Chapter 8: The Heart of a Yandere's Cards
"It's time…", K-Sha cried out as she slammed her card down onto the holographic layout.
"...to duel!", IF followed, as she placed her own card down in sync with her opponent.
Both cards lit up as they now rested on the interface, and a light appeared before each platform in the arena below. When the light died down, the two girls stored within the cards emerged.
C-Sha appeared before IF's platform, jumping in place and ready for battle. On K-Sha's side stood Nisa, who was posing just as everyone expected. IF looked down at them and then back up at K-Sha.
"So, 'IF', was it? Do you think you can handle this?", K-Sha snickered.
"I've played card games before", IF shrugged.
"Good. You know the rules, and so do I. Your move", the schoolgirl responded.
A deck appeared to the right of each duelist, resting atop their digital interfaces. They both drew their first hand of five cards each. IF scanned the hand she was dealt and contemplated which card she should play first for several moments.
"Why are you thinking so much on the first turn of the match?", K-Sha blurted out impatiently.
"I like to think before fully committing to a strategy", IF answered nonchalantly.
"Interesting. You don't get this sort of caution from any other gal", K-Sha smiled mischievously, "I look forward to seeing how you fare against my deck."
IF took a deep breath as she tried to ignore her opponent. She nodded after finally settling on a card. "I think I'll go with this one, in the face down position", IF declared, "And that's all for my-"
"Pffffft, HAHAHAHAA!", a laugh erupted from K-Sha's side of the room. IF glanced down to her left and saw that B-Sha was now being pushed into a fit of laughter, courtesy of K-Sha's absolutely terrifying torture device.
"On second thought, take all the time you need. I'm sure my new friends wouldn't mind!", K-Sha said.
"It's your turn now. You better not try to draw it out!", IF called out.
"I'll make this quick, then. I summon [Pwinny, the Dood], in attack mode", K-Sha announced, "And I'll attack with [Nisa, Gamindustri's Keeper of Justice]!"
After these commands, a purple penguin with bat wings and a machete appeared next to Nisa on K-Sha's side of the arena. Nisa struck yet another pose and dashed up towards C-Sha and leapt into the air to deliver a flying kick. C-Sha responded with her own kick, and the two fighters clashed. Their legs remained connected, struggling to gain the upper… leg… and strike their opponent.
"Why are they taking this long? [C-Sha, The Blue Brawler] clearly has more attack power!", IF shouted. At that comment, C-Sha's kick pushed through and knocked Nisa flying back towards K-Sha's side of the arena, landing on her back. A holographic panel appeared on K-Sha's side and displayed the number "2000", and was promptly deducted to 1700 to the sound of multiple "beeps". Nisa promptly got back onto her feet and dusted herself off before returning into her fighting stance.
"How could this be? Did I really get the end up with the weaker one?!", K-Sha grumbled. She shook her head and smirked again. "You won't be so lucky, next time. I end my turn."
IF couldn't help but have a smirk spread across her face as she drew a card from her deck. After taking a quick look at her hand, IF made her next move. "I summon [V-Boomerang], in attack mode!", IF called out.
"A minion card, huh? Pretty lucky, if you ask me. And here I thought I would be able to get away with just attacking your little blue friend directly", K-Sha commented.
"That sounds like a good idea. C-Sha, attack K-Sha's little blue friend!", IF ordered.
K-Sha's face slowly changed from smug, to shock, then to anger as she realized what her poor choice of words now led up to. C-Sha's arm transformed into a blaster and she charged a shot before unleashing it onto Nisa. A blue energy blast flew out towards the blue-haired heroine, resulting in an explosion. Nisa was now enveloped in a cloud of smoke.
"I got her!", IF said.
"Ha! Better look again, Iffy!", K-Sha taunted.
As IF looked again, the smoke was now beginning to clear. Though Nisa had raised her arms up to block the attack, she was completely unscathed. IF looked back towards her own side of the arena. "What?!", she blurted out.
C-Sha was now caught in a very tight hug, courtesy of [Pwinny, the Dood]. Her arms were stuck to her sides as the small penguin squeezed itself against her, clearly taking advantage of the situation.
"What's going on? That attack clearly hit Nisa!", IF complained.
"It's [Pwinny]'s special ability. First, it takes damage in the place of another card. Then, if defeated, it latches onto the attacker. And finally…", the schoolgirl explained as she looked down upon the scene beneath IF's corner.
Suddenly, the dwarfish penguin began flashing red and tightened its grip on the struggling brunette even harder, enjoying it's last few moments of pillowy comfort before blowing up into smithereens. The holographic display above IF's platform rumbled dramatically as it was deducted from 2000 to 1400. The short brunette grit her teeth at the sight of it, and snapped her attention down to the taller brunette. C-Sha was lying on her back and remained that way for several moments before she sprang back up onto her feet. She spat at the ground before getting back into her fighting stance. IF relaxed her breathing before raising her gaze up to K-Sha.
"Shouldn't a card like that be a trap card?", IF called out.
"You can complain all you want, but a card's a card", K-Sha shrugged, "You didn't think you would be able to rely solely on raw power to defeat me, did you? If you don't have a strategy, then it's only a matter of time before you lose!"
"Tch, dammit…", IF muttered to herself before raising her voice, "...Your turn."
As K-Sha drew her card, the door to the room slid open. Everyone's attention was now directed at the blonde thief and her masked schoolgirl companion, with a small robot in between them.
"Whoa, look at the size of this place!", CC2 commented with a surprised look on her face. Joker looked around with her hands in her skirt's pockets before CC2 noticed who else was in the room. "Hey, all my friends are in here!", CC2 said to Joker.
Just as CC2 was about to start running in, she stopped when she heard someone calling out to her. "Don't take another step, CyberCon! You'll turn into a card!", IF shouted from her platform.
"W-whoa, seriously?!", the blonde said as she jerked herself backwards. Joker looked up towards IF's platform and started leaning forward towards it, only for CC2 to pull her back. "Hey, didn't you hear her?! Be more careful!", CC2 exclaimed. Joker scratched the back of her head and turned her attention towards the arena beneath IF and K-Sha.
B-Sha's restrained laughter from across the room caught CC2's attention. "What the heck is going on here?!", CC2 shouted.
"This, this and that happened and now I have to do this!", IF responded.
"Huh?", CC2 said with a blank look on her face.
"So K-Sha kidnapped Lid and B-Sha, then turned Nisa and C-Sha into cards. Now you need to defeat her in order to get all your friends back", Joker "repeated" softly, "I comprehend."
"You understood that?!", CC2 said surprised, "How?"
Joker remained silent for a few moments before shrugging and looking away. "...Who cares?"
CC2 shrugged and turned her attention onto the the arena, then back towards the pair of struggling captives. "IF better hurry up, then", she said to herself.
K-Sha cleared her throat as she resumed her turn. "More friends? Wonderful! I look forward to adding them to my collection", the girl smirked. K-Sha picked out her next card card from her hand. "Speaking of friends, shall I introduce you to another one of mine?"
"No", Joker responded.
"Nah", IF shrugged.
"Friends don't trap other friends into cards, moron!", CC2 shouted.
"Hahaha… *wheeze* ...PFFFTHAHAHAHA!", B-Sha laughed.
"Pftyou… ahaha… captured thomeone elth?", Lid blurted out.
K-Sha fanned herself with the card. "I was very lonely without you, Lid. So I decided to find some other friends to fill the void you left in my heart when you LEFT me", K-Sha said before crossing her arms, "They didn't want to at first, but that's nothing a little convincing couldn't fix!"
"K-Sha…", was all Lid was able to say before another tickle jolted her senses.
"Hurry up and play your damn card already!", IF scolded from across the arena.
"What's the rush, Iffy? Everyone's having so much fun!", K-Sha replied with a smirk accompanied with a shrug. She looked at the the card she picked out once more. "Meet one of the latest friends in my collection- [Platinum G.]!", the schoolgirl declared as she placed down the card. In the arena, a tall woman appeared next to Nisa sporting short, black hair with white highlights streaking along the edges. She wore a pair of glasses and a black, skin tight suit with gray belts that showed off her respectable two B's as well as some skin along her legs and back. Though there was a sizable katana sheathed on her back, the most notable thing about her was that she was fashioning a pair of high heels in this getup- probably the most bizarre pair IF had ever seen. IF wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but for a moment it looked like Nisa glanced over to her new ally with a hint of envy on her face.
"Wait a minute. If you have even more people trapped inside cards, you better let them all out when I win!", IF shouted.
"If you win", K-Sha responded in a serious tone.
At the entrance of the room, CC2 tapped her foot impatiently while Joker's gaze lingered upon IF before she turned to look at the arena with her fists clenched into her pockets.
"I think I've seen that lady around before. She seemed pretty strong, too… How did she end up getting kidnapped?", CC2 wondered out loud.
Joker looked on, electing to speak with inner monologue for some reason rather than sharing her thoughts with her ally who was standing right next to her. "They both have two cards in play, but… Iffy's [V-Boomerang] has way weaker attack power than any of the other cards", she thought.
"I'll end this turn by attacking that pathetic little minion of yours. Nisa, attack!", K-Sha ordered. Nisa responded with a pose. Her mouth moved as she did this, yet no sound came out. She leaped into the air and unleashed several daggers down upon the poor little minion. The short red minion staggered as it was hit by the daggers.
"Direct hit", K-Sha said confidently.
"Wait, something's up with those daggers!", CC2 called out.
The daggers began to glow and vanished, leaving IF's card unharmed. Suddenly, they reappeared around the display that showed K-Sha's life points and drove themselves into it, causing a sound akin to glass shattering before causing it to rumble. K-Sha was nearly swept off of her feet as her own platform rumbled as a result. She grabbed onto the sides and pushed herself back into an upright position. She looked up at her life points to find that she had been deducted to 1400, down from 1700. The room fell quiet with confusion until B-Sha burst out laughing once more.
"Was that supposed to happen?", CC2 finally asked.
"Pffft… hahahahaa!", B-Sha snorted.
"...", Joker shrugged.
IF looked down at her holographic interface, then back over to K-Sha. "Looks like [V-Boomerang]'s defense is higher than Nisa's attack power. I'm not sure whether I should be glad or really disappointed", IF spoke up.
"Aha! Hahahaha!", B-Sha continued to laugh.
K-Sha continued to hold onto the sides of her platform and seemed to be taking the loss pretty well until she saw that even Lid began to snicker a bit. "Silence", she snapped. She looked down at Nisa in disgust. Raising her gaze up towards IF, she stood up straight and let go of the sides of her platform. "... Your move."
IF scanned the field once more before drawing another card. She pulled up a card and held it in front of her face. "I summon the spell card, "Giga Freeze"!", she called out.
"What?!", K-Sha blurted out.
"Whoa, that really caught her off guard. What's this "Giga Freeze" card do?", CC2 said.
Joker pulled out her book and flipped through it for a few seconds before closing it again with an audible "plop". "Whichever card Iffy picks can't do anything for one turn", Joker muttered.
"Oh, I get it! Now she's gonna be able to focus on the same target with both of her cards!", CC2 nodded.
IF pointed down towards [Platinum G.]. "Freeze to hell!", she shouted. At that, the woman began to shiver. As ice crept up her long legs, she struck an absolutely fabulous pose as she was frozen into a gorgeous ice sculpture. K-Sha looked like she was going to start squeezing her cards up as she saw IF pick a second card from her hand.
"Tch… you were saving that one, weren't you?", K-Sha said.
"I told you I like to think before I move, didn't I?", IF said with a smirk. She looked down towards Nisa and briefly wondered whether or not she was actually feeling any of this or not before shrugging it off. "And now, I attack Nisa directly with both of my cards!"
C-Sha and [V-Boomerang] nodded at each other and began closing the gap between themselves and Nisa. The short red minion reached Nisa first and hit her with an attack that caused her to recoil in slow motion, while C-Sha hit Nisa several times at mach speed, only for the final hit to be delivered by [V-Boomerang] in a devastating slow motion kick that knocked the wind out of Nisa. After their combined assault, C-Sha and her ally retreated back to their side of the arena.
K-Sha's platform rumbled violently as her life points dropped by 600 points, all the way down to 800. This time, she couldn't grab hold of the sides of the platform and fell onto her back. As she began to pull herself back up, K-Sha could hear IF continue her commands from across the room.
"To follow that up, I summon a second spell card!", IF announced, "Go, [Feat. Demon Slayer]!"
K-Sha pulled herself up and held onto the sides of her platform preemptively. "[Feat. Demon Slayer]?", she repeated wearily.
CC2 glanced towards Joker once more. "[Feat. Demon Slayer]... that card is said to have been forged from a union of heaven and hell itself… But that's just a rumor", Joker said intensely.
"Sounds pretty strong. What the heck does it do, though?", CC2 pushed.
"...", Joker looked away and shrugged.
"Oh, come on! You had a cool explanation and everything going on!", CC2 complained.
"Allow me to explain", IF began, "It damages the opponent for a third of the damage I've already dealt this turn. So that'll be another 200 points off for Crazy over here."
On the field below, a portal opened up beneath IF's platform and spat out a distinguishable man in a trench coat who was censored by an enormous black bar. Loud "bangs" emanated from beneath the censor bar and the sound of glass shattering came from K-Sha's life points display, eliciting another rumble from the schoolgirl's platform. She was now sitting at 600 life points.
K-Sha had braced herself for the impact, and this time was able to rumble along with the platform instead of losing her footing. After several moments of intense rumble features, K-Sha started panting and looked up towards IF with an irritated look on her face.
"Anything… else?", the schoolgirl panted angrily.
"Just one. I'll end my turn with this! I summon, [Henshin A-Go-Go]!", IF called out.
B-Sha looked up from her fit of laughter. "Bahaha… Wait, isn't that… haHA! Is she gonna transform? Ahahahaa!", she blurted out. She was tearing up at this point over all the laughing. "Please… hahaha… no more… teeheehee, haha!"
"Transform?", K-Sha repeated.
"[Henshin A-Go-Go]... it echoes the battle cry of many great defenders of Truth and Justice", Joker explained.
"Whoa, that's pretty coo-", CC2 paused when she looked at Joker, "Where'd you get that other mask?"
A pink ranger mask was now over Joker's face, right on top of her original butterfly mask. "I have a mask for every occasion", she replied. The double masked girl twirled around in some sort of martial arts display before stopping at a pose.
"I'm not one to judge", the thief with a smile on her face. CC2's eyes lit up with realization. "Oh I get it. It's like one of those kids shows B-Sha watches!"
"H-hey! Those shows are cool!", B-Sha called out from across the room.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever.", IF sighed, "Anyway, to get this card to work, I have to sacrifice another one."
"I see now! That's why she attacked first!", CC2 grinned.
K-Sha grit her teeth and groaned.
"That's right. Now, I sacrifice [V-Boomerang] as tribute to empower C-Sha!", IF declared. On the field, [V-Boomerang] turned around and gave a final two-fingered salute towards C-Sha and IF before dramatically shattering like glass. C-Sha lowered her head out of respect before a beam of light surrounded her.
When she emerged from the beam, she was now wearing a blue helmet with a yellow visor over her eyes with a "C" shaped boomerang attached to the forehead. Her brown hair was bunched into a ponytail and emerged from the back of the helmet, with the familiar pill capsule hair clip still attached near the end. Her hands now had what appeared to be yellow pom-poms. She lifted up her right knee and extended her left arm while bringing her right arm over her head, pointing both pom-poms towards K-Sha, and an explosion appeared behind her as she posed. As K-Sha looked back at the empowered C-Sha, a slight grin started to creep up on her face.
"And with that, [C-Sha, The Blue Brawler] is now [Cutiful C]!", IF declared, before pausing. "...Seriously? Who the hell comes up with these names? Bah, who cares. This game's gone on long enough. [Cutiful C], attack!"
C-Sha didn't respond.
"Hey, are you listening? Go hit her!", IF pointed towards Nisa.
C-Sha didn't respond.
"What the hell's going on?", IF grumbled.
K-Sha burst out laughing. "Don't tell me you already forgot the rules, Iffy! You turned C-Sha into a new card. Cards can't attack on the same turn they've been played!", she explained.
IF's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "...D-dammit!", she cried out.
"You weren't planning winning in a single swoop, were you?", K-Sha smirked, "If you have no other cards cards to play, then it's my turn."
IF sighed at herself in disappointment.
"It's okay, IF! You'll get her next turn!", CC2 shouted reassuringly.
Joker looked up towards K-Sha. "That look on her face… she has a plan", she thought to herself.
K-Sha drew her next card, but didn't even bother to look at it. [Platinum G.] was unfrozen now, and Nisa was visibly eager to make her next move. IF anxiously waited for K-Sha to perform her next move, following her hand movements closely. She flinched when K-Sha pulled one card up from her hand.
"...Kept you waiting, huh?", K-Sha taunted. She chuckled for a moment before giving her first command. "[Platinum G.], why don't you go meet your new friend?"
At this, [Platinum G.] unsheathed the katana on her back and sprinted towards the transformed C-Sha. [Cutiful C] deflected several swings before finally catching the katana with her yellow pom-poms. For a few moments, they went back and forth in a struggle to gain the upper hand.
"...Nothing's happening. Does that mean it's a draw?", CC2 asked.
"Yes", Joker responded.
"What happens now, then?" CC2 said.
"They're both supposed to take some damage, but…", Joker paused to look up from the power struggle and up towards K-Sha. "...Nothing's happening."
IF noticed K-Sha still holding the card she pulled out of her hand. "Quit drawing this out and play your damn card already! I already know you're gonna break the tie with it!", IF shouted.
"What's wrong, Iffy? Feeling impatient?", K-Sha replied in a mocking tone, "Shouldn't you be happy you're winning?"
"Sh-shut up!", IF barked.
"Don't let her get to you, IF!", CC2 shouted.
"Oh, please. I hardly need words to do that", K-Sha asserted with a serious look on her face. She gave the card she picked out a passing glance before playing it. "I summon the spell card, [Plot Twist]!"
"You've gotta be freaking kidding me", IF groaned.
"I'm not joking", K-Sha smiled, "This card allows me to gain the upper hand if there's ever a tie."
"I know that card. There was a petition to ban it, once", Joker spoke up.
"Did anything come of it?", CC2 asked.
"Nothing. The players decided to "unofficially" ban it themselves. Anyone who tries using that card gets kicked out of fan meetups and banned from online chat rooms", Joker explained.
"Do people really take these card games that seriously?", CC2 replied. Joker shrugged.
Meanwhile, [Platinum G.] and [Cutiful C] continued their power struggle. Once K-Sha played her card, [Platinum G.] smirked. She pulled her katana away and took a step back to kick the brunette in the face, only for [Cutiful C] to catch her outrageous looking high heel boot in between her pom-poms. Suddenly, a loud "bang" could be heard coming from the boot. The blue fighter let go and was sent reeling backwards before clutching her face in pain. [Platinum G.] winked and blew a kiss towards the wounded fighter before backflipping her way to K-Sha's side. After a few moments, [Cutiful C] wiped some soot off of her visor with one of her pom-poms.
IF's platform rumbled, sending her shifting uneasily from side to side as her life points beeped down from 1400 to 1000. After it finished rumbling, she shook her head and stood up straight.
"Any other aces up your sleeve?", IF called out, now pointing at Nisa, "Or are you gonna damage yourself again?"
"Just one", K-Sha replied. Not wasting any time, K-Sha pulled out another card from her hand and played it. "I summon the spell card, [Turnabout]!"
"[Turnabout]?", IF repeated.
"Oh boy. Even I can figure out what that card does!" CC2 exclaimed. Joker hummed to herself as she observed K-Sha intently, her invisible gaze studying the girl. "That card…", she mumbled quietly.
"This girl, Nisa", K-Sha pointed, "She's your partner, right?"
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?", IF snapped.
"Oh, nothing. I just thought you'd want her back", K-Sha replied. A smirk crept onto her lips. "With the [Turnabout] card, I can switch any two cards on the field around, regardless of who controls them!"
IF's eyes widened with shock. "N-no!"
"[Turnabout]! Switch [Nisa, Gamindustri's Keeper of Justice] with Iffy's [Cutiful C]!", K-Sha shouted.
Suddenly, two men were teleported into the arena, with one man under each platform. The one under IF's platform wore a blue suit with a red tie and had spiky hair, and sported a pair of black shades. On K-Sha's side stood a handsome man with a red suit and cravat, also sporting a pair of shades. The man in the blue suit grabbed the tall brunette by the wrist as the man in red did the same with Nisa. Suddenly, they pulled the gripped the girls' wrists tightly and threw them across the arena towards the opposite sides, shouting "Take that!" as they unleashed the two girls.
Nisa and Cutiful C flew past each other with a look of helplessness on their faces and landed on their feet when they reached their destinations, skidding into the men in suits and causing them to poof away as they went through them. They turned around and resumed their fighting stances, awaiting the bidding of their new masters.
"And now, I strike! [Cutiful C]! Show that pathetic flatty how to be a real hero!", K-Sha commanded.
Under K-Sha's orders, the tall brunette sprinted across the arena and leaped into the air and began punching into the air with her pom-poms down towards Nisa. Her yellow pom-poms sent out energy blasts down upon the heroine. Nisa responded by blocking the with her scarf. After soaking up all of the blasts, she pushed her scarf aside aside dramatically and leaped up into the air to meet her attacker, only for her face to slam into [Cutiful C] before her feet could get off the ground.
Nisa was now on the ground, her head caught in a leg lock between [Cutiful C]'s thighs as the tall brunette sat on top of her. Nisa desperately started to tap the ground, which caused [Cutiful C] to unleash her hold and get off of Nisa before returning to her side of the arena. Nisa coughed a few times before getting back onto her feet and returning back to her fighting stance.
IF's life points went down dramatically, causing her platform to erupt just as violently. The brunette held on preemptively, but the sheer force of the vibration caused her hand to slip and she fell backwards. As she laid on the ground, she saw her life points drop from 1000 to 500. IF groaned as she reached her hand out to pull herself up.
"Oh no! Iffy's losing now!", B-Sha blurted out, "N-nohohohohohooooo!"
"She's not going to be able to take another hit at this rate… C-Sha alone's gonna be enough to end it next turn!", CC2 commented.
Joker looked towards IF's platform. "Iffy…"
K-Sha began to chuckle as IF regained her footing. "I look forward to being able to play with all the new friends I'm going to get today!", she cheered.
IF grit her teeth, glaring back at K-Sha.
"Your turn, Iffy. Make it count", the schoolgirl said sternly.
IF drew her last card and looked at her hand. She scanned it over and over again with uneasy breath. She heard B-Sha's tortured laughter from below and looked down to notice that Lid now had a smile on her face as well. IF whimpered then looked across the arena at the imposing figures of [Platinum G.] and [Cutiful C]. She blinked, then her gaze lingered on the transformed C-Sha for a few moments before she finally looked down at Nisa. IF closed her eyes for a few moments, and a smile crept up onto her face. She opened her eyes and looked directly at K-Sha with an invigorated look on her face.
"You bet I will", IF smirked. She picked out a card from her hand and played it without any hesitation. "First, I summon the spell card [Life Fragment]!s", IF announced, "[V-Boomerang], return from the netherworld!"
"That weak card won't do you any good anymore. You're just stalling your turn! Just give up and accept defeat!", K-Sha shouted.
"It's not over yet! Go, [Heart of Justice]!", IF responded.
"[Heart of Justice]?", CC2 repeated.
"That card…", Joker spoke up, "...I have no idea what it does. What is going she going to do?"
"Now, [V-Boomerang]! Go straight for her!", IF ordered.
With a thumbs up, the short red minion dashed right for [Cutiful C].
"Fool! Do you think you'll be able to get away with attacking me directly when I have another card in play?!", K-Sha scoffed.
[Platinum G.] intervened in [V-Boomerang]'s path and swiftly sliced him in half with one of her high heel boots, causing him to shatter into pieces. IF's life points were lowered by 400 points, down to a mere 100 points.
"You can't keep this up anymore. Your pathetic cards won't be able to defeat me, Iffy!", K-Sha taunted.
"I have no pathetic cards, K-Sha!", IF answered, "Unlike you, I have REAL friends on my side!"
K-Sha was taken aback by that last part and clenched her teeth. "It doesn't matter. Soon enough, all of you… will be all mine!"
"Like hell we'll be. I'm putting you in your place, here and now!", IF responded, "Nisa, now!"
Suddenly, Nisa teleported behind [Platinum G.] and dunked both off her fists right onto the top of her head, shattering the woman instantly. K-Sha's life points were knocked down from 600, all the way down to 200 points.
"W-what?!", K-Sha shrieked, as her platform began to rumble.
"No way!", CC2 exclaimed.
"So it's that kind of card…", Joker spoke up.
"T-this doesn't matter! Nisa is still too weak to deal any damage to C-Sha! A-attacking her would be suicide!", K-Sha spat out.
"If it doesn't matter, then why are you stuttering?", IF smirked.
K-Sha grit her teeth and glared back at IF. "...You can't even do anything else, anyway. Nisa already attacked!"
"Did she? I didn't notice", IF shrugged.
"Don't play dumb with me. Everyone here just saw her attack Platinum", K-Sha growled.
"Oh, you mean that? Heh, that was just part of [Heart of Justice]'s special effect", IF explained.
"What?!", K-Sha responded with a panicked look on her face.
"Let me spell it out for you. [Heart of Justice] is triggered whenever a card is destroyed", IF started, "When that happens, it takes the amount of damage I took from that card getting axed off, and adds it onto the attack of another card. That card then gets a chance to counter-attack the one that destroyed my card in the first place. For free."
"I... see. However, you've seem to have miscalculated, Iffy", K-Sha responded, "C-Sha's attack power is still 100 points greater than Nisa's. She's still not strong enough to make a difference!"
"Are you sure about that?", IF responded confidently.
"...Hm?", K-Sha muttered.
"I guess I did play it awhile ago", IF shrugged, "It's time to reveal my wild card!"
"Wild card? Is that like, a really crazy card?", CC2 asked Joker.
"She means a random card", Joker answered, "But could she truly be relying on mere chance...?"
IF looked down at the holographic interface in front of her, and looked at the one card that was face down. "Behold the card that will be your end!", IF shouted as she flipped it over, "I summon… [Mentor's Training]!"
"Good one. What's it really called?", K-Sha chuckled.
"You won't be laughing when you see it's effect", IF smirked, "[Mentor's Training] doubles all stat boosts I've gained this turn. I'm sure you can do the math yourself."
K-Sha fell silent and lowered her gaze down onto the field, quickly running the numbers through her head. Her eyes were hidden by her hair, and nobody was see the expression on her face.
Finally, K-Sha began to raise her head slowly. "No… no! You won't take them from me! All of them… all of you… you're all… MY friends! Mine!", K-Sha shouted. She threw her cards down and took out her gun, aiming it right at IF. "Die… die! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!", she cried out as she began shooting. The bullets bounced off of a force field right in front of K-Sha's own platform.
"Is she crazy?! This is her arena! How does she not know about her own force field?!", CC2 shouted.
"...She does", Joker commented, "She just doesn't care."
"K-Pftha… Stopff…", Lid called out weakly.
K-Sha emptied her clip and threw her gun into the ground. "Kill her. End. Her. Make. Her. SUFFER", K-Sha commanded in a serious tone. [Cutiful C] heeded her command and dashed forward.
IF had a serious look on her face as she looked across at K-Sha. "...Nisa. Let's finish this."
A burning red aura surrounded Nisa as she posed gallantly, her red scarf blowing in the non-existent wind as her opponent rapidly approached her. Once again, [Cutiful C] leaped into the air and punched a barrage of blasts from her pom-poms. Nisa leaped up into the air and used the blasts as stepping stones to approach her busty attacker.
As B-Sha observed the display, her eyes lit up. "Whoa… hahaha… That's actually really cool! Hahahaha! Awesome!", B-Sha cheered.
"This is like something out of an anime! I've got to try that!", CC2 grinned.
"You do know this is all just a simulation, right?", Lid sighed.
As Nisa soared through the air, she unleashed a devastating Justice Kick towards [Cutiful C], who responded by dodging it in mid-air in slow motion. Nisa kept on flying past C-Sha through the air, going on an on. And on. And on...
"I don't think that's supposed to happen…", CC2 grinned awkwardly.
"How tall is this place?", B-Sha laughed.
IF watched the exchange with her arms crossed and an indifferent look on her face.
[Cutiful C] landed on the ground and threw her pom-poms aside and reached behind her to somehow pull out a cartoonishly large cannon with a barrel shaped like a four-leafed clover. It began to gain energy as she aimed it up towards Nisa.
Meanwhile, Nisa reached the ceiling and crouched down on it, ready to kick off.
"What are you doing!? KILL HER ALREADY!", K-Sha demanded.
At K-Sha's command, C-Sha unleashed the devastating blast up towards Nisa. At the very same time, Nisa kicked off of the ceiling and dashed through the air, right towards the blast. She flew right into it, and continued to soar through it unaffected. Nisa's scarf rippled violently as she fell closer and closer to C-Sha. Finally, Nisa flipped in mid-air and aligned herself to again to unleash her Justice Kick. A few seconds before impact, C-Sha smiled before she was finally hit by the devastating attack.
A plume of smoke emanated from the impact, the force rippling across the arena floor and creating a crater upon the point of impact. The harsh wind caused everyone to look away and shield their eyes for a few moments before it finally settled down.
K-Sha's platform began to rumble violently. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...!"
When it subsided, everyone's eyes were on the crater. IF pushed herself up on the railing of her platform to be able to look inside.
"What's going on? I can't see!", CC2 spoke up.
"...Look", Joker pointed towards K-Sha's platform.
The holographic display above her platform bleeped all the way down to 0 before shattering like glass.
IF pushed herself up the rail of the platform to get a better look at the scene below. Within the crater, IF saw Nisa standing over a casually smiling C-Sha, with one arm stretched outwards and sideways in front of her face and her other hand in a fist. Her scarf continued to flow in the air in direct defiance of the fact that there was no wind in the room.
IF gently pushed herself away from the railings and looked across the arena at K-Sha. The schoolgirl stood in place with her arms resting at her sides, staring at the floor.
The arena dissipated, and the holographic simulation shut off. There was no crater, and Nisa and C-Sha vanished briefly before reappearing on the floor panel in front of CC2 and Joker. The stairs to IF and K-Sha's platforms vanished, and the platforms themselves lowered onto the ground, leaving the two girls behind as they seamlessly sank into the floor. The "torture" devices that were keeping hold of B-Sha and Lid stopped functioning and unleashed its grip on them. All of the lights came on, finally making the whole room visible.
"Hahaha… Hey! We're free!", B-Sha giggled.
"You can stop laughing now", Lid replied as she rubbed one of her wrists.
"Ahaha... Oh, right. I need a moment...", B-Sha wiped some of tears caused by her ceaseless laughter as she began taking deep breaths.
CC2 looked at both Nisa and C-Sha, who were looking around, confused.
"Hey, we're back. That must mean IF won!", C-Sha said with a nod.
"That's my partner! Justice must have truly been on her side!", Nisa said proudly, pumping a fist in the air.
"Boy, am I glad to see you two are alright!", CC2 called out to them.
C-Sha turned around to face the blonde and her masked companion. "Oh hi, CC. When did you get here?", C-Sha asked before glancing towards Joker, "Who's your friend?"
"Nice to meet you", Joker greeted as she took off the pink ranger mask. She reached for her butterfly mask for a moment but stopped herself before shoving her hands into her pockets.
"This here's Joker. I found her after I got, er, separated from you guys…", CC2 looked away and scratched the back of her head, "Sorry about that, by the way. Anyway, she was also kidnapped and I got her out."
"You don't need to apologize! Thanks to your reckless deeds, you actually freed someone else!", Nisa reassured.
"Hehe. Yeah, you're right!", CC2 smiled.
Joker looked between C-Sha and Nisa and saw IF approaching K-Sha. "Over there", she pointed. The three girls huddled around her turned around.
"This conversation can wait", C-Sha spoke up. Everyone else around her nodded and jogged over towards K-Sha.
Everyone in the large room now stood around K-Sha. The girl trembled in place as she stared at the ground, which caused her hair to shroud her face from view. She held something close to her chest with both hands.
IF had her arms crossed. "It's over, K-Sha. Let all the other people go", she demanded.
K-Sha started holding whatever she was holding even tighter.
Lid took a step forward. "K-Sha… what happened? You didn't used to be like this", she said.
"Oh, now you care? After you left me all alone?", K-Sha's voice trembled. She paused for a moment before continuing. "I… I had nobody after you left. I continued doing missions for the Organization. Doing whatever they told me to do without question, like we were trained to do."
"The Organiza- Mmmph?!", Joker began to interrupt, but B-Sha muffled her voice by pushing on her mask.
"I couldn't take being all alone. So I tried to pick up a hobby so I could meet new people and make some friends", K-Sha continued, "So I decided to play trading card games. I looked up the best strategies and spent all the money I earned on booster packs so I could get all the best cards. I went to conventions and online groups to test my skills, but…"
Joker pushed B-Sha's hand away from her mask. "You ended up getting kicked out of them because you ended up using cards people wanted banned. Right?"
K-Sha nodded her head slightly. "They were ultra rare and perfectly allowed, but… nobody wanted anything to do with me. So even after I went through all that trouble, I still couldn't make any friends…"
CC2 sighed. "I can't believe some people would brush someone off like that… Especially over a card game."
"That doesn't explain why you ended up trapping people inside your cards", IF said.
K-Sha continued looking at the ground. "...After getting kicked out of every fan meetup I could find, I got a new assignment from the Organization. I was supposed to track down a list of targets and bait them into a trap so I capture them and bring them into a holding facility."
"What kind of trap?", Nisa asked.
K-Sha paused for a moment and shook her head. "In hindsight, it was a silly trap. It was a black and white stuffed animal with half of its face messed up. A pig."
Nisa looked over to IF, whose face was now painted with surprise.
"...I placed the stuffed pigs wherever the targets would be guaranteed to see them. When they picked them up, the sleeping powder on them would knock them out… and that's when I'd capture them", K-Sha explained. She glanced her head slightly towards Joker. "I captured her on my last mission, two weeks ago."
"Two weeks ago? Then that means…", IF muttered before pausing.
"What's it mean?" C-Sha asked.
"...K-Sha's not the only one kidnapping people", IF said with a sigh.
"How do you know?", B-Sha said.
"I do remember IF mentioning a crazy dream about being turned into a pork by a crazy pig girl or something like that… To think it was actually real!", Nisa replied.
"No way… IF too? And there's other people getting kidnapped? Is there really a crime ring going on right under our noses? S-surely Presto Mask would've heard about this already!", B-Sha spoke up.
"Let her talk", C-Sha interrupted.
K-Sha continued speaking. "That's when I saw my chance. If I put some of those people inside my cards, then they would have to play with me, right? ...Right?"
Nobody responded.
K-Sha raised her head up, allowing everyone to see the tears streaming down her face and her hands holding her deck tightly to her chest. "Why… why does nobody want to be my friend?"
CC2 and B-Sha exchanged glances at each other. "You can't just kidnap people and expect them to be your friends!", CC2 answered, "You have to spend time with them and build a relationship with each other!"
"Yeah, but before we talk about that, we need to talk about how much you owe me", B-Sha said as she walked towards K-Sha.
Nisa looked at B-Sha with surprise, then at CC2. The blonde thief gave her a quick wink, which Nisa reciprocated with a slow nod.
"Owe you?", K-Sha sobbed.
"I'm charging you an inconvenience fee for tickling me like that!" B-Sha exclaimed, pointing at K-Sha.
IF facepalmed.
"I don't have any money. I spent it all on cards and weapons", K-Sha muttered wearily.
"Well you have to pay up somehow!", B-Sha replied. She playfully held her chin for a moment in thought, then gave a thumbs up with a wink. "I know! You're gonna have to hang out with me and my friends from now on!"
"W-what?", K-Sha looked up to look at B-Sha, with a look of surprise spread across her face.
"I wouldn't mind that. If what you guys said about her having a giant robot is true, then I'd love to be able to spar against that thing sometime", C-Sha winked.
"Don't get the wrong idea. It's not like we want to be your friends or anything", CC2 said with smirk.
"Yeah. She's just doing this so you don't go around kidnapping anyone else", IF nodded.
"You don't have act tsundere on her behalf, you two", Nisa smiled.
"I'm serious. You really need to stop working for that Organization", IF said as she crossed her arms.
"If you did that, I would be willing to work with you again", Lid added with a nod.
K-Sha's tearful eyes lit up and a smile crept onto her lips.
CC2 nodded in agreement. "Kidnapping doesn't suit a girl like you, anyway. You should be in school, like Joker here!"
IF uncrossed her arms and immediately turned to look at CC2. "Wait, did you just say "Joker"?" IF's eyes scanned the room and stopped at the one girl present who she didn't recognize.
Joker looked back towards IF. "It's been a long time, Iffy", she said.
Everyone's attention was now on either IF or Joker. "IF, is this a friend of yours?" Nisa asked.
"When I was kidnapped, I found a note with some riddle on it that helped me escape. It was signed by a person named "Joker"", IF replied.
K-Sha wiped her tears with her arm. "...She was in another facility, first. The last thing the Organization ordered me to do was transport her here."
Joker pushed her fists into her pockets. "As expected, my cards foretold this. I knew you would find my note."
CC2 smirked. "If only those cards were as good at giving directions…"
"So you figured out that crazy pig was lying about turning people into bacon and wrote a note to help whoever happened to randomly come across it?", IF summarized.
"...Y-yes", Joker responded awkwardly.
"That still doesn't explain how you know me", IF pressed.
Joker remained silent for a moment. "I'll show you."
She pulled her hands out of her pockets to take hold of her butterfly mask and finally pull it off. Everyone's expressions turned to shock.
"What the heck? This isn't how the climatic face reveal is supposed to go!", B-Sha blurted out.
"J-Joker, what did they do to you?", CC2 added.
"K-Sha, don't tell me you kidnapped people knowing this would happen!", Lid scolded.
"I didn't! If I did… I would've left the Organization ages ago!", K-Sha spoke up.
Nisa walked up towards Joker and started walking around her as Joker's gaze followed her. The heroine stopped and lifted one of her fingers in front of Joker's face. She raised it up, then down, left to right, behind her back, around her head, and poked Joker on the forehead. Joker lifted up her own finger and repeated everything Nisa just did, all the way down to poking the blue-haired girl on her forehead.
"I don't understand", Nisa began, "She can see and talk just fine, but her face is-"
"Gone", IF muttered, "Her face is gone."
CHAPTER 8… The Heart of a Yandere's Cards... END.