Cellblock Z - Mounting Frustration

   A sigh escaped from Epsilon as she stared at the room around her. It was just her luck that she would end up choosing a room that was about to move. Then again, the room that she had left Ruby in shifted away just before her encounter with Shinigami so it was quite possible that the neighbouring rooms would be shifting as well. The problem was, she was right. This was one time she was quite upset to be right.

   The problem was that all of the doors turned red after the shift. Every single one of them. All of them. Now she was stuck here unless someone nearby and stupid enough to set one off to let her out but Epsilon certainly did not want to be that person. There had been enough self-inflicted damage for one day, she decided. With that option ruled out, she would just have to say put until the cube moved again. 

    That was an option she was not very fond of at all.

   "If I knew I'd end up in here then I would have let Chikawa capture me in the guard room. I'm sure it would've been easier to escape from him. What am I saying? Of course it would have been easier to escape from that moron." 

    She growled and paced back and forth in the room and tried looking at the hatches for any clues but turning up empty.

    "But how to get out of here? There's got to be some kind of a pattern. There HAS to be. I just have to find it. I WILL find it." She grunted in annoyance and absently ran a gloved hand through her hair. "Maybe I should have taken up Shinigami's offer..." Epsilon's eyes widened as she realized what she just said and shook her head violently. "NO! I should not! I have to solve this alone! ALONE!" 

    Her expression turned melancholy. "Yeah... I've got to do this alone."

    As much as she hated to admit it, Epsilon would have liked to accompany Shinigami through the Cube since he seemed to have a better idea of where to go and what to do than she did. And of course, with his high resistance to pain, he would make a very nice decoy to throw into rooms to set of traps. 

    'Damn,' Epsilon cursed. 'I knew I should have kept that moron around.'

    "Now I need to get out of here somehow." She said and looked around the room. Casting her gaze downward she noticed the hatch turning green with a cheery beep. She really hated that beep. But on the other hand, someone had just solved her problem about which way to go. 

    Epsilon grinned and opened the hatch to peer into the room below. 

    A small group of three Senshi were carefully making their way around the room. From the sounds if it, they did not know each other previously and had only banded together as long as it would take to get out of this humiliating dungeon. A small argument arose amongst them as one strenuously objected to being used to decipher the traps' patterns just because she had the best luck at it. The others saw no problem in that. Another said that getting out was most important, personal dignity came second.

    Of course, the first Senshi disagreed.

    Epsilon watched the exchange with amusement. It was a nice change of pace to see someone else get into humiliating situations. She could sympathize with the Senshi used to solve riddles. On the other hand... didn't they say something about figuring out the pattern? It would seem that they knew how to get out, and that was most useful knowledge to have.

    "I'm not going one step further!" The first Senshi protested. "Not until we know what the answer to the puzzles are for certain."

    "Oh come on!" Another Senshi pleaded. "We're really close, isn't that enough?"

    "Not for me it's not!" She retorted.

    Epsilon dropped to the ground behind the three quarrelling Senshi, drawing their attention towards her and said, "Perhaps I may be of some service to you." 

    They looked at her warily. "How so?

    "What I propose is simply an exchange of information," Epsilon said. "You tell me what you know about the mystery that surrounds this prison and I'll help you get out."

    "And how can we trust you? What do you know about this place?" 

    Epsilon smiled internally. They looked interested despite their doubts. "I've already figured out most of the puzzles so it's just a matter of finding one of them, which I believe is where you three come in."

    They looked at each other and spoke rapidly in hushed tones, deciding whether or not it was worth telling this newcomer what they knew. As they looked up at her, Epsilon stood gazing at them impassively as if she was quite willing to trade her knowledge with some other Senshi if they refused.

    "Fine." One of Senshi finally said and turned towards Epsilon. "Around the edges of the hatches is some writing. We're guessing that it has something to do about the trap or puzzle that's inside the next room since the writing changes with each shift."

    "Writing?" Epsilon blinked and looked down at that hatch in the ground. Well look at that, there was something written there. "I see," she said and looked back at them. "So you have an idea of what puzzle is inside each room, but no idea how to solve it?"

    "Pretty much." The first Senshi said.

    Epsilon smiled and crossed her arms. "Well, I should be able to help you there. I've figured out many of these puzzles and traps but have no way of knowing which room has them." She added mentally, 'Although it wasn't entirely by choice.'

    "Great!" The first Senshi exclaimed. Now she wasn't going to be the guinea pig for the rooms! Someone else was. 

    "So we were just trying to figure out the puzzle in the last room," another Senshi said while gesturing over their shoulders at the red hatch. "But we don't recognize the writing. It looks sort of familiar, but not really." 

    Epsilon wordlessly strode over to the hatch and examined the writing. It did indeed look familiar, but what language could it be? It didn't look like one from Earth, nor did it look like any she recognized well enough to translate... which made her wish that she had not been such a hermit and kept up her studies. 

    'Let's see...' She squinted at the writing. 'It looks like...wait... I think it might Rusalkian. Probably. Yeah, that must be it. If not, it's close enough. Now, what does it say?'

    "Well?" One of the Senshi asked impatiently. She wanted to go home. Now. 

    "Have some patience." Epsilon snapped. "Ah... We need to... hit the target with... ah... the ball..." 

    She paused. Was that character for yellow? Or was that one white? Or was it something else entirely? The others were already doubting her ability to decipher the writing and were rapidly losing patience. So, Epsilon guessed.

    "We have to hit the yellow target with ball and keep the white ones away." Epsilon said with an expression of absolute certainty. It convinced them.

    "Great! Let's go!" 

    One of the Senshi opened the hatch and jumped into the room, followed by the others and, reluctantly, Epsilon as well. The room was laid out exactly as was said on the door, a target on the ceiling with white and yellow balls that bobbled in the air. As soon as they were all on the ground, the balls hummed then whizzed through the air at absurd speeds. It reminded Epsilon of that room with the tennis ball turrets. However, they eventually managed to direct the yellow balls towards the target and even hit it and as soon as they did, the balls stopped in mid-air and spun in lazy circles. 

    "....did we do it?" One of the other Senshi asked nervously. 

    Then, just as they were relaxing, there was an ominous buzzer sound. Epsilon knew this one quite well. They had failed to solve the puzzle correctly. She immediately dashed for one of the green doors and tried to open it before the trap was set off. The other Senshi were not as familiar with this outcome as Epsilon was, and didn't move until it was too late. 

    A blinding flash of light filled the room and when it faded, the four Senshi were clad in giant plush costumes. With no zippers. In the room stood a Hello Kitty, Keroppi, Badtz Maru and Pochacco. Badtz Maru was squeezing itself through a hatch before the Hello Kitty, Pochacco and Keroppi could react. 

    "You liar!" The senshi dressed as Keroppi accused. "Come back here and get these off!"

    "Try burning them off!" Epsilon called over her shoulder as she dashed into the next room, and to another green paneled hatch. "Thanks for the hint earlier!"

    "Come back here!" The Hello Kitty senshi shouted and dashed after Epsilon.

---

    Shinigami shook his head as he entered another room. There seemed to be no end to this dungeon, no matter how hard he tried to figure it out. He had admittedly gotten fairly close to escaping a couple times, but allowed someone else to go ahead of him and was left behind. It wasn't very enjoyable to almost experience freedom, only to have it snatched away and be tossed into another random section of the Cube.

    "Now, we've got two slots left, so which one does this go with? One of them has to be wrong..." 

    He pushed open the hatch to another room and was surprised to see a group of senshi standing with their backs to him, examining something. He quietly stole up behind them and peered over their shoulders. It seemed to be a matching puzzle of some sort where they had to decipher the clues and put the right items on the right platform.

    "It's a bird statue, right? So it should go on that one! The markings match!"

    "You're right. Let's try it!" 

    The Senshi put the statue on the platform and a faint click was heard. Then, the hatch in front of the group beeped and turned white. The group cheered. It was the exit! They finally found the way out!

    Shinigami picked up one of the statues off a platform and examined it curiously. Behind him, the hatch beeped again and turned red. The group gawked at it in horror. What happened? Why did it change back? They turned around. 

    "YOU....." 

    Shinigami looked at the angry group of Senshi and blanched. He slowly put the statue back down but it was too late; the exit had already been 'used' for this puzzle. The group hollered at him and readied their attacks to punish the moron that ruined all their hard work.

    "Oh sh--" Shinigami whirled around and dashed through the nearest hatch and slammed it shut behind him. He frantically pushed another green hatch open and threw himself into the room just as the other hatch opened to allow an attack to strike the wall just next to him. He slammed the hatch shut and ran. 

    After almost an hour of running and hiding from the group, Shinigami was finally able to elude them through a room with an electrical trap. Forced to detour around, he was able to double back and avoid them. Shinigami let out a shaky breath and leaned against a wall to catch his breath when the top hatch slammed open and a red-cloaked man tumbled through with a cry of surprise. 

    Shinigami leapt into the adjoining room before the other man hit the ground and waited nervously for the tell-tale sounds of his pursuers. Nothing. The other room was quiet, except for the sounds of rustling cloth. He waited a few more seconds in silence before raising himself up and peering into the next room. The other guy looked... like he was asleep. Who could sleep in a place like this?

     Curious, Shinigami wanted to check on the other guy, but wasn't about to take the risk of being recognized by someone from that group that had really overreacted over the loss of an exit. He grasped the crystal hanging around his neck and activated the de-transformation to Yorukai. Then, he climbed back into the room to examine the man.

    'What's wrong with him?' Yorukai blinked and noticed the bandages around the red-cloaked man's wrist and, after leaning in closer, his head as well. 'Well it seems that I'm not the only one with bad luck.' He though with a merry smile and prodded the sleeping man with a finger. He was answered with a sleepy frown of protest, which amused Yorukai greatly. 

    Yorukai grabbed the trailing end of his braid and brushed it against his cheek. It was time to see just how deeply this red-cloaked guy could sleep. He took great pleasure in ticking the man's nose with the end of the braid and watching the various annoyed expressions that paraded across his sleeping face. 

    He was enjoying himself immensely until the supposedly sleeping man snatched the braid in a iron grip and produced a very sharp looking dagger to press threateningly against the hair. "Jystya... your death wish may one day be granted..." the man threatened in a low voice. "In the meantime... your precious braid will-"

    "~~~~~!!" Yorukai squeaked in terror and tried to pull away, unsuccessfully. "Noooo! I'm sorry! I'll never do it again! I swear! Please, please, please, don't!"

    He certainly did not expect this result. 'Why does everyone pick on me~~?' Yorukai whined internally and was not all that surprised to see the man's grip turn serious once he raised his head and got a good look at Yorukai. All the same, he didn't like how close that dagger was to his poor braid. He liked his hair attached to his head.

    "Who are you?" He demanded.

    Yorukai gulped nervously, but was pleased to note that this guy was not part of the group that he had previously offended. Good, this was good. He could work with this.

    "I'm Chikawa Yorukai! P-- pleased to meet you!" Yorukai said as brightly as he could under the circumstances and offered a hand.

    The man looked amused, and the dagger disappeared into his cloak. "Erasmus," he said as way of introduction and took Yorukai's offered hand to raise himself to his feet. Erasmus smiled at him and told Yorukai to relax before scooping up some rocks that lay at his feet and heading towards a hatch.

    That is when Yorukai remembered that the angry Senshi group had gone that way.

    "Ah... I don't think that would be a good one to try." He protested and turned to point back at the way he came. "Most of the traps have been disarmed in that direction, so that would be a safer way to go."

    Erasmus looked at the blue-haired man curiously. Yorukai sweat nervously. Just as it looked like his new companion was going to say something, the ceiling hatch slammed open and startled the two men into silence. A purple-haired girl in a plush black penguin costume struggled through the hatch and dropped to the ground in most ungraceful manner.

    Yorukai stared. 'Epsilon?!'

   She slowly pushed herself to her feet and staggered slightly.

    "Miss Ep...er... miss, are you okay?" Yorukai corrected himself quickly. "What happened to you?"

    Epsilon whirled around at the sound of Yorukai's voice and pointed an accusing finger at him. "YOU! You're the one that got me into this mess!"

    "Wh...what?" Yorukai protested, looking nervously over at Erasmus. "I don't even know you!"

    She froze and cursed internally. She had forgotten that she wasn't Amefuri at the moment, but Epsilon. Hopefully he wouldn't make a connection between the slip and who she was. But at the moment, there were more pressing things to worry about.

    From the room above came the sounds of pursuit. Epsilon grimaced and glanced at the hatch that Yorukai left open. She rushed to another wall and threw open the red hatch and glanced back at the two men. A dark smile spread across her face. Before either man could react, Epsilon grabbed Yorukai by the arm and threw him into the trapped room to set it off. 

    All he managed was a yelp of protest before landing in the other room and scrambling to his feet to escape before the room was activated. Yorukai managed to get out just as several turrets swung out of the walls to char the spot he once was. He stared at Epsilon with a wide-eyed expression of terror.

    "W..wh...why did you do that?!" Yorukai gasped.

    "You never saw me, got it? Either of you." Epsilon pointed a black winged arm at them and took off through the now deactivated room, slamming the door behind her.

    Several seconds later, three more girls squeezed into the room that wore a plush costume of a white cat with a red bow, a green frog in a t-shirt and a dog with black ears. They looked at the two green doors and then at the two men.

    "Where did she go?!" The cat grabbed the front of Yorukai's jacket and shook him violently. "I know you know where she went!"

    "I don't know!" Yorukai shouted. "Stop shaking me!"

    Erasmus, who had remained silent up to this point, cleared his throat and pointed at the hatch at Yorukai had previously suggested to go through. "The giant bird went that way."

    "Good! We're catching up!" The frog said and turned to the plush dog. "Let's hurry!"

    The three Senshi climbed into the next room and disappeared from sight. A few seconds passed in absolute silence as Yorukai and Erasmus attempted to process what just happened. Yorukai sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I guess we'll go your way then."  
 

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