...

Kai groaned as he stirred from his unconscious state from the sound of what seemed to be nearby seagulls from his current position. Noting the rocky ground in front of him, the sound of waves also brought his attention to how close to the edge he was as he struggled up onto his knees, his arms and legs feeling rather sore from the rough landing. Soon he could see the blue sea that was out in front of him as he eventually managed to regain his footing, nearly stumbling from his lack of balance as he did so. The sky over the horizon was taking on a shade of dark orange, as if it was indicating that it was now nearly evening from wherever he ended up and that some time had to have passed by since his arrival.

Slowly, he began to recall everything that had transpired before he had lost consciousness, from Ayumu's attempt to prevent Miyako from escaping back to Mayu accidentally opening up a wormhole in the middle of the park that had sucked up her, followed by Kamui, Kiyoi along with himself and Ruko.

"That's right..." he breathed as he soon realized he had not accounted if the Selector was in a similar state as he was initially.

Turning around towards the rocky pathway that led alongside the cliff face to the small area, he immediately saw the Selector lying sprawled out on the ground along with Kamui's motionless body. Both of the cards containing both Tama and Yuki were also thrown onto the ground as a result of her rough landing with the two LRIGs gazing at their Selector in concern, wondering if the abrupt journey had hurt her in any shape or form. Kai hurried over to Ruko immediately, noting the presence of the girls of black and white.

"Ruko!" he called "Can you hear me?!"

(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Unmei no Deai)

Upon hearing his voice, Ruko began to stir as she used one hand to push herself up into a sitting position with both of her legs not willing to let her stand up for the time being.

"Kai..." she groaned as she clutched the back of her head "Ugh... I thought that copied Vermillion Thunderbolt to the head was something..."

"Ru's okay!" Tama cheered in relief, catching her Selector's attention.

"Tama... thank goodness," she sighed in relief as she picked up her dropped cards "For a moment there, I thought I lost you both."

"Can you move at least?" asked Yuki.

Ruko gave a slight nod in response as she used a small rock formation beside her to steady her ascent until she was finally back on her feet once again. At the same time, Kamui also began to regain consciousness as he too began to rise up slowly.

"Man... that hurt..." the Nova Grappler user moaned as he rubbed his sore head before noticing his two recovered companions "Kai, Ruko! You two woke up before me, huh."

"It's good to see you're okay Kamui," she said as she helped him back onto his feet before looking around the area "Where are we anyway?"

"I'm not entirely certain..." Kai replied "But this place feels rather familiar."

Once the Kagero user had finished his sentence, everyone looked ahead of the path to see Kiyoi come around from behind the nearby corner and return to the group. From what they could all assume, she had been the first to regain consciousness after all of them were sucked into the wormhole and had decided to leave them some space to recover whilst she 'scouted' on ahead to get a better idea of where they had all landed.

"It appears that disruption must have sent us to this island," she murmured as she glanced around the coastal area briefly "From what I could gather, there appear to be ruins resembling that of a fortress of some kind..."

"Would you be kind to lead us there Kiyoi?" asked Yuki.

She nodded once before immediately turning around and going back down the path she initially traversed as the rest of the group looked to one another before deciding to follow the former blue LRIG's lead on their current predicament. Ruko immediately tucked away Tama and Yuki's cards into her pocket once more, not wanting a stray wave from the edge of the coast to soak and damage them in some way that would potentially do something to the LRIGs themselves. Eventually, after stepping across a narrow ledge to the cliff face, the group of four eventually came to the spot where Kiyoi had found the 'fortress' ruins she had described, just above the rocks from where they were all standing.

"Whoa...! I know where we are now!" Kamui gasped.

"Where exactly?" Tama pondered.

"It appears that vortex did not just transport us abruptly from the park..." Kai murmured as he glanced towards the seemingly ruined structure before them "Kiyoi, it appears you've discovered for us that we've landed on Soryu Leon's home island."

"Wait... are you saying we've ended up... in your world?!" Ruko exclaimed.

Kamui would have normally felt relieved to have finally made it back to his own home world, even if they were currently far away from Japan there. But the fact that they did so at such an in-prompt time had not made him in the mood for celebrating this sudden stroke of luck. They were not just far away from their friends and in Ruko's case her family, they were also stranded in a world that was completely alien to the Selector, both of the LRIGs that she held and Kiyoi. The latter of whom turned to the Nova Grappler user for a brief instance, having secretly held a slight curiosity for the world that one of her few friends and Kai inhabited and whilst the situation was somewhat dire at this point, it appeared they weren't as stranded as they initially believed.

(End Music)

"Let's go and look around!" he called out before running down the pathway towards the entry point of the ruins "Jillian and Sharlene might be around here somewhere!"

"Are they friends of yours?" Ruko asked as she looked to Kai.

"I'll explain everything once we find out if they're here or not," he replied before walking immediately to catch up with Kamui "But with our presence back in my world, I should be able to re-establish contact with my other comrades later."

The Selector simply turned and stared at the ocean for a brief moment, still somewhat in disbelief that the very place she was standing in happened to be the home of Leon and a part of the Kagero user's own world that she was now seeing for herself. She looked down with a hint of sadness for a moment as she knew that not only would her brother be devastated from not being able to pull her and Kai to safety from the wormhole in time, but her grandmother and Hitoe would be worried sick, not knowing if she was even alive at this point, let alone aware of the fact she was in another world.

"Hey Kiyoi..." she spoke, bringing the girl's attention to her "Did you see mother...? You know... since she got sucked in as well."

"I had my suspicions after I found the four of us here," Kiyoi answered "But I did not see her amongst us."

"I see... thanks anyway," the Selector replied as she tried to force a smile to cheer herself up before the two of them walked down the coastal path to join Kai and Kamui in their search for Jillian and Sharlene.


Wixoss World: Apartment Blocks

(Selector Spread Wixoss OST: Let's Start Over with Everyone)

Meanwhile back in Ruko's own world, the entire living space of her apartment had fallen a deathly silent ever since the news had broken out about what had happened to the Selector herself along with Kai, Kiyoi and Kamui. But none were more devastated by the sudden turn of events than both Ayumu for unintentionally being the cause of it and Hatsu for learning of the outcome. The news that Miyako had been serving in the Selector Battles for a very long time along with her rank of General and her ambition to wipe out humanity as revenge for Mayu's death was already heartbreaking to her, but the fact that her daughter was now gone from her again was even more saddening, only this time, they had no idea if she along with her friends were even alright.

"I'm so sorry..." Ayumu sobbed as he clenched his fists "Ruko's gone again... so is Kai and it's all my fault!"

"Hey, calm down!" Naoki called as he placed a hand on his shoulder "We found her once before, we can do it again!"

The Narukami user's words had done little to reassure him at all however as he continued to stare down at the floor blankly, feeling more than ashamed for not just his failure, but his own behaviour in how Miyako had manipulated him through stealing his memories of the past six years. Aichi and Hitoe looked to one another, concerned about not just their friends' safety at this point, but how both Ayumu and Hatsu were going to deal with this new complication that had sprung up right after Kai's battle. Eventually, the elderly woman walked over to the older brother of her granddaughter as he closed his eyes, immediately expecting the worst to befall him and with the way he had been, who was to say that Hatsu would believe him.

"This situation is my fault too," she spoke as she gently hugged him "I should have done more to stop Miyako from carrying out her revenge. I always sensed there was discomfort from her... but I naively assumed that it was her way of moving on from Mayu's death. But this is the path she's chosen... and there's nothing more I can do other than to keep all of you out of whatever she has planned."

"But Miyako got sucked into that same... hole thing that took Ruko, Kai, Kamui and Kiyoi," Hitoe murmured "If our friends are alright wherever they are, but she's there with them..."

"We'll find them... somehow," Aichi replied, though even he felt unconvinced with his own answer to the Selector's question.

"Well then, it seems we have quite the search on our hands again," Ren said be-musingly, though one could tell that even he was being somewhat serious with his light hearted tone "Though now that you mention there being a former estate around this world's Tokyo..."

Leon gazed at the Shadow Paladin user, wondering what it was from his sentence that he was implying at this point. From what he could gather, it would seem that Aichi, Hitoe and Ayumu's description from Miyako's story of how Mayu used to live in a manor that eventually withered away with time after her death had intrigued him somewhat.

"Are you suggesting we may find another clue about the Selector Battles there?" he spoke.

"Who knows?" Ren replied with a playful shrug "A lot can change in a city in nearly half a century after all. It might not even exist at this point anyway."

As Ayumu eventually stopped crying and broke away gently from Hatsu's hug, he looked back to the group that he knew well. They were now fractured because of his actions and now, he had to do something to make a start in setting things right for everyone around him.

"I'll search the city as much as I can to see if that hole's only taken them a little distance," he spoke "Call me if any of you happen to see Ruko or the others at all, alright?"

Hitoe along with the rest of the boys nodded in response, knowing that finding Ruko and Kai at this point was now one of their new priorities at this point, knowing that their safety was something to be considered.

"We understand how you feel," Hatsu replied "But right now, you need to rest for the moment. We can't imagine what else that clone LRIG you told me about might have done to you."

Reluctantly, Ayumu nodded in response to her statement. Even though he was physically capable of walking, the jolts of electricity that the clone LRIG had surged through him for copying multiple units and stealing his memories had weakened him significantly and as much as he hated to admit it for his current state, even he wasn't in any shape to start a citywide search for his sister and her friends in the evening.

(End Music)

"Just hang in there guys," Naoki said before clenching a fist "We'll definitely find them one way or another!"

Whilst Hatsu could only smile sadly in response to his declaration, she knew that he meant every word of it and that they were all in the search effort together from this point forward. As she sat down to talk more with Ayumu, the rest of the group left the apartment, knowing that it was probably for the best to leave the two alone to rebuild their broken bond and reconcile with one another after everything Miyako had done to him. As Ren, Naoki and Leon went back up to the apartment that Kai had been staying in since his second day within this world, Aichi remained on the current floor after closing the door to Ruko's apartment behind him. He could only let out a sad sigh, the whole event having somewhat taken its own toll on him as well and he knew that he wasn't struggling through this alone.

The Royal Paladin user then saw Hitoe sitting down on the steps, looking down at Midoriko and Yuzuki from the cards she held, all feeling very down from the events that had transpired hours ago. Not wanting any of them to suffer on their own through this dire situation, he gently walked over towards them and joined the Selector and her two LRIGs.

"I'm worried about them too," he said, unable to hide his own concerns for Kai, Kamui and Ruko as well "But wherever they've gone now... I'm definitely sure that Kai-kun won't let anything bad happen to her."

"Y... you think so...?" Hitoe murmured nervously.

"I'm sure," he replied as he gently put one hand over her right shoulder "I know he'll keep her, Kamui and Kiyoi safe until we can find them."

"Aichi's right," Yuzuki interjected "Right now, all we can do is stick together through this and hopefully find out where that hole-thingy took Ruko and Kai."

"All of us are still here for you," Midoriko spoke "Sakuya even said she's just a train ride away from us if you need her as well."

Although she couldn't find any words to respond with, Hitoe wiped her eyes as she turned back to Aichi who could easily tell that this was clearly taking its own toll on her as well. Offering up his free right arm, the two embraced one another gently in the comfort that they were still there for one another and that they could hopefully overcome this dillema like every other they had encountered thus far. As the Selector rested her head on his shoulder, the Royal Paladin user could only turn his thoughts towards his missing friends, praying that they were hopefully safe as he had assumed.

Kai-kun... Ruko-san... Please be safe... wherever you are now.


Vanguard World: Soryu Island

Meanwhile within the ruins that was home to perhaps the last three wielders of Aqua Force in this world, it seemed almost quiet as Sharlene watched the sun in the distance beginning to set over the distant sea. To one of the twins that usually accompanied Leon on his travels, moments like this were usually what kept whatever anxiety she would otherwise have in check. And even Jillian who watched closely from the doorway knew that this was moreso than ever with their friend having departed for the other world with Aichi, Ren and Naoki, whilst also having no knowledge of how long their initial mission to recover Kai and Takuto and return back home would take.

"I'm bored..." the younger twin sighed to herself as she got up from her chair, just as the other entered the room "I can't take this waiting any longer."

"I'm just as anxious too, but we have to keep to Leon-sama's word," Jillian replied "It's been over seven days now, so we don't make a move until he either returns or the week comes to an end."

Sharlene yawned a little as she turned her attention back outside, not even feeling in the mood to have a cardfight to try and take her mind off of her impatience at this point. As she gazed out into the horizon once more, pondering on how Leon was doing in the other world, her right ear twitched for a moment as she heard a voice from outside.

(Selector Infected Wixoss OST: Daily Life ~ Missing Parts)

"Hmm?"

"Did you hear something Sharlene?" Jillian asked as she joined her by the open window.

The twins then looked outside for a moment, wondering what it was that Sharlene had heard faintly for a moment before a familiar voice caught their attention. They looked towards the ground to see that Kamui was waving up to them to catch their attention. The Nova Grappler user then turned around as Kiyoi, Ruko and Kai eventually joined him by one of the entrances to the ruins themselves.

"We're in luck!" he called "Looks like we're not stuck here after all!"

"Is that... Kai Toshiki?" Sharlene pondered "Didn't Leon say he was stuck in some other world?"

"I guess we're about to find out," Jillian interjected as the two left the room to go down and join the others.

Meanwhile after traversing more of the coastal pathway, the group of four eventually reached one of the entrances to the ruins. Now that they knew that Jillian and Sharlene were present on the island, they felt it would be best to wait for them to meet with them in order to properly acquaint themselves in this unexpected of scenarios. Eventually after a few short moments, the twins eventually arrived in front of them, blinking for a moment having not known or met either Ruko or Kiyoi before or knowing where they came from.

"Jillian and Sharlene Chen," Kai spoke, addressing them by their full names "It has been a while."

"We could say the same about you, with whatever mess you'd gotten yourself into," Jillian replied.

"It sounds like you've known them for a long time" Ruko murmured.

"Yeah," the Kagero user replied "They have lived with Leon together since his people scattered after losing their power. They also participated in the Asia Circuit and the VF High School Championship with him as Team Dreadnought."

"But if you're back here... Is Leon...?" Sharlene asked curiously.

Kamui shook his head in response to her question, having known they would have been bound to ask about Leon the moment they saw Kai.

"Leon wasn't with us when we got sucked here," he answered "If anything, onii-san's hopefully still with him in 'that' world."

"I sensed no other presence when we travelled through the wormhole, aside from you and Kiyoi. Therefore, I can only concur in agreement with your assumption."

Once Yuki had made her point clear, the twins suddenly blinked for a moment, having pondered on where the voice had come from in the first place. There was seemingly only six of them present and yet a seventh voice could clearly be heard. As they looked around, Ruko dug into her pocket and brought out the LRIG's card, still retaining the Wixoss backing to them. Upon seeing the word however, Jillian immediately took up a defensive stance.

"Huh?" Sharlene pondered in confusion.

"Be careful! Tokura warned us in advance of them!" she called "They already took out the remainder of Foo Fighter!"

"Hey, Ruko's not our enemy!" Kamui replied "If she was, she would have marked us by now or something!"

"Um... you could hear her?" Ruko asked, curious as to how the twins could hear Yuki despite not being part of the Selector Battles.

Whilst Sharlene gazed curiously at the card, Jillian initially remained apprehensive until a nod from Kai was all it took for her to eventually lower her guard and eventually accept that the Selector was not of the same threat that had been attacking their world lately.

"So... is the card the source of the voice?" she asked.

"Actually... I have two of them," Ruko replied as she eventually brought out the other card before revealing them "These are my LRIGs, Tama and Yuki."

As the LRIGs and twins looked at one another out of curiosity for several long moments, Tama waved in greeting as she beamed a happy smile. This was enough for Sharlene to smile back and tap the girl of white on the head with her finger before rubbing it gently.

"Tama says it tickles...!" she giggled.

"Wow... you're cute!" the younger twin smiled as Ruko could only laugh nervously in response.

"So your name is Ruko," Jillian spoke as she approached the Selector before bowing once "Sorry for jumping the gun there. It's just that..."

"No, it's okay," the Selector replied "It's nice to meet you."

After Sharlene had finally finished 'playing' with Tama as the girl of white hummed to herself in a happier mood, she turned to Kiyoi who had otherwise remained silent throughout the whole conversation.

"And you're..." she murmured.

"Kiyoi," the girl answered in her usual monotone "Mizushima Kiyoi."

Upon recognizing the name, Jillian had almost through impulse taken up a defensive stance again, but after hearing Kamui's claim that she wasn't their enemy as initially believed from the news of his initial disappearance, she felt there had to be more to the situation for him to trust her at this point.

"So if you're from the same world Ruko's from..." she began "Doesn't that mean you have this... LRIG thing as well?"

Kiyoi only frowned in response to her question, making it clear that she was unwilling to talk about either Remember or her previous experiences within the Selector Battles as of yet. Kamui, who would have normally have said something in compliant to her giving one of the twins the 'cold shoulder', could see that this was most likely the case and having saw what had happened to Sakaguchi through her memories, reluctantly decided not to push her on about it.

"Hey, don't worry about her," he said, smiling innocently for a moment in an attempt to avoid the subject "It's just... something she doesn't want to talk about now."

"If you say so," Jillian replied, seemingly confused by his sudden shift in mood before looking back to Kai "What the heck's been going on? And how did you get back here anyway?"

"I'll explain everything once we're inside," he replied as he brought his phone out "But for now, there's something I must do first."

And with that, the twins along with Kiyoi, Ruko and Kamui headed inside the ruins as Kai gazed out the ocean horizon before looking down to the list of contacts he had available to him on his phone. As he scrolled down to a particular name he had in mind, he silently prayed that he would be finally be able to talk to that person after the long absence he had from this world.

(End Music)


Card Capital

As dusk fell over Card Capital closer towards the shop's closing hours, the group consisting of Misaki, Miwa, Shingo and Ratie all sat at a table together, pondering about all of the events that had happened as of late. Everyone all had their minds set on certain points, but all of them knew that one mystery to them remained and that all came down to Kai's disappearance from this world and why the attacks from individuals such as Remember, Futase, Ulith and Miyako had some kind of connection to them. None were more concerned about the Kagero user's safety as of yet other than Miwa who could only stare down at the table with the only sound being of note to him was a ticking clock somewhere in the shop.

Misaki and Ratie on the other hand had the still LRIG card representing Anne with the borders of the Wixoss card game displayed and wondering on the fight the clerk of Card Capital had the other night. Even with the return of Kamui's Raizer cards coming back to life, the former still couldn't help but ponder if Futase's action to leave this card behind was merely a slip of the wind from Schwarzschild's effort to escape with her in custody or an intentional clue as to what was really going on in the conflict between two worlds.

"So it appears we have more answers now," Shingo pondered "But we still don't know the reason as to why Kai's disappearance ties into all of this."

"Futase said he somehow got involved with these 'Selector Battles' she mentioned," Misaki interjected "Even so... there must be a reason that Schwarzschild Dragon is forcing her to join in with the most recent attacks. She gave her word that Kamui was supposedly safe, but I'm not sure what to believe at this point."

"Aichi wouldn't let anything bad happen to him," Ratie replied "I'm sure he and Kai are figuring out what's going on in that world Futase said she came from."

No sooner had the room fallen silent once more did a buzzing sound suddenly echo from the group. Miwa reached into his pocket to bring out his phone, wondering who it was that was calling him until he tapped the button to switch it on. Once the name had shown up to indicate who was calling, he gasped in shock as everyone immediately gazed down to see that it was Kai who was supposedly calling him at this point. Deciding to find out for himself, he tapped the green button on his screen and brought up the phone to his ear.

"Hello...?"

"Miwa... are you there?!"

(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: BGM 8)

Miwa gasped in shock, having thought he would have never heard that voice again after such a long absence in the most unexpected of circumstances. Misaki blinked for an instance, wondering if it was really the person that was calling at this very instance.

"Kai..." he breathed "Is that... really you?"

"Yeah," his voice echoed "It is me."

"Good grief... you have no idea how long we've been waiting to hear your voice again after nearly two weeks!" Miwa replied, his shocked expression having slowly turned to happiness over the course of a mere few moments "Where are you now?"

"That is the current dilemma. I have ended up back to this world with Katsuragi and... two others from the other world, on Soryu Leon's island."

Everyone looked to one another, each having shared their own relief upon hearing that both Kai and Kamui were now safe and sound, even if they were currently on Leon's island far away from home. But after everything that had happened, being back on their home world at least was resounding news to hear, even in the crisis that was ongoing. That was when Misaki had decided to speak up.

"Who are these 'others' you speak of?" she asked.

"One is a close companion that I've made in my time in the other world," Kai replied "The other, you should know is Mizushima Kiyoi. However due to circumstances, someone else has used her identity to bring Katsuragi to the other world as well and we've only just ended up here due to unforeseen events."

"Jillian and Sharlene are with you, right?" Miwa murmured.

"That's correct. I will ask when it is possible for all of us to return to Japan at once. Aichi told us that he used the 'gateway' from before to enter that world, so it is through that we can get our new comrades home and continue the fight against our new foe."

"Um... about that..."

Everyone in Card Capital then immediately looked to Ratie as she nervously spoke up in regards to Kai's idea to use the teleporter in the mall basement to get back to the other world and solve the mystery of whatever was happening in the other world.

"Neve looked at it earlier..." she said "He said the keystone's completely shattered. There's no way we can get to wherever that world is you're trying to get back to unless we can somehow fix it."

"I see..." Kai's voice echoed "I also heard that Gailliard was also attacked. Is he alright?"

"He's still bruised up, but he's recovering fine," Ratie replied "We have... someone watching over him to make sure he and the kids he looks after are fine."

"I see. Once we return to Japan, I'll explain everything that is going on, introduce you to our new companion and clear things up about Kiyoi."

"Kai... just one more thing..." Miwa murmured "Is Aichi alright?"

"He wasn't sucked into the vortex that brought us back to this world, so I can only assume he's still in the other world with our mates."

Although he felt grim at first, knowing that Aichi was still in Ruko's world with no exact idea on whether he was alright or not, the fact that he was not there alone without friends or companions was at least somewhat reassuring in the sense.

"We'll give you the details on what's been happening here once you return," Misaki spoke "Take care Kai."

And with that, the Kagero user ended the call as Miwa then put his phone back into his pocket. He sighed in relief that his friend was alright and that he was back home in a manner of speaking.

"Good grief," he muttered with a smile "You always have to find trouble or trouble seems to find you."

"But he came back here without Sendou-kun," Shingo interjected "Isn't that not concerning in a sense?"

"Aichi's not alone this time," Ratie replied "I'm sure that Ishida and the others are looking after him fine over there."

Misaki nodded once in agreement before looking down to Anne's card again. With Kai and Kamui having successfully returned back to this world, even if the timing was somewhat inprompt, she knew that through the two of them and their new companions he had mentioned, they could finally get all of the answers to the questions that had been surrounding them since that previous night.

(End Music)


Soryu Island

Soon, night had fallen over the island itself and all of the group along with Kai were inside the kitchen space, seated at the table with him, Kamui and Ruko having given their views of the events that had transpired in the other world. Knowing that was indeed the Selector's home world, the Kagero user offered to let her speak first along with her two LRIGs on the adventures that they had together and a further clarification on both the Selector System, whatever happened within there along with Mayu and her allegiance to the surviving Star-vaders that were helping her maintain the White Room in working order. Reluctantly, she also told them of how her mother Miyako was also serving Mayu and seeking to assist her in using the battles to help create a gateway for Link Joker to invade her world first and destroy it of all life.

Sharlene shivered a little, having not expected to hear that some of the Link Joker remnants were still evil, even after reassurance from Leon that the shattering of the Seed would assume that they would simply be a regular clan on the Planet Cray. Once Ruko had finished with what she had to say, Tama and Yuki each told them of how they were originally some of Chaos Breaker's original creations before they each gained a conscious from their time in the outside world, bouncing from Selector to Selector and in the case of the girl of white, amnesia which had led her to meeting Ruko herself. Eventually, Kamui and Kai both gave their respective tales on all of their experiences and struggles within Mayu's game up to the confrontation with Miyako and the resulting event that sent them to the island.

"So let me get this straight..." Jillian spoke "There's more girls like you that are trapped in these cards which are actually human... and they've been forced to go with these battles over in that world where winning or losing just makes things worse in some cases."

"That is correct," Kiyoi interjected "From what Miyako told us, this has been going on for many years with only chosen Selectors even having a fraction of knowledge as to what is going on."

"I hate to think about what's happened to them win or lose," Kamui interrupted "Even people have died with whatever Mayu's trying to do!"

A quiet hiss from the former blue LRIG immediately caused him to stop in his rant, realizing he had indirectly spoken of Sakaguchi's fate to everyone else without her consent let alone her permission.

"A... anyway," Sharlene said, hoping to calm the tense mood "Didn't you say you had a Wixoss deck with you Ruko?"

"I have two with me actually..." Ruko answered "One for Yuki and the other for Tama."

As she dug into her pockets, bringing out the cases containing her two decks, she opened the white coloured case which had contained the deck she used around Tama in the Selector Battles. After she pulled out the cards however, she immediately dropped them onto the table in shock as everyone stared at the spilled pile before them. Save for a select few cards that had retained their black and white Wixoss backings, the rest of them had changed to backings representing the Vanguard card game.

(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Kossori Tsuiseki)

"W... what the...?!" she gasped "My cards have changed?!"

Reaching out for one of them, she turned it over to reveal Tama, New Moon Miko now in the form of a Grade 0 unit with the clan box having no text, but the colour representing that of the United Sanctuary nation.

"Hey... my Beast Deity deck is mostly back to normal!" Kamui replied as he brought out his own deck "Not saying the ARTS have changed though."

"I see..." Kai murmured as he too brought his deck back out "Just as arriving in that world changed our units to suit the Wixoss card game, returning here has had a similar effect to your cards Ruko."

"But it looks like there's more than I had earlier..." she murmured as she turned the last of the cards face up.

This now revealed that she now had multiple copies of Tama's forms, now listed as Grades 1 through 4 whilst all of her Servants, Spells and ARTS had remained as Wixoss cards whilst Elaine and Bow, Shooting Bow had been transformed into Heal and Draw Triggers respectively. Taking out the deck she had made around Yuki, now with the addition of the card Dragmiko Yuki, Eclipse/Maiden, she could see that the same effect had happened to nearly all of the cards there.

"Wow..." Sharlene breathed taking ahold of one of the ARTS from Ruko's Tama deck and looking at it in wonder.

"It certainly looks interesting..." Jillian murmured before looking to Ruko "Does she know anything about Vanguard?"

"I've told her briefly about the game itself," Kai answered "From what she told me, she seemed to grasp the idea of imaging one's self in a practice battle with Aichi."

Ruko glanced down at her now changed decks, now pondering on the situation before her. The last thing she expected, let alone wanted was for her own cards to change their appearance to suit the game of Vanguard. But at the same time, she couldn't help but expand her curiosity from before when she and Kai battled for her to get used to using Yuki by her side once again.

"Um... if it isn't too much to ask," she spoke "Could you maybe... teach me about Vanguard?"

"I don't see why not," Kamui answered as he looked at her two separate decks "Though from the looks of things, you're a few triggers short of a proper deck."

"Leave that to me!" Sharlene replied with a smile "Leon has spare cards we use for practice decks, so we should find some for you to use."

"T... thank you very much," said Ruko, smiling back in response.

Getting up from the table and heading over to a large drawer on the far side of the room, the two twins opened it up before looking back at Ruko's cards briefly and then at one another. With a mighty heave, they pulled it free from the piece of furniture it had been resting inside of and brought it over to the empty portion of the table.

"Well... I can see how you guys beat us in the Hong Kong stage now..." Kamui replied, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of cards they and Leon had outside of Aqua Force just for mere practice against coming opponents. He then looked to Ruko, sensing a similar feeling from her as well in her confusion on where to start. "Remember said her cards worked with anything from Magallanica, so I guess you could run Tama or Yuki alongside any of the six clans from United Sanctuary."

"R... right," the Selector murmured, unsure of how to exactly respond to the options she now had available to her.

"If I remember correctly from what Kai told us, triggers should be Grade 0 with a yellow border," Yuki spoke "The maximum in Vanguard is sixteen and..."

"Ru can only have four Heal Triggers, right?" Tama asked.

"Four per deck," Kai answered as he stood up and glanced over the Selector's changed cards "Though given the way she's used her decks in the other world since our first meeting... she should begin with the clans marked on her Heal Triggers. She may get a better understanding as she learns more about Vanguard."

He then picked up the card Tama, New Moon Miko and observed it closely, noticing something was indeed different about it and it wasn't just by the changed borders and backing. He then looked over to Ruko who gazed at him curiously, wondering what had caught his attention about the change in her cards.

"It appears your LRIGs themselves now revolve around a 'Ride Chain'," he murmured.

"Ride Chain?" she pondered.

"It's a certain mechanic belonging to a series of units that revolve around riding card within the same series or a stronger evolution to consistently ride to Grade 3 with every turn," the Kagero user replied as he looked upon other cards from her Tama and Yuki decks, particularly the ones representing the two LRIGs "But from what I can gather, with the exception of Dragmiko Yuki, they all can support it up to Grade 4."

"Grade 4?!" Kamui gasped as he looked back at the cards on the table, having not seen it the first time around "That's what Remember used to beat me!"

"It only seems as strong as a Crossride," Jillian murmured "But we can't judge anything until we see them in action, right?"

Ruko walked up to the side of the drawer that the twins had pulled out onto the table earlier and looked inside to notice the piles of units that were present within, with a majority of them being trigger units. Seeing that she was very unsure of where to begin, Sharlene came alongside her.

"I'll fish out all of the Royal and Shadow Paladin Triggers we have," she said with a smile "Have a think about it for now."

"Thanks Sharlene," the Selector replied as she came back to Kai and Kamui.

(End Music)

As the younger twin began taking out as many cards as she could find that were necessary, Kiyoi simply gazed at her as a memory began to play within her mind.

Flashback

"What... is this...?"

A somewhat confused and dumbfounded Kiyoi couldn't help but stare at what had covered over what was formerly her empty desk in the classroom at her school. Seated opposite her was Sakaguchi Ayumi with a few Wixoss cards and her own deck laid out as she began pondering to herself, not taking note of her friend's confusion at this very moment.

"Let's see..." she murmured to herself "Which one should I put in?"

After several long moments in which Kiyoi could only continue to keep her blank stare, she could only wonder about why she had chosen to reconstruct her deck in front of her desk. Certainly she knew that Sakaguchi had always followed her around for some time, even if she didn't know for the reason why other than she was simply a person she really wanted to talk with.

"Ah, this one will do."

The girl who would later become the LRIG Piruluk sighed quietly in relief as she began to get up slowly from her desk, believing that the person in front of her was finally finished with reconstructing her deck and that she could finally get on with whatever she wanted to do with her day. However, the moment Sakaguchi grabbed her right arm gently and guided her back down to her seat did she realize that this wasn't quite finished yet.

"Alright!" she cheered as she held her completed deck into the air in triumph "There's much more to do today!"

"Enough already..." Kiyoi moaned in annoyance "Could you please give it a rest?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sakaguchi asked in confusion "All I'm doing is organizing my deck."

"I'm surprised you could say that almost every day," she sighed in exasperation.

Rather than feeling downbeat about Kiyoi's response, Sakaguchi simply smiled and sat back in her chair with her arms crossed and a "Hmph!" escaping from her mouth, though not in an annoyed tone.

"I've made my decision!" she declared "I won't stop until you play Wixoss with me!"

"So stubborn..." Kiyoi muttered in her monotone.

"You bet I'm stubborn!"

And with that, the only sounds that followed were that of the conversations of other students in the classroom as the otherwise lone girl stared down at her desk, her expression becoming somewhat scrutinized.

Present

"Hello! Earth to Kiyoi!"

Kiyoi suddenly regained her senses as soon as she heard and saw Kamui calling out to her, blinking for an instance as she did so. She gazed at the Nova Grappler user who had come up to her after he had helped Sharlene dig out the last of the Royal and Shadow Paladin cards that she and Jillian kept in the large drawer which was still on the table. She didn't know why she had relived a portion that particular memory after watching the younger twin offer to help Ruko in restructuring her two decks for use in Vanguard, but she had relived it nonetheless and she wasn't feeling in the most comfortable of moods right now because of it.

"Hey, don't you want to try it out too?" he asked with a toothy grin "If your skill from being a Selector carries over, I'm sure you'll get the hang of things in no time."

"I'll pass."

The Nova Grappler user blinked in confusion as he watched Kiyoi rise up from her chair before leaving the kitchen at once, wanting to be alone by herself for the moment.

"What did I say?" he pondered as he looked back to the others, wondering if he had upset her somehow.

"Perhaps you stirred some bad memories of her time as Piruluk," Yuki murmured "Other than that, it didn't sound like you intended to provoke her."

Ruko simply looked down at the girl of black, now realizing that aside from knowing the identity of the former blue LRIG, Kamui had not told any of them about Kiyoi herself or everything she had been through to reach this point. She gazed at the exit to the kitchen, worried if she was going to be alright at this point before gazing back to the pile of cards that Sharlene and Kamui had dug out of the drawer for her.

"You said I was a few triggers short..." she murmured "But with all those different markings, even if I'm accounted for Heal Triggers like you say, I'm not sure which ones to choose. I'm not even sure how any of them work anyway."

"Would it be alright if I acqaint you with the rules before you reconstruct your deck?" asked Kai.

The Selector nodded in response to his request before looking ahead just in time for her to catch something that Sharlene had thrown to her which was wrapped up into a single roll. She then unfurled it to see that it was a double sided playmat that was suitable for the game of Cardfight Vanguard as evidenced by the various circles and zones laid out. Clearing enough space on the table to lay it out, the Kagero user handed her all of her cards together along with both Bringer of Good Luck, Epona and Flogal.

"Before a fight begins, each fighter chooses a Grade 0 card from their deck and places it down on the Vanguard circle."

Ruko gazed at the mat for a moment, unsure of which circle exactly Kai was telling her about until she noticed that compared to the five yellow circles she could see, two of them appeared to have a different design. The first was a single green coloured circle in the center of the playmat and much like the side she was occupying for familiarizing herself with the game. Taking ahold of Tama's Level 0 form, now as a Grade 0 card, she placed it face down onto a circle with six triangular points and looked back at Kai who nodded in response, leaving her to sigh in relief that she was following along so far.

"Next after each fighter has finished shuffling their deck," he continued "They draw five cards to make their opening hand and are given one chance to shuffle any back into the deck and draw the same amount before the fight begins."

"Though you'd usually want to start with cards whose Grades are at least 1 through 3," Kamui interjected "Unless you want a bad hand like a certain 'Lose-umi'."

"R... right," Ruko murmured as she initially took Tama's remaining forms and a random card from out of the pile of cards beside the playmat before showing them to the Nova Grappler user "When you say at least Grades 1 through 3, you mean something like this right?"

"That would correct," Kai replied "After both fighters are prepared, they Stand up their Vanguard and their imaged selves become that of their starting units."

Ruko then looked back to Tama's Grade 0 card that she had laid face down a few moments ago before tapping both of her fingers on top of it, preparing for the 'tutorial' that Kai was now guiding her through.

"Stand up, Vanguard!" she called as she turned Tama's card face up.

(Cardfight! Vanguard Unreleased Soundtrack: Stand Up, Vanguard!)

"Tama stands!" Tama cheered in encouragement.

"At the start of each turn, each player draws a card," Kai spoke "Then if they have a card in their hand whose Grade is at least one greater than their current Vanguard, they can Ride it as their new Vanguard. For this example, you can Ride Tama's Grade 1 self over her Grade 0 form."

"Right..." Ruko said as she took ahold of the card and did the exact action "I Ride Tama, Waxing Crescent Moon Miko."

"Just keep in mind whoever goes first can't attack then," said Kamui "Also, do you see those five circles to the side and behind your Vanguard? If you have any units whose Grades are equal or less than your Vanguard, you can call them there during your main phase."

The Selector nodded once, showing that she was slowly understanding how the general flow of the game was going so far.

"And as the Vanguard's Grade goes up, I can call stronger rear-guards?" she asked.

"That's right," Kai answered "Next, we'll move onto battle. Do you notice anything about the position of Tama's card now?"

"It's upright," Ruko murmured before something then clicked in her head "Wait a minute... is this similar to the states of down and up and how they work in Wixoss?"

"More or less, exactly the same," the Kagero user replied "Here, they are referred to as Stand for upright and Rest for sideways. You turn one of those units in your front row to attack your opponent's Vanguard to deal damage or one of their front row rear-guards to force them to retire."

He then reached out into one of his pockets and took out the card named Iron Tail Dragon before placing it down on the Vanguard circle on the opposite end of the playmat.

"I see now..." the Selector breathed, the flow no longer seeming as alien to her as she originally assumed "I attack Iron Tail Dragon!"

"Keep in mind, whenever your Vanguard declares an attack, you reveal the top card of your deck and add it to your hand," Kai explained "If the card has any of the four Trigger markings you've seen, you can give one of your units +5000 and you apply a secondary effect depending on the type. Otherwise, nothing happens and the battle continues as normal."

Ruko then looked over to the pile of cards to the side of the playmat, her gaze focused on the four triggers that were at the top now. Taking ahold of them, she looked at each one closely, trying to get an idea of how each one worked.

"Let's see..." she said "Draw... does this mean I draw 1 card?"

"You got that right!" Kamui replied with a thumbs up.

"Right. And for Stand... I can Stand a unit?" she asked.

"Almost there," he said "You can only use that effect to Stand rested rear-guards, but that means they can wage another attack."

Ruko nodded, now fully understanding at least half of the four Trigger types and what each of them did individually. From Kai's description, it appeared that were some element of luck that was involved if she even hoped to set any of them off in a cardfight. Putting down Flogal and Bow's cards back onto the pile that was her in-progress reconstruction of her Tama deck, she looked back to Elaine and Epona's cards.

"Heal... I'm guessing that has something to do with damage as Kai said..."

"Yes," Sharlene said happily as she came over "You can use that to send a card that's already in your Damage Zone to your Drop Zone, but only if you have equal or more damage than your opponent. The Critical Trigger can give any of your units an extra Critical so they deal more damage when their attack hits the Vanguard."

"Alright, I think I get it now," Ruko said, breathing in to calm herself "So what happens when your Vanguard takes damage?"

"When your Vanguard is damaged, you reveal cards from the top of your deck equal to that unit's Critical," Kai answered "It works in the same sense as a drive check, in that any Triggers you reveal will also activate then, but the cards you reveal are put into your Damage Zone. If there are six cards there, the fight is over."

"Which brings us to guarding!" Kamui called "Do you see the Shield values on the sides of most of your cards?"

The Selector gazed down at all of her cards, noticing that most of them indeed had a Shield value, with most of them being 5000 with only the Triggers that weren't Draw Triggers having Shield values of 10000. That was when she noticed that Seeker, Plume Wall Angel and Flash Shield, Isuelt each had golden Shield symbols on the sides of their cards, each with a 0 marked on them.

"When any of your units are attacked, you can call cards from your hand whose Grades are equal to or less than your Vanguard's to defend for that battle," the Nova Grappler user explained "That green circle, the Guardian circle, is where you call your Guardians. After the battle ends, they all move to the drop zone."

"So all of her units can defend in one way unlike the Servants," Yuki murmured, holding up a hand to her chin "An interesting way nonetheless."

"Finally, we'll cover onto the basic 'abilities' of certain units," said Kai "Do you notice the small hexagons beneath the Grade numbers of each of your units?"

"I see them," Ruko replied "What do they do?"

"The icon you can see on Grade 0 and 1 units allows them to boost an attacking unit in the same column from the back row by resting them and adding their power to that same unit," he explained "Grade 2 units have the ability to Intercept from the front row and act as Guardians for defending your Vanguard. Finally, Grade 3 Vanguards from what I can see of Tama's Grade 4 form have the ability to conduct two drive checks when attacking. That's known as a Twin Drive."

"That's why onii-chan called it a variant when he copied Daikaiser..." the Selector murmured, recalling that battle freshly for a moment "Thank you very much."

(End Music)

Before anyone could say anything else, the sound of a rumbling noise immediately came from Kamui's direction as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"I guess I'm a bit starved," he said, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

"Then again, we haven't eaten all afternoon even after we got sucked in," Ruko replied.

"Leave it to us," Jillian interjected "We'll get dinner ready for all of us pretty soon. We can worry about sorting out your deck after that."

The Selector smiled kindly in response, acknowledging the older twin's offer for dinner as she watched her and Sharlene head over to the far side of the kitchen to start preparing for then. Despite feeling somewhat homesick earlier along with the concern for her friends along with her brother and grandmother back in her home world, she was happier to be in the company of those that Kai and Kamui could trust well. And now thanks to them, she was beginning to gain an understanding of the game they loved in this world and the one that held its own ties to the Planet Cray itself. Now that she thought about her family though, her expression had dropped a little.

"Do you think mother is still out there?" she asked, turning to the Kagero user.

"Even if Miyako is not on this island, I have no doubt she may be somewhere within this world because of that vortex," he replied grimly "And if she is... then whoever is nearby is already in grave danger."


?

Within a large forest clearing, smoke poured from the ground as a large crater had been formed from the impact of whoever or whatever had landed right into that particular spot with great force. When the dust eventually settled down, only the crackling sound of the earth itself was registered in the air by any nearby wildlife that was within the area. Then without warning, a certain metallic hand suddenly burst from out of the large hole and clamped straight onto the edge of the crater as its bearer immediately hauled herself out with a mighty yell before jumping out and landing on her damaged boots. Miyako was beyond angry as the gemstone of her metal hand was cracked and sparking as a result of the damage sustained.

"Curse you and humanity to the depths of purgatory... Kai Toshiki...!" she hissed.

She then tried to activate the gemstone in order to re-establish contact with Mayu and the remaining Star-vaders to inform her of her predicament, only for nothing to happen in response. A rustling sound then caught her attention as she then turned around and flexed her hand like a claw, preparing to strike whoever dared to approach her.

"Calm yourself, you took quite a fall from my observation."

"Show yourself," she growled, clearly not in the mood for being swayed by the calm tone of the new arrival.

"Where are my manners? You should know who I am first."

And with that, the man within the shadows eventually brought himself into the pale moonlight that was cast over the forest glade. He fiddled with his glasses for a brief instance before bowing.

"My name is Morris Pennyworth," he introduced himself "I work for the services of the Serra family and we have quite the interest in the 'other' world you hail from."

"Speak your peace, quickly," Miyako growled as she approached him slowly.

"I simply have a mutual interest," Morris spoke with a calm smile "I only wish to learn of these... happenings occurring to cardfighters across this world and I believe you may be a valuable asset."

The woman simply glared closely at him, bothered that he was not cowering before her presence as she anticipated.

"And what can you provide that I simply cannot take?"

"Why... the possible repairs for that metal hand of yours, seeing how important it appears to you," he answered "With the welfare acquired over the years by my master, I'm certain that would be a definite possibility."

"Very well then... Morris," she spoke resolutely before grabbing his right shoulder "It would seem that you would have an agreement. But once these 'repairs' are complete, I am to continue on my own. Is that understood?"

"Naturally," Morris replied calmly, not fazed by his right shoulder being clasped by the cold metal "We have a deal, miss."

Miyako then huffed before shoving him to the side as he then immediately led the way for her to exit the forest and to meet with his 'master' face to face. All the while, the butler himself calmly kept his composure as he thought back over the words he had just said before sneering internally to himself.

For now.


And there we have it! Arc 3 of Stand Up, the LRIG! has officially come to an end and the setup for the first half of Arc 4 has begun! The wormhole has separated Kai, Kamui, Ruko and Kiyoi from their companions and left them back within the cardfighters' world on Leon's island. As Jillian and Sharlene agree to let them stay until they can get back to Japan, Ruko takes up a raised curiousity in the game of Cardfight! Vanguard as Kamui and Kai slowly teach her the basics before she can reassemble her changed decks. Meanwhile, Miyako lands somewhere within that world's South American continent as she is approached by Morris Pennyworth who seemingly makes her an offer she can't refuse with her damaged metal hand.

What new adventures lie in store for Kai and Ruko? Is Kiyoi still haunted by her past? Will there be invasions more dangerous than the attack on Foo Fighter? Find out in the coming chapters of Stand Up, the LRIG! - Arc 4: Side Vanguard! As a special treat, I've updated the cover to the transition to the next chapter that starts off the arc, as I promised previously. What were your best moments from Arc 3? Where do you think the story could use improvement? Please share all of your thoughts and criticisms in the reviews as always and I'll see you next time for the start of Arc 4! Until then!