can induce it? Is there a disease going around? Should he quarantine each and every person in the city to analyse?

Doctor Nol grabbed the drink bottle on a bench next to him and tried seeing how his thoughts can improve after quenching his thirst. However, he was surprised to find the bottle empty, remembering how he even had to refill before contemplating on the corpse. He must really have been here for too long. It’s time to leave for now.

Walking along the corridor he decided on how to continue the research the next day. It appears analysing each and every person of late teens and adult age. He can find a way to make it work. The public would like a solution to the crisis after all. But that can no longer happen. In fact, Doctor Nol will no longer even be able to make it out of the exit let alone drive his car home as he felt a burning sensation spread from the centre of his body and soon enough engulfed him as another victim of the Gonle crisis.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

The very next stormy morning, a group of researchers had gathered around the burnt remains of Doctor Nol, including a devastated Helena. The group is led by a man at about age forty with bobbed hair cut. The man made the introduction speech, “Now you should all know you’re here. We wish to solve the Gonle crisis once and for all.”
“I’m sorry it wasn’t soon enough to save Doctor Nol,” The man bowed sincerely to Helena, who tried to keep up a strong appearance even after the tragedy. The man then turned to the rest of the research team once again. “The crisis has stolen enough from us which is why we will now do everything it takes and I mean everything. My name is Stan Lott and I’ll be the manager of the research team.”

“On my right we have biology professors Spencer and Martin,” Stan gestured to the two, and then turned to the group next to them. “Military weapons manufacturers led by David Fry, top class detective Solis, exorcists in case the combustions were induced by supernatural entities, alien conspiracists if it’s aliens instead, skeptics in case they’re wrong, tailors if it’s the clothes that went evil and gained magical powers, photographers, fiction writers because we might come across a twist, casino card dealers in case you get bored, the weatherman because why the hell not, tennis players, crypto zoologists-“

“Tennis players?” The weapons manufacturer David Fry queried bewilderedly.

“I told you we’re doing everything we can,” Stan answered quickly. “If you feel like arguing, I also bought a lawyer.”

“So... is everyone set to begin?” Helena asked nervously, finding difficulty seeing the man she worked with for so long and even learned from in such a state.

“Actually there is one more team I have assigned to this research,” Stan answered Helena, while a loud burst of thunder erupted from the sky, then asked everyone else in a darker tone. “Has anyone of you heard of... the Occult Agency?”

“Them? I heard they take all kinds of requests such as investigation,” Detective Solis spoke up. “But the gist of it is they are experts in the supernatural.”

“It’s all bogus though,” David Fry scoffed about the Occult Agency. “They just spread rumours about their successes to get attention and con whoever decides to rely on them.”

“Actually I heard they’re quite shady,” Professor Spencer joined in on the discussion, almost forgetting the subject they’re meant to be focusing on is researching the victims of combustion. “There are many mysteries about the agency themselves. It’s said they have ulterior plans with their work.”

“In any case they’re a waste of time,” David Fry crossed his arms before a bright flash of lightning and another crash of thunder.

“Shall we apologize for wasting your time then?” Four cloaked hooded figures eerily appeared behind the research team shocking them all. The eerie figures stepped forward igniting a strange ominous sensation in everyone else there. “What we can apologize for is keeping you waiting. Now I believe we have busine- AAAAHHH!”

The four collapsed, tripping over their own cloaks falling on top of each other. The creepy feeling the research group got was cut by the silly scene they are now witnessing.

“You see this is why I at least wanted to get cloaks our proper size,” spoke one of them as he got up. He was about five foot eleven at age seventeen. He had quite messy brown hair with a mullet over his droopy eyes.

“But longer cloaks just look so much cooler,” another one said, their face also revealed. It was a girl at about fourteen and five foot one. She is more cheery looking, with purple eyes and jet black hair in low pig tails style.

“I know! Next time we get cloaks a whole lot longer,” Exclaimed the youngest kid there. He was a boy of twelve at four foot five with spiky red hair, green eyes on a constantly enthusiastic face and somehow no visible nose. “Then we can fly inste- OW!”

The boy was just clobbered over the head by the tall boy with a mullet, “Quit being so effing weird!”

The last boy’s hood also fell off in the fiasco revealing an androgynous fourteen year old at four foot eleven. He had neck length wavy blue hair over his grim looking face with deep red eyes. He stayed quiet, a little too ashamed of being with such idiots. How he always tried warning them how these ideas would go up in smoke. They just had to insist.

“Kids?” Professor Spencer looked bewilderingly at the scene. Then decided to step up and say, “Look kiddos, this is no place to play. We adults have very important business to-“

“Hmmphhh!” The girl pouted at the biology professor and stood up. “For your information we’re no ordinary kids! I believe a punny man named Stan requested our service.”

“Yes I’m here,” Stan raised his hand and walked over.

“You know it makes me wonder too. What this world is coming to,” One of the tennis players commented. “The kind of jobs they give kids now.”

“Hey if fifteen year olds get to pilot mechas, I don’t see why not,” the girl shrugged. Speaking of the absurdity was another reason for the cloaks. They’ll less likely be shocked to see a bunch of kids. At least Ian was tall enough to look like a full grown adult. Actually, younger members of the Occult Society are meant to specialize more in undercover work.

“That was from an anime!” The tennis player yelled back.

“I’m just kidding,” the girl smiled. “Actually our bosses are quite responsible adults. They just allow us to work in this field because we’re so gifted.”

“Gifted enough to trip over our own cloaks apparently,” The grim looking boy finally spoke up sarcastically.

“Damn it Prisha!” The girl yelled at him.

“Rina? You’re an idiot,” Prisha glared at her.

“So Rina, Corey, Prisha and...” Detective Solis counted each of the so called gifted kids up to the tall one.

“Ian,” The tallest boy introduced himself. “Don’t worry, we won’t let you down.”

“I told it was a waste of time,” David Fry scoffed once again.

“Excuse me! But does anyone remember why any of us are here?” Helena cried out. “Can we please just focus on solving the Gonle Crisis?”

“Sorry once again Helena,” Stan apologized then told the others, “Save your complaining for after we progress on our research. Then we can see how useless these kids really are right?”

“Right...” Rina smiled nervously and then decided to get to business. “I guess first we need the reports that we requested on these incidents so far.”

“Just hang on a minute,” Helena left down the corridor deeper into the lab to check before going back out of one of the offices saying, “I don’t get it. I was sure Doctor Nol left it in there somewhere.”

“Is this what you’re looking for?” Corey cheerfully held up some documents.

“Wha???” Helena was surprised to see the reports in Corey’s hand. “Do you always go over and steal people’s things like that?”

“Yeah! Haven’t you learnt it just pisses everyone off?” Ian yelled at Corey snatching the reports then apologized to Helena. “I’m sorry my lady. We’ve been trying to fix him for a long time now.”

“Is it more difficult than solving these spontaneous human combustions?” Helena asked as Ian started reading the reports, though it wasn’t like he understood anything on it. “It’s not likely there’s a killer who can induce the combustions due to a lot of these occur in either people’s homes, which the killer can’t have access to all of or somehow frequently in the middle of parties, where there are too many witnesses. There doesn’t seem to be much of a connection between the victims either. Other than the fact they’re mostly adults all above the ages of fifteen.

“The times of occurrences aren’t very indicative either, since they can still happen when the victims are asleep,” Helena continued then decided to be more precise. “More precisely the times listed are actually the time the victims were found like that. Most people now know to catch signs of the unusual spark to where the victim is so it should be quite precise. But the incidents after waking hours are often found later in the morning and it’s difficult to tell how long we were late by.”

“Well let’s see,” Prisha snatched the reports from Ian to read it himself. After a minute he presented. “I can already doubt any supernatural entities are behind these combustions. Rather you should look into causes such as food poisoning or possibly water.”

“Sorry kid, we already check the water supply and all the food on the market,” biologist professor Martin said. “There were no signs of bio hazards.”

“The period after waking hours but before when the bodies are found should be approximately between midnight and ten AM, am I correct? This time on average had a low combustion rate,” Prisha began explaining. “There is then a steady incline before spiking to a high rate between eleven AM to one PM, afterward the incidents died down again until another period of high combustion rate, between four and five PM. We then have another decline until six PM when the incidents seemingly stop altogether before nine PM.”

“The following period until ten PM is another low rate until a spike to the highest frequency of combustion rate until midnight to complete the cycle,” Prisha finished his current presentation to see the research team still confused. Rina went over to curiously take a look at the report, having read enough of it for now, Prisha hand it to her.

“Look kid, in such random occurrences it’s only natural certain times will seem to have a higher rate than others,” Detective Solis shrugged. “In fact, what would be suspicious is if there is an equal distribution throughout the whole day cycle. Like as if it was organized.”

“He’s just another freak who keeps rambling on about things that don’t make sense,” Ian said. “See what I have to deal with every day?”

“Ignore for a moment the actual time and focus on the pacing between them,” Prisha sighed. That detective wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. But seeing as the whole research team is still confused, Prisha glared. “Do you fools need a hint? The report displays the time of the effect, but what about the cause?”

“You know, you can at least be nicer when you’re so called helping!” David Fry was losing his temper.

“It happened before by about...” Rina did her mental math, finally seeing what Prisha meant. “Four hours!”

“So do any of you make sense?” The exorcist questioned.

“Try subtracting four hours from the time on the report and the time with the highest frequency are breakfast, lunch and dinner respectively,” Rina answered and handed the report out for the others to read. “It fits too well to be a coincidence.”

“The hazard probably took about four hours upon consumption to act, providing the time we see in the report,” Prisha explained still glaring as usual.

“Wait! But you said none of the food and water is hazardous in any way,” Detective Solis referred to the biologists. “Unless the food becomes contaminated somewhere along the way. You don’t think it’s the shopping bags that have the germs or the taps?”

“I doubt it,” Prisha answered. “The report displays quite a high rate of occurences in gatherings such as parties. But there are only individual victims in each when your theory would suggest that more people eating or drinking there would be affected. Unless of course the hazard only affects select individuals with most people immune.”

“Me and Doctor Nol had checked all the victim’s medical records,” Helena shook her head. “They don’t have any abnormal connections different from the rest of society.”

“Maybe they were actually werewolves so they were really good at hiding it,” Corey suggested enthusiastically.

“Tchh, there he goes again,” Ian crossed his arms not wanting to make it look like he’s in the same group as Corey.

“Actually I believe the connections may not even have to be physiological,” Prisha suggested then turned to the manager Stan Lott. “I believe we also requested reports on the crime rate in Gonle of the past couple of months. Particularly murder related.”

“Yes detective Solis should have them,” Stan turned to him. “If he heard well enough to bring them.”

“What’s that supposed to mean I got them right here,” Solis handed out the report.

Prisha started reading. But after a while, the statistics gave him the idea that it might not be such a great choice to present it here after all. “We figured out everything we can for now.”

“Rina, Corey, Ian,” Prisha addressed the rest of his team before walking toward the exit of the corridor. “We’re leaving.”

“What?” Rina called out after Prisha, surprised but disappointed to stop investigating so soon. “Can you at least not be so vague about it?”

“What’s so vague?” Ian shrugged, adding. “He’s chickening out on the case, there’s no surprise.”

“Wait!” Helena called out. “We have made some progress and it may have been exhausting work. So how about I make lunch to energize everyone again to continue afterward?”

“Do I look interested?” Prisha turned to glare at Helena before continuing out the exit of the corridor.

“Oh that idiot doesn’t know what he’s missing out on,” Ian said before turning to Helena and flirted. “I bet a beautiful lady like you must also cook just as beautifully eh?”

“No, we’re leaving,” Rina pulled Ian by the ear and went after Prisha, also followed by Corey. She however remembered to stop for a moment to request the research team. “But can we have a copy of the reports before then?”

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Back outside, it seems the storm has cleared out as the four juvenile bunch walked down the streets under a mostly blue sky. But what’s bothering Rina now was Prisha’s sudden exit from the lab. So she had to ask, “Hey Prisha, so what was your problem before?”

“He is a problem,” Ian scoffed.

“It’s the reports,” Prisha finally decided to inform his team. “The crime rate of Gonle has always been much higher than your average city. They have only persisted up to today. However, the murder rate has decreased considerably.”

“But don’t less people mean less people to murder?” Rina suggested.

“Do you know how much of the population the human combustion issue had wiped out?” Prisha explained. “Not even ten percent just yet. But the murder rate had decreased to less than half.”

“Using your reasoning alone, the decrease in murder rate should be roughly correlated with how much less people there are to murder or to commit murder,” Prisha continued his exposition thoughtfully. “But get this; the overall crime rate in Gonle has not dropped.”

“It’s like the combustion incidents took out the people who would have been targeted,” Corey tried following along with Prisha’s theory. Speaking of which, they were getting close to their hotel. “But how could someone reach all those victims in their houses?”

“I’m not sure how, but there is a fair possibility of a rather large crime syndicate in Gonle,” Prisha stopped to tell the others. “Now that I informed you, fulfilling our purpose of leaving, someone can go back to keep an eye on how the research group is doing.”

“Nah I’m hungry,” Rina said looking up at their hotel before energetically punching the air. “First let’s find something for lunch!”

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“Wow!” Rina gazed at the sweet buns Corey served on the kitchen table back at their apartment. Surprised to see how well made they look. “Who could have you of all people could make such a great cook.”

“Itadakimasu!” Rina couldn’t wait any longer so she grabbed one of the buns and sank her teeth in. They were just as delicious as they looked for an instant until her mouth reached a surprising ingredient within the bun.

“Ow!” Rina had spat out the thorn ball that pricked her mouth. “Oh em gee! What was a thorn ball doing in the bun?”

“Hey there’s a thorn ball in mine too,” Ian yelled after suffering the same fate, then pointed at Corey. “You were up to this weren’t you?”

“Yep!” Corey still smiled enthusiastically. They also changed from their Occult Society robes to their casual outfits. Corey wore a bright blue T-shirt, black shorts and a pair of mismatched socks(one blue, one red) with runners. “I thought I’d try what we never done before.”

“You’re a freak that’s what!” Ian yelled wearing a white long sleeved buttoned shirt and black pants.

“It’s not like any of us are better cooks,” Prisha rolled his eyes.

“Hey I’m a way better cook than all-,” Ian tried arguing, but the others seem a bit distracted by their own arguments.

“You can talk Miss Everything I Make Is As Cold As Me!” Rina argued back at Prisha. She was wearing a yellow sweater with a black skirt down to her knees.


“And somehow it’s still healthier than your charcoal menu,” Prisha sighed. Everything he wore looked dark, from his purple scarf to his navy coat and black pants. “Besides, shouldn’t we be getting used to all this by now? How long have we been Team Freakshow for?”

“Come to think of it, it’s almost been a year huh,” Rina searched her memories. “At that time I was the only one already in the Occult Society.”

“Yeah Ian was a brainwashed self righteous soldier wasn’t he?” Corey smiled reminiscing back at the time. Since then they’ve been on many adventures as team Freakshow, doing all kinds of missions for the Occult Society. To think it was all due to circumstances. They all had issues in their life with the Occult Society being the answer to. It hasn’t been easy since then though.

“What? Well whatever you call me, it’s at least better than being a certain homicidal criminal,” Ian referred to Prisha. Apart from the dangerous missions, the teams must move around a lot to avoid suspicion and contrary to what it may seem, members of the Occult Society must actually study more than any others at their age.

“Right,” Rina laughed. “And to think we’d at least be less rowdy by now.”

“So why do we have to eat around these thorn balls now?” Ian complained feeling as though eating is more of a chore now. “Hadn’t it always turned out better to buy lunch at some food court or something? Or that hot scientist said she was gonna-”

BOOM! A loud explosion sounded from the distance to their apartment window.

“That sound...” Rina looked over to the city out of the window. “It’s coming from the lab!”

“Well then what are we waiting for?” Ian rushed out of the apartment and down to the exit of the hotel.

“Ian wait up!” Rina ran after him along with Prisha and Corey. Once at the entrance, Rina was able to stop Ian.

“Geez, is there a reason we’re being so slow?” Ian argued.

“From the look of the smoke I’d say most of the lab would have been caught in the explosion,” Rina observed the destruction from afar.

“We’ll surely need to be careful investigating it,” Prisha said thinking of a plan. “But not all of us have to go.”

“What if I scout the area for ninjas who they sent to keep a look out for us?” Corey suggested.

“Yes, the ones responsible for the destruction may have predicted the possibility of us being drawn to examining the lab’s remains,” Prisha nodded. “Look carefully to see if anyone is suspicious, they’ll be restricted to where they can keep an eye on the entrance of the lab, probably among the crowd trying to get a peak of the explosion.”

And with that, they were off and so Rina, Prisha and Ian soon made it to the explosion site along with the crowd surrounding it. Trying not to get too close, they can’t see much more than just burning rubbles.

“Damn what bastard woul-“ Ian rush toward the rubbles in rage before Rina stopped him again.

“No Ian! They say the first explosion is usually used to draw people in for the second,” Rina advised then questioned. “But, would there be any survivors?”

“Not likely,” Prisha commented. “Considering the timing of the explosion with the research plan, it’s probable that the terrorist’s job is to make sure to kill the researchers. In fact, the survivors themselves would be rather suspicious in this case.”

“Right,” Rina nodded and looked back at the rubble. This mystery is proving to be quite puzzling now. “So who do you think was behind it?”

Doctor Nol only nodded to allow her to leave. Speaking of which, he might also need a little shut eye himself. Maybe he could research more thoroughly with the energy, but where to start? Is there even a scientific cause? Spontaneous human combustion was said to be a supernatural phenomenon after all. But there must be a trigger. Is there a serial killer who can induce it? Is there a disease going around? Should he quarantine each and every person in the city to analyse?

“Is it more difficult than solving these spontaneous human combustions?” Helena asked as Ian started reading the reports, though it wasn’t like he understood anything on it. “It’s not likely there’s a killer who can induce the combustions due to a lot of these occur in either people’s homes, which the killer can’t have access to all of or somehow frequently in the middle of parties, where there are too many witnesses. There doesn’t seem to be much of a connection between the victims either. Other than the fact they’re mostly adults all above the ages of fifteen.

Back outside, it seems the storm has cleared out as the four juvenile occultists walked down the streets under a mostly blue sky. But what’s bothering Rina now was Prisha’s sudden exit from the lab. So she had to ask, “Hey Prisha, so what was your problem before?”

“Right,” Rina laughed. “And to think we’d at least be less rowdy by now.”

“Yes, they probably predicted we might be drawn to examining the lab’s remains,” Prisha nodded. “Look carefully to see if anyone is suspicious, they’ll be restricted to where they can keep an eye on the entrance of the lab.”

Doctor Nol only nodded to allow her to leave. Speaking of which, he might also need a little shut eye himself. Maybe he could research more thoroughly with the energy, but where to start? Is there even a scientific cause? Spontaneous human combustion was said to be a supernatural phenomenon after all. But there must be a trigger. Is there a serial killer who can induce it? Is there a disease going around? Should he quarantine each and every person in the city to analyse?

“Is it more difficult than solving these spontaneous human combustions?” Helena asked as Ian started reading the reports, though it wasn’t like he understood anything on it. “It’s not likely there’s a killer who can induce the combustions due to a lot of these occur in either people’s homes, which the killer can’t have access to all of or somehow frequently in the middle of parties, where there are too many witnesses. There doesn’t seem to be much of a connection between the victims either. Other than the fact they’re mostly adults all above the ages of fifteen.

“Right,” Rina laughed. “And to think we’d at least be less rowdy by now.”

“Yes, they probably predicted we would be drawn to examining the lab’s remains,” Prisha nodded. “Look carefully to see if anyone is suspicious, they’ll be restricted to where they can keep an eye on the entrance of the lab.”

Doctor Nol only nodded to allow her to leave. Speaking of which, he might also need a little shut eye himself. Maybe he could research more thoroughly with the energy, but where to start? Is there even a scientific cause? Spontaneous human combustion was said to be a supernatural phenomenon after all. But there must be a trigger. Is there a serial killer who can induce it? Is there a disease going around? Should he quarantine each and every person in the city to analyse?

“Is it more difficult than solving these spontaneous human combustions?” Helena asked as Ian started reading the reports, though it wasn’t like he understood anything on it. “It’s not likely there’s a killer who can induce the combustions due to a lot of these occur in either people’s homes, which the killer can’t have access to all of or somehow frequently in the middle of parties, where there are too many witnesses. There doesn’t seem to be much of a connection between the victims either. Other than the fact they’re mostly adults all above the ages of fifteen.

“Right,” Rina smiled. “And to think we’d be less rowdy by now.”

“Is there a reason we’re being so slow?” Ian argued.

“We’ll surely need to be careful investigating it,” Prisha said thinking of a plan. “But not all of us have to go.”

“What if I scout the area to see if they have any ninjas who are keeping a look out for us?” Corey suggested.

Doctor Nol only nodded to allow her to leave. Speaking of which, he might also need a little shut eye himself. Maybe he could research more thoroughly with the energy, but where to start? Is there even a scientific cause? Spontaneous human combustion was said to be a supernatural phenomenon after all. But there must be a trigger. Is there a serial killer who can induce it? Is there a disease going around? Should he quarantine each and every person in the city to analyse?

“Hey if fourteen year olds get to pilot mechas, I don’t see why not,” the girl shrugged. Speaking of the absurdity was another reason for the cloaks. They’ll less likely be shocked to see a bunch of kids. At least Ian was tall enough to look like a full grown adult. Actually, younger members of the Occult Society are meant to specialize more in undercover work.

“Is it more difficult than solving these spontaneous human combustions?” Helena asked as Ian started reading the reports, though it wasn’t like he understood anything on it. “It’s not likely there’s a killer who can induce the combustions due to a lot of these occur in either people’s homes, which the killer can’t have access to all of or somehow frequently in the middle of parties, where there are too many witnesses. There doesn’t seem to be much of a connection between the victims either. Other than the fact they’re mostly adults all above the ages of fifteen.

Doctor Nol only nodded to allow her to leave. Speaking of which, he might also need a little shut eye himself. Maybe he could research more thoroughly with the energy, but where to start? Is there even a scientific cause? Spontaneous human combustion was said to be a supernatural phenomenon after all. But there must be a trigger. Is there a serial killer who can induce it? Is there a disease going around? Should he quarantine each and every person in the city to analyse?

“Is it more difficult than solving these spontaneous human combustions?” Helena asked as Ian started reading the reports, though it wasn’t like he understood anything on it. “It’s not likely there’s a killer who can induce the combustions due to a lot of these occur in either people’s homes, which the killer can’t have access to all of or somehow frequently in the middle of parties, where there are too many witnesses. There doesn’t seem to be much of a connection between the victims either. Other than the fact they’re mostly adults all above the ages of fifteen.

“The time between after hours and when the bodies are found should be approximately between midnight and ten AM, am I correct? This time on average had a low combustion rate,” Prisha began explaining. “There is then a steady incline before spiking to a high rate between eleven AM to one PM, afterward the incidents died down again until another period of high combustion rate, between four and five PM. We then have another decline until six PM when the incidents seemingly stop altogether before nine PM.”

Doctor Nol only nodded to allow her to leave. Speaking of which, he might also need a little shut eye himself. Maybe he could research more thoroughly with the energy, but where to start? Is there even a scientific cause? Spontaneous human combustion was said to be a supernatural phenomenon after all. But there must be a trigger. Is there a serial killer who can induce it? Is there a disease going around? Should he quarantine each and every person in the city to analyse?

“Is it more difficult than solving these spontaneous human combustions?” Helena asked as Ian started reading the reports, though it wasn’t like he understood anything on it. “It’s not likely there’s a killer who can induce the combustions due to a lot of these occur in either people’s homes, which the killer can’t have access to all of or somehow frequently in the middle of parties, where there are too many witnesses. There doesn’t seem to be much of a connection between the victims either. Other than the fact they’re mostly adults all above the ages of fifteen.

“I doubt it,” Prisha answered. “The report displays quite a high rate of happening in gatherings such as parties. But there are only individual victims in each when your theory would suggest that more people eating or drinking there would be affected. Unless of course the hazard only affects select individuals with most people immune.”

Doctor Nol only nodded to allow her to leave. Speaking of which, he might also need a little shut eye himself. Maybe he could research more thoroughly with the energy, but where to start? Is there even a scientific cause? Spontaneous human combustion was said to be a supernatural phenomenon after all. But there must be a trigger. Is there a serial killer who can induce it? Is there a disease going around? Should he quarantine each and every person in the city to analyse?

“Is it more difficult than solving these spontaneous human combustions?” Helena asked as Ian started reading the reports, though it wasn’t like he understood anything on it. “It’s not likely there’s a killer who can induce the combustions due to a lot of these occur in either people’s homes, which the killer can’t have access to all of or somehow frequently in the middle of parties, where there are too many witnesses. There doesn’t seem to be much of a connection between the victims either. Other than the fact they’re mostly adults all above the ages of fifteen.

Wow someone actually bothered looking at my page? How flattering.

Oh what are the chances? Anyone "possibly" here, vandalize all you want!

[[SkywardScream SKYWAAAAAAARRRRRRRRD SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]] Really don't know where else to do it.

You know what I haven't done in a very long time? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr1i82JOnAY CELEBRATED!!!]]

[[quoteright:347:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Out_For_Lunch_trope_9490.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:347: I just feel like having this picture here for some reason]]

You know what I haven't done in a very long time? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr1i82JOnAY CELEBRATED!!!]]

[[SkywardScream SKYWAAAAAAARRRRRRRRD SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]] Really don't know where else to do it.

Oh what are the chances? Anyone "possibly" here, vandalize all you want!

Oh what are the chances? Vandalize all you want!

Wow someone actually bothered looking at my page? Flattered.