Trunks thought for a moment. "Their signal, for lack of a better word, is still pretty faint. But maybe if I focus a bit more..." Trunks took a moment to concentrate on the energy. He could sense the power, but it was quite far away to be detected. Maybe if Goku was here, he could track it down, but Trunks was no where near that level. The most he could do was.....

Trunks visibly shuddered. The energy on the planet was beginning to flare up. Something was about to happen, and it wasn't going to be good. Along with that, Trunks felt something....different. There was suddenly a well of energy on that planet that felt corrupted in some way. And wherever it was, it was close to the other sources.

Still, the sheer increase in energy was enough for Trunks to get a vague idea of where it came from. "I think I got it," Trunks said. "I have a vague idea of where, but the closer we get, the more exact it will be. I've narrowed it down to some sort of island. I guess it would be good to start there, when we're ready."

RED base, Jan 17th, 1967

"Thanks, Doc" Scout muttered as his good friend the medic finished wrapping a bandage over a wound scout had sustained. It had been 2 years of working as a mercenary, and it was good work. His mother didn't approve of Scout's job, but that was to be expected. Scout killed people for a living. He never left the RED base without a weapon of some sort, so much so that his hands didn't feel heavy or useful without his scattergun in his palms.

Scout hopped off the examination table and exited the Medic's office, into the meeting room of the RED base. Spy, Soldier, and Heavy were having a game of Texas Hold Em, without Scout.

"Next time you bozos play, remind me. I got a nice check from Saxton I'm itchin' to bet" Scout said in his typical Boston accent.

"Hey Scout, could ya help me with a new machine I found?" The engineer said as he signaled Scout to his work bench. The engineer was a master of mechanical things, able to construct whatever you could think of.

"What is it?" Scout asked as he approached the table, glaring at a small box.

"I believe it's some sort of teleporter, but we can't trust what it does yet. I need you to step in it and see where it takes you" He said.

"But, I could die from that..." Scout said.

"Well yeah, but we have a revival machine. Don't you remember?" He said. Scout had forgotten the RED base could revive anyone that died on it's grounds as long as they wore the RED uniform.

Without hesitation, Scout jumped on the machine as the engineer pulled a cord. Purple flashed as Scout lost sight.

To Be Continued...

Koizumi Mizuki gave a single nod to Trunks. "Well, it would be preferable, if we had more substantial information before beaming down." She unwrapped her arms from around her torso as she opened up her purse. "However that distress beacon was urgent. Alongside that, apparently this planet has high power levels close together..."

Rattling her hand around her purse, the continued her search. "But we don't seem to have the luxury of getting any more intel from up here." Mizuki pulled out a small stepper box, covered in a series of glitters. She then placed the device down, "Anything goes wrong down there, try to get back to the ship as soon as possible." Turning to Trunks, Mizuki glanced at him, "Right, so you will be vital for helping scout out. I expect to see you soon on the field, unless you could find the man who activated the distress signal from here."

Mizuki then focused her attention to Agent Leadtrim, "I also expect to see you down below soon, unless you could find the one who sent the call, or if any other agents are aboard the ship."

"Let's hope we can finish this quick and discretely yeah?" Mizuki said with a smile, as she flipped the switch on the stepper box.
----------
Carnate Island, Quarry

Koizumi Mizuki retrieved the stepper box from the oddly disturbed ground, and returned it back to her purse. "Right." She spoke to herself, as she took a quick glance around, "Just need to find them an-" She slowly adjusted her glasses and stared at the countless twisted shapes, some of which were stuck in the stones trying to wriggle their way up.

"...I'm so going to be late to that meeting aren't I?"

The clanking footsteps got louder and louder, finally catching Aoi's attention. "...hold that thought," she told the boy as she lifted her God Arc once more to the ready, turning to view the source of the sound. At a distance she could make out the roughly humanoid form of the suit. However, she could also see the strange shoulder spikes.

As she argued with herself over whether or not it was an Aragami that had evolved into a humanoid form, a shout echoed from another corridor. "Little girl... or boy, I do not know! ...But I DO know you can hear me down there! Impending death approaches you from two sides, but fear not! Escape lies in my direction! To not go this way would be the act of a fearless fool!" It was an ironic choice of words.

Well, that answers that question. No time was wasted questioning the voice's motives. No time was wasted wondering why Aoi hadn't run into the suit or the voice while dashing through the halls. No time was wasted wondering whether she was making a mistake.

Aoi was a God Eater, and God Eaters kill the strong to protect the weak.

The voice didn't sound like it intended to fight the approaching suit. It wanted to run away, to hide in the shadows and scrape by. Obviously, the voice was the weak one of the two options, and so the voice needed protecting. Aoi briefly swapped her God Arc into rifle mode to fire three concussive shots at the suit before returning it to a sword.

"Stay with me and fight or run to the voice to escape, boy! Whatever you do, I'm ordering you to not die!"
@HHShetland@Rick Sanchez

"I think you mean 'coming out of the closet', and I dunno what a God Eater is, but--"

"--Hold that thought."

Todd abandoned his rebuttal for her poorly-articulated jab at his sexuality in favor of paying attention to the footsteps that sounded a lot more intimidating than they had a minute ago, taking a step back for good measure. His gaze flickered towards the closet--conflict wasn't his thing, y'know? Despite how much he bragged, Todd wasn't as oblivious as most people thought he was; he knew his powers sucked, and that he wasn't necessarily good at using them either.

So hiding in the horrible small space filled with chemicals sounded like a better option than it had a few minutes ago, heterosexuality be damned. It wasn't like either gender was going to take much interest. He started to frantically gesture towards the closet, trying to get Aoi's attention, when a disembodied voice squirmed its way on-scene.

"Little girl... or boy, I do not know!" A pause, it seemed to be coming down the opposite side of the hall. "...But I DO know you can hear me down there! Impending death approaches you from two sides, but fear not! Escape lies in my direction! To not go this way would be the act of a fearless fool!"

Aoi didn't give him time to ponder if anything was strange about a stranger, whose face they could not see, seeming to just know what was going on from farther away from the danger than they did. Orders were something he was comfortable with, and he actually liked the order this time--dying was his least favorite part of a battle.

He wasn't going to argue with someone whose big-ass weapon could turn into an assault rifle at will, anyways. If she survived her heroic urges, he'd have to ask her to let him check it out.

"Yes, Ma'am." He raised his hands in a show of surrender and swiveled, crouched, and hopped the other direction. As had been mentioned, he wasn't much for conflict.


Four or so leaps later and he skidded to a halt before the corridor made a sharp, 90^o turn--there was the distended shadow of a broad-shouldered man a few feet away, and the vague suspicion he'd experienced moved to the front of his mind. He jumped and stuck to the ceiling, crawled over to peek around the corner--his shoes had made a pretty loud squeak when he stopped, like they usually did, but most people didn't think to look up anyways.

@Sodium @HHShetland

@Sodium

It seemed that crashing through a cell wall had disoriented one of the Mgalekgolo somewhat, which was only made worse by its uncanny sense that... something... ( @Moonman ) had crossed its line of sight just before it went down after its actual target. Upon sighting the girl, it raised its shield and began charging up its Fuel Rod Cannon, but the concussive shot fired from the girl's gun proved strong enough to actually make the hulking alien reel back in recoil. Nothing of this calibre had happened outside of getting caught in one of its old master's Wraith cannons, and as such, it didn't think to stop charging up its Fuel Rod Gun. This had the unfortunate effect of it firing off the gun while pointing it directly at a crumbling, derelict prison wall, causing the entire bloody hallway to collapse on top of the creature, with the explosions managing to disintegrate its fragile midsection in the process.

@Rick Sanchez

Meanwhile, in slightly more peaceful pastures, Rugal had chosen to stand still and lean up against a wall while he waited for his dramatic execution-based show-stopper for those cameras person that needed 'rescuing'. He was smirking the whole time, of course, confident that this plan would take care of the two rogues and hopefully get this show's odd schedule back on track. When he heard loud padding coming down the hall, he started confidently walking towards the other side to hopefully make them jump, leaving them exposed, but before he could even get that far, the sounds abruptly stopped.

"Hmm?" He couldn't help but vocalise as his smirk disappeared and he started rubbing his jaw again. This was unexpected. This could mean any number of things. Perhaps they recognised his voice from his home universe? Unlikely. Maybe they knew the whole thing was a set-up? Unlikely also, but not as unlikely. Maybe they were just paranoid? Most likely of the three.

Sidling up against the wall, he peeked around the corner, with one hand held to his side, ready to toss a Reppu Ken in case they tried anything funny. But then something weirder happened; there was no-one there at all. At least, not in front of him. Or they could have just been invisible, or...

In the midst of considering every possibility, Rugal idly looked up, and his definitely rather irritated gaze fixed on the person-slash-creature that had been hiding up there, surprisingly managing to escape his notice until now. Clever, he thought, but not clever enough to escape him. Nobody could escape him, really, it was just a matter of how long. Rugal actually felt even more confident with that in mind; considering that meddlesome Kusanagi child, this greasy-looking thing overall ranked quite low on the threat list.

"You. I was not expecting you." Rugal spoke to the creature with added confidence, albeit possibly in vain; from the looks of it, there was good odds it couldn't speak. "...I was expecting the girl with the oversized pizza cutter. But I suppose you'll do, ha ha! I joke."

With that 'joke' out the way, he almost comically quickly returned to normal, adjusting his scarf and making sure to avoid accidentally smirking mid-speech. He stood still and calmly explained the greasy thing's predicament, making sure to talk up a friendly game just like the book recommended. Once again, the old him would probably have Genocide Cutter'd his legs off just for being the wrong person. But this thing could prove useful as leverage for that girl, if nothing else.

"I'll make this quick." He began. "This facility we're in right now is something of a death trap for the lot of us. Judging from that look, I'd wager you know as much about this as I do. What's important is that we leave. Fortunately for your unfortunate self, I know the way out of here."

Finding the source of the noise took less time than he initially thought it would. Shortly before Ranald reached the end of the cell block, a very large thing promptly smashed through the wall at the far-end, sending the pilot stumbling backwards. After recovering from a fresh burst of pain, he took a closer look at the thing in question, completely mystified by the entity.

Is that an Armoured Trooper? It's certainly big enough, but I don't see a camera anywhere, and the design doesn't look like anything from Gilgamesh or Balarant.

Hang on, what the devil is that? The soldier had just taken notice of the writhing worms within the thing's joints, which indicated that it, or perhaps they, were alive. While it wasn't particularly frightening (piloting an AT will have that sort of effect on you), he was intrigued. Assuming it wasn't some sort of top-secret military hardware, the creature may very well be a newly discovered species. Was it sentient? Could it communicate? Did it know a way off this rock? How likely was it to brutally murder him? While the latter two questions were the most important to him at present, Ranald had countless questions regarding the creature.

His eagerness to observe the supposed extraterrestrial was cut short, however, as an unfortunate(?) chain of events took place quite rapidly. First, something struck the alien and sent it tumbling backwards, causing it to fire off a shot from the vaguely gun-shaped appendage on one of its arms, striking the ceiling. The weapon demonstrated an impressive degree of destructive force, as it caused the ceiling and a solid chunk of the hallway around it to collapse, burying the creature in rubble.

Guess I'll have to settle for looking at the carcass. As Ranald wandered over to the extraterrestrial's resting place, however, a fresh sight caught his eye. It was another human, a woman, from the looks of it. While her attire was a tad odd, it hardly stood out, especially when said lady was wielding an impossibly massive sword with apparent ease. After the AT-sized alien, this was almost normal in comparison. Almost being the keyword. Ranald shook his head, using the pain to remind himself that this was all very much real, before considering his next action.

Talking may not work, as the girl looked foreign, so she may not even understand what he was saying. The gas mask hardly helped in that regard either. Hand signals were out of the question, so that left an age-old method: body language. Kicking a rock towards her to catch the girl's attention, Ranald followed it up by turning around and pointing insistently at his now visible handcuffs. Here's hoping he didn't come to regret this decision.

As the rubble began to fall Aoi moved her blade in front of her and crouched as two pieces of it peeled from either side of the "unused parts" area of the blade and merged to form a buckler shield. She angled this slightly up, fearing that the target was preparing a swoop attack similar to that of a Chi-you. After a few moments that felt like an eternity behind the shield, she peeked around the side to see that her foe had disappeared, crushed beneath the onslaught of destroyed building from above.

She also saw them.

Black shapes began to crawl out of the wreckage, slowly moving down the hall toward her. Ethereal chains bound the shapes, but they did not seem to prevent their progress. Soundless screams echoed in Aoi's mind as they approached her quivering form. She pulled her shield closer to herself in an attempt to reassure herself, to somehow make herself safe from this unknown entity...



A sudden calm began to spread through Aoi. This surge of bravery was pushed on by her very own words just minutes before: "I'm ordering you to not die!" She couldn't give someone an order and not see it through herself. With a clank, the shield returned to the sides of her blade as she stood. She swung the blade in front of her and the shapes hesitated a moment, long enough for the chains to suddenly reel them back into the shadows from whence they came.

For a moment Aoi believed it was her bravery that had sent the shapes packing. The skittering of a rock broke her reverie. She looked for the source and found it standing beside the rubble. A humanoid shape, much more so than the now-buried attacker, stood facing away from her and gesturing at some chains on its wrist. It didn't seem to be approaching her, but it also bore two similarities to the now-departed shapes: it bore chains and it had appeared by the wreckage.

Unsure of how to proceed, Aoi decided words were the best option. "Uh, are you capable of words?" Her voice wavered slightly, a lingering effect of the shapes' horrific appearance.
@Moonman

Due to turning around, Ranald hadn't so much as caught a glimpse of the phantom entities prior to their departure, which was all well and good, really. As for the pilot's attempt to catch the girl's attention, it had succeeded, albeit with some unexpected results. The girl spoke to him, and it was in a language he could comprehend, although her accent was still distinctly foreign. Better than nothing, I suppose. But, her phrasing and tone of voice... is she scared? Maybe it's the pilot suit?

No matter the reason, the girl had asked Ranald a question, and he was obligated to answer. Turning to face her, Ranald revealed his own face, still concealed by the admittedly unsettling helmet/gas-mask of his suit. Trying his best to sound non-threatening, Ranald spoke up.

"Yes, very much so. My name is Ranald Colbert, I'm a soldier of the Gilgamesh Federation. As you can see,' Mr. Colbert turned slightly to indicate his manacled hands,'I'm in a bit of a bind at the moment. Help would be much appreciated."

While Ranald's words were muffled somewhat by the gas-mask, they should still be comprehensible to most folks.

@Conibear
The wriggling bodies reacted to Koizumi Mizuki's entrance with animalistic fear. What little of their bodies that remained aboveground swiftly shot back under, and the entire collection of burrowing monsters scattered in all directions.

From high up on the lip of the quarry came a high-pitched, plaintiff cry.
"D'oooooh! You scared them away!"

A soft beeping sound began to echo across the canyon. Alarmingly red LEDs attached to ominous black packages scattered around the area blinked in unison. This was either a primitive movie set, or a startlingly shortsighted attempt at extermination.

"Hey, trespasser," the voice screeched. "I know you're down there! This is private property! I'm gonna have to ask you to come up here and explain yourself!"

Wow. This wasn't the usual response to a multidimensional supercriminal being caught. This might be even easier than previously thought.

---

@Conibear, @LordInquisitor
Clacking claws and shelled digits flew across the specially-made control panel of the DIS Popcorn Machine, the Institute-managed ship currently observing Carnate Island. A single eye on a thick green stalk flicked nervously over a massive set of displays. Some of them depicted mundane thermographic, thaumographic, and noographic maps of the Earth, others were live camera feeds. At the moment, almost all of the feeds were taken directly from the battery of floating cameras aboard Carnate Island. The scientist aboard this vessel was not a big fan of horror and action movies, and his meta-molluscoid body quivered accordingly to the mildly ominous hallways and tense conversations being held there.

A flashing alert tore the scientist away from its horrified awe. Agents had come! A short readout scrolled across one of the screens, tacitly informing the scientist that one Koizumi Mizuki and one Future Trunks were responding to the distress call. Shuddering at the concept of having to explain the situation, the scientist tentatively attempted to open communications with the two agents.

"Ah, hhello?" the scientist whimpered, its voice nasally and evidently intimidated by its own vocal chords. "I am GLAD you have ARRived so quickly! Pllease reSPOND as soon as you are able! I have imPORtant information about GHOSTS for YOU! Over!"

Koizumi Mizuki pushed up on the bridge of her glasses, as the creatures appeared to have retreated back into the ground from whence they came. "Well, I suppose I may be able to ca-" She began to mutter to herself, before she heard a loud cry from a, presumably, upset individual.

Glancing upwards, Mizuki tried to gain a better view of the individual. While she didn't manage a better peak at him, she noticed antiquated packages that glowed with a rather shiny LED. This would normally serve as a reminder on how much she had to do in order to prepare the various worlds to be worthy. But that wasn't on her mind as much as the next part of the echoing cry of the individual.

Apparently, they were asking for her to come up there and explain? Well, this was certainly an interesting turn. Well hopefully this would go well, and they would leave peacefully knowing the property was not for them.

"I shall be there momentarily! I suspect that we shall be able to discuss this further in respectable manner when I arrive?!" Koizumi shouted upwards, as she started ascending up a path so that she could reach this stranger. All the while she was too focused on this to notice her cellphone buzzing in her purse.

Trunks nodded in assent as Mizuki prepared her stepper box. "Not a problem. I'm going to have a quick look around before I head down. I should be able to catch up with you there." He had to shield his eyes a bit, as she teleported away. The glare of a stepper box being used was still something he hadn't gotten used to. He had a quick look around the hallway. Aside from Agent Leadtrim, there wasn't a sign of anyone.

Trunks was about to investigate the ship, when he heard a ringing from his jacket. Trunks pulled out an old, re-purposed scouter that his mother gave him. To be honest, Trunks's knowledge of energy sensing made it nothing more then an expensive communicator, but Trunks didn't really have anything else to use as one when he left. It served as a nice memento too. Regardless, Trunks fitted the scouter to his ear, and opened communications.

"This is agent Trunks," he responded to the scientist. "I'm heading down to the planet now, but my communications should stay intact. Please fill me in on what's going on." Trunks prepared his stepper box, not too concerned about Leadtrim. He would follow when he wanted. As the stepper box was activated, though, Trunks had a thought. "Wait a minute, did you say gho..." The stepper box cut him off.

Crap baskets.

Trunks found himself on the island slightly away from Mizuki. As he gathered up his stepper box and get a look around, he suddenly felt energy welling up below him. Trunks reacted by leaping into the air, focusing his ki to keep himself suspended in mid-air. Trunks looked down to see several now confused looking figures clawing out of the ground. Trunks fired a few ki blasts down to discourage them, and flew off.

Trunks saw some sort of facility in front of him. It was there most of the energy was coming from, and he sensed Mizuki heading in another direction. Trusting she could handle herself, Trunks flew off towards the odd looking facility, and transmitted to the scientist. "Alright, I'm on the ground. Mind filling me in while I get moving?"

Leadtrim stood by and listen to his fellow agents go over the mission. Once Mizuki had briefed him on his goals and used her stepper box to go down to the planet the Mechari in turn took out his stepper box. Leadtrim made sure that when he arrived on the other side of the facility away from his fellow agents. Once he made it to the prison his communicator began to ring the dominion agent double check that the transmission was secure before he answer it. "Mondo see you have arrive. Go to showers to activate probes. Hurry!," the leader of DRED yelled into the Mechari's communicator as he signed off. At once Leadtrim drew his greatsword 'Now I need to find the showers are located.' He thought to himself as he entered the facility.

The sound of wood dragged over stone, combined with the clanking of heavy chains, echoed through the deepest, darkest parts of the prison. However, now and again, it was broken by a deep voice singing.

"I've brought a lovely coffin,"

Chain Shadow skulked through the darkness, admiring the spooky echo and the poor lighting.

"And it's one you'll look quite fine in,"

What little electrical light there was was snuffed out by the roiling cloud of black fog leaking from beneath the lid of the coffin.

"I don't need any money, but I do ask instead..."

Though no victims were present, he had to get psyched up. This was the bigtime. An actual film, and not one of Filmshadow's weird surrealist "Shadow Noveaux" films. He'd been recruited as a monster for a feature film, and it was his job to fulfill that role to the fullest.

"That once you've received it, you'll agree to being dead."

Chain Shadow sighed and shook his head, tapping his foot and leaning against the wall.

"...this would be more spooky if there were still inmates..."

---

The three hominids, ancient warriors of Mu, readied themselves at the docks. Discounting multiversal travel, which the inmates didn't have, and the various orgs would be reluctant to hand out, escape from the island meant coming here. Mummy Hominid addressed his junior monsters. Though, really, someone who kept track of seniority after nearly 4000 years tended to be the best choice of leader.

"GROAOAAORGH! GYRAAAGOOO. GROOOGH. GRAAR?"

"GRAAAAGH!" Swamp and Lightning replied.

"GYAAAAOOOR. GRAAAYOGRAAGH. GROOOOORL!" Mummy Hominid groaned, raising his fist.

"UNGAAAAAAH!" The two younger monsters repeated the gesture.

Whatever the conversation was, it seemed to end favorably, with Swamp Hominid making his way to the water, and Lightning Hominid making his way to the top of the dockhouse, starting to summon his storms. Mummy Hominid, meanwhile, headed into the prison proper. Perhaps he could find a phone to tell his cousins from Florsheim that he was going to be in a movie... if they could understand him.

---

Booregard sat in the prison's library bored out of his mind. He'd joined up with Shocker+ in the hopes of getting advice from veteran Monsters for when he inevitably got called to fight the new Kamen Rider. But he didn't think it'd involve so much sitting around and waiting. Well, it wasn't like he had anything better to do with his unlife right now. If he wanted more interesting work, he was going to have to excel as a monster. Looking around, he began waving his hands, as books flew off the shelves and began circling above the room. He phased through the present bookcases and sat in a chair at the reading table. Raising up his feet, the Ganma settled into his poltergeist act. He was a Monster, dangit, and he was going to be the spookiest foe that Ghost ever faced or his name wasn't Booregard Spooksworth! He was going to do his parents proud.

Everything about this smelled a little suspicious. The man--he assumed it was a man, judging by the voice and the shape of the shadow--had intended for Aoi, or he was somehow capable of knowing that a.) Todd had been in the closet and b.) he'd escaped from the closet and was able to reach him. And then there was the whole layout--two something-or-others corner them, forcing them to run the other path. It felt off.

But really, Todd didn't have a lot of options; he didn't even have the time to think of a game plan before the man came into view. So he held his breath rather than fleeing when the figure peered around the corner, ominous lighting obscuring a good portion of his features. After a considering pause the man unknowingly met his gaze. The boy leaned away from the displeasure he returned, grinning sheepishly.

"You. I was not expecting you." Yeah, sorry bro.

Alright, the pizza cutter part was kind of funny, but most of the scared smile Todd offered the man was because with his whole body visible, he didn't really feel like offending him. The threads were laughable, all Victorian with the dangling bits and the silly, cliche mustache, but man--just the size of him was enough to freak him out. He doubted he was much past the guy's shoulder even if he forced himself to stand straight.

"I'll make this quick. This facility we're in right now is something of a death trap for the lot of us. Judging from that look, I'd wager you know as much about this as I do. What's important is that we leave. Fortunately for your unfortunate self, I know the way out of here."

Death trap? The mutant stuck a hand to the ceiling and shifted to balance himself against the wall so he could speak face-to-face with him, eyebrows hiked up in concern.

"Naw, I don't know anything dawg. I woke up in a closet, like, fifteen minutes ago. You know what's back there with Kasa-cutie?"

@HHShetland

@Conibear
Long-abandoned mining equipment crumbled and collapsed under Future Trunks' assault, driving the sack-clad monsters deeper into the quarry's interior. For the moment, the quarry was safe. The figure at the top of the quarry shouted incoherently as his targets made their escape.

At the very edge of the quarry, the figure that had called out for Koizumi waited. A flashlight shined into Koizumi's eyes, revealing the figure in all his glory.

He was a monkey. A real, live, honest-to-grodd purple-skinned monkey. It wore a comically-unfitting pair of mud-stained overalls and smoked a foul-smelling cigar. A small, filthy name tag sewn on the overalls' left breast pocket said "My Name Is ROBERT" in big, friendly letters.

The day had not been going well for Robert the Set Decorator. He had spent the past five hours setting explosive charges and being attacked by freaky worms made of chains and rags. Just when he'd set the last charge and made it out of the quarry and prepared to blow them all to kingdom come, a bunch of nutbars randomly show up and start thinking they owned the place! The very thought made his blood boil!

"Now that you rubber-neckers are done mucking up my set," growled Robert, chomping on his cigar, "Would you mind telling me what it is you think you're doing? We're filming a very important movie, here! Depending on your answer, we might just call security on you!"


@LordInquisitor

The scientist cleared its glottal stalk nervously, and consulted a lengthy report it had written just for such an occasion. Now slightly less surprised and intimidated, the scientist's tone and pronunciation grew significantly clearer.

"Well, uh..." the scientist began. "G-greetings, people of Earth! I am Executive Observer Iffo, member of the Dunk-- oh, I... I'm sorry! This was meant for the- for the natives, you know? I'll just skip ahead a bit."

The scientist hastily tore out a number of pages. Several of them contained lavishly-decorated pictures of Dunkelzahn Institute personnel looking professional.

"Your universe suffers from extremely unusual spectro-corporeal phenomena! In locations where significant human misery has accumulated over the years, dangerous paranormal activity takes place! On behalf of the Dunkelzahn Institute, I implore you to lay down your arms and pursue world peace!"

The scientist, panting and gasping, threw the report to the ground.
"So, b-basically... no big explosions next to where a lot of very bad things happened. F-for some reason, it appears that massive amounts of pain and suffering in an area can create a permanent link to the afterlife, creating... ghosts. Real, thinking and breathing ghosts!"

"Oh, and this most likely won't come up, but ghosts and earthquakes do not mix! The... the easiest way to describe what happens is portal directly to an unpleasant afterlife of your choosing. So long as you don't blow up the island, it shouldn't come up."

"That's about as much as I can offer you for now. I won't actually be watching your progress, mind you. I don't-- I've got some more important things to look at. Things that you probably wouldn't want to hear about and I won't need to explain in-depth. I'll keep watch overhead, however! You just focus on getting to the prison and rescuing those foreigners, and try not to get killed."

Mizuki squinted as the flashlight was beaming straight into her eyes. Taking a moment to adjust herself and stepping a few paces away, so the light wouldn't be as bad, she peered at the vexed individual. She pushed up on the bridge of her glasses as she stared at the purple skinned monkey, who was probably named Robert. Well unless he had to borrow some other individual's uniform, but forgot to remove their name-tag.

However that was not as important as the fact the man was a purple monkey. Koizumi was not quite positive on who the 'local authorities' were, as this planet was not under her usual jurisdiction. However it did not seem that likely that this individual was a common local. Especially considering the fact he was talking about filming a movie.

Perhaps he was upset that the bit-part actors were scared off by her colleague's and her own actions? Perhaps the distress call was issued because their were other troubles on the set? After all, the Institute had its own series of documentaries on the plight of planetary locals who could not survive in the multiverse. Usually it was only short pieces, to help inspire more funding to the Institute's projects on those worlds. Could it be that this was an Institute operation, that was kept under wraps from higher ups in this jurisdiction?

What Koizumi did know was, she did terribly want security to be called against her whether they were Institute or not. If not, well it would be dangerous and they'd probably want her dead. If they were in fact a more secretive Institute operation, well they would probably notify her superiors about misbehaving and violations. Neither one of those were good.

Koizumi gave a small bow towards Robert. "I do implore you to forgive that." She pushed up on her glasses as she pondered on how to go about things. Clearly, she couldn't just go about telling him she was an Institute Agent.

If this was a more secretive Institute operation, clearly they wouldn't want every other agent to just muck about. And if this wasn't activity from the Dunkelzahn Institute, then she would give away her allegiance. It would be best to operate according to standard principles, deception for the common good.

"Mister Robert- Robert is it?" Mizuki gave a smile as she began rubbing the back of her head, "If it isn't your name, my apologizes, I'm just going off of your nametag. Anyway, I'm not sure if this got to you, you know how it is with the company, alwaysbusy always so very busy, especially when productions are just about to start!" She pushed up on her glasses, "Anyhow, I'm an intern and I wasn't quite sure where I am er-"

"Supposed to go. I would've asked that member of the sound department, what making sure the sound was all good and well here, some basics, but he seemed to go off in a hurry." Mizuki glanced at Robert and tilted her head. "Er I'm guessing I am with you though, well at the least I should help repair the set, before I er find my proper spot."

Of course this was a bold-faced lie, but hey, if it worked, then information could be acquired discretely. If not, well, there would probably be some trouble.

Robert stared incredulously at Koizumi.
"You gotta be shittin' me, sweetheart! What kinda ""intern"" shows up to work in a pantsuit? You ain't foolin' me, lady,"" Robert said, winking sinisterly. "I know who you are!"

"You're one of those "on-site reporter" types! Thinkin' you can sneak into the set an' steal a few choice bits'a info from the crew! Don't think I didn't see yer camera an' mic boys shootin' off like ducks inna bush! Well, yer lucky I caught you, else you'd be inna world o' hurt!"

Robert chivalrously attempted to brush a fleck of clay off Koizumi's shoulder, soundly failing to reach it. Slightly embarrassed and slightly irritated, Robert nonchalantly wiped his nose with one hand and grinned.

"Since this must be a 'once inna life time' thing for you, I'm gonna treat you to a real fancy show-- the very first step towards creatin' a good set!"

Robert reached into his shirt pocket and produced a small, black cylinder with a jolly red button on top. With theatrics commonly seen only in the company of very sour-looking men with sharp tools and a general lack of scruples, Robert placed his thumb over the button.

"Keep yer eyes on the quarry. Now you see it..." Robert pressed the button. A chorus of loud 'ping's sounded off around the quarry bottom.

In a deafening blast of light and sound, the quarry disappeared. Clouds of rock and metal heaved themselves skyward as violent waves of force and heat wormed their way through the quarry's many nooks and crannies. The ground rumbled and shook almost as if a major earthquake had been caused by a series of simultaneous explosions, mostly because that's exactly what happened.

The earthquake sounded all across the island, shaking the prison and the dockhouse's foundations. By some mysterious quirk of the quake, a large number of fissures opened up, localized around the prison's exercise yard and outside grounds. Pillars of smoke and sulphur writhed lazily out of the fissures, filling the area with a sickly red light.

"Now you don't." Said Robert, grinning toothily.

The briefing chamber was tackily decorated as usual. A striped loveseat made of cheap wood and rough fabric sat opposite a futuristic viewscreen displaying the logo of The Sentient Milieu. At the moment, there was a small group of soldiers-- seemingly randomly picked from across time and space-- lounging anxiously around the room. Clearly, they were waiting for something.

The familiar sound of the viewscreen turning on drained all the tension from the room, replacing it with certain dread in the form of a very official-looking and very angry businessbeing. About the only sure thing that could be said of the businessbeing's form was that the black suit it was wearing entirely failed to fit it. As a matter of fact, it was unlikely that anything would fit it. With a nauseating gurgling accent, the businessbeing addressed the assembled soldiers with equal parts contempt and expectation.

"As you no doubt understand, the Vohaul Entertainment Conglomerate is suffering from a number of outstanding debts to this branch of the Milieu," the businessbeing slurped, somehow managing to add bile to a statement already comprised almost entirely of vomit.
"That is why you all are here today. The Vohaul Conglomerate is busy trying to film a movie, no doubt using the resources they have so brazenly stolen from us."
The hideous image of the businessbeing was replaced with an overhead view of Carnate Island. The island's lighthouse and prison main entrance were labeled in bright blue text saying "PICK-UP POINT".

"You are to beam down to the film location," the businessbeing continued. "repossess any items of value from any Vohaul representatives you can find, and bring them back to a designated pick-up point located here and here. If at all possible, it would be best to bring these events to the attention of the native population in as positive a manner as possible. If you spin the Vohaul employees' presence as an... alien invasion or somesuch, we will be able to build up a decent rapport-- and subsequent ideal trade agreement-- much more efficiently."

A bright orange sphere of light formed in the center of the room.
"The portal is waiting. I don't want to hear from any of you unless you've got very good news for me, understand?"
Satisfied at a hard day's work well done, the businessbeing grunted satisfactorily, and signed off.

Uh-oh. Koizumi thought as the monkey saw through her brazen bluff, he was going to go after her and it was not going to be good. She stared at him with a bit of a trepidation. But then Robert answered not with the answer she was expecting, but rather that he thought she was one of those sneaky reporters who went around engaging in various confabs with the members of the crew!

Whew. Smiling she began to rub the back of her head with her left hand, "I like to keep it relatively informal y'know, I find it lets me get those juicy bits, other reporters can't get." As soon as she responded with it, Robert appeared to notice something Mizuki didn't. She had a bit of clay and dust on her right shoulder, from climbing up the quarry.

As Robert pulled out a device from his pocket, Koizumi casually flicked the clay from her shoulder off behind her. Koizumi glanced at the object for a bit, curious on what the show he was promising was. And then that's when he told her to look at the quarry.

Koizumi glanced back down at it in anticipation. Perhaps this was going to deal with trying to get those creatures back, after she and Trunks scared them away? With a single click, Robert triggered a set of actions that resulted in several pings from the devices down below.

As the explosion happened, Koizumi quickly slammed her hands against her ears in an attempt to slightly muffle the deafening sounds, and watched as the explosion grew bright and vast amounts of rock and slag rose up.
"T-tha-" She stuttered out, trying to find the words to finish it.

The madman! That absolute madman, he harmed land that belonged to the Institute! But, there was something about landscapes being destroyed, which didn't harm anyone, that brought a few memories. AT least he didn't destroy land that was filled with inhabitants, that would've been far worse.

She needed to keep that monkey from trying to 'set stages' from any populated areas in this uncivilized holding of the Institute. And more to the point she needed to gather more information on what was going on here, with this 'so called movie' and who else was involved in it. This information would be vital!

Koizumi brushed on her jacket's collar, and adjusted her glasses. "Ahem. That was quite the show!" She spoke with an unintentional bout of glee. While it was Institute property, there was just something about explosions and great light-shows which always tickled at her heart-strings.

She turned back towards Robert with a smile, "So what are you planning to do with this new set? And would you like to say a few words about what brought you to set construction?"