History Tropers / PsychoFreaX

It was beginning to get dark as Prisha, Corey, Mitsu and Scali hid at the area of the forest where they can see where Akira said the hideout is. They were also invisible of course waiting as Devin and Katrina should be passing soon.

“Say,” Corey wondered. “Would you say our phones would work in the hideout thing?”

“I’m not sure, their electronic jamming might not reach down there,” Prisha whispered. “However, if that’s the case, I still don’t suggest relying on them.”

“Now remember,” Prisha instructed while keeping his vigilance. “Our window of opportunity to enter arises when Devin and Katrina opens the hatch. Skali of course stays here to be able to inform the others. Keep in mind it won’t be practical to use a rope there so stay close.”

“Then once we’re in, where do we find the place they’re building the giant robot?” Corey asked quietly.

“Why would we even think they’re building one?” Prisha replied.

“That’s all those people are captured right?” Corey answered. “The robot’s made out of people.”

“How do you ever come up with all this?” Prisha asked.

“Anticipation,” Mitsu said.

“See? Mitsu agrees with me!” Corey exclaimed but kept it quiet enough.

“Shh, they’re here,” Prisha hushed as the four began watching Devin and Katrina walk through the woods and shifted a branch on a tree that caused the ground to shift and reveal the hatch to the hideout.

It’s time, the team left Scali to follow Devin and Katrina into the hidden facilities. The passage went downstairs for a while until they entered a hall with a huge screen at the end. As they went on they were surprised that through one of the doorways on the side was a living room next to a kitchen. As Devin and Katrina packed away the groceries, Prisha recognized two other adoptees eating while watching television.

He remembered from the reports, the tall man with red hair all spiked up with a strange machinery attached to his left arm where his hand should be was Cicero and the one with medium length black hair and a bunch of fringe covering his left eye is Seza. What they were watching was the news, but it seemed to be a repeat of what was on last night about the phenomenon on the disappearances.

“Focus,” Cicero said to Seza. “If those fools at Brystol know anything about we can’t let our guard down.”

As those of the Occult Society continue following Devin and Katrina down a hallway, they found each room predictably had surveillance cameras. The walls seem to be made of a strong metal. Then up ahead is a suspicious door that Katrina and Devin had now entered leaving their stalkers out. It seems they’ll need to investigate other areas now.

Fortunately most of the pathways are open. There were many doors that ignited a dangerous curiosity on the team that they must resist. After some exploration, a less mundane room they found seemed to have unusual devices and vials on the shelves like a science lab. To complete the set, two more figures can be seen up ahead with lab coats, also in the list of adoptees by Huang Cherin.

One was a man with short blonde hair and a bit of a scar on his left cheek, Robert, who seemed to be analysing the vials. The other was a bald man named Basil who seemed to be reading a book.

Prisha also caught a glimpse of some files speaking of amalgamation of different creatures these researchers use as guard dogs for this place, chimeras. The occultist continued to look around the place.

VVVVVVV

Rina, Lucir, Akira, David and Anders are currently back at the Occult Society base with Lucir multi tasking to look over the currently researched information and speaking to Yosuke on the phone, “So you do remember when I told you and Ian to station yourselves outside their surveillance zone to quickly provide Mitsu’s group reinforcement don’t you?”

“Dammit, yes Brains!” Yosuke could be heard loudly from the phone. “I done so half an hour ago, what do you take me for?”

“Now now Yosuke my dear,” Lucir joked. “The reason a stealth mission is called so is due to the necessary stealth.”

“Grrrr!” Yosuke from the other end hung up. As Lucir put the phone down, he found David sulking again.

“Even those rookies are good enough to go on the infiltration mission I’m left out on,” David said negatively.

“I’m afraid you misunderstood my tactic’s intentions David,” Lucir smiled. “The only ones I sent on the mission were Mitsu and those the cameras already picked up on. We need to avoid our adversaries getting the idea of our numbers.”

In the mean time, the Shiomis decided it was best to leave the hideout to keep a lookout from a part of the mountains, in the dark of night, in case anything goes wrong. While they done so, Akira asked Rina, “So have you been doing well? These missions, do you find them too dangerous?”

“Umm... well...” Rina wondered for a moment. “I can’t say they’re not dangerous. But me and my friends, we look out for each other. They could also make anything fun and I wouldn’t trade my time with them for anything.”

“From what I recall...” Akira continued as Rina turned to him thoughtfully. “A major reason in you going off like this so shortly after graduating was to find your mother wasn’t it?”

“I know it may seem nice to think she was only missing in action,” Akira continued solemnly. “But you must think, almost a decade was gone since she disappeared and she never reported to the Occult Society...”

VVVVVVV

While exploring, Mitsu, Corey and Prisha needed to cross the living room again, seeing Cicero and Seza still watching the news. They made their way through a corridor to find another part of the lab. However, there doesn’t look like there was much more they could investigate here outside of dangerous doors.

As Prisha took a look at some of the devices, Corey trailed off to get fascinated by a skeleton model on a side of the room. However, something about it seemed off, something about one of it’s right rib. As Corey, decided to look even closer, he twitched it slightly, triggering a mechanism that caused a whole part of the wall behind the skeleton, along with the ground beside it moved and cycled around like a hidden door.

“Corey?” Prisha turned to see the wall had finished shifting, with an identical wall in it’s place and another skeleton model. He quickly went over to take a closer look, “that idiot! Going around carelessly touching things.”

“Wow, Prisha! You better check this out,” Corey said enthusiastically from the other side. He himself looked around at the dimly lit room the door shifted him to. There were files sorted neatly along the wall and strange vials sitting on top of some benches. “You won’t believe me if I told you, get over and see for yourself!”

That is quite true actually, but even if he was to cross to the other side, he first analyzed the skeleton and whispered to Mitsu, “the rib, I think that’s the switch for the secret door.”

However, the shifting of the door won’t exactly be subtle for the camera. He also struggled with the curiosity of what could be behind the door. Then again the enemy only knows at least one person could be made invisible and there’s a chance those keeping a lookout on the surveillence videos had missed the incident with Corey, a chance they now know of it. The optimal strategy for the former would be to do nothing else and rely on Corey to quietly do the investigation on his own.

If the enemy had seen it though, they would be getting ready to attack and it’s best to quickly grab what they can and escape. But which is it? Prisha looked back at the corridor. If the enemy is preparing to ambush them, would there be a sign? Maybe there was something he can see, smell hear… or a lack there of…

That’s it! There used to be a sound from the television Seza and Cicero were watching for the awareness of the government’s actions. The sound stopped around the time Corey uncovered the door. It wasn’t likely a coincidence, those in the security room probably informed them to get prepared. That was enough to figure out the strategy with the best chances in this scenario.

“Mitsu, we’re going in,” Prisha said as he twitched the rib and entered the secret room with Corey.

VVVVVVV

The figure watching the screens in the security room once again saw the wall behind the skeleton shift. What could this mean? Has the intruder decided he’s seen enough and now turned to leave?

“You called?” Cicero has now entered the room along with the rest of the adoptees besides Gavriel and one other. “Something about the invisible punk with the hat?”

“Yes that idiot decided to intrude here,” Katrina answered and turned back to the screen. “He just entered and exited our hidden room so I guess we ambush him along the exit.”

“No, it is too soon for a conclusion,” The straggly haired figure closes to the screen said and kept an eye on the screen showing the hidden room. Suddenly, some of the files and vials mysteriously shifted. “Just as I thought, more than one of them could be made invisible!”

“Release the chimeras and station them near the door!” He turned and commanded the others and most of them had left.

Devin was one of the few who stayed in the security room and when it was quieter, he decided to have a word with the straggly haired figure, “Avari, I want to talk about what Basil said before and I must admit, I can’t help but agree.”

“And your attempt to state your reason?” The straggly haired figure whose name is revealed to be Avari asked. As the light from the screen shone on his hair, it can be seen that it was dark purple in colour.

“Well, I understand how much master had done for us and I also wish to do all in my power to repay him,” Devin said stuttering. “But only what I have that right to. I mean, master taught us more than just his work.”

“There is a time and place to speak of this!” Avari turned back to the screens. “We now have intruders to deal with.”

VVVVVVV

“Okay, I can see these are reports of the research those scientists have conducted here,” Prisha looked around at the files and the vials. “But we can’t stay here for long! Pack away some of the files and get out of this hideout!”

The group now exited back outside the hidden room, but this time there was a sound. Some creatures are approaching. They look like lions with really strong scales, large wings and a long scorpion tail. Prisha then remembered one of the files from the other rooms. These are the chimeras.

As more than a dozen surrounded them, the group saw at the doorway to the right was the man Seza from before. He smirked, “We might not be able to see them but they’re stiff from fear in front of the door.”

“You two up front!” Seza commanded the chimeras. As Corey tied a string on the rib of the skeleton the other two knew what the plan was. Seza then gestured to give the order to the chimeras, “Attack them!”

Prisha, Corey and Mitsu quickly moved out of the way for the two chimeras to reach the platform and as Corey pulled the string the wall shifted to send the chimeras to the other room. This of course angered Seza, “They can’t use that trick again, the rest of you attack!”

Fighting through the other chimeras wasn’t easy even with their invisibility. These aren’t like the mooks you normally see on television who can’t aim. In fact, Mitsu was the only one who is capable of incapacity any in a single hit, their scales were even stronger than steel. However, Seza still isn’t satisfied and called on a communicator, “we need some reinforcements!”

The chimeras were soon able to land a cut on both Prisha and Corey as they and Mitsu are cornered at a wall and their invisibility had worn off. So Corey decided it’s time to power up and blast his PSI from his hand to when it’s at the centre about five chimeras before he detonated it, “Grenade Blast!”

The attack was enough to grievously injure the chimeras, but they still stood. The team had to finish most off by hand, but there was one that wasn’t yet injured by the Grenade Blast. So as Corey fought it, he needed to use a more concentrated attack, thus he focused his energy to a pin point at his finger tip to project it like a blade and run it through the chimera, “Force Cut!”

The group had enough trouble with those chimeras and now seeing Seza bringing in even more, they decided the best course of action is to, “run.”

So they made a break for it to the corridor opposite to the hidden room and all were about to rush through the doorway to the right before Prisha stopped due to noticing Cicero waiting on the other side and a strange device attached on the ceiling of the doorway, “Wait!”

But it’s too late, the device on Cicero’s left arm turned out to be a gun arm as he shot a powerful blast at the device on the ceiling that turned out to be an explosive. Corey and Mitsu luckily made it past before the rubbles dropped but they are now separated from Prisha.

VVVVVVV

After having heard the loud noises, Scali raced to the part of the forest Yosuke and Ian are stationed. As Yosuke noticed, he got down to ask the reptile, “Hey so is it time we come in as well?”

“Errrpp!” Scali squawked.

“Right,” Yosuke wasn’t sure what Scali was saying. “I do think Akira said you were to get to us when you heard the signal though. So you know...”

VVVVVVV

While being chased by a whole heap of chimeras, Prisha needed to get past a doorway before turning around and projecting a Frozen Wind to freeze the many at the front and block the others. It was a gamble, now he’ll have to continue down the corridor and hope they don’t get through too soon.

The scientists at the security room watched as Avari had spoke, “quite an interesting power that child has.”

“However, seeing his path and where he’ll end up,” Avari continued before turning around to face the other scientists. “Would you say it’s the perfect opportunity to test a certain subject?”

“What do you mean?” Another scientist there asked. He had black curly hair and is named Brody.

“Devin! Your scientific understanding may match ours but you are the only one of us who has not chosen a means of defence, am I right” Avari said and seeing Devin nod, he continued. “Well then, perhaps there is another way you can be useful in this battle.”

“I’ll leave it up to you to open lab room forty four,” Avari pulled out a key and handed it to Devin. There was also another reason; Devin’s potential rebellion and Avari can deal with that now. “And inform our colleagues of that on your way down.”

What was in lab room forty four again? Devin tried to remember. He thought of asking, but he had argued enough as it. So he made his way out after saying, “Yes sir.”

“Sir, did I hear right?” Brody’s voice trembled. “You’re planning on releasing it?”

“We tested all we can with it on our own,” Avari replied. “Now all that’s left is to test its power and wouldn’t you say these intruders would be the perfect candidate for the job?”

“But it! It’s too dangerous! Already more powerful than most of us in fact,” Brody continued. “And potentially indestructible! It can proceed to killing us all!”

“You fool!” Avari turned back to screens. “Don’t you think I would have a countermeasure?”

VVVVVVV

Devin had finally reached the hall before the intruder could and fiddled with a lantern on the room to open another secret door. Within is a dark passage with a really strong locked door labelled lab room forty four. His anxiety had heightened considerably as he unlocked it, behind it was another defensive door and another and there would have been more if they weren’t already destroyed. Now Devin fearfully looked in.

From the dark depths, a horrific noise can be heard, too ferocious to be from any creature let alone a human. The next thing Devin knew, he needed to quickly move out of the way and avoid impact of a skeleton. A chimera’s skeleton to be exact. In fact, there were more of them rotting around the room.

“For TOO long I only had chimeras to FEED OFF!” The ferocious voice roared as the creature stepped forward to reveal itself. Devin took a moment to realize it was Balgo, it took longer to realize it was human. But rather than delving any deeper, Devin gave into fear and tried to run.

“AAAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!” After crying out in overwhelming pain, Devin realized that the bones in his left arm were shattered by only the grip of Balgo’s monstrous hand. Not only that, the rest of his arm swelled intensely and even spouted blood from the high concentration.

“I must thank THAT FOOL AVARI for blessing me with SUCH POWER!” Balgo’s distorted voice roared before he grabbed Devin’s skull and completely shattered it with his mere grip. “But it WILL be his UNDOING!”

VVVVVVV

All within the lab had heard the piercing cry of Devin, but no one was impacted by it as much as Prisha who heard it from only behind the wall right before him. He stood petrified of what it can possibly be. He doesn’t yet have enough understanding of this entity so would retreating help?

Prisha turned to the doorway to exit this hall but found there was someone else across there. It was another one of the adoptees with medium length straight blonde hair, Phelen.

“Thinking of leaving?” Phelen sneered before pushing a button on a remote that triggered an explosion causing rubbles to drop and block the doorway. “At least not before the game.”

Prisha turned to another exit, but saw Cicero shot an explosive on top of it to barricade it as well. He could shift the rubble, but it will take time. However, he believes he can’t be distracted by that as the wall the scream came from, breaks down from the hidden door, releasing a foul and deadly stench.

What stepped out was a creature standing at over nine feet tall with muscles that are not only huge but in a really grotesque way. With the feral claws and skin that’s more like a hard layer of gray, you wouldn’t have any idea the thing was human if not for the tattered shirt and pants.

Prisha barely recognized that this creature appeared to be an extremely distorted one of the adoptees, Balgo, with his black crew hair cut. Even his face seemed mutated with his bulging jaw having its ends sticking out like tusks or horns. His brow and cheekbones aren’t much better either. Balgo let out a monstrous growl, “So YOU must be MY PREY!”

“Nice way to save money on guard dog food,” Prisha tried his best to stay calm as he always his. But his voice just trembled on its own.

“GUARD DOG? HA!” Balgo laughed. “YOU TAKE ME FOR A GUARD DOG UNDER THOSE FOOLS? They have caged me for FAR TOO LONG!”

“So I’m not the one you’re after,” Prisha stuttered anxiously.

“HA! NICE TRY! Knowing AVARI he wouldn’t release me UNLESS YOU POSE A CHALLENGE!” Balgo growled and then charged up to attack. “PERFECT for TESTING MY POWER!”

“Avari and his FRIENDS WILL BE NEXT! Then just THINK what I could do with SUCH POWER!” Balgo kept trying to hit Prisha. Being at not even five foot, for Prisha, this was like fighting a giant.

At least Balgo wasn’t too smart. His attacks were predictable enough to dodged and now Prisha only needed to create an opening then, “Frozen Sword!”

Prisha then drove the sword right at Balgo’s neck. But the greatly reinforced ice sword was like cardboard to the beast’s incredibly strong neck as it attempts to sink in. Seeing as the sword was about to break, Prisha went for one last attempt to cut the absurdly armoured neck by sliding the sword before a shattering noise.

As he jumped back to make distance, he was then shocked to realize that all that effort resulted in barely as much of a paper cut on Balgo’s neck. Balgo then turned around to gloat, “KEHAHAHA! I am impressed with you, KID! I never imagined EVER being CUT AGAIN!”

“However...” The insignificant injury on Balgo then quickly healed completely, which only sinks the terror even deeper. But there’s something else different, the gray on what he has in place of a skin had become even more prominent. “I’m afraid THAT will TRULY BE the last TIME!”

Balgo then picked up the broken piece of the ice sword and directed the sharpest tip straight at his neck, not even at the same area as before but precisely at the neck’s weakest point. He then went for a much more dangerous stab. In an instant, much easier than before, the ice sword shattered. “YOU SEE! After a little experiment I acquired the ability to ADAPT from a single experience AS THOUGH it was a THOUSAND YEARS OF EVOLUTION! And to TOP IT OFF I CAN ALWAYS REGENERATE COMPLETELY!”

Prisha thought desperately. It’s safe to say Balgo’s adaptation is quite diverse. There’s also definitely a change to the rest of his body so it’s not likely he can be cut again. However, as a result, Balgo seems quite confident that the Frozen Sword can’t hurt him again. So in any case, the sword is still Prisha’s best weapon and he channelled his energy to summoning it again.

“Wanna try that SWORD AGAIN?” Balgo charged up again to constantly throw attacks at Prisha. “GO AHEAD!”

After dodging a few times, Prisha jumped with all his strength into the air over Balgo and raised the ice sword above himself, ready to strike. Balgo only laughed and spread his arms as if welcoming the attack, “BY MY GUEST!”

But at the last second, Prisha caught Balgo off guard by flipping the sword to a flat side and smashed it straight into his forehead, shattering the sword from the strength of the impact. Prisha landed in front of Balgo and breathed, “There’s more than one method of injuring someone with a sword...”

“... heh,” the attack barely did a thing to Balgo as he sneered down at Prisha before grabbing him by collar scarf to lift him as Prisha struggled to break free.

Meanwhile, Avari watched the fight through the camera from back at the security room, “the experimental subject Balgo. After inducing his power we tested the most damaging of basic injuries on him. Blades and impacts were doomed fail from the beginning.”

“However,” Avari contemplated deeper into the duel. “In this child’s case, there is one more weapon at his disposal that may offer him a slight final chance. But the test of Balgo’s adaptation also involved super evolved strength, which will most definitely have a say in it.”

“This is the last test that will decide the final result,” Avari continued watching with interest as Balgo had landed a blow on Prisha. He’s clearly playing around now.

Once Prisha could think straight again, he decided there’s no use in relying on physical strength to break loose. He needed to take advantage of the next time Balgo attacks but that would mean needing to stay coordinated after the devastating blow. As the fist flew at his face again, Prisha shifted his head enough to reduce the damage and maintain concentration to grab the wrist of Balgo’s fist with his right hand.

Prisha then used his left hand to grab Balgo’s right that’s holding his scarf. He then channelled his power to freeze both arms, “Frozen Touch.

Balgo’s wrists are now being wrapped in ice which is now travelling up his arm. He needed to act quickly and outstretched his left arm with all his strength and to its full extent, breaking free of the ice. He then swinged it to break off his right arm before the ice could reach his shoulder, “RAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!”

Prisha dropped to the ground before Balgo kicked him away. Now removing the frozen arm from his scarf, Prisha turned to look at Balgo again as he generated. His transformation had gone even further and now protected by a layer of really thick two inch brown fur.

“KEHEH! Thank you kid! I THINK that was your last hope of beating me,” Balgo charged up to attack again. “And it ONLY made me STRONGER!”

This time dodging wasn’t as easy, Balgo’s adaptation even seems to be developing his speed, soon he was even able to whack Prisha away and crash into a wall. “How does it FEEL KID? When ALL your powers become WORTHLESS and face FUTILITY!”

Prisha struggled to get up, coughing blood. None of his attacks worked even before Balgo adapted to them. What other possible weakness can this beast have? There must be a way...

“Experimental Project Darls,” Avari spoke in monologue as he watched Prisha’s struggle. “The aim, to test of manufacturing of a reactive adaptation ability.”

“The hypothesis... no the inevitable conclusion,” Avari struck a malicious smile. “The intruder will be utterly slaughtered!”

“Devin! You’re scientific understanding may match our but you are the only one of us who has not chosen a means of defence, am I right” Avari said and seeing Devin nod, he continued. “Well then, perhaps there is another way you can be useful in this battle.”

Balgo then picked up the broken piece of the ice sword and directed the sharpest tip straight at his neck, not even at the same area as before but precisely at the neck’s weakest point. He then went for a much more dangerous stab. In an instant, much easier than before, the ice sword shattered. “YOU SEE! After a little experiment I acquired the ability to ADAPT from a single experience AS THOUGH it was a THOUSAND YEARS OF EVOLUTION! And to TOP IT OFF I CAN ALWAYS REGENERATE COMPLETELY!”

But at the last second, Prisha flipped the sword to a flat side and smashed it straight into Balgo’s forehead, shattering the sword from the strength of the impact. Prisha landed in front of Balgo and breathed, “There’s more than one method of injuring someone with a sword...”

“However,” Avari contemplated deeper into the duel. “In this child’s case, there is one more weapon at his disposal that may offer him a final chance. But the test of Balgo’s adaptation also involved super evolved strength, which may also have a say in it.”

It was beginning to get dark as Prisha, Corey, Mitsu and Skali hid at the area of the forest where they can see where Akira said the hideout is. They were also invisible of course waiting as Devin and Katrina should be passing soon.

He remembered from the reports, the tall man with red hair all spiked up with a mechanical looking left arm was Cicero and the one with medium length black hair and a bunch of fringe covering his left eye is Seza. What they were watching was the news, but it seemed to be a repeat of what was on last night about the phenomenon on the disappearances.

Devin was one of the few who stayed in the security room and when it was quieter, he decided to have a word with the straggly haired figure, “Sir, I want to talk about what Basil said before and I must admit, I can’t help but agree.”

“And your attempt to state your reason?” The straggly haired figure asked. As the light from the screen shone on his hair, it can be seen that it was dark purple in colour.

“There is a time and place to speak of this!” The figure turned back to the screens. “We now have intruders to deal with.”

One was a man with short blonde hair and a bit of a scar on his left cheek, Robert, who seemed to be analysing the vials. The other was a bald man named Basil who seemed to be reading a book. The occultist continued to look around the place.

“You called?” Cicero has now entered the room along with the rest of the adoptees besides Gavriel and one other.

However, the shifting of the door won’t exactly be subtle for the camera. He also struggled with the curiosity of what could be behind the door. Then again, there’s a chance those keeping a lookout on the surveillence videos had missed the incident with Corey, a chance they now know of it. The optimal strategy for the former would be to do nothing else and rely on Corey to quietly do the investigation on his own.

He remembered from the reports, the tall man with blonde hair all spiked like a soldier with a mechanical looking left arm was Cicero and the one with medium length black hair and a bunch of fringe covering his left eye is Seza. What they were watching was the news, but it seemed to be a repeat of what was on last night about the phenomenon on the disappearances.

One was a man with short red hair and a bit of a scar on his left cheek, Robert, who seemed to be analysing the vials. The other was a bald man named Basil who seemed to be reading a book. The occultist continued to look around the place.

Late at night within a valley, the Brystol Forest was dark and sinister, with malicious entities lurking in the shadowy corners. However, a speck of light can be seen much deeper within, where it turns out to be coming from a campfire of a strange couple sitting on opposite sides. One was a tall teenage boy rather generic looking with blonde hair sticking up. The other was a teenage girl with short straight black hair mostly pulled to one side over an ear and doe like eyes.

"So Alice you said you enjoy a romantic night camping in the woods right?" The boy smiled speaking from memory of what the girl named Alice had told her before. "So how are you enjoying yourself?"

"...," Alice thought of what to say. How much longer must she keep up this facade? A part of her is still telling herself to back out but she's not really meaning any harm is she? This boy is just needed to help a friend and he may even get off fine afterward. So Alice decided to look up saying, "Sorry Greg, just let me watch the stars for a moment..."

"Wow, so you're into that," Greg replied. "You know, with these rumours of this forest being dangerous, it's pretty stupid right? The others who disappeared probably just poked a bear they shouldn't have. I mean, we're doing fine here right?"

Alice only continued to contemplate on the sky. What is taking them so long? The voice telling her to back out is growing stronger than ever. Even for a friend is it still wrong? How many people have been sacrificed without results? Her thoughts were interrupted when she turned to hear a sound in the bushes. "What's that?"

"Don't worry baby," Greg got up to walk over confidently to the noise to check. "I'll show you it's nothing to get..."

Alice looked shocked seeing her date had mysteriously fell limply and she no longer stayed quiet, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

At a different time but not so far in space, Team Freakshow resided in Brystol town or rather the hotel to be precise. In the morning. The smell of pancakes had lured Rina from her dream as she slowly woke up and look around the apartment.

She could see that Ian was still asleep, Corey is elsewhere and Prisha was the one making breakfast. Trying to get started for the day, Rina got up and rubbed her eyes, "Hey, so it looks like Corey got up and early to go out on his own again?"

"All bets are off on the number of problems we'll have to fix when we have the energy," Prisha sighed as he placed the plates with the pancakes of the table.

It's been a while since the mission with the aliens and Rina and her friends had been wondering the Lorieth region. After tidying herself in the bathroom, she went out to take a seat and tried the pancake. But could only comment, "too cold..."

Prisha frowned a bit more before the door opened to reveal Coery returning, "Hey morning everyone!"

"Corey!" Rina exclaimed. "I'm surprised you didn't start a riot on your time out."

"Oh yah, that's because I was busy at the hideout for a while," Corey held up a document that seemed to be a mission paper.

"Uh..." Rina stopped to read the title. "Investigate the disappearances in the Valley of Dying Screams..."

"YOU DID NOT JUST ACCEPT IT!" Rina bursted out in shock.

Later in the morning, all four of them are now at the Brystol agency speaking to a lady named Emilia who had straight black hair, mostly knotted. Corey looked enthusiastic while Rina, Ian and Prisha had flat expressions.

"So... you want us to find out what happened to the people who disappeared in the forest in Brystol Valley..." Rina said monotonously. There should be a system for them to quit a mission they chose by mistake. But how many teams have a member like Corey?

"Yes, Brystol Valley, now known as the Valley of Dying Screams earned its reputation after certain people were reported missing passing the valley to cross to other towns," Emilia explained. "Even when they are accompanied by another and brought a communication device with them the signal is lost during the exploration."

"And they are never heard from again?" Ian assumed aloud.

"No, if you are close enough to the forest and listen very carefully, you can sometimes hear a scream some time after the signal is lost, hence the name," Emilia continued. "Even soldiers sent into the valley suffer the same fate."

"But you don't just have to investigate on foot do you?" Rina asked.

"No, but when we had someone fly a helicopter over, it seems to somehow get damaged and crashed after the signal was lost followed by the scream of those we sent in," Emilia said causing the expression of the teens to be even more lifeless. "Even when we had people dig a tunnel under the forest-"

"They returned and climbed out of the hole as lizard people!" Corey smiled widely.

Then after everyone finished face faulting, Ian got up and yelled, "At least let people finish their non random explanation!"

"..., right yes," Emilia went back to explaining after everyone has calmed down. "As I said even with people digging a tunnel under the forest, the last we heard of them was a scream."

Seeing as that was all Emilia had to say, Rina turned to her team to ask, "Any idea how to start investigating? Possible causes for the disappearances?"

"There is a really high probability it was humanly induced," Prisha said coldly. "Being calculated enough to cover air, ground and under."

"True, but who would be the suspects?" Rina sighed and scolded Corey. Maybe it's better if people just avoided the valley altogether and find another way to where they need to go. "You see, accepting a mission shouldn't always be the first step. There are background checks you could do and some missions are more reserved for people with the necessary abilities."

"Do you still have the mission paper with you?" Emilia asked causing the teens to turn back to her. "Maybe an adjustment would do better for us both."

Rina handed over the document as Emilia written something on it. Once it was handed back for the others to look at, they could see what has been changed and Rina pointed it out excitedly, "Ian! What does the mission paper say about the reward fee?"

"What?.. You mean nine thousand and one?.." Ian read out the fee and raised an eyebrow before Rina hit him over the head. "Ow!"

"That's not how it's supposed to go!" Rina yelled at him.

"The town will reward you better if you could solve the whole issue," Emilia said. She just can't seem to make up her mind. "But I will pay you if you can just save my daughter!"

"Your daughter?" The four occultists asked simultaneously.

"The truth of the matter is that people have gone missing in the valley for months," Emilia explained but the subject was rather touchy. "But about a month ago Alice secretly went out into the forest with a boy and gone missing. My daughter, who is also the daughter of the head governor, who indeed is my husband."

"Our daughter's disappearance had motivated him to use more resources to find the source of the problem, until now that is. Too much money had been invested so it was best to make the area off limits. So as you can see, I turned here for help."

"The last resort agency," Corey smiled and sweat dropped. "I feel so special."

"Please, just do anything you can to bring Alice back to me!" Emilia said emotively. "If it's the fee we can still bargain."

"No the fee is ridiculous high enough as it is," Rina replied then smiled both with both a hint of confidence and sincerity. "Just leave it to us."

VVVVVVV

A few hours later, the occult kids found themselves on the outskirts of Brystol with the forest ahead of them. Corey jumped around like crazy, "Yay! You guys ready to explore the forest of mystery?"

"I'll just like to make double certain," Prisha said a little further from the forest. "We had done all the background research we can haven't we?"

"I'm afraid so, the only practical course of action left is to enter the forest," Rina sighed. "I mean, I looked up some important people dying a few months back. But it likely a coincidence and I couldn't find any links between them and the problem."

"I did also look up on the people who disappeared and found this," Rina took out a photo for the others to look at seeing a teenage girl with short straight black hair and doe eyes. "That's the governor's daughter, Alice."

Ian whistled enjoying the view saying, "You know, I'm carrying little enough for another photo- OW!"

Rina just punched him away. Ready to enter the forest, Corey asked enthusiastically, "So what do you think is in the valley anyway?"

"Death traps if not people set to ambush us?" Prisha answered bluntly. Also, he wondered what the culprit's motives were. For keeping people away from an area they sure are drawing a lot of attention to it.

"Possible death traps could involve, pit holes, spikes or poison gas," Rina thought about it aloud. "At least land mines would be impossible since people would have heard the explosion."

"You three could there scared all you want," Ian started walking into the forest. "We waited long enough."

Rina and Corey were about to follow, But Prisha had laid out his arm to stop them. Seeing how confused his friends are, Prisha reluctantly explained, "It's a strategic formation to minimize the casualty of death traps by having a safe distance between each of us."

"Wider spread death traps take more resources after all, making them less probably," Prisha made sure Ian was at least twenty feet ahead before entering himself along with Rina and Corey. "If Ian was to foolishly step on something, I would see it to inform you two and the worst case scenario is if the trap swallows both me and Ian and the two of you will survive and be warned."

"Wait, you're going after Ian?" Rina asked. She was sure that would be the second most dangerous position.

"Yes, we don't have much time to decide the order so let's stick with it," Prisha said quickly while staying vigilant. Ian most suited for the front with his durability, being the most likely to survive a trap. So if that's dealt with then what they need to be most on the alert with is an ambush. "After I finish talking, I want you two to wait until I'm twenty feet ahead."

"There you two can decide who falls last on the order," Prisha finished and kept walking ahead of Corey and Rina. He also remembered to take out his phone, seeing when it may lose transmission.

"Okay just be careful," Rina whispered and waited for Prisha to be far enough ahead. She then turned to Corey saying, "Right now we have to decide who goes next."

"Already did!" Corey's voice called out behind Rina who turned to see him waving at her twenty feet back.

"Wha?"

VVVVVVV

It wasn't easy having to do so much at once while walking in the forest. Keeping an eye on Ian, often looking at his phone and staying alert for anyone who can ambush him. At least it wasn't as difficult as scrutinizing the aliens in his last mission, so he's more used to it. However, he wondered how the other two behind him were putting up with it.

He hadn't checked his phone for a while, so he tried doing so and found it stopped working. It may be due to an electrical jamming device somewhere around but this is the time to be extra vigilant. Ian hasn't stepped on any traps yet but there still may be someone out to ambush them.

Hearing an unusual sound in the forest beside him, Prisha managed to jump in time to dodge what looked like a dart. He managed to take a closer look to see more precisely that it's a tranquilizer dart. In order to warn the others, he cursed, "Damn it! Tranquilizer darts!"

"Prisha!" Rina ran to his side to look around for where the attack came from. Corey had also reached the area.

"Force Wall!" Call had conjured the barrier just in time to fend off more incoming darts. It's at least more clear now where they're coming from. The group looked to see how Ian is doing and he looked confused.

"Hey what are you all doing?" He called out and just barely evaded a dart from his side.

"Ian come one!" Rina called out. "Corey's barrier could shield us!"

But Corey didn't think he needed to anymore. He figured out the precise location the darts had come from. So he brought down the barrier to charge at that direction saying, "Leave it to me!"

"Corey!" Rina called shocked at the loss of the refuge from the tranquilizers. "You know some of us still need a defence!"

But it didn't seem to matter much. The tranquilizer sniper seems to be aiming entirely on Corey now, who need to evade them by moving side to side as randomly as he could. But even that trick won't be of assurance once he got to a dangerous range. So he fired a Force Blast, not at the sniper, but at a small hill between him and Corey to create a smoke screen.

The sniper was caught off guard by this. Now all he can do is keep his eyes on the cloud of smoke and where that brat can escape from, such as the sides. Soon, the boy emerged and it turned out he picked up a tranquilizer dart and threw it at the sniper.

Trying to evade it, the dart hit the sniper on the arm. Then before he could lose his coordination, he aimed the tranquilizer at the red headed boy to shoot him on the arm.

Corey decided he'll need to throw the remaining two tranquilizers he picked up as well at the sniper and eventually knocked him out. The dart was already taking effect on Corey, even with his training to fight off this kind of intoxication. But as drowsy as he may be getting, he needed to look around.

The sniper, now passed out, seemed to be a man in his twenties, with blonde hair, mostly flat, but spiked on the sides. Corey then heard Rina's voice call out behind him, "Corey! Wait up!"

Rina and Prisha managed to make it through the smoke to see how Corey is doing but at the cost of breathing a little hard from rushing.

"Give me a time to breath will you?" Ian also made it through. But a little far as he leaped past Corey. He then bumped into what seemed like an invisible wall and fell back. "Ow!"

"Hey! Watch where you're jumping!" It seemed like air had just adopted a playful boyish voice. But the four teens knew they heard it before and looked around at the area it's coming from.

"Yosuke you simpleton," Another voice spoke, this one sounded rather calm with a care free kind of tone. "Say if Ian was watching where he was going, would he be able to see you?"

"Yosuke... and Lucir!" Rina recognized the voices, who are in fact very high authority in the Occult Society known as Sages. But still she looked around wondering, "But where are they coming from?"

"Looks like there's no longer any point in hiding huh," Yosuke's voice laughed.

"Indeed, you at least," Lucir replied. "Mitsu! Remove your powers from Yosuke!"

Then came into view a man who was supposedly in his early thirties but looked a lot younger. One can actually mistake him for an older teenage punk with bright playful eyes. He stood about five foot seven wearing a cap that keeps most of his messy black hair down and most of his gear seemed to be sports brands such as his jacket and tracksuit.

"Yosuke!" Rina exclaimed. "So Lucir and Mitsu must still be invisible right?"

"Yes, but I think you'd rather act like I'm the only one here for now," Yosuke smiled while Corey was losing strength to stay up, from his victory over the sniper. Yosuke noticed this asked him, "Hey, you alright there buddy?"

"Not...sure...," Corey managed before he fell to his knees.

"Corey you did well, just have your rest okay?" Yosuke knelt down to tell him. With all his energy, Corey looked up at him. Yosuke was actually his most prominent mentor back at the academy, naturally as they have similar powers and Yosuke being quite childish sometimes. But Corey could think no more as he blacked out and Yosuke caught him. "Let the rest of us handle it from here ."

"Now someone carry the sniper over there and all follow me as quiet as you can," Yosuke lifted Corey to carry him on his back. "I'll explain later, but maybe we can all get something out of this."

It was decided that Ian would do carry the unconscious sniper and they all followed Yosuke.

VVVVVVV

Elsewhere in a more mysterious depth of the valley within a security room, shadowy entities in lab coats watched the surveillance screens of the occultists and their exit from the scene.

"Interesting, those fools sent another team to investigate the valley," The figure in front had spoken up. "However, these seem to be much more competent in more ways than one."

"I heard of them," Another spoke up. "Someone at Brystol must have hired the Occult Agency."

"Yes, a team of supernatural specialists," The one who seems to be the leader spoke again. "Let's see which of us will rise in a test of power..."

VVVVVVV

"Wait they had hidden cameras there?" Rina asked as she and her friends walked through the forest.

"Yeah, if you looked carefully enough, but they are wired due to the electronic jamming," Yosuke explained. "It's not likely they also had microphones, the fact that our talking didn't lure them out also supports it. But it was best to stay safe."

"Lucir and Mitsu are currently invisible behind us on the lookout for stalkers," Yosuke then noticed Rina is now looking around the corners of the woods for hidden cameras. He just smiled, "Calm down, we're out of their surveillance range, the reason I'm finally telling you all this."

"Speaking of which, I think it's also time we can search sniper boy over there," Yosuke turned and referred to the man on Ian's back as they started getting to work.

"I'm impressed you knew we were in the clear," Spoke the calm voice from before as he phased into vision. He stood about five foot ten and wore long black robes and had long bright blue flowing hair pulled back behind him. It was Lucir, even though him and Yosuke are about the same age, he only looked a little older and having contrasting calm pensive eyes.

Another more quiet man also came into vision. He's about the same height as Yosuke but more slender looking. His garments seem to be what you would see from china on earth, with the purple vest longer at the front and back with white long sleeves and pants. He had long blonde flowing wavy hair, half pulled back and the other covering half his face over his mysterious eyes bearing a murky ocean of purple.

"Mitsu!" Rinu exclaimed seeing the third member of Team Enigma then turned back to the one with long blue hair. The one who may very well be the current leader of the organization. "And Lucir, Head Sage of the Occult Society!"

"The truth of the matter is that people have gone missing in the valley for months," Emilia explained but the subject was rather touchy. "But about a month ago Alice secretly went out into the forest with a boy and gone missing. My daughter, who is also the daughter of the head governor, who indeed is my husband."

"No, but when we had someone fly a helicopter over, it seems to somehow get damaged and crashed after the signal was lost followed by the scream of those we sent in," Emilia said causing the expression of the teens to be even more lifeless. "Even when we had people dig a tunnel under then forest-"

"The truth of the matter is that people have gone missing in the valley for months," Emilia explained but the subject was rather touchy. "But about a month ago Alice secretly went out into the forest with a boy and gone missing. My daughter, who is also the daughter of the head governor, who indeed is my husband."

"Death traps if not people set to ambush us?" Prisha answered bluntly.

The four kids of Team Freakshow now sat on the seats of the large presentation hall watching Serri up front. It's now time for her to show the alien translating device, "Okay so it took all of yesterday going through Prisha's notes and everything, But I finally finished with the alien translators."

She then smiled and pulled an object out of a box next to her, "Tadaa!"

"Aww that's so CUTE!" Rina exclaimed with sparkly eyes seeing the teddy bear mask in Serri's hand. Corey just looked curious while Prisha and Ian had a flat expression.

"Now all we have to do is head to the containment room and test it out," Serri beamed and gestured Prisha to come forward. "Well it's all thanks to a certain blue haired genius, so would he be the first to volunteer and try it out?"

"In what alternate universe?" Prisha said flatly.

"Fine!" Serri pouted and reached back into the box again. "If you don't like this model, I have made other versions of this device."

"And this one is... the Prisha chibi face edition!" Serri pulled out another mask to show everyone, which as the name suggests looks like Prisha's round oversized head, complete with his annoyed frown. The real Prisha as expected is getting even more annoyed at this.

"Cool! I Let me give it a try!" Corey got up enthusiastically to walk down the hall to Serri. He even took a look inside the box to see what other models there were but decided to stick with the chibi Prisha. Corey decided to get into an arms folded position first. "I gotta try this out."

"Isn't it obvious?" Corey said while rolling his eyes and flicked his head to the side. However, he found that after his voice passed a microphone, the sound was mixed into what seemed like another language. Prisha was the only one who understood it and continued being annoyed.

Corey took off the mask to take a look and saw the microphone and ear piece within the mask with what looks like switches. Serri approached and said, "Oh yeah, I forgot there's a switch to turn the translator on and off. There should be one for the ear piece as well."

After figuring how to switch it, Corey tried the impersonation again, "Isn't it obvious?"

Despite this actually being a retry, everyone other Prisha couldn't help laughing. However, they mucked around enough and it's time to head to the containment room. Once they were in front of the door, Prisha shot a glance at Serri, "Even without the device, you do know I have a general idea of the alien's language don't you?"

Once they opened the door, Corey with the mask slowly approached then lent out a hand to the needle alien, "Hey, nice fight the other day."

"What is this trickery?" The alien spoke as it's voice is converted to English in Corey's ear piece. It then opened its mouth to spray needles again. But Corey managed to defend it with a Force Wall.

"Wait wait!" Rina got up and snatched the mask from Corey and wore it herself to speak to the alien. "Listen, maybe if we talk we can reach an agreement."

"Just hear me out..."

Team Supreme save for Fidi, Eden and Fuuma, are now on their way to the Graman fields to where the asteroids crashed but not before bumping into another horde of aliens. It was mainly Clara who took out the small fries by pressing her palm on the ground channeling her PSI into it and cause earth spikes to erupt and strike the aliens, "Rise of Gaia!"

"Clara seems to be doing well on her own," Isaac commented. "But how about Rachel?"

Rachel is in battle with an elite class only slightly less bulky than the one Prisha fought almost a week ago. Rather than a right hand, it seems to have a giant shield able to cover its entire form. Rachel tried to challenge it by serving a flame shot but as it crashed into the shield, the alien wouldn't budge. The shield had even fended the ball back to Rachel's direction.

The other hand of the alien seemed to have a hole in its palm. Rachel found out it was a cannon hole she had to dodge while the alien aimed and fired at her. At the next available opportunity, Rachel went for another attack, "Flame Shot!"

The fiery ball had rocketed off Rachel's racket but after it bounced off the alien's shield, Rachel hit it again. The alien still held up the shield to try defending again but was blasted from the side by a burning tennis ball. "Flame Serpent!"

While the alien fell, Isaac explained like a commentator, "a rather interesting weapon the Relic Racket is. In addition to its elemental abilities, the fact that it's a racket makes it very capable different techniques you see in tennis, such as adding sidespin to bypass an enemy's defence."

"So shall we get going?" Mark cheered, flexing his muscles. "THE MARKSTER WANTS MORE ACTION!"

"Jam!" Jam and the others agreed and they soon reached the Graman fields and can see the alien's base up ahead.

"And this one is... Prisha chibi face!" Serri pulled out another mask to show everyone, which as the name suggests looks like Prisha's round oversized head, complete with his annoyed frown. The real Prisha as expected is getting even more annoyed at this.

"Cool! I Let me give it a try!" Corey got up enthusiastically to walk down the hall to Serri. He even took a look inside the box to see what other models there were but decided to stick with the chibi Prisha. Corey decided to get into an arms folded position first. "Wait I want to try something first."

The next day started out rather systematic and repetitive as Rina returned to the lab, saving yet another town from an alien attack, not even tough ones either. She went into the security room complaining, "Saving towns, keeping a look out, what's new from yesterday? Even those aliens on the screen seemed to have stopped doing anything."

"Well they were interacting a little before," Serri replied to Rina. "Though it seems they got tired all over again."

"I only need a bit more information before I could figure out enough to understand what they say," Prisha was writing on his notes without losing the scrutiny of his surroundings. "We may need to bring in another comrade for those aliens but not just any. We would need to catch one of the elite classes. We do have a vague understanding of what they're supposed to be."

"Though neither me, Corey or Ian ran into any the past few towns we saved," Rina shrugged, however she spoke too soon, as Corey had burst through the door.

"Hey guys! Something's actually happening outside!" Corey smiled and lead his team out to see that a horde of aliens found and surrounded the lab. In front of most of them seemed to be one with a large round face with arms and legs on its side and the red star on its head.

"Okay... this many," Rina looked around trying to decide on the first move. "And Ian's assigned to protect the civilian shelter, so he's not with us."

"I'll take this guy," Corey got ready to fight the alien with the red star. "You two handle the small fries."

Once they all got to their assigned task, the elite alien had opened its mouth to release a wide spray of needles. Corey tried to dodge, but it was hopeless. The attack just covered too much range and stabbed each of his limbs. Afterward, he got up as quickly as he can.

"Force Blast!" The attack blasted from Corey's fist and knocked back the alien. This opponent was strong and would've been more trouble, but Corey had gotten much stronger than before from his fight with Jam. After getting back up, the alien itself was also still able to get up and fire another spray of needles. Knowing he can't dodge it, Corey awakened his PSI further for a second stage ability. "Force Wall!"

After the needles were stopped by the barrier, Corey only needed to fire one more force blast to know the alien down. It was still a tiring fight though, Corey breathed out, "phew."

VVVVVVV

While Rina fought through the horde of weaker aliens, another elite one had caught her by surprise and whacked her into a wall. She had to act quickly and get out of this corner before the alien can take advantage of it. So she countered by running through it with her sword.

Looking back now, she can see the alien looked to be quite related to the kind Eden had fought, save for it having three horns on its head. Rina can also see that it has regenerative powers as the wounds made from Rina's sword is fading and the alien looked healthier again.

Regenerative powers huh, Rina thought. She remembered that in order to beat such an opponent is to not give them time to use those powers. Rina wasn't sure she would be able to exhaust all her energy at once, but she had to try. So with the use of one of the higher hills on the mountains, Rina jumped high into the air, "Arrow Summon!"

Rina fired an array of arrows down at the alien from the bow materialized in her hand until she's empty. Afterward, she materialized a blade to cut down on it instead, "Sword Summon!"

"Dagger Summon!" Rina created daggers to attack the alien more rapidly and when it looks like it's about to fall, she stabbed it with her last weapon. "Spear Summon!"

Now that the alien is finished, Rina wiped her forehead saying, "whew... I think I'm getting used to this."

"Yeah maybe you should next learn to remember that we only just discussed needing an elite class alien alive," Prisha appeared frowning. "You just mentioned how hard they are to come by haven't you?"

"Right..." Rina sweat dropped. "Sorry about that."

"Hey I caught a red star alien!" Corey called out to show off the needle alien from before that he managed to get in a cage. "I did!"

"You might as well carve the words on the back of your hand," Prisha continued scolding Rina. "How about the next time you mistakenly kill another alien with a red star?"

"Hey! I got a red star alien right here!" Corey kept trying to get some attention.

"I think Prisha just likes to scold people," Serri sweat dropped.

VVVVVVV

Hours later, after analysing more of the alien's behaviour, Prisha decided to try and figure the rest out from his notes. After finishing dinner Serri entered to ask, "So any good?"

"We have all the information we're going to get from them," Prisha answered and decided to take a little break, taking a pensive look at the puzzle piece he taken out in his hand. "They got quiet but this time it's different. They're not just tired, they obviously figured out we're researching them and decided to shut up even with any stimulus."

He was able to translate enough to get a similar result to what you would find on Geegle translate though, so that's progress. Serri then crept up to take a look at the ornament in Prisha's hand, "You know, I remember Ian having a puzzle piece much like that."

"Come to think of it," Serri continued as Prisha pocketed the piece and turned to her frowning. Serri then said rather teasingly, "the two of you are actually a little similar."

"Don't you ever say that again!" Prisha snapped and turned away furiously. "I don't even want to be compared to that fool!" Wondering what he did wrong to seem like Ian. "He's disgusting! He's reckless! He's self righteous! He's-"

"Stubborn?" Serri had uttered the last word at the same time Prisha did who turned to her looking confused. "Well that's at least one area you're similar in!"

"You and Ian, also have a much more caring side for your friends you try to hide," Serri continued rather sincerely. "Yes, you do have many differences on the surface but I believe you actually share many deeper values."

"It's only too bad your mutual stubbornness only allows you to see each other's faults."

"...," After a moment, Prisha frowned, having enough with the sentimentality. "We're digressing! We talked enough for the night!"

"By tomorrow, I will have finished the translation for the extraterrestrial language and that will be what you'll work on for the day," Though, that means from tomorrow onward, Prisha would need to scrutinize Serri more than ever.

VVVVVVV

On the next with Team Supreme, Isaac, Eden and Fuuma were once again grouped up to fight off aliens at a town. Fuuma had waved the handle of the Relic Shuriken to be able to control it spinning rapidly at a distance and circled him to destroy all surrounding aliens at once, "Cyclone Blade!"

Eden was taking more time elegantly dodging the various alien's attacks in order to lure them around him before awakening to the feeling of his PSI to an incredibly high level before calling on the attack, "Deadly Forest!"

Trees with sharp branches risen around Eden to stab through the whole horde of aliens with Eden sitting on top of one of the branches sneering down at the alien remains, "There's no need to feel ashamed of your defeat. I am Eden after all."

After finishing all but one more of the army, Isaac had to face off against a lion like alien of the elite class. It charged at Isaac but the attack was evaded, "Shuriken Summon!"

Rina, Corey, Ian and Prisha decided to go shopping the next morning in Esterdale to prepare for the current case. Along the way, they chatted about the situation thus far, "So Serri is supposed to show us to a lab where we could safely secure some aliens and research them right?"

"Yes, she said she'll just need her rest first then show us to it later in the morning," Rina replied. "Also, despite the craziness of last night, Josh still insists of seeing proof of these aliens. Let's try not get him into too much danger okay?"

"Even after seeing the lab, I assume we would also need to capture at least two of the aliens," Prisha discussed. "But how do we predict where they'll strike next? Of course, we do have the option of heading to the site of the crash though a rather risky one."

"In short, you're scared," Ian scoffed.

"I am wondering though, how widespread are the aliens going to attack?" Rina asked. "Are they seriously going to progress to the entire planet? Do they plan to take it over?"

"And how many of them are left?" Corey added. "I know there were a lot of meteors, but do you think there are only as many aliens that could fit inside them?"

"Well there's a chance they could reproduce at their territory while sending their more suited warriors out to attack in waves," Rina answered.

"We also have the issue of what's going on back at Liden," Prisha said. "Byst had secured certain people along with the mayor in a shelter that we were meant to protect. When Team Supreme transported us to their shelter, I don't remember seeing Byst, so he must not have been found."

"Yeah, so what do you think is going on with them?" Corey questioned. "It won't do us any good if our client or Byst is already dead."

"So now I'm a dead man talking you say?" A voice had sounded from behind the juvenile bunch to freak them all out. But they were also relieved in more than one way as they decided to slowly turn around to see that it's Byst, but something is different. He no longer has the mug for a hat but it's replaced with a large broken half of an eggshell.

"Oh hey Byst!" Rina sweat dropped then asked, "um... what's with the eggshell?"

"Well you did tell me to get a cooler hat," Byst said pointing at the eggshell.

Corey said, "Well I thought your caramel drink was pretty cool..."

"But this one's even cooler!" Corey smiled cue his three friends face faulting. "Wait, but what are your doing in Esterdale anyway?"

"You know, our supplies back at the shelter are limited," Byst answered. "I was just shopping at Esterdale where I just happened to run into you kids. Though it does seem the alien attacks are much more widespread than just being in Liden."

"The mayor might have liked to word his request better but you will still be paid based on the number of survivors who would have been dead without you," Byst explained. "So now that I have answered your question, may I ask my own?"

"You have been missing for most of the past two days," Byst said. "Can you explain how exactly that helps your mission-"

But Byst had noticed that the teenagers were too busy bickering over themselves over petty issues. Ian for one said, "Guys! It's just a chicken egg!"

"What kind of chicken lays an egg that big?" Prisha criticized while Byst just sweat dropped from the side. "It's more likely an ostrich."

"How about a chocobo?" Rina suggested.

"Or a palm tree egg!" Corey made his own suggestion.

"Palm trees don't lay eggs you moron!" Ian argued.

"Umm kids?" Byst tried speaking with them but they were all interrupted by a familiar sound from the distance, they can all remember from Florey and Liden. Aliens are charging to attack again.

"Here as well?" Ian commented before charging to the direction of the sound. "Well let's go!"

The rest of the group had decided that Prisha and Rina will look after Byst and also go to make sure Serri is safe. While fighting some of them, Corey managed to get one to chase him and lure it into a strong steel cage. After showing it to the others, Serri commented, "good job!"

Josh also commented on the sidelines, "Okay now I'm convinced."

Seeing that the alien is constantly bashing the cage and may eventually break it, Serri said, "Okay we need to get a truck to carry that creature to the lab at the Lorieth base immediately!"

"Some of you need to stay with the cage to make sure it doesn't escape!" Serri told the kids of the Occult Society.

"Okay but make that two trucks!" Rina said. "Now that the citizens here know of the danger, we need to transport them to a place where we can protect them!"

"Ian!" She turned to her tall friend with a mullet. "I'll leave that to you."

It wasn't difficult to convince the people of Esterdale to lend their saviours a couple of trucks. After the attack of the aliens they needed some way to assure they would survive. The group also managed to drive across the Wellden Woods without bumping into their rivals and soon drove through some rocky paths in the mountains to find the Lorieth lab Serri was talking about.

First they contained the alien in a room in the lab, barricaded with strong metal walls and the lights on the ceiling were protected with bullet proof glass. There were other facilities such as laboratories and military equipment, but they soon needed to head to a shelter elsewhere in the mountains where they could hide the saved civilians.

Serri and Team Freakshow were soon back at the lab in the security room to watch the video of the alien in the room it's confined in. Rina commented, "Clever, the camera was placed beside the lights so it could see the alien better than the other way around."

"So are we supposed to be getting anything from watching a single alien confined there?" Serri asked.

"No, I believe the alien must also be quite lonely by now," Prisha observed the screen seeing the alien had gotten tired trying to bash its way out. "Hopefully we should be able to capture one more."

"Hey! How about after that we go and see what we can find at their crash site?" Corey suggested also looking at the alien on the screen. He kind of felt sorry for it to be locked up against its will. So would this count as a necessary evil? "I mean, we aren't too far from the Graman Fields."

Surprised, Prisha turned to the red headed boy, "You do understand, that is a rather precarious mission. You won't have second thoughts will you?"

"Why do you always have to make such lengthy excuses for being scared?" Ian rolled his eyes.

"We have every right to be," Serri said. "I know you kids from the Occult Society are professionals but no one sent to the crash site to investigate had come back alive, not even from the military."

"We may need time to evaluate a strategy," Prisha said, returning to his utter lack of emotion. "For now let's focus on the plan thus far..."

After saving a couple more towns from an attack and capturing another alien, it was decided that Rina and Corey will be the ones to head to the crash site. Rina lead the way along the hills remembering the plan, "Let's see... so we should head to the direction of the crash site while avoiding any trail left by those aliens..."

"I thought we were going to get to their place from underground," Corey said as the two carefully went up a larger looking hill.

"Sorry do I look like a mole to- wait, no, don't answer," Rina replied and once the two were close enough to the peak of the hills they peeked over it to see into the distance of the Graman fields to see the meteors at the field's crater. "Well I can see none of us are anywhere near done with these aliens."

Rina and Corey gaped seeing it was like the town with the asteroids like houses but around them, there are armies of thousands of aliens still marching around. The Imperial March theme playing in the background just adds to the effect. Wait! Imperial March theme? Rina turned to Corey to see his MP3 playing and whispered, "Corey! We're meant to stay quiet!"

"Sorry it was the perfect time," Corey smiled then looked back at the crash site. "So how do you think we could get closer?"

"Hmm..." Rina observed the crash site and thought hard. Afterward she decided to lead whispering, "follow me..."

The duo started sneaking around the hills until they got behind a rock close enough to eavesdrop on a few of the aliens that seemed to be speaking in their own language. There, they also decided to voice record them while taking a closer look at the area for anything else useful while hiding from view of course.

Everything was going well until someone familiar caught them by surprise, "Hey how dare you go off without me!"

Rina and Corey were shocked for a second but still tried not to make a sound before finding the person to be Ian. Rina whispered quite angrily, "Ian! What are you doing here? You were supposed to guard the civilian base in the mountains."

"What? I knew you always like to hog all the fun to yourself and go to the crater without me," Ian started taking out his Relic Sword.

"Ian you don't get it," Rina sighed. "No offense but this mission isn't exactly something you're suited for."

"You serious?" Ian unsheathed the sword and walked up to the alien's base alerting many of them. "Who else is more suited for taking down all these aliens?"

"Ian! Don't you think there are a little too many here?" Rina called out in shock.

Ian also looked in shock now that he finally noticed there were thousands of aliens looking at him and angry, "actually... you're right... there might be just a bit too many..."

And surprisingly, Ian also made a break for it along with Corey and Rina, running across the hills into a forest. There they were able to lose most of the aliens but still needed to defend themselves against some. When they almost made it to the mountains however, the team ran into what looks like another elite alien. This one seemed to be more humanoid except for the strange clawed left hand.

"I'll take this one!" Ian ran forward with his Relic sword but the alien was able to strike Ian at a distance by stretching and expanded it clawed arm to slash down across Ian's chest, who fell to the ground from the pain. "Aaaarrrggghhh..."

Even then, Ian needed to react quickly as the claw went for another strike, Ian had to block with his sword. After that he pushed the claw aside to run at the alien again, but reverting the claw seemed to be easier for it as the claw had sped back and strike Ian from the back. As Ian fell to the ground again, the alien's claw had returned to its original size and made some distance.

Meanwhile, back at the security room, Serri and Prisha had watched the two aliens interact. Prisha was taking notes, but Serri seemed lost and asked, "how exactly do you figure out the unknown from another unknown?"

"Have you ever solved a cryptogram before?" Prisha asked trying to multi task with analysing the audio and video of the alien's confinement room. "I've been solving them from the age of five and this case may be similar but more difficult. A basic technique for both would be a frequency analysis."

"While cryptograms, we look for the frequency of letters to figure out words, deciphering a language means we need to take notes of the frequency of syllables to work out their meaning," Prisha continued to explain. "Syllables that are linked often enough are probably words just as words occurring would be their version of conjunctions."

"Even knowing how they work, all the variables are still unknown aren't they?" Serri questioned.

"I was getting to that," Prisha replied coldly. "That is why we will introduce different contexts to them soon in enough to stimulate a natural reaction. In the current context, there is a higher chance they will talk about how they can get out of here, what we're confining them for or even about us spying and researching on them."

"Introducing different contexts such as turning off the lights will change their speech pattern and by comparing the speech pattern during different contexts, we can narrow down what they mean. That's just the tip of the iceberg though, being rather basic deciphering techniques."

"So would you say it's time for a stimulus yet?" Serri asked. "I mean, it's been almost an hour since we had both of them confined."

"And we already had introduced a new stimulus to them," Prisha turned to Serri. "Time... their speech patterns will change as they get fed up from being confined there."

After some time has passed, Prisha finally said as he hits a key below the screen, "I guess it's time to introduce a new stimulus."

As he did so, a samll part of the confinement room's ceiling had opened to drop an object for the aliens to react to. Serri commented with round white eyes, seeing the object in the screen, "okay... a pineapple..."

VVVVVVV

Back around the mountains, Rina and Corey still watched as Ian fought against the elite alien. At the moment, he can't get close though and can only use the sword to guard himself from the expanded claw of the alien that keeps striking him.

"You know Ian, I would tag in just about now," Rina shrugged. "But you know who got us into this mess."

"I can take this fiend on my own anyway!" Ian swung his sword to make a large cut down and slice the claw off. "This freak is nothing without its claw!"

"So now I'm a dead man talking you say?" A voice had sounded from behind the juvenile bunch to freak them all out. They decided to slowly turn around to see that it's Byst, but something is different. He no longer has the mug for a hat but it's replaced with a large broken half of an eggshell.

"But this one's even cooler!" Corey smiled causing his three friends to fall over like it's a daily routine. "Wait, but what are your doing in Esterdale anyway?"

It wasn't difficult to convince the people of Esterdale to lend their saviours a couple of trucks. After the attack of the aliens they needed some way to assure they would survive. The group also managed to drive across the Wellden Woods without bumping into their rivals and soon drove through some rocky paths in the mountains to find the Lorieth base Serri was talking about.

First they contained the alien in a room in the lab, barricaded with strong metal walls and the lights on the ceiling were protected with bullet proof glass. There were other facilities such as laboratories and military equipment, but everyone including the civilians were then shown to the ones required for a living, similar to at the base Team Supreme had.

Serri and Team Freakshow were soon in the security room to watch the video of the alien in the room it's confined in. Rina commented, "Clever, the camera was placed beside the lights so it could see the alien better than the other way around."

"Hey! How about after that we go and see what we can find at their crash site?" Corey suggested. "I mean, we aren't too far from the Graman Fields."

"Or a motorcycle egg!" Corey made his own suggestion.

"Motorcycles don't lay eggs you moron!" Ian argued.

It was almost noon in Esterdale, the time for Josh to be at work at the pizza shop, which is what he’s doing now. Soon he had to answer a phone call, “Hello, Esterdale Pizzas.”

“Hi I would like to order about eight boxes to be delivered to the Wellden Woods at uh...” A childish voice spoke from the other end. “Coordinates, five hundred and three point four to seven hundred and seventy point three."

“You’re kidding right? That has to be more than an hour drive without any other deliveries along the way,” Josh replied deadpanned.

“Would it make a difference if we payed you quadruple the amount?” another voice, this time female asked finally catching Josh’s interest.

“QUADRUPLE?” Josh answered doing his mental math. Each box of pizza is 30 Jouls and with all the multiplication, it will add up to... “1079 JOULS! Okay! Just wai-“

“HOLD IT!” The voice shouted and Josh could swear he heard them slam their hands down on a table at the other end. “When you get there, it will be hard to find our place, so just shout out pizza delivery okay?”

And with that, Josh was off, ready to rake in the cash.

Rina, Corey, Ian, Prisha and Serri just sat in their cafe, drinking tea. Serri asked, “So what exactly are we waiting for?”

But they all knew it was time when a voice had called out, “PIZZA DELIVERY!”

“There you have it!” Rina got to her feet and ran for the exit followed by her friends. Along the corridor, they came across Rachel.

“Oh hey, sorry, I’ll try talking to-,” Rachel tried to say ironically but found her former classmates to just have sped past her. She went back to being serious ready to chase them. But first she needed to call out, “Those morons think they could escape! Fidi! We’re chasing them!”

When Fidi joined the pursuit, he had shown himself to be in his Sagittarius form, which had the lower half of a horse and holding bow and arrows. He yelled gleefully, “And there’s not a better time! This is going to be fun!”

But before he could reach the entrance hall, another transformation had occurred and Fidi turned into his Capricorn form, with the lower half of a fish and a pair of long sharp horns. Unlike Pisces however, Capricorn was not very mobile on land as he just flopped in place, “Actually no, this is dumb...”

“Urrrrggghhhh!” Rachel could only quickly face palm before she continued chasing the escapees.

“Ian! Could your Relic Sword destroy that ceiling door thing?” Rina asked as they now headed to the exit.

“No problem!” Ian pulled out the sword and slash at it. The first could only partly damage it but they had to hurry up, Rachel is now close enough to assault them. She herself had pulled out he own Relic Racket and threw a ball into the air.

“Flame Shot!” The ball seemed to have ignited with fire from Rachel’s Racket and sped like a bullet to Team Freakshow.

"Force Wall!" Corey had conjured the wall of kinetic energy to block Rachel's attack, but it was too powerful. The shield had only spared him from serious injuries as the flaming ball broke through and blasted him back.

"Rachel's Relic Racket..." Prisha observed and narrated. "It has the power to imbue any object it hits with an element of choice, which in this case would be fire."

"DONE!" Ian had destroyed enough of the door to create a hole for him and his friends to escape. But Rina isn't going yet.

"What now Rach?" Rina teased Rachel. "You're going to kill all the dinosaurs?"

"Let's leave!" Prisha pulled Rina by the hair so she would escape along with everyone. Rachel also seemed to be quite angered by the comment as she smacked a few more flaming balls at them causing smoke to fill the targeted area.

When the group was out in the woods, they looked around to find the pizza truck with a tall man near it. He had black hair under a white cap, it's safe to say he was the pizza man. Once he saw them he said, "Hey here's your delivery, but what's going on?"

"I'll explain later!" Rina hurried past him. "Just get back in the truck and quickly drive!"

So now the six of them had squished into the driver and passenger seats of the truck. Josh still had no idea what's going on but these kids seem to be running away from something. Not knowing where else to go, he decided to drive back to Esterdale.

Once Rachel had exited the shelter, she could no longer see those Rina or the others and had call one of her team members to intercept them. She thought of Eden's group, but she didn't want him to know she failed. So Rachel dialled Mark's number instead even if he is a little loud, "Mark! Our classmates have escaped! Where are you?"

"WHAT? MAYBE IF THE MARKSTER WAS ON THE JOB-" Mark yelled before having the phone snatched by Clara.

"Rina and the others! They're escaping through the woods!" Rachel said on the phone. "Where are you? Maybe you could intercept them!"

"Got it desu!" Clara said and hung up. She can see the forest outside her window and drove back into it, instructing her team, "Listen, when I say so, you need to exit the truck and split up to find where Rina san and the others have headed!"

"Jam!" Jam agreed.

"I'll search with the van and call Eden Sama to inform him of the situation and he won't be impressed," Clara smiled, holding the phone in front of her. When she decided she has gotten deep enough in the woods she said, "Now!"

"LEAVE IT TO THE MARKSTER!" Mark exited the van with Jam and they both searched the forest.

VVVVVVV

While being squished in the truck the juvenile occultists and Serri had learned the pizza man's name is Josh. Afterward he asked, "Now will you just tell me what's-"

But he was interrupted by strong wind erupting out of nowhere and flipping the truck over. The group had now found themselves in an even more uncomfortable position before they decided to exit the truck. But during the even- SLAP SLAP SLAP!

"Oh sure, both your hands land on my butt it must be an accident," Serri crossed her arms after her retaliation on Ian who still had a cheeky smile despite the injuries on his face. Once outside, the group looked around to find the one who found them.

"Jam!" Jam had said, facing his opponents as his increasing PSI had caused a strong wind to rise around him.

"HAH?" Josh was freaked at the phenomena. "What the hell is HAPPENING?"

"Now I remember! Jam has the power to control wind!" Rina told her team and seeing the wind around Jam grow stronger to a ridiculous level. "So that's his plan. Not only will a Tornado Wall serve as a weapon and defensive technique, it could be used as a signal for his more distant team mates to see!"

"So we'll need to take him out as quick as we can right?" Ian stated the obvious.

"JAAAAAAAMMMMMM!" Jam's technique is complete with the tornado blew furiously, even blowing many surrounding trees out of their roots.

"I'll be taking this fight," Corey smiled walking up to face the raging tornado in which Jam now resides within.

"Hey kid! Are you crazy going up against a tornado on your own?" Josh tried to call him back.

"There's no way around it!" Rina said. "The rest of us must stay back to cover you and Serri. Just be careful Corey..."

Once the fight began, the tornado had sped toward Corey. He knew there was no way to dodge so decided it was best to lure it away from his team before getting hit. But upon impact, he learned he should have worried more.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Corey screamed in pain. The effect on the environment was no way of an indicator of the tornado's true power. It was focused mostly near Jam, concentrated to the extend to make many cuts on Corey's skin before blowing him away.

"Corey!"Rina cried out for her friend and was tempted to run in to help. The attack was far too much more than Corey had thought. As he got up, he had more reason than ever to finish the fight right away.

He thought his injuries from Rachel was bad enough. But at this rate it's not about defeating Jam before his team finds him anymore, he won't survive that long.

"Force Blast!" Corey had fired the attack right to the tornado where Jam would be. But upon impact, the blast had been deflected to another direction.

"No, Jam's Tornado Wall is strong enough to deflect shot from even the most advanced rifles," Prisha commentated unable to completely hold back the trembling of his voice. "Everyone in that team is beyond our league!"

"WHA?" Josh shouted in disbelief from what he just witnessed. "At least I know what a tornado is!"

"That's a blast of kinetic energy made from the power of the mind," Rina told him. "But it's no time to talk about that..."

Back at the fight, Jam's tornado sped toward Corey again and he cried out in pain as it blasted him away in another bloody manner as his team watched in horror. Where am I? Corey took some time to think straight again, but even then, he could only be surprise that he's still conscious. Not that it matters, one final move would overkill him. He doubted even the Force Wall would be able to help much.

If only there was a way to finish Jam off before then, past his perfect defence. No, it wasn't a perfect defence. Corey thought of what his last bet should be and felt the power radiate brightly within him as he shot another blast of kinetic energy out of his fist, "ONE MORE TIME!"

But as the blast just bounced off the tornado like it did before, Jam luahged loudly within, "JAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAM!"

"Corey! I always knew you were stupid!" Ian yelled. "But what was that?"

"Yeah! The attack didn't work before! Try something else!" Rina added.

"What? You mean haven't noticed it either?" Prisha asked in a confused tone. Though only quiet enough for his team to hear.

"Notice what?" Serri had answered with another question. Rina and Josh also awaited for the answer and Ian looked uninterested while Corey opened his fist into a palm and raised it above him.

"Well it seems, staying quiet about it no longer makes difference," Prisha explained while Corey waved his palm downward to the ground like he's commanding his attack. "You see, Corey had... bypassed Jam's defences!"

Just as Prisha finished, there was a loud explosive sound from within the tornado as Jam has been hit from above. The wall of strong wind had only contained the energy and made the blast all the more powerful. Afterward, the tornado was gone and Jam was down on the floor.

"Now I get it!" Rina exclaimed impressed with Corey. "That last attack was a Snake Blast and even after being deflected, Corey was able to guide it high up to dive through the eye being the tornado's weak point!"

"The fight doesn't appear over yet however," Serri said.

"Jam..." Jam had slowly got up but in his current state, only one more attack could finish him. However, the same thing applies to Corey. "Jam... Jam!"

"Where's a poke ball when you need one?" Rina sighed before the two charged at each other once more to deal the finishing blow.

Jam had punched Corey in the face, but was dealt an uppercut in the process. The others watched in shock, seeing the two combatants fall, losing all vitality to stay conscious. The group then approached to see how Corey is.

“Hi I would like to order about eight boxes to be delivered to the Wellden Woods at uh...” A childish voice spoke from the other end. “Coordinates, five hundred and three point four to seven hundred and seventy point three."

Once the fight began, the tornado had sped toward Corey. He knew there was no way to dodge but decided it was best to lure it away from his team before getting hit. But upon impact, he learned he should have worried more.

“Hi I would like to order about eight boxes to be delivered to the Wellden Woods at uh...” A childish voice spoke from the other end. “Coordinates, five hundred and three point four to seven hundred and seventy point three."

"If only one of your hand landed on my butt, it might have been an accident," Serri crossed her arms after her retaliation on Ian who still had a cheeky smile despite the injuries on his face. Once outside, the group looked around to find the one who found them.

"So we'll need to take him out as quick as we can right?" Serri stated the obvious.

It was almost noon in the Esterdale, the time for Josh to be at work at the pizza shop, which is what he’s doing now. Soon he had to answer a phone call, “Hello, Esterdale Pizzas.”

“Hi I would like to order about eight boxes to be delivered to the Wellden Woods at uh...” A childish voice spoke from the other end. “Coordinates, five hundred and three point four to seven hundred and seventy point three."

But before he could reach the entrance, another transformation had occurred and Fidi turned into his Capricorn form, with the lower half of a fish and a pair of long sharp horns. Unlike Pisces however, Capricorn was not very mobile on land as he just flopped in place, “I hate it when this happens.”

Corey wasn't sure where he was. He found himself sitting beside a crowd of people, mostly older kids, walking and chatting around him. Was he even there? All these people seem to get along so well yet haven't seemed to notice him as usual. The place seemed sort of familiar

What surprised him though, was the acknowledgement of the white haired boy, now standing in front of him. Corey looked up to see the boy smiling and lending out a hand to him. The crowd didn't seem to matter anymore.

"Let's go together!" The boy said as a dark wind had risen around him as his eyes glowed a bloody red. "To where you belong..."

"Reece!" Corey now found himself sitting up from his bed with the boy nowhere to be found. Instead, he found himself in a peculiar looking dormitory that strangely had no windows.

"Oh good morning Corey," Rina was sitting on one of the beds greeting him. "You feeling well?"

"Sure," Corey lied but now he needed to recollect the events that led him here. He looked around thoroughly to see Ian still asleep on one of the beds and checked the time to see it's about six AM. He also heard the sound of rain had returned above the shelter... shelter. Yes, the emergency shelter Team Supreme were keeping them.

"Prisha's looking around the place to find any way we could return to our task at hand," Rina explained. "I don't know though. Our old classmates seem to have barricaded this place pretty well."

"Even if we do get out of here, it might be too late with everyone either killed by aliens or saved by Team Supreme leaving nothing left for us to do right?" Corey asked. "But what other choice do we have?"

"You got a point there," Rina sighed before her eyes switched to anger mode. "But you know what really makes me tick?"

"Isaac, Clara and the others really are getting other soldiers to guard the base after all!" Rina cracked her knuckles. "And they get mad at us for getting divided credit."

"What if it's because they're soldiers from hell so they have no choice but to get them to help because of a deal with the devil," Corey guessed. "Anyway, you want to wake Ian up and go down to eat?"

"Well, they only have cameras for the public rooms," Prisha explained to his friends at a table in the cafe while writing his obtained data on his notepad. There were a lot he needed to remember. "I think they rather not have these survivors getting too paranoid from finding listening devices in their dormitories and making a ruckus."

"Saying yourself that they got cameras on us while discussing strategy," Ian scoffed slowly getting annoyed from the sound that Corey's phone keeps repeating. "Very smart."

"Say if we stayed quiet, would it make us any less suspicious?" Prisha replied. "From our resistance last night, Team Supreme would have no doubt we will search for a means of escape. These are all of course really obvious moves."

"Whatever could you cut that out?" Ian finally snapped at Corey and his phone and why does the sound from it seem so familiar.

"Wait, why did you voice record our fights with those aliens?" Rina asked remembering the sound from yesterday.

"So that's what it was! Nice thinking Rina!" Ian congratulated her.

" I was just thinking, what if I could blackmail those aliens that they were smuggling from their sister's rooms?" Corey suggested.

"Wait! Their language!" Prisha had thought of something. "What are the contexts in which you recorded those?"

Corey had explained about the time they saved the people of Liden and the attack after Prisha sounded the bell. Prisha had to ask, "May I borrow that phone for a moment?"

After Corey had handed the phone over, the group had noticed a female scientist with blonde curly hair had walked over to their table, "Excuse me, so you're also a team from The Occult Society aren't you?"

"Uh..." They looked at her curiously. Then Rina decided to ask, "So you want an autograph or..."

"No it's just that I did hear the argument you had with Team Supreme last night and thought I didn't agree with their ways either," The scientist had said. "If you're planning to escape in order to go back to saving other people from those aliens, I'll also like to help."

"And... you are?.." Corey asked before being clobbered by Ian.

"Quit being so rude! She's a nice beautiful lady I saved from Lolo yesterday," Ian yelled at Corey before turning back to the scientist. "Pardon my comrades manners miss."

"No, what we mean is, who is she for us to recruit her as opposed to any other random simpleton in this shelter?" Prisha glared at Ian.

"Right sorry for not introducing myself properly. I am Serri Joan a Lorieth government expert," Serri introduced herself. "Of course you know that the Lorieth government does provide many resources for the Occult Society as part of their side of the treaty. We also helped design and provided your colleagues with this emergency shelter."

"Wait! You're not saying..." Rina said excitedly. "That you're familiar with the design of this shelter and its weaknesses that we can utilize to escape."

"Nope! That's for the building design department! I have no idea," Serri said as everyone fell from the absurdity. "I'm from the science department so if there's any help you need in that field then I'd be happy to."

"Hey Prish, so how's it going with that phone?" Corey asked.

"I still require more context and dialogue to figure anything out," Prisha sighed and handed the phone back. The group including Serri decided to take a walk around the shelter for a while. The sound of the rain also stopped again. Rina frowned seeing the soldiers around and even guarding near the entrance.

She decided to get her mind off it for a while instead of snapping. So she asked Prisha, "Wait, so you were trying to decipher an alien language because you think we'll have the upper hand by understanding what they say?"

"Correct, maybe if we are able to capture a few of them though," Prisha replied and went back looking over his notes from before. "We can figure out more by watching them speak while inducing different contexts."

"We might have a lab where that could be done," Serri suggested but expressed her doubts. "But trying to decipher an entire alien language? I don't think that's actually possible. I don't even know how you lost enough sanity to think you could work something out with just a few voice records."

"Yeah, you're not the only one who thinks that," Ian agreed with her.

Something Prisha heard around him made him stop for a moment. There he looked around for a bit, held up an index finger to check air resistance and went into a thinking pose. He then tapped the end of this foot on the floor to freeze a part of it and walked a little diagonally forward.

"PRI-CHAN!" A high pitched voice sounded somewhere behind Prisha who just stayed looking indifferent. The footsteps grew more and more loud until the person slipped on the icy floor, did a back flip and crashed down face first. "WHOA! OWWW!"

"You're all set for the circus," Prisha turned around just enough to see who turned out to be Clara on the floor frowning up at him. She was about five foot two and had sort of short but wild blonde hair.

"You did that on purpose!" Clara got up to yell at him. "Oh it doesn't matter you're just so kawaii anyway desu."

"I wanna eat you-" Clara tried to lunge at him but was pulled back by her collar.

"Clara what the hell do you think you're doing?" It was Rina who pulled and threw her back behind her.

"Wow Rina, you're as defensive as ever?" Clara got up. "Hey Pri-chan! Why don't you come over to our side already? I know you'd rather."

"What?" Rina questioned in disbelief while Prisha still yet looked indifferent. "Quit deluding yourself Clara!"

"Oh come one, just look at the morons my poor Pri-chan is surrounded by all day," Clara shrugged. "You got a loudmouth idiot who constantly confuses anime with reality, an annoying brat spewer of the most ridiculous nonsense and a reckless fool who rushes in and ruins any plan you could have."

"Yeah and I suppose having someone like you around would be an improvement," Rina remarked

"So you'd rather an angsty brat with no people skills and ends up getting on everyone's bad side?" Ian said.

"See? There's solid proof right there!" Clara referred to Ian's statement and smiled. "I understand Prish, anyone would be in a bad mood hanging around these guys. Come on, you're not obligated to stay with them, join us."

"What? That won't happen in a million years!" Rina argued. "Right Prish?"

"For something that isn't true, you sure are getting quite worked up over it," Clara smiled confidently.

"No, it's just that..." Rina said. "It's not like I'm not already mad at your whole team for keeping us locked up in here!"

"I mean, you also hired soldiers to fight some of the aliens for you," she went on ranting. "I suppose that's not splitting any credit is it you hypocrite?"

"Stupid Stupid Rina, you have realized we acquired our mission from our client too don't you?" Clara scoffed. "These soldiers also worked for said client, who had insisted on us working together. Too bad for you, your team's not the same case."

"It's still wrong though," Serri had joined the argument. "Even as a mission it should be about helping people, not the profit."

"And... do I remember you from the Occult Society?" Clara turned to see Serri. But they were then interrupted by explosive sounds coming from the entrance and some screaming from what sounded like the soldier's voices.

"Sounds like the aliens have found this place again," Ian leads the way into the entrance hall of the shelter to find the fight between the soldiers and some of the aliens. The soldiers seem to be fighting evenly with the small fries but only until what looked like another elite alien had entered when they were all slaughtered. Many of the rescued citizens watched in panic, seeing what is to come.

This alien seemed to be a little less bulky than the one Prisha fought yesterday. But with much longer claws and teeth and seems much more agile. Clara quickly got out her phone to call her team, "The base is under attack again, hurry back and do what you can to eliminate any alien around it!"

"Everyone make way! Because now the prince is here!" A random girl had shouted for everyone's attention to turn to the opposite of the monster's.

"Commoners be marvelled for the one who now enters the scene," a soft captivating voice said further into the shelter as the crowd had made way for an elegant looking boy with long flowing green hair and alluring purple eyes. "Anyone dares ask why? Because I am..."

"The Talented! The Amazing! the Beautiful! the Magnificent!" The boy had announced through what appeared to be a montage of him in snowy fields then beach sunsets and even cherry blossoms. "The Dazzling! The Fabulous!"

"The one and only!" A rose had appeared in his hand for him to flick it to the very tip of his arm outstretched to his side. "Eden Seraph!"

"KYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" A crowd of people with love heart eyes appeared at the sides, mostly girls, to cheer him on as he walked forward. "YOU'RE SUPER CUTE TOO EDEN SAMA! WILL YOU MARRY ME?"

"What's with all those fangirls?" Ian looked over in annoyance.

"Actually, there are fanboys there as well," Prisha added.

"So you must be the fool who dares to challenge me?" Eden smirked condescendingly at the elite alien who instantly threw the first attack. Despite the speed however, it missed due to Eden simply stepping to the side.

"It was rather graceful seeing him fight. Dodging each attack with ease, staying calm and collected, never losing that proud smirk. When he felt ready, he used his PSI to summon rose modified with his ability to be far more deadly than usual and threw it at the alien, "Deadly Thorns!"

The alien elite managed to dodge it but unknowingly landed into a trap as vines sprung out and tangled it. Eden smiled seeing that his plan worked, he had secretly planted that trap in one of the floor cracks he was standing around before and gave it time to grow. He knew the alien would dodge in that direction.

Now he had summoned many more of the roses from before and threw them right at the alien. Most of them even had enough power to pierce through the alien as a whole and destroyed it overall. The fans now cheered even louder, "SO COOL! YOU'RE AMAZING EDEN SAMA!"

"No need to state the obvious," Eden had flicked his beautiful green hair victoriously. "I am Eden after all..."

"Eden's power, it allows him to summon and manipulate plants, the ability can vary along with the wide range of species," Prisha finished his exposition then turned to see Ian already stormed forward. "Hmm?"

"That show off!" Ian cracked his knuckles walking up to Eden. "I bet you were the one who thought of the plan to lock us here isn't it? It's just like a snob like you!"

"I know I shouldn't be talking to someone as low as you, but to answer your question..." Eden said reluctantly. "No, I would have come up with something much more ingenious."

"Well you're still a brat for being in with this plan," Ian looked down angrily on Eden. "It's just as Serri said before, helping people shouldn't be about the profit!"

"You simpleton... don't you see? By this point, you won't actually contribute to how many people will be saved," Eden sneered. "Anyone you can, we would have eventually. The only difference is our pay and we'd rather not cut our reward short."

"How arrogant," Prisha frowned. "By that logic, you must be certain you will save everyone from this point who hasn't yet been killed until now."

"Of course, but I wouldn't say arrogant is the right word. You see Team Supreme or most particularly I..." Eden flicked his hair proudly again. "...am a perfectionist!"

"You can save everyone we can? Get ready to eat up your words once we break out of here!" Ian boasted.

"Then I'll gladly challenge you, however..." Eden turned to notice Rina and walked toward her. Everyone finally realized she was also staring at him with heart shaped eyes now. Rina just couldn't help but be charmed by Eden who now elegantly neared his hand dangerously close to her face. "But are you truly willing to leave this shelter and be apart from me?"

Rina grew red to the point where a poof of white smoke had escaped her and she fell, "NAWH..."

"Figures..." Prisha and Ian gave her an annoyed look while Eden walked away. Ian turned to yell at him some more, "You're just afraid to compete with us fair and square in this mission!"

"And how is secureing you here dishonourable in a game of the mind?" They have found that Isaac had returned along with his team and the vans. "From what I see, keeping you here takes effort and you're all free to escape if you have what it takes. It's merely a technique to let us do our job more effectively."

"We have eliminated every alien that was around the shelter," Fuuma had said. "Eden, have you completed your research on them as you were tasked?"

"Yes I have all the notes right here," Eden pulled a notepad from his blazer pocket. Then he turned to smile at the crowd, "Well I guess I'll be heading off."

"NO PLEASE DON'T LEAVE EDEN SAMA!" The fans shouted, who are now joined by Rina along with Serri and Clara. "I'LL COME WITH YOU! MARRY ME OR I'LL DIE!"

"Sorry, but needless to say I'm a very important person and have places to be," Eden said before plucking one of his eyelash and flicked it back. "But I guess my fans do deserve a little something."

"EDEN SAMA's EYELASH!" One of the fangirls managed to snatch it. "I'll cherish it with all my heart and-"

"Oh no you don't!" Clara pulled her by the hair. "EDEN'S MINE!"

"They're fighting over an eyelash?" Ian watched the scene with a freaked look.

"Yeah it looks brutal," Corey seems to be enjoying it.

"Well we can't stay here any longer," Rachel said then instructed Fidi, who is now in his Aries form. "We'll leave you here to guard the base."

"Whatever!" Aries walked back into the shelter bitterly while ranting. "I just did guard this place two days ago. Why don't those morons just trying staying here themselves and see how they feel!"

Then he saw something strange in front of him and grabbed it. He found it to be Eden's eyelash, which didn't bode well as he turned to see the many sinister grins directed at him, "FIIIIIIIDIIIIIIIIIIIIII..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!.."

VVVVVVV

"THE MARKSTER IS DONE WITH WAITING!" Mark complained now that they are in the woods outside the base and the rock above the entrance had closed. They also had their trucks here. "Besides is it okay to wait here so some of those aliens could find us?"

"Don't worry, with my power, I can seen any that made itself near and prepare in advance," Isaac had finished reading through Eden's notes and told him, "You did well to figure out their possible attack pattern. Those creatures may be organized but they aren't free of habits."

"Sure," Eden smirked proudly with folded arms then glanced at Isaac. "Though I was being modest when I told those fools that I could come up with a plan much more ingenious."

"Yes it also feels a little jerkish too," Rachel agreed about the plan to secure Team Freakshow.

"Whether or not you're right, we have already commenced with the plan and we stick to it," Isaac smirked. "Besides, if our former classmates do succeed in escaping is the interesting part, to see how they manage to."

"Jam jam jam jam jam jam jam," Jam suggested.

"Yeah... and that too," Isaac said. But then the entrance to the base had opened once again to reveal that Clara had managed to get out.

"Wait up..." She puffed. She was enough now after not noticing that Eden had finished his research and returned to the shelter before. "I'm done with staying here to guard and you better group me up with Eden Sama!"

"Sorry Clara," Isaac replied. "But we don't want Rachel to be making a fuss."

"Hey! Don't lump me in with those morons just because I'm a girl!" Rachel shot Isaac a glare.

"You'll be grouped with Jam and Mark," Isaac said. "Don't worry, Rachel will be taking your place to guard this base."

VVVVVVV

Corey, Prisha and Rina are now in one of the spare dormitories that was the best bet of where they won't be heard as they speak of their plan.

"So why are we ditching Ian and Serri again?" Corey asked.

"Isn't it obvious? There's a good chance she could be a spy from our adversaries who are for reason also our colleagues," Prisha answered. "I have thought of means to check if she is, but there doesn't seem to be any way to ascertain that she isn't."

Rina listened to the voice recording of the alien attack just now and sighed, "There's not much point in deciphering their language if we can't even get out of here right?"

"Yeah, we know we're in some woods," Corey said. "But where exactly?"

"If I had to guess," Prisha pulled out a map of the Lorieth region and pointed at it. "It would be at coordinates, five hundred and three to seven hundred and seventy three."

"Now that is quite an approximation," Rina remarked with surprise.

"You remember the weather forecast don't you?" Prisha explained. "I recall The Occult Society's one is in even more precise details.

"And that helps us how?" Corey asked trying to figure it out himself.

"Isn't it obvious?" Prisha sighed then was off with the exposition. "What I was doing before was taking notes of how well we can here the rain at one point of this base to another. In the process, I was able to ascertain the structure of it, how deep it is underground and even the layouts of our former classmate's private rooms."

"When did I ask you to complicate things even more?" Rina sarcastically remarked.

"Well, I'm sure it would be raining where the weather forecast said it wouldn't right?" Prisha frowned. "No, we can use it to narrow down our location. By listening to when the rain commenced, when it is strongest and when it down, we can be even more precise."

"Wait! Their language!" Prisha had thought of something. "What are the contexts in which you recorded those?"

Now he had summoned many more of the roses from before and threw them right at the alien. Most of them even had enough power to pierce through the alien as a whole and destroyed it overall. The fans now cheered even louder, "AMAZING! EDEN SAMA YOU'RE SO COOL!"

Rina grew red to the point where a poof of white smoke had escaped her and she fell, "NAWH..."

"And how is secureing you here dishonourable in a game of the mind?" They have found that Isaac had returned along with his team and the vans. "From what I see, keeping you here takes effort and you're all free to escape if you have what it takes. It's merely a technique to let us do our job more effectively."

"Wait! Their language!" Prisha had thought of something. "What are the contexts in which you recorded those?"

Now he had summoned many more of the roses from before and threw them right at the alien. Most of them even had enough power to pierce through the alien as a whole and destroyed it overall. The fans now cheered even louder, "EDEN SAMA YOU'RE SO COOL!"

"That show off!" Ian cracked his knuckles walking up to Eden. "I bet you were the one who thought of the plan to lock us here isn't it?" It's just like a snob like you!"

"Wait! Their language!" Prisha had thought of something. "What are the contexts in which you recorded those?"

"I still require more context and dialogue to figure anything out," Prisha sighed and handed the phone back. The group including Serri decided to take a walk around the shelter for a while. Rina frowned seeing the soldiers around and even guarding near the entrance.

"The Magnificent! The Fabulous! the Beautiful! the Amazing!" The boy had announced through what appeared to be a montage of him in snowy fields then beach sunsets and even cherry blossoms. "The Dazzling! The Divine!"

"So what other choices do we have?" Corey asked.

"Wait! Their language!" Prisha had thought of something. "What are the contexts in which you recorded those?"

"You're all set to join the circus," Prisha turned around just enough to see who turned out to be Clara on the floor frowning up at him. She was about five foot two and had sort of short but wild blonde hair.

"Well, they only have cameras for the public rooms," Prisha explained to his friends at a table in the cafe while writing his obtained data on his notepad. There were a lot he needed to remember. "I think they rather not have these civilians getting too paranoid from finding listening devices in their dormitories and making a ruckus."

"Wait their language," Prisha had thought of something. "What are the contexts in which you recorded those?"

"Right sorry for not introducing myself properly. I am Maria Joan a Lorieth government expert," Maria introduced herself. "Of course you know that the Lorieth government does provide many resources for the Occult Society as part of their side of the treaty. We also helped design and provided your colleagues with this emergency shelter."

"Wait you're not saying..." Rina said excitedly. "That you're familiar with the design of this shelter and its weaknesses that we can utilize to escape."

"Nope! That's for the building design department! I have no idea," Maria said as everyone fell from the absurdity. "I'm from the science department so if there's any help you need in that field then I'd be happy to."