Chapter 11: A Fight with Chaos

The group stood before the soldier of darkness trying to mentaly prepare themselves for whatever he may throw at them. The swirling sky loomed over them as the soldier faced the group and drew out his long, serrated blade from its sheath. Naoki then spoke up first.

Naoki: "Uh, guys, what are we gonna do?! How can we fight an actual unit?!"

Miwa: "Not too sure on that one, buddy. But we better think of something fast, because this guy seems ready to pounce!"

Just as Miwa said that, Chaos Blader swung his sword towards them, and an arc of indigo colored energy flew out of it toward the group.

Kamui: "Yo, get down!"

The group ducked as quickly as they could to avoid the attack, jumping in random directions as well. The place they had been originally was now totally demolished, the benches nothing but shattered wood and splinters.

Naoki: "Holy crap! This guy ain't playing around!"

Shingo: "What do we do?!"

Chaos Blader took a few steps forward and swung again, this time lunging forward at the group too.

Misaki: "Right now we move!"

The group all got out of the way again and took off down the street. Miwa was carrying Misaki on his back, Kai helt tight to Aichi's hand, Naoki was in the front, and Shingo and Kamui were bringing up the rear.

Naoki: "Where do we go?!"

Miwa: "I don't know, but we should find somewhere to hunker down and hide."

Shingo: "Sounds like a good plan to me!"

Kamui: "We should try and face him."

Misaki: "Without having a plan of action? Sorry, but I don't want to jump into a raging inferno."

Aichi: "Let's go into one of the buildings!"
Miwa: "Sounds good."

Shingo: "Here he comes!"

Chaos Blader flew straight for them, just barely cutting Shingo's shirt as the blade slammed into the ground. In a split second, Naoki was right in front of Chaos Blader, and before he could swing his blade again, Naoki pulled out a bottle of high grade pepper spray and aimed it directly at Chaos Blader's face. The spray went all over Chaos Blader, making him cry out in pain and cover his eyes.

Chaos Blader: "AAAAAARRRRRGGGH!"
Naoki: "Get moving, guys!"

Miwa: "Wait, what?"

Aichi: "Naoki-kun, where did you get that?"

Naoki: "My brother said I should take it with me. I guess he caught on that I might be dealing with something crazy."
Kai: "Good thinking, Ishida."

Kamui: "Hey, let's try that shop over there!"

The group turned towards a cake shop and hoped the door would be unlocked. The door opened and everyone got inside. Miwa placed Misaki down on the ground behind the counter and then walked over to Kai and Naoki who were barring up the door. After the door had been barred, everyone sat down behind the counter.

Kamui: *SIGH* "That was close."

Miwa: "Totally, but we can't be relaxing yet. That guy's still out there."

Shingo: "What happened to the sky when he showed up, and where have all the people gone?"

Misaki: "He mentioned that 'in this space, only we exist'. I guess that means that, wherever we are, we're the only ones here."

Naoki: "Then, everything's the same but just no one here. Well this is new."

Misaki: "Probably to lower the chances of outside help."
Kamiu: "Oh, I get it now. Pretty sneaky move. Uh, hey, you okay oni-san?"
The others turned their heads to face Aichi who was sitting next to Kai, curled up to Kai's side and trembling. His hand was holding onto the side of his head, seemingly still being affected by his headache.

Miwa: "Hey, you okay man?"

Aichi: "Wha-What? Oh, I-I'm fine, really."

Kamui: "You don't look fine."

Aichi: *ngh* "I-It's alright, I'm fine."

Naoki: "What's been going on, Aichi? You've been acting so weird lately."
Kamui: "Yeah, ever since we got into this mess a while ago."

Misaki: "Are you sure you're okay?"
Aichi: "I'm good, really…"

Naoki: "Really, what's up ma-"
Aichi: "I SAID I'M FINE!"

Chaos Blader: "AAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG!"

Everyone was a bit startled at the combination of Aichi's sudden outburst and Chaos Blader's yell. Aichi regained his composure and snuggled more into Kai's side.

Aichi: "I-I mean, we have more things to worry about than me, right now."
Kai looked down at Aichi and then let out a breath.

Kai: "He's right. That thing is still out there, and it won't be long until he finds us."

Misaki: "T-That's true. *ahem* I can hear glass and concrete shattering, so I'm guessing he's going through every building in order to find us."

Shingo: "How do we fight this guy? I would assume that playing Vanguard isn't an option, right?"

Miwa: "Yeah, I don't think that's happening."

Naoki: "What can we do? Hmmmmmmmmmm. *gasp* I know! Kai, let's try that thing that happened the other day!"

Kai: "What?"

Miwa: "Oh yeah! Your Overlord came to life to take out those birds!"

Kamui: "What?!"

Misaki: "What happened to you guys?"

Naoki: "Let's just show you, banchou. Come on Kai, let's do this!"

Kai: "But I'm not even sure how that happened."

Miwa: "Come on Kai, it's worth a shot."

Kai: "Fine, let's see if this works."

Misaki: "You realize that if this doesn't work we're all dead,right?"

Shingo: "Misaki-san is right. This idea is nuts! We need a more realistic plan."

Naoki: "No, I'm sure this'll work. The old man mentioned that we have what we need right in our decks. What if he means this?"

Kamui: "Well, I'm in. I can't think of anything else right now, and that Chaos Blader guy is almost here."

Miwa: "Alright! Let's go out there and beat this freak!"
Kamui: "Yeah!"

Shingo: "I guess we're going with this."
Misaki: "Fine, let's try this."
Naoki: "You up for this, Kai?"
Kai: "Ah"

Naoki: "Awesome! You okay with this, Aichi?"

Aichi: "..."

Kai leaned in next to Aichi's ear and whispered to him.

Kai: "I'll be right next to you. I won't let go of your hand, okay?"

Aichi, still trembling, looked Kai in the eyes and nodded after a brief pause.

Naoki: "Let's get out there!"

Naoki and Miwa lead the way to the door with the others behind, all the while trying to keep their heads down so that they wouldn't immediately give away their location. Chaos Blader's rampage was louder than ever as the group carefully moved the chairs away from the door. Finally they all gave each other one last confirming glance, nodded to one another, and walked out the door. As they walked to the center of the street, Chaos Blader swiftly turned around to look at them.

Chaos Blader: "Ah, I see the chosen heroes have finally decided to face me, instead of hiding like cowards."

Naoki: "We're gonna kick your ass, freak!"

Misaki: "Naoki!"

Chaos Blader lunged forward to strike at the group and everyone dogged as best as they could.

Miwa: "Maybe that wasn't such a good idea."
Chaos Blader then began to form a ball of dark colored energy in his hand, and launched it at Misaki and Shingo. They thankfully weren't harmed as Miwa yanked them out of the way.

Kamui: "Oh great, now he can shoot energy balls!"

Shingo: *ngh* "Nice going, delinquent! Now he's even more angry!"

Naoki: "Sorry 'bout that."

They regrouped just as he was about to strike again.

Miwa: "Come on, Kai! Do it now!"

Kai: "Alright!"

Kai reached into his deck box and took out Dragonic Overlord. He held it out in front of him and called out for Overlord, pleading in his mind for the dragon to appear. Everyone braced themselves for Chaos Blader's next attack, Kai holding Aichi's trembling body close to him, Miwa covering Misaki, and the others all hugging each other. Suddenly a bright light streamed from Overlord's card, and everyone covered their eyes with their arms. As the light faded, everyone could see Dragonic Overlord standing in front of them. Bearing his teeth and growling, Overlord stared down at Chaos Blader who had put his attack on hold to gaze at the massive dragon in front of him.

Naoki: "YES! You did it, Kai!"

Misaki: "What in the world…?"

Shingo: "This is impossible!"
Miwa: "Oh, it's very real. Now show that guy who's boss, Kai!"

Kai: "Right. Overlord, take him out! Burn him to ashes!"

Overlord looked at his vanguard and gave a nod and a slight growl. He turned towards Chaos Blader and charged, sword in hand. Chaos Blader leaped out of the way right before Overlord's sword could slice him in half. Chaos Blader flew into the air and charged his energy ball attack, firing directly at Overlord's head. The attack made contact with a loud explosion, and Chaos Blader fired off multiple energy waves from his sword. Smoke cloaked Overlord's form.

Naoki/Shingo: "OVERLORD!"

Kai: "It's fine. This won't hurt him."

Chaos Blader: "Ha ha ha, so you say, but look at your dragon! Completely subdued at the hands of-"

Just then Overlord's hand reached out and grabbed him. The smoke cleared, and all the damage that was able to be seen on the dragon was a few scuff marks.

Misaki: "Overlord!"

Kamui: "He's okay!"

Chaos Blader: "I-Impossible. This can't be."

Fear filled Chaos Blader's eyes as he looked into those of the powerful dragon ruler holding him tightly in his grip.

Kai: "A weakling like you could never even hope to defeat Dragonic Overlord. Now, despair and burn to ashes! Finish him, Overlord!"

With a loud roar, Overlord threw Chaos Blader against a building. Chaos Blader's body crumpled to the ground as Dragonic Overlord rushed at him, and the dragon's blade stabbed into the concrete inches from his face. As Chaos Blader looked into the face of his end, he made one final proclamation.

Chaos Blader: "I-I won't be the last! Many more will come to stop you! Many much stronger than I! We will end you!"

Miwa: "Is that all? Bring them on then."
Misaki: "We won't be intimidated by the likes of you."
Naoki/Kamui/Shingo: "Yeah!"

Kai: "Now burn."

Overlord aimed his head to the dark soldier beneath him and released a massive blast of fire.

Chaos Blader: "AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"
The soldier of darkness's final cries faded away as he was reduced to nothing but a pile of ashes. Overlord looked at the group who were all celebrating their first real victory. He looked at his vanguard and gave a slight nod and grunt before disappearing in a flash of orange light.

Kamui: "WE DID IT!"
Shingo: "I can't believe that actually worked!"
Naoki: "Yeah! See, I told you, banchou!"

Misaki: "You definitely did, and don't call me that."

Kamui: "That was awesome!"

Shingo: "Look at the sky."

Everyone turned to face the sky and noticed it was warping back to its original color. As they seemingly returned to their own realm, they saw that things were being fixed all around them.

Miwa: "Look at that. All the damage is being fixed."

Shingo: "So it would seem. I wonder why?"

Misaki: "Maybe it's because that place was its own reality, and now we're just being taken back to ours. Look! The people are back too."

Naoki: "That's so weird, but I guess it's better than having everything breaking permanently. Hey, you okay now Aichi?"

Aichi was still tightly gripping Kai's arm and hand, but his trembling had lessened.

Aichi: "Y-Yeah, I think I'm okay now. The headache is going down now, so I think I can…"

Aichi trailed off as he began to fall towards the pavement. Kai immediately placed his arm underneath him to break his fall, but then Kai began to sink to his knees as well.

Naoki: "What's up, Kai?"
Kai: "Just a bit tired, nothing to worry about."

Shingo: "Hmmmm. Maybe doing that stuff uses up your energy?"

Kai: "Could be."

Miwa: "Well, you did call out a grade three immediately, so there's that. But what about Aichi?"

Misaki: "Maybe it's stress. He did act pretty out of the ordinary."

Kamui: "Yeah, like he was super scared or something."

Miwa: "I guess that combined with the headaches just reduced his stamina meter down to zero."

Naoki: "Well, anyone want to keep looking around at other shops?"
Misaki: "I'm done for the day. You guys can keep looking if you want to."

Shingo: "I think I'm done too."

Kamui: "Same here."
Miwa: "Yeah, and plus we have two members of our group wiped out."

Naoki: "Guess you're right. Time to call it a day."

Miwa: "Can you walk at all now, nee-san?"

Misaki: "I think I'm alright, but it's still a bit painful."

Miwa: "Well then, let's have Shingo here help you out, and I'll take Aichi off of Kai's hands for a bit."

Kai looked at him with the eyes of a hunter.

Miwa: "Come on Kai, you can't possibly think you can carry Aichi with the state you're in, do you? I'll take Aichi, Shingo will help Misaki, and Naoki can help you."

Kai: "I'm fine now."

Miwa: "Just have him next to you in case you falter. We can't have the great Kai Toshiki tripping around or falling over, now."

Kai: "Fine."

So Misaki slung her arm around Shingo to keep her steady, Naoki took to Kai's side, and Miwa got Aichi onto his shoulders. Kai gave his friend a look that could kill.

Miwa: *sweat drop* "Relax, I'm not going to drop him. Just calm down, and then you can have him all you want when we reach your place."

Kai let out an annoyed breath, and Miwa let out a little nervous laugh. The fighters finally began making the trek back to their homes, their first day of the mission done, and their first official battle won.