City Park

Billows of smoke continued to rise from the ground as Ulith and the imaged Tawil on her side of the battlefield gazed at that very spot, curious to see if her opponent had either taken a fall or somehow managed to fend off her assault. Miwa could only watch on anxiously, worried for Kai's safety and what she intended to do next if she had proven to be victorious in their bout. Moments later however, a green light shone through the smog and cleared it out in an instant, revealing the presence of a battered Wyvern Guard, Barri that had barely managed to protect Vortex Dragonewt and Whirlwind Dragon from harm as the Kagero user was still standing firm. From what could be seen, he had discarded Genjo as the cost leaving Dragonic Overlord the Great as the only card left in hand.

"You still had a Perfect Guard, huh," the cruel demanoured Selector scoffed smugly as Barri vanished from the battlefield "But even with that alternate Overlord left in hand for your next ride, I still succeeded in decimating your rear-guard. Unless you think about this next attack carefully, victory is mine. Turn end."

"That was way too close," Miwa breathed as he let out a sigh of relief.

Kai drew his next card to start the turn ahead, gazing across to Ulith's completed formation and noting the cards that were still in her hand, one of which he still knew was a Perfect Guard she could drop at any time.

The logical approach would be to call my remaining cards to increase the number of my attacks he muttered in his thoughts But... Ulith has been very confident in her abilities with Tawil in her limited state up to this point. In that case...

Holding up the last card he had been holding onto since the previous turn above him, a whirlwind of embers began to rise from the ground beneath Vortex Dragonewt and Whirlwind Dragon.

(Cardfight! Vanguard Unreleased Soundtrack: Seek the Mate - Overlord)

"You burn in the scorching heat of purgatory, but you're resurrected again and again, emperor dragon! Feel uplifted among the flames, my avatar!" he announced before throwing down the card onto the Vanguard circle atop his Legion "Ride the Vanguard!"

The whirlwind then erupted into a fiery explosion of orange coloured flames as a familiar, yet different giant shadow began to rise from amongst the inferno that lay on the battlefield. Then with a defeaning roar, the fire disappeared to reveal the alternate appearance of the crimson red dragon that was the definitive avatar of Kai himself. It held a total of four swords, two in its regular arms and two larger ones in the giant muscular arms and claws that sprouted from its body. It gazed upon both Ulith and the imaged Tawil with its fierce yellow eyes as Kai announced its name.

"Perdition Emperor Dragon... Dragonic Overlord the Great!"

Perdition Emperor Dragon, Dragonic Overlord the Great/Grade 3/Twin Drive!/SLD: 0/POW: 11000/Kagero/Flame Dragon

"And then... Seek the mate!"

Moments after his declaration, a golden aura enveloped Dragonic Overlord the Great as four cards from out of the Kagero user's drop zone flew up into the air as he immediately snatched ahold of one of them.

"Amid the purgatorial flames that consume everything, a new avatar of flames is born! Perdition Dragon, Dragonic Neoflame! Legion!"

After throwing the card onto the table alongside Overlord's, Dragonic Neoflame burst from a brief column of fire as it then slithered alongside the crimson red dragon, the Legion symbol flashing before all. As this happened, Tarayev appeared to the right of the Legioned dragons in front of Gojo, priming his firearm for battle as he took up an offensive stance. Upon seeing what exactly this had meant for her now, Ulith glanced at her hand for a brief instance before returning her confident gaze to Kai.

"Calamitous flames and a burning soul! Render all walls meaningless that stand before two fiery dragons!" he called as he rested the two cards on his Vanguard circle "Attack Ciel!"

"Twin drive!" he announced as he revealed his first card as Vortex Dragonewt before turning over the second card as Blue Ray Dracokid "Got a Critical Trigger! I give power to Tarayev and the Critical to my Vanguard!"

Throwing one of its larger blades to the side, much to Miwa's slight discomfort as it flew right past him, Dragonic Overlord the Great held out its larger and more muscular right arm as Dragonic Neoflame hovered up before coiling itself around the entire limb and setting itself ablaze. Growling loudly, it pointed its right arm towards the defenceless Ciel before unleashing a blast of flames from its jaw, as did Neoflame in tandem, both attacks combining into a single blast that incinerated the Angel SIGNI in an instant. As the card landed in Ulith's drop zone, a fiery orange coloured aura surrounded Tarayev as the Dragon Knight himself powered up from the success of the attack.

Perdition Dragon Knight, Tarayev/POW: 14000 - 19000

"Overlord's Legion skill!" Kai continued as he discarded the two cards he had picked up from his Twin Drive "Overlord and Neoflame, stand again!"

Dragonic Overlord the Great then immediately set its sights upon the seemingly defenceless Tawil that was still imaged on Ulith's side of the field before lowering its stance for a brief moment, only to soar into the air in an instant immediately afterwards. Calamity Tower Wyvern then flapped its wings as a bright red aura enveloped the Kagero user's two Vanguards, preparing them for battle. With Neoflame still ablaze on the larger of its right arms, it reeled said arm backwards as it dived down towards its target. Kai kept his serious gaze upon the cruel demanoured Selector, knowing that there was seemingly only one way out of this situation for her.

She still has a Perfect Guard in her hand... even if she uses it now, my rear-guard's attack will...

"No guard."

(Music Abruptly Ends)

Both he and Miwa suddenly gasped in shock to Ulith's sudden declaration, just as Dragonic Overlord brought down its larger first with the blazing Dragonic Neoflame still coiled around it down onto the ground with a mighty explosive smash that shook the entire battlefield. Then it opened its jaws and unleashed a large torrent of flames that covered over the imaged Tawil and the cruel demanored Selector, who simply, but briefly squealed before laughing off the pain once again like before.

"What?!" Miwa exclaimed "Even if she had to let the other attack through from a lack of shield... not using the Perfect Guard here means...!"

"Damage check," she smirked before flipping over the top card of her deck onto the table, revealing Sunny Smile Angel "Heal Trigger."

As she moved over the card to her damage zone, she then reached out to her deck once more, smirking confidently as she placed her fingertips on top of the next card. Kai gazed closely towards it, his eyes narrowing at the developing scenario.

Now it makes sense... he muttered in his thoughts By returning the first Sunny Smile Angel to her deck after recovering it from her damage zone with Nociel, she's been filtering her deck with the skills of Tawil and Nakirun. Even so, with Overlord's Critical now... is she really that confident to get more Heal Triggers now?

The tension in the air rose as Ulith slowly picked up the top card of her deck, leaving Miwa far more anxious than ever, worried that Kai's large attack with Dragonic Overlord the Great could now possible seemingly be all for naught. When she gazed down at the card however, despite keeping her calm and collected smile, she turned over the card and placed it into her damage zone face up, revealing it as Nakirun, Younger Sister Deity of the Holy Tomb.

"So this is what pushing my luck feels like, huh," she muttered to herself before glancing to the Embodiment of Spear, Tahr that was in Kai's right hand after his second Twin Drive "Not that it would have mattered in the end."

Within seconds after she had finished up her sentence, the purple boundary disappeared as well as the imaged Tawil and all of the units on the battlefield. The two combatants gathered their cards back together before the red tables disappeared with nothing more taking place after that. The Kagero user knew Judgment would not be cast even with Ulith's loss as she had not rode Tawil all the way up to Grade 5. She had mentioned that the real LRIG was still 'incomplete', but he didn't think that it would extend to her current deck until a single thought had crossed his mind.

"You never intended to win at all, didn't you," he murmured.

"Who knows?" she scoffed bemusingly, shrugging her shoulders as she did so "But at the very least, I can confirm the potential of Tawil's strength for myself before she truely awakens."

(Selector Spread Wixoss OST: Lies, Desire and Broken Mess)

Kai simply narrowed his gaze, knowing for a fact that Umr would not be in the possession of Aichi as of the night both he and the Royal Paladin user saved Ruko and Yuki from their terrible fate had it not been for the intervention of Takuto Tatsunagi. From what little word he could go on from Miyako, since both LRIGs were once part of a much stronger entity who only came into being for merely a few moments from Mayu being unable to control such raw power that she attempted to infuse into one of the 'original' LRIGs when the system began, it would stand to reason that their recent plans could stem from the name Ut'ulls. However, the mere thought of Umr alone fitting into said plans with Tawil yet to awaken was not the only concern on his mind regarding the overall subject.

"So what's gonna happen if the real Tawil over in your world wakes up?" Miwa asked.

"Well, I'll just have to wait and see," Ulith replied smugly "Not even I know what she's currently like with how much Photon insists I keep my distance from her for the time being." She then looked back to Kai. "You know that Tatsunagi Takuto helped Umr escape to Sendou Aichi's possession by temporarily calling on Ezel to wreck the lab briefly. But... with the forces at work in Mayu's domain, how do you believe they even made it that far?"

As the Kagero user's best friend blinked in confusion for a moment, Kai's eyes suddenly widened as he suddenly realized that there was only one way that an opportunity like that would seemingly come to pass for both Umr and Takuto back then.

"That's right, I convinced Photon to let her escape to him," she continued with a devious smirk "Did you really think that the Star-vaders, let alone that 'Clown' would get anywhere with them if their personalities remained blank slates in that lab?"

The Kagero user could only remain even more unnerved, now seeing that this 'conicidence' by chance was now all a set-up by the cruel demanoured Selector from the very beginning of that moment. She then pursed two fingers to her lips, her smile deepening and her soft gaze appearing far more eerie to the eyes of those that stood directly before her.

"It's ironic when you think about him. The tainted wishes and crushed hopes of all those in the Selector Battles that he still seeks to prevent," she spoke in a creepily soft whisper before gazing up to the full moon in the night sky, a thought now crossing her sick and twisted mind "I imagine from where we stand at this moment, it won't be very long now... before the 'blood' of a wish through those battles is spilt on his own hands."

"What are you planning with Aichi?!" he demanded "Does it have anything to do with Ut'ulls?!"

"I told you, I don't simply spoil all of my surprises, scum," the cruel demanored Selector spat "But, I suppose I can tell you my preferred outcomes. I could always throw another image to crack him, find some 'cheap' method to make him hate himself to the point where he may as well end his own miserable existence like a 'few' others. However, my greatest treat I imagine would be... seeing 'that' side of him, previously dormant for the last three years."

Though it had taken a few long moments for the two boys to understand the meaning of her words, a horrifying thought crossed over Kai and Miwa's respective minds as their expressions grew disturbed. In the back of their minds, the Aichi that was standing there was dressed in a pair of black trousers and wearing a red sweater along with a green coloured jacket. He slowly turned around with a sinister smile adorned on his face and in his eyes, the unmistakable rainbow coloured glow of PSY Qualia adorned with a dark blue aura. Before either one of them could respond to Ulith in disgust, they watched on to see that she had already picked out a blank Wixoss card with a White backing and announced 'Open' before vanishing in a bright flash of dark red.

When she had vanished, the empty park darkened by the night sky fell silent once more as Kai simply stared at the spot that the cruel demanored Selector had vanished from, praying that his remaining companions in Ruko's world and Hitoe were not just keeping up their guard, but also keeping a close eye on Aichi. The fight itself and what had been revealed afterwards had turned the day of long awaited reunions with other comrades and allies to a night of shocks and sinister surprises. Miwa, still noticing that his friend was feeling the way he would sometimes do so, decided to speak up.

"Well, that fight was certainly something..." he muttered "Are you alright Kai? She said some worrying things."

"I'll be fine Miwa," Kai grunted "Nothing was ultimately lost in that fight... except for my pride."

"But, those things that she said about Ruko's mother considering adopting you had the Link Joker invasion been successful... she was lying, right? You never said anything of the sort to us when you told us about what was going on."

The Kagero user, not wanting to allow the subject to boil up his personal anger for the second time this night, took a deep breath as calmly as he could and faced his closest friend.

"No, Ulith was speaking the truth," he answered before looking down at the ground "Lately, I have been thinking back to the way I was back then. I always believed that despite taking on that power for myself, before Aichi stopped the other Takuto, I had always followed that path I had chosen to walk on my own way. Now I don't know what to believe anymore."

Sensing the discomfort from Kai as he walked away slowly from the park and back to his apartment to hopefully catch up on a good night's sleep, Miwa said nothing more as he watched his friend disappear into the distance. Though he didn't have more words to offer that could do anything for him for the time being, his gaze showed one of concern as he eventually walked back to his own home.

(End Music)


...

(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Kenesai Kioku)

Meanwhile, within the upper floors of the building above the store of Card Capital itself, Ruko was sitting down on a spare futon that was supplied to her by Misaki earlier in the night as she was sitting in the latter's bedroom with Tama and Yuki's card laid out on the small blue table in front of her. She was currently preoccupied in her mind and unable to think of anything to say to her two LRIGs or the Oracle Think Tank and Genesis user herself as the sound of running water from the bathroom next door was all there was to otherwise occupy the silent room, save for the occasional noise by the girl of white.

Looking over to a picture on the back end of the single bed, the Selector could see that it was one displaying Misaki along with Kamui, Aichi and Kai during their earlier days together as Team Quadrifoglio. All them, save for the Kagero user who kept his serious expression in the photo, seemed like they were happy together when they started out and all four of them had been through much since then. Though all four members were not together within the same world as of current circumstances, she was still happy that she had gotten to meet and know about each of them for herself.

"So you guys were really close," Ruko murmured "You must have had a really good time together as a team."

"Some of us admittedly had our differences," said Misaki "But even now, I still treasure the times we had. Even if Q4 is still in a somewhat disbanded state with recent graduations to the next part of our respective lives for myself and Kai, all four of us are otherwise still close friends."

"I see," the Selector replied as she looked back to her "So... you actually play with two clans if remember right. Genesis and... er..."

"Oracle Think Tank," Yuki interjected, helping her to remember the other clan "Though we haven't seen any units of that clan in our own world yet, Aichi mentioned that he saw a few Genesis units as green SIGNI when Sakuya still had Midoriko."

"That does make sense..."

Tama blinked for a moment as she looked up to Misaki, curious as to her exact comment in regards to the statement that the girl of black had given to both her and Ruko.

"What does Misaki mean?" the LRIG asked curiously.

"From what you and Kiyoi told of me of the Wixoss card game in your world," she began "Green cards are more accustomed to Ener Charging to power up their SIGNI and paying higher costs for more powerful effects. That's why Yuki's answer didn't come across as much of a surprise."

Ruko gazed at Misaki in a small bit of awe, having been aware of the fact that the Oracle Think Tank and Genesis user despite having no Wixoss cards of her own, save for the one of Anne that Futase had dropped behind at their end of their cardfight during Schwarzschild Dragon's escape had not been otherwise confused by the change in the rulings between their respective games. She briefly recalled that Kai told her about her having a 'Perfect Memory' or something similar as far as she could remember herself, but she didn't think that would allow her to come up with quite the accurate deductions. After a brief silence had passed by, Kiyoi had come back into the bedroom wearing a white gown and having a towel wrapped up in her hair.

"You have my thanks in letting me borrow your shower," she spoke in her usual monotone.

"That's fine," Misaki replied as she watched her walk over and take a seat at the small desk beside the curtain covered window.

From what the girls could see, the former blue LRIG had laid out her deck and had recently been observing the choices of cards that she had picked out from what was available to her out of the drawer she had gone through back in the kitchen on Leon's island. Curious to what she was thinking about, Ruko peeked over her shoulder at the cards laid out. The fact that Kiyoi had chosen to build a Nova Grappler deck of her own did come as a surprise to most of the group when she had fought Morikawa earlier in the afternoon, Kamui moreso having had the greatest amount of experience around her usual tactics from their numerous encounters back in her world.

"So what made you pick that clan?" Ruko asked curiously, having only battled against her once as an LRIG in Akira's possession giving her limited knowledge about her preferred style.

"I suppose you could say that I find the Blau series a more offensive take on my usual tactics," Kiyoi calmly answered "Katsuragi simply assumed I would pick Megacolony for the similarities between Paralyze and Freeze or that I would take up Nubatama for dealing with the opponent's hand directly. But with the amount of experience Remember has had around me and Mayu's associates having knowledge of that, I believed a simple change of approach was in order."

"I see."

Misaki then came over to join the Selector in sharing a look over at the deck that was laid out on the desk before her, making note of each and every card she could see having come across them at least once in her time as Card Capital's clerk, much like almost any other card from the game of Vanguard she could think of that had entered the store itself and from her respective travels. Though her mind told her that Kiyoi had managed to put together a decent deck from what she could scrounge up from the island, her heart on the other hand told her that was still a hint of dissatisfation that she could sense from the former blue LRIG as she looked down at the cards in front of her.

(End Music)

"You feel as though your deck is incomplete," she murmured.

"That would be correct," Kiyoi replied "I was only lucky to find a single unit with a Break Ride ability to increase the pressure of Stern Blaukluger's attack. Aside from that, despite having a focus on the Blau series, I currently have only few cards related to them."

"Don't worry about it," Ruko interjected "I'm sure you can find the remaining cards tomorrow from the stock or display cabinets downstairs in Card Capital."

Kiyoi didn't utter another word back to the Selector, but she silently nodded to let her know that was something would turn to when Shin would eventually open up the store in the coming morning. Placing the deck as it was back into her blue coloured case, she placed it down on the desk as the three girls then turned their attention to settling down for the night.


Mall Basement

The very next morning, Christopher along with Tetsu, Neve and Ratie had gone to the location where the 'gateway' to the Sanctuary that once lay on the moon still lay with the shards to the broken keystone now removed from the empty hole that now replaced it. The Great Nature user had already set up the small laptop that he had brought with him along with other bits of technology and equipment from his dormitory room at SIT back in Singapore. With some help from Tetsu, he was able to link both the computer and the remanant of the teleporter together with a makeshift cable as a window opened up on his screen displaying a pattern of some kind that changed in appearance with every passing second.

Despite her lack of familiarity with some of the more advanced forms of technology before her, Ratie had shown some intrigue at what she had been seeing on the screen for the time being whilst Neve simply stared at what remained of the 'gateway', wondering if it could even be fixed at this point with his and the other Quatre Knights' talismans having disappeared after Kai's final confrontation with Aichi on the moon quite some time ago. After a few long minutes had passed by with mere observations having took place for the time being, Christopher stood up and looked up to Tetsu to give his verdict on what he could find.

"Well, I can definitely confirm that Kamui wasn't kidding when he said that Aichi, Leon and Ren planned to use their PSY Qualia in an attempt to forcefully activate it to send them and Ishida to a location other than that Sanctuary that no longer exists," he said "Though I can't sense any leftover residue with my own, I have been able to trace that there is still a live frequency similar to theirs in the remnant of the powerless 'Gateway'."

"So you might be able to fix it?" the Dark Irregulars user asked.

"Well... I can say it's possible," he replied "But from what I could find, it may be a matter of trial and error before I can even try and activate the panel without the keystone, let alone see if it can teleport anyone over to the world they went to."

"If it can?" Ratie pondered in concern "You don't sound that sure."

"Naturally, with using this teleporter for something outside of its intended purpose, let alone without the true means to activate it," Neve replied "If Chris doesn't approach this carefully, he could potentially send Kai and the others to a completely different world or worse..."

Everyone remained silent with slight unease, knowing that he had indeed raised a point about this whole situation. If the time did come and the teleporter did not work as the way as they had hoped it would... who knew what could happen next.

"In any regard..." Christopher spoke, attempting to break the ice "I'll start by testing to see if I can power the gateway on and if I can do so by replicating the frequency I picked up."

"Then we wish you and Testu the best of luck," Neve replied before looking down to Ratie "Let's go."

"Yeah!" she replied happily as the two of them then left the basement of the mall.

By now, the marked fighter and the Dark Irregulars user were on their own and faced with the difficult task that now stood before them. They knew time was off the essence with neither of them or Kai's group knowing how long they had to get to Aichi and the others before Mayu and Chaos Breaker's plans could reach fruition in the other world. As Christopher got back down onto his laptop, he looked back up at Tetsu who seemed deep in thought as he gazed at the mural, though he knew that the teleporter was not the only thing that was on his mind.

"I'm sure Ren is handling himself just fine," the Great Nature user said with a reassuring smile "Sometimes, even his less... serious side has caught me off guard."

"It's not his behaviour that worries me," Tetsu replied "If the information you and Kai gave me is true, I wonder how it is this Mayu plans to respond to him in particular. That and Asaka has recently been growing more anxious about his safety, not helped by the fact she lost Luquier and the entire Silver Thorn series to this Ulith when our headquarters was attacked. We're only thankful that I was able to lockdown her room at the time before she could reach it and steal any more of her other units from there."

"Still, these marks..." Christopher murmured as he held his marked hand up, as did the Dark Irregulars user in return "I find it surprising that it also links our cards to the units that are now captured."

"You mentioned that any cards you touch that belong to the same series or possess the same names as the ones lost immediately turn blank like the ones you hold," he spoke "Is that true?"

"Yeah... Before I left Singapore, Mitsusada gave me a spare Triangle Cobra that he got from the card shop near SIT to test that theory. Needless to say, it does hold true, believe it or not."

Tetsu's expression grew grim as the reality of the statement that was made clear to him and all those marked back at Foo Fighter was now settling in as the cold hard truth of the matter. Deciding that it was for the best to not dwell on the subject any longer and help Christopher making at least some kind of a start in trying to power on the teleporter to the same frequency that his laptop had picked up on.

"Well then, shall we begin?"

"Yeah."


Kai's Apartment

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

Meanwhile within the single bedroom of his home, of that he was glad to be back within after everything he had been through up to this point, Kai was sitting down on the mattress and was deep in thought. There was no doubt that from the fight last night that Ulith had intended to provoke him in one way or another, even if the approach was different from the way she would normally try to break down all of her victims. And as much he had hated to admit it, even if she did not succeed in tearing his overall composure to shreds, she had certainly found success in getting under his skin and riling him up when she revealed the potential endgames she had in mind for Aichi when they would next meet back in her world.

Thinking over back to all of the attacks on his world that had happened so far, he soon realized that despite hearing word that he was recovering from his unfortunate encounter with Miyako, he hadn't spoken to Gaillard since his abrupt return. Recalling that he still had a means to contact him since his graduation from Hitsue High, he looked back to his bedside desk that had a card with a small trail of numbers on it. Bringing out his mobile phone from his trouser pocket, he inputted the number that was displayed and awaited for the ringtone to finish. When it did however...

"Hello, amigo! What can I do for you?!"

An unfamiliar energetic and somewhat lively voice suddenly sounded out aloud into the Kagero user's right ear, causing him to wince a little as he moved the phone a little away from his ear on instinct.

"I'm making a call to Olivier Gaillard," he spoke calmly, hoping that whoever had answered on the other end would calm down in return as well "Tell him that Kai Tos..."

"Amazing!" the voice on the other end replied "I can't believe I'm speaking with the infamous Kai Toshiki at last! I must say, it's nice to finally speak to you even if master Leon's little surprise for our eventual meeting in the Euro League was inter... Huh...? Ah, sorry! I'll pass you over right to him!"

Kai simply sighed quietly, having not expected that his call through to the former Quatre Knight would be seemingly as much of a hassle for him as he had found out. But at the very least, it seemed that the voice on the other end had finally broken out of his excited distraction and was now allowing him to speak with Gaillard at last.

"You've certainly caused quite the hassle for Aichi-san to be worried sick about you," Gaillard's voice echoed "But given the circumstances, it is good to see you back in this world, Kai Toshiki."

"The feeling is mutual," the Kagero user replied "Are you doing alright?"

"Yes. Most of my wounds from Judgment have faded and I'm able to walk again," he answered before letting out a small sigh "... Though I wish he would tone down his excitement, especially for times such as this, please forgive Jaime. He means well and has taken good care of the kids whilst I've been resting."

"I see," Kai murmured "I assume Neve and Ratie have told you everything about what we are up against now?"

"That's correct. It still disturbs me that the one who made Aichi-san scream is amongst those attacking fighters across our world."

He simply nodded in agreement, the events of last night still being very fresh in his mind as his calm expression had turned grim once more with uncertainty building up in the back of his head.

"Indeed," he spoke "And if my encounter with her last night has taught me anything... she definitely will try again soon."

"In any case, I will be planning to meet up with all of you in Japan soon," Gaillard replied "I've heard word that one of you is trying to repair the gateway to get us to that other world since it broke after Aichi-san used it recently."

"Yes," said Kai "If we are fortunate, we can reunite with Aichi and the others and help them in putting an end to the Selector Battles and Chaos Breaker's plans. Take care for now, Gaillard."

After bidding him farewell, the Kagero user ended the call and got up from the bed that he had been sitting on, now seeing that Gaillard had more or less managed to recover everything from his loss to Miyako, save for his pride and the Bluish Flame Liberators. Thinking about the woman for a moment and how none of their group had seen her since all of them vanished through the wormhole caused unintentionally by Ayumu's efforts to prevent her escape back in her world. He recalled that Ulith had alledgedly praised him during their fight for 'bringing her down a peg' by defeating her and that she called her a child trying to be an adult that was above humanity.

Though he wasn't sure about what exactly the cruel demanored Selector had been getting across to him through her opinion of Miyako, decietful words or not, he could sense that the woman's burning hatred for humanity since Mayu's death as a human had overridden nearly all logic that she functioned off of and her attempts to justify all of her actions since becoming the General of the mastermind's forces placed her above the race she sought to bring to extinction when the Star-vaders would invade her world had only confirmed what little suspicions of her character he had before encountering her for the first time when he re-encountered Noriko. Before he could dwell on this any further, he heard a doorbell go off as he opened the door to find that Miwa and Ruko were standing outside.

"Good morning Kai," the Selector greeted.

"The same to you," he replied as he moved aside to allow them inside.

"So, did you manage to get through to Gaillard?" asked Miwa, to which the Kagero user nodded in response.

As Ruko wandered around the single room apartment, surprised that it even functioned as his single bedroom compared to her own apartment back in her own world where she, Ayumu and her grandmother Hatsu at least had small, but seperate bedrooms of their own, she could hear Tama yawning loudly as she picked out the cards containing her and Yuki. The girl of black was still feeling a little drowsy as she rubbed her eyes whilst the girl of white on the other hand was still in quite an energetic mood as ever.

"Good morning Ru!" she called loudly.

"Good morning, Tama," Ruko replied with a cheerful smile "Good morning, Yuki."

Yuki simply tried to smile in response before she fell back to sleep with her drowsiness getting the better of her, much to Tama's slight confusion. The Selector simply kept her kind smile in understanding, knowing that the girl of black didn't exactly get the best of sleep from last night for whatever reason it was.

"Kiyoi is not with you?" Kai asked curiously.

"She said she wanted to familiarize herself with the city a bit more," Ruko answered "After that, she said she'd come back to Card Capital later."

"I mean no offence to her, especially after what she's been through," Miwa commented "But I gotta say, she seems like one of Kamui's more stranger choices of friends."

"Kiyoi originally viewed the world and the people around her as an enemy first and foremost," the Kagero user replied "It is only now that she's begun to try accepting the trust of others around her."

"But... people still think Kiyoi is Remember, right?" Tama murmured.

Everyone in the apartment said nothing back, knowing that Misaki had observed several people in Card Capital the day before had not taken kindly to Kiyoi's presence due to Remember marking them previously and stealing their units using her body and identity to do so. Ruko knew with Misaki that this was yet another challenge that the former blue LRIG was going to have to overcome for the duration of their stay in this world. Thinking about her now only had her pondering on how she was doing and where exactly she was now.

(End Music)


City Streets

Meanwhile across several streets of the city, close to where the headquarters of Foo Fighter was located, Kiyoi was wandering by herself. Though she had memorized her entire route she had taken from Card Capital so that she could easily return to the store if needed be, she had wanted to familiarize herself with the world around her a little more from what even she could assume was inner curiosity, something that her old self would normally object to. Turning a corner, she began walking down an narrow, but mostly empty street.

"So even if I'm familiar with Japan, especially this city," she murmured to herself "There are some noticable differences from the one from my world. Our worlds having more in common, yet so different at the same time."

Walking onwards towards the end of the street she was in, a small creak from underneath her feet caught her attention as she stopped in her footsteps to find that she had unknowingly walked onto a large wooden circle of some kind with two small straight bars running down either side. Before she had time to comprehend what she had stepped onto, everything suddenly went dark as something large had fallen down from above and covered over her in an instant.

"What the...?!" she gasped in shock as she touched the 'cover' to find that it was made of wood and that it curved all around her, save for a small hole in the side.

"We got her, kaboom!" a voice called from outside "Sending the victory message to Gouki now!"

"Nice one! Now let's hurry up and get this wannabe thief back to Nagisa!"

Kiyoi soon realized from her predicament that she had walked into a trap set by these two men and now she was stuck in a barrel that had somehow landed perfectly over her. Upon hearing the name Gouki and how Kamui had mentioned that the captured Cocytus was a unit from his deck that Remember had captured, it all started to make sense. These people were previously forced into fights by her former compatriot and were unaware of the fact that she had done so as herself and now, they believed that she was Remember and had captured her because of that oversight. Before she could say anything, she felt the ground of the barrel that served as her cage being lifted from the ground as the two outside were now hauling her to Nagisa.

"Let me out!" she called "Let me speak with Katsuragi!"

But it was to no avail as she felt the barrel wobble a little from the increased pace of the two that were carrying it from outside. It seemed all that she could do was wait until they reached the younger Daimonji sibling and see what it was that they were after from their understandable belief that she was the attacker that had marked them previously.


Minutes later on a street not that far away from Card Capital, Kamui, Reiji and Eiji were on their way down to the store itself as they were engaged in discussion about everything that had been going in the time that they had spent away from each other. He had been telling the two boys a little more about Kiyoi, Amika and Remember in seperate discussions, offering his views on the three of them and occasionally mentioning other people and LRIGs he had encountered in their world like Chiyori, Hitoe and Yuzuki.

"Sounds like you had the crazy ride alright," Reiji commented.

"CRA, yo!" Eiji interjected.

"Believe me, you don't know the half of it," the Nova Grappler user replied "I've pretty much been caught up in a whole mess with body swaps, bad grudge and other things over there. But those girls really need our help or that whole thing we stopped a year ago is gonna come back for a second round."

"There you are Kamui!"

Everyone blinked as they looked ahead to see that Gouki was standing before them as he grinned triumphantly, wanting to tell Kamui of the 'good news' that he had recieved during his search for him.

"Gouki, it's been a while!" he greeted with a wave "You managed to get your units back alright?"

"We sure did," the Granblue user replied "And to top it all off for today, we even managed to catch the thief just a few minutes ago."

"Thief?" Kamui pondered in confusion "What do you mean?"

"Nagisa's little trap worked liked a charm," Gouki answered "We finally managed to catch the one that marked us, Mizushima Kiyoi!"

Then it was his turn to be surprised as Kamui's expression turned to utter horror as he soon realized that the whole of Team Handsome had just made a huge mistake. As Reiji and Eiji looked to one another, unsure of how to interpret the situation at hand, the Nova Grappler user wasted no time in uttering out his response to what he had just found out now.

"Gouki... you've guys have nabbed the wrong girl!"


And there we go! As Kai wraps up the battle in a surprising turn of events for his victory, Ulith slowly begins to crave for the moment she believes that she can make her next diabolical move on Aichi before retreating back to her world. The following morning, as Tetsu and Christopher begin the long task of attempting to repair the Gateway to the Sanctuary in hopes of getting the group to Ruko's world, Kiyoi is suddenly kidnapped by Team Handsome under orders from Nagisa who are unaware of the body swap that occurred. Can she somehow convince them that she's not Remember and that it was the latter who attacked them previously for acquiring Cocytus? Find out next time on Stand Up, the LRIG! Please share your thoughts and criticisms and I'll see you next time!

Before I go, if it isn't too much to ask, would you also be kind enough to share your thoughts on the three tie-in one-shots that I also have on my profile. I would really appreciate it. That aside, have a good day/night!