xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Balsamico Manor, 9:02 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"...Was that table knocked over already?" Claudia said as she looked over at the table on the ground with her crew.
"Not entirely sure, milady." Tazo said as he rubbed his chin in confusion as his sister, Tiza, scratched her head in equal confusion.
"Well, it is a party. Someone probably went a little nuts and flipped it before we finally got in here." Claudia said as she turned away from the table and went back to her group, examining the partygoers stuck in the time box left behind by Loumos camera. "Hmmmm…" She mumbled as she examined the time locked captives.
"Something the matter?" Dolph said as stood next to Claudia as her eyes wandered.
"Potential candidates for another project?" Tiza said with a smirk as she looked at the people with her boss.
"The half pint in charge of this party has a mouth too weird looking for my pieces. The daughter has a nice figure but I don't like her hair very much and I don't want to go through the process of messing with her hair to make it something I like, too much of waste of time before the idea disappears from my mind." Claudia analyzed as she looked up and down Count Balsamico and Aceto within the time box.
"Lo-lovely judgements, mi-milady..." Loumo said with his nervous tone.
"I know, I'm good, aren't I?" Claudia said with an overconfident tone as her allies clapped their hands at her supposed greatness. Meanwhile, as her and team was distracted, Bernard was still hiding behind the overturned table.
"...Okay, calm down and think... Even with Corvus and the others, I'm still at a disadvantage in terms of numbers with how useless I am on my own... Thank god they moved away from here, it gave me more time to think..." Bernard thought as he continued to hide behind the table. Inching over to the side, he creeped his head out from behind to see the intruders looking over the captives. "The heck are they doing?" He thought with caution.
"Ahhhh, now this a subject!" Claudia said as she moved over to the side of the box and examined Camilla who was also next to Pietro, Marlene and Anatoli.
"My, she is stunning... Hehehe." Tazo said perversely as he looked at Camillas figure.
"Quit staring at her, dummy." Tiza said as she noticed her brother being lecherous. "You probably won't be seeing her again anyway after we are done." She explained.
"Damn it, stay away from her you pervert, she's mine- Ah, I mean, she's not really! I mean we're close and all but- god damn it, now's not the time for this!" Bernard thought with a red face as he realized what he was thinking before going back to watch the mysterious intruders.
"These ones around her though, not so much." Claudia said as she critiqued the appearance of Anatoli, Marlene and Pietro. "This ones too fat and the moustache is quite interesting but the lack of hair on his head is a bit of a turn off to his physical appeal." She said as she pointed at Pietro as her allies nodded to the words she said. "This monkey man is just too disgusting in personality, it'll seep through the cracks and become too gross of a piece."
"What about her?" Dolph said as he pointed at Marlene, catching Claudias attention as she turned her head towards the chameleon-like girl in the box.
"Hmmmm…" Claudia said as she examined Marlene. "Why the interest in this one?" She said as Dolph made a slightly red face.
"Saw her about and I kinda got a little crush the moment my eyes glanced at her." Dolph said honestly as Tazo and Tiza smirked.
'"Man with snake tattoos falls for snake girl," kinda poetic. Hehehe." Tiza joked as she and her brother chuckled.
"Shut up!" Dolph said angrily.
"Could all of you just shut up?" Bernard thought as he continued to stare.
"She's unique looking... But not my kind of piece frankly. Minus the attractive one, these three are frankly ugly to me." Claudia said as she shrugged her shoulders and moved away from the time box.
"Note to self: headbutt the art critics face into a paste..." Bernard thought, becoming more and more agitated by her criticisms of his friends.
"Enough of the banter, we all know what we came for." Claudia said as she made a serious face as she turned towards her allies.
'"Yes milady!"' Dolph, Loumo, Tazo and Tiza said in unison as Claudia turned her head towards the crib where the baby was, an evil smirk forming on her face as she walked over.
"...Oh no... She's here for the baby?!" Bernard thought in shock as his eyes widened in surprise. "I gotta think of something fast or that kid is a goner!" He thought in worry. "Okay, I need a plan."
Looming over the baby, who was asleep and unknowingly surrounded in her crib by mysterious and nefarious individuals.
"Now, now, no need to wake up..." Claudia said as she looked over the baby before reaching her hand down into the crib to grab the child. "Once I am done with you... You will be beautiful art..." She said with an evil tone.
"Cute kid, ain't she?" Said a new voice.
"Perfect for my art, don'tcha- huh? Who said that?" Claudia said until she noticed the new voice as her and her team looked around to see where it came from.
Looking upward, the group was surprised by the appearance of Corvus, the crow Celestial Spirit, above them. Surprised by the sudden appearance of the bird, the intruders stepped back somewhat as Corvus flew down and picked up the baby with his talons, wrapped in the sheets as Corvus flew over to Bernard, now carrying the baby in his hands.
"Hey! Get back here you damn turkey!" Dolph screamed.
"I'm a crow! You asshole!" Corvus exclaimed in response as he flapped next to Bernard.
"Easy, Corvus. We're not out of the woods yet..." Bernard said as he held the baby in his hands as he stared at the group.
"Well, well, well. Loumo, it looks like you missed one." Tiza said with a serious look on her face as Loumo made an upset expression as he looked over his camera.
"How about doing us a favor and giving us back our art subject?" Tazo said with a serious look as he put out his hand, requesting Bernard to hand over the child.
"How about you twits piss off before my friend here shows what it feels like to be electified..." Bernard said threateningly as Corvus started to spark up.
"Ohhh..." Claudia said with intrigue as she saw Corvus spark up. "Never seen something like that before." She said with curiosity.
"There's too many of these guys, I need the element of surprise here... I'll only just have Corvus be out to be careful..." Bernard thought with worry as he attempted to strategize. "Corvus... Be on your guard..." He said cautiously.
"Already aware..." Corvus said as his body sparks up with electricity.
"Loumo." Claudia said as she locked eyes with Bernard. "Hand me my camera." She said as she raised her hand out for Loumo to give her the camera he is holding.
"Y-yes Master Claudia..." Loumo said nervously as he gave away the magical camera as Claudia examined it.
"Dolph, tattoos." Claudia said as she looked over the camera, not paying attention to Bernard as Dolph walked forward, an evil grin on his face.
"Claudia... And that camera stops time around anything it catches in the lens... We gotta make sure we remain out of that things sightline..." Bernard thought as he tightly held the baby in his arms.
"Easy kid, hang back." Corvus said as he got in front of Bernard to protect him and the baby.
"Tattoo Magic... Viper Party." Dolph said sinisterly as a magic circle appeared below his feet as the multiple snake tattoos on his chest and face started to move off his body and come to life in a myriad of living green snakes that appeared with faded bodies. Slithering along the ground towards Bernard and Corvus, the duo started to back up slowly.
"Uhhh Corvus... A little lightning would be nice!" Bernard said fearfully as the tattoo snakes continued to move towards them.
"Got it kid!" Corvus said as he begun to fire lightning bolts towards the snakes, causing them to dissipate into paint on the ground. "Hahaha! Suck on- Huh?!" Corvus said until he turned his attention towards Claudia, holding the camera and pointing it towards the crow Celestial Spirit.
"Say "cheese!"' Claudia exclaimed as she pressed the button on the camera, the flash enveloping Corvus and trapping him inside a time box, freezing him in place.
"Crap! Corvus!" Bernard said as Corvus was stuck inside the box, stuck in midair. "Damn it, I gotta get help from Vulp or Baurs!" He thought as he reached his right hand with the bracelet of Baurs towards his pacemaker.
As Bernard lifted his arm, a sudden breeze swung past his hair as an object flew past his head and pierced the wall behind Bernard in the room. Looking back, he saw a faded playing card sticking out of the wall with incredibly sharp edges. Turning his attention back forward, Bernard noticed Tiza holding a series of cards that Dolph was handing over to her as she casually flipped the cards between her fingers with a cruel smile on her face.
"Well... I believe the game is over now." Claudia said with a smirk as she put her camera back in Loumos hands. "Now then, do us a fave and don't move, please." She said with a sarcastic tone.
"I'm not letting you take this kid." Bernard said as he continued to clutch Merilo in his arms. "No more "element of surprise..."' He thought nervously.
"You don't have much of a choice, punk." Dolph said with a smirk as he reached behind his back and pulled out a series of faded kunai knifes from his tattoos and handed them to Tazo.
"We want the baby, you give her to us and we promise we won't hurt you or them. Deal?" Claudia said as she begun to walk towards Bernard.
"Piss off." Bernard said sternly as he stepped back somewhat, swallowing spit in nervousness as Claudia got within breathing distance of him. Reaching into her utility belt around her waist, Claudia pulled out her curved knife and held it up to Bernards face.
"...I heard about you from the puckered lipped old man that you have a defect where you have a little rock in your chest just to keep yourself alive..." Claudia said with a harsh tone as she poked her knife against Bernards left chest, specifically the area where his Lacrima pacemaker was. "Something about the idea of you having that makes me... Disgusted..." She said with a disgruntled look in her eyes as she eyed Bernard.
"...And just why does that bother you?" Bernard said with an angered expression.
"You're just so... Ugly... You have no beauty or artistic value on you." Claudia said critically as she stared down Bernard.
'"Artistic value?" The hell does any of that mean?!" Bernard thought offended as he looked at Claudia, mere inches from her face.
"I'm going to give you a choice; the baby oooor..." Claudia said as she pointed her knife towards Tiza, who was pointing the sharp card tattoos towards the group of captives in the time box, and Tazo, who was pointing the kunai tattoos at Corvus. "My friends will turn everyone else here into a dartboard. Your choice." She said with a cruel look on her face.
"...I..." Bernard thought with a mixture of anger, fear and confusion of what to do. "...Why do you want this baby?" He questioned with a serious tone.
"...To turn her into an art piece that will capture "innocence in a physical form."' Claudia said as she pointed her curved dagger as Bernards neck. "She will be immortalized as art by the great Claudia Vanderheems hands... Now give me the baby..." She said with a tone of violence in her voice.
"...I'm not going to survive this if I don't do something..." Bernard thought as he stared down Claudia.
"Give me the damn baby!" Claudia screamed as she lifted her curved dagger upward for a downward swing.
"Okay!" Bernard replied quickly as he put one of his hands up to stop her before she stabbed him. "I'll give you the child..." He said with hesitation as he looked down at Merilos sleeping infant face.
"...Good..." Claudia said with a face that appeared to have calmed down somewhat.
"Wise decision." Tazo said as his sister nodded as Dolph moved forward towards Bernard and outreached his hands to take the child from Bernards grasp.
"Give her here..." Dolph said with a smirk as Bernard handed the child to the tattooed man as he and Claudia walked away back towards Tazo, Tiza and Loumo.
"Hold on..." Bernard said as Claudia turned back towards him. "You aren't leaving until you free them..." He said as he pointed towards the partygoers and Corvus in their time boxes.
"Hmmm? Oh right, these people." Claudia said as she looked at the trapped partygoers and the crow Celestial Spirit. "Tazo, Loumo." She said as she snapped her fingers to beckon them as Loumo and Tazo walked over to her.
"Here you are." Tazo said as he gave Claudia a large red suitcase that he had hidden under his overly elegant cloak.
"Yo-you can hav-have this too..." Loumo said in his usual nervous tone as he handed over the camera as Claudia opened up the suitcase and rummaged around inside it. Reaching around, Claudia pulled out a little white clay figurine in the shape of a scorpion-like creature with no spot where the head would be.
"...Shot in the dark; she isn't going to free them..." Bernard thought as he looked at Claudia, holding her figurine.
Waving her hand over the figurine, she threw it on the ground as the scorpion-like clay figure started to suddenly unleash purple smoke into the room as the doll begun to grow in size and begun to move like a giant monstrous scorpion the size of a rhinoceros.
"This is a sculpture of mine, I didn't name it anything unfortunately. But I did think for a minute of a fun little game you could play with it." Claudia said with a dark smirk as she placed her camera in the hole where the head would be on the giant scorpion sculpture. "This camera is holding everyone here inside it, all you have to do is get the camera. Good luck!" Claudia said as she and her team ran towards the exit door to the room, escaping with Merilo.
"Hey!- Guh!" Bernard exclaimed angrily as the clay scorpion started to approach him. "God damn it!" Bernard said loudly as he ran around the scorpion creature with the camera head as the monster started to chase him.
Running around the room, Bernard rushed on top of the snack tables and begun to leap over the food as the scorpion sculpture swatted its massive spiked tail at the tables and broke them one by one in an effort to hit Bernard.
"Baurs! Help!" Bernard shouted as the bracelet around his wrist that stored Baurs begun to expand and formed into her large rock lizard form. As he ran off to the side, Baurs stood in the way of the scorpion monster and begun to push against it to keep it away from Bernard.
"Ugh! Heavy!" Baurs exclaimed as she struggled to push against the sculpture.
"Damn it, Vulp!" Bernard said as light particles begun to come out Bernards pacemaker and formed into Vulp. "Use your tail! Grab that damn camera!" He ordered as Vulp complied and outstretched his tail to grab the camera.
While Baurs used her bodily strength to push back against the equally sized scorpion figure, Vulp fished his tail around the camera head of the monster and yanked it off of his head as the monster still continued to thrash about.
"Still moving..." Bernard thought while looking at the scorpion as Vulp held the camera in his tail. "Baurs, mud spray!" He shouted as Baurs opened her mouth and begun to fire out a torrent of muddy water, pressing back against the scorpion as it flew backwards towards the wall of the room as it was soaked in mud. "Vulp! Crush it!"
As Bernard commanded, Vulps dropped the camera on the ground as his tail begun to morph into a hammer-like object as it expanded to a much larger size as Vulp lifted up the hammer and slammed the scorpion with enough force to turn it into a crushed pile of clay and mud, destroying it.
"...Finally..." Bernard sighed with relief as he fell down onto his butt with Baurs and Vulp approaching back towards him. "Now how the hell can I fix that?" He said as he and the others looked over towards the partygoers who were trapped in the time box.
"Perhaps the camera?" Baurs questioned as Vulp poked his paw against the camera as Bernard picked it up.
"Don't know how this works though." Bernard said as he looked over it. "Hmmmm… What if we just broke it?" He questioned to the confused fox Celestial Spirit and Earth Elemental.
"Think that's a good idea? If it doesn't work, what other options do we have?" Baurs questioned.
"Hmmmm… Vulp, hammer tail again?" Bernard asked of Vulp as he turned his tail into a giant mallet once again to prepare to smash the camera but Bernard waved his hand in front of the fox before he could do anything. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute..." He said as he started to think as he put the camera down on the ground and looked over towards the large time box where the partygoers and his friends were stuck inside.
"Thinking?" Baurs said as Vulp looked on with similar interest as Bernard looked around at the people in the box before turning his attention towards Count Balsamico and Aceto in the group before looking over at the crushed snack table he ran around and then over at the crushed remains of the clay scorpion sculpture.
"...This isn't going to help my case..." Bernard thought as he scratched at his chin before walking over to one of the curtains that were covering a window in the room, ripping it down and tearing into it with his bare hands. "Baurs, go over to the crib area and crush it with your tail." He commanded to Baurs and Vulps confusion.
"Why would you want me to do that?" Baurs asked confused.
"Trust me, it's going to help in the long run." Bernard said as he continued to tear down the curtains and walked over to the crushed remains of the snack tables as Baurs stomped over to the crib where Merilo originally was and smashed it into pieces. "Vulp, can you give me a curved blade of some kind from your tail?" He asked as Vulp continued to sit around on standby with the mallet-like tail as Vulps tail stretched some strands of hair over to Bernard and formed into a curved blade-like protrusion that he held in his hand. "This is gonna sting..." Bernard thought as he swallowed spit and made a slight cut into his clothes around his right shoulder with some of the cuts slicing into his arm on purpose.
"Can you explain your plan please?" Baurs questioned, her tone becoming slightly bothered by the lack of conveyance from her owner.
"We're "turning the wheels" in our favor, so to speak. Okay, so Vulp, I want you to smash the camera, I'm assuming this is going to unfreeze everybody and once we smash the camera, we'll all fall down as if we had just been knocked out and act like we were beaten pretty badly to everyones surprise. Got it?" Bernard explained as Baurs and Vulp cautiously nodded.
Raising the hammer tail, Vulp smashed the camera with his tail, obliterating the magical camera and the Lacrima attached to it into small pieces. Upon its destruction, Bernard, Baurs and Vulp all fell down onto the ground in different manners. Suddenly, as they fell, a magic circle appeared underneath the partygoers and Corvus' time boxes as the boxes begun to dispel and disappear as they were freed from their captivity.
'"Cheese!"' The partygoers said in unison until they suddenly noticed the flash of light from the camera they were in front of disappeared and begun to notice something weird.
"Huh?" Camilla mumbled as she felt her back feel sore and stiff.
"What was that?" Anatoli said in confusion as he and the other people from the party started to look around and noticed the room seemed different. They started to notice the destroyed aspects of the room they were celebrating in with the crushed furnishings, damage to the walls, torn curtains and the noticeable absence of the nights most important person.
"M-Merilo?" Aceto said nervously as she quickly rushed over to the crib where she last saw her daughter as her father soon joined her in shock at the missing body of the infant.
"What happened here?" Pietro said with growing concern as he looked at the damage to the room as Marlene looked around and noticed Vulp and Baurs supposedly unconscious states.
"Baurs, Vulp! Are you okay?!" Marlene said as she checked on the pair as Baurs started to move and looked at Marlene.
"I'm... Okay?" Baurs said cautiously as she looked over at Bernard, now with cuts and tears in his clothes as he was laying on his back with his eyes closed.
"Ber-Bernard?!" Camilla exclaimed in surprise as she, the other Psycho Circus wizards and Corvus rushed to check on their fallen comrade. Lifting him up to a seated position, Bernard opened his eyes slowly and clutched at his right shoulder.
"Ugh... Bout time you guys got out..." Bernard said with a tone of pain.
"What do you mean "got out?" What happened?!" Corvus exclaimed in confusion and surprise.
"We got a problem..." Bernard said as he looked over at Aceto and Count Balsamico, tears in their eyes and worried over the disappearance of the baby.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Balsamico Manor, 8:06 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The next day, after the general partygoers went home confused and scared, the Psycho Circus wizards stayed the night within the castle as originally promised by the count and his daughter, agitated and bothered by what had transpired. Meanwhile, within a guest room, Aceto and Count Balsamico were speaking to a representative of the Magic Council, who had arrived with several soldiers from the royal kingdom as security for the home, to discuss what happened. As they spoke; Camilla, Anatoli, Pietro and Marlene, dressed back in their casual attires, all sat together in a guest room of their own.
"...Can't believe this all happened under our noses..." Anatoli said with an aggravated tone as he sat on his ball.
"Me neither..." Camilla said as she sat on a couch with Pietro next to her.
"Based on what Bernard had said, they were wizards disguised as the catering staff and their target was the infant. He tried to fight back and got badly hurt because of it..." Pietro said as he looked at the others before turning his attention to Marlene, who was looking out the window of the room. "You alright?" He questioned towards the chameleon-like girl
"Oh uh, yeah, I am fine..." Marlene said with a tired tone as she looked at the others. "That Dolph guy... He was in the group that took the child..." She thought with a worried and contemplative tone.
"Thankfully, Bernies wounds were superficial at best but he was still conked out... Speaking of which, where is he?" Anatoli said as he looked around.
"Bernard told me to get us all here and wait for him. I think he is out walking about the castle." Camilla said as she sat back.
"I wonder why..." Pietro said as he folded his arms in a contemplative manner.
"Maybe he's trying to talk the count into giving him the money without needing to perform since the kid ain't here. Hehe- uh..." Anatoli said, trying to make a joke before everyone stared at him for the inappropriate comment. "S-sorry... Too soon..." He apologized while scratching the back of his head.
"I think Bernard seems the most angry about what happened." Marlene said as she spoke up.
"Can't deny that, he was the only one who tried to stop whoever took Merilo." Pietro replied.
"...A woman with a curved knife, black hair in a ponytail and she couldn't stop muttering about "art." A brother and sister dressed in overly extravagant frilly clothes, a man with tattoos all over his body and a large guy with a flat head and a nervous way of talking... They sound like they stand out but I can't think of anyone like that." Camilla said as she tried to think.
"Sounds like dark wizards regardless..." Anatoli said with a serious tone.
"It's too late though for us to deal with anything." Pietro said as he stood up, causing everyone to look at him. "The Magic Council and the royal army have already been called in and we have nothing to contribute to the situation at hand. We may as well start packing to go back home to the guild." He explained as he walked over to a suitcase.
"He may be right..." Marlene said as she scratched her neck in a depressed manner as Camilla and Anatoli looked at eachother with concern.
Suddenly, the door swung up to the room as Bernard quickly came in, holding a sheet of paper and an angry look in his eyes, causing everyone to turn their attention towards him.
"Put the bags down, we aren't leaving yet." Bernard said bluntly as he walked over to the bed in the guest room.
"Hey, calm down. You're still injured from last night." Camilla stated as she stood up to calm down Bernard.
"I'm fine! We have bigger fish to fry! A group of fish actually..." Bernard said as he placed the paper down on the bed and spread it out as the others huddled around him to see what it was.
"A map of the surrounding valley? Why do you have this?" Anatoli questioned.
"To help us find something. We all need to get ready because in less than an hour, we're going to this area here." Bernard said as he pointed to an area of the map.
"Why? What for?" Camilla said with confusion at Bernards overly direct behavior. Suddenly, Bernard turned and looked at everyone in his group as they backed up slightly to see his overly determined expression.
"I'll explain on the way to the valley, but I'll tell you this much; we are going to find that damn kid and then we are going to kick these bastards asses..." Bernard said with a serious tone in his voice as he looked at his comrades from Psycho Circus.
...Now this is a sight I have been wanting to see. The mysterious group of dark wizards, led by Claudia Vanderheem, have succeeded in acquiring their target; the young baby Merilo from her first birthday party. With Bernard and his pets failing to protect her and having to hand over the child to the evil wizards intent on turning her into "art," a certain beast owning young man isn't taking the loss lightly. Staging the scene, Bernard has told his friends from Psycho Circus to get ready because they are going to mount a rescue. What will happen next time on Menagerie? See you next time to find out!
Authors Note: (Hey, Merry Christmas from America, it's me and this is going to be the last chapter before Christmas happens on December 25th (and perhaps for the remainder of 2019) Hope you all have a decent time and thanks for keeping up with me and the story since May, please keep it up with the reviews, it always makes me happy to see people talking about the story and giving their thoughts.)