The Break-In Has Begun

The gang came back into town to meet a gruesome sight. A dead body hung up on one of the light posts. The body and head of the woman were hung up separately. The gang paused as they looked up at the body. They felt a sudden wave of chills as they looked at it. "He's taunting us," muttered Melody looking up at the dead body. "I guess Xander was right. This isn't just a random killing spree made by a run-of-the-mill Evil Human. This is a game and nothing else to him."

"Now what?" asked Ash. It was probably a question that had to be asked, but no one wanted to ask it. It was like admitting defeat and who wanted to do that? Michael still hadn't said a word, after all, this was someone in his home town, hanging up, dead…cut in two. For all Ash knew it was entirely possible that this person or what was left of her was someone Michael had known. Someone he grew up with. However, now it was moot point. Seeing her hanging up as dead as a doornail made it entirely obvious that she wasn't about to talk about old times.

"Let's get this monster," Michael said solemnly. Someone, something was playing around in his town. Killing his neighbors…he didn't like Evil Humans. He knew some of them were like his mother, thrust into this world without any voice of their own. But this was crossing the line. This was the last mistake this beast would ever make.

"Great plan," mocked Xander with a heavy tone of sarcasm, "And…how do you plan to go about this? Finding him, killing him? We have no idea about who this guy is! He is a killer, congratulations! That doesn't mean squat when it comes to finding hm. There isn't a bar that says 'killers only'! Or 'killers get in for free'! We have no idea how to find him!"

"Or we have a clue," said Melody. While Ash and Michael had been discussing catching the killer, Melody was inspecting the body. She was behind the victim looking firmly at her back. Her hand went up and peeled a thin strip of paper off of her back. It was a small envelope with the words 'For the Hunters'. She flashed it off, showing it to Michael and Ash. Michael's hand snapped forward, stealing it out of Melody's hand as he looked over it.

"Dear 'Hunters'," read Michael. He was kind of impressed by the choice of words. 'Hunters' made them sound like big burly men armed with shotguns, not teenagers with yo-yos. "I am lonely and I appreciate a good game. So let's have at it. Me versus you three. You have three hours, but every half hour I will add one more person to the body count until those three hours are up! That means six more bodies will be added to the heap of this poor woman as well. Have fun. I am in a building in town keep your eye out for me! Now don't rush, we wouldn't want you to…lose your heads!"

Michael frowned at that last bit, the horrible, sick joke. He threw the paper off to the side. He couldn't stand the thought of a mass murderer hanging out in his home town playing a game with his neighbor's lives. He looked around, "he couldn't have gone far. We know he was here to plant the body, we know he was doing something here with the body. He had to have come here in order to hang it up." He didn't just vanish into thin air and the more time they spent talking about it, the farther away he got. "We should split up, we might find him faster."

Michael went over and started to climb up the fire escape. With a bird's eye view of the city everything becomes revealed. He could see everyone all around him, including someone fleeing the scene of the crime. With his eyes at the top of the building he may be able to locate him. It was a good strategy that would easily capture him if Michael was right. A plan whose firm basis was in hope and nothing else.

Melody broke off down the trail. She headed away quickly to the mayor's house. From what she could tell both from the note and from his brazenness with it, this monster apparently liked power. What better place to assert his authority than in the boss' chair. Michael's plan was for a lucky, but all over shot. Melody concentrated her efforts into one location.

Ash, on the other hand, swerved back to where he was when he first saw the monster. That was where the race began so therefore it was where he was trying to lead them away from. Another logical conclusion on the part of the hunters. Why would he lead them away from that location if it was just a random location? Why was he there in the first place? Even if it wasn't where he was hiding out, something had to be there.

(-with Zhavio-)

Zhavio laughed. He was amazed at their action. They fully took him at his word. They never once thought was this man just pulling our legs. He loved people who played the fool, especially when they didn't even know it. They were playing right into his hand. He didn't like being the bait which is why he made a third-party up. Someone else to be the bait and that was who they were chasing.

He stretched out as he walked over to a table and lifted up a small cup of tea. He took a quick sip of it and relaxed. He was such a nice night. He remained quietly. He was calming down. Only idiots would pace around panickedly when they were being hunted, he looked over at his pile of dead people. People he was supposed to 'wait' to kill. He laughed at that thought. However, he froze. His calmness seeped out of him, leaving him petrified and terrified. There was another body in the room…not one of the dead ones, not even human. But nonetheless, Zhavio recognized his face. It was Marburg.

Marburg smirked. "Nice little plan you got going here," he muttered as he walked up to Zhavio. A dark purple cloud was flowing all around his body as he moved towards him. Zhavio reacted purely out of self-preservation. He rushed towards Marburg. His skin unpeeling and wrapping around his fist forming a drill-like weapon on the tip of his fingers. He thrust it into Marburg's body and to his credit, it blew through him. Or it would've if Marburg's body was really there. His hand slid straight through Marburg's body, forming a puff of purple smoke to escape from his body and covering his hand.

The purple smoke oozed around Zhavio, wrapping him up like a thick blanket. The smog floated around his body, it floated up wrapping around Zhavio's neck, snapping back holding it steady as Marburg's body resurfaced. "Fool," he growled as he pulled back even tighter, choking Zhavio, "The last time I fought against those students you are harassing I lost. I was a miserable wreck back then I was only at about 20% of my full power. All those wretched years spent rolling around in that Prison Jar Lord Death commissioned. My powers were drained, but now they are returning…"

"Yeah," asked Zhavio, "so this is you at full-power, huh?" He chuckled as his head fell down, hanging loosely between his shoulders. "Honestly…I'm disappointed!" Zhavio struck back with the heel of his foot, smashing it into Marburg's shin. The strike like any strike would caused Marburg to loosen his grip on Zhavio's neck. Zhavio broke free, slashing at Marburg's face as he moved away.

Zhavio moved a few feet, stopped and turned around to face Marburg again. To his surprise, Marburg's body wasn't even scratched. The thick purple smoke had returned swarming around his wounds. His leg was foaming along with a few streaks across his face. Marburg wiped the foam clear, revealing his perfectly uninjured body. He had a cocky smile on his face. "No, sadly…I am only at about 60%. Though 30% would be more than enough to defeat you!" Marburg's arm turned to smog and flew at Zhavio wrapping him up in the thick purple gas. The smog restricted Zhavio's entire body, preventing even the slightest movements.

It wrapped tightly against his throat, preventing Zhavio from even mustering a shout. "However, I'm not here to defeat you," he said, pushing his face right up against Zhavio's. "Ah…no," he said dropping Zhavio to the ground. "I have no interest in killing you, not even a small one. No, I'm here to ensure the demise of…someone else."

"Those kids, right?" asked Zhavio looking out the window, barely catching a glimpse as Melody ran by. "You probably hate them with all your guts, correct?"

Marbug smirked. "Sure, let's say it's them." Marburg looked out the window; however, his gaze didn't fall on Melody. "Let's just say that if you accomplish your goal. I'll be one step closer to accomplishing my goal. Of course, I'm not one to not pull my fair share. So, I'll help you out a little." Marburg's hand shot forward, grabbing a hold of Zhavio's head. The dark purple smog crept out of his hands once more filling the room. It floated about and then twisted around flooding into Zhavio's mouth and ears.

Zhavio's head snapped back as the purple smog filled his mouth. It tasted putrid, it smelled putrid, but it made him feel great. It made his heart pump vigorously; it made him feel more alive than ever before! His breathing grew heavy as he felt his blood rush throughout his entire body. "This is great! I feel stronger than ever before! Thanks to you…maybe I'll just crush this entire town." Zhavio chuckled under his breath as he thought about all the damage he could cause now; it was obvious that his sanity was slipping away with every full-bodied laugh he gave.

"I'll admit it," said Marburg as he walked towards the door. "My actions are absolutely selfish. Helping you is really just a stepping stone to accomplish my true goal."He paused as he looked over at Zhavio, who was paying absolutely no attention to Marburg, he was too enraptured in his own blossoming power levels. He looked over at Marburg, his opinion of him was rapidly inclining

(-with Michael-)

Michael remained perched on top of the buildings. His head was being cradled in his hands as he carefully rolled his eyes over the landscape. He saw nothing. He was amazed once more by how careful this monster was being. It was an Evil Human obviously due to the marks and tears on the bodies, but Michael had no hint aside from that. He was trying to keep himself busy and his mind off of his target, this entailed mainly loading and unloading arrows from his bow. He stretched out and looked up at the skies. "Here I was thinking it would be easy since it wasn't one of Lord Death's brothers, we were facing."

The reflection in May's bow, showed an equally bored girl. She wasn't doing anything since there was very little for her to do. She looked back over the city, she couldn't find them, but she did see Ash coming back, apparently empty-handed and distressed. She could almost make the frown out on his face as he walked in front of the building.

They were losing thus far. It wasn't their proudest moments, but they still had some time to turn it around. Michael checked his watch…they were about 22 minutes in, which meant they had eight minutes left until the second victim fell.

(-in the kishin holding cell-)

Noelle sighed. It was a heavily fortified place obviously Michael's dad put all of his saving and knowledge into this place. Booby traps were abound, if Noelle had an actually tangible, physical form it would be impossible to skate through here. Even with her ethereal form it was difficult to sneak in. Luckily she made it to the main control center of the place. She just had to hack and open the door. She brought it up on the old computer stored down there only to be met with firewalls, encryptions, and security galore. This would take more times…maybe two hours?

The gang has gotten themselves in an unbelievably bad situation. Ignoring how the rest of the fight boils down it seems that trouble is brewing heavier than ever before. Zhavio has made multiple advancements, calling the gang out to a sinister 'game', it's all a matter of whether or not they can find him.