Chapter 129 - Beast Den (1/2)

Vivi couldn't believe what she saw, in fact, it didn't make any sense. There was a hole towards the bottom of the well on the wall that could actually be called a cave, only a few inches above the water line. There was a dense white fog that covered the opening to the cave which restricted her vision. But from what she could see, there seemed to be several low level demon beasts crawling around just in side. The reason for her shock was that up until now, these demon beasts had been loner type creatures. Even in the event where she and Laz had come upon two of them at the same time, it was usually because they were fighting. But now it seems like things are changing.

She had to get back and get Laz. If this gathering of beasts were to grow and eventually leave the cave, they would cause havoc if they made it into populated areas. And as she and Laz had agreed, although they weren't trying to save the world, when they came across these things, they wouldn't ignore it either. This was Laz's resolve after everything that had happened in New York.

Running back quickly, she entered her ”moe” mode as she crossed into the trailer park. Rushing into the camper, she saw Laz had fallen back asleep. Jumping up on the bed, she started yanking the blankets down to get his attention and wake him up, but Laz wasn't having it.

*Hey, wake up.*

*HUMAN, THIS IS IMPORTANT.*

*HUMAN, IF YOU DON'T GET UP, I'M GOING TO GET ANGRY*

*HHHUUUUUUMMMMMMAAAAAAAANNNNNNN*

Bite

”IIIIIEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHAHHHHHHH, DAMMIT VIVI,” Laz yelled as she started rubbing his now throbing butt.

*I warned you. Now get up, I need to show you this.* Vivi started dragging Laz, afraid he was going to lay back down.

”Alright. Alright. I'm going...” Laz reluctantly stood up and began to dress. He quickly followed Vivi back to the old well and took a look inside. As his eyes shown a blood red color, he could see the signature motes of energy moving around just behind the fog curtain. Although he couldn't see as deep as Vivi, the difference wasn't by much. He finally understood why she would have the reaction she had.

”This... what is this?” Laz also tried using his spiritual sense, but it wasn't even able to penetrate the outer edge of the mist barrier. He could only look at his little treasure trove of knowledge and hope she could explain. He had found it to be very weird, the things that she just seemed to know. In fact, at first, he couldn't help but question it and her almost all the time. The only answer she could give was that it was like the knowledge was imprinted within her. But that knowledge was like reading a description in a book without a picture; she might be able to explain something, but that didn't mean she understood it. There were times she didn't even know is she was talking about the right thing. But after the time they had spent together, he was now a firm and trusted believer in her. Even if she made a mistake, it was still better than him working with nothing.

*It's... a collection of beasts, like a family... or a nest?* Vivi said, trying to voice it out.

”Since it's a cave, I would say it's a den. But why is it here? And what was that energy wave we felt?” Despite being shocked awake, Laz's brain wasn't working at one hundred percent just yet.

*I don't know. From what I can see, it looks like the cave wall was part of the well and collapsed into the well, freeing the things inside. The burst of energy we felt was probably from the mist blowing out. What do you want to do?* Vivi knew that Laz didn't want to be a hero, but he also didn't want to let normal people suffer. He couldn't stop all the strange things going on, but he wasn't going to ignore what was happening in his back yard either.

But this would be far more dangerous than anything they had faced before. Before, it had just been Vivi leading them to hunt demon beasts in whatever area they were in, fighting and killing them. Then Vivi would get the small core inside it while Laz could grasp the energy that escape. And they would always take away a portion of the meat on the ones that could be eaten as food. Vivi said it was good for their bodies as these types of beasts have natural energy that wouldn't pollute their bodies like regular food. This time though, they would be walking into an area with an unknown amount of beasts in a strange environment. The amount of danger they face would be many times greater than ever before.

”What are our choices?” Laz asked.

*Fight or ignore it.* Vivi responded back, rather bluntly. There was another option, which would be safer to everyone, but very dangerous to the two of them. They could report it to the government. There had been lines that had opened up in the past few years that people could call to report strange things they found. Although many times they ended up getting nut-jobs and crazies, there had been real incidents reported. Since it was a government line, they would also make sure to track all calls and as such, it was like shinning a spot light on yourself to use it. If you had nothing to hide, you were fine. If you did, you were in trouble. They couldn't take that route.

Although it was dangerous, Laz couldn't help but feel a bit excited. Actually, he knew that Vivi felt the same. They had been growing at a rate that was above most of what they encountered, so the danger outside the first few fights had grown slim. They couldn't grow like this, according to the wise Vivi. So seeing this strange, dangerous and yet slightly exciting challenge in front of them, they both knew they would give it a try.

But they had to prepare first.

You couldn't just go jumping into a cave with nothing but the clothes on your back and expect that everything would be ok. As Vivi liked to say, preparation is life. So they both went back to the camper and hopping on their somewhat old but perfectly good laptops, they did what anyone would do to look for information in the modern age, they googled it.

”Hey, so we need flashlights, rope, possibly some climbing spikes...”

*No need. My claws are super sharp. You just need to hang on.* Vivi said while quickly clicking the mouse as she browsed, her little paw moving quickly.

*Don't we need a bird or something? Like in a cage?* Vivi asked while reading.

”Isn't that for mines?” Laz asked, not really knowing the answer.