Vanguard World: City Streets
(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: BGM 8)
Miwa meandered across the streets, heading on his way over to Card Capital to find out from his 'mates' if they had learned anything more as to what had happened as of late involving the subject around Kai's disappearance and Aichi's travel to that 'other' world that Leon had told him about. Whilst he had been insistant on joining the Royal Paladin and Aqua Force users along with Naoki and Ren on their journey upon learning about this, Aichi's reassurance in that he wasn't going alone was enough to make him see the point that he did not want to end up losing anyone within the other world, let alone accidentally leave anyone behind on the return trip.
However, I'm just as worried about Kai as you are... he murmured within his thoughts as he came to a stop. I know we need to keep things under control until you get back with him... but even Kamui's urge to skip the countdown we agreed on is starting to get the better of me. Not to mention having to keep up the rent of Kai's apartment because of his absence might take its toll on me soon.
Sighing for a brief moment, Miwa looked up at the blue midday sky to try and clear his head of the many doubts that were piling on by the second. Reluctantly, he forced on a smile to try and not let himself feel stressed about everything that was going on. After all, he was relying on the word of the fighter that saved the world from the darkness of Reverse and pulled Kai out of it when he was at his lowest.
"You seem pretty distracted."
Hearing that familiar voice, Miwa turned around to see a familiar cardfighter that had just addressed him at this very moment. He had very dark purple hair and eyes along with a short sleeved shirt of the exact same colour that he wore beneath a long sleeveless white coat. This person also had a pair of long blue armbands that wrapped around his lower arms. From here, Kai's friend could easily recognize that it was the one who held the title 'The King of Underground Fights' that was talking to him at this very moment.
"Jun..." he murmured.
"It appears that you have been rather absent minded as of late," said Jun "I'm guessing it's because of him."
"You've got that right," Miwa replied before looking back at the open blue sky "I know that I'm doing the part of keeping everything calm, but..."
"You want to do more."
He looked back at Jun, knowing that he had just read both his thoughts and doubts like an open book. Then again, with the anxiety being present in his tone in the midst of their conversation at this moment, this shouldn't have come as much of a surprise to him.
"Regardless though," the King of Underground Fights continued, this time with a sense of apprehensiveness to his voice "That isn't why I've come here to talk to you now."
"Oh?" Miwa pondered, now intrigued with what he had to say.
Jun simply nodded in almost a grim fashion, almost nerving Kai's friend for a brief moment as he decided to take the opportunity to listen to what he had to say to him at this very moment.
City Park
Phew! That was almost too close...
Kamui panted as he came to a stop from his current run and wiped his forehead clean of sweat from rushing over to the empty park, where a small amphitheater area of some kind with a small table in the center stage below two rows of steps leading there was present before him. Looking over his surroundings that was devoid of people for the time being, he glanced around from where he was standing before sighing in relief, having known the full reason as to why he had fled here at this very moment.
Nagisa... he muttered within his thoughts Why do you have to be the bane of the road to my 'goddess'?
Shaking his head for a brief moment, wanting clear the thought of his mad rush away from Nagisa that happened just moments earlier, he looked up to the midday sky having now been distracted by other thoughts that were present on his mind. Ever since Aichi and Naoki had left with Leon and Ren for this 'other world' that they had learned about with little knowledge at the time, he couldn't help but feel anxious about how they were getting on over there whilst he had remained behind to keep things under control with Misaki, Shingo and Miwa. Even though it had only been two days since the four cardfighters had departed on their journey to find Kai and bring him back to their world, Kamui couldn't help but remain somewhat eager for the 'countdown' they had agreed to follow on to expire, in the event that they did not return within the next nine days from now so they could take action.
At the same time though, from just thinking over the subject, the Nova Grappler user also couldn't help but feel somewhat troubled from the time that had passed, especially given that much like Misaki and the remaining three Quatre Knights, he too had seemingly heard Aichi's screams from two nights ago, unbeknowst to him was seemingly caused by his previous Selector Battle with Ulith, when she used his PSY Qualia to invade his head. Deciding to clear the disturbing thought from his mind, he took out his deck and looked at the frontmost card, Ultimate Raizer Mega-flare.
I know you can find Kai, Aichi onii-san! he thought If there's anything I can do, I'll be there! You can count on it!
(End Music)
Kamui's trail of thoughts were then suddenly interrupted as a rather strong breeze blew right over him, prompting him to immediately slide his deck back into the case to avoid having any of his cards blown away by the sudden gust of wind with what appeared to be several white spots from within. But what was strange to the Nova Grappler user at this very moment wasn't the speed of the wind that was blowing all around him at this very moment, but rather how it felt in that regard.
"What the...?" he murmured "Icy wind… in the middle of summer?"
Looking all around him to try and figure out where the wind had been coming from, he suddenly saw someone standing at the table in the center of the stage in front of him. It was a girl, the exact same one that had been observing both Misaki and Ratie the previous evening, shortly after Card Capital had closed up unbeknowst to both him and Miwa. She remained motionless amongst the breeze, her expression having not wavered a bit, even as her brown hair moved around in the icy cold wind that blew around her and Kamui. Keeping her eyes closed, the breeze eventually stopped as if almost on cue as the Nova Grappler user stared at her, growing somewhat suspicious as to what he had just felt and witnessed at this very moment, knowing that he was the only other person in the park.
"Hey!" he called "Do you know something about that chill just now?!"
The girl then opened her bluish grey eyes and turned her gaze upon Kamui, her expression seeming somewhat uninterested with what he had to say at this very moment.
"And what if I do… Katsuragi?" she spoke, her tone seeming somewhat monotoned.
"H... How do you know who I am?!" he demanded, seemingly surprised by this sudden answer, especially given that he had never met this girl before in his whole life. Shaking his head, he quickly regained his composure. "Now that I think about it... who are you?!"
"My name..." the girl replied "Well then, I suppose... you can call me Kiyoi."
She then immediately looked back to the table that was in front of her, noticing the 'mat' and the various circles that were littered on it, six for each side and a wide green circle in the center. The most noticable markings that she had seen were the red and blue Vanguard circles that were present on each side of the mat, presumably to indicate the different sides that two cardfighters would take up over the course of the game. Reaching into her pocket, she brought out a deck of cards that were suited to this kind of game, evidenced by the Cardfight Vanguard logo and mural on the back of the topmost card of her deck.
"Vanguard, huh?" she spoke as she placed that topmost card face down on the red Vanguard circle and placed her deck on the deck zone on the table "So that's the game that governs this world…"
"Governs…?" Kamui murmured, not quite understanding the meaning of what Kiyoi had been talking about. The girl turned her head back towards to him, not saying a word more as if she was expecting him to make an action at this very moment.
"I don't know what you're getting at," the Nova Grappler user spoke as he brought out his deck case and ran over to the other side of the table, preparing himself to start as he placed a card face down on the blue Vanguard circle and prepared his starting hand "But I won't back down from a fight!"
"Very well then," Kiyoi spoke as she too drew the cards for her opening hand "I hope you are prepared... for your misfortune."
Kamui simply ignored the last part of her comment, simply believing at first that she had just said it to him in an attempt to shake his confidence as both he and the girl reached out for the cards that lay on the Vanguard circles of their respective sides of the field.
"Stand up, Vanguard!" they called as they flipped their cards face up.
As with all cardfights within this world, both cardfighters would initially picture themselves as astral spirits on an area of the Planet Cray, where they would have access to two unique powers in those 'forms'. The first would be to ride their Vanguard every turn by at least one Grade, increasing the strength of a player's avatar and granting them access to unique abilities. The second of these 'powers' would be to call allies to any of the five circles surrounding their Vanguard known as the rear-guard, as well as guardians that would serve to protect the Vanguard from any harm over the course of the game. A Vanguard would be indestructible throughout the course of a fight, provided that a fighter did not take 6 damage from successful attacks or run out of cards from their deck at any point.
"Energyraizer!"
Energyraizer/Grade 0/Boost/POW: 5000/SLD: 10000/Nova Grappler/Star Gate/Battleroid
Imaging it around him, Kamui's voice announced the name of his starting Vanguard, the Grade 0 Nova Grappler unit that was simply called Energyraizer. The purple armoured Battleroid stood high and mighty over the much smaller astral 'form' of Kiyoi, who had not yet revealed the form of her starting Vanguard. Both of them were within what appeared to be an industrial area with several cables sprawled over the enclosed space, indicating that they were imaging the battle to take place within the Star Gate nation. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, Kiyoi smiled under her lips before speaking the name of the unit or rather the name of who she was beginning the fight with.
(Cardfight! Vanguard Unreleased Soundtrack: Contention)
"Remember, Reading Star Miko."
Remember, Reading Star Miko/Grade 0/Boost/POW: 5000/SLD: 10000/'?'/Magallanica/(Human/LRIG)
A bright flash surrounded Kiyoi's astral appearance as in the place of that, a girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes appeared before the towering form of Energyraizer. She wore a purple ribbon in her hair, tied in a knot at the center whilst the ribbon itself acted like a hairband of some kind whilst the rest of her head had a clearish material to form the headdress. Remember also wore a purple bra and had a white skirt with long coattails around the back of it. She simply gazed up at the giant Nova Grappler unit, keeping a somewhat innocent smile present on her face. Back in reality, Kamui could only stare at Remember's card, not because of the fact he hadn't seen it before, but from what he had noticed on it.
"What is that unit…?" he murmured to himself "Its clan box shows that it's from Magallanica, but… it has no clan name! Just what is that supposed to mean?"
"Ride, Remember Morni," Kiyoi's voice interrupted as she placed a Grade 1 card over Remember's Grade 0 form. The card depicted Remember with very little changes to her. Aside from the power and Grade increase, the only visual difference was her holding a crystal ball in the palm of her left hand. "With this, as long as Reading Star remains in the soul, Remember's power remains at 8000 and I trigger another skill."
Looking to her deck, she picked up the top seven cards and fanned them out, keeping them concealed from Kamui's line of sight before she picked out a card from amongst them, this time being a Grade 2 card that depicted Remember holding 9000 power. She shuffled the remaining cards back into her deck before silently gesturing for the Nova Grappler user to begin his turn. He simply drew the top card of his deck before looking over his hand and then placing the card he drew onto the Vanguard circle.
"Here we go!" he called "The great Kamui rides Cannonraizer!"
Shortly after he did that, he took Energyraizer's card from the soul, the stack of cards beneath a Vanguard, and placed it on the rear-guard circle that was directly behind Tankraizer. Immediately, he then turned both of the cards sideways to their rest state.
"With a boost from Energyraizer, Cannonraizer attacks!" Kamui declared.
Kiyoi simply shrugged to indicate a 'no guard', showing that she was willing to let his first attack go through so easily. The Nova Grappler user then reached out to the top card of his deck.
"Drive check!" he called as he flipped it over, revealing Ultimate Raizer, Mega-flare.
He smiled for a brief moment before adding the card straight to his hand. He didn't pull a trigger on the first attack, but at least he had managed to get one of his ace cards into his hand for later. On the imaged space, Cannonraizer 'knelt' slightly to aim its cannons down towards the spot that Remember was standing in before firing off both of the shoulder cannons, leaving a trail of blasts that exploded alongside the girl, engulfing her in a cloud of smoke. Back to reality, the first card in Kiyoi's damage zone revealed Code Art RPG, another Grade 2 unit like the other form of Remember that she had added to her hand last turn. Kamui stared at the card once again, noticing a similar detail.
Another one?! he muttered in his thoughts What's with these units I haven't seen...?! They don't specify a clan... so what exactly are they?!
Looking back across his field, the Nova Grappler user could see that with all of his current units at rest, he could no longer wage any attacks for the rest of the turn. He looked back to Kiyoi, whose calm smile from the start of the fight had not left her lips, seemingly unnerving him for some reason.
"Turn end," he spoke.
End of Turn 2
Kamui vs 'Kiyoi'*
Hand - 6 : 6
Soul - 0 : 1
Damage - 0 : 1
Front Rows: EMPTY - Cannonraizer (Vanguard) - EMPTY : EMPTY - Remember Morni, Star Reading Miko (Vanguard) - EMPTY
Back Rows: EMPTY - Energyraizer - EMPTY : EMPTY - EMPTY - EMPTY
The girl then drew her single card and placed it straight into her current hand before choosing a different card, one that Kamui could easily tell was the one that she had added the previous turn.
"Ride, Remember Noon," she spoke as she placed down the card on top of Remember's Grade 1 form. "And call."
Remember Noon, Reading Star Miko/Grade 2/Intercept/POW: 9000/SLD: 5000/'?'/Magallanica/(Human/LRIG)
POW: 9000 - 10000
Within the imaged space, Remember's form had barely changed in terms of appearance whilst to the left behind her, presumably on the rear-guard circle in that same position, a figure otherwise known in the 'other' world as a blue SIGNI by the name of Code Art TV appeared. On the actual table, Kamui could see that this new 'unit' was in fact a Draw Trigger with 4000 power, evidenced by the reddish coloured symbol in the top right corner of the card. He didn't have time to press a question about what else he had noticed before Kiyoi pointed down towards his field.
"Freeze!"
Before he could utter a response, all of a sudden, ice seemingly began to form around Energyraizer's card at an alarming rate before the entire card was completely covered by it. At the same time, back on the imaged field, a symbol representing a power icon that hovered above TV's head flashed a blinding green glow before ice immediately covered all of Energyraizer, preventing it from moving as the lights in its eyes dimmed out. Kamui could only stare at the 'frozen' card in shock, having seen nothing like it before.
"What the...?!" he gasped.
"Freeze…" Kiyoi interrupted "With this, Energyraizer is unable to stand at the start of your next turn. In addition, if a frozen rear-guard is in either the left or right column, it cannot move up or down that same column."
"Megacolony's Paralyze with an extra sting, huh," Kamui replied, having quickly regained his composure with a confident smile "But Nova Grappler's speciality focuses on standing my rear-guards. Your Freeze won't work on me!"
The girl simply closed her eyes and kept her calm smile as it was, the appearance of it being enough to unnerve the Nova Grappler user once again as he heard something emit from her lips, though it was rather quiet for him to hear.
"What's so funny?!" he snapped.
"If you think you've encountered the only terror of Remember, you're sadly mistaken," she replied, causing him to raise an eyebrow in response "Call!"
(End Music)
She then immediately placed another Grade 2 unit onto the rear-guard circle that was in front of Code Art TV. This time, the 'unit' was another blue SIGNI that went by the name of Code Art JV. Shortly after she did that, she immediately held two of her fingers over Remember's card before immediately turning it to the rest state.
"Remember attacks your Vanguard."
"Minimum Raizer guards!" Kamui called as he placed the card down on the guardian circle.
On the imaged battlefield, as Remember materialized an orb of light within her hands, a much smaller Raizer unit appeared in front of Cannonraizer to protect it from harm. With the 10000 shield value and the fact that Remember was only attacking for 10000 on her own, it was more than enough to ensure that even a trigger would not allow her attack to go through. Kiyoi remained unfazed as she revealed the top card of her deck, Jet-ski Rider which briefly glowed for a moment. However, that wasn't the reason that Kamui's expression had suddenly changed to shock.
"An Aqua Force unit?!" he gasped.
"Critical Trigger. I give all the effects to JV," she spoke before immediately resting both the aforementioned rear-guard and Code Art TV that was behind it "Attack."
The black and grey coloured blue SIGNI soared towards and landed a hard kick onto the cockpit area of Cannonraizer, causing it to fall onto its back and bringing up a cloud of smoke and dust from the impact. The first two cards that landed in Kamui's damage zone were Phoenixraizer, Drill Wing and Tankraizer, neither of which had any trigger effects to help him out at the moment. But that was the least of his concerns at the moment as he looked back at Kiyoi, who remained motionless to his shock at this very moment.
"Hey, how exactly did you get your hands on that Aqua Force unit!" he called "And more importantly, how did the trigger go off when Remember and those units have no clan name?!"
"So you wish to know the truth, Katsuragi Kamui," she calmly spoke as she kept her eyes closed "I was told you were rather persistant, but very well then."
The Nova Grappler user simply remained silent as he kept a firm gaze upon Kiyoi, intending to absorb as much information from what she was about to tell him as he could. If it could give him an answer to who she was and why she had those 'units', especially any Aqua Force units given that he knew that Leon, Jillian and Charlene at the moment were the only fighters to ever be in possession of that clan, especially since the leader of Team Dreadnought had stated his intention to rebuild the Soryu legend from the ground up. The girl closed her eyes as she began to give her explanation to Kamui.
"Neither Remember, these SIGNI nor I... are from this world," she spoke "Where all of us come from, there is an urban myth that is a reality to only a chosen few. And fewer still understand the true nature of what lies within that 'myth'."
"Myth?" Kamui murmured.
"That's right," Kiyoi continued "All that is common knowledge to the players within the game of that myth is that it can be the very thing that can make their wish come true or taint it to the point of being pushed to the brink of absolute despair. This urban myth, known as the Selector Battles, are a way to determine who is worthy enough to become the form that is ideal to granting their wish. An Eternal Girl."
"And what does this have to do with me?" he asked.
"Tell me, Katsuragi," she spoke "You've known about this for some time, haven't you? That noticable absence."
Thinking hard on everything that Kiyoi had told him about so far and everything that had gone on since the day that Kai had vanished from his world, Kamui suddenly realized that the answer to her question was right in front of him.
"Don't tell me...!" he muttered "That Kai...!"
"Correct," she replied "Due to 'certain' circumstances, Kai Toshiki was summoned to my world and as a result of that 'summoning', he's now a participant within the Selector Battles, along with those that have gone there after him."
"Then Aichi onii-san's been caught up in the same scenario as he is?" Kamui pondered before shaking his head to get back to the conversation at hand "Th... that still doesn't explain how you managed to get some Aqua Force units! Jillian and Charlene should be the only two that have the clan know from what Leon said!"
"Aqua Force..." Kiyoi murmured as she looked at the cards in her hand "You should thank Soryu for being generous enough to enter my world, so my superior could hand me several copies of the cards that he used before I left for this world. As for why they interacted with Remember, you could thank 'her' original properties from my world, allowing the cards to interact with her as if her preferred colour she was of would interact with the same nation. But perhaps I have said too much for now. It is your turn now, is it not?"
End of Turn 3
Kamui vs 'Kiyoi'
Hand - 5 : 5
Soul - 0 : 2
Damage - 2 : 1
Front Rows: EMPTY - Cannonraizer (Vanguard) - EMPTY : Code Art JV - Remember Noon, Star Reading Miko (Vanguard) - EMPTY
Back Rows: EMPTY - Energyraizer (Frozen) - EMPTY : Code Art TV - EMPTY - EMPTY
Kamui then stood up all of the units that he had on the table, barring the frozen Energyraizer, before drawing his single card and looking over the options that he had in his hand. He then took ahold of one card and revealed it to Kiyoi.
(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Ore-sama Saikyou! Nova Grappler!)
"Kamui the great rides Wingraizer!" he called as he placed down the unit on top of Cannonraizer's card.
On the imaged field, Cannonraizer vanished in a white glow as a larger Battleroid sporting armour in shades of black, dark red and somewhat dull gold appeared in its place. Several green gems were embedded on the arms, legs and the front of the torso of the new Raizer as its eyes immediately flashed the same colour before a bright aura surrounded the unit, powering it up as the same aura enveloped the ice that was keeping Energyraizer imprisoned.
Wingraizer/POW: 9000 - 11000
Immediately afterwards, three more units appeared within Kamui's rear-guard, taking up stances for battle as each of them appeared in certain spots of the field. The first one to the right of Wingraizer was Phoenixraizer, Flame-wing, a Battleroid that possessed four feathered like metallic wings on its back and a pair of fiery coloured whip like weapons that were mounted on each of its lower arms. The second unit that appeared on Kamui's top left rear-guard circle was Ultimate Raizer, Dual-flare, a Raizer that sported blue colours along with a large shield mounted on its right arm and a large blaster that was held in its left hand. Behind it appeared a smaller red armoured Battleroid that went by the name Battleraizer.
Back in reality, Kiyoi simply eyed the formation that Kamui had managed to assemble on just his second turn, knowing that he was aiming to deal as much damage as he could whilst only one of his units was still frozen for the time being. She looked back at him, taking note of the determined expression he had on his face at this very moment.
"'The great' huh...?" she murmured, almost in a dry tone.
"Even without Energyraizer's boost, I can still hit you head on!" he called "Flame-wing attacks Remember!"
"Intercept," Kiyoi spoke as she moved JV's card from the left rear-guard circle that was beside Remember's card to the guardian circle.
"Wingraizer attacks!" Kamui declared as he rested the unit that was his Vanguard.
"I guard with Jet-ski Rider."
The Nova Grappler user could only mildly cringe as he saw the Aqua Force Critical Trigger placed down on the guardian circle. He then reached out for the top card of his deck before flipping it over to reveal what he had pulled from this drive check. His mood immediately brightened when he found out what he had just pulled at this moment. It was another copy of Battleraizer, the card briefly glowing to indicate that he had managed to get a trigger effect, evidenced by the symbol and its colour on the top right corner of the card.
"Alright! I got a Stand Trigger!" he called "I give the power to Dual-flare and stand Flame-wing!"
Ultimate Raizer, Dual-flare/POW: 9000 - 14000
Wingraizer charged at Jet-ski Rider, immediately knocking it aside as it continued on its course towards Remember who simply opened her eyes and held up one finger that touched the right fist of the oncoming Battleroid. A distorted ripple then suddenly erupted from her fingertips, sending the Raizer flying backwards towards Kamui's side of the field where it regained its footing upon landing.
"I don't know what you're getting at with whatever Kai and Aichi onii-san have gotten themselves into, but I'll just have to force it out of you!" the Nova Grappler user's voice sounded out.
Immediately afterwards, Phoenixraizer, Flame-wing leaped at Remember who simply closed her eyes as one of the fiery whips slammed down upon her, knocking the girl backwards and engulfing her in a cloud of smoke as debris rained everywhere on the field. Back to reality, Kiyoi's damage check had revealed another copy of Remember's Grade 2 form, showing that she did not get a trigger from this attack.
"Go, Dual-flare!" Kamui called as he rested the unit along with Battleraizer.
The girl simply revealed the top card of her deck in response to taking damage to the fourth attack, this time revealing a trigger of her own. The card was another Aqua Force unit, this one being Ice Floe Angel.
"Heal Trigger," she spoke as she placed the card into her damage zone and took the second copy of Remember Morni from there, moving it to her drop zone "I recover one damage."
"Damn it...!" he groaned as he then shuffled the Battleraizer on his field back into his deck. After he did so, the ice that had formed on Energyraizer's card faded away, now that his turn had come to an end.
(End Music)
End of Turn 4
Kamui vs 'Kiyoi'
Hand - 3 : 3
Soul - 1 : 2
Damage - 2 : 2
Front Rows: Ultimate Raizer, Dual-flare - Wingraizer (Vanguard) - Phoenixraizer, Flame Wing : EMPTY - Remember Noon, Star Reading Miko (Vanguard) - EMPTY
Back Rows: EMPTY - Energyraizer - EMPTY : Code Art TV - EMPTY - EMPTY
Kiyoi simply drew her next card to begin her turn after standing all of the units that she currently had present on her side of the field. Upon seeing what unit she had drawn, her calm smile had only served to unnerve Kamui even further as he felt more on edge than he had been earlier. She raised the card high into the air as another cold breeze suddenly blew around the two of them.
(Selector Infected Wixoss OST: Nightmare ~ Reversing Wish)
"Embodiment of foresight, dictate the future and bring misfortune to those before you. Appear, my true self!"
"True self...?" Kamui pondered, confused by the meaning of what she was talking about.
"Ride," Kiyoi spoke as she placed down the new card over the top of Remember Noon. "Remember Dawn."
Not much of Remember's appearance changed on the imaged space in terms of physical appearance. However, she had managed to regain her crystal ball from her Grade 1 form as well as a strange dark blue aura with several tiny white sparkles of light that shimmered from within. Upon opening her eyes, her innocent smile remained as it was for a brief moment, the expression in her bright blue eyes having not changed for a second.
Remember Dawn, Reading Star Miko/Grade 3/Twin Drive!/POW: 10000/SLD: 0/'?'/Magallanica/(Human/LRIG)
POW: 10000 - 11000
Over on Kamui's field, the same aura that was currently eminating around Remember suddenly enveloped Phoenixraizer, Flame-wing as much like before with Energyraizer on Kiyoi's previous turn, it was suddenly trapped within a large formation of ice that imprisoned the Battleroid in an instant. The Nova Grappler user could only stare down at the table as another formation of ice had already formed around the card that represented the unit, indicating that Kiyoi had frozen it again, this time through a skill from Remember as evidenced by one of the two cards in her damage zone having turned face down when this occurred.
She then placed down the Grade 2 Aqua Force unit known as Tidal Assault in the rear-guard circle where Code Art JV previously was before placing down another copy of Code Art TV on top of the one she already had in play, retiring the first Code Art TV. Kiyoi kept her calm smile on her lips as Energyraizer's card was encased in a small cover of ice again, indicating that she had just frozen it again, much to Kamui's irritation as evidenced by his groan. Finally, she revealed the last card in her hand to be a Grade 3 unit that went by the name of Code Art SMP, possessing similar properties to Remember's cards and the Code Art series that she ran in the deck.
"SMP's skill," Kiyoi spoke "Counterblast and..."
Her eyes flashed a bright blue for a brief moment as Kamui stared on for a moment before a strange blue aura surrounded his right arm. Then before he realized it, he could feel it being pulled upwards with his hand being turned to reveal the cards that he had been holding, much to his sudden shock and surprise.
"W... What the heck is this?!" he exclaimed as he struggled in vain to fight back against the strange force controlling his left arm.
"With SMP's skill, if I call her whilst you have a frozen rear-guard," she interrupted "I can look at your hand and force you to discard a Grade 1 or lower unit."
"WHAT?!"
Looking over the cards that Kamui has revealed to her, she could see that he held Battleraizer, Ultimate Raizer, Mega-flare and Twin Blader. Pointing the card on the far right, another sudden icy gust of wind blew Twin Blader right out of his hand and immediately subsided, causing it to fall perfectly into his drop zone on top of the pile of cards that were already there. The Nova Grappler user eventually brought his arm back into control, now that the aura around it had finally vanished.
"As compensation for this skill however," Kiyoi continued "You do get to draw an extra card."
Kamui simply growled before drawing an additional card and concealing it amongst the other two cards that he had leftover in his hand.
That was nasty... he muttered within his thoughts The size of my hand hasn't changed, but I'm down a Perfect Guard. Then again...
"SMP attacks Dual-flare!" Kiyoi's voice sounded out, bringing his attention back to the fight.
"I... Intercept!" he replied as he moved the frozen Flame-wing's card to the guardian circle, the ice immediately vanishing from it once the action had been conducted.
"Remember attacks," she spoke.
Kamui could only clench his teeth, knowing that even if he had managed to hold onto Twin Blader by any chance, there was still a chance that he wouldn't have been able to guard as effectively as he would have liked to have done so this turn from the low number he already had in his hand to start with.
"No guard!" he called.
Kiyoi simply remained silent for a brief moment before looking down to her deck, preparing to conduct a Twin Drive now that her Vanguard had reached Grade 3 at this point of the game. She flipped over the first card, revealing another Code Art unit with the Draw Trigger marking in the top right corner, but it was different from the one that she had on the field. This time, the card she had unveiled was Code Art KEY.
"Draw Trigger," she spoke "I give the power to Tidal Assault and draw. Second check..."
After drawing her single card per the effect of the trigger, she picked up the next card from the top of her deck as a result of the Twin Drive. Upon picking it up, she closed her eyes, keeping her calm and collected expression which only served to unnerve Kamui even further.
What did she pull?! he muttered, eager to know what she had gotten.
Little did he know was that the answer was about to come his way right at this very moment. As Kiyoi turned over the card for the front of it to face him, all that the Nova Grappler user saw was a bright white light that immediately forced him to shield his eyes to avoid being blinded. For some reason, he could of sworn that the light had engulfed the entire park as he eventually lost track of his surroundings completely. When he seemingl re-opened his eyes, Kamui's vision at this point was still somewhat blurred.
However, he could see from his perspective what appeared to be the large metal hands and the red armour of one of his units below him, as if he was somehow being able to actually see from that unit's perspective. A noise caught his attention from out in front as the vision began to clear enough for him to look ahead, just in time to see Remember wielding a sceptre of some kind with her crystal ball from her previous forms mounted on the top. She held it out in front of her, causing a blinding glow to appear on the orb before everything went completely white in an instant.
At that point, Kamui finally regained his sense of reality as another copy of Ultimate Raizer, Dual-flare dropped into his damage zone as a result of the damage check from that attack. Looking back in front of him, he suddenly gasped as he stared at the unit revealed from the second check of Kiyoi's Twin Drive that he was now seeing. The card appeared to depict Remember in her exact same appearance the vision that he had moments ago as well as showing most of the common properties from the other Remember cards, only this one had a base power of 13000 and there was one element that had caught his undivided attention.
"T... That's... a Grade 4?!" he exclaimed.
"That's right," Kiyoi replied as she concealed the card in her hand "This is my final pinnacle. More importantly... it seems that you were able to see it."
"See what?" Kamui questioned.
"The future that will determine this fight's outcome," she spoke "And the same future that will bring about... your misfortune."
Kamui simply kept his bewildered gaze upon Kiyoi, knowing that from here on in for the rest of the fight, he would have to play very carefully if he wanted to overcome whatever she had planned with the Grade 4 form of Remember that she held and get some answers as to Kai and Aichi's involvement in the Selector Battles. But first, he knew that if he was going to do so, he would have to find a way to overcome his predicted misfortune.
(End Music)
And there we go! Through this temporary detour from the action over in the Wixoss world, we finally have our first cardfight of the fic! Kamui faces off against the mysterious girl who calls herself Kiyoi in order to quell some suspicions from the earlier harsh breeze he felt. Despite starting strong, he soon discovers that overcoming her 'Freeze' tactics combined with Aqua Force's combo attacks may be no easy task and to make matters worse, he comes face to face with Kiyoi's strange ability, Future Sight, which has seemingly pictured the future outcome of the fight and that all may not be as it seems. Can he overcome what she has in store for him or does something ominous lie in wait for him? Find out next time on Stand Up, the LRIG!
Before I go, like I have previously done so with any clans that were readapted for the Wixoss card game over the course of this crossover, any Remember cards debuting in this chapter along with a large variety of the Electric Machine SIGNI (a majority of which still retain their Piruluk restrictions) will be linked to in my profile. Feel free to leave your thoughts or any critiques you may have and I'll catch you all on the next chapter! Until then!
*To those who have already read the entirety of the Peeping Analyze manga, I understand any confusion or concern you may have in regards to what's going on with my introduction to Mizushima Kiyoi (or so it may appear). But I'm not wanting to spoil anything about this detail just yet for those that haven't had the opportunity to read that same manga. If those who have already read it happened to be confused in regards to this however, message me about it and I'll explain everything I can without giving too much away.
