Hello and welcome back to 'Our Fight'!
I still can't get over last week's episode! There was just so much going on and the preview for this week's episode made it even more so. Also, I will write (Type, say, eh...) my responses to reviews and my reaction to the next episode at the end, just like last time.
On a side note, while I was reading some comments on 'Youtube' someone said something about the cardfights becoming real, as some scenes in the opening are places in the real world and another said that 'Cardfight Vanguard G' got dark really quickly, and I agree with both. Personally, while dangerous, I think it's kinda cool that the cardfights are becoming real. What do you guys think?
On another side note, while looking over this chapter I realize this may not be one of my better ones. At least, in the beginning, I'm hoping the ending and, I guess, the middle will make up for it.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Cardfight Vanguard' in any way what-so-ever.
Started: 4/18/16-Finished: 4/22/16
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"Stride Force is critical!" Announced Asaka. Mamoru started to rapidly tap the keys on a keyboard in front of him.
"GIRS Crisis countdown, start!" A timer starting from 300 seconds appeared on the large monitor displaying the flow of stride force in the world. Mamoru nodded to himself. Once the countdown ends, they'll finally be able to pinpoint Ryuzu Myoujin's location.
"All fighters, stand by!" Shouted Ibuki over the com-link. "Fighters' card 2.0, boost on!" The older Anjou let out a tense breath. It was painful having to wait until they could find Ryuzu, but it was necessary for them to be able to overload the GIRS System before they could do so. Then they would finally be able to storm his base.
Mamoru turned to a screen displaying Tokoha and Shion in their waiting room. His eyes narrowed in worry. While it was vague, he defiantly noticed the worry and slight distress in their eyes, same with Kamui. He didn't know what it was all about, but he knew for certain it had something to do with Chrono, as it started when his fight began. It was like they were waiting, no, hoping, for something to not happen. It couldn't be that they weren't expecting for Chrono to win, so maybe it had something to do with whatever had been causing Tokoha to act so oddly for the past few months? He couldn't tell.
"Something wrong Mamoru?" Said person almost jumped when Chris addressed him. He offered his fellow card fighter a smile.
"It's nothing." He said. "Just a little bit jumpy for having to wait." Obviously, Chris, being the young genius he is, didn't buy it at all but decided to drop the subject. He'd pry it out of Mamoru later. And from the way Ren was looking at said person, he was going to do the same.
"We still have some time." Said Ren lazily, looking up at the screen showing the match. "So let's just relax and enjoy the show. And maybe get some people to share some things." He added lastly, smirking at Mamoru who stiffened while Tetsu shook his head at his friend's antics.
Kamui looked down from the fight and to his hand. It was currently the tenth turn, it being Chrono's move. The damage was, as of the last turn, 5 to 5 and Chrono was launching his final attack with his new G-unit, Interdimensional Dragon, Warp Drive Dragon.
The elder cardfighter searched Chrono's eyes for any sign of hesitation or pain. Seeing none smiled softly, closing his eyes. While he didn't want Chrono to defeat him and join in on defeating Ryuzu Myoujin, especially with those headaches of his getting worse according to Shion and Tokoha, he was proud to say that even with the guard in his hand, he wouldn't be able to stop his 'student's attack. Opening his eyes, he looked at Chrono and grinned.
"You've gotten stronger, Chrono!" Said person looked up at him in surprise. Kamui planted his feet firmly into the ground and spread his arms out.
"No guard!" He shouted for everyone to hear. "Come on!" Across the stage, Chrono was starting to tear up. Kamui, the one who introduced him to Vanguard, taught him everything he knew about it... His friend...
Chrono let out a cry, the GIRS System's images starting to glitch and grow hazy as it's systems were starting to overload.
"60 seconds left!" Mamoru yelled into his ear-piece. "58... 57... 56... 55... 54..."
"Triple Drive!" Called out Chrono as he drew three card from his deck, one of them being a Critical Trigger. "I got a Critical Trigger!" Tokoha and Shion gasped in happiness and relief seeing this.
"I give the power to Upstream, and the extra critical to Warp Drive Dragon!" Up in the GIRS System's image, Warp Drive's cannons were being to glow brightly with power. "GO!" The beam shot forward at Kamui's vanguard, everyone watching in shock and awe as it made it's mark. Kamui softly smiled.
'No matter what kind of future is waiting for, I'm sure you'll be able to overcome it.' He thought looking up and seeing the resolve in his friend's eyes. 'My judgement was spot on. Right, Chrono?'
"5... 4... 3... 2... 1!" The timer on the screen hit zero once Mamoru finished counting down. "GIRS Crisis, activated!"
All over the Japan, the seas, Europe, all over the world, fighters raised their FICAs' to the sky, riding their vanguards into the GIRS System to commence their plan.
"Stride Force is being gathered from everywhere through the FICA 2.0 live feed!" Said Asaka. Ren looked at the screen, an image of the Stride Force being gathered on it.
"This is like a festival of sorts. Shall we go, too?" He asked, his FICA glowing. "As tardiness will not be tolerated... Ride." Mamoru, Asaka, Tetsu, and Chris followed suit, raising their own FICAs. Kagero, Shadow Paladin, Grand Nature, Royal Paladin, Neo Nectar, Megacolony, Genesis, Oracle Think Tank, Angel Feather, Pale Moon, Aqua Force, Nova Grappler, Narukami, different vanguards from different clans appeared in the system.
One by one, they cut down the regulators limiting the flow of Stride Force, causing the power to overload and, eventually crash. Kamui, Kai, and Misaki flew as a group through the circuits where the Stride Force flowed. The Nova Grappler user of the three looked around the mess of power conduits and blinked in confusion. All the senior fighters, including himself, were here...
But where were Chrono, Shion, and Tokoha?
Tokoha and Shion blinked in surprise and confusion, not knowing how they got to wherever here was. One moment they, along with Chrono, were about to join the others and aid their GIRS Crisis, the next they found themselves in a vast desert with the walls of old ruins sticking out from underneath the sand.
"Where...?" Asked Shion.
"What is this place?" Asked Tokoha. "This isn't the GIRS System, I think..." Shion looked around the area, noting that they were the... only ones... here... He whirled around to face Tokoha.
"Where's Chrono?!" Tokoha blinked at him before her eyes widened as she also looked around. The two of them were the only one's in the desert ruins, and based on the assumption Chrono did Ride into the GIRS System at the same time with them, he should be here standing with them.
"Chrono!" Shion shouted. Tokoha turned to him.
"Do you think he's with the others?" Sighing, the Royal Paladin looked back at his friend and teammate.
"I don't know, hopefully he his. For now," He eyed their surroundings. "Let's focus on finding out where we are and how to get back to Chrono and the others."
"Oh that's easy!" Chimed a eerily familiar voice behind them. Shion and Tokoha screamed in surprise and fright before quickly turning around to the source of the voice, only to go slack jawed.
"I-is that..." Shion stuttered.
"N-no way..." Tokoha gaped.
Standing, and smiling, in front of them were the mirror images of themselves.
"... What is this?" Chrono blinked, staring at the black space surrounding him. He closed his eyes in thought. The last thing he remembered was seeing Warp Drive delivering the final blow at Kamui's vanguard before the GIRS System started to crash, did he blackout again? He doesn't remember having another headache. Giving another wary look around him, Chrono started forward.
It was weird, there was no floor beneath him, yet he could hear his steps echo around, like he was walking on marble. He was there, but it felt like he really wasn't, kinda like a dream. Chrono stopped and rubbed his head. This was all making no sense what-so-ever. Right now, he just wanted to wake up, or get out if he was awake, from this place and join the others in overloading the GIRS System and finally finding Myoujin's base.
Chrono's eyes snapped open, he hadn't even realized he closed them, as he felt a slight breeze pass by him.
"Wind?" He turned to where the wind had come from to only find a full body mirror in front of him. Chrono didn't even notice that he was walking towards it until he was right in front of it. The mirror didn't reflect his image or anything else for that matter, there was only a haze.
Chrono blinked in surprise, thinking he saw a shadow behind the mist. Suddenly, as his eyes drooped, Chrono felt like he was no longer in control of his own body when his arm moved to touch the mirror. The shadow in the mirror moved in sync with his arm as it's colors started to fade into view, the most noticeable feature of it being bright yellow eyes. He vaguely heard someone shouting his name when his fingers brushed the surface of the mirror.
"Chrono... fang..." He whispered. Chrono's world went black.
"Hey, you two alright?" Mirror Tokoha, as they decided to call her, waved a hand in front of the shell-shocked originals. They snapped out of their shock at her voice.
"Who- wha- HUH?!" Tokoha yelled in pure shock and confusion. "Why do you look like me?!" Mirror Tokoha stepped back and rubbed her ear.
"Wow you're loud..." She muttered. Dropping her hand, she smiled. "I look like you because it's easier this way." Shion gave his friend's look-alike a look.
"What do you mean easier?" He said before blinking and looking to the empty spot next to the mirror image. "And where's your friend?"
"He went to find your other friend."
"Chrono's here!?" Mirror Tokoha smiled.
"Yup!" She cheerfully said. "He just ended up somewhere else." Shion and Tokoha sighed in relief hearing their friend was alright. "Now as for your other question-"
"Ahsha!" Screamed a voice like Shion's. The two teens went slack jawed again as Mirror Tokoha turned to Mirror Shion, who was running towards them.
"Hey Altmile." 'Ahsha' said, making the vanguard fighters even more shocked. "Something wrong? Where's Chrono?" 'Altmile' slowed to a stop, slightly panting.
"They got to him first." 'Ahsha' stiffened before whirling around to the frozen duo.
"Ok forget my answer!" She said urgently. "Right now you gotta get to Myoujin's hide-out NOW." Shion stopped staring and blinked.
"Why? What about Chrono?" 'Altmile' looked at him.
"No time to explain." He said. "Just get there as soon as you can, for your friend's sake." The Shion look-alike snapped his fingers, causing a blinding white portal to appear behind Tokoha and Shion. "Sorry to have cut this short."
"Wha- AHH!" Tokoha and Shion screamed as the mirrors of themselves pushed them into the light, which filled their whole vision.
"Whatever you do," Shouted 'Ahsha's voice. "Don't look at the mirrors!"
"... koha... Tok... ha... Toko... ha... Tokoha!" Said person's eyes snapped open at the sound of her brother's voice. Next to he, Shion sat up with a groan, holding his head while Kamui supported him. "Are you alright?" Her brother asked. Tokoha slowly nodded.
"...Yeah." She said after a moment. "What happened?" Misaki walked up to her.
"We were hoping you could tell us." Shion, now feeling only a dull ache in his head, looked around frantically.
"Where's Chrono!?" He asked like when he and Tokoha were in the Desert Ruins. Kamui looked at him surprised.
"You mean he wasn't with you before?" Shion shook his head.
"No. I take it he wasn't with you all either?" The elder cardfighter nodded. The Kiba shared a look with the younger Anjou. It couldn't be...
"Tokoha?" Mamoru asked, worried by the look on her face. She quickly turned to him.
"Big Bro, we need to-"
"Oi!" Mamoru, Tokoha, Misaki, Shion, Kamui, and Kai, all turned to Miwa and Naoki who were running towards them, Miwa waving a vanguard card in the air. The two juniors were suddenly filled with dread.
"What is it?" Asked Kai. Miwa looked at his friend with a frown. He said nothing as he showed the card and the Try3 members' fears were confirmed.
In Miwa's hand was Chronojet Dragon.
...
Longest... chapter... EVER. (So far.) Also, if you're ever having trouble finding inspiration while writing a 'Cardfight Vanguard G' fan fiction, listen to the 'Stride Gate' opening. Doing that helped me a lot while writing this chapter.
Anyway, so that was 'Chapter 4: Splitting Images'! Hope you all enjoyed it! I swear, I was hitting roadblocks all over the place while writing this chapter I will not lie. Especially at Kamui and Chrono's scenes. Seriously, I think I confused even my self at that Swirly Head's scene.
On a side note, I went to the 'Cardfight Vanguard' wiki and saw that the fourth episode is called (Spoilers!)... uh... I don't remember off the top of my head and I'm too lazy to go to the wiki again but I'm pretty sure it's something close to 'Re-meeting with Kanzaki'. That's right folks, the former Branch Chief of the United Sanctuary Branch is back! … I guess, I mean, we won't know until the episode is out now won't we? But it's pretty obvious with that title.
Review Responses-
HeavensLuminousArc: Thank you for the explanation on 'Beta Readers'! BUT! I would like to try updating this story, and my other ones, up to at least 5 chapters each to see how my writing progresses, kinda like a personal goal. However, once I complete that goal, I would love for you to 'Beta' this story. Is it alright if you wait until then, please?
Yukomin: Thanks and also sorry I didn't add a scene for the Gear Chronicle units in this one. I'll see that I'll add one in the next chapter to add to our story's little mystery. Also, I'm still leaning towards the theory that we have a Mini Female Ryuzu to worry about now. (Please note I am writing this the day before the next episode comes out.) Seriously, when he/ she turned to the screen they looked like a girl to me! Guess we'll know when the next episode comes out.
Nanoha333: You're welcome! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as you liked the last one!
Reaction Corner: I... uh... whoa... I mean, I had a feeling that Ryuzu would want Chrono on his side, but... dang... That ending totally blew me away. Um... Ryuzu is still a boy... You were right Yukomin... Ryuzu and Chrono seem to have some sort of connection... Wow... I... I'm at a loss for words... I think I need to see this episode again... Whoa...
Until The Next Raid!