Shop Handsome
With a judder and a rough shake, the bottom of the barrel dropped open as Kiyoi fell to the floor in an instant, now noticing where exactly she was and who her captors were. From what she could gather from the two men she saw and heard earlier, she could now see that each of them wore a red bandanna and that their appearances differed from one another with one being tall and thin whilst the other was shorter with more bulk to his body. They quickly surrounded her from behind, having had no intentions on letting her escape the place that she was inside. The shop interior seemed to resemble more of a building that one would find near the coastline with the porthole shaped windows and the way that the wooden walls were built as well as some of the ornaments on them seeming like they belonged to a ship of sorts more than a card shop.
"Looks like we managed to catch our thief hook line and sink before she could make another attempt on us, kaboom!" the shorter man said in triumph.
"All that's left now is for Gouki to come back here so we can choke some info out of Kiyoi here," the taller man replied "I even heard he's managed to find Kamui before he got our message."
Kiyoi despite being less than thrilled to being stuck in the situation that she was in now, courtesy of Remember's previous 'visit' to this particular shop, could at least find solace in that Kamui was bound to have discovered from Gouki that she was indeed captured for the crimes of her former LRIG. All that she knew however was that the sooner he would arrive here, the sooner this entire case of mistaken identity could be cleared up and hopefully put behind her for the time being.
"Kaoru, Hiroshi, you've done a great job for me and my sweet Kamui-chan!"
(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Kossori Tusiseki)
Upon hearing Nagisa's voice congratulate her two captors for their efforts, Kiyoi turned around before being shoved forward by Kaoru to meet with the one who had organized the trap that she had been ensnared in earlier. The much younger Daimonji sibling had her arms crossed and despite her happier tone at the news she had gotten earlier, her face had become that of a frown once she was now face to face with the person she believed was the same one who had marked her and Gouki several days ago. From what she could gather from her words earlier, this was the same person she had heard one of her two captors mention shortly after she had been trapped.
"So we meet again, Mizushima Kiyoi," she said as she glared up towards her "You've got a lot of nerve to come back here, especially with what you did before."
"I presume you're this Nagisa?" she murmured calmly. Her answer along with her tone however had only served to seemingly annoy the young girl in front of her.
"We've already met!" she replied, shaking her fist in overly exaggerated anger "Are you telling me you've forgotten about our last encounter on purpose?!"
As the former blue LRIG did her best to avoid the urge to roll her eyes in response, she knew that Nagisa was far from done with whatever it was that she had to say towards her.
"Well, it doesn't make that much of a difference anyway," she continued "With you in our hands, not only can we lure in any of your partners in crime to us, but my big brother and my beloved Kamui-chan will take care of them all at once!"
"Even if I was Remember, your real attacker, I would solely doubt Mayu would have any interest in ordering the pick up of someone who let themselves be captured," Kiyoi replied "If you would just be patient enough for Katsuragi to arrive here..."
"Not only did you have the nerve to take mine and my brother's units until we somehow got them back, but you also took Kamui-chan away from me!" Nagisa interrupted before looking away from her with a seemingly sad expression "And just when we were finally making arrangements for our wedding... you had to go and spoil it by kidnapping him and putting him under your own spell!"
Despite feeling the added glares of Hiroshi and Kaoru down her neck after the latest accusation to the list of charges that should be rightfully applied to Remember, Kiyoi couldn't help but question the logistics behind this so called 'wedding' that the girl in front of her had brought up. She had never heard of the younger Daimonji sibling or her supposed relationship with Kamui prior to being captured and as a result, this had only left her in utter confusion with no understanding of the additional accustation that she had now brought up.
"... I'm sorry, what?"
City Streets
"You gotta be kidding me...! Out of all the stupidest things..."
Kamui moaned for a brief moment as he was finally being filled in on the 'charges' that Nagisa had brought to the table as he walked across the city to reach Shop Handsome. He had a feeling Kiyoi was bound to have been approached by fighters who still believed she was Remember, but the last thing he had expected was for Nagisa to somehow be dragged into the whole mess as well. As Reiji and Eiji trailed behind him having shared only confusion in their expressions as they listened to what Gouki was telling them about, the Granblue user continued with the explanation that he had gotten.
"That's what she heard from your quote-on-quote imposter," he said "But given how long you've been away from here for, are you sure that nothing weird's happened between you and this... Remember, let alone Kiyoi?"
"Wha... no!" the Nova Grappler user replied with his face having gone red out of embarassment from just even the slightest thought on the so-called matter "I might like Kiyoi more than I did when I first met her, but this is ridiculous!"
Upon hearing some nervous sounds escaping both Reiji and Eiji and noting that Gouki's stance on the subject had seemingly not changed despite his response, he soon realized that he should have picked a better choice of words. Shaking his head to clear off the red colour from his cheeks and calm himself down, he coughed lightly and decided to try and reword his answer.
"I mean, I had a better opinion of her!" he said "If anything, she's had it rougher over in that world than I have!"
"You really need to be more careful when choosing your words about this around Team Handsome in general," Reiji muttered.
"BMC, yo," Eiji interjected.
Huffing for a moment, Kamui decided that now wasn't the time to be getting flustered over baseless accusations that Kiyoi was now having to endure and decided to continue with the three others around him to Shop Handsome in the hope of freeing the former blue LRIG, clearing up all of the identity confusion between her and Remember and just as importantly to him... avoiding getting roped into marriage with Nagisa, again.
Shop Handsome
As Hiroshi and Kaoru simply held blank looks of confusion towards Kiyoi in regards to her response to Nagisa's latest accusation, the younger Daimonji sibling however was not convinced by the questioning tone that she had given throughout her speech. The former blue LRIG had not said another word or made even a single noise after she had expressed her legitimate confusion on the implications of said accusation.
"Don't play dumb with me!" she replied "During our fight, you not only said I'd never see Kamui-chan again, but that you were having fun playing around with him before you took him and had great plans for him!"
With the noise having long passed over, Kiyoi still remained unfazed and completely silent. Though part of her was curious about whatever Remember may had said to Nagisa when she had attacked Shop Handsome previously, a part of her couldn't help but inwardly sigh at the apparent situation that her captor had claimed that her former compatriot had supposedly dragged her into now.
"Nagisa, are you sure we got the right girl?" Hiroshi asked "Our attacker wasn't exactly the silent type when she showed up before."
"Of course it's the same Kiyoi!" Nagisa replied as she then went around various angles of the former blue LRIG "She's even got the same bluish eyes and brown hair."
After she had tugged at a bit of her hair to prove her point, Kiyoi though still unfazed was beginning to lose her patience with the younger Daimonji sibling and decided that now was the time to stop playing the role of the somewhat willing captive and bring an end to situation she was in, regardless of whether Kamui made it to the shop or not at this point. And from what she had been hearing from her captor's accusations and obsession over the Nova Grappler user, she believed that she had the means to begin working her way out from where she was.
(End Music)
"I could hardly care less for a 'wedding' or whatever it is you're roping Katsuragi into," she spoke "But it seems that arguing over the true identity of the one who previously attacked you isn't getting us anywhere."
"What are you getting at, kaboom?" Kaoru questioned.
Their answer soon came in the form of the former blue LRIG reaching into her pocket for her deck case, soon seeing that she was wanting to cardfight her way out of her captive stance.
"If my words won't convince you, then perhaps a fight might do so."
Upon hearing that Kiyoi had now made her challenge to them clear, Kaoru and Hiroshi looked to one another, recalling the last time that they were attacked when the units displaying Remember had utterly decimated them, Gouki and Nagisa leading to their marks back then as well as the loss of their units. Still convinced that the girl in front of them was their real attacker, they weren't sure on whether to accept her challenge to teach her a lesson as they saw it or to decline and further reinforce their hostage situation until Gouki and Kamui arrived at the shop.
"Fine by me," Nagisa spoke as she regained her smile for the first time since speaking to the former blue LRIG "You know... a part of me actually wanted to fight you again for Kamui-chan's sake and so we can all get some payback for the time your marked us."
"H.. hang on!" Hiroshi called "If you lose, you might get your units stolen agai...!"
"That won't happen!" she replied confidently "I've come prepared since the last time we fought, with the very deck that almost wed me and Kamui-chan at the Asia Circuit! My love-love Anti-Paralyze/Freeze deck!"
As the younger Daimonji sibling brought out a pink case containing the deck that she had just described, Kaoru immediately came between her and Kiyoi for a brief moment to bring over one of the fight tables that was around the otherwise empty store. After he had placed down a small stool on the other side for Nagisa to reach the height of the table, she and the former blue LRIG stepped up to the battlefield before themselves and laid down their starting Vanguards. Once the two had finished arranging their starting hands, they reached out for the cards that they had laid down on the Vanguard circles.
"Stand up, Vanguard!" Nagisa called as she flipped over Death Army Pawn.
"Open, Vanguard," Kiyoi calmly spoke as she revealed Morgenrot, much to the surprise of Kaoru and Hiroshi.
"Morgenrot?!" the taller man gasped.
"She's using a completely different deck, kaboom!" the bulkier fighter interjected.
Whilst Nagisa couldn't help but express slight confusion over the starting Vanguard in front of her, especially since she had expected it to depict Remember in LRIG form instead, she immediately shook her head, still convinced that her opponent was the same person that had attacked them previously.
"So you're using a different deck to try and confuse me further," she said "But it won't work on me! I'll beat you and break Kamui-chan out of your little spell!"
(Cardfight! Vanguard Unreleased Soundtrack: Gaillard no Theme)
Kiyoi said nothing back in response, feeling that at this current moment with the way things were, there was no way to attempt to reason with Nagisa or convince her that she wasn't Remember. The younger Daimonji sibling drew to begin the first turn before placing down a unit from her hand that was unfamiliar to the former blue LRIG.
"Ride, Death Army Guy!" she called "Death Army Pawn moves!"
She called it an anti-Freeze deck... Kiyoi pondered in her thoughts as she drew a card to start her first turn Nova Grappler can Stand their rear-guards during the Battle Phase, but there has to be a reason she's called it that on the assumption Remember would go after them again.
"Ride, Dancing Wolf."
After placing down the card on top of Morgenrot, she immediately moved it to the back left circle on her rear-guard. On the field imaged in their minds, Dancing Wolf leaped into the air and performed a consecutive series of somersaults that propelled it towards the black armoured Battleroid before landing a large kick that knocked it backwards with the jets on the unit's back being the only thing that kept it stabilized. As the grey coloured Warbeast leaped back to Kiyoi's side of the field, Death Army Guy glowed in a bright orange coloured light before vanishing in an instant.
"I love-love ride, Death Army Rook!" Nagisa's voice echoed as a larger Battleroid with a similar build and stance entered the battlefield before jetting over towards Dancing Wolf and landing a hard punch in the gut.
Kiyoi moved the card Clay-doll Mechanic over to her damage zone where it joined Pluto Blaukluger as her second damage in comparison to the one point that was on Nagisa's side of the field.
"Alright, that Critical Trigger got up a march on our thief, kaboom!" Kaoru cheered.
"I guess switching decks to try and throw off Nagisa didn't make a difference in the end," Hiroshi commented.
The former blue LRIG took no notice of the comments regarding her current situation in the fight, knowing that it was still early on and that occurrences such as the seemingly lucky trigger or two were bound to happen regardless of whose side it was from. After drawing her next card, she placed it into her hand and picked out a different one for her next ride.
"Ride, Jupiter Blaukluger," she spoke softly as she placed down the card, followed shortly afterwards by one that depicted a giant brown coloured Battleroid named Mars Blaukluger "Call."
On the imaged battlefield, the brown coloured Battleroid manifested itself alongside the green coloured Jupiter Blaukluger before charging straight towards Death Army Rook whilst gaining a white coloured aura from Morgenrot's boost. Taking ahold of its rifle mounted on its waist, Mars fired a narrow but long beam at its target, scoring a successful direct hit followed by a small explosion.
"Next," Kiyoi commanded in her usual monotone as Jupiter Blaukluger soared into the air and brought down its blade towards Death Army Rook.
However, the Critical Trigger unit Red Lightning came between them as it projected a green circle to fully deflect the attack right there and then. Back in the shop, the former blue LRIG revealed the card for her drive check as Grosse Baer with no Trigger marking to aid her. After the younger Daimonji sibling moved Red Lightning from the Guardian circle to her drop zone, she had no other option but to end her turn there.
"So you were aiming to use the skills of Morgenrot and Mars Blaukluger to get another attack this turn and look at the top three cards of your deck for a Blau card," Nagisa murmured "But, guarding that was easy as you didn't call any units to boost Jupiter."
Kiyoi did not answer in response, having expected her opponent to have some knowledge about the Blau series from playing Nova Grappler extensively much like Kamui as she watched her draw her next card and keep her confident smile.
"My love for Kamui-chan fuels my strength in fighting, just as the hardened steel strengthens the armour and iron will of this Battleroid!" she declared as she then threw down a familiar card onto the Vanguard circle "Love-love Ride!"
As a bright yellow glow enveloped Death Army Rook, it vanished immediately to allow for the new towering presence to take form on the battlefield. It was a green armoured Battleroid with several golden plates of armour acting as shoulder blades and wings as it hovered down to the ground, allowing Kiyoi to recognize the very unit that the younger Daimonji sibling had just rode.
"Mond Blaukluger!"
Mond Blaukluger/Grade 3/Twin Drive/SLD: 0/POW: 11000/Star Gate/Nova Grappler/Battleroid
"So she has that unit as well..." the former blue LRIG murmured quietly, still noting that she had not seen any skills in play from any of her opponent's Death Army units and curious as to why this unit was in a deck that revolved around them.
As Nagisa continued with her turn by calling out Death Army Lady, a second Death Army Rook and Death Army Bishop, her formation seemed ready to go all out on this turn.
"Death Army Lady attacks Mars Blaukluger!" she declared.
On the imaged field, Death Army Lady dodged the retaliation shots by Mars Blaukluger with elegance before landing a hard kick on the Battleroid to knock it to the ground and retire it from the battlefield. Through her image of Jupiter Blaukluger, Kiyoi simply gazed at the spot where the brown coloured Battleroid once stood before turning her attention back to Mond Blaukluger who deployed several hovering bits of sorts similar to those wielded by Ethics Buster Extreme.
"No guard," she spoke.
"Then let's see about my love-love Twin Drive!" Nagisa called as she revealed her first card as Infinite Corrosion Form, Death Army Cosmo Lord.
"There it is, the Death Army's strongest unit, kaboom!" Kaoru called out.
"And that's not all," Hiroshi replied.
"Death Army Lady's skill!" the younger Daimonji sibling continued as she moved her hand to the card "When the drive check reveals a Grade 3 unit, she stands!"
After performing the action to do so, she then reached out to her deck for her second check, this time revealing Shining Lady as the card glowed brightly.
"Got a Critical Trigger!"
Death Army Lady/POW: 9000 - 14000
As Death Army Lady powered up from part of the trigger effect, Mond Blaukluger glowed brightly as it received the Critical effect before the hovering bits fired a series of lasers that struck Jupiter Blaukluger in multiple places, damaging it immensely.
"Damage check," Kiyoi murmured calmly as she revealed the first card as Stern Blaukluger before placing it into her damage zone. "Second check." Upon revealing the second card, it glowed brightly before it was revealed to be Schnee Regen. "Draw Trigger."
Nagisa could only pout in annoyance as soon as she realized that the power from her Critical Trigger on Death Army Lady was now wasted due to her opponent not having any other front row rear-guards to attack with.
"How annoying," she muttered before turning to her left column "With Bishop's boost, Rook attacks your Vanguard!"
Kiyoi said nothing back in response as she calmly placed down the card known as Polar Stern on the Guardian circle, blocking the third attack of the turn with ease. As placed the card in the drop zone shortly afterwards, she noticed that the younger Daimonji sibling had gone into a bad mood again, despite taking the lead in the fight so far.
(End Music)
End of Turn 5
Kiyoi vs Nagisa
Hand - 6 : 4
Soul - 1 : 2
Damage - 4 : 2
Front Rows : EMPTY - Jupiter Blaukluger (VG) - EMPTY : Death Army Rook - Mond Blaukluger (VG) - Death Army Lady
Back Rows : Morgenrot - EMPTY - EMPTY : Death Army Bishop - Death Army Pawn - EMPTY
"I'm curious," the former blue LRIG spoke, getting Nagisa's attention back to her "What exactly was it that you thought I had said to you."
"I already told you, you said that you took Kamui away from me and that you were planning to have more 'fun' with him in wherever it was you sent him off to!" she replied before looking down for a brief moment.
Flashback
Quite some ago, on the day that Remember had chosen to attack Shop Handsome for the purpose of capturing Cocytus for Mayu and Miyako, Nagisa was on her knees along with the rest of Team Handsome including Gouki as blank cards scattered across the room with Marks of Penalty engraved on top of each of their right hands as they stared up towards their assailant. The person that they all perceived as Kiyoi at the time kept her innocent, yet somewhat sinister smile on her lips as she smirked at the prize she had caught, Ice Prison Necromancer, Cocytus.
"W... Wait...!" the Granblue user called as she was about to exit "What do you want our units for?! And where's Kamui?!"
Remember then stopped and began pondering for a brief moment in mock thought before she then snapped her fingers as if something had just come to mind.
"Ah yes, the first of my victims in this world," she replied "I almost forgot how much fun it was to rile him up during our fight. As for where he is, I'll say he's in my world, but not even I know his exact location yet."
Both he and his younger sister clenched their teeth at the exact confirmation that they needed to know about Kamui's fate at the time, feeling angered that he was currently in a location that they knew nothing about and had no idea if he was even safe and sound.
"As for your units, well," Remember continued as she placed Cocytus' card in her pocket "My mistress wants them as part of her retribution. Apparently, Sendou Aichi and Kai Toshiki really managed to piss her off to the point of waging war against this world. Though this particular unit I've now obtained, well... let's just say I have big plans for an 'old friend' of mine."
"What kind of plans?" Gouki questioned as he narrowed his eyes.
"Who knows," she mused as she shrugged in a playful manner.
As she was walking towards the doors that led out of the shop, without any further interruption to stop her from leaving and returning to Mayu at any given time, she suddenly stopped willingly, as if the former LRIG of the real Kiyoi had had something more to say.
"He did mention that he sought to challenge our might again," she said "I look forward to having more fun with him."
As soon as Remember had uttered those final few words, that was enough to spark off a hint of anger from Nagisa as she ran towards her. She smirked before holding out a hand that glowed an icy blue colour as the younger Daimonji sibling's Mark of Penalty suddenly lit up and emitted a sharp pain through her right hand, forcing her to the ground on one knee.
"Nagisa!" cried Gouki as he broke into a run towards her, only for the same scenario to immediately befall him.
Sensing some enjoyment out of kicking her victims whilst they were still down, Remember decided to delay her exit from the shop for just a little longer as she then walked towards the pair and knelt down to meet their gazes.
"You seem to be quite the attached one for Katsuragi," she spoke "But do not fret. I can assure you when the time comes, I'll take good care of him."
And with that, she left the store to continue with her streak of capturing units and handing them over to Mayu later in the day, giggling softly to herself as all of the marked Team Handsome could do nothing but watch as she left through the doors, powerless to stop her. Nagisa could only keep her earlier glare towards her direction, pondering more about what she intended to do with Kamui and where exactly she had sent him away to.
Present
Now that she listened to what she at least presumed was the description of the events that depicted whatever it was Remember had said to the younger Daimonji sibling after she had previously invaded the store in her own guise, Kiyoi could at least understand the reasoning behind her anger. Though she couldn't entirely blame her for mistaking her for her former compatriot who had been using her body at the time of the attack, the fact that was she was implying that she did something to Kamui, save for the temporary injury she had unintentionally inflicted on him whilst she had been reversed, on the other hand had left her confused. Before she had any time to ponder on this...
"Kiyoi!"
Upon hearing the voice that called out to her, she turned around to see Kamui burst through the doors of the shop, panting from having run ahead of Gouki, Reiji and Eiji to see what was going on for himself, the latter three soon joining him shortly afterwards. Once the Nova Grappler user had regained his breath, he looked over towards Nagisa, not being exactly pleased to see her given the circumstances.
"Kamui-chan!" she gasped as she looked upon him with a smitten expression, much to his annoyance "You're finally here! Now we can finally get married once I...!"
"Hey Kiyoi, they didn't do anything weird to you, right?"
Immediately after realizing that she was being ignored, she looked ahead to see that Kamui was talking with Kiyoi much to her slight shock. As this was happening, Gouki walked over to Kaoru and Hiroshi who had been watching on in confusion.
"What's going on?" the taller man asked.
"I'm not quite sure," the Granblue user replied "But Kamui's convinced that someone calling herself Remember was the one who attacked us then. He's insisting we got duped."
As Reiji and Eiji chose to remain silent, unsure of how to add to either of the ongoing conversations, especially given that Kiyoi was still in the middle of fighting her opponent at the table, Nagisa's right hand trembled as she watched the former blue LRIG and Kamui discussing about the supposed situation they were now caught up in. As this was happening, an image started manifesting in her mind based on watching her 'beloved' and the girl she believed was their attacker were interacting now.
In said image, the Nova Grappler user still had a Mark of Penalty engraved on his right hand in the exact same spot as it was before and his eyes had become blank red shells of their former selves. Yet despite this, his expression was still one that appeared lovestruck as the younger Daimonji sibling would always dream about if that gaze was directed towards her. However, in this imaged scenario that had suddenly popped up in her mind, Kiyoi was standing opposite him having held the same unnatural smile that was on her lips, normally otherwise seen only for the duration of when Remember had possessed her body.
"Now then," she spoke, in a tone that was also otherwise heard from Kiyoi's former compatriot before gently cupping Kamui's chin with her right hand "Shall we see to that fun I told her about?"
"I guess the 'real' goddess was the one who abducted me in the first place," he replied in a trance like tone "Who would had thought?"
As the two closed their eyes, the imaged Kiyoi pulled him in slowly, closer and closer... until the imaged scenario abruptly ended as Nagisa loudly gasped, grabbing the attention of everyone else in the room. As Kamui couldn't help but stare at her, she then pointed a finger towards Kiyoi, who believed now that her opponent would finally stop speaking in riddles about what Remember was seemingly implying to her during their fight.
"This isn't about our units or whoever you say you are anymore!" she declared "I will make you pay for defiling Kamui-chan after you abducted him!"
"Defiled...?" the Nova Grappler user pondered as he blinked in geniune confusion before looking back to the former blue LRIG "What does she...?"
"Now her hyperactive desire to try and marry you makes sense in this situation," she muttered in her usual monotone as she simply shook her head slowly.
"It was already annoying when Kamui-chan had his sights set on that other girl," Nagisa huffed "But now you had to come in a while ago and mess it up even further!"
Whilst Kiyoi had remained virtually unfazed in response to her opponent's newest acusation, save for a brief raise of her right eyebrow, Kamui on the other hand had completely dropped his jaw in utter disbelief, complete with a beet red face.
"H... hang on! How did we go from mistaking her as Remember to thinking she's turned our 'situation' into a love square?!" he exclaimed "And second off, 'that girl' has a name you know!"
Just as he had expected however, Nagisa and the rest of Team Handsome had seemingly took no notice of his response to her latest accusation at Kiyoi. Kamui knew that the younger Daimonji sibling had a tendency to either jump to conclusions or flat out make up stories when it came to her smitten feelings for him, but the last thing he expected was for this to somehow tie into the claim that she was the same person who had attacked them and abducted him to the other world previously.
"But now that Kamui-chan is back here," she continued as her expression turned to a seemingly innocent smile "I can defeat you as revenge for abducting him and the two of us can finally get married!"
"Here we go again..." Reiji murmured nervously.
"HWG, yo," Eiji muttered in agreement.
"AGH!" Kamui moaned before looking back to Kiyoi "Go get her Kiyoi! Beat her so you can get us out of this mess and prove your innocence!"
Though the former blue LRIG said nothing back to him, her slight nod was enough to relieve him in that her intentions on winning to fight to prove her innocence in regards to the attacks on him and Team Handsome had not changed in the slightest. Standing both Jupiter Blaukluger and Morgenrot on her field back up, she drew her next card to start the next turn.
The Death Army doesn't seem much different from other Nova Grappler units she pondered But Nagisa's Twin Drive revealed what one of my captors suggested was their strongest unit. In that case...
(Selector Destructed Wixoss OST: Battle ~ your name)
Taking out one of the other cards that she held in her hand, she placed it down on top of Jupiter Blaukluger's card in a calm manner, much to the slight confusion of Gouki. To the surprise of Kaoru and Hiroshi however, this unit was very familiar, if not identical to the one Nagisa rode on her last turn.
"Ride, Mond Blaukluger," she spoke.
"She doesn't sound that fired up..." Reiji pondered as he looked over to Kamui.
"Kiyoi still needs a bit of work on ethusiasm," the Nova Grappler user answered as he laughed nervously.
"Call, Energy Charger," Kiyoi continued "With it's skill, draw 1 card. Then call again."
On the imaged battlefield, alongside the former blue LRIG's own Mond Blaukluger, Morgenrot and the Battleroid with fuel lines for arms known as Energy Charger, a second Mars Blaukluger along with Dancing Wolf and Grosse Baer. As the six units set their sights upon their opponents a little way across the metallic arena they were fighting within, Nagisa could only hiss that her opponent had been holding onto most of those units throughout the entire match and still had a sizable hand before her next wave of attacks.
"She managed to deploy her formation all at once!" Hiroshi gasped.
"But Nagisa's still at two damage!" Kaoru interjected "There's no way our thief's finishing her this turn, kaboom!"
"With Morgenrot's boost," Kiyoi began "Mars Blaukluger... attacks Death Army Lady."
As Mars Blaukluger pulled out the rifle that was holstered on its waist armor and aimed it towards one of Nagisa's rear-guards, the younger Daimonji sibling could only groan as she considered the options she had available with the four cards that were in her hand.
"... No guard!" she declared.
Back on the imaged field, the brown coloured Battleroid struck down Death Army Lady with its laser rifle via a large orange coloured beam that was unleashed from the firearm
"Mond Blaukluger attacks your Vanguard," the former blue LRIG's voice echoed as her own Mond Blaukluger scattered the hovering bits and began charging up a multitude of lasers within each of them.
"Of course I'll let this one through too!" Nagisa declared "You might have stolen away Kamui-chan once before, but it's useless in the end! My passionate feelings for MY Kamui-chan will prevail over you!"
"Twin Drive."
The younger Daimonji sibling blinked, having been caught off guard by the fact that her opponent did not even attempt to defend herself from any of her claims, even up to this point where she had just flat out ignored her for the sake of continuing her attack. Kiyoi flipped over her first card as Polar Stern and added it to her hand before revealing her second check as Regenbogen.
"Got a Heal Trigger," she spoke in her usual monotone "I recover 1 damage and give power to Mars Blaukluger."
Within the image, Mars Blaukluger glowed a bright green as it powered up from the trigger effect, just as Mond Blaukluger unleashed all of the lasers from its floating bits at Nagisa's own, who simply dodged each of them with seemingly little effort. However, it failed to notice its copy charging straight towards her and landing an uppercut, knocking off several bits of armour from the blow alone. The younger Daimonji sibling placed Twin Blader's card in her damage zone, a little annoyed that she did not manage to get a damage trigger.
"Mars Blaukluger's skill, stand with an extra 5000 power," Kiyoi continued as she performed the action before turning over a second card in her damage zone face down "Furthermore, Morgenrot's skill."
She then removed the top three cards of her deck and scanned each one of them closely until she found a certain card amongst them that she was seeking out.
"I look at the top three cards of my deck and add Galaxy Blaukluger to my hand," she spoke before revealing the Grade 3 unit and shuffling the rest back into the deck.
"Alright! She's managed to set up for a Break Ride on her next turn!" Kamui cheered "Keeping pushing on Kiyoi!"
As Gouki observed the Nova Grappler user closely, checking on him to see if he was behaving strangely as Nagisa claimed he was from the time he spent around Kiyoi, the younger sister of the Granblue user had quickly lost her earlier frown.
"Mars Blaukluger attacks your Vanguard," the former blue LRIG spoke as she rested it.
"Damage check," Nagisa spoke before her eyes lit up in happiness as she saw that it was The Gong "Love-love, Draw Trigger! I draw one and give power to... Death Army Rook!"
As everyone in the shop breathed in confusion as to why Nagisa had chosen to give her power to a rear-guard instead of her Vanguard, Kiyoi on the other hand was easily quick to see the reason as to why.
Nagisa is obviously planning to use Shining Lady to guard my next attack and keep the damage count at the minimum to trigger Mond Blaukluger's Break Ride skill she murmured in her thoughts She gave the power to the rear-guard as the Shield would be enough to defend for that also.
"What's wrong?" the younger Daimonji sibling questioned with a smile "Have you realized that you've fallen short to my passionate feelings for Kamui-chan?"
Ignoring her once again, Kiyoi rested Grosse Baer and Dancing Wolf's cards to signal her final attack of the turn. On the imaged field, Shining Lady appeared in front of Nagisa's own Mond Blaukluger to defend it from the bursts of the blue and white coloured Battleroid's energy rifle. Knowing there was nothing more she could do for the time being, the former blue LRIG silently chose to end her turn there.
(End Music)
"Darn it. It would have been better for her next turn if she managed to push Nagisa to five damage," Kamui muttered "Still, at least she's back down to three damage from that Heal Trigger."
As Nagisa drew her next card, she smiled as she saw that the pieces for her finishing move were now all in place thanks to the damage she had now accumulated and that the loss of Death Army Lady on the previous turn was now a minor inconvenience. She then looked over to the Nova Grappler user and winked at him, much to his slight irritation.
"Just a little longer now, Kamui-chan!" she called "Once I finish off this thief, I'll break that spell she's put on you and we can get married!"
"First off, Kiyoi didn't do anything to me!" he snapped "Second, if you wanna be angry at the girl who attacked us and stole our units, save it for her old LRIG Remember!"
"LRIG...?" Gouki pondered as he suddenly thought back to the day of the attack Come to think it...
"You mean... that same Remember on that card Miwa showed us then?" Reiji asked.
"TSO, yo?" Eiji interjected.
As the entire room went silent, pondering over the supposed revelation that was now in effect from Kamui's namedrop of Remember and Reiji's mention of the card that depicted her form as an LRIG, Nagisa on the other hand was not having any of it.
"Of course I 'remember'!" she replied as she shrugged "There is one person who attacked us and that's the one in front of us!"
"You're not listening!" the Nova Grappler user replied "The LRIG's name is Remember!" He then huffed and gazed down at the floor as he processed the entire misunderstanding through his head and though back to the time he had spent in the other world. "... If only guys knew what Kiyoi really went through...!"
That was enough to finally cause the younger Daimonji sibling to snap as she stared at Kamui after his claim that none of them, not even herself, would even understand what Kiyoi had gone through to reach this point. Thinking back to her previous claim that she placed against the former blue LRIG, she gritted her teeth and glared back to her as she took ahold of a card from her hand.
"Unforgivable...!" she snapped "It's one thing to defile Kamui-chan, but to have him defend you... that's the final straw! Now prepare to suffer his true beloved's full wrath! Love-love, BREAK RIDE!"
(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: PSY Qualia tono Tatakai)
On the imaged battlefield, as Nagisa's Mond Blaukluger disappeared in a blinding white flash, the ground beneath where it once stood suddenly burst open as a new figure emerged from the hole that now appeared in the metallic arena. A tall black figure clad in grey armour that had several blue coloured drills pointing of it, had eight eyes on its alien face and had a crescent shaped horn of some kind on the top its head. Energy crackled its hands as it landed on the solid floor with Nagisa announcing the name of this unit at last.
"Infinite Corrosion Lifeform... Death Army Cosmo Lord!"
Infinite Corrosion Form, Death Army Cosmo Lord/Grade 3/POW: 10000 - 20000/SLD: 0/Star Gate/Nova Grappler/Alien
Cosmo Lord growled as energy crackled aboved its crescent shaped horn, gazing in a hostile manner towards Kiyoi's Mond Blaukluger and preparing to strike when the moment was right. As this happened, a second Death Army Bishop appeared in Nagisa's back row to the right of her starting Vanguard, Death Army Pawn.
"Cosmo Lord's skill!" she declared as she rested all of her rear-guards, one after another "For every two Death Army rear-guards I choose to rest, it gains 5000 power until end of turn!"
"And with the four she just rested, she's already got it up to 30000..." Reiji murmured.
"30 yo!" Eiji interjected.
Upon seeing that was indeed Cosmo Lord's speciality now, the former blue LRIG initially assumed that the plan for the younger Daimonji sibling was to use the Break Ride ability of Mond Blaukluger to stand all of her rear-guards that she rested so she could still attack with them. However, she knew there had to be more to her opponent's plan that just powering up Cosmo Lord this way.
"Call!" Nagisa called "Death Army Knight's skill stands two rear-guards! Then I rest them again to power up Cosmo Lord!"
As each of the Death Army Bishops on the imaged battlefield took a stance on their knees once again, Cosmo Lord growled as it continued to grow even stronger than it was previously.
Infinite Corrosion Form, Death Army Cosmo Lord/POW: 30000 - 35000
"Then, Rook retires and I call another Knight!" Nagisa continued "Stand two rear-guards, then rest all four to power up Cosmo Lord by 10000!"
"She's really going off on it!" Hiroshi gasped.
"Keep powering it up and knock Kiyoi into next week, kaboom!" Kaoru cheered.
"I'm not done yet!" the younger Daimonji sibling declared as she turned over two cards in her damage zone "With my two Bishops' skills, stand four rear-guards then rest them to add another 10000 power!"
After she had done the exact action, Kamui noticed that all five of her rear-guards were now at rest, seemingly leaving her with only three attacks if the Break Ride skill was taken into account.
Why the heck did she do that? he pondered in confusion Cosmo Lord's Limit Break requires the last two face-up cards in her damage zone to use. She wouldn't just waste both of her Bishops' skills like that to render the Break Ride skill unusable... unless...
"My passion for my beloved Kamui-chan is insurmountable!" Nagisa declared as she pointed a finger to Kiyoi who still remained unfazed "And I won't let you take him away from me again! Cosmo Lord's... love-love, Limit Break!"
On the imaged field, a grey coloured Vanguard circle flashed above Cosmo Lord before it raised its hands and sent energy coursing through all of her rear-guards, standing them back up and causing them to take up offensive stances. As this happened, the armoured black alien had a golden aura coursing through it as it powered up as well from the skill as well.
"Then I rest two rear-guards to add 5000 power!" Nagisa continued "Finally, I retire Bishop and call Clay-doll Mechanic! With it's skill, turn over a card in my damage zone."
"Whoa... I knew Dimension Police could hit high numbers for a Vanguard, but gimme a break!" Kamui gasped, slightly worried on how Kiyoi was going to pull through.
Everyone save for the former blue LRIG stared in awe at Cosmo Lord's card now that the younger Daimonji sibling had used a combo of skills to power it up immensely and to give her five attacks for the turn thanks to the skill of Mond Blaukluger's Break Ride.
"Are you prepared?" she asked "This is for stealing away Kamui-chan and having your way with him! My two Knights attack!"
On the imaged battlefield, the two Death Army Knights dashed across the arena until they came in close towards Mond Blaukluger. Once they were in range, they slammed down their whips respectively upon the green armoured Battleroid, smashing off several bits of plating and destroying the floating bits that were used for its long ranged laser attacks.
"Kiyoi!" gasped Kamui as he watched her perform her damage checks.
With the first attack's damage coming out as Polar Stern, things were not looking hopeful for the moment. Then, she turned over the top card of her deck, coming out as her next damage being Schones Wetter.
"Critical Trigger," she calmly spoke "Power to my Vanguard."
"But, it's already too late!" Nagisa called with a smile "My Vanguard has 60000 power and an extra Critical! There's no way all of the cards in your hand will be enough to block this! And then, my long awaited wedding can finally commence!"
"Do something Kiyoi!" cried Kamui, already dreading the outcome at hand if it would come to it.
Within the image of the arena, Cosmo Lord began charging a large sphere of energy above its crescent shaped horn as it began crackling and growing larger and larger with each second. As this happened, both Death Army Knights, Bishop and Clay-doll Mechanic stood back up in preparation for the next wave of attacks to come, not that the younger Daimonji sibling would even care at this point given how confident she was that victory and immediate marriage to the Nova Grappler user, regardless of his say in it or not, was at hand.
"At long last... my dream has finally come true!" she announced "Kamui-chan and I will finally be together with no one, not even freedom, to seperate us!"
(Music Ends Abruptly)
"I'm curious."
The image of the battle suddenly faded as Nagisa suddenly blinked in confusion at what Kiyoi had to say towards her. Even Kaoru and Hiroshi couldn't help but expression confusion towards the former blue LRIG's statement.
"Nagisa," she spoke "Have you ever even considered about Katsuragi's own feelings on this 'matter'?"
"What are you saying, thief?" the younger Daimonji sibling asked accusingly.
"From my experience, this kind of relationship requires the committed efforts and shared feelings of both parties involved willingly to make it work," she continued, keeping her seemingly uninterested monotone throughout her entire speech "If Katsuragi does not wish to reciprocate those feelings, then I'm afraid the relationship you wish to enforce is entirely one-sided at best."
"Thank you!" Kamui huffed, having had some relief that Kiyoi, let alone anyone in general was willing to take his side of the argument for once.
"One-sided...?"
Nagisa shuddered, now that her feelings for the person she so desperately wanted to marry at any cost were being called into question for the first time by anyone other than the Nova Grappler user himself. However, once she convinced herself that this was the same person that attacked her previously, no matter how many times Kamui insisted otherwise, she regained her resolve, but only a mere fraction of it.
"Lies... Lies... LIES!" she screamed "Cosmo Lord, obliterate her!"
As Cosmo Lord within the image charged up energy in its hands as well, it unleashed what was built up in them and the sphere above its horn as the three beams combined into one and came hurtling straight towards the heavily damaged Mond Blaukluger.
"Perfect Guard!" Kiyoi's voice announced as a small white armoured Battleroid appeared in front of her Vanguard and projected a barrier to shield themselves from the attack "Blau Dunkelheit!"
As Hiroshi, Kaoru, Reiji and Eiji gasped in shock that the former blue LRIG still had a means of defending herself from a 60000 power attack within her hand the entire time, Kamui's shock turned into a smile as he soon realized that the earlier damage trigger was now potentially going to save his friend from defeat. Nagisa on the other hand could only stare in disbelief as then turned to her deck, hoping in desperation to end the fight here and now.
"T... Twin drive!" she gasped as she turned over another copy of The Gong "Draw Trigger! Power to my left Knight and I draw!" Turning over the second card immediately after drawing, she saw that it was the exact same card she had checked "Love-love... Draw Trigger!"
After drawing her next card, she then turned her attention to the Death Army Knight on her right column and rested it along with the Death Army Bishop that was directly behind it. Within the image, Death Army Knight attempted to swing down its whip right onto Mond Blaukluger, only for Regenbogen to intercept the attack by catching ahold of it to stop the impact. The form of Cosmo Lord shuddered in response to Nagisa's failing composure as she then turned her attention to the other Death Army Knight.
"D... Death Army Knight attacks Mond Blaukluger!" she called as the unit rushed off towards its target "This will end it and then Kamui-chan will...!"
"Guard."
The younger Daimonji sibling could only watch in horror as Kiyoi placed down Polar Stern from her hand followed by the Grosse Baer from her rear-guard on the Guardian circle, effectively stopping her attack and ending the turn right there.
"Phew, that was a close one!" Kamui breathed as he wiped his forehead.
"Still..." Reiji murmured "Kiyoi still has Nagisa's four cards and two intercepts to break through. We don't know if she's managed to draw a Perfect Guard amongst them."
"WDK, yo," Eiji replied.
As Kiyoi stood her units back up and drew her single card, she looked back to Nagisa who was not only shaken up by the fact she had effortlessly blocked her strongest attack on the previous turn, but the fact that she had called her obsession over the Nova Grappler user into question.
"Is that the best your one-sided feelings could accomplish?" she muttered.
"... Y... You're one to talk!" her opponent replied "W... We're not the first to have had units taken by you like you said!"
"And what does that have to do with Remember, the girl who really took our units!" Kamui groaned, still annoyed by the fact that he wasn't even given a chance to explain the circumstances.
Looking back to him, Nagisa rather than replying back to him, immediately regained as much of her earlier demanour as possible and stared back at Kiyoi.
"You know what I think..." she said "Questioning my love for Kamui-chan like that... you have no one to love you back! The only reason you stole away Kamui-chan back then was to show us that you weren't alone, as you thieves should be!"
(Cardfight! Vanguard OST: Ren's Power (Episode 80 Version))
As soon as she had said those words however, the air in the shop suddenly seemed to grow colder as Kiyoi's eyes were suddenly hidden from sight, even though her lips seemingly indicated that she was in her usual self. Kamui on the other hand could only grow worried as he slowly began to back away from the shop with Reiji and Eiji slowly eying him as he did so. Whilst Kaoru and Hiroshi had their attention focused on the former blue LRIG, Gouki then began to walk over towards him, wondering if he had an explanation as to why he was now feeling this way and what was seemingly about to transpire if his worries were confirmed.
"We'd better run..." he murmured in a low whisper.
"Why?" Reji whispered back.
At first, the Nova Grappler user's only response was a nervous gulp. Then, he began to give a worded answer as to why he believed that the atmosphere around Kiyoi may had suddenly grown much colder than it was normally.
"Nagisa... might have just pressed the Sakaguchi button."
(End Music)
And there we go! Kiyoi is hauled into Shop Handsome and tries to convince Nagisa that she wasn't the same person who had attacked them and stolen their units previously. When she finds that she won't listen, she challenges her to a fight to prove her innocence. But as Kamui arrrives and attempts to reason with the rest of Team Handsome to clear up the mess in front of him, things then take a turn for the absurd as Nagisa ends up taking Remember's taunts from their previous encounter a little too literally as she accuses Kiyoi of turning the situation between the younger Daimonji sibling, Kamui and Emi into a love square. As the fight draws to a close however, Nagisa accuses Kiyoi's questioning of her feelings for Kamui of being a way to deflect blame and to hide the claim that she is truely alone, leaving him worried that she might have triggered her unpleasant memories of what happened to Ayumi Sakaguchi to resurface.
What will happen next? Can Kiyoi win the fight, keep herself under control and settle the situation regarding her identity once and for all? Find out next time on Stand Up, the LRIG! Please share your thoughts and criticisms in the reviews and I'll see you next time! Until then!
REVAMP NOTE 30/8/2018: The original version had me mistakenly have Kiyoi overguard Nagisa's attacks due to the damage trigger making the minimum for her guards 10000 instead of 15000 like I had originally written.
