[From here]

Now this place, he remembered intimately for a number of reasons. Goku couldn't feasibly count the number of times Taura, Birdy, and he had come through here to get to the basement. Most of the time they had been stopped by someone or something lurking in here. The memory started his heart pumping with excitement. It had been a long time since he had a proper fight!

The one with Birdy didn't count. Goku thought back further and stopped on the time he had attacked Kibitoshin in this exact room. He tried, but he couldn't remember why he had wanted to defeat the man... Either way, it had been a great fight. It was also the night he had truly met Taura and everything she was capable of. Yeah, those were all fond memories!

Welp. Goku flicked his gaze back and forth within the spacious room, but nothing seemed willing to assault him. That was a real drag!

"Ah well..." Technically, he had a job to complete. Reluctantly, he peeled his feet off the carpet and moved to the doors that lead into the main hallways. He could there'd be a lot of people out there to throw these bricks at.

[to here]

[From here]

"Eh--" This place, in the dark with no other people running around and no delicious-smelling food all over the tables, seemed a lot larger now that he was standing in it all alone. Or, at least, he thought he was alone.

"Helloooo?" he called out experimentally. He waited for an answer, but all he got was his own echo. At first he thought it was another patient, but when nothing stirred in the dark, the young boy took the hint. It would have been nice if he could just dump all these brick things on everyone all at once so he could go find his own excitement, but it looked like this adventure wouldn't be completed so easily.

What a drag.

After one last moment of staring blankly into space, the monkey boy began waddling toward the door in search of someone who would lighten his load.

[to here]

[ From here]

First rule of business: a spoon. Sure, he could have used his hands, but Goku had learned that ice cream and those meaty warm pads at the end of your arms tended to melt most of it onto the ground before you could get it to your hungry face hole.

If he wanted to eat his share, then a utensil was necessary. Setting down the carton and his satchel for just a moment, the little boy hopped up on the counter and began rifling through the various drawers that lined the granite he was currently perched on. Most of it, he found, were odd tools that were a lot more complex than just a scooping thing. Some looked more like weapons, but eventually he found one that kinda resembled a spoon. The part that held the food was a lot more concave and big, but hey! That just meant it could hold more ice cream in one scoop.

"He heee!" Dropping back down with a victorious chuckle, he picked his things back up and opened the carton lid, only to toss it away somewhere in the kitchen. It would only hinder his eating actions if he kept it around on his journey. With that, he walked out of the kitchen with a mouthful of mint chocolate chip.

[to here]

"Heeave-hooo!" A scruffy voice shouted as a piece of the floor shifted. After a few aborted attempts, the obstinate square relented to the boy's unusual strength. Even still, it was really heavy! Goku was used to going toe-to-toe with dinosaurs for a simple morning work out. A piece of rock shouldn't be this wearisome.

Ah well.

Pulling his squat little body through the hole was easy. It was his bulging sack of delicate machinery that gave him problems. With a few not-so gentle tugs, the little monkey boy freed it from the greedy labyrinth below them. Curious, he peered down below as if he hoped to see something that hadn't been there previously.

"Hooo..." he breathed a sigh of relief before pull the strap over his head. Goku was so short the bag practically touched the ground, but he still made a fine pack mule. A pack mule on a mission! But first, he helped himself to a carton of ice cream. He'd get a spoon in the kitchen on his way out.

[to here]

Oh man, the world was so bright! Billy Takashi had forgotten how many colors the world could make that weren't just white, grey, and dark green. He was free, healthy(er), and it was Friday so even better! His back was to Landel's Institute as he carried onward to Doyleton with his best friend at his side.

They didn't really have much in the way of transportation, so it was hiking for both of them; not that Billy minded. It felt good to just be in the sunshine, walking through nature, and toward his former life he had to put on pause for months. His friend asked him if he felt any better after everything and, to be honest, Billy wasn't sure. His imagination still got the better of him, but he was a little boy! Besides, he finally stopped telling everyone he had a tail so that was a step forward in the right direction, right?

The town didn't seem any different, and yet everything felt different. He wasn't sure why. He used to come here every week when he was hospitalized in the Landel's, so how could it be such a strange feeling? Huh, who the hell knew. There were more important things to deal with, like grocery shopping! Billy didn't even mind that their Grandpa was just too lazy to do it in himself, and since Sonny was already going out to pick up Billy...

But, of course, it hadn't ended there. There were other errands that needed to be run, which bored the young boy to tears! It was like Landel's all over again, having to do what everyone else told him. By the time the third bag had been placed in his arms, Billy was already shuffling his feet like a petulant child about to start a tantrum.

"How much more of this do we gotta do?! I'm hungry!" he whined as they moved down Main Street. Manhandling the bags in his arms, he stuffed one stubby hand down a paper sack to steal something to snack on.

[From here]

Doors were turning into the only excitement the monster could find in this deserted place. Between the halls he found his best opponent: a pair of rusted doors. Lumbering forward on his knuckles, the giant monkey kicked them open with a massive foot.

It brought the creature into another equally dark and equally boring corridor. Snorting with a heavy puff, it continued its destructive journey to find something softer, warmer, and filled with that red liquid that squirted out sometimes.

[to here]

[From here]

In the quiet of the halls its screams ricocheted with keen precision down the corridors, making any living thing on the second floor doubt its next step.

As its saliva dripped to the floor, its long snout sniffed at the air, looking to break a warm body between its hands and suck the marrow from the pathetic creature's bones in triumph.

[To here]

[From here]

The backlit screen of the monitor caught his attention immediately. Snarling, he lumbered toward it with only a few heavy steps and brought his hand down to smash it. Wood splintered in every direction. Technology crackled as it died in electrical agony. What was left of the desk and the computer was a pile of bent metal and broken wood. Nothing living bled out onto the floor, leaving the monkey displeased and eager to look elsewhere for a better opportunity. That opportunity was clearly not here, and so he moved away from its mess and made for the door.

The beds screamed as their legs scraped against the linoleum tile, shoved out of the way by a massive body that was too wide for its own good. The noise, to the creature's delight, sounded like those of piddling ants scurrying for cover; however, after two beds were flipped and thrown against the nearest wall, it received no reward for its commitment to murder.

Frustrated, it made quick work of the second door. The solid metal fell into the hall like a shotgun blast.

When the lights flickered along the ceiling and died, the working of hands fiddled with the clank of heavy metal. Things you could no longer call animal bleated from their cages, turning the restless room into a chorus of bloodlust and fear from and of their captors. All the while, the creature in its corner waited with the patience of a snake ready to strike at the most opportune moment--Not that it even knew how to be patient.

Too big to properly fit into the humans' most expansive cage, it was doubled over itself, stuffed like a sardine in a can one size too small. With its movement completely restricted, it couldn't even beat against the cage to make its escape. Now, though, luck was on its side as it keenly felt the lock fall to the floor and the door slip open. The beast didn't have to think twice. Extending its large, meaty hand, it bent the cage door in two as it wriggled out of is suffocating cocoon, all the while its massive head foamed at the lips and howled with blood-curdling power.

It was unfortunate how sore its muscles felts being cramped up all day, but the thought was brief as it staggered through the rest of the cages, ignoring the cries of its fellow beasts. What did it care? Destruction was the only thing on its mind.

The locked door was easily ripped off its hinges and tossed into the hallway like a discarded tissue. The only problem was the large monkey was wider than the door frame; however, the solution was relatively simple. Its muscled shoulders pushed and rammed the walls until they gave and crumbled like sediment around his massive frame.

[to here]

[from here]

"Your turn," Taura said, pulling Goku down off her shoulders and setting him carefully on the ground. "Anything we can do to help you find the plant?" Getting out of the way was probably the best thing she could do, and she hopped up on one of the re-planting benches, high enough that even her feet swung back and forth a foot above the ground.

The greenhouse was pitch dark, and smelled only like dirt, to her normal-human nose. Lightning flickered outside the glass roof, and thunder rattled the windows. Pretty, but a few panes of glass weren't much protection. "You been all right, Rita?"

[from here]

Taura hadn't been down this hallway in a long, long time; they generally took patients out to the greenhouse through the next one over, but they might not have much time, and every footstep counted.

The doors to the doctors offices stood like silent sentinals as she ran down the hall. She hadn't expected it to make her feel uneasy, but her grip on Goku's legs shifted as she reminded herself that she was carrying a boy who could turn into a monster on her shoulders, and that that alone was proof that they were both who they said they were.

Once again, a couple of bursts of static greeted Link as he entered the room, but there was no audio message waiting for him. Strangely, the drawing from last night remained largely intact, as if it had been impossible for their captors to remove. The only thing different was that the vibrant glow from before had diminished, and the image was mostly reduced to a faint, green outline.

But more than that, a companion clue had apparently been set up for whoever entered here. This one required a flashlight to fully examine, but a well-aimed beam would illuminate a framed oil painting hanging from the wall. Beneath that were words written in the same green, glowing paint from last night:

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

If that wasn't odd enough, though, whoever had arranged the clues also left a small pile of dried leaves beneath the painting. The leaves themselves were unremarkable, and were likely pulled from a common tree. Was it another message, perhaps?

Despite the cryptic clue, though, the person who had come before did not want the patients' troubles to go unrewarded. A first aid kit with these items was perched on the table in the center of the room.

[From here]

Link moved cautiously but quickly through the medical wing, which had somehow been cleared of last night's stench of blood. It was like the building had reset itself. There must have been powerful magic at work, here.

Although the tension in the air was thick, Link came across nothing as he moved through the narrow hallways, following the path to the X-Ray Room. It seemed like much longer than a day since he had been here, but he wasn't going to let that tire him out. The task at hand was too important to complain about being tired.

As expected, the room in question was once again locked. Breaking through the door, Link pushed his way into the X-Ray room for the second night in a row.

[To here]

[From here]

The main hallways. Good. And the coast seemed to be clear, so far. Link briefly wondered if the new clue would help the situation, or only make it more grim. He would know soon enough.

[To here]

[From here]

Once again, he was dumped out into this spacious room that was pretty, sure, but wholly unfun. He stared up through the glass ceiling above them, soaking up the rays of sun that seemed like he would never be able to bask in freely again.

Three meals a day and some entertainment at night was enjoyable enough, but he was starting to get bored with this routine. Spontaneity was the spice of life and Goku was starting to feel suffocated by this constant rhythm. The little boy may only have room for a few goals at a time in his head, but they were just as important as everyone else's, even more so in some cases! He needed to reclaim his grandpa's treasure and continue his training! The witches in white just couldn't understand this, girls as they were.

Huffing, the young boy set out to look for one of his furry companions for any new information on the secrets of the institute. He got down on all fours and began crawling around the couches, looking here and there for any signs of his accomplices.

[For Taura~!]

The day was quieter than Albedo was accustomed to, enough so that his mind began the process of stabilizing nearly naturally-- A byproduct of Nigredo's presence? Or simply a natural state of being when one wasn't constantly bombarded by external forces and influence? Something to contemplate, perhaps, when there was time to do so. Currently, instead, Albedo needed to--

Think other things over. Possibly discuss them with another. There were the previous events of the days, as well as the end of the night, and Klavier's brief interruption did nothing to set the boy at ease. In essence, Albedo needed his brother, but the last time he checked, Nigredo was still asleep. Perhaps he shouldn't be surprised. Not with that illness.... Not with what was happening. Nearly resigned to another shift alone, Albedo moved to wash, thoughts swiftly becoming his own.

[ brofriend. ]

[From here]

Whoa, it was really dark down here. Goku stopped for a second, trying to get a better bearing on his surroundings, but his eyes were just terrible. The young boy couldn't pick up more than blackness and the occasional wall when he accidentally staggered into it.

All this ickiness he blamed on the witches and their venom, but the excessive heat seemed like a new side effect. It was very distracting when you were trying to fight people off to save a corpse.

"I think--" he stared, leaning forward to get a better whiff. "--we're almost there!"

[From here]

Bursting through the stairwell, the young boy ran into the hallway with the intention to beat on something, but the sound of the intercom froze Goku in place. That voice! He knew that voice better than anyone now. A stubby hand unsheathed his red staff, wide black eyes narrowing. It seemed to come from all around him and Goku had a hard time catching up as he spun around in a dizzying circle, threatening the empty darkness.

"Show yourself, you demon! Give me back my friend!" He sniffed the air, trying to find where he was, but Landel was nowhere to be smelled. He was like some kind of evil voice wizard.

Rita awakened with a gasp.

That sharp breath was promptly answered with an even sharper pain in her chest. As her awareness increased, she realized she felt similar aches and pains all over her body, along with a general chill. Wherever she was, it was freezing cold and pitch dark.

And to top it all off, she was naked. Someone was going to be in for a world of hurt for that.

A single blanket had been draped over her entire body, including her face. When she tried to pull herself up, she hit her head on a low metal ceiling and was forced to lay back down. Feeling around, there were similar metal walls all around her body. Like she was in a box, or...

What the hell happened? The last thing she remembered was fighting that brat in the arena. Was that... over? Rita groaned, a sound that echoed back to her in her metal tomb. Did she really lose to that obnoxious little runt? She was never going to live this down...

But that was supposed to be a duel to the death, and yet Rita was alive. But this... was this a coffin? And the 'blanket'... a burial cloth? Panic began to flood into her mind as a horrifying possibility occurred to her: she'd been buried alive after being erroneously declared dead.

Squirming around in her narrow prison, Rita began to kick and shove at the walls. The sound they made was a hollow one. Hollow. There was air on the other side! This was one situation where Rita was glad to be proven wrong. She just had to calm down and think rationally.

A few, more calculated kicks, and she found that she could make the floor slide and jerk beneath her. By repeating the motion, Rita soon felt air move over her feet. Whatever she was inside of, she'd opened it, if just by a crack. The movement was strange, though. Less like a box and more like a drawer. Rita pressed her less-injured arm against the ceiling and used that as leverage to push the drawer outward. Unfortunately, she only got so far as to expose her knees before another piercing pain shot through her chest, forcing her to stop.

Her injuries were severe. Rita had to take it slow if she didn’t want to aggravate them, as frustrating as that was.

Once evening hit, there was no one to refill him full of those bee stings that turned his brain into jelly and that meant it finally ran out by nightfall. Some still remained in him, haunting his veins and wreaking havoc on his sense of balance. Still, his brain--what he did have of one--was working well enough.

Falling out of his bed, he crawled up on quivering legs and staggered toward his wardrobe with grim determination for once. The doors were flung open in search of his nyoibo to strap on his back. Now that he was sobering up, the tears that wouldn't fall began to run down his cheeks. When he could no longer see, the young boy simply shook his head and continued his nightly ritual.

Goku hadn't the strength to bring down that man from the last night and it infuriated him. He might not have been smart, but he knew that he had been used for the enjoyment of another and he didn't appreciate it in the least. That mean man had found his friend's death amusing... Well, they would see how amusing it was when Goku ripped him apart with his bare hands! He needed to find Taura and then they could find that person's hideout and destroy him! It seemed simple enough to the monkey boy.

Equipped for battle, he made his way to the door. In the darkness of the hallway, Goku could make out nothing. His eyes had reverted back to their weakened state, but he didn't need his eyes. He had his nose and the young boy was picking up the most strange smells. For one, there were barely any! That was definitely strange. The hallways were crawling with the scent trails of others, but there were none he could really distinguish, all except one.

Goku had almost suspected he still had blood or Birdy's smell on him, but it wasn't coming from him. It was faint, far away, but he could just tell. It was Birdy. Unable to fathom why, Goku knew he needed to figure out just what exactly was happening.

"If they stole her body..." Goku growled under his breath. He vowed to raze this whole place if that turned out to be true. She deserved to be buried and become one with nature again.